71046 CMF series 26: Space themed!

[legoturtle]

CITY/Space (2022) was NASA... Artemis program... it would be interesting to know about their background, characters, planet name, about aliens, crystals, plants... some kind of lore. 

[Mandalorianknight]

On 12/15/2023 at 6:13 AM, BrickBob Studpants said:

 My personal highlights are the alien tourist

 

On 12/15/2023 at 3:51 AM, PGBQW said:

I guess I could go for the tourist alien

Glad to see the Gray Tourist is doing so well- he might be my favorite design here too.

 

That said, I'm surprised there's not more love for the Ice Planet Explorer given how cool it looks. The new visored helmet, the wrecker armor, the neon chainsaw, etc.

 

3 hours ago, icm said:

I don't think we need every faction to have an official name. For myself, I'm just calling them City Space '24.

I think I agree with @legoturtle here. This is definitely a step above the normal city space. Color-coded suits, armor, encountering aliens and new power sources, not to mention some sort of gold leader. 

[MAB]

21 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I mean, you can be a "true fan" and still pick and choose what to spend your money on. I'm a Ninjago fan and still usually don't bother trying to get every Ninjago set.

 

And that is why I asked what is a true fan, since the implication was that they are somehow more important than others and so must be super-buyers to have such greatness thrust upon them.

[legoturtle]

4 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I think I agree with @legoturtle here. This is definitely a step above the normal city space. Color-coded suits, armor, encountering aliens and new power sources, not to mention some sort of gold leader. 

Yes, and that mystery - Space subtheme is everywhere. I mean that Friends Space is in Mars. Technic space is in Mars and near future somewhere BUT in two places and other faction is NASA. NASA rover and so on. Dreamzzz space is related different characters. I don't have any clue about that plot. 

Then there is one interesting point. Interstellar spaceship... that planet is not in our solar system. It has to bee somewhere far away where is asteroid so close the planet. AND what is up that SUPER crystal which gives energy for the BASE. Also what are plants used for? Crystals? Crystals + Plants ? ... and that Admiral. That is so high rank that I would have loved hear his name.

And actually yeah colour: blue, green, yellow has own leader. AND some of them have technology connected to their heads. There is so much small things if you really start to look at all the seats. Even the poly bag is interesting. Set names. Everything. (and we might even get more space sets)

Edited December 16, 2023 by legoturtle

[Black Falcon]

4 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Glad to see the Gray Tourist is doing so well- he might be my favorite design here too.

He is clearly my favourite too. 

4 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

That said, I'm surprised there's not more love for the Ice Planet Explorer given how cool it looks. The new visored helmet, the wrecker armor, the neon chainsaw, etc.

So far my impression was that the grey alien, the M-Tron and the Ice Planet one were the best received ones based on the comments here. Might be I got the wrong impression though. However the Star Girl seems to be quite popular too, but she isn´t really one of my favourites.

[Classic_Spaceman]

17 hours ago, legoturtle said:

Now we are getting a "Space" subtheme. These upcoming CMF, is there any figure which belong to the upcoming sets?

Nothing is a direct tie-in, but the Buggoid elite is holding a plant that would not look out of place in the 2024 City Space sets. . . 🤔

17 hours ago, legoturtle said:

If not, what is the name of that upcoming faction?

I consider them to be a precursor to the Mars Mission team (similar logo, similar colour-scheme, similar focus on mining). 
 

1 hour ago, legoturtle said:

Then there is one interesting point. Interstellar spaceship... that planet is not in our solar system. It has to bee somewhere far away where is asteroid so close the planet.

Not necessarily. The Interstellar Spaceship is too small to transport all of the facilities and equipment that we see the team using, so unless we get a large transport ship with FTL capabilities sometime in 2HY, the theme is probably set somewhere in Earth’s solar system. 

1 hour ago, legoturtle said:

Also what are plants used for? Crystals? Crystals + Plants ? ...

The plants are combined with the crystals somehow to make “crystal-botanic batteries”. It seems like the purple batteries are just crystal-powered, while the pink ones are crystal-botanic. 

1 hour ago, legoturtle said:

AND some of them have technology connected to their heads. 

Two (one orange and one blue) have hearing-aids, and one (green team leader) has a HUD eyepiece. 
 

6 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

That said, I'm surprised there's not more love for the Ice Planet Explorer given how cool it looks. The new visored helmet, the wrecker armor, the neon chainsaw, etc.

It seems popular (it is one of my favourites!), but we also seem to be waiting to see what colour the chainsaw will be and how orange the visor looks before passing final judgment. 
 

