Animal Crossing - Rumors & Discussion

[BrickBob Studpants]

1 hour ago, hikouki said:

I wonder if we will get more new characters later this year? Rumor mill has been quiet.

There are three sets coming in August, so we can expect at least 5 new characters I‘d say  The low number of minifigs per set is the only thing that‘s holding the theme back for me, but at least we‘re getting very few repeats!

As for the rumour mill, Nintendo sets tend to get rumours very late, but are among the first to be officially revealed, ironically  We also know nothing about the Mario sets, besides the already announced Gameboy model.

[Portal Out]

Do you think an Animal Crossing D2C is in the cards for this year? The 72037 Mario D2C is coming in July and the Gameboy is coming in October (making the year already pretty full), but I feel like they’re definitely leaving money by not doing at least a small to medium sized 18+ set.

[Lyichir]

3 hours ago, hikouki said:

I wonder if we will get more new characters later this year? Rumor mill has been quiet.

I collect mainly minifigs and usually have them framed. Planning ahead if I might need to increase the number of pedestals for future characters in my frame insert.

Given that there are three sets coming out later in the year I have to imagine there'll be at least SOME new characters (every set other than the Julian polybag has had at least one new character). No telling how many, though.

I wonder what sort of sets will be next? Obviously the Museum would be a high likelihood, especially since Blathers could likely reuse Celeste's head mold. I'd also love to see the missing Sable and Orville, but don't know how likely that is yet—since their respective facilities where they'd most likely be seen have already been released without them, I think they might possibly be saved for a CMF series or something similar...

While I'm sure a lot of people are hoping for town facilities and special characters, I kinda hope there's at least one villager house, especially since having more colors/types of doors/door frames/windows would make it easier to make additional characters' houses (potentially including some of the characters who we already have who don't yet have homes of their own). The options so far are surprisingly limited, especially given that Lego went through the effort of coming up with special door/window molds for the theme. What might be really nice would be an open-ended set themed around house customization, sort of like the "Maker Packs" from the Mario theme—with lots of door/window/wall/roof options for expanding your village.

33 minutes ago, Portal Out said:

Do you think an Animal Crossing D2C is in the cards for this year? The 72037 Mario D2C is coming in July and the Gameboy is coming in October (making the year already pretty full), but I feel like they’re definitely leaving money by not doing at least a small to medium sized 18+ set.

I'm not sure what the best subject for an Animal Crossing D2C set would be, to be honest... a playset to go with the others doesn't seem particularly likely given that even some of the larger subjects in the series like the museum would feel pretty out of scale with other existing sets if you went all out with them. Maybe you could make a cool standalone playset out of something like the main street from New Leaf or the city from City Folk, but I dunno how likely they are to do something that big and impressive based on a less recent game. A brick-built version of a popular character like Isabelle or K.K. Slider could possibly be fun, but I don't know whether that kind of display piece would resonate with Animal Crossing fans the way a big Bowser or Piranha Plant do. They might save any potential Nintendo collab D2C for either proven stuff like Mario, new franchises for Lego like the Zelda set, or broader Nintendo-focused stuff like the NES and Game Boy. Come to think of it, if they ever do a GameCube set, that could potentially be relevant to the Animal Crossing theme, considering the series got its start there and was a major seller on that system.

Edited January 27 by Lyichir

[PlanetLEGO]

As much as I love the theme, I'm curious to see how long much longer Animal Crossing lasts.

I have seen many of the sets clearanced for half off or more all around the US. I personally scored two of Kapp'n's Island Boat Tour for half off the retail price and nine of Bunnie's Outdoor Activities (for MOCing purposes) for seventy percent off retail price.

Edited January 27 by PlanetLEGO

[BrickBob Studpants]

Fingers crossed the largest of the three sets will be the museum  I also hope they‘ll add more insects and sealife to the sets. A lot of the former could easily be realised with printed 1x1 round tiles in clear! 

[Maaboo the Witch]

A fishing set with C.J. would be cool. Or the Paradise Planning offices with Lottie and Wardell.

Or, y'know, just more squirrels.

[Lyichir]

37 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Fingers crossed the largest of the three sets will be the museum  I also hope they‘ll add more insects and sealife to the sets. A lot of the former could easily be realised with printed 1x1 round tiles in clear! 

I expect the new bee, beetle, and ladybug prints from Friends will be perfect for some bugs (their more realistic, diminutive look would work well for Animal Crossing). Though having more would be great too!

