LEGO Creator 2022 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

[RichardGoring]

It looks really good. The alt builds looks nice too.

[Bloquerto]

I love the fact that the builds resemble some of the old sets from LEGO Vikings.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

I like the brick built shields but otherwise both creature and ship don't peak my interest. I really liked those old technic + brick built creatures. The builds included a lot of useful technic parts and many modified or technic parts specifically recoloured for that single set. Some exceptional cases aside (last year Ninjago fire dragon, this years creator Tiger) many builds - despite the amazing new parts TLG owns - are just kind of blocky and have inconsistant colour schemes.

As for the ship it for sure does everything it tries to do. But brick built sails and all the classic colours just aren't my thing. The Thor ship is cheaper, will contain more detailed figures and has a very interesting colour scheme (when did we ever get an all dark tan build?!).

[jonwil]

On 1/30/2022 at 5:56 AM, TeriXeri said:

New York Postcard (summer release)

Beijing Postcard (summer release)

Brickset lists both as "This set was cancelled for unknown reasons." which is unfortunate since I wanted the New York one.

 

[TeriXeri]

Very very early, but so far it seems a 2023 31133 White Rabbit set name/number has appeared, 258 pieces

Not a huge surprise considering 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit

 

Shouldn't be too long before pictures of the 2022 Submarine and Noodle Shop sets either.

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Marcin Majkowski]

Viking ship has already official images. Its another set reffering to old series, especially to historical. I hope there will be them more, like Wild West or Adventures.

[Klaus-Dieter]

Thank you very much for the news!

 

Here are my thoughts about the Viking Ship:

- much too expensive (80 Euro would be a good price)

- only four minifigs included

- brick built sail

- missing helms

- B model and C model look bad

- very simple styled weappons

+ brick built hull looks amazing

+ great new torso prints

+ nice new minifigure headgear

+ very detailed

+ albeit brick built, the sail as well as the snake look brilliant

Edited May 1, 2022 by Klaus-Dieter

[TeriXeri]

Noodle shop pictures are up , looks like a return to the old Corner-Deli, optionally hinged with a corner sidewalk even had a living room in the back in the same spot with a big chair.

 

2016 Corner Deli pic for reference.

Flesh colored walls are interesting. 

Bike Shop as alternate is a big throwback for sure (2014 bikeshop cafe / garage alternate) and the other alternate being an Arcade with an amazing build controller on top of the roof, so good!

I don't mind repeats in 3-in-1 as much as the builds are still very different, 3-in-1 in the past 8 year or so, across all the alternate builds had a few cafes, flower shops, bike shop/garage, toy shops etc, and now also Arcade (alternate from 2018 skate house)

Edited May 2, 2022 by TeriXeri

[ChrisW]

Bit disappointed in the submarine.
Was hoping the design would be a bit more like 7774.

[TeriXeri]

I think the submarine/octopus set isn't bad, just probably different from expected.

The creativity certainly is there in the builds, just more like a bigger sea creature set instead of focus on different submarines.

I still like the builds/pieces.

2019 Deep Sea Creatures is still sold so sea creatures are probably succesful for 3-in-1.

Edited May 2, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Agent 86]

I’m not loving the Noodle Shop. The stairs are a nice addition and it’s good to see a return to the concept of a fully enclosed building, but … it all looks a bit disjointed to me. And the ice cream cart / bike seems unnecessary and out of place.

[TeriXeri]

9 hours ago, Agent 86 said:

I’m not loving the Noodle Shop. The stairs are a nice addition and it’s good to see a return to the concept of a fully enclosed building, but … it all looks a bit disjointed to me. And the ice cream cart / bike seems unnecessary and out of place.

I think the bike/icecream was mostly added to allow for parts for the alternate builds like the bike is reused in the bike garage/repair type of shop and as a hometrainer/spinning bike in the arcade, as well as the ice cream being reused as controller buttons.

In recent years instead of 3-in-1 having 1 main build and 2 other builds with leftovers and afterthought I think the design for the alternate builds is already in consideration while making the main build.

LEGO is making less of such buildings, 2020 was the last townhouse, 2021 had a beach house, so I think it's at least nice to have another of those €45 type of sets as I collect those buildings instead of the big expert modulars, that said, the new Friends art school will easily fit in a 3-in-1 style street as well.

Edited May 2, 2022 by TeriXeri

[danth]

Better pics of the Submarine are out and it looks good. All three builds are cute IMO. The coral dive build is pretty clever. I like the minifig included -- @Classic_Spaceman pointed out she comes with the Classic Space helmet in dark gray!

