Lyichir

The white torso is definitely iconic but for the purposes of the modular I understand why they went with the dark grey—not only does it feel more professional for the indoor job of a curator, but story-wise it is the last outfit he had. I like to imagine that the "modular era" of the Natural History Museum takes place "post-Adventurers" (1950s or so as opposed to the '20s or '30s setting of Adventurers), and that Dr. Charles Lightning has taken the role of museum curator after having retired from the adventuring life. Speaking of which, the olive green color prompted a lot of comparisons to the latest "Haunted House" fairground set, but while that's sort of coincidental it's funny how both sets hearken back to the classic Adventurers theme!

While I agree that making 2000s colors more widespread and less theme-restricted would go a long way, I think it's fair to say that there were many redundancies as a result of that which could be hard to reconcile if all those colors were made more widespread. As a Bionicle fan, for example, a color like Trans. Neon Yellow would only really be preferable over classic Trans. Yellow in certain niche applications. Similarly, the metallic versions of some classic colors used for the Rahkshi sets were so similar to their non-metallic counterparts that many people might not even realize they're distinct colors at all. I think one issue with having certain colors that are too similar to one another is that to somebody who's not aware that they are two different colors for different applications, it'd be possible to mistake them for discoloration or a quality defect. I feel like the retirement of certain colors may be related to this issue, such as the end of very light bluish grey (an "off-white" color that was very neat but could lead to frustration/disappointment if somebody got a set expecting it to be standard white), the retirement of trans medium blue (used in similar contexts to trans light blue but with a cooler, glassier, more fluorescent color), and possibly the recent retirement of trans neon orange (which was distinct from trans orange but was used for a lot of similar applications such as fire effects, lights, and windscreens).

Yeah, the size was the reason I figured something like a kangaroo wouldn't work in a CMF like a koala. Again, not saying it's impossible for them to come up with a set to contain a kangaroo, or that a set with a kangaroo wouldn't be appealing, just contrasting something that'd be easy to fit into all sorts of existing sets and themes like a new cat with something that'd have to have a set or theme more tailored to it.

I think it's not too unreasonable a prediction, given that a different pose for a cat like a sitting pose could be VERY versatile (not just in City but all sorts of other themes, licensed and unlicensed alike). From Lego's perspective, that sort of thing could make a big difference in the sort of cost/benefit analysis of whether a new mold is worth introducing. By comparison a good number (though not all) of the animal types there haven't been, while they'd be great to have, could be significantly more "niche". Like I'd love a Kangaroo but given the fact that they're not nearly as widespread globally, something like that would have to be either for a zoo or an outback set/sub-theme designed with that in mind.

That building (as best I can make out with the potato quality) is barely olive green at all! Personally I feel like the tan and dark tan does a pretty good job of offsetting the olive green, at least on the front of the building—the back is much more plain but I think that's less the fault of the color scheme than it is a typical modular issue.

A Fright Knight GWP could indeed be possible some day, but I'm glad they went the CMF route for Basil the Bat Lord himself since there's really no way to evoke his signature helmet without a new or returning piece (and GWPs typically don't get the kind of budget for that sort of thing). The new helmet looks interesting—while it's a bit of a shame it lost the classic head stud, the old one was quite cylindrical, and modern Lego castle helmets tend to favor more dynamic and realistic shaping. I'll be interested once official reveals and reviews of this set are out to see what the face under the helmet looks like—the glowing red eyes are already quite a frightful upgrade! I wish the photo we have didn't almost completely obscure the barbarian fig's design, but the sword looks to be a more "realistic" color scheme for the sword introduced this year for Dreamzzz—silver metallic blade and titanium metallic hilt. And of course, the goatherd finally confirms without a shadow of a doubt the goat's return, but the fig himself looks quite nice as well, with the dual-molded and printed legs being a highlight.

Technically two cat molds plus the mohawk one, since they introduced the smaller kitten mold last year. But generally there's less shape variation in cat breeds than there is in dogs. I wouldn't say no to a bigger/fluffier mold like the one introduced recently for the Friends theme, but apart from that I think a lot of cats could be achieved with print variations on the existing mold.

