The Future of Lego Space. (opinions, ideas, discussion)

[Digger of Bricks]

Just now, Captain Mutant said:

Don't forget that the City theme is getting space exploration, including a moon base, this year - I for one am excited about the possibility. And if LEGO don't make it to my exacting standards, I'll use their bricks and pieces to build my own, and see how they like it!!! ? 

Even if this upcoming Space subtheme isn't an all-out spiritual successor to Classic Space as-we-knew-it, a Lunar Outpost at the very least is a start, as you can expect the next iteration of Space from City to push the envelope a little further outward four years later. 

[Aanchir]

On 1/4/2019 at 6:02 AM, Captain Mutant said:

I think what they're saying (could be wrong) is that back in the late 70s, early 80s, there were no TV tie-ins and the characters in the Space, City, Castle and Pirate themes were ours to do with as we wished. We made up their names, and had our own adventures. It was a "golden age of opportunity and adventure"

But now maybe kids are more inclined to play with named characters? Like Star Wars and Marvel characters? Maybe imagination isn't what it used to be?

Well, Pirates is something of an exception among those themes you listed, since it had tie-in picture books and comics featuring named characters.

And it's preposterous to act as though telling stories featuring already-named characters is "unimaginative" — let alone as though kids who buy sets featuring named characters are somehow prevented from creating their own original characters to play with as well. I've seen way more fan art and fan fiction from kids and adults alike for themes like Ninjago and Bionicle than I've EVER seen for themes that offer a supposed "blank slate" like City, Castle, and Pirates. And frankly, taking known characters and creating new stories about them is how many of the world's most well-known myths and legends (such as those of Hercules, King Arthur, Anansi, etc) took shape. It's a tradition nearly as old as storytelling itself.

Furthermore — telling kids stories is how they learn the tools and techniques to get better at creating their own stories, just as giving kids building steps teaches them tools and techniques that can help them improve their own LEGO creations. How many filmmakers do you think there are who grew up never watching other people's movies, or authors who grew up never reading other people's books? It's foolish to think that kids attempting to recreate the stories they've heard elsewhere means that their creativity is being stifled. By interpreting existing stories and characters on their own terms, they learn to better understand what it is about these stories that makes them so enticing.

And sure, kids are bound to hear stories elsewhere that they can incorporate into their LEGO play. But making storytelling a PART of the LEGO themes kids enjoy helps teach them how LEGO builds can reinforce the story they're meant to support. Classic Space or M:Tron sets might have been just fine as toys, but the same "blank slate" principle that is often seen as creatively freeing also means that they communicate very little actual meaning. And being able to visually communicate meaning is one of the most necessary skills for becoming an effective designer.

By comparison, the Ninjago storyline isn't something fundamentally separate from the sets. In many ways, even without the TV series to provide context, the sets clearly communicate the scenarios they present. And by building and playing with sets that have this strength of communication, kids learn the skills to incorporate stronger visual storytelling into their own creations.

None of this is to say that there isn't a place for more open-ended themes… the perennial strength of the City theme proves that "blank slate" characters are far from obsolete. But it's always frustrating to hear older LEGO builders frame their frustrations with current sets as kids having less intelligence or good taste or creativity than previous generation did. It's no different from the way uptight old curmudgeons have always turned up their noses at the younger generations who don't enjoy the same types of music, books, movies, or sports as their elders did. It's possible to wax nostalgic for the type of things YOU preferred as a child without making ignorant, demeaning generalizations about the sorts of things today's kids enjoy or the intelligence/taste/creativity of the kids themselves.