The set is really good for mech MOCs, if you want "fire mech" colors (dark red and yellow).

[TeriXeri]

I took a better look at the octopus set and I underestimated the  amount of clips/ball joints because it's an 8 armed octopus with a ball joint and multiple clips each.

 

Edited May 2, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Agent 86]

22 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

LEGO is making less of such buildings, 2020 was the last townhouse, 2021 had a beach house, so I think it's at least nice to have another of those €45 type of sets as I collect those buildings instead of the big expert modulars, that said, the new Friends art school will easily fit in a 3-in-1 style street as well.

Oh, I’m very happy to see another Creator 3 in 1 building. I’m just not sure it quite matches up to some of their previous ones, although I prefer it to the toy shop. The Friends theatre and art school both look incredible.

[TeriXeri]

Sets are up on LEGO.com now, surprisingly the octopus set is €30 despite having 522 pieces, so pretty good value.

[RichardGoring]

Viking Ship is $120 in the US (feels expensive next to the pirate ship and castle which are still $100). And the Octopus is $35. (Noodle shop is $45).

And they're delayed release in the US - only August 1.

[TeriXeri]

2 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

Viking Ship is $120 in the US (feels expensive next to the pirate ship and castle which are still $100). And the Octopus is $35. (Noodle shop is $45).

And they're delayed release in the US - only August 1.

Castle is €100 (but exclusive pretty much), Pirate Ship got increased to €120 this year and Viking ship is also €120

Edited May 5, 2022 by TeriXeri

[SirBlake]

$120 for the Viking Ship?

I think that’s just the thing I needed to skip this one. I wanted to love it, but I don’t $120 love it. 

[RichardGoring]

7 hours ago, SirBlake said:

$120 for the Viking Ship?

I think that’s just the thing I needed to skip this one. I wanted to love it, but I don’t $120 love it. 

Same. It's cool, but it's not something I have nostalgia for, and it doesn't seem as good or as versatile as the pirate ship or castle.

[TeriXeri]

I think they priced the Pirate Ship and Viking ship at €120 now because it's partly with discounts in mind, the Castle is exclusive here and still €100.

I'm not trying to defend the price(increase) , it's especially high for a theme like Creator, but if it was simply an overall price increase, I'd expected the Castle to be €120 as well.

But I know the Pirate Ship was basicly available at €75 for 1.5 years, and now €85 (29% off)

The Castle / Aquarium / Crocodile set being mostly exclusive to LEGO.com here, has different rules set compared to other 3-in-1 sets, I've never seen a big discount on any of those, while other 3-in-1 sets can hit 30-40% off regularly.

To me , the most overpriced 3-in-1 set of recent times was 31108: Caravan Family Holiday when the price was set at €90 while having 60% less pieces compared to the Pirate Ship in the same year when Pirate Ship was still €100 , 766 vs 1246 pieces but only €10 difference, even when the pirate ship had a lot of 1x1, but not hundreds.

Edited May 6, 2022 by TeriXeri

[timemail]

34 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

I think they priced the Pirate Ship and Viking ship at €120 now because it's partly with discounts in mind, the Castle is exclusive here and still €100.

I'm not trying to defend the price(increase) , it's especially high for a theme like Creator, but if it was simply an overall price increase, I'd expected the Castle to be €120 as well.

But I know the Pirate Ship was basicly available at €75 for 1.5 years, and now €85 (29% off)

The Castle / Aquarium / Crocodile set being mostly exclusive to LEGO.com here, has different rules set compared to other 3-in-1 sets, I've never seen a big discount on any of those, while other 3-in-1 sets can hit 30-40% off regularly.

To me , the most overpriced 3-in-1 set of recent times was 31108: Caravan Family Holiday when the price was set at €90 while having 60% less pieces compared to the Pirate Ship in the same year when Pirate Ship was still €100 , 766 vs 1246 pieces but only €10 difference, even when the pirate ship had a lot of 1x1, but not hundreds.

It is an interesting theory. Over here the Castle and Pirate ship are both $160 while the Viking will be $180. Neither Castle nor Pirate Ship were exclusive to Lego. They both had retail releases. Too early to tell for the Viking ship though.

That being said Star Wars pricing over here is very inconsistent with sets that are cheaper than a set in one country being significantly more expensive than the same set over here. I would love to know what is going on with their prices. Sometimes I think it is just some great conspiracy from them to learn how much people are willing to pay by comparing country to country sales to choose the best price to maximise profit. I would think that could be hard to do, but they must have data based on previous years to account for regional differences. Other times I think they employ a lot of incompetent people.

