What next vintage set could be recreated by TLG ?

[Space78]

I feel like the vintage "re-make" sets are aimed at adults that had similar sets as a kid.  Thus, we are probably talking about sets made no later than the mid-1990's. 

I have no idea how successful 10497 Galaxy Explorer has been, but I think Lego was right on target with that one: iconic set, well-done recreation, price point.  I think Classic Space was a large part of a lot of kid's play time growing up in the 1980's.  With Lion's castle, I think they way overshot the mark: too expensive.  I'd like to have one, but for my money 31120 castle is a much better value and gets the job done re-creating a classic castle looking build.  I don't have 10320 Eldorado Fortress, but it's on my wish list.  I'd say $215 is on the edge of what I'm willing to spend for a "nostalgic" set. 

What's next?  Seems to be solid rumors there will be several space themed sets for 2024 including a minifig series.  I think it's equal odds we get something from Classic Space or Futuron/Space Police.  I'm hoping we get some kind of base with some vehicles instead of another ship.  Would be a nice complement to 10497.  A re-imagined 6970 Beta-I Command Base would be super cool if it came out as well "re-imagined" as the Galaxy Explorer.

Can't see another re-imagined castle set any time soon given the castle sets in current production.  I'd LOVE to see a train of some type, but I think Lego has tried hard over the decades to have a viable train "system" that would take off and be a profitable category.  But, here we are in 2023 with Lego still struggling with trains, if they pay any real attention to the line at all.  One can hope we get another set like the Santa Fe passenger set from 2004 or the BNSF engine and TTX cars.  However, that might mostly have North American appeal, and thus presents another challenge to the train theme in Lego.

While it might be cool to have a re-imagined Town set, I just can't see much demand for a Fire, Police, or Hospital set, which surely were some of Lego's most popular sets back in the day.

Edited November 6, 2023 by Space78

[MAB]

51 minutes ago, Space78 said:

While it might be cool to have a re-imagined Town set, I just can't see much demand for a Fire, Police, or Hospital set, which surely were some of Lego's most popular sets back in the day.

Fire and Police (and to a lesser extent,  Hospital) are still among the most popular sets today. But under the modern City theme, which is why there is likely low demand for a vintage remake as we still have them just done in a modern style.

[Alexandrina]

55 minutes ago, Space78 said:

I feel like the vintage "re-make" sets are aimed at adults that had similar sets as a kid.  Thus, we are probably talking about sets made no later than the mid-1990's.

Honestly I think purely in terms of adults who might be buying nostalgia Lego, you can go about a decade later than that. I'm in my mid-twenties, so the perfect age to be hooked by nostalgia, and I didn't grow up with the 90s sets. The era of sets I'm nostalgic for extends all the way to the late 2000s.

I don't think we'll get remakes of sets in that time period for a while just because it's recent, but the nostalgic adults for 2000s sets are definitely there.

[Space78]

2 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

Honestly I think purely in terms of adults who might be buying nostalgia Lego, you can go about a decade later than that. I'm in my mid-twenties, so the perfect age to be hooked by nostalgia, and I didn't grow up with the 90s sets. The era of sets I'm nostalgic for extends all the way to the late 2000s.

I don't think we'll get remakes of sets in that time period for a while just because it's recent, but the nostalgic adults for 2000s sets are definitely there.

Understood.  My assumption is that AFOL's in their 20's tend to not have $200-$400 to drop on a nostalgic Lego set, or at least might be less willing to spend their Lego $$ on that.  I've seen this in other hobbies.  It's people in their late 40s and older where the kids have moved out and now they have (more) disposable income.  Couple that with nostalgia for their childhood/growing up years, and companies have a strong reason to cater to that age group.

2 hours ago, MAB said:

Fire and Police (and to a lesser extent,  Hospital) are still among the most popular sets today. But under the modern City theme, which is why there is likely low demand for a vintage remake as we still have them just done in a modern style.

Yes, I agree with this.  I think Lego could do some pretty neat things "re-imagining" classic Fire, Police, and Hospital sets from the late 1970s.  I just don't know what the demand would be.