[GameyRaccoon]

10 hours ago, icm said:

I think the question of whether kids play "space"/"Star Wars" vs "pirates" or "cowboys" is a bit misguided.  The appropriate question would be, when they play "pirates" or "cowboys," do they play "Pirates of the Caribbean" instead of "pirates" or "The Lone Ranger" or "Roy Rogers" instead of "cowboys."  Generally, Space/Pirates/Cowboys are very different themes for play, and the real question is about whether kids play with existing characters or with characters they define and name themselves.  Color me skeptical on the sky-is-falling lack of creativity and imagination among children in the use of existing named characters.  My dad tells about playing "Lone Ranger" or "Roy Rogers" as a kid instead of generic "cowboys," fifty years ago.  A hundred years ago, kids might play "Peter Pan" and "Treasure Island"; two hundred years ago they would play "Knights of the Round Table" instead of generic "knights" or "Robin Hood" instead of generic "robbers in the forest."  (Check that last one by reading some Twain.)  When I was a kid twenty years ago, I was fully aware of the named characters in Lego themes and the Star Wars, and I used the names freely.  It saved me the trouble of having to come up with a unique name for each little minifigure when I added a set to my town.  That doesn't mean I ever re-enacted movie scenes with my Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker minifigs and their accompanying sets, nor even tried hard to copy the movie personalities.  Same with Vernon Dursley - same with the astronaut minifigure I named after Buzz Aldrin. 

That's true. But what I mean is a Lego theme will have a TV show, foam non-lego merch (?), comics, and then will be retired in two years time. Isn't TLG wasting money? (I guess I am quite cynical)

Hell, when I was a young child, I was just like you. So I am no different.

[Exetrius]

2 hours ago, GameyRaccoon said:

That's true. But what I mean is a Lego theme will have a TV show, foam non-lego merch (?), comics, and then will be retired in two years time. Isn't TLG wasting money? (I guess I am quite cynical)

Ninjago was the first to have a TV show, and that theme took a major flight. Chima and Nexo Knights had one, but their financial success didn't last, presumably. Again, I think original themes with no media presence are being overruled by ones with established characters. I don't think you can call the TV shows a waste of money, it might even be the thing that keeps original themes viable at all.
City, Creator and Friends don't need TV shows because they are real-life oriented; parents and other family members buy that stuff anyway because they can familiarize with it and it makes for a good, generic LEGO set. I think fantasy (sci-fi included) oriented themes tend to be the choice of the kid itself, thus need to be brought to its attention via media.

[GameyRaccoon]

Just now, Exetrius said:

Ninjago was the first to have a TV show, and that theme took a major flight. Chima and Nexo Knights had one, but their financial success didn't last, presumably. Again, I think original themes with no media presence are being overruled by ones with established characters. I don't think you can call the TV shows a waste of money, it might even be the thing that keeps original themes viable at all.
City, Creator and Friends don't need TV shows because they are real-life oriented; parents and other family members buy that stuff anyway because they can familiarize with it and it makes for a good, generic LEGO set. I think fantasy (sci-fi included) oriented themes tend to be the choice of the kid itself, thus need to be brought to its attention via media.

I guess. For the record, I would love a spacey TV show tie-in. 

6 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

I sorta don't get why people expect Classic Space as it was having any sort of chance for a present-day comeback. In my eyes, a near-verbatim incarnation of CS as a full, standalone line of sets isn't a possibility, yet I can rather think of a multitude of ways a spiritual successor could be viable. I mean, how could anyone place their bets on a Classic Space revival when we haven't even seen any sort of in-house Space theme in the past six years? 

It's true.

[TeriXeri]

If a space/pirate/castle theme made some comeback I would want it to have no named characters, too many LEGO themes focus on named characters now.

Of course there's been named characters even ages ago like Captain Redbeard, or King Leo, Basil the Batlord, Johnny Thunder.

But that still cannot be compared to a multi-year theme like Friends/Elves/Chima/Nexo Knights/Ninjago focusing on the same characters in advertisements, media, comics, TV or Webshows, or even a Movie in TLM1/2. (I'll leave out licensed themes)

 

 

2 hours ago, Exetrius said:

City, Creator and Friends don't need TV shows because they are real-life oriented; parents and other family members buy that stuff anyway because they can familiarize with it and it makes for a good, generic LEGO set. I think fantasy (sci-fi included) oriented themes tend to be the choice of the kid itself, thus need to be brought to its attention via media.

