Lyichir

There's rumors of an 18+ set for next year, but no telling whether it'll use minifigures or mini-dolls. Personally I kind of hope for the latter, especially if it's a scene or characters that isn't otherwise featured at a smaller scale in the more kid-focused sets (if it's a scene that is also available for cheaper/at a smaller scale as a playset I suppose it would be fine to go with either). I'm expecting at least one of the sets for the sequel will be a big set of Kiamo Ko, the witch's castle in Winkie Country that was featured in the intro to the first movie and is likely going to be more heavily featured in part two. I'm not sure what the best way to depict the flying monkeys would be (especially with mini-dolls, since that especially would probably merit a new mold) but I hope they are featured in some of the upcoming sets.

Nice review! I was a little worried that the ordinary light brick wouldn't be enough to properly project the image, but it seems to do fine. That said, it's a slight shame that only one "panel" of the lantern is lit at a time—a weakness of using such a small and directional light source. A part of me would prefer if it used a brighter light source and had multiple silhouettes that could project in different directions at once. You could probably modify it to do so with third-party light kits, at least. The stalls aren't super impressive compared to the more elaborate minifigure-scale scenes we've gotten in previous years, but it's good at least that traditions like the costumed minifigure and printed lantern pattern are maintained.

By the way, recently the Lego Mario app updated to include instructions for all the new sets. Those also revealed a Toad (Pit Crew) polybag set—nothing special, just one of the pit crew Toads like in 72032 with a small computer build and a handcart with one of the purple and yellow wheels from 72036. I used those instructions to update my digital builds of the karts so far, in part to help me explore what kinds of recolors you could do for some of the karts that vary based on their drivers. So far I've had the most luck with the Standard Kart and Standard Bike, with a Luigi version of the Standard Kart and both Mario and Luigi versions of the Standard Bike. Other recolors are a little harder... Peach versions would be my priority since she's the other digi-fig so far but needing all of the necessary parts to come in the same color of pink can be slightly challenging.

I'm going to argue against this both selfishly (because I love all three themes) but also because when you look at the themes beyond just the basic category of "has mechs" they're substantially different. Dreamzzz's bright, bubbly aesthetic is quite different from Ninjago's Asian-inspired sci-fi—the two mechs you shared are an example of the difference on their own (you'd rarely see such cartoony curves in a Ninjago vehicle), but it becomes even moreso when you move away from Mateo's comic/slime inspired sets and to a character like Izzie, whose colorful animal/plushie-inspired sets couldn't be confused for anything in Ninjago or most other themes for that matter. And while Monkie Kid is more similar to Ninjago, it's also a smaller theme and isn't "taking away shelf space" from anything in most of the world—except in China, where it actually is sold in stores and is quite successful. Frankly if "similarity" were the only factor in which themes deserved to exist then it wouldn't make sense to have both Marvel and DC themes. But in that case, the reason for both existing is obvious—they are both popular and appeal to different but overlapping groups of fans. The same applies to "action themes" like Ninjago, Monkie Kid, and Dreamzzz.

It would be VERY funny for Lego to make a set based on Team Sonic Racing the same year they do F1 and Mario Kart, but I sort of doubt that's what it is.

It's not Lego's fault that your design used faulty math. Using half-brick offsets like you are can create weird gaps like this. Brackets have a thickness of half a plate, as does the space at the bottom of a brick with side studs (below the stud area). But attaching parts to the middle of a 1x2 plate like you are creates a quarter plate gap that can't be addressed with brackets alone. Even if the bracket had a full plate thickness instead of a half your math still wouldn't work—then you'd have the same quarter-plate gap between your two slopes.

While that's a change I feel like it's a useful one, since the vest/harness-like appearance of the Blacktron torso sort of implies the existence of details that would continue onto the back while the monochromatic torso with badge/logo of the Classic Space figs does not. It's not hugely important (since the airtanks cover most of the back anyway) but nevertheless I felt like the addition of back printing was a nice touch when it debuted with the GWP and I'm glad it's back for this set.

I mean, part of the challenge with advent calendars is that the format puts a pretty hard limit on piece size, since everything has to fit neatly in one of the little interior cubbies (and increasing the packaging size might have an even bigger effect on price than increasing the contents). Obviously you could use more medium-size bricks and stuff but anything that doesn't fit neatly through the cut-out door in the packaging would cause complications. I think part of the cause of the decreasing part count is the increasing number of figures, especially exclusive figures. But the flip side of that is that that's what a lot of customers seem to want—I remember a lot of complaining when the 2018 Friends Advent Calendar had a whopping 500 parts but no mini-dolls or animals.

