Latest impact of other themes on historic themes

[MKJoshA]

On 4/15/2021 at 11:41 AM, gedren_y said:

The current Harry Potter leaks include Hogwarts First Flying Lesson. It has the house heraldries printed (looks like they aren't stickers) on the Nexo Knights shield tile.

A review showed they are stickers. Sorry, I don't have a link because I saw it on Instagram days ago.

[Exetrius]

On 4/28/2021 at 8:30 AM, MAB said:

I'm not that impressed by the dragon, given the previous CMF we already have.

Well, the previously released red wings were a bit small, these new ones are more impressive. Now you can diversify your army because both pieces come in red, or even do scenes with juvenile vs adult demons/dragons. 

Also, I very much welcome that female vampire head! 

[LettuceBrick]

The new Hydro Bounty from Ninjago appears to have new kite shields, possibly undecorated, but its hard to tell.

[Shroffy123]

Upcoming HP sets offer alot of useful pieces for castle. New elephant in the city sets 🙂

[gedren_y]

8 hours ago, LettuceBrick said:

The new Hydro Bounty from Ninjago appears to have new kite shields, possibly undecorated, but its hard to tell.

They're just the classic ovoid (Brickset has a good image), but eight unprinted in Dark Tan. Perfect for the customizer with a good selection of stickers. There are a number of Chima stickers that would work on these.

[Aanchir]

6 hours ago, Shroffy123 said:

Upcoming HP sets offer alot of useful pieces for castle. New elephant in the city sets 🙂

A lion (male, with mane), lion cub, an elephant calf, and new monkey as well! There's also a python using the same mold as Nagini from the Harry Potter sets, but with a new print, and a crocodile in classic green (the ones introduced in 2015 were Earth Green).

There's also a new Beauty and the Beast castle in the Disney theme which might offer some useful parts, although the walls are mostly lavender which I know a lot of medieval builders may not care for. The interior is still mostly hidden in the pics we've seen, but it does include a library with at least two book covers in neutral colors. And like the recent 4+ winter version of the castle, this one has lots of fantastic dark red roof pieces.

[TeriXeri]

5 different colored horses in the 2021 Friends sets, while not the traditional Minifig horse design, the color variation available is certainly much bigger then the single horse via the Blacksmith right now.

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by TeriXeri

[zoth33]

All the animal molds look great especially the male lion.  Really like Kai's fire dragon, nice looking wyvern.  The water dragon looks good too, but I will probably mod the wings.  The python print looks good.  The Ninjago season 15 sets have some great parts and figs.  Wojira looks good too.  I like the Kalmaar fig.  Benthomar also looks great as a fig Hopefully the figs will be on B@P.  

[1974]

Nvm

Edited May 2, 2021 by 1974

[Metanoios]

New sheep mould (black and white) is coming in the Disney Mickey and Donald farm set. It is just a normal sheep (not cartoonish) and the tan horse from the Blacksmith comes in that set as well

[gedren_y]

1 minute ago, Metanoios91 said:

New sheep mould (black and white) is coming in the Disney Mickey and Donald farm set. It is just a normal sheep (not cartoonish) and the tan horse from the Blacksmith comes in that set as well

Also some more yellow to build out that castle, with what looks to be a printed curved panel.

[Old-mf]

7 minutes ago, Metanoios91 said:

New sheep mould (black and white) is coming in the Disney Mickey and Donald farm set. It is just a normal sheep (not cartoonish) and the tan horse from the Blacksmith comes in that set as well

Do not forget it got chicken and rabbit! This is a good farm set (4 animas total if we do not count Mickey). I will buy 3 minimum)

Edited May 2, 2021 by Old-mf

[zoth33]

All these new animal molds are going to make for some great MOC's.  I really like the white and tan male lion and the new monkey molds.  The elephants are great too.  Can't wait to get some sheep for a nice castle farm scene.  

 

[Frike]

Are we actually getting a proper sheep mould? That is huge!!!

Edit: Brickset has an image of set 10775.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Frike

[Niku]

Sheep yes!

havent seen it but YES!

[kabel]

Funny, it's the sheep that brings me back here after years of not posting. It's kinda sad though that many of us have become so underwhelmed by Lego these days that it takes a single mold to become excited. Anyway, I kinda like all the animals in the set, especially the horse in a new color. I totally didn't feel like buying the blacksmith just for the horse, and the balck falcon torsos but I might get this set. You can never have anough chickens and I keep losing mine when going to Lego conventions ... On a side note though, the plates under that farm building probably hint at where Lego is headed once they get rid of baseplates altogether. And that is disheartening once again ... 