Friends is still different from City/Creator, as it does actually had animated media created for it.

It repeats the same 5 named characters ever since 2012. (2018 is considered a Reboot)

Edited January 5, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Aanchir]

4 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Ninjago was the first to have a TV show, and that theme took a major flight. Chima and Nexo Knights had one, but their financial success didn't last, presumably. Again, I think original themes with no media presence are being overruled by ones with established characters. I don't think you can call the TV shows a waste of money, it might even be the thing that keeps original themes viable at all.
City, Creator and Friends don't need TV shows because they are real-life oriented; parents and other family members buy that stuff anyway because they can familiarize with it and it makes for a good, generic LEGO set. I think fantasy (sci-fi included) oriented themes tend to be the choice of the kid itself, thus need to be brought to its attention via media.

Ninjago was the first to have a full TV series with multiple full seasons, but in 2010 LEGO Atlantis had a 44-minute TV special, and LEGO Hero Factory had a 4-episode mini-series (with additional 22-minute and 44-minute TV specials from 2011 onward). As far as non-broadcast animated content goes, Fabuland had both named characters and a direct-to-VHS stop-motion series back in the 80s, and Bionicle had four direct-to-DVD movies from 2003 to 2009.

Also, for what it's worth, nearly every theme that's had an ongoing TV series has had three or four years of sets, even if the show didn't continue for the entirety of that time. It's not as though shorter-lived stuff like Power Miners, Atlantis, Pharaoh's Quest, Monster Fighters, and Ultra Agents has been getting that same level of upfront investment.

I also don't see how it makes sense to think LEGO is "wasting" money on stuff like foam role-play toys. If these things weren't making enough money to break even then LEGO wouldn't make them. And while those might not have much value to us AFOLs, to the kids buying the foam role-play stuff they're just toys, same as the sets themselves. I have a hard time imagining that kids who grew up on Classic Space wouldn't have been thrilled at the idea of having life-size versions of the classic space helmets, jetpacks, and accessories in order to BECOME the courageous space explorers you usually only got to interact with in miniature!

2 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

If a space/pirate/castle theme made some comeback I would want it to have no named characters, too many LEGO themes focus on named characters now.

Of course there's been named characters even ages ago like Captain Redbeard, or King Leo, Basil the Batlord, Johnny Thunder.

But that still cannot be compared to a multi-year theme like Friends/Elves/Chima/Nexo Knights/Ninjago focusing on the same characters in advertisements, media, comics, TV or Webshows, or even a Movie in TLM1/2. (I'll leave out licensed themes)

I mean, the Adventurers theme stuck with the same main protagonists for several years across comic books, picture books, online interactive comics, trading cards, etc. And there was even an actual pitch for a LEGO Adventurers animated TV series, even if it didn't end up actually getting produced. The Pirates theme also managed to stick with some of its same named characters in the long term, even though it had even less in the way of media. Even Jim Spaceborn, the Classic Space character whose ultimate published presence only ever extended to a couple comic books, was at one point envisioned as a possible star for a LEGO TV series!

The way I see it, the only reason there wasn't the kind of consistent, multimedia presence for these characters like you're describing is that before Bionicle, the vast majority of LEGO marketing and licensing was pretty much a total mess, with different countries' marketing departments coming up with their own set and character names (hence most of the Adventurers characters having 3 or more different names), and rarely any kind of story bible or style guide to ensure consistency between different marketing campaigns or licensed media.

Plus, in the 80s and 90s LEGO was still employing the foolhardy approach of trying to handle pretty much everything in-house: compare the feeble and short-lived "LEGO Publishing" brand that published LEGO Castle and Space comics in the 80s to the much greater success LEGO has had with Ninjago books and comics licensed out to other publishers like Scholastic, Dorling-Kindersley, Papercutz, Ladybird, etc. Turning to licensing partners who specialize in producing TV series, movies, books, and video games has been a MUCH safer and more reliable strategy for them.