According to the interview video the olive green color was decided upon unanimously by the modular team, which IIRC is still headed by Jamie.

The set looks amazing to me! I know the olive green color has been divisive, but I like the way it's accented by the dark tan and dark brown, and while it looks good for the exterior I especially like the look it gives to the interior walls (which feel appropriately formal for this kind of museum). I'm impressed with it architecturally, the proportions feel nice and I like the way the front columns are designed to "split" when you separate the floors. The exhibits are cute—the interview with Tiago on his YouTube shows them off in more detail. Obviously the star of the show is the big dinosaur fossil, which does a good job of having both a dynamic pose and a realistic amount of reinforcement to make sure it can hold the pose. The tree out front looks good to me and I like the colors. The dark grey bands remind me of metal braces I've seen on some trees in urban settings, which I presume are meant to help support the tree and direct its growth upward so that it doesn't become unstable in the future. The roof of the museum looks great, and I especially love the skylights and the little alcoves for the trophy figs in the left and right wings. The proportions of the building allow them to use those 2x8 rail plates to good effect for the white entableture between the walls and roof. Personally I'm a fan of the use of vinyl sheets for the banners on the front of the museum, coming from themes like Monkie Kid, Elves, and Ninjago where that kind of detail is more common. Since they are punched out of a flat sheet they shouldn't curl or deform, especially since they'll likely be packed in the same cardboard "sleeve" as the instruction manual (which will prevent them from being curled or folded inside the packed box).

I think one difference there is variety—a grocer, at least, has multiple types of wares and displays (such as the baskets of produce outside or the refrigerated cases in the back). A post office, on the other hand, pretty much exclusively deals in envelopes and parcels. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it'd be more of a challenge to make it interesting. Though, as you say, making it one business as part of a larger modular could help.

I don't know why on earth you're assuming this'll be a "dumbed down building experience", let alone that that's a trend—it's been what, two years since the geometric marvel that is the Boutique Hotel? This one doesn't seem quite as novel architecturally but that seems more like a consequence of the architectural style being a little more rectangular by design. As for the number of figs, I expect that's mainly meant to help to populate its wider-than-average floor plan.

I feel like there were some pretty significant gaps in the palette back then, and many of the colors they did have weren't particularly harmonious with others. I also feel like the colors we get today get much more even use than colors in the late 90s, when there were far more obscure colors with scarcely enough part variety to use effectively. Say what you will about the various azures and lavenders in modern sets, but they've been used frequently enough and in enough variety to make MOCing in them practical, which is much more than you can say for Medium Red, Light Orange Brown, or Medium Yellowish Green.

The perils of washing your white epaulettes with your redcoat uniform...

Not a retail set that'll be available to most people, but this year's set for Lego's annual design seminar is pretty cute: https://fxtwitter.com/justinramsden/status/1717905071881499043

The Tiny Plants set has been officially revealed! Only $50? AND out at the start of December? What a pleasant surprise!

Good point about the rail—I hadn't even considered how the single size of rail piece could create a limiting factor for the size of the train as a whole.

It would certainly be interesting if the Dragon Masters helmet accessories were re-released. Back in the day they used to come on a sprue that you would punch them out of—these days accessories like that tend to be pre-separated and bagged in a pre-pack. However, I wouldn't necessarily take a video like this as proof of anything.

I wonder if there's any chance of any of the other characters having their "real world" outfits/designs in next year's sets. So far Cooper is the only character who's gotten both his regular clothes and his Dream Chaser uniform. It would be really cool to get Izzie with her cute Bunchu shirt, Zoey with her cool leather jacket, and of course Logan as a non-Dreamling. And I'm sure plenty of old-school fans would love to get Mr. Oz's Classic Space shirt!

