Lyichir

With all the news recently about the Lego Smart Brick, I'm kinda curious if that would maybe see use in future Winter Village sets. A light brick that you could "program" with various tags could be a big step up from the classic light brick—I could see that allowing for different light colors as well as patterns (for example, a "flickering" light in a fireplace) without having to hold down a button. And since it's rechargeable, there'd be less worry about burning through tiny button batteries. It can also do sound, which could allow for Christmas-y sounds or music (albeit chiptune-y and tinny coming from a small synthesizer and speaker). Just speculation of course, but given all the drawbacks of existing light bricks it'd be interesting if they could use this new system on a more display-focused set like those instead of just on swooshable spaceships and the like.

Finally decided that, despite often being hesitant to buy in to licensed themes, the Going Merry looks fun enough to be worth ordering (and has enough of the main cast that I wouldn't regret it even if it's the only set I get in the theme). I like building Lego while I watch things so having that to build alongside Season 2 next month will be fun! And if I enjoy it enough, maybe I'll pick up some of the other Season 1 sets before they retire. I'm also working through the manga and just finished Chapter 1050! When I started I was just trying to see how the live action series compared (and get a preview of what upcoming seasons would involve), but at this point I'm fully invested and on my way to getting caught up with the current chapters!

A couple years ago Lego went through a lot of various printed tiles that had been used for many years, revising them in ways that flattened detail more uniformly and generally made them more versatile. This might've been part of the same or a similar initiative—revising the torso to remove extraneous detail so it could better work for any sort of chef figure.

Officially revealed now: https://brickset.com/article/129965/lego-ninjago-71867-x-1-ninja-charger-announced! I imagine this one will be a little divisive—it's gotten a lot bigger and lost most of its original muscle car shaping. But I do personally think it looks really cool—the enhanced size allows both the bike and car to look a lot more detailed. If accuracy to the show is your main interest it's probably not gonna be for you, but judging it solely on its own merits as a cool vehicle toy I like it a lot (and considering it's the third version of this vehicle I'm kinda happy they took it in a different direction).

Very fun build that definitely caught my eye when looking through the projects! Layout-wise it reminds me favorably of various Lego Friends catamaran sets, with two "pontoons" surrounding a large rectangular playspace with plenty of interior room. But the sci-fi twist you've given that concept really elevates it, with some great greebling and a vibrant color scheme!

I don't think it's much of a barrier for unprinted versions of printed parts to appear in a set like this since the unprinted versions already exist as part of the production pipeline. Some previous BDP sets have included parts like that as well (albeit not animals)—for example, the Mushroom Village set includes a yellow sack piece that otherwise only comes printed in an Animal Crossing set.

Just went through the projects myself, found several I liked. The Kraken Knights continue to be a popular faction for creators. My favorite new project for them is the Hydra Shipyard, which looks very distinctive and has some nice details and play features. In terms of Space projects, the Deep Space Research Cruiser is extremely nice looking even if it's probably bigger than I'd like to commit to. IIRC there was a similar project (probably by the same creator) in a previous round, but this one's research focus and more consistent sci-fi aesthetic appeals to me more. Brickston High seems like a quite cute City-type project, really colorful and appealing. The Maple Sugar Shack is a project that just looks like it'd be a nice and clean display piece. I saw a couple smaller projects I liked: Moonlight Flight and Kraken Attack both have very nice shaping while probably being an easier price to commit to than larger projects. There's a few projects I liked from previous series, like Countryside Farmhouse, Canal Houseboat, and Vikings of Krakheim.

Olive green in particular feels like it'd be good for actual olives!

Cool Yellow/Bright Light Yellow

This is Outstanding Dog Marron erasure. But yeah, the most iconic Yu-Gi-Oh cards tend to be things like wizards and dragons and such, so I wouldn't expect regular animals from a hypothetical minifigure series (and to be honest, I wouldn't really expect Yu-Gi-Oh to get a full minifigure series anyway, for similar reasons of many iconic cards not really working as minifigures at all).

Pretty cool! Technic tends to focus on modern cars and even Icons usually tends to focus on cars from at least the 1950s onward, so an early automobile like this makes for a really interesting and unique model.

Very nice! I still need to commit to ordering the parts for the third one. Never special ordered the parts for a model that large all at once before so it's kinda daunting.