Compared to companies like Hasbro that had been in the storyteliing biz for decades, LEGO just didn't have those kinds of skills in their wheelhouse before the 2000s. The fact that LEGO themes today have a stronger media presence isn't because they can't succeed without one, it's because LEGO is finally in a position to do the things they only dreamed of achieving back in the 90s.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Aanchir

[x105Black]

15 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I've seen way more fan art and fan fiction from kids and adults alike for themes like Ninjago and Bionicle than I've EVER seen for themes that offer a supposed "blank slate" like City, Castle, and Pirates.

That's because City, Castle, and Pirates generate art and fiction rather than fan art and fan fiction.

15 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Furthermore — telling kids stories is how they learn the tools and techniques to get better at creating their own stories, just as giving kids building steps teaches them tools and techniques that can help them improve their own LEGO creations. How many filmmakers do you think there are who grew up never watching other people's movies, or authors who grew up never reading other people's books? It's foolish to think that kids attempting to recreate the stories they've heard elsewhere means that their creativity is being stifled. By interpreting existing stories and characters on their own terms, they learn to better understand what it is about these stories that makes them so enticing.

And sure, kids are bound to hear stories elsewhere that they can incorporate into their LEGO play. But making storytelling a PART of the LEGO themes kids enjoy helps teach them how LEGO builds can reinforce the story they're meant to support. Classic Space or M:Tron sets might have been just fine as toys, but the same "blank slate" principle that is often seen as creatively freeing also means that they communicate very little actual meaning. And being able to visually communicate meaning is one of the most necessary skills for becoming an effective designer.

That's fair, but there are movies and books for that.  Does there need to be LEGO for that?  I'm not entirely against licensed LEGO, or LEGO with stories connected, I just miss when there were more themes without those things.  Since we are currently experiencing an abundance of story-based themes, it would be nice to see more without that feature.

15 hours ago, Aanchir said:

None of this is to say that there isn't a place for more open-ended themes… the perennial strength of the City theme proves that "blank slate" characters are far from obsolete. 

Exactly.

11 hours ago, Exetrius said:

Ninjago was the first to have a TV show, and that theme took a major flight. Chima and Nexo Knights had one, but their financial success didn't last, presumably. Again, I think original themes with no media presence are being overruled by ones with established characters.

I agree.  And I don't think that themes like Castle or Space need to have established characters to be successful.

[Renny The Spaceman]

If I may throw my hat into the ring, I don't think the problem is blank slate characters or the lack thereof (as shown with the continual success of  City and Ninjago) but the obnoxious half and half way they handle LEGO space. With themes like Alien Conquest or Galaxy squad they gave the characters names and established personalities and made the themes focus just alien versus Human conflict as if it were to be a theme tied with media but outside of descriptions on LEGO.com  theres no media to get a kid invested so they'll lean towards a theme that does and leave these sets to warm shelves. 

On 1/5/2019 at 5:27 AM, GameyRaccoon said:

If a kid today sees a blue CS astro and says "Look mom, Benny from the Lego Movie!" and not "Look! An astronaut from classic space!" then that shows how kids aren't actually interested in CS itself.

Also, If TLG is going to brand those other colours as Jenny, Lenny, Kenny, etc. this problem will only get worse. 

Not really, if they're interested in CS because of Benny that doesn't mean they're not interested in the theme itself. A kid today could see The LEGO Movie and really like Benny so they go to the store to get a set with him, they'd see Benny's space squad and get that, they'd obviously notice the other spaceguys and do a quick Google search when they got home and find out there was a whole theme of "Benny's" and realise they're missing the red and black ones so they'd order a set with them on Ebay and then they're hooked. Naming the astronauts doesn't make the the kid less invested it it does the opposite, Benny's just a gateway Spaceman. 

