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Which ones were those sets rumored to be?

Eight out of forty sets in 2011 featured vehicles and/or dragons. Fourteen out of thirty-two sets in 2019 featured vehicles, dragons, and/or mechs. It's a whopper of a stretch to say that Ninjago didn't start out with a lot of vehicles, but I suppose it's true that the proportion of vehicles, dragons, and mechs to locations and spinners was higher in 2019 than in 2011.

The line in the sand, for me, is when you suggest that a fellow builder is actively in the wrong for not buying instructions from a source of inspiration, and when you suggest that reverse-engineering a fellow fan's model without paying for instructions is akin to stealing. That was the clear message I got from your first post suggesting that instructions be bought from Jhaelego for the privilege of reverse-engineering his model and improving upon it. That may not have been the message you intended to send. I also believe that it's a good thing to buy instructions for a model you want to build, so as to support the hobby and support fellow builders in the hobby. I do not believe it is stealing to copy a MOC without paying for instructions, as long as you still give credit where credit is due. There's nothing wrong with that. But there's nothing wrong with another 20-something living in his parents' basement and working at IKEA trying to build the models of the first 20-something from the posted pictures without paying for the instructions.

Nah, they understand completely. Quite a few set designers were active in the AFOL community before they got hired at Lego. Let's not start gatekeeping about who is a "true" or "actual" AFOL and who isn't.

That's another set I would buy without hesitation if it was produced. Unfortunately, TLG has rejected every 10K NASA or SpaceX project since the Saturn V and Women of NASA, so it's unlikely to be accepted. (The ISS doesn't count in that list, since it's a special case.)

What I would buy without hesitation: Thunderbirds, Space Shuttle. What I consider more likely to win: Winnie the Pooh, Anatomini.

Maybe this is a bit off topic, but after the dewback and the bantha I think the most likely form for a boga lizard is as a microfighter.

That's what I meant.

Unfortunately, the 10210 uses several molds that have been retired: the pre-2015 prefab hulls and masts.

^^ This topic hasn't been touched since 2012 and the OP hasn't visited Eurobricks since 2016, so you're not likely to get a reply. You could still try to reverse-engineer the build from the pictures.

You did say something about payment. Perhaps I should not have used the word "demand." That was too dramatic. But you should not have used the word "steal." That was too dramatic.

I disagree. If you're reverse-engineering someone else's build without buying the instructions, you should definitely give credit to the original builder when presenting your own model, but you're not "stealing the design" if you don't pay. In the Lego community, we share and share alike. If everybody started demanding (or thinking they deserved) payment for every time someone else liked their model enough to build it without instructions, the online community where we're happy to post pictures of our builds and see pictures of other people's builds would quickly collapse. Nobody could afford to post MOCs except those who set themselves up as merchants like BrickVault. Nobody could afford to build anything either. It's entirely fair for @Midlife-crisis to build his own Razor Crest reverse-engineered from Jhaelego's model. Goodness knows Midlife-crisis is putting in enough work on his own to make the model his own.

Mars Mission, Space Police 3, Alien Conquest, or Galaxy Squad? I voted for Alien Conquest. Mars Mission has an ugly color scheme and ugly faceless aliens, and there isn't a single really sleek spaceship in the lot. Space Police 3 has a nice color scheme, a fantastically capable flagship that still looks pretty good, and a rogues' gallery of alien villains that has a lot of personality. However, it loses some points with me because the single-seat police cruiser with jail cell doesn't have an opening cockpit. Galaxy Squad has some really neat bug aliens and very well-designed space soldiers: colorful and tough, with just the right amount of detail. The bug vehicles all look stunning and have impressive functions, and the single-seat starfighter for the humans is sleek, swooshable, and packed with functions. The other human vehicles are kind of chaotic, though, and sacrifice more form to function than I prefer - although they're nowhere near as bad in that respect as the Mars Mission vehicles. Alien Conquest similarly has a fun '50s B-movie style with some neat functions in the alien ships (and a Martian tripod!), but what really sets it apart from the others for me is the Vic Viper that comes with the Earth Defense HQ. It's just such a perfect swooshable little spaceship.

Three hundred and fifty dollars for an Ideas set. Five years ago we were surprised when an Ideas set cost seventy dollars!

Hear, hear!