Lyichir

Absolutely gorgeous! The shaping and use of color are both phenomenal!

High expectations? I thought you were Carefree_Dude!

Awesome! I really love the boat-like streamlining and the ornate gold details. I'm a little curious about the asymmetrical use of Technic bricks on the top surface—is that meant to be intentional greebling, or the sort of unintended wear and tear a sea vessel might experience after years in service?

They haven't, but having briefly worked in brand writing, I think it's probably a safe assumption that it was to make it more globally trademarkable.

I could see the recolored space suits in this video just being to make the different "characters" more obvious (different color schemes + visible faces). Kind of a tangent, but I wonder if the new Trans. Black color (used so far in Star Wars, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Concorde set) could be a good color for visors. Its heavy tint could be a good "middle ground" between clear visors and more realistic reflective ones.

It's great! The functions, colors, and details are fantastic and I love the figures. So far I've only built it in the "flying" configuration, not the "wheeled" version. I'm a little uncertain what I'll do with the extra parts for the alternate mode when I eventually store it—a part of me wishes that both modes used all the parts, though I know how tough that can be to design.

It's absolutely not dark azure. Dark azure is much lighter, even lighter than regular blue. It seems pretty clear to me that this train is dark blue/earth blue. Keep in mind that set photos (including both product photos and "lifestyle" photos such as these) are done professionally, which means that even before they've been edited they can already opt for the most flattering lighting and staging to show off their detail as clearly as possible. I don't mean this in a bad way! But dark blue on your table under whatever lighting you have normally isn't necessarily going to look the same as it does on a well-lit photo set.

I recently ordered the Nightmare Shark Ship and have spent most of today building it while watching the show for the first time. And while I'm only up through episode 9 so far, I'm realizing that I've really slept (heh) on this show! It's off to a MUCH stronger start than Lego shows that I've bounced off of like Chima or Nexo Knights, with great characterization and a really strong episodic storyline. It's definitely tempting me to pick up some more of the sets now—I'd been impressed with the designs but having a connection to the characters has me that much more determined to pick up some of the other characters like Zoey and Cooper.

It's a little weird, but from what I can tell it seems like a lot of Animal Crossing merch focuses mainly on the animal characters.

I don't know if that's always the case but it definitely was the case in the early days of the Ideas program (with the initial production run of sets smaller than other themes). That may have changed somewhat as the Lego Ideas program has grown and more regular retailers have started stocking them, and even back then, a particularly successful Ideas set could earn itself additional production runs if initial sales were promising.

Is it okay to post predictions for future waves here? Having now seen the first wave of sets, some of my predictions/ideas going forward include: The Museum! I imagine this would have to be a pretty big set compared to what there's been so far, for it to have separate "wings" for bugs and fish (even bigger if you add in fossils and paintings). Obviously would have to include Blathers, MAYBE Celeste (though she could be worked into a separate set as well). I'm not sure whether Brewster/The Roost would be included—that might make the whole thing too big for the kinds of builds we've seen so far, so might work better as a separate set. The Airport! Since the sets seem to be largely inspired by New Horizons, this is a no-brainer. A small airport building and swooshable seaplane would make for a great set. Obviously a set like this would feature Orville and Wilbur. Tailor Shop! One of the other major establishments that's missing so far, Mabel and Sable's tailor shop is a natural fit for the theme. Alternate outfits for characters could be included so you could customize some villagers. Redd's Treasure Trawler. This one feels less certain—Redd doesn't solely operate out of his trawler even in the latest game (where he also runs firework stands in the summer, or operates out of an RV on Harv's island). But I do love a good boat set. Town Hall/Resident Services. This surprisingly didn't show up in the first wave, but could possibly be a good subject for a subsequent wave. Isabelle could be included in either her island button-down shirt from New Horizons or her fall/winter outfit from New Leaf, and any number of other characters who operate outside in the square could be included. DJ KK concert. K.K. would be an obvious character to show up in some sort of set, but one of his DJ gigs would be particularly good for a small to mid-size set. Seasonal sets! I don't know how much of this sort of thing to necessarily expect, since a potential CMF-like series could potentially cover some of the holiday-related special characters. But I could definitely see an Advent Calendar happening with Jingle and some winter/"Toy Day"-related builds. Of course, it's far from limited to these sorts of things. I expect there's plenty of potential for other character houses, or other outdoor scenes (especially with the possibility of scenes representing other seasons like fall or winter). And as others have discussed, a CMF-style series would be an amazing fit for this theme, both to include a wider assortment of animal villagers and possibly some special characters/visitors who might not otherwise fit neatly into a set of their own.

