Lyichir

Not really. Modular GWPs are often only loosely related to the modular they release with, if at all (for example, the food truck that came with this year's museum).

A Julian repeat isn't that exciting to me (unless it's a mistranslation from another language, as @BrickBob Studpants suggests could be a possibility). Granted, new minifigures in Lego polybags are more the exception than the norm (Maple was a rare treat in the broader context of Lego polybags).

The spaceship sounds exciting to me—since it's not being released as part of a dedicated Space wave I'm hopeful that it'll be designed to fit with the current City Space sets (which I love). The only other set that jumps out at me is the Construction Wheel Loader—mainly because if it maintains the same high standard as this year's construction sets it's sure to be impressive.

Built Cole's Titan Dragon Mech yesterday! Definitely a new gold standard for Lego mech design. The scale and level of articulation are incredible. Love the light piping in the "eyes" as well. I hope that future "titan mechs" have outfits that complement the Cole in this set, it's a great design and it'd be great to eventually get more ninja in this style.

To be honest when I looked at the survey it seemed to be only exploring it as an optional thing—one of the questions included an option about whether buyers would consider buying sets without physical instructions for a slight discount or VIP points bonus, which to be honest struck me as something that could be useful if you don't keep your instructions or were only buying a set for the parts in the first place. Of course the cynics are going to assume that their overreaction was correct and that Lego is saving face, despite there being zero indication from the survey that any sort of universal abandonment of instructions was even on the table. Realistically, there was no universe in which Lego would actually be considering removing physical instructions altogether, not when there's no way to actually verify that the bulk of their consumer base would even have access to digital instructions.

I know the app/digi-fig features of this aren't to everyone's taste, but I have to say I was somewhat disappointed by this review... without going into any detail about what the barcode tile actually does "in-game", the review ultimately doesn't really tell a whole lot that isn't already self-evident from the box pictures of the set. The lighting in the photos is quite blown out as well, making them arguably worse than the box pictures when it comes to showcasing the overall look of the characters.

I wanna get some of those Dreamzzz figs... I've liked those characters "waking world" versions for a while. Maybe if they have a good GWP or similar offers after the current batch of Harry Potter crap I'll make a trip to the Lego store.

I think part of the issue with a groom fig is that compared to the Bride (who was fairly novel at the time), men in dress suits just aren't as uncommon in Lego, so they might need some sort of novel accessory to stand out. Not that that's a totally impossible proposition. Maybe they could include some sort of new pillow piece that the LOTR ring piece could sit on?

My "unpopular opinion" is that I like pearl gold. Always have (especially since the consistency of it improved from how it was circa 2006 when it was introduced). It's so bright and colorful, and unlike lacquered or chrome gold it feels like the same "substance" as other Lego parts, if that makes sense. I'm fine with lacquered or chrome parts every now and then for like special accessories or trim, but pearl gold feels the most versatile to me as a building element—not just because more basic parts have come in that color lately, but also because you can use it for things that are "gold-colored" but not so reflective as to feel gaudy or out of place in a MOC.

When parts lists for this set came out I was surprised and impressed by the variety of basic parts introduced in Titanium Metallic. It's such a subtle detail that I didn't even notice it on the early pics, but it's so cool both in terms of how it looks on this set and how useful those parts could be overall.

NASA is technically unlicensed (NASA gives companies the option of submitting NASA branded products for feedback/approval but as a government agency does not charge for the use of its iconography/branding nor do products released with it legally require their approval to be released). Though licensing is nothing new for City themes, collaborative releases like the 2010 Toys R Us truck or some airline promotional sets have also featured City branding.

I'd been feeling dejected because I hadn't been able to find these in store for a while and was worried with another series coming out soon I'd missed my chance, but when I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription today they had a half-full box and I was able to pick up the six figs I was still missing! Can I just say the barcodes on these boxes are a godsend? I know people were worried when the transition was first made to boxes that picking out the ones you want would no longer be possible, but now that the large barcodes are standard, finding out which fig is in which pack is quicker and easier than it's ever been! I certainly don't miss trying to feel for the parts through plastic bags anymore...

This is really the thing. The idea that if not for GWPs other sets would be cheaper is simply a misconception, because a huge part of the reason GWPs exist is because Lego CAN'T make those sets cheaper without undercutting the external retail partners it relies on (with the majority of their sales coming from those retail partners rather than direct sales). The benefit for Lego from producing GWPs is not simply that it gets you to pay more, but that it gets you to spend that money through a direct channel that Lego profits more from (since they're getting the full MSRP value from the consumer and not just the cheaper wholesale price retailers pay for the same sets). So again, nobody is claiming that Lego produces GWPs for wholly altruistic reasons. But that doesn't mean their absence would benefit consumers in any measurable way.