Yeah, from what I understand Godtfred Kirk Christiansen was a lot stricter about anything pertaining to war and death than his son. Perhaps because he lived through the second world war in his early years? It was under Kjeld that things like skeletons and ghosts became allowable subjects for Lego figures, and that colors like green and grey became more commonly used instead of being limited largely to things like trees and baseplates.

I'm sorry, why are you judging whether parents "in the '80s" would do this when alternate build pics on the backs of sets lasted well into the early '00s, when the internet was readily available and a lot of Lego's customer service was still handled by phone? I have never heard of the lawsuit claim so agree that sounds dubious, but the customer service claim sounds reasonable to me, at least as one part of a multifaceted issue. As I understand it, the issue was (at least) twofold. Lego's designers made the alternate builds as a side project that was done quickly and without the robust testing done for "main models". This meant that there were many instances in which the alt builds weren't up to the same standard and were fragile or otherwise less satisfying, and that they were mostly built and photographed in one session instead of going through the lengthy process of producing instructions. Lego's customer service DID get calls asking for instructions, which because of the aforementioned design process, did not exist. Lego's customer service reputation at that point was very focused on sending every customer away happy, even if it cost them more to resolve (I remember as a kid my family got a lot of freebie keychains because of troubleshooting calls about the then in-house Lego video games). So call volume spent on unresolvable issues was something to avoid. I also wouldn't have the same faith you seem to have in anything about Lego being "common knowledge", either back then or today. Just a couple years ago when I was at the Lego store, an older woman came in with an ancient Technic set expecting they could provide her with instructions. If somebody was willing to go to the length of physically bringing a set to a store, I have little doubt there were plenty who would make a phone call asking for instructions for a model pictured on the box of the set itself. In any case, the eventual decision was to keep alternate build pictures for sets like Creator or Technic that actually included alternate instructions, instead of adding to the workload of other theme designers to hold alternate builds to the same standards and workload of main models. I don't know if the customer service issue was the only reason for that but it was certainly a factor when it came to weighing the positive versus negative impact of producing those alternate build pics. Also, from what I've heard the yellow castle claim sounds legit to me too, knowing the tension in that era between designers and higher-ups. This was during the same ownership in which a designer's humorous and rudimentary Lego skeleton in a castle dungeon display earned him a dressing down from the owner for being too morbid for Lego (source: the designer himself), only about a decade before a genuine Lego skeleton made by that same designer made its way into sets. It's far from unbelievable to me that grey castles could be forbidden a couple years before the then-owner of the company eventually relented and gave the designers the go-ahead to use grey for the new space theme.

One advantage of the brick-built tent is that it can be "folded" open, allowing easier access to the interior. Brick-built is also more durable for little kids to play with without crumpling or creasing a fabric tent cover.

I don't think this is why Lego limits the lengths of train sets. There are two main reasons to keep the length down—firstly, because adding an extra carriage inherently increases the base price (putting the set out of reach of more customers), and secondly, for a display-oriented set like this, people who lack the space for a full layout may have more of a challenge displaying a longer train. For people who DO have the space and desire a more realistic number of cars, buying two copies of sets is always an option. But while I don't have any numbers to back it up or anything, I highly suspect that the vast majority of buyers don't bother buying more than one copy of any given train set.

Mini-doll scale isn't really substantially different from minifig scale? They're just one plate taller and use the same doors, windows, etc. Only real substantial difference is them needing more legroom when seated.

Not related strictly to the 2024 sets (unless we're lucky enough for them to include so-far show-only characters like the Scorpion Queen or Goldfish Demon), but fans found Donavan Foo's design portfolio which includes some very nice model reference sheets for characters from Season 2 and 3! https://donffy.weebly.com/design.html Plus the packaging art from last year and posters from Seasons 2, 3, and 4: https://donffy.weebly.com/marketing-and-production.html EDIT: The fancy art got me inspired to build the Azure Lion set, which I had ordered recently. I'm a lot more impressed with it in person than I was in pictures—it's still far from the cleanest mech design the theme's had but the colors and techniques do combine to form an appealing whole.

Oh, the technique you've done with the sideways hinge plates for detail on the lower floor is very neat!