[Borex]

A boat with Redd in it would be fun as well. With two paintings and a sculpture. 
 

i don’t really care for Kicks and the llama lovers, but i would love to see tortimer, the carpet camel and i see your future kitty.

a easter bunny would also be appriciated

[Maaboo the Witch]

I'd personally like a Re-Tail trailer with Reese and Cyrus. In fact, a Harv's Island set with several trailers would be cool.

[BrickBob Studpants]

On 1/30/2025 at 1:23 AM, Borex said:

A boat with Redd in it would be fun as well. With two paintings and a sculpture. 

Redd is near the top of my wishlist! Paintings and statues would also go really well with a museum set  So much potential here! As long as TLG can actually use the artwork, that is. The only roadblock I see if If they have to ask permission or pay a fee for every piece of art. Not sure how it worked in the game… 

Unless it‘s all squarely in the public domain. They collaborated with the MOMA for the Starry Night Ideas set for instance, but I don‘t know if that was a voluntary or mandatory arrangement.

[JohnTPT17]

On 1/30/2025 at 2:59 AM, Maaboo the Witch said:

I'd personally like a Re-Tail trailer with Reese and Cyrus. In fact, a Harv's Island set with several trailers would be cool.

Based on the size and price of Lief's trailer, a full Harv's Island could get quite expensive very quickly. Though it could also act as a good way to get a bunch of characters/act as some kind of foundation for people to make their own big, custom islands.

3 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

Redd is near the top of my wishlist! Paintings and statues would also go really well with a museum set  So much potential here! As long as TLG can actually use the artwork, that is. The only roadblock I see if If they have to ask permission or pay a fee for every piece of art. Not sure how it worked in the game… 

Unless it‘s all squarely in the public domain. They collaborated with the MOMA for the Starry Night Ideas set for instance, but I don‘t know if that was a voluntary or mandatory arrangement.

A Redd's Boat/Museum combo is my wish for the next wave. It would knock out a few more major characters and locations (especially if Brewster's is included with the Museum, or is sold separately as a third set) and has the potential for some cool builds. Include enough parts to either build a "real" or "fake" statue, include two tiles for real or fake paintings, etc. I'm also 99.9% sure everything in the museum is public domain, since it's all pretty old, so there shouldn't be any issues with getting anything (and, realistically, there might only be room for 4-6 pieces of art at maximum, so they could just go with the ones that don't have licensing issues anyways if that was a factor). 

[Borex]

On 2/2/2025 at 4:53 PM, JohnTPT17 said:

 Include enough parts to either build a "real" or "fake" statue, include two tiles for real or fake paintings, etc. I'm also 99.9% sure everything in the museum is public domain, since it's all pretty old, so there shouldn't be any issues with getting anything (and, realistically, there might only be room for 4-6 pieces of art at maximum, so they could just go with the ones that don't have licensing issues anyways if that was a factor). 

Exactly what i thought. Pick the ones that work for lego and don’t give problems. 
 

and Brewster, wow i need brewster with some gyroids and a good cup of coffee with pigeon milk

[BrickBob Studpants]

According to stonewars, these are the prices and piece counts for the 3 2HY sets:

• 77056: $79.99, 543 pcs
• 77057: $89.99, 814 pcs
• 77058: $19.99, 149 pcs

Still no names... Hope they follow soon!

[Lyichir]

7 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

According to stonewars, these are the prices and piece counts for the 3 2HY sets:

• 77056: $79.99, 543 pcs
• 77057: $89.99, 814 pcs
• 77058: $19.99, 149 pcs

Still no names... Hope they follow soon!

814 pieces is the most parts any set in the theme has had so far... maybe the museum? 543 pieces is more on par with K.K.'s Concert at the Plaza or Nook's Cranny and Rosie's House (personally I'd hope for something more like the latter, since we've only had two house sets so far despite getting increasingly more villagers). 149 parts is closest to Bunnie's Outdoor Adventures, and might be another outdoor-type set since it might be too small for a full building—maybe something themed around another season (I'd love more fall-themed sets with things like mushrooms), or an outdoor event like a Fishing Tourney.

[BrickBob Studpants]

5 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

814 pieces is the most parts any set in the theme has had so far... maybe the museum? 

That's what I'm hoping for! It's definitely the most important still missing core location, and so far every wave has included at least one iconic building. Chances are good I'd say  Redd's boat would be nice as well, but I don't really see that at any of those price points, sadly. He's near the top of my minifig wishlist for this theme, so fingers crossed he shows up sooner than later!

