Lyichir

The hare and ants are easy to explain—those were for licensed themes (the subject matter of which are very dependent on what's in the material it's adapting). Bunnies are cute and cuddly pets (and great for things like Easter sets or magic acts). Orcas and sharks have the aforementioned "wow factor" for kids, that add a lot of play value to a given set. I do think it'd be nice to get a new bat mold (like the newer rats), but I feel like (like the frog), the old slightly clunky version is nostalgic enough and used decoratively enough that Lego doesn't see the need.

The light nougat masonry bricks also appear in the (smaller, cheaper, less exclusive) Heartlake City Community Center so I'd be surprised if they didn't make it to Pick-a-Brick eventually. I was looking at those today and thinking about how nice they might be for some warm and sunny Mediterranean architecture.

I literally said so in the very post you quoted. The Orca is a big, prominent part of the set it's in, which is priced to suit the inclusion of such a large molded animal. That's going to probably drive sales of that one set the same way the big molded dinosaurs from the various Jurassic sets do. By comparison, goats are just kind of plain, not exceptional. They're small animals like any other and don't have a ton of "wow factor" for kids. I honestly think the only reason they're so desired by AFOLs, compared to other animals like pigs or sheep or cows, is because they were once ever-so-briefly available and never have been since. But unlike hardcore AFOLs who have been following what animals are or aren't available, most buyers don't know that—to them a goat is probably just an animal like any other, and probably not something that'd make a major impact on the sales of any one given set. I'm reminded also of the reason Lego doesn't rerelease modular buildings—that the potential sales for any possible rerelease is smaller than the potential sales of a brand-new one, minus people who already have the original and are satisfied with it. So when Lego has the budget to create a new animal mold, a similar calculus may play out—should we make goats again, which very few fans have, or should we make an animal that we've never produced and which absolutely nobody has? We've seen a lot of new animals in recent years, and I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of calculation has played out. All this isn't to say we'll NEVER see goats again or that there couldn't be a scenario where they'd be worth bringing back. But despite the AFOL passion for goats, there's little reason to assume that bringing goats back is or should be the highest possible priority for Lego designers.

Sure, they COULD create a new goat for anything. But they'd have to weigh whether a new goat would be the best use of the budget for a given set or theme. It's not just about whether something gets used more than once, but about the impact that use has. For example, it's not hard to understand why remaking the goat for the Jurassic Park set it was once considered for was rejected—that'd be a lot of money for a hidden "easter egg" that might not even be noticed by most potential buyers. By comparison something like the orca has a major "wow factor" that could majorly drive sales of a single set, especially for kids.

What on earth are you talking about? Literally nobody is trying to get Monkie Kid cancelled. I haven't seen any "LGBTQ whiners" and in fact have seen plenty of LGBT fans of the show.

Regarding dual molded legs, worth keeping in mind that they are still relatively rare in Lego for a reason. Because dual-molded legs are newer, Lego's production capacity for them is much, much smaller than their existing capacity to produce standard legs (with or without printing). So giving all the Imperial soldiers boots, when they make up the 6 out of the 8 figs in the set, might simply have not been an option.

To be honest I'd sort of rather the next throwback Space set be a base of some sort rather than a spaceship—and possibly something more loosely based on the classic bases (many of which individually are a little paltry), rather than a direct recreation of a singular set. But I voted Saucer Centurion since as a set I fondly remember from my own childhood, I'd definitely be tempted to get it if they DID do a reimagining of it.

Gonna chime in here as a Lego fan who grew up in the 90s that I agree that the original "named" cast of Lego Pirates is obscure. As a kid, the only named Pirate character I remembered was Captain Redbeard, who was named repeatedly in the Lego Mania Magazines—I had never seen nor heard of the Pirates comic that named and characterized the other minifigures until a couple of years ago as an adult. And it's not uncommon for me to see older fans lamenting modern themes' tendency to name and characterize their core characters, suggesting that many fans of that era similarly didn't know of the other characters in the theme, or at least didn't consider that information important or essential.

Very cute! The broad wedge shape reminds me of 442 Space Shuttle / 891 Two-Seater Space Scooter, though with the welcome addition of an enclosed canopy. I like the way the wing edges meet the nose cone. Both of the MOCs you've come up with with the spare parts to the alternate builds of this set have been great. I ought to give MOCing something with my spare parts another go... I got frustrated at not being able to come up with something I was satisfied with, but maybe I just need to give myself a little more time to come up with something good.

If I had to guess, the Ninjago sets are probably being released this month to tie in with the global release of the new season of the show (which is being majorly promoted as a new series and a refresh of sorts for the brand). City, on the other hand, no longer has any major media tie-ins to have to sync up with.

Long time no see! This is yet another example of why you're one of my favorite microscale MOCists out there. Somehow you've managed to pack almost every major detail of the set into a footprint a fraction of the size of the original—and for such a detailed set, that's no small feat!