[Aanchir]

I am absolutely LOVING the recent reveal of 31130 Sunken Treasure Misson, as is my wife, who also loves sea creatures! Octopuses have always been one of my favorite sea creatures, and manta rays are one of hers. All three of the big animal builds are very strong designs with a good level of articulation and plenty of authentic details.

Mind you, there is one particular inaccuracy that stood out to me as I was looking at the 360-degree spin on LEGO.com — the octopus has a siphon on both sides of its mantle when in real life it should have just one. But honestly, from what I've seen, previous LEGO octopuses (brick-built and molded alike) have often not included a siphon at all, nor do many of the stylized cartoon portrayals of octopuses that I've seen (aside from in Japanese media like the Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon games, which tend to treat it as a tube-like or cannon-like "mouth").

In spite of that inaccuracy, the symmetrical siphons are still visually appealing, as with the rest of the model's details. The octopus's curved mantle seems to have a real heft to it, and the tentacles with tiny pink suckers along their length have a great balance of articulation and detail. The variegated reddish hues instantly call to mind the real-world giant Pacific octopus, a star attraction at many zoos and aquariums I've visited to on account of its size, beauty, and eerie intelligence.

I have less personal affection for lobsters than the other creatures portrayed in this set, but the lobster from this set's B-model brings up nostalgic memories of my early years as a Bionicle fan, in which I often spent a lot of time trying to come up with original Rahi beast designs using parts from my collection. Lobsters and other arthropods were particularly well-suited to these efforts due to the spindly, angular limb pieces and round, beady eyes that were the norm for Bionicle creatures in those early years.

Back then, of course, Bionicle was pretty much the only kid-friendly theme that allowed for highly-articulated creatures of that sort, as long as you didn't mind the stylized mechanical look (which I didn't —after all, I was just as big a fan of robots as I was of sea creatures). Today, sets like this one exemplify how much the LEGO System has evolved with regard too these sorts of streamlined, articulated creature builds.

The manta ray build is unfortunately the least articulated of the three models, and I can't help but wish its fins allowed for a bit more of the graceful flapping movement movement that helps make these majestic sea pancakes so endearing! But its streamlined body shape and wide, oval-shaped mouth still give it an outstandingly lifelike appearance that balances out those limitations on its movement.
 

The submarines do not excite me as much as the sea creatures and underwater scenery, but I am somewhat fond of them for nostalgic reasons — Aquazone and Divers were both among my favorite themes of my early (pre-Bionicle) KFOL years, and the submarine from the B-model is particularly reminiscent of the cute, compact design of the Aquanauts' Sea Sprint 9. The A-model's submarine doesn't awaken quite so much childhood nostalgia in me, but it does demonstrate some brilliant creativity and parts use, such as with the downward-tilted dome window in the front and access hatch in the back (both sealed up neatly at the top with a 1x6 wheel arch). My biggest gripe about this submarine design is its heavy use of grey, but the B- and C-models amply justify that choice by repurposing many of those bricks for the cave and coral reef scenery.
 

On that note, the coral reef itself beautifully demonstrates not only the rainbow of different colors this set offers, but also how even bricks in a disparate assortment of colors like that can come together to form a coherent whole. I think AFOLs like us can often underestimate the potential of polychromatic builds like this, especially since many of us associate them with the "rainbow warriors" we've seen constructed by beginner builders. And even as a lover of brightly-colored themes like Friends and Elves, I sometimes have to fight the urge to default to simple color schemes with just two or three main colors in my own MOCs.

But here, parts that were used for entirely separate builds in the A-model (or even hidden away inside those builds) are brought together to create a scene where the multifarious shapes and hues of the natural world are on full display. And honestly, that variety ends up feeling far more natural than a scene like this would be if it were populated with a more repetitive selection of flora and fauna.

I've rambled enough about this one set, I feel — but suffice to say, it's a thrilling set design that I fully expect to seek out either for myself or as a gift for my wife once it's released! I hope whoever designed it will continue to stun us with other amazing 3-in-1 animal models and nature scenes in the future!

[TeriXeri]

10 hours ago, Aanchir said:

 My biggest gripe about this submarine design is its heavy use of grey, but the B- and C-models amply justify that choice by repurposing many of those bricks for the cave and coral reef scenery.

Upside down building of those grey 2x1x2 slopes seems very interesting in the A model , seeing how the slopes are then re-used as rocks.

It's not the first time 3-in-1 has done upside down building, but it's still nice to see regular slopes or windscreens being turned upside down like here :

Edited May 8, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Ninja_whip]

Here is a review we did for the Noodle Shop. Hope you guys find it helpful! 
https://youtu.be/JKIp2lkNPh0