Lyichir

I wouldn't necessarily rule out another Ninjago City-compatible set someday (though future ones would be more likely to be based on the Ninjago TV series than the movie). That said, I don't really see a "crossover" set like that offered. There's just too much adaptation that would have to happen in terms of scale, ground level, and so forth, all targeted at a smaller audience than either theme (those who collect both Ninjago City and the modulars and want to display them together). For such a specific sort of desire, you're better off MOCing something than waiting around for an official release.

Personally I quite like the variety. I've often imagined the Classic Space-esque logos for City's space subthemes as analogous to NASA's various mission patches (and the game Lego City Undercover treated them similarly). And their more "contained" appearance struck me as appropriate for "near-Earth" missions that are overseen from a home base on planet Earth. I also like the sort of implication that conceptually, these patches might be seen as precursors to the eventual Classic Space logo in the far future of Lego City.

Oh, I know there were some nice location sets and assorted bits of scenery. But having watched at least the first season of the show, I was disappointed that we never saw a set like the Knighton Colosseum (one of the first settings shown in the story, and one I almost expected to see in a set given how many previous Castle themes have offered sets of tournaments or jousts), the Knights' Academy, or the various towns and villages the knights defend from Jestro and Monstrox. The Castle/Sci-Fi blend that Nexo Knights offered appealed greatly to me, and I can't help but wished the sets themselves had done more to build out that world instead of mostly emphasizing vehicles for the knights and their enemies. This isn't a criticism that's exclusive to Nexo Knights. There have been a lot of themes over the years that I've been a fan of that have featured excellent worldbuilding that, for one reason or another, never really manifested as effectively as I'd like in the sets themselves. I understand why that trend exists (vehicles and characters are generally more versatile and exciting for kids' play than fixed locations), but it still sometimes strikes me as missed potential nonetheless. I think this is a part of why I was such a huge fan of the Elves theme, which consistently featured gorgeous, highly detailed settings across the majority of its sets.

Tiles with rainbow printing. The three that were briefly revealed on BrickInside's parts database before unreleased parts were taken offline included the 1x1 tile in the left room (with five stripes of color) as well as the two in the right room (with the same five stripes emerging from a cloud). There was a third such tile revealed on the site, a 1x1 quarter circle tile with those same five stripes of color that would have allowed you to use them together for some sort of rainbow border or path, but it doesn't seem to be in this set, unless perhaps it's hiding on the walls that can't be seen from this perspective. I had assumed that these tiles, along with some other similar tiles with decorations like unicorns, were intended for the "Dots" jewelry/accessory theme that was a planned release for this year but either cancelled or postponed before being announced or released, according to some retailers privy to that kind of information. It's nice to see that if so, these two tiles, at least, are seeing release in this set regardless.

I can definitely agree with that perspective—as someone who was actually a fan of Nexo Knights, one of my regrets about the theme is that hardly any of the awesome sci-fi castles, colosseums, and villages made their way into sets. I didn't mind the sets we did end up getting (including a bunch of awesome siege engines, mechs, etc.), but that didn't take the disappointment out of the ones we didn't.

Interesting that this set seems to use two out of the three types of "rainbow tiles" that were briefly visible on brickinside.com among other unreleased parts for this year before the site updated to prevent unreleased parts from being visible in their parts database. The third doesn't seem to be included, and I had been under the assumption that all three would be in the now delayed "Dots" accessory theme originally intended for this year. If that's the case, it's interesting to see these ones showing up early, and in an architecture set no less!

Yeah, I would not be at all surprised to see more coral colors in the future either. With Lego City's tendency to repeat subject matter, it should only be a matter of time before it features another ocean exploration theme, which may merit a wider variety of colors. And we'll probably see the part reused in Disney sets for The Little Mermaid, possibly in more colors there as well. There's a small part of me that dreams of Elves coming back featuring mermaids as well... but that's probably a pipe dream.

Personally, I don't mind an off year for Creator Expert fairground sets... I still haven't gotten the roller coaster, so I don't mind not having to decide between it and another brand-new fairground set. To be honest if they are taking a year off, I wonder if the high price of the roller coaster is part of why. The more expensive a set is, the longer people who want it might have to save up for it, so it wouldn't surprise me if the roller coaster has a lot of potential sales that haven't yet been actualized.

