Lyichir

It's not as simple as "the two departments talking to each other". The Creator theme and the Creator Expert theme are pretty much completely different beasts, in terms of distribution, production volumes, marketing, and many more factors. You couldn't just sub out a Creator 3-in-1 set for a Creator Expert set, because the Creator theme depends on having that sort of set at that sort of price point to appeal to kid buyers. The Creator Expert theme, on the other hand, aims at the smaller adult audience and as such Lego can't just "make more" per year without the very real risk that these high-dollar, adult-targeted sets cannibalize each other's sales. After all, while dedicated Pirate fans would be more than happy to buy both this set and a Creator Expert ship within months of one another, there's a very real risk that other buyers would pick just one or the other—depressing sales of both compared to if just one or the other were released. On a completely different note... regarding the lack of the monkey, it's interesting that it went out of production so quickly. Back in 2016 when the Ninjago "Skybound" sets introduced a slightly updated monkey mold, I was sure it might mean that it would see greater use in the future. I guess that didn't pan out after all. If they ever do bring monkeys like the classic ones back, I sort of hope that they refresh the mold again to give them printed eyes like minifigures have instead of the sunken eye sockets of the classic mold, which are frankly a little bit creepy if you look at them up close...

I certainly don't think polls are really that useful for getting feedback for Lego corporate, since they have other ways of getting product feedback that are probably more representative of their overall audience (of which AFOLs who frequent fansites are but a portion). Same goes for most petitions, especially ones calling for a significant change in Lego's business operations. But what they can be good at is gauging interest and perspectives WITHIN the community itself. I think AFOLs often underestimate the value of community upkeep and feedback. Polls and surveys can allow the community a better understanding of its demographics, a better perspective on how it can best serve its existing members, and a better view of what areas of the community could be improved to attract new members. That can range from specific goal-oriented polling (regarding decisions such as how discussions could best be organized) to a more general check-in to see what other members of the community think of new ideas or developments in Lego news.

Perhaps your eyes just work differently from mine, because my impression of the set was that it improved the way the eye is guided throughout by increasing the number of colors and patterns so that the details didn't get lost in a sea of brown. If anything I think that like the Apocalypseburg set it does a good job of visually separating the component structures by using different dominant colors for different modular sections. Not sure what you mean about "cutting down on parts to maximize profit", either... at over 2500 parts for $200, it's quite a good value for money.

I think the challenge compared to a theme like Ninjago Legacy is that that theme benefits from a couple unique factors. Its subject matter is still popular in part because of the availability and popularity of past Ninjago seasons on TV and streaming video, for one. And it also benefits from synergy with the rest of the sets based on the ongoing story. There's little doubt that Lego could do a stellar job with revamps of past sets, as the recently announced Pirates Ideas set shows, but could a broader series of revamps enjoy similar success? To be honest, it's hard for me to say. If I were them and were interested in pursuing that idea, I'd start with that Ideas set and try to make it into a series of sorts. I feel like one large, premium revamp set per year (sort of like the ongoing series of Modular Buildings or Winter Village sets) would be a good start and could allow for bigger and more iconic classic sets to be reimagined with enough added detail and refined shaping that changes felt like unambiguous improvements, rather than necessary compromises like the ones made for the previous "Legends" sets. Limiting it to one larger set per theme per year would also allow a broad range of themes to be represented, as new sets are added and the ones from previous years remain available for at least two to three years.

It's not... that much of a "2-in-1" set, though. It doesn't have to be totally rebuilt, it just has the three primary "modules" of the pirate ship removable (and the plants/detritus removed) to convert the shipwreck into a functional ship. That's not much different from a set like the Saturn V, which had the ability to separate the modules for play or display built into the design.

Bright Violet (Purple on Bricklink) is the main one that comes to mind off the top of my head. Currently on the purple end of the spectrum, the colors jump straight from the soft lightness of Lavender and Medium Lavender to the dark richness of Medium Lilac/Dark Purple, with very few mid-tones in between (except for the much more red-skewing Bright Reddish Violet/Magenta). If they were to bring back a previously existing color to fill that space (as opposed to just creating an entirely new color), I feel like Bright Violet would be the best choice, both because of its color quality as well as it being one of the more widely used purple colors of that era (meaning it would be more useful to collectors and MOCists who already had parts in that color).

It's possible that they're going to have an episode with the Lighthouse of Darkness in the summer to help even out the episode count since the summer wave has fewer sets to build episodes around than this current one.

I don't think a Super Mario CMF series is all that likely. For starters, a lot of Mario characters and enemies just wouldn't really be suited to standard figs. Characters like Donkey Kong and Bowser, for instance, would make more sense as "bigfigs" of some sort, while many enemies like Boos and Goombas aren't even remotely humanoid in the first place.

I mentioned those right above that suggestion!