I wouldn't necessarily consider this equivalent to the Blacktron Cruiser GWP... for starters, that set was closer in scale to its source material, whereas this set, like the Galaxy Explorer remake, is 1.5x the scale to allow for more detail and functionality to be added. GWP sets don't necessarily have the size or budget for that kind of enhancement, which is probably part of why the classic GWP sets you mention hewed closer to the source material they were inspired by without adding a ton of new features. By contrast, this set adds a "dropship" feature for the rover, retractable landing gear, removable power cells, a larger crew cabin, plus plenty of new aesthetic detail. The differing scale is part of why I'm not too broken up with the two retro-inspired Blacktron sets not being compatible without modification—that plus the obvious factor that the two sets weren't developed simultaneously like the classic Blacktron sets, so the GWP wasn't necessarily designed with the needs of a larger set in mind.

God damn it, I'm tired of being accused of being some sort of undercover shill for Lego. Me describing the canopy as looking like it was glowing was my own words, from my own brain, describing the way the yellow parts light up the interior of the cockpit visually so that it doesn't just feel like a sea of black parts inside dampening the look of the colored windscreen. It feels similar to me to how the Galaxy Explorer remake made heavy use of white inside the cockpit both to differentiate the interior and exterior of the ship and to make the yellow of the windscreen pop more than if contrasting grey and blue had been diffused through it. Stop being so conspiracy brained—just because other people have different opinions than you doesn't make their opinions automatically less authentic.

Yeah, it's possible—though chances are even if there were a Dreamzzz character interested in that sort of prehistory, a set resulting from that would feature brick-built animals with fantasy elements instead of the kind folks here might appreciate more. The red panda is a bit of an outlier and I think it's more likely to have been designed for the City exploration theme like many other such animals have been. And to be honest I'm not sure how likely that would be anyway since, however unfairly, dinosaurs tend to be more popular among kids than those other sorts of prehistoric animals—so a theme like Dreamzzz that draws so much from popular aesthetics/interests/hobbies kids have would probably opt for that lower-hanging fruit.

I think part of the issue there is we've never really had a theme set during that time period or a license featuring those sorts of species (unless you count the one-off Flintstones set). Like there's been "cavepeople" in the early CMFs and in a few Duplo sets but nothing beyond that. So really the Arctic sets that featured them are some of the only sets that featured a context where those species would reasonably show up. Sadly the Arctic regions where species of that era could hypothetically be preserved aren't a great setting to include many other giant mammals which might've inhabited that time period in other regions...

One thing I saw someone mention on Brickset is that since the connections on the front and back seem to be the same, and the center section is symmetrical unlike the original, you could theoretically chain together multiples of the central section to make a loooooooong Renegade. I'm not sure whether that was the reason they opted to make the two central struts the same length—probably not—but it is pretty funny to imagine.

A thing about "head designers" is that being in charge of other designers' sets means less hands-on time to work on their own. This isn't always a bad thing, since after all senior designers like Jamie Berard can help foster the talents of the next generation of designers. But I do wish typical discussion of Lego designers was less focused on a select few "greats" as if their talent was unparalleled and more appreciative of the personal, individual touches all Lego designers bring to their projects. Mike Psiaki does great spaceships and cars but I don't know if he'd be as good at mechs as Niek Van Slagmaat, or as great at buildings and dollhouses as Wes Talbott, or as good at Creator animals as Aaron Newman. And it's not uncommon for me to see a new set that impresses me only to find that it's from some up-and-coming designer I'd never followed before.

On the one hand that is certainly a change, but personally I kind of prefer the expanded use of yellow. One issue with classic Blacktron sets is that black-on-black is not the most photogenic color scheme—unless you take special care to light it a lot of depth and detail can get visually lost. Breaking it up more with yellow allows more of the shaping of this set to stand out. I particularly like the use of yellow around the edge of the windscreen, which makes it look like it's practically glowing. Personally I feel like the use of studs in this set is effective, especially since there are also tiled sections. Using texture variation like that between the smooth raised sections and connections between the hubs and the studded surface used for the lowered sections along the central struts and on the wings helps the black parts of the build not look quite as uniform as they would if they'd covered up as many of the studs as possible. Plus it creates spaces for minifigures to stand atop the ship when it's grounded, so that they can more easily service or repair the vessel.