Still more widespread than green was. Some color variety is better than none!

More Friends pics here: https://misterbricks.nl/lego-friends?p=3 And more!

Well, it's not EXACTLY a Pirates set but... More images here: https://misterbricks.nl/lego-friends-41375-heartlake-city-pier-met-kermisattracties.html

My guess? Just because Lego has a new mold available doesn't mean they have enough of that new mold yet to be able to produce parts in anything nearing the capacity of their classic legs that they've been making for years. As such, the use of the mid-length legs is probably still being prioritized toward licensed characters for whom the age/height range is less negotiable, rather than filtering into themes like City where Lego can decide for themselves whether it's worth the added expense of making a given figure that height. This is also why dual-molded arms and legs are still so much rarer than the classic ones. If a figure's design doesn't absolutely necessitate the use of them, then Lego still has to prioritize figures for whom the dual-molded varieties are more impactful and necessary.

Wow, so we ARE getting two people packs? Neat! I LOVE the little propeller that turns the little boy's standard hat into a propeller beanie! The family on the lower left also seems, surprisingly, like they might be coded as ethnically African, what with the tight curls each of their hairpieces have. Obviously yellow-skinned minifigures are ostensibly meant to be racially neutral, and we've had certain yellow-skinned minifigures that have African features like "Afro" hairstyles before, but it's nice to see a whole family of figs that have these features despite not corresponding to a particular cultural role that necessitates those features. The Ice cream bike? also seems neat. I think it's the standard bike body but used in a new way, with the front wheel left off and an ice cream cart attached to the front instead.

I expect that like previous sets in the Friends theme that have had space for mobile phones, there is a separate display that you either replace with the phone or that the phone rests in front of. That said, as a graphic in the City theme that only appears in that one set, a set which seems to include stickered details elsewhere, I would be willing to bet that the included display is stickered.

In the case of the Overwatch sets it might have something to do with the sets being aimed at a slightly older audience, and thus generally emphasizing display and role-play options rather than play features that might detract from the look of the sets as a display piece. There's also a matter of having to create functions based on the actual subject matter of the game, much of which doesn't necessarily allow for the kinds of dynamic functions you often see in an original theme like Ninjago. Even so, there are a couple interesting features they've added to liven up the sets a bit. The best example is Watchpoint: Gibraltar, which adapted the spaceship into a multi-stage vehicle that can separate, as well as added a docking point on the back to attach the drone from the smallest set in the wave. It's clear that despite those sets mostly adapting non-functional "set dressing" from the game, Lego's designers tried to pack in the sorts of functions that had proven popular in other themes.

That's a fair question that's hard for me to answer before we've seen a comparison "in the brick", both in terms of look and functionality. Based on the pictures we've got, the new spinners look like they might be slightly smaller or less wide, which could conceivably assist with the "slammer" function in the dedicated spinner sets (since the launchers seem to launch them at an angle). And sometimes, it is just a matter of making new things "look new". Lego might have considered it harder to sell the new "Spinjitzu Slam" sets if the spinners themselves looked like the ones had just come out, despite the slammer functionality being a very novel addition that changes the "gameplay" completely. It's the same reason why Lego seems to like to change up things like the ninja masks in updated versions of the minifigures—even minor updates can help set them apart from the previous versions of characters.

Yes, but the cost of recolored parts is much, much smaller than the cost of a new mold. The cost of recolors can still add up, mind you, but even so—Lego cutting one recolored spinner from each of the sets would free them up to... add one different recolor in place of each of them. Which doesn't exactly seem to me like it'd make that substantial a difference in the set designs. On top of that, considering the cost of the new mold is distributed across the theme even if no two sets use the same color, Lego is making more economical use of the mold by reusing it more widely than they would by keeping it limited to the four new spinner sets it appears in. Ultimately, it just doesn't make sense to me to wish for some hypothetical, nonexistent versions of the sets that don't include the spinners if I can't picture any sort of non-negligible benefit it would bring in exchange.