Speaking of the crown coin, I was mildly surprised today building the Ninjago City Markets set that the crown coin piece is used on the jukebox build, face down, where an unprinted 1x1 round tile would have looked the same. Obviously getting a set that big just for two or three crown coins would be stupid, but I'm not complaining about having a few more of those now!

The colors of the left car remind me fondly of the TLM 2 Systar System sets… the curvy trans pink windscreen in particular would be perfect for that faction.

I think unless you’re MOCing for a contest or something with specific rules, “the line” is wherever you want it to be. Some people are strictly purist, others will happily MOC with clone brands or even non-plastic “mixed media”. Personally I lean more toward the purist end of the spectrum. That’s less because I’m ideologically opposed to clone brands or third-party customs and more because I generally haven’t found ones that satisfy my particular tastes. I love seeing the work of expert minifig customizers, though.

Wow, really? Good eye—I never would've spotted that!

Yup, the trans-yellow ones are also used for the lamppost in the community center set. Should be really nice for spacers (especially ones who work in microscale). Just noticed something interesting about the rotating sign on top of the bus, and how it uses an unconventional-but-legal technique (technic pins inserted into 1x1 "Dalek" bricks) on both sides in such a way that it works out to be perfectly spaced. Pretty funky.

I feel like sometimes retirements have less to do with how long it's been and more to do with if they fill a niche that other sets aren't filling. I wouldn't be surprised if Bookshop is sticking around because it's the only one currently that splits into two half-baseplates that can be rearranged. IIRC its predecessor, the Pet Shop, also stuck around comparatively longer than some of its contemporaries.

Nice review of the new Ninjago City set!

Kids are likely to be less concerned with the realistic environmental outcomes of a simplified plumbing system like this than they are excited for the novelty of working plumbing in the first place. It's probably best not to dwell on the fact that they couldn't integrate full wastewater processing infrastructure.

All the criticisms of the toilet seem absurd to me, since it reminds me most of the incredibly clever working ATM and vending machine functions from the original two Ninjago City sets. Novel functional components (even parts-intensive ones) have been a part of the series from the get-go, and their inclusion here doesn't seem to have compromised any other aspects of the set as far as I'm concerned. I am eager to see how the toilet function actually works, since the exit chute is actually quite a distance from the top-floor restroom! There's got to be some clever "plumbing" behind the club and inside the bridge to allow the tiles to move from point A to point B.

Nah, I think you're overestimating it, if anything. AI, as it exists today, is a pretty deliberate misnomer for an overhyped technology. It relies heavily on plagiarism to generate sub-standard 2D images or text that has to essentially be babysat by an actual artist or writer if you want to ensure anything approaching quality. And it's nowhere near ready to extend that sort of thing to a complex and systematic 3D medium like Lego. Even if there were cost savings to be had (and I doubt that there are), Lego has not gotten the reputation it has by cutting corners creatively. Perhaps a knockoff company would settle for the sort of creatively bankrupt shortcuts AI provides, but Lego has the resources to actually pay human designers who are better at creating quality products for human customers.

I don't think Lego's software on that front is as complex as all that—they definitely have more advanced building software that lets them more quickly and easily price out what parts they're using, but as far as I'm aware most of the reworking for cost is still done by a human designer making conscious substitutions and stability adjustments are still made based on physical testing. I don't think that kind of thing could or should be automated, as ultimately things like the physical properties of models are easier and cheaper to test physically than they would be to accurately or reliably simulate. I also think AI's value for inspiration or concept work is generally overstated, since all it's doing is regurgitating the data it's been trained with to try to respond to a prompt. Actual design and research techniques are more valuable and make it easier to avoid unconsciously referencing or even plagiarizing existing art (a massive ethical issue in the field of generative AI that shows no signs of being resolved any time soon).

Personally I like the spacing of this set... I feel like if you "filled in" the areas under or on top of the bridge in the rear, you'd lose sense of the bridge itself and the sense of space that gives the cable car something that feels meaningful to traverse. The negative space helps give the two sides more of a sense of scale. Then again, I felt similarly about the gardens affording a wide area between the buildings for the tree in the middle, or the Docks having a lower elevation with more space afforded to the "ground level". If every NC module were as densely packed as the original Ninjago City, there'd be less room for variation and I feel like the format would more easily become stale. I'm eager to see more pictures or reviews of the completed set. There's several buildings/rooms in the set that the provided pictures/videos don't show off the interiors of.

What would be the point? There's nothing that AI could do design-wise that couldn't be done better or more effectively by a conscious human designer.

Ninjago City Markets seems to introduce garage door pieces in trans-neon green, which I'm pretty sure are new? Could be interesting for fans of M-Tron or Blacktron II.