[TeriXeri]

10 minutes ago, kabel said:

 On a side note though, the plates under that farm building probably hint at where Lego is headed once they get rid of baseplates altogether. And that is disheartening once again ... 

It's a 4+ set which has been using thicker plates/bricks for it's buildings for a while now, first started back in 2015 with a rectangle, and now a newer rounded version.

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by TeriXeri

[kabel]

2 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

It's a 4+ set which has been using thicker plates/bricks for it's buildings for a while now.

True, but that's also from where the new road plates sorta derived. 

Anyway, I havn't really been buying sets for some four years or so. But I'll definetely will get this one and use the crappy parts for substructures in other mocs ...

[Metanoios]

3 hours ago, kabel said:

Funny, it's the sheep that brings me back here after years of not posting. It's kinda sad though that many of us have become so underwhelmed by Lego these days that it takes a single mold to become excited. Anyway, I kinda like all the animals in the set, especially the horse in a new color. I totally didn't feel like buying the blacksmith just for the horse, and the balck falcon torsos but I might get this set. You can never have anough chickens and I keep losing mine when going to Lego conventions ... On a side note though, the plates under that farm building probably hint at where Lego is headed once they get rid of baseplates altogether. And that is disheartening once again ... 

The current baseplates are flimsy and bend under strain easily. I for one think the new Lego Arts technic plates are a perfect substiute for the lego baseplates (as is demonstrated by the 10276 Colosseum set which uses a lot of them in olive green for the base). If you do large scale (bigger than 32 by 32) or heavy MOCs you realise, that the current "beloved" baseplates have many disadvantages and offer next to no support if you try to move the MOC. You either have to reinforce it with a bricks+plates and technic construction (which is basically like not using the baseplates at all) or use a piece of wood as the actual base (like in many Modular cities). This is exactly why a set like the Colosseum would never have been possible with baseplates, but the new Lego Arts plates made a strong enough support with a minimal use of pieces possible and the system is easily customisable with other technic components (which the baseplates are not). So the love for baseplates is just nostalgic day-dreaming. There will still be enough baseplates on the secondary market for those that prefer bendy, flimsy and out-of-system solutions

[1974]

The Colloseum could easily have been made on regular baseplates. Layer bricks and plates on top and it's good to go. Just like the Sydney Opera. Train builders, who makes huge layouts, have been doing this for decades. That's also the folks that's been first adopters of non-LEGO parts (tracks and wheels) and they'll most likely just use off-brand baseplates in the future

Vacuum formed baseplates are actually rather cheap to make, compared to injection moulded parts, so I'm sure there will be a market for non-LEGO baseplates in the future

 

 

[Lyichir]

19 minutes ago, 1974 said:

The Colloseum could easily have been made on regular baseplates. Layer bricks and plates on top and it's good to go. Just like the Sydney Opera. Train builders, who makes huge layouts, have been doing this for decades. That's also the folks that's been first adopters of non-LEGO parts (tracks and wheels) and they'll most likely just use off-brand baseplates in the future

Vacuum formed baseplates are actually rather cheap to make, compared to injection moulded parts, so I'm sure there will be a market for non-LEGO baseplates in the future

Layering bricks and plates on a baseplate for support is a solution that can work for fans but is less than ideal for sets. Sets have to be designed not just for easy assembly, but also pain-free disassembly—and there's little that's more frustrating than having to peel up layers upon layers of plates. There's a reason why even sets like the Disney Castle have opted for a solid Technic framework under the floor to provide a stable foundation—the Colosseum merely opted to base its foundation on the new Lego Art bases, which has the stability of a Technic frame and a plain building surface built in even without having to layer additional plates on top. Add in the fact that the Colosseum's construction allowed it to have a base that mimicked the overall round shape of the structure itself, instead of having the "corners" have to extend far beyond the main subject's boundaries—classic baseplates would have made that more difficult, since their odd 1/2-plate thickness complicates builds where you want angled parts to overhang the edge for a more contoured base.

For a 4+ set as discussed above, the two-plate thick bases make it easy to attach additional bases to them for larger builds, and provide a sturdy surface that can't easily be bent or broken. Their partially-studded surface also helps for easier assembly and disassembly. That's a plus for builders just graduating out of Duplo, who need to be able to practice building at a finer scale without the new system becoming frustrating or a turn-off for them.