I adore that set as well! When I saw that set, I not only felt like wanted to buy it, I felt like I wanted to eat at that restaurant—which probably says something about how well it captures that authentic Italian feel. Lots of great parts, too—purple "ice cream" parts for grapes, the new 1x1 dome brick in three colors, and the 1x2 "double half arch" piece in white for the first time!

Either that or it's just meant to be some sort of Spinjitzu-activated mechanism.

That's the thing, though, isn't it? The nature vs. nurture argument is a distraction, at least when it comes to Lego. Lego Friends did not win over girls more than any previous themes by targeting its sets toward an imaginary market of girls unbiased by any acculturated preferences. On the contrary, Friends' success came from carefully studying the interests and preferences of actual girls (especially girls who WEREN'T already fans of Lego and its other themes) and "meeting them halfway" with a building toy that featured all the educational and developmental benefits of Lego's other themes but still appealed to those "gendered" preferences. The results have shown that, yes, for the most part, a huge percentage of girls DO prefer those brighter colors. That doesn't mean that all girls have to, but for the most part, girls who like bolder, more traditionally "masculine" colors might find things that they prefer better in the many other themes that already do use colors like this. And it would be wrong for Lego to avoid those more traditionally "girly" color schemes on the basis that they were less legitimate than those of girls that preferred other colors. Kids don't care where their interests and preferences came from, after all. It doesn't change that those preferences are, as far as they're concerned, innately theirs, and to deny them that is ultimately more harmful than to foster those passions in a constructive direction.

It's not a launchpad. Almost the opposite—you place the spinner between the spikes and slide the tab forward to "split open" the castle. Personally I love the feature, as not only does it integrate the spinner in a really unique way, but even without taking the use of the spinner into account it reminds me of the cool and dynamic function of the Fire Temple. As for the budget of the sets being compromised by the spinners, I think people are assuming they eat up more of the budget than they do. Yes, it's a new part, but being split up between so many sets makes the mold cost less per set than it would otherwise. And in terms of the raw cost of the part itself... Lego only charges a dollar on Bricks and Pieces for the spinners for the first half of the year, so I can't imagine there'd be much savings if you were to cut these new ones, either—maybe at best you could afford to replace them with a different new part, but I doubt cutting them would allow for that much more detail to be added to the rest of the sets in their place.

OMG! Robonaut on the upper right! I've been hoping to see Robonaut in a Lego City Space set ever since I met one of the copies of Robonaut-2 at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.!

Story-wise, there's no telling—but set-wise, I would be disappointed if we had gotten them again instead of new weapons. Getting updated ones in the Legacy wave is one thing, but I prefer not repeating the same set of weapons over and over again in sets just because they continue to exist in the show. Plus, the fact that the four original ninja have golden weapons but Lloyd and Nya don't would kind of make the team feel a little uneven.

I quite like the Land Bounty, actually—the inverted windscreens under each of the decks are really neat, as is the top deck separating to become a flyer. Looks like there's a buggy stored in the back as well. And the heavy use of arches gives it some really sweet lines in profile. I almost wonder if this set might have been developed from a concept created at one of the Lego Movie 2 Apocalypseburg brainstorming sessions. The Ninjago characters may not have shown up in The Lego Movie 2, but if they had it wouldn't surprise me to see them driving something along these lines. Katana 4x4 is also a standout—I love that multi-part windscreen! Between this and the X-1 Ninja Charger Kai is 2 for 2 when it comes to making what could be the most boring vehicle type to work with (four-wheeled car) into something special. And I doubt I need to convince anyone about that mech—it's simply gorgeous. Feels like a quantum leap ahead of previous mech sets in terms of scale and naturalistic shaping.

If there's any Chima connection, I think it's less likely that it's characters FROM the realm Chima than it is for Fire and Ice Chi from that realm to be involved somehow in the resurrection of both sets of seemingly undead elemental baddies. Considering how rarely Copper Metallic is used already, I think the former (one or even both of the colors not being metallic) is far more likely. Looks to me like the main head color is Reddish Brown while the armor is either Copper Metallic or Dark Orange.