[Alexandrina]

1 minute ago, Space78 said:

Understood.  My assumption is that AFOL's in their 20's tend to not have $200-$400 to drop on a nostalgic Lego set, or at least might be less willing to spend their Lego $$ on that.  I've seen this in other hobbies.  It's people in their late 40s and older where the kids have moved out and now they have (more) disposable income.  Couple that with nostalgia for their childhood/growing up years, and companies have a strong reason to cater to that age group.

I only mention mid-twenties because that, in my experience, is also the demographic that is most likely to either still be living with parents or, even if having moved out, to not yet have a family/related expenses (obviously not saying that everyone has a family at a certain age, of course - just making generalisations!)

For instance, my circumstances at the moment normally leave me with a few hundred quid a year of disposable income to spend on Lego, which I'm unlikely to have in a few years' time when I really get into my career (aside from having a lot less time to actually spend with Lego!)

[Black Falcon]

22 hours ago, Space78 said:

I have no idea how successful 10497 Galaxy Explorer has been, but I think Lego was right on target with that one: iconic set, well-done recreation, price point.  

Since we are getting a new Blacktron-Ship next year it can´t have been that bad. And it was actually quite fair priced IMO. Howevern I actually was surprised it is already retiring, although one year is a quite common duration. I am not that sure how that set was received be non-nostalic Afols honestly. I would have liked an more renewed look actually.

Quote

With Lion's castle, I think they way overshot the mark: too expensive.  I'd like to have one, but for my money 31120 castle is a much better value and gets the job done re-creating a classic castle looking build.  I don't have 10320 Eldorado Fortress, but it's on my wish list.  I'd say $215 is on the edge of what I'm willing to spend for a "nostalgic" set. 

Well I actually am happy we got a castle in that size, as with 100€ today you can´t do that much anymore, honestly. Sure I would have liked the set to be a bit less expensive, but for me it looks just perfect - (if we ignore the ramp)

 

21 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

Honestly I think purely in terms of adults who might be buying nostalgia Lego, you can go about a decade later than that. I'm in my mid-twenties, so the perfect age to be hooked by nostalgia, and I didn't grow up with the 90s sets. The era of sets I'm nostalgic for extends all the way to the late 2000s.

I don't think we'll get remakes of sets in that time period for a while just because it's recent, but the nostalgic adults for 2000s sets are definitely there.

Well while they will focus on older, more iconic sets, with the Medieval Town Square we are getting a newer Set remade actually. To be fair that one is one of the very iconic (and expensive) ones just as the set where the Goat originated from. However that one clearly has the price only because of the Goats, the horse and the villagers (although Medieval Market Village might be the same to some extend)

18 hours ago, Space78 said:

Understood.  My assumption is that AFOL's in their 20's tend to not have $200-$400 to drop on a nostalgic Lego set, or at least might be less willing to spend their Lego $$ on that.  I've seen this in other hobbies.  It's people in their late 40s and older where the kids have moved out and now they have (more) disposable income.  Couple that with nostalgia for their childhood/growing up years, and companies have a strong reason to cater to that age group.

While that might be true, and this group surely is bigger than younger people that are willing to spend that much on Lego, I wouldn´t generalize to much there. I mean there are also young people that are having a good income and can just aford to spend  a lot money on Lego and generally there are way more singles out there than there were in the past that don´t have to spend their money on kids (yet)

Edited November 7, 2023 by Black Falcon
Posting Error

[Space78]

4 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

While that might be true, and this group surely is bigger than younger people that are willing to spend that much on Lego, I wouldn´t generalize to much there. I mean there are also young people that are having a good income and can just aford to spend  a lot money on Lego and generally there are way more singles out there than there were in the past that don´t have to spend their money on kids (yet)

Agree, I'm just not convinced that group is spending their Lego funds on "nostalgic" sets, vs. the hundreds of other sets Lego offers.

[Alexandrina]

4 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

Well while they will focus on older, more iconic sets, with the Medieval Town Square we are getting a newer Set remade actually. To be fair that one is one of the very iconic (and expensive) ones just as the set where the Goat originated from. However that one clearly has the price only because of the Goats, the horse and the villagers (although Medieval Market Village might be the same to some extend)

And that's exactly the sort of set I'll be a sucker for. It's one of those that I really wanted at the time but didn't have the means to afford - but now that I'm an adult, I'll be able to afford my copy. (And hopefully some PAB goats for good measure!)