Biggoron's Sword seems like it'd be hard to make—even at that scale it can be tricky to brick-build a good-looking sword, and I don't think there's any existing sword/blade molds that really have the right look (extremely large but with a straight, largely unornamented blade). Also, even if you made a specific mold for it, the way minifigure arms work means that Link couldn't even wield it two-handed, which is kind of the iconic feature of the Biggoron's Sword compared to other weapons in the game. The Megaton Hammer works much better even just with existing bricks, not to mention is likely more universal to most players' experience with that battle (since unlike the Biggoron's Sword which is the reward for an optional sidequest, the Megaton Hammer is a required item for a glitchless playthrough of the game).

It's a pagoda roof piece, which has seen use in Ninjago and various other sets! https://brickset.com/parts/design-4190 Kitty looks adorable. Don't know if I'll get this one since it's less like either of my real kitties, but it's definitely extremely cute and I like what they've done to make the build vary slightly from the Tuxedo Cat.

It could be kinda cool if maybe there was another robot hidden in the airtanks or something, but I don't know how likely that is. And the way the torso and legs on these figs are built there isn't really room for one there. Most likely just a typo.

It's not that deep, it's just a hair color that looks "cool" and distinctive without necessarily needing to be the product of modern hair dye or anything like that (see Captain Redbeard for an older male example). On this fig, another benefit is that it doesn't blend in with the various earth tones used for the hat and outfit.

I wonder if the new sets will include any other Gum Gum powers for Luffy. The long arms were definitely a great touch but I think it would also be cool to get a fig of him using his Gum Gum Balloon (maybe built sort of like the Aunt Marge fig from Lego Harry Potter).

The Monster Hunter looks very nice, feels slightly Bloodborne-esque (though obviously more colorful and cheery as befits Lego). The Tahu torso and legs do highlight why my ideal Bionicle figs would be molded instead of standard minifigs (the printed details on flat surfaces only do a so-so job of evoking the iconic robotic texture of Bionicle characters), but in the context of a minifigure cosplaying as a Bionicle character it works fine. I'll be curious to see how the mask and fire sword are executed, since those probably will have the sort of molded detail the rest of the fig parts lack.

Pics of the upscaled Classic Space fig are out! The blue 1x6x5 panel with logo is very nice and since it's blue it should be good for non-upscaled MOCs as well (perhaps on the side of a base or SHIP). From a cursory look at the build, most of the parts to build it in red, black, and white as well, but sadly the 4x4x2 2/3 domes used for the helmet don't come in yellow yet. Though on second glance I'm not sure what piece is used for the chinstrap. Looks almost like an intermediate arch between the 1x3x1 2/3 version and the 1x5x3 1/3 version. If so it's a welcome piece, but will sadly mean recolors will have to wait.

Even as an adult, I find that modular swapping is a nice feature compared to rebuilding from scratch if for no other reason than it being less of a commitment. It's the difference between trying out a new combination in a matter of moments versus committing hours to disassembling a set fully and then reassembling it as an alternate model. And the former can still encourage creativity, since those connection points for add-ons work just as well with small custom modules as they do with the ones that come with the set by default. Dreamzzz actually tends to have a nice combination of all of these approaches—a base model that typically stays consistent between builds, alternate builds that involve disassembling the rest of the set (instead of having to fully disassemble it all), and occasionally modular weapons or accessories that can work with either build or mixed and matched with other sets.

That's one of the reasons I don't particularly mind it even when it doesn't contribute all that much or make all that much sense. A lot of Lego sets tend to be assembled in sections anyway (to make them easier for kids to build, especially with medium-to-large sets that they might not want to do in one sitting), so having sets where those sections are designed with compatible connection points so that you can swap them around between sets if you so choose doesn't detract that much overall.

With the modules in sets like Dreamzzz the idea is that weapons, accessories, etc. can be mixed and matched between sets. 71497 is certainly one of the most extreme examples (with two builds fully composed of swappable modules instead of a base model with a more involved rebuild in most other Dreamzzz sets), but you can see it to a lesser extent in a lot of other recent Dreamzzz sets as well (for example, the fins, engines, and detachable flyers on the Tiger Shark Tank set). The intention isn't really the same as something like a modular building where each part can function independently, but then again the modules aren't sold as standalone pieces like with modular buildings either—each set with these sorts of connections has enough components to create one "complete" build. Personally I really like this feature. Its execution in 71497 wasn't my favorite but with other sets it's neat and in some cases influences which model I choose to keep together (usually opting for the model with more swappable modules when it varies between builds).

My guess is that the extra pieces could maybe be to add some color detailing (i.e replacing some larger slopes with smaller ones to add some tabby-esque stripes).

Sure, I'd expect you'd either have to custom print one or maybe make a custom sticker for that.

I think I'll stick to just one. Better question: how many people are gonna take the design and recolor it to make some other classic space colors to join it?