[Horation]

On 12/15/2023 at 8:40 PM, Robert8 said:

There are pictures of all the characters on Instagram and Reddit

You mean illegal leaks? Which are utterly unverifiable and could be prototypes, fakes or real with no way to know for sure? Yeah that doesn't count in my book...

[legoturtle]

Thank you Classic_Spaceman

...

Well those images are so clear that it shows upcoming minifigures. It is a total mess BUT there is some interesting minifigures. Problem is that those figures don't fit together BUT maybe that is the purpose. (Same thing with "space sets" 2024... all kinds of in different themes...)

[Black Falcon]

9 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Not necessarily. The Interstellar Spaceship is too small to transport all of the facilities and equipment that we see the team using, so unless we get a large transport ship with FTL capabilities sometime in 2HY, the theme is probably set somewhere in Earth’s solar system. 

Well it is called interstellar Spaceship, so it should be clear it can fly to distant solar systems - that doesn´t mean it would have to be there  since of course it could aswell just stay in the solar system. But with the crystals and aliens, I would say the sets are not located in our solar system. 

Also, noone said that ship in particular would have to had transported all that stuff there - more likely one big transport ship would have done that and once the stations were assambled it moved back to earth - so I wouldn´t count on getting a set of that one, especially since it would likely be a 300€ Ship - if not more.

2 hours ago, legoturtle said:

Well those images are so clear that it shows upcoming minifigures. It is a total mess BUT there is some interesting minifigures. Problem is that those figures don't fit together BUT maybe that is the purpose. (Same thing with "space sets" 2024... all kinds of in different themes...)

They are clearly trying to include something for everyone. I mean they included M-Tron, Blacktron 2 and Ice Planet and while surely not everyone will like those even from the fans of the old space themes (especially the Blacktron 2 isn´t that well received because of his mutation) but also new stuff with different approach. 

[Artanis I]

6 hours ago, Horation said:

illegal

Better call the police!

If they're not final images, they're not far off them.

[TeriXeri]

7 hours ago, Black Falcon said:

Well it is called interstellar Spaceship, so it should be clear it can fly to distant solar systems - that doesn´t mean it would have to be there  since of course it could aswell just stay in the solar system. But with the crystals and aliens, I would say the sets are not located in our solar system. 

Also, noone said that ship in particular would have to had transported all that stuff there - more likely one big transport ship would have done that and once the stations were assambled it moved back to earth - so I wouldn´t count on getting a set of that one, especially since it would likely be a 300€ Ship - if not more.

Interstellar Spaceship definately is not the cargo ship type, but the 2024 Space Station shows a typical "freighter" design seen in shows like Star Trek (downscaled to fit a single set), or other sci-fi video games etc, it's quite plausible, that's how they transport their modules/cargo.

To me, they probably even got Warp or  short range Transporter capability, as those batteries/crystals tech have many similarities with other sci-fi franchises.

Official picture shows it can carry at least 3 modules.

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by TeriXeri

[Black Falcon]

14 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Interstellar Spaceship definately is not the cargo ship type, but the 2024 Space Station shows a typical "freighter" design seen in shows like Star Trek (downscaled to fit a single set), or other sci-fi video games etc, it's quite plausible, that's how they transport their modules/cargo.

To me, they probably even got Warp or  short range Transporter capability, as those batteries/crystals tech have many similarities with other sci-fi franchises.

Official picture shows it can carry at least 3 modules.

While that is possible for the modules of the space station, I have my doubts about the ring, not to mention the ground station. I mean there is nothing that could even carry the disassembled ring, not to mention assemble it.

[legoturtle]

Very good points!

I have almost forgot... new Space subtheme is about modules. Even with Technic sets. BUT somehow I wonder how these new minifigures are related with that new faction? There is not any figure - like Admiral or anybody or is there?

This new faction, they are very advanced... if you think how big is the command rover. How they got that thing on the planet? How they build that BASE? NOW who are these new minifigures... it seems that there is all kind of characters without any purpose? Who is the audience? 

[Robert8]

7 hours ago, Artanis I said:

Better call the police!

If they're not final images, they're not far off them.

I dont think we've ever seen physical prototypes for CMF leaking ever

These got to be final

The Series 14 minifigures leaked earlier than this and they were final 

[Klaus-Dieter]

Thank you very much for the information!

I completely agree with @R0Sch and @Robert8 and many others - for me this series ist a complete disappointment!