21 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

I sorta don't get why people expect Classic Space as it was having any sort of chance for a present-day comeback. In my eyes, a near-verbatim incarnation of CS as a full, standalone line of sets isn't a possibility, yet I can rather think of a multitude of ways a spiritual successor could be viable. I mean, how could anyone place their bets on a Classic Space revival when we haven't even seen any sort of in-house Space theme in the past six years? 

The continual sold out status of 70841 and the multitude of CS themed stuff we're seeing in the advertisement for TLM2 has made people believe that and though I think they're being a tad too optimistic there will at least be a couple more CS themed sets for TLM2

Edited January 6, 2019 by Renny The Spaceman

[Digger of Bricks]

Here's a random thought: Instead of a narrative-driven TV show, why couldn't Lego commission an original videogame as the media tie-in for launching an in-house playtheme? Perhaps the videogame would be launched first to measure interest in the theme's concepts presented, then tie-in playsets would be green-lighted after its success. 

20 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I've seen way more fan art and fan fiction from kids and adults alike for themes like Ninjago and Bionicle than I've EVER seen for themes that offer a supposed "blank slate" like City, Castle, and Pirates. 

I know I've said this before elsewhere, but fan creations are the LEGO System's fan art, and many themes' MOCs do produce their own backstories to complement, hence the fan fiction. 

16 hours ago, Exetrius said:

City, Creator and Friends don't need TV shows because they are real-life oriented; parents and other family members buy that stuff anyway because they can familiarize with it and it makes for a good, generic LEGO set. 

Well, in the case of the Creator theme, it's a damn shame that it predominantly preoccupies itself with real-life subject matters year after year. 

12 hours ago, Aanchir said:

The fact that LEGO themes today have a stronger media presence isn't because they can't succeed without one, it's because LEGO is finally in a position to do the things they only dreamed of achieving back in the 90s.

Heh, if you are to presume those were their preeminent aspirations back then. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Digger of Bricks

[MAB]

On 1/5/2019 at 10:08 PM, TeriXeri said:

If a space/pirate/castle theme made some comeback I would want it to have no named characters, too many LEGO themes focus on named characters now.

 

1

Why do names bother you? Just don't read or watch the related media.

I'd prefer to have a decent space/pirate/castle theme where the characters are named, rather than no space/pirate/castle theme.

[x105Black]

5 minutes ago, MAB said:

Why do names bother you? Just don't read or watch the related media.

I'd prefer to have a decent space/pirate/castle theme where the characters are named, rather than no space/pirate/castle theme.

That's a great point as well.  As long as the theme is decent and the named characters aren't so specific that they can't be useful to us, there shouldn't be a problem.

[TeriXeri]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

Why do names bother you? Just don't read or watch the related media.

I'd prefer to have a decent space/pirate/castle theme where the characters are named, rather than no space/pirate/castle theme.

Maybe that post sounded too negative, and it wasn't meant like that.

It's not the names themselves, not even the media bothers me. 

It all depends on a few factors, how long the theme is planned to run, and how many "main characters" there are. In the case of Elves/Friends/Ninjago/Nexo Knights, 5-6 seems to be the sweet spot.

 

Small sets per "character" :

As long as sets like Spinjitzu/Airjitzu (Ninjago), Ultimate/BattleSuit (Nexo Knights), or even Heart Boxes (friends) are in addition to the regular waves of sets instead of replacing them, it works.

 

Balance between location sets and vehicles need to be right:

Traditional Castle themes generally had more castles/forts and smaller side builds like blacksmith/inn/towers/wizard huts, even 2013 Castle had 3 out of 5 sets which were buildings.

For Nexo Knights we didn't see many side-builds (maybe Merlok Libary 2.0 could be considered a side build, and 2 2017 sets had a small tower, and tree)

The main focus went into a more action oriented focus, each character had a vehicle set per year (2016/2017/2018, so that already made 15 sets + King/Robin mechs), while smaller side-vehicles and hover-horses were included in bigger sets or villain focused sets.