It's even easier and lazier to insist that because you personally dislike something, that makes you right and everybody who thinks differently wrong. But I would expect nothing less of someone who thinks that "free markets" somehow justify being a self-centered and hateful person.

God, I hate this attitude. Nobody's saying you need to praise everything. Just don't be an megablock. It's ENTIRELY POSSIBLE to critique things you dislike about a set without insulting or making accusations about the people who made it. And assuming the worst about why a set is the way it is not only rude, it's stupid and illogical—if you really think it would be so easy to do something better than what's offered, it's probably worth asking yourself some questions about why those choices were made. But as you say, "politeness is for amateurs"! It sure is convenient to have an excuse that lets you assume that you're superior to everyone else AND that that makes it okay to be hateful and immature. Communities would indeed be better off without people like you polluting them with your vile attitudes.

So fun parts use my sister spotted—see the stud sticking out of the back of the domes on the boiler? Looks like those aren't just regular domes, but rather unprinted dark blue Minion heads! https://brickset.com/parts/6310573/design-brick-2x2x2-w-1-knob-no-5

Beyond the matter of different sorts of sets having different budgets and using them for different things, there absolutely is a difference between the cost of a functional mold (which has to be highly tested and engineered) and a purely aesthetic mold (which merely needs the standard sorts of safety testing and does not need the same sort of precision). Limited-use molds such as the heads for one-off Star Wars characters or the like also don't need to be engineered with the same sort of long-term durability as something functional like a Technic or train part, making them both cheaper to design and to manufacture.

It's certainly possible, that's definitely another factor with any Ideas project involving external licensing. I can't speak much to the locomotive choice as a non-expert on trains, but I imagine the color change (from dark green to dark blue) might be either a result of focus testing finding that people preferred it to match the carriages, or simply a decision to help make it more distinct from the Emerald Night (a previous dark green steam locomotive).

I feel like every Ideas project gets accused of abandoning/betraying the concept that was voted on and eventually every time the project creator ends up being like "yeah, Lego consulted with me on the changes as they worked through the design process and I gave them the thumbs up."

Oh, those interior furnishings look gorgeous!

Don't know if it's of any interest to folks here, but according to New Elementary, the online Pick-a-brick recently added unprinted versions of several parts that normally come printed, including the white bicorne hat and 6x4 flag with two clips.

That floor technique in the armory is WILD.

In years past the Chinese Traditional Festival sets and at least one of the Monkie Kid sets (if not necessarily always the full wave) have typically been revealed at the China International Import Expo, or CIIE. This year that's taking place from November 5th to 10th, which means there's probably a month or less until we get our first look at next year's sets.

New colors of existing pieces in modular buildings isn't a new or recent thing—the Green Grocer (third ever modular building) had recolored parts that were new to it, such as the sand green 1 x 2 bricks with groove and 1 x 8 brick, both of which were new to that set (and only later used in one other set each, making them particularly rare).

I have mixed feelings about these. I like the buildings and the overall modularity, and there are some great new molds and printed pieces. But the simple, low-detail builds for things like furniture items mean that there's fewer directly recognizable furniture items from the games than I was hoping for. I'm also slightly disappointed that they're just using the classic shovel piece, when a new spade-tipped shovel would've been more accurate and would be useful across other themes as well. Still, it's a good start. And the figs/printed pieces should be great for MOCists who want to come up with more detailed and accurate scenes from the games.

"Visit" does imply that it's not her own home, but it could also be her dropping in at an animal villager's house.

Julian (blue unicorn), Rosie (blue cat), Isabelle (yellow dog), Tom Nook (brown raccoon/tanuki), Bunnie (Dark Red rabbit), and Kapp'n (green turtle/kappa) are the ones mentioned by name in these sets. It's not immediately clear which of these sets Fauna (brown deer) and Marshall (tan squirrel) are in, but at least one of them is probably in the house Isabelle is visiting. I'm a little surprised by some of these set names since in the recent games, Nook has operated separate businesses from Nook's Cranny and left the old business to his proteges/apprentices, Timmy and Tommy. I would've sooner expected Nook and Isabelle to be operating out of Town Hall/Resident Services like in the most recent installment. but so far that isn't among the sets listed.