I was really looking forward to this series because I thought that we will mainly get updated, but still with older versions fitting minifigures of classical Space themes of the past (meaning before 2000). How much I would have liked to add a different colored Classic Space minifigure (e. g. in blue or black) to the new amazing Galaxy Explorer from last year.

Instead, we mainly get randomly minifigures with crazy looks and the few minifigures based in classical Space themes look so special that you can really not combine them with classic minifigures of the Space theme.

If anyway, I'll try to get the pink Classic Space Baby seperately. But all other minifigures - no, thanks.

[Horation]

9 hours ago, Robert8 said:

I dont think we've ever seen physical prototypes for CMF leaking ever

These got to be final

The Series 14 minifigures leaked earlier than this and they were final 

 

17 hours ago, Artanis I said:

Better call the police!

If they're not final images, they're not far off them.

I don't indulge in or support illegal acts, but if you want to, knock yourself out! (it is arguably true that the coppers won't investigate this stuff...doesn't make it right just because you are impatient...)

[Robert8]

12 hours ago, Klaus-Dieter said:

Thank you very much for the information!

I completely agree with @R0Sch and @Robert8 and many others - for me this series ist a complete disappointment!

There is still a chance some of these migh have some accesories not shown on the picture. (As far as I remember that happened when S14 leaked. Some minifigure were complete. Some werent)

Like...maybe the UFO costume has a new microscale cow because of the cow abduction joke but this more of wishful thinking from me

[RichardGoring]

12 hours ago, Horation said:

I don't indulge in or support illegal acts, but if you want to, knock yourself out! (it is arguably true that the coppers won't investigate this stuff...doesn't make it right just because you are impatient...)

'Leaked' images of unreleased products are unlikely to be illegal. Any wrongdoing would depend on how they were leaked in the first place. It's unlikely in this instance, but some manufacturers do this intentionally to generate buzz. LEGO themselves are fairly notorious from releasing images through official channels seemingly accidentally. Or giving them to partner retailers, who then release them, perhaps accidentally or in ignorance. This may breach an embargo or contract, but it's likely not illegal, and contracts often have terms to deal with breaches of contract. Truly illegal would be hacking LEGO's servers, but usually leakers say their sources are from retailers.

I'm not saying the latter part of that paragraph makes it morally right, but I don't think there are laws against most of it, just commercial agreements.

[Aanchir]

On 12/16/2023 at 4:31 PM, legoturtle said:

Yes, and that mystery - Space subtheme is everywhere. I mean that Friends Space is in Mars. Technic space is in Mars and near future somewhere BUT in two places and other faction is NASA. NASA rover and so on. Dreamzzz space is related different characters. I don't have any clue about that plot.  

Then there is one interesting point. Interstellar spaceship... that planet is not in our solar system. It has to bee somewhere far away where is asteroid so close the planet. AND what is up that SUPER crystal which gives energy for the BASE. Also what are plants used for? Crystals? Crystals + Plants ? ... and that Admiral. That is so high rank that I would have loved hear his name. 

The plants and crystals are used together to create "crystal-botanic batteries". That much is established on the LEGO "play zone" page for set 60434, and this use is also showcased in the lab from that set, via both a computer screen and the brick-built equipment used for this process.

But you may be overthinking some of the cross-theme aspects of these Space sets. Certainly, the sets share their color schemes, logos, and intercompatible airlock graphics, but that doesn't implicitly mean that all these Space subthemes belong to any sort of unified storyline or shared universe. I imagine the specifics of how these sets interact across different themes or settings will be left the discretion of kids playing with these sets.

On 12/17/2023 at 11:49 AM, legoturtle said:

I have almost forgot... new Space subtheme is about modules. Even with Technic sets. BUT somehow I wonder how these new minifigures are related with that new faction? There is not any figure - like Admiral or anybody or is there?

This new faction, they are very advanced... if you think how big is the command rover. How they got that thing on the planet? How they build that BASE? NOW who are these new minifigures... it seems that there is all kind of characters without any purpose? Who is the audience? 

None of the Space CMFs seem directly related to this series of LEGO City Space sets. But that doesn't surprise me too much, since a lot of the time CMFs are designed more to stand out from the figures available in other current sets than to fit in with them.

The command rover and base were both likely assembled on the planet, using modular components delivered to the planet's surface as cargo. This is essentially how today's space agencies plan to build real-life moon bases and mars bases, and not too unlike the approach they currently use for orbital space stations. The fact that one of the smaller sets is a Space Construction Mech further reinforces that a lot of this space colony's assembly is done on the planet itself.