[Black Falcon]

26 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

And that's exactly the sort of set I'll be a sucker for. It's one of those that I really wanted at the time but didn't have the means to afford - but now that I'm an adult, I'll be able to afford my copy. (And hopefully some PAB goats for good measure!)

Well the good thing is it will be cheaper than the original ;). And if you are going to get some Pick a brick goats don´t forget the CMF ones. Always good to have some diversity in both animals and townsfolk. That beeing said, even getting the new set now, I still would like to have the old sets. Don´t care much about the set actually but would love to have the civilians and animals.

[Alexandrina]

Just now, Black Falcon said:

Well the good thing is it will be cheaper than the original ;). And if you are going to get some Pick a brick goats don´t forget the CMF ones. Always good to have some diversity in both animals and townsfolk. That beeing said, even getting the new set now, I still would like to have the old sets. Don´t care much about the set actually but would love to have the civilians and animals.

Honestly I want the civilian figs from the OG MMV more than I want the goat. Hoping the goat's rebirth brings the price of the old set down so I can justify it.

[Black Falcon]

3 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Honestly I want the civilian figs from the OG MMV more than I want the goat. Hoping the goat's rebirth brings the price of the old set down so I can justify it.

Well the goat was in the Mill Village Raid though so don´t see that affecting the price of the MMV. And that ones prices didn´t really decrease after the cows came to pick a brick, even though the goat surely has a bigger influence on the overall price of the set than the cows had. But anyways, while the goats price might go down, I don´t think it will make the goat that cheap (that version at least) I actually would guess it might even stay above 20€, but really hard to guess in the end. But as long as Lego doesn´t make one that looks similar to that one people might still want to have that one.

[Alexandrina]

22 minutes ago, Black Falcon said:

Well the goat was in the Mill Village Raid though so don´t see that affecting the price of the MMV.

Tbf I was thinking of Mill Village Raid anyway!

[Wesley D]

It seems we'll get an incredible Friends set ('Reunion Mansion' - 42639) that is nothing less than a modern imagining of Paradisa Poolside Paradise (6416). With minifigures it could have been released as such.

[MAB]

9 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

Well the goat was in the Mill Village Raid though so don´t see that affecting the price of the MMV. And that ones prices didn´t really decrease after the cows came to pick a brick, even though the goat surely has a bigger influence on the overall price of the set than the cows had. But anyways, while the goats price might go down, I don´t think it will make the goat that cheap (that version at least) I actually would guess it might even stay above 20€, but really hard to guess in the end. But as long as Lego doesn´t make one that looks similar to that one people might still want to have that one.

Same here. In my experience,  set prices rarely change if a once rare part from the set is re-released. If it is exactly the same part, any other unique parts in the set tend to increase slightly. If it is a similar but not exactly the same, little changes. The sales volume of the old part might drop, but then the volume of sales of the goat is negligible anyway.

[Alexandrina]

6 hours ago, Wesley D said:

It seems we'll get an incredible Friends set ('Reunion Mansion' - 42639) that is nothing less than a modern imagining of Paradisa Poolside Paradise (6416). With minifigures it could have been released as such.

I don't know, it's a lovely looking set but beyond the surface level similarities (house with lots of glass walls and a pool in the front garden) I don't think it's really Poolside Paradise reimagined so much as its own thing that happens to have some details in common. Not to say I won't be getting it (for those garage doors if nothing else) but what made Paradisa distinct was its colour scheme as much as anything; the Friends set has a very different colour scheme. It seems more "vibrant seaside city" than "dreamy vapourwave".

[Justin]

It would be cool if they did a remake of the Space Police II Galactic Mediator...

[Justin]

Another thing that would be cool, is if they went a different, more unusual route with a remastered LEGO Town set altogether, and did a remake of a 1997 set from the LEGO Outback subtheme, the 6444 Outback Airstrip.

They could make the building bigger, as well as the cargo plane (which would hold more cargo), and maybe it would give LEGO an excuse to make their first LEGO kangaroo animal...

[capathmo]

I doubt they would do a remake of town sets, given the current city theme, but my votes would be for something like Big Rig Truck Stop 6393, Sail 'n Fly Marina 6543, or Launch and load Seaport 6542. While they do make similar themed sets in modern city, they generally lack things like the docks, piers, or road baseplates to bring the sets together and complete the scene. It could be fun to see how sets like these could be reimagined.