I think "people packs" for non-City themes are possible, but I doubt any of the ones you suggest that aren't tied to current themes would happen. A big part of the selling point for the people packs is to supplement the other sets in a theme... so for instance, a medieval pack might work, but only once Lego introduces a full Castle theme alongside it. The Harry Potter idea is kind of fun, but I expect they'd vary it up more by including at least a few professors or similar figs. Part of the point of the people packs is to offer variety, so while army builders or MOCists might like getting a lot of matching uniforms, casual buyers might like at least a few professors or other characters as well. In the same vein as your suggestions, how about a Hidden Side ghost pack? The current sets have introduced a few physical ghosts, so perhaps a Hidden Side pack could give physical form to some of the other ghosts in the app. Of course, as I mentioned before, variety is a big deal, so you could also include pale blue "Hidden Side" variants of some of the protagonists as well—Parker, J.B., and maybe another version of Jack with his hood down instead of up. Probably unlikely, but as long as we're spitballing ideas I figured I'd throw it out there.

The Hero Factory and Bionicle parts you've used complement the Crystal King really well! I also like how the torso maintains the odd, sort of lanky physique of the set while being a little more streamlined. My only complaint would be the legs—compared to the torso where you've used all sorts of lovely rock-textured bricks, the plain slopes used for the lower legs and feet feel awfully blocky. It sort of makes it feel like two different styles.

This is amazing! Makes me imagine what it would have been like if Lego Spongebob had gotten a video game like so many other licensed themes.

To be honest, it hasn't really been reduced that much. Hospital sets have only ever come out once every six years since the start of the City theme, and only twice before that in the Town theme (in 1980 and 1987). The only real decline has been a lower number of small supplementary sets like ambulances and helicopters. Even then, you might be surprised to realize that there's never been more than four medical sets released in a year, with most years falling far below that if there are any sets at all. It's always been more of a niche theme than Fire and Police, probably in part because apart from the rush to get a patient to the hospital, the "action" of playing with a medical theme is more low-key (and thus a little less exciting for kids than a police chase or fighting a fire).

Got my first Dots sets yesterday! So far I've only opened up the Cosmic Wonder bracelet but really love it and have had a lot of fun customizing it! Are "wishlist" type ideas okay to share here? Because if so I've had several things come to mind that I'd love to see in the future. A Dots set with 1x1 letter, number, and symbol tiles. Lego did release black tiles with that sort of printing several years back in a business card holder set, but I wouldn't mind a new take on those—maybe something a bit more fun, like 1x1 round tiles. Being able to customize things like a bracelet with your name or a message would be awesome! More bracelet colors! I'm sure we'll get more of those this year since there's still enough set numbers allocated for a summer or fall wave. I'd love to see more basic colors like white as well as maybe even metallic colors like gold, silver, and copper! More colors of tiles! It surprised me recently that the 1x1 quarter round tile doesn't yet come in Bright Blue. As the Dots theme continues I'm sure we'll get plenty of additional colors for those sorts of parts. More printed tiles! The "surprise charms" in the extra Dots packs are great but they've only scratched the surface of the wide variety of emoji and symbols out there. Maybe seasonal themes? A "spooky" bracelet for Halloween (with tiles representing things like Jack-O-Lanterns) or a wintery bracelet for Christmas (with tiles representing things like snowmen that you could mix and match) could both be really neat! More accessories for customization! Lego released iPhone cases a few years back and that sort of thing would go great with the Dots theme as well. The same goes for things like watches—a watch with a band like the Dots bracelets would be far superior in terms of customization and Lego compatibility to the hard plastic watches Lego has licensed for several years.

Probably not. The number of Ideas sets that have spun off into full themes is extremely slim—the only one that really comes to mind is Minecraft, unless you count the extensions of other licenses in themes like Dimensions and BrickHeadz. I'm sure if the Ideas set sells phenomenally well Lego might definitely bump up the priority of an in-house castle theme. But even then, I think they'd be hesitant to extrapolate the sales of one premium, adult-targeted set to mean that a much greater production of a full theme with a much broader audience would sell equally well. That said, I remain convinced that it's really only a matter of time before we get a new castle theme of some sort one way or another. I just don't think that the Ideas set on its own would necessarily move the needle that substantially in terms of when that comes about.

I would say probably not, if only because the innovations of today aren't necessarily that much more of a leap than those of past years. Yes, today we have the Hidden Side app, but before that came the Nexo Knights app; before that, the Ultra Agents app and "app bricks", before that, experiments like Lego Fusion and Life of George. Lego has had a small staff focused on the sorts of bleeding edge concepts and gimmicks for decades—the "Futura" department dates all the way back to the 50s and was responsible for early developments like rubber tires and Lego Duplo as well as more recent concepts ranging from the computer game tie-in of Rock Raiders to the spinner game gimmick of Ninjago to these newer tech-driven themes. So really what's changed isn't a willingness to experiment, but rather the form those experiments take. And that changes constantly depending on trends, fads, and the parallel advancement of non-Lego media and technologies. Some of these experiments are hugely successful, such as the Bionicle, Friends, and Ninjago themes. Some enjoy moderate but not lasting success, such as Lego Dimensions or Lego Exo-Force. And some utterly fail to make an impact and are quickly forgotten, like Lego Fusion. What's important is that Lego is reactive and nimble, taking into account the successes and failures and factoring the lessons learned from those into future experiments and innovations.