Not me, but that probably owes more to the source material than anything else (it's just inherently easier to adapt a simple ship with a big central cockpit, especially if you're scaling it up to add detail). I do like it though.

Nah, midnight releases on the Lego site can be extremely frustrating due to the heavy web traffic limiting access to the site—especially for a release date like January first, which is not just the first date to get this set but also many others from many other themes. If you have a Lego store within driving distance it can sometimes be less frustrating to go there in person the next day, that way you can both get a good night's sleep and get the set even sooner overall than if you'd had to have it shipped to you.

I feel like it's more than just those aspects of the Renegade that give the theme that feel—the narrow legs of the Alienator, the rugged off-road suspension of the Battrax, and the large open hangar of the Message Intercept Base also have an industrial feel to them in my opinion. Combined with the yellow and black color scheme and symbols that evoke warning or hazard signage, a lot of Blacktron I's design language feels very function-over-form (at least from the perspective of a 90s space fan who was more used to sleeker, more shapely designs).

I dunno, looking at this photo I agree that "blocky, angular, and oddly shaped" describe the original to a T. Like, the thing about the original is that the blockiness and angularity are very much coexisting. The front nose is angled but the cockpit feels like a solid block (as was typical of the time). The "struts" connecting the forward sections similarly feel blocky, like heavy iron girders in an era when Technic connections were just beginning to emerge and little was being done to "pretty them up". The cargo container similarly feels like a solid octagonal block. As for "oddly shaped" I think it goes without saying that the original's asymmetric, trident-esque shape (with the wings, cockpit, and sensor array all diverging at the rear and coming to separate, uneven points in the front) is far from conventional—a typical shuttle, jet, or saucer this ain't. The new set, for better or for worse, looks a lot more solid. The connections between modules are more robust and the industrial-looking frame feels more reinforced (in part to create space to conceal the new landing gear). These are obviously changes and not everybody is going to like them, but to me they feel true to the rigid industrial feel of the original. The dropship-style housing for the rover is also a change from the classic cargo pod, but I personally feel like that makes it more playable and functional than the original (where the crew would need to unload the full module and, presumably, use a crane to lift the rover out, all to deploy what was ultimately not a particularly impressive ground vehicle). The raised logo-shaped panels on the new one's side pods are unusual but in a way that I personally feel makes them more interesting than the rather barebones space scooters of the classic set. Not saying all this to say your opinion on the new set is invalid, just trying to crystalize my own thoughts on both the original and the new version.

Oh, the video helps a lot to visualize all the functions/modularity. Love the Alienator's shuffle-walk—I've often remarked that I miss that classic function showing up in sets, since it's still possible with modern parts.

Nope, dates back to the Exploriens theme. Official reveal is out and with the alternate pics I'm liking it a lot more. The dropship function looks nice and I love that it has an Alienator-inspired alt build. Both the set and the alt build take more liberties with the source material than the Galaxy Explorer did but I feel like it's generally for the better.

The central back section was storage for the rover on the original. It looks like this version opts to beef up the rover and deploy it more like a dropship as opposed to having it enclosed. I'm kind of mixed about it so far. It's definitely a lot less refined-looking than the Galaxy Explorer, but then the ship it's based on probably has a lot to do with that (the Renegade is far from my favorite classic spaceship). But there's elements I do like, like the nose and the way they've used scaffolding to evoke the original's industrial look. Seeing more pics, video, and reviews might help me to crystalize my opinion, but I don't hate it.

Yeah, upon examining some of the other photos and the 360° turnaround video the center module has two helmet racks on one side and a charging station for the drill robot on the other. And there seems to be a flat (possibly hinged) piece behind the window in the cockpit... possibly a bed like the one in the cylindrical hub?

Sometimes novelty can have its own appeal. Steampunk has been a popular MOCing genre among AFOLs for ages but it's rare for an official minifig to specifically cater to those sensibilities—often steampunk builders have had to make do by combining historical and sci-fi parts. So a steampunk CMF sort of hits the sweet spot of a highly popular "theme" that nonetheless has little competition/comparison among existing minifigures.

If you're interested in traditional railway-style sets, I would hesitate to get excited about the rumored arctic train... most arctic-themed sets so far have been focused on exploration and research, and if that continues to apply to the upcoming arctic sets I'd sooner expect a rumored "train" set to be an "overland train" or "trackless train" composed of several linked research vehicles. There's a chance that a train set might be a snow-clearing rail-based train of some sort, but in the absence of any sort of more specific information I'd consider that far from a certainty.