Winter Village Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[SunshineinAutumn]

It's on the US Website, even the official spread is a bit underwhelming.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/icons-10361-10361

 

Also the Family tree is a bit more interesting, like Santa's NORAD, but for $329... 

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/family-41843-41843https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/family-41843-41843https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/family-41843-41843

[RichardGoring]

It really does feel disappointing, and I'm not sure that seeing it working will make things any better. It really is just a remake of the original, which is a lost opportunity to do a different style, and most of the updates don't appear to make sense. The lack of drive wheels makes it feel like a fake trolley conversion. The giant polar bear seems a bit odd and at fast speeds it will likely look ridiculous (and may come apart), and it doesn't feel like it could fit all the presents, which is a shame.

I also don't understand the need for a 3D printed train toy. That's probably added a load of cost for not a lot of value, and it looks distinctly different from the other toys.

The value just isn't there for me at $130.

And it's advertising Powered Up, but, at least in the US, the 88010 controller is marked as Sold Out and has been for a long time. I assumed it had retired.

[RichardGoring]

The family tree is huge! At first glance I thought it was one of the $30-$50 type trees, but no, it's massive. Interesting idea although the tree itself doesn't look that great in the lifestyle video. I wonder how stable it will be when you open it all out to play. It also seems very expensive for what you get compared to say a modular building, but I'd like to see it compared to one as it might be a chunk larger than it feels.

[Jay66]

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/icons-10361-10361

 

[Celtchief]

Well, first off, keeping in mind that it's been 9 years since a Winter Village Train, if this is your only train, it's fine.  As someone who owns the previous Winter Village, it is kind of a letdown.  Why they did not do a proper Christmas Passenger train is a mystery.  But will it look fine running around your tree or Winter Village, yes it will.  But I agree, the lack of proper big drive wheels is also a mystery.  I'm fine with the polar bear, if you have been paying attention Polar Bears have become synonymous with Christmas over the last 20 years, Thanks Coke.  I do like the color scheme.  But yeah, its basically the cousin of the previous set.  Maybe even half sibling.  

As for the Giant Tree.  I'm not sure what to think about that for 300 plus dollars.  I saw someone indicate it as Santas NORAD, and I guess if you are going to integrate it into the WV North Pole, that would be the play.  

That said, I like Christmas, I like Lego, and I like Trains, so I will be getting the train... but yeah, I guess my main hope for a proper Christmas Passenger train now is for someone to get the Polar Express/Lego deal done.  Seems overdue. 

 

[hugore]

I am bored as hell by these two sets.

All I can add to this is that I am now really curious for this year's modular building. I want to spend some money 

[Klaus-Dieter]

Thanks for the news! 🙂

I'm totally disappointed by this new Winter Express Train - it has so many design mistakes and does look really, really cheap. Last year's Santa's Post Office already had been bad. But with this new Winter Express Train, Lego drives our beloved Winter Village finally against the wall! 👎

 

I really, really hope that next year's WV set will be something completely new and designed very well (like the older WV sets), otherwise Lego WV ist dead for me. 😥

[wicket]

Who wants to bet that next year we’re gonna get a remake of 10259 Winter Village Station to pair with that new train? 😬

[Geofftswin]

As a relative newcomer to WV, I'm glad that it is finally possible to get a train set to run around under the tree.  It seems crazy that it has been unable to get a Lego Christmas train for many years.

It is a shame it is unpowered by default, but I guess that keeps the price down a bit and some people may well want a static display.

I'm guessing that having the option to power it explains why all the wheels are the same size.  If they had designed it with larger drive wheels, then I'm not sure if it would have worked as well?

 

[karrit]

Since I don't have the sold out Powered up parts there is no way I can actually motorize this abomination.  Sorry, I'm not about to pay secondary market prices for parts that weren't considered user friendly to begin with just to make this ugly train go around in a boring circle.  I do like the dark green carrots.  Hate the pointless 3D printed train.

Oh, I get it now.  I need to buy the Arctic Polar Express Train in order to be able to motorize the new Holiday Express Train.

Edited 4 hours ago by karrit

[jus1973]

Sadly we won’t be adding this years WV model to our Christmas lego set up. And if #Wicket is correct, then we won’t get next years either!

So compared to the first winter village train, this one is something of a let down.  The loco using standard carriage sized wheels looks so wrong.  Neither of the wagons offer anything really new, compared to the previous version, and the tender looks almost the same.  Such a shame.  I was hoping this would offer existing train owners some additional interest in the wagon/carriage department.  

If I had to guess, I’d say this was a ‘second option’ after the initial model failed to get produced in time.  I’m sure it’s not, but it just feels that way.  Sadly we 

Edited 4 hours ago by jus1973
Spelling error

[Robert8]

Is that tiny blue train piece a single new piece?

e.e

 

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, karrit said:

Since I don't have the sold out Powered up parts there is no way I can actually motorize this abomination.  Sorry, I'm not about to pay secondary market prices for parts that weren't considered user friendly to begin with just to make this ugly train go around in a boring circle.  I do like the dark green carrots.  Hate the pointless 3D printed train.

Oh, I get it now.  I need to buy the Arctic Polar Express Train in order to be able to motorize the new Holiday Express Train.

I actually bought a second copy of 60197 on a discount purely to get the Powered Up components, which I wanted for the original holiday train. It gave me extra carriages for about $15.

The physical controller is so important for these as the sets will last a long time, but LEGO's app support won't. Also, my children are pretty small, so don't have phones and I don't really want them with screen devices to play with the train.

[BrickJagger]

2 hours ago, Robert8 said:

Is that tiny blue train piece a single new piece?

e.e

 

Sure is -- apparently it's 3D-printed? Don't see the appeal there, honestly.

I own the 2016 train, so I'll be passing on this one. I had already made my peace with skipping it for that reason, regardless of how it looked, but I do find its uncanny resemblance to its predecessor to be pretty lazy. 

On the other hand, the giant tree is anything but lazy, but I'm not sure who it's intended for. Is it a display piece? Is it an extremely expensive playset with an odd premise? Who asked for Santa's HQ hidden in a tree trunk? Is there a reason it needed to be $330 when Vader's Gingerbread AT-AT is a better novelty set for one-fifth of the price?