They're not saying the company won't be affected by the disease, just that their plans for development and expansion in the region aren't going to be changed or called off because of this outbreak.

It's a neat idea to expand the set. And your overall layout for it (with four towers at four corners of the castle instead of two towers at either end of a single wall) seems pretty solid. But the way that you've changed the stone base of the castle to make it more mountain-like, as well as increasing it in height without really increasing the height of the castle walls to match, makes it lose a bit of that Japanese castle feel that I really liked about the original. In general I feel like the heavy use of BURPs, transparent "ice" bricks, and varied colors of parts in the base complicates the architectural aesthetic to the point where the features get lost. I might suggest swapping like half of the height of the predominantly grey "base" (which you've more or less doubled in height compared to the set) for black walls and columns that more closely match the taller "towers". That would help to balance the look of the set and make the castle itself feel bigger instead of it feeling overwhelmed by the surrounding landscape.

It's worth mentioning that any impacts to Lego would likely affect most of their competitors in the industry as well—perhaps even moreso in some cases, since Lego's production is still largely diversified between various global regions rather than concentrated entirely in Asia.

In my opinion the molded head of that Mega dragon looks awful. The standard of detail is so completely different from the entire rest of the build that it looks like someone chopped the head of a completely different action figure off and put it on a blocky dragon body. At least Lego's molded heads tend to match the standard of detail of their models more (with simple shapes, patterns, and textures). Personally I don't see the problem with brick-built heads on larger dragons, especially if, like Firstbourne above, the eyes are printed to make them a little more emotive. The use of regular bricks helps keep the standard of detail fairly consistent while still allowing for complex, individualized shaping without leaving you with parts that are too specific to ever be useful for anything else. That's not to say I didn't love the Elves dragons, which used molded heads for almost the opposite purpose of that Mega one—to make the heads smooth and curvy to create a kinder, gentler appearance than a head built of a bunch of smaller, more angular parts could allow for. Honestly, between the dragons in Ninjago and Elves, I don't think Lego's done badly at all with dragons in the past few years. As you mention in your post, older ones like the classic dragons or the ones in the Vikings theme tend to pale in comparison. Is the Horntail the only one you were really dissatisfied with?

Perfect for pistachio pudding spills!

To be honest there are enough varieties of large BURP pieces that can be used to build up a landscape nowadays that raised baseplates would feel superfluous and limited in use. It's true that I have fond memories of some older sets with raised baseplates. But for every set that made good use of a raised baseplate, it usually felt like there were two or three that had to awkwardly repurpose one that had clearly been designed for a very different sort of application. Ultimately I view the overall shift away from large baseplates and toward more varied brick-built bases to be a positive one.

It's not "three waves within one year", for the record. The third wave will be debuting approximately a full year after the first wave, so the full lifespan of the theme will be about one and a half years if the theme ends there (and remember, that's still just speculation) And just because you didn't like the theme doesn't mean you had or have any great insight into its performance. A year and a half isn't too bad for a theme (it's much more than the single wave Monster Fighters got) and I expect that even when Hidden Side ends it will pave the way for future AR experiments, just as much more rudimentary themes like Fusion paved the way for Hidden Side. Despite your naysaying getting AR to be able to detect and work with Lego is no easy feat, and Lego's experience here has the potential to impact other themes dramatically.

Obviously it doesn't have to look exactly like that. But looking at that pic I do kind of hope the one in the set might look out over the ocean like that—a spooky castle rising up over the rocky shore would be pretty dramatic, not to mention different from a lot of past Lego castles (which often give the impression of being more inland). Glad we will be getting a sad ghost along with the angry and wild ones in the previous set! With a physical version of Lady E, I do have a slight worry that the Hidden Side theme might wrap up after that. But I suppose they could introduce a bigger baddie like Ninjago did with the Overlord, or have Lady E regain a human form sort of like how Monstrox became freed from the Book of Monsters in Nexo Knights.

This is a concern of mine as well. I doubt it'll be a problem for me, since I have concerningly thin wrists, but people with bigger arms than mine could find it challenging. That said, we'll have to see. Especially with Lego branching out more with some sets targeting adults expressly, I can't imagine that Lego's designers wouldn't have taken that into account, especially since they'd likely be testing them out on themselves before they even started testing them with focus groups of kids! The emoji tiles are a fun idea. They'll probably pair well with the Lego phone cases (as will the other tiles in these sets, for that matter). Speaking of the phone cases, has anyone seen any updates to those for newer iPhones? I'm in the market to upgrade my iPhone 6 but it looks like if I went more than one generation forward the current case styles would cease to work for me. I'm hoping that some of Lego's external licensing partners might have had new ones on display at one of the Toy Fairs but I haven't heard anything yet. It's silly to hinge my purchase of a device as important as a cell phone on whether there's a case I like available for it but having to say goodbye to my Lego phone case to upgrade would be bittersweet!