 

Pirate themes generally been a mix between a big ship, smaller ships and some forts/island sets, and while they had named characters, it wasn't so story-driven like a Ninjago/Nexo Knights theme, so it'd be interesting to see what they'll come up with.

 

90s Space sets been generally more focused on vehicles and usually 1 "base" per faction, Classic Space had a few more bases but also lasted many more years.

 

Faction Diversity: 

I never had any Chima sets , but while they had a lot of named characters and vehicles, I still think it was more diverse compared to Nexo Knights, it shows that multiple factions can still work with very diverse tribes, which could work for a Castle/Space/Pirate theme as well, instead of focusing on a team of 5 alone for the most part, while the villains were a bit more varied between the 3 sub-themes (lava/stone/tech-infection).  

The difference in that sense also was Nexo Knights was a 1-way good vs evil, and Chima could go 2 ways, or even tribe vs tribe.

Space, Pirates and Castle especially during the late 80s and 90s had multiple factions, making it pretty diverse too, and not strict good vs evil, because it was such a long, continued release cycle of sets, sets from 3 factions were being sold at the same time, as most years had at least 2 factions.

Catalogs showed 2-4 factions at the same time during the 90s Space/Castle/Pirate themes, 1992 for example : M-tron/Space Police 2/Blacktron 2, Pirates/Redcoats/Bluecoats, Forestmen/Wolfpack/Black Knights/Crusaders

https://images.brickset.com/library/view/?f=catalogues/c92eu4 1992 catalog

2007-2009 Fantasy Castle also had Trolls/Humans/Dwarves/Skeletons at the same time (+ Dragons, and evil Wizard)

 

 

But your right, I rather see any wave in the Space/Pirate/Castle theme then none at all.

(and before people think I am bashing Nexo Knights, I am not, it was the theme that got me out of a 15 year dark age in 2016 even)

3 hours ago, x105Black said:

That's a great point as well.  As long as the theme is decent and the named characters aren't so specific that they can't be useful to us, there shouldn't be a problem.

I know we have different opinion about Nexo Knights, while I liked most of the theme, in hindsight I can see some flaws to the theme too. 

I don't think the 2018 ending was very good, and there was a lack of castles/side builds in favor of many vehicles, my favorite part remains the actual castle sets and monsters (Lava Lair/Knighton Castle),

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Digger of Bricks]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

I know we have different opinion about Nexo Knights, while I liked most of the theme, in hindsight I can see some flaws to the theme too. 

Out of all the more recent System-based "big bang" themes we've seen so far, Nexo Knights is definitely my favorite; but, I somewhat think that it wouldn't have received as much backlash as it did if it were rather an all-out Space theme instead, as it would've been thought more of as another Space theme rather than a bastardization of Castle.

Edited January 7, 2019 by Digger of Bricks

[MAB]

2 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

It all depends on a few factors, how long the theme is planned to run, and how many "main characters" there are. In the case of Elves/Friends/Ninjago/Nexo Knights, 5-6 seems to be the sweet spot.

 

 

They typically wear different clothes though - and this means that they are different characters if you want them to be.

Take the first brand, Elves. And the first character, Azari.

 

Are these three the same character or are they a range of characters from a tribe of Elves? You decide. Even though it is officicially just one character, it can be four characters if you like and that is still sticking to just to the official minifigures (or dolls) without changing them.

With the minifigure based themes (where they do not vary skin colour) you have even more freedom to create your own characters by retaining the same torsos and varying the heads or hair.

2 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

 

Faction Diversity:

The difference in that sense also was Nexo Knights was a 1-way good vs evil, and Chima could go 2 ways, or even tribe vs tribe.

 

1

In your imagination maybe. However, I see the possibility of four factions here, and that is considering only the good guys with regular torsos. The wolves, the falcons, the horses and dragons. They don't have to be allies.

 

 

[TeriXeri]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

They typically wear different clothes though - and this means that they are different characters if you want them to be.

