Lego's new 'Friends' range goes woke!

LEGO has unveiled a range of new - woke - characters, with a range of skin tones and nationalities, several of whom suffer from disabilities, including one born with a missing limb.

The move is the latest attempt from companies who market products aimed at children to be more 'inclusive' - and it comes after publisher Puffin hired sensitivity trainers to rewrite portions of Roald Dahl books and Hasbro dropped the 'Mr.' from Mr. Potato Head's name.

According to the company, the fresh building sets and streaming content will introduce children to a world of  'authentic, interesting and passionate characters.'

In addition to various disabilities, the new LEGO Friends will also represent a number of diverse backgrounds.

The character Zac is African-French. Olly is British, and Leo is Mexican.

Autumn, the redheaded character, has an apparent limb difference. 

LEGO's newly diverse set of friends follows an announcement the company made in 2021 that claimed they would eliminate gender bias from its toys.

The announcement followed a report from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media that said 71 percent of boys indicated they feared being  made fun of for playing with what they described as 'girls' toys.'

In early 2021, Hasbro announced it would be altering the branding of the 70-year-old Mr. Potato head, to make the mainstay children's toy gender neutral in its branding and packing.

The change - which dropped the 'Mr.' from Mr. Potato Head brand - sparked debate on social media, as many argued toy company Hasbro had bent to 'woke' culture by changing a cultural icon that's been on toy shelves since 1952. 

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