LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 31: A Lego Friends Olivia's House at the launch of Dream Toys 2012 at St Mary's Church on October 31, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images) The LEGO Group announced at an invitation-only media event in New York City, Friday, its plans to relaunch a decade-old LEGO Friends product line in an effort to be more inclusive and represent children with more diverse complexities.According to the company, new building sets and streamable content alike will introduce an inclusive world of "authentic, interesting and passionate characters" with complexities like anxiety, limb difference, Down Syndrome, and other forms of visible and non-visible representation to better reflect real kids’ life experiences through play."We could see that there's this real need for kids to see themselves in the toys they're playing with," LEGO Friends Creative Lead, Fenella Charity, told a small group of journalists at Friday's event, located within New York City's legendary Empire Diner-turned-pop-up.
The temporary "Friendship Diner" was later available to consumers on a reservation-only basis throughout the weekend."It's really important to us that children feel seen," Executive Producer Courtney Arumugam echoed. "It was really important for us that our characters are flawed."11-year-old Landen built a Lego replica of his teacher, Collin Seastrand.The women, alongside The LEGO Group's Global Brand Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Carolina Teixeira, were part of a diverse, five-person panel, Friday, moderated by children's author and influencer Eva Chen and joined by clinical psychologist Dr.