Take the first brand, Elves. And the first character, Azari.

 

With the minifigure based themes (where they do not vary skin colour) you have even more freedom to create your own characters by retaining the same torsos and varying the heads or hair.

In your imagination maybe. However, I see the possibility of four factions here, and that is considering only the good guys with regular torsos. The wolves, the falcons, the horses and dragons. They don't have to be allies.

Well, of course, LEGO can be mixed/matched, and NEXO Knights variations between seasons is good still.

Swapping heads around can indeed change the knights into different factions, torsos, legs, and armor is different for 2016/2017/2018, ultimate and battlesuit too. 

Right now my other faces are from either Nexo Knights, Creator or some City sets. 

Maybe I just need to get a hand at MOCing and customizing my figures, because right now I am way too stuck on "sets" in my head for some reason.

Thanks for the tips.

Edited January 7, 2019 by TeriXeri

[GeoBrick]

On 1/5/2019 at 4:15 PM, Captain Mutant said:

Don't forget that the City theme is getting space exploration, including a moon base, this year - I for one am excited about the possibility. And if LEGO don't make it to my exacting standards, I'll use their bricks and pieces to build my own, and see how they like it!!! ? 

Have pictures been shown of it? It's the first I hear of this.

[TeriXeri]

5 minutes ago, GeoBrick said:

Have pictures been shown of it? It's the first I hear of this.

There's only been set names/numbers as far as I've seen.

[GeoBrick]

Thanks. :)

 

[TeriXeri]

Just now, GeoBrick said:

Thanks. :)

 

Linking post from City discussion forum:

https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/163476-lego-city-2019-rumours-speculation-and-discussion/&do=findComment&comment=3055307

Edited January 7, 2019 by TeriXeri

[GeoBrick]

Thanks! 

Looking at the piece count, this Lunar Space Station won't be spectacularly big.

[Exetrius]

8 hours ago, x105Black said:

That's a great point as well.  As long as the theme is decent and the named characters aren't so specific that they can't be useful to us, there shouldn't be a problem.

Aren't we just looking/craving for something to army build? Some consistent designs bearing the same insignias, but showing a variety of ranks or specialisations?

[GameyRaccoon]

2 minutes ago, Exetrius said:

Aren't we just looking/craving for something to army build? Some consistent designs bearing the same insignias, but showing a variety of ranks or specialisations?

I guess. 

[TheNerdyOne_]

Ya I think my real, and really only, problem is that all of the sets and vehicles are designed to be character-specific as well.  Nexo Knights has a unified general color scheme, but especially in the later sets started adding more colors specific to every character.  In addition to just muddying the color scheme mand making the whole thing look much busier and generally ugly imo, but it also (at least for me) reduces the appeal of each set, as they no longer really mesh together well.

Named characters and such are fine, LEGO has done that for years, but I do think they've gone a bit overboard with the TV show tie-in.  It's most evident with Nexo Knights.  Specifically, Nexo Knights really gave off the impression to me that it was designed to be a TV show before it was designed to be a product line.  All of the enemies are 100% children's cartoon characters, which really took away from the appeal of any set which included an enemy build for me.

[GameyRaccoon]

22 minutes ago, TheNerdyOne_ said:

Ya I think my real, and really only, problem is that all of the sets and vehicles are designed to be character-specific as well.  Nexo Knights has a unified general color scheme, but especially in the later sets started adding more colors specific to every character.  In addition to just muddying the color scheme mand making the whole thing look much busier and generally ugly imo, but it also (at least for me) reduces the appeal of each set, as they no longer really mesh together well.

Named characters and such are fine, LEGO has done that for years, but I do think they've gone a bit overboard with the TV show tie-in.  It's most evident with Nexo Knights.  Specifically, Nexo Knights really gave off the impression to me that it was designed to be a TV show before it was designed to be a product line.  All of the enemies are 100% children's cartoon characters, which really took away from the appeal of any set which included an enemy build for me.

Yep. You got it.