icm

No proof, just conspiracy theories. Just speculation from the years with and without Space, and from the timing of Star Wars and Marvel movies.

No need for an Indy 24 thread when there are no Indy 24 sets in the pipeline.

I just got the X-Jet without box, minifigs, or instructions from Bricks and Minifigs for $20. Pretty sweet!

And there's no insignia on the suit to clearly mark it as the Nazi-era Luftwaffe or even as German. It's only recognizable if you're really into the weeds of different flying uniforms. Otherwise it's a generic tan flight suit without any markings. I don't think this particular flight suit is a problem. Again, we've hashed this out before. Do we really need to argue about Indiana Jones minifigs for the umpteenth time?

The retractable landing gear in the Justifier was pretty impressive, even though the set was overpriced and a bad choice for the summer flagship.

All the Walmart stores in my part of the USA are still selling their last few copies of 10497 for full price.

Personally, I prefer the brown and tan of the Trade Federation MTT and AAT to the light gray and dark blue of the Separatist versions.

What I mean is that the Star Wars franchise is old enough that an update to it (ie the prequels, then the sequels, then the streaming shows) can be just as original as anything else, with the added benefit of existing lore and a built-in fan base - creatively speaking, anyway, for the folks who get to work on the franchise. (In theory, anyway - we can argue endlessly about the execution, ie which of the sequels to hate and why, which of the streaming shows to hate and why.) Except that doesn't quite apply to Lego because Star Wars sets are licensed instead of in-house, of course. I just think it's kind of ironic how much you argue for the rebirth and extension of a 40-year-old space opera franchise and its Lego sets (classic Lego Space themes) while complaining about the creative bankruptcy of an ongoing 40-year-old space opera franchise that continues to get a lot of Lego sets, including a good deal of new material every year. But we've had this conversation before, so I don't see any need to rehash it for old time's sake. I like Space. I like Star Wars. I'm happy we get plenty of Star Wars sets. I'm happy we're getting plenty of Space sets in 2024. Like you, I'd also be pretty chuffed if we got lots of new throwback sets to old Space themes alongside Star Wars.

I'm sorry, I just have to smile at the delicious irony of this quote in light of your position on the continued Space/Star Wars fanbase feud. That's all. I respect you, you know that :)

I think the spirit of the essay quoted below applies as well to Lego as to science fiction. The Golden Age of Lego was in the past - whenever you thought it was. The Golden Age of Lego is in the future - whenever other people will think it is. Personally, I think we've been in a new Golden Age of Lego since about 2014. Isaac Asimov, "Golden Age Ahead", 1979: 1979 Were the stories of your golden age really golden? Have you reread them lately? I have reread the stories of my own golden age and found the results spotty indeed. Some of the stories I slavered over as a teenager turned out to be impenetrable and embarrassing when I tackled them again. A few ("Tumithak of the Corridors" for one) held up very well, in my opinion. It was clear to me, though, that the general average of writing forty years ago was much lower than the general average later. That, in fact, seems to me to have been a general rule. Magazine science fiction over the last half-century has steadily risen above and away from its pulpish origins. That means me, too. I imagine that many people who drooled over "Nightfall," The Foundation Trilogy, and I, Robot in their teens find some of the gloss gone when they reread them in their thirties. (Fortunately for myself, a substantial number do not—and there are always new teenagers entering the field and ready to be dazzled.) "Golden Age Ahead"

I'm no economist, but IMHO the Lego secondary market is clearly small enough that prices and supply can be artificially manipulated by unscrupulous sellers (and buyers). A pure state of supply/demand price equilibrium is only possible with extremely large markets, such that no single buyer or seller accounts for more than an infinitesimal portion of supply or demand. Of course it's possible to jack up prices, restrict supply, and wait for the equilibrium price to climb to the artificially high point desired by a seller.

Lego Space in 2024 is anything with the Space banner on the right edge of the box, with the possible exception of the Duplo and Classic brick boxes.. That's it! It's quite unambiguous.

I agree with that in general. Unfortunately, some bad behavior by a few greedy scalpers has given reselling a worse reputation than it deserves.

This is by far the best X-wing MOC I've seen since the Jerac V2 in 2022. I'll have to see if I can scrape together the pieces to build it.

Nope, just quibbling about where to draw the line between Classic Space and Futuron! No speculation or wishlisting or rumor-mongering, just old-fashioned hair-splitting!

Good catch. Clear Futuron and Blacktron labeling in 1988 - which is appropriate, because that's the first year where no new Space sets were released with the Classic astronaut.

The Futuron monorail box is from 1987. Futuron, Blacktron, and Space Police are listed as distinct subthemes with distinct logos in the 1990 UK catalog here. https://images.brickset.com/library/view/?f=catalogues/c90uk&p=28 They are not given separate logos and names in the 1987 catalog. After all, in build styles there was a smooth transition from late Classic Space to Futuron. It is convenient to distinguish late Classic Space from Futuron by the uniforms and helmets, but prior to 1990 they were all simply Legoland Space.

I agree with that. Battle droids and skeletons don't count as minifigs in my opinion. Neither do brick-built figures or small single-piece molded droids like BD-1 or D-O.

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

TLDR: The Classic Space subtheme is 1978-87. Sets that are classic Space are whenever and whatever you want. 1. @Space78: That is the usual, nearly universal, meaning of Classic Space as a subtheme. That is the meaning used by Brickset and Bricklink. That, and deliberate tribute sets like the 10497. 2. The next looser definition of classic Space, though not Classic Space, is the era in Tim Johnson's new book, which is defined by the use of classic smiley faces with no gender distinctions. This era ended with Space Police 2. 3. The next marker used by folks to distinguish "classic Lego" is often the introduction of Star Wars in 1999, where pre-Star Wars sets in the Space theme are "classic". 4. Finally, the loosest use of "classic Space sets", and the one with the clearest generational distinction, is just "sets that I liked in my childhood". Depending on the speaker, this can include things as recent as Galaxy Squad or the Benny Spaceship. A new user on the forum who is a member of Gen Z could call the Galaxy Squad Swarm Interceptor a classic Space set before becoming familiar with the accepted use of Classic Space as those sets between 1978 and 1987 that featured the plain minifigures with the simple torso logo and the open helmet. In these distinctions, it's good to remember that definition 1 and definition 4 were essentially the same thing to the AFOLs who set the terms of online discussions in the early days of the public internet, in the late 1990s, as a way to contrast the sets they grew up with in their good old days to the terrible horrible awful no good sets at the time like Insectoids, Exploriens, and UFO, which now have their own generational followings, as do other subthemes now held up as "classics" by some AFOLs, including Mars Mission (2007-8).

Kicking myself for missing it at that price before it sold out.

https://www.theverge.com/c/23991049/lego-ideas-polaroid-onestep-behind-the-scenes-price

I have no source for that.

There were no Indiana Jones films in development in 1998. The first major license was Star Wars in 1999, so the designers of the Adventurers theme didn't have the option to pursue the Indiana Jones license at the time. The success of the Adventurers theme between 1998 and 2003 gave Lucasfilm confidence that Lego could do a licensed Indiana Jones theme justice for the 2008 movie.