Baseplates are still good for a lot of things, and despite the constant anxiety of AFOLs I don't really see them going away given that the highly popular modular building series and all its offshoots rely on them. But there are a lot of scenarios where a different type of base, either prefabricated or brick-built, is preferable.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Lyichir

[Metanoios]

28 minutes ago, 1974 said:

The Colloseum could easily have been made on regular baseplates. Layer bricks and plates on top and it's good to go. Just like the Sydney Opera. Train builders, who makes huge layouts, have been doing this for decades. That's also the folks that's been first adopters of non-LEGO parts (tracks and wheels) and they'll most likely just use off-brand baseplates in the future

Vacuum formed baseplates are actually rather cheap to make, compared to injection moulded parts, so I'm sure there will be a market for non-LEGO baseplates in the future

 

 

You just repeated my point: "Layer bricks and plates on top and it's good to go". You agree that you need additional bricks and plates to make it strong enough and even usable. Have you actually held the colosseum in hand and know how heavy it is? Baseplates bend at the lightest touch. It adds only minimal additional support in reality. The baseplates are ok for kids to place it on the floor and add a few bricks or minifigs on it, but it offers next to no real structural support for a MOC. And the train builders with huge layouts are using mostly ply wood for their city displays. Some use the MILS system but that actually doesn't really need baseplates. Normal plates or the technic Arts plates would work even better for that because it would make a MILS module completely system-compatible and you could for example build large mountain ranges with support pillars under the modules instead of having the problem that baseplates have no easy way to connect on their underside to other Lego.

The baseplates might be cheaper in production, but if you have to use additional bricks or a material like wood to make them actually usable for your city or MOC you have to account for that additional cost in the comparison with for example the Lego Arts technic plate which don't need those extra plates+bricks to offer a strong, interconnectable and expandable base that you can lift off the ground without it bending and pieces falling off left and right.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Metanoios91

[1974]

7 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

Sets have to be designed not just for easy assembly, but also pain-free disassembly—and there's little that's more frustrating than having to peel up layers upon layers of plates

You have never build the Taj Mahal or the Robie House then?

5 minutes ago, Metanoios91 said:

You just repeated my point: "Layer bricks and plates on top and it's good to go". You agree that you need additional bricks and plates to make it strong enough and even usable. Have you actually held the colosseum in hand and know how heavy it is? Baseplates bend at the lightest touch. It adds only minimal additional support in reality. The baseplates are ok for kids to place it on the floor and add a few bricks or minifigs on it, but it offers next to no real structural support for a MOC. And the train builders with huge layouts are using mostly ply wood for their city displays. Some use the MILS system but that actually doesn't really need baseplates. Normal plates or the technic Arts plates would work even better for that because it would make a MILS module completely system-compatible and you could for example build large mountain ranges with support pillars under the modules instead of having the problem that baseplates have no easy way to connect on their underside to other Lego.

The baseplates might be cheaper in production, but if you have to use additional bricks or material like wood to make them actually usable for your city or MOC you have to account for that additional cost in the comparison with for example the Lego Arts technic plate which don't need those extra plates+bricks to offer a strong, interconnectable and expandable base that you can lift off the ground without it bending and pieces falling off left and right.

Baseplates do not bend at all with bricks and plates above. The Colloseum is not just slabbed on those new frame plates either

[Metanoios]

22 minutes ago, 1974 said:

You have never build the Taj Mahal or the Robie House then?

You are actually again proofing his point with your answer. The Taj Mahal uses the old baseplate (6x) + plates and bricks stacking system to create the needed structural support which is tedious to assemble and disassemble (like @Lyichir said). If they had a different system beyond the baseplates back when the Taj Mahal was released, you can be sure that they would have used the Lego Arts plate for it and it would have reduced the piece count by at least 500-750 pieces

22 minutes ago, 1974 said:

Baseplates do not bend at all with bricks and plates above. The Colloseum is not just slabbed on those new frame plates either

You need roughly at least 70 bricks and plates to make one 32x32 baseplate even comparably structurally as strong as 4 of the new Arts plates with a few technic friction pins. It takes 20 seconds to assemble the Arts base and more than 5 minutes for the structurally improved baseplate assembly. On the one hand you use 12 pieces (Arts technic) and on the other >70 pieces (baseplate). The new system would be both time and cost efficient, as well as in-system and customisable. So again what is so great about baseplates?

Edited May 3, 2021 by Metanoios91

[1974]

They are cheap, they work and they come in 32x32 and bigger. And a lot of layouts depend on them

The new system with twice the height is not cool. You may ask all those Modular collectors if they think they're cool as well

Anyway, I don't use them and have sold all, I much prefer regular plates. But I still think TLG should keep them