[hikouki]

On 2/19/2025 at 3:07 PM, Lyichir said:

814 pieces is the most parts any set in the theme has had so far... maybe the museum? 543 pieces is more on par with K.K.'s Concert at the Plaza or Nook's Cranny and Rosie's House (personally I'd hope for something more like the latter, since we've only had two house sets so far despite getting increasingly more villagers). 149 parts is closest to Bunnie's Outdoor Adventures, and might be another outdoor-type set since it might be too small for a full building—maybe something themed around another season (I'd love more fall-themed sets with things like mushrooms), or an outdoor event like a Fishing Tourney.

More or less, are we looking at possibly getting about 6 new characters across all those sets?

[Lyichir]

18 hours ago, hikouki said:

More or less, are we looking at possibly getting about 6 new characters across all those sets?

That sounds reasonable. The biggest set is likely to have three or four characters—if it's indeed the museum, that'll likely include Blathers and possibly Brewster alongside one or two villagers as visitors. No telling about the other two sets but the closest price comparisons have one and three characters, respectively. It's possible that some characters will be repeats but most of them should be new—so far the only repeat characters in the theme have been Isabelle (in two normal sets) and Julian (in one set and one polybag).

[hikouki]

25 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

That sounds reasonable. The biggest set is likely to have three or four characters—if it's indeed the museum, that'll likely include Blathers and possibly Brewster alongside one or two villagers as visitors. No telling about the other two sets but the closest price comparisons have one and three characters, respectively. It's possible that some characters will be repeats but most of them should be new—so far the only repeat characters in the theme have been Isabelle (in two normal sets) and Julian (in one set and one polybag).

Comparing characters, some have the same head mould, with just different prints. E.g., Maple = Marshall = Poppy; Rosie = Tangy. I think Lego will re-use the heads as much as they can. (With the Sonic line, they are re-using the heads, but with just different mouth prints.

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, hikouki said:

Comparing characters, some have the same head mould, with just different prints. E.g., Maple = Marshall = Poppy; Rosie = Tangy. I think Lego will re-use the heads as much as they can. (With the Sonic line, they are re-using the heads, but with just different mouth prints.

This is true and very doable with Animal Crossing—most villager "species" (not including special NPC characters like shopkeepers or holiday visitors) share the same head shapes (with a few minor cosmetic variations, like Julian's unicorn horn setting him apart from other horse villagers). There are certainly plenty of other bear, squirrel, rabbit, deer, wolf, and cat villagers who could use the same head molds as some of the villagers who have already been produced. That said, I hope they don't stick ONLY to existing species for villager characters—there are plenty of other species in the games that haven't got minifigure head molds yet, including some of my personal favorite villagers (like Merengue the rhinoceros or Cephalobot the octopus).

[BrickBob Studpants]

6 hours ago, Lyichir said:

That said, I hope they don't stick ONLY to existing species for villager characters—there are plenty of other species in the games that haven't got minifigure head molds yet […]

Exactly. On top of rhinos and octopi, there are still frogs, kangaroos, goats, birds, eagles, elephants, lions, hippos, alligators, gorillas, ducks, hamsters, and probably some others I‘m forgetting  

It‘s gonna take a while before we get one of each of these (if the theme even survives that long!), but it‘d be nice to scratch at least one or two off that list this summer ^^

[BrickBob Studpants]

FINALLY some news! The three sets are:

• 77056 Blather’s Museum Collection
• 77057 Creative Houses: Seasons of Fun
• 77058 Goldie’s Cozy House

The large set being the museum was an incredibly easy guess! The other two sound intriguing as well!

[BrickBob Studpants]

And we already have pics! Love the new villagers, plus the snail and pear pieces!

[Lyichir]

New sets look very nice! I'm glad we're getting some more houses since the January wave didn't have any. Great selection of villagers too.

[JohnTPT17]

Glad to see Goldie! I've known her since the Gamecube, so she's an easy pickup.

Not sure if I'll get the house two-pack or not... Probably depends on what the final arrangement I want for my Animal Crossing town. Stitches and Whitney are greatly appreciated, though.

I initially thought that the Museum was just a wall/facade, but there are photos out of the back of the box - it does indeed have a (basic) interior! 

[Agent Kallus]

Blathers! And a frog villager ( the best type of villager), I'm still undecided on terms of budget but the museum (and the Celeste set to go with it) might be the first set/s I pick up for myself rather than as a gift for others.