I mean, you say this like GWPs not existing would benefit everyone. But getting rid of GWPs wouldn't really benefit anyone—it's not like they're taking the place of other retail sets. All they do is create a little bit of benefit from buying from Lego directly (since otherwise they'd be undercut completely by other retailers), and allow more niche sets that are targeted more squarely at the kinds of people who buy direct from Lego to exist. My only complaint about GWPs is that the way they cycle in and out means that occasionally you get periods like the one at the start of next month, when the only ones available are Harry Potter crap that I don't want. Maybe the solution to both our issues would be to make GWP availability on a longer timetable, so that people would have less to worry about "FOMO" and it'd be easier for people to get the sets they want year-round instead of having to go through dry spells where they have things on their wishlist but no real incentive to get them right away.

The new Wreath from the Botanical Collection was revealed today and includes a plethora of potentially useful foliage pieces for Pirates builders, including the classic small palm leaf in Sand Green (and Earth Green, which isn't new but is still useful) and the smoother leaf from the Donkey Kong and Dreamzzz sets in both Olive Green and Earth Green. New Elementary goes over all the new parts they've spotted in their article: https://www.newelementary.com/2024/08/pre-order-available-10340-wreath-and.html

Not just poinsettia, but a new wreath too! They both look gorgeous! https://brickset.com/article/113044/two-new-botanical-sets-revealed

It's the same geode piece that has appeared in more naturalistic colors (with a translucent "core") in past space and mining themes! It doesn't actually glow—the effects around it in the artwork are to highlight it as a distinctly colored object the smart brick can "scan". Those recolors are very fun (and arguably the most exciting thing to me about this new batch of parts), but I didn't mention them since I figured their bright colors would be less suited to Pirates builds even as treasure.

These are interesting—they're from the "smart brick"-compatible City Jungle sets that are currently being trialed for a limited audience in the UK. So they're not broadly available to consumers yet. I'll be interested to see if orders for these go through, or if they were uploaded in error and orders including them will be cancelled.

Very fun! I love the brick-built lettering on the hotel!

I've been trying to build some of the Mario Kart sets on Stud.io and have noticed a few things that I didn't realize when I first saw the sets. I noticed this pretty early, but all the karts are designed for the digi-figs to be able to ride, with big enough seats that have scannable barcodes (presumably to make kart sounds based on the accelerometer). While only the set of Mario's Standard Kart includes a glider, all of the karts have a click hinge attachment point for the glider. Hopefully other glider styles show up in future sets! Both the large and small wheel/tire combos seem to be dual molded (some of the smaller ones use the same color for the wheel and tire but you can tell that the smaller ones can be colored separately on Baby Peach's Wild Wiggler). The bar on the back of the DK Jumbo seems designed to allow another character to grip on and ride on the back, Double Dash style! Fitting considering that kart was introduced there.

Nice review! The ATV from the smaller set fitting in the back of the helicopter is an unexpected surprise! I really like the brick-built color blocking on these sets, made possible in part by the new-ish wedge tiles.

Yeah, I doubt we'd have seen the breadth of enemy characters we have if everything under a certain size had to be molded. The Sonic theme is probably a pretty good example, honestly—two years in only a handful of major characters have actually been included in sets, very likely because of the cost involved when every character has to have a distinct head mold. Another issue with minifigures is, given the likelihood that characters like Mario would have molded heads to stay "on-model", there'd be unfortunate limits on customizability. Currently a fun thing you can do is put Mario's hat on just about any enemy—you couldn't really do that if the hat was molded to the head. I wouldn't be entirely opposed to a couple of Mario minifigs in a D2C set or something, but overall I'm glad that hasn't been the main direction of the theme.

This is cute! Reminds me a little of some of the 90s/00s Technic sets I grew up with, which often had simple builds using flex hose or flex axles for shaping. I'm generally glad that modern Technic has mostly shifted to builds with more coverage in the form of panels, but for a cheap magazine promo like this the classic style is still pretty great!

Don't have specific sources handy right now (IIRC "Brick by Brick" is generally a good resource on this period and phenomenon), but part of it came from the misconception that kids' attention spans on a general level were decreasing. This was "evidenced", in part, by the rise of video games as a hobby for kids. Later reassessment (when Lego sought to right the ship after their brush with bankruptcy) found that this connection they drew was exactly backward, and that part of what kids were enjoying about video games was the feeling of mastering a challenge.

To be honest, I'm not really thinking about it in terms of what it'd be "taking the place of", especially since my interest in other CMF themes like Marvel is quite limited. I feel like it'd work better as an "atypical" series like the Mario ones anyway, possibly including not just figures and accessories but maybe also small builds like those sets had (allowing them to include things like scenery or furniture to complement each character).