Moreover, the scale of these sets is not necessarily "true-to-life", any more than previous Space sets in themes like Town, City, and Friends. For example, the rocket in set 60351 is inspired by NASA's Space Launch System, while set 60349 is inspired by their proposed Lunar Gateway — specifically, the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO). But in real life, both of these Lunar Gateway modules are designed to be launched aboard a single flight of the Space Launch System, whereas their LEGO counterparts are obviously not scaled correctly for that task!

The audience for every wave of City sets (including this one) is kids. This particular series of sets seems chiefly aimed at kids who are passionate about space exploration, science, technology, and action/adventure play and storytelling.

[legoturtle]

Ok, thank you for the great answers and explaining. BUT let's not forget super crystal and how it powers whole base. I would say there is so much mystery in upcoming space subtheme. 

...

About those CMF. There are these classic factions. I believe that we will get a set from each faction sooner or later. We might even see all those classic super sets remake. I mean spaceship like Galaxy Explorer or M-Tron (red space rover).

[danth]

The plant-based batteries remind me of "Protoculture" from the '80s Robotech animated series, in which seeds from a special flower were compressed to make "Protoculture" power cells. A few of these cells were enough to power a transforming jet fighter for a decent length of time.

Of course the name "Protoculture" is stupid in this context; the name was taken from the original Macross series (which was dubbed and combined with a couple other anime to create Robotech) where "Protoculture" meant something else that actually made sense (basically the original humanoid society).

Edited December 18, 2023 by danth

[Horation]

10 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

'Leaked' images of unreleased products are unlikely to be illegal. Any wrongdoing would depend on how they were leaked in the first place. It's unlikely in this instance, but some manufacturers do this intentionally to generate buzz. LEGO themselves are fairly notorious from releasing images through official channels seemingly accidentally. Or giving them to partner retailers, who then release them, perhaps accidentally or in ignorance. This may breach an embargo or contract, but it's likely not illegal, and contracts often have terms to deal with breaches of contract. Truly illegal would be hacking LEGO's servers, but usually leakers say their sources are from retailers.

I'm not saying the latter part of that paragraph makes it morally right, but I don't think there are laws against most of it, just commercial agreements.

Breaking a commercial agreement or any sort of agreement is generally not legal (at least not where I live), or at the very least you can be punished and sometimes sued depending on the contract for doing so...

But it isn't morally right.

[Pop Star c o]

Well, good minifigs overall but a dozen figures is definitely not enough. This one needs at least 16 minifigures. They could make even more cool space ideas and various space professions. This is the first time it really hurts they lowered the number of minifigures. I think they should do 16 at least for this series.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Pop Star c o

[Classic_Spaceman]

On 12/17/2023 at 4:31 AM, Black Falcon said:

Well it is called interstellar Spaceship, so it should be clear it can fly to distant solar systems - that doesn´t mean it would have to be there  since of course it could aswell just stay in the solar system. 

It could be a test craft that utilises the new crystal/crystal-botanic battery tech. 

On 12/17/2023 at 4:31 AM, Black Falcon said:

But with the crystals and aliens, I would say the sets are not located in our solar system. 

We had crystals on Mars in Mars Mission (which I see as a successor to the 2024 sets), and wherever the City sets take place must be close enough to Mars for a rock with an alien in it to arrive there before the species in-question evolved into something drastically different or went extinct (especially since the City ones take place in the future). Either that, or the aliens are space-cockroaches! 

On 12/17/2023 at 4:31 AM, Black Falcon said:

Also, noone said that ship in particular would have to had transported all that stuff there - more likely one big transport ship would have done that and once the stations were assambled it moved back to earth 

The issue with that, however, is that the crew needs a way to ship batteries back to Earth and receive supplies that they cannot produce for themselves. 
 

On 12/17/2023 at 11:29 AM, TeriXeri said:

Interstellar Spaceship definately is not the cargo ship type, but the 2024 Space Station shows a typical "freighter" design seen in shows like Star Trek (downscaled to fit a single set), or other sci-fi video games etc, it's quite plausible, that's how they transport their modules/cargo.

Given the size and configuration of the engine on the Interstellar Spaceship, I doubt that the ‘space-train’ is FTL capable. I see the Workbee as a better Star Trek analogue. 
 

[BrickFit26]

1 hour ago, Pop Star c o said:

Well, good minifigs overall but 12 figures is definitely not enough. This one needs at least 16 minifigures. They could make even more cool space ideas and various space professions. This is the first time it really hurts they lowered the number of minifigures. I think they should do 16 at least for this series.

I would have loved that. As a long time fan of LEGO Space 12 for this particular theme isn't enough.