Lyichir

What a lovely build! I'd been eager to see how those new ramps could work for roofs, and this wildly exceeds my expectations! What inspired the architecture? Despite having asian-styled curved roofs, it looks very different architecturally than the kinds of architecture in Ninjago or the Chinese New Year sets. I want to say it looks Thai, but I'm not familiar enough with that style to say for sure.

It's possible, I suppose? Apart from Sandy there was also Thanos this year, who introduced a new bigfig-sized head so that his head could move separately from his body. It would seem a little strange to me if they did that (something people have been hoping for them to do since the first introduction of modern bigfigs in 2012) only to decide to stop using bigfigs altogether shortly afterward. So far none of the announced sets for next year include bigfigs (though Robotnik in the new Sonic the Hedgehog Ideas set does still use bigfig hands). But we've seen very little outside of the January and March waves, especially for themes like Super Heroes that use bigfigs more than almost any other themes and are often kept under wraps for longer than non-licensed themes. It's really hard to say. Like you say, Lego has abandoned concepts with little fanfare in the past. But bigfigs have a much longer legacy than one-off parts like the longer Toy Story legs and arms (which were only ever used for a single year of sets and look disproportionate on most non-cartoon characters). And last year's three sets with bigfigs really wasn't at all atypical for Lego—again, since the introduction of the modern bigfig design there's only ever been three to five sets with them each year. I think I'll have to see them gone for much longer than this (and see more movie themes with characters who would have previously been bigfigs use normal minifigures instead) before I'd be able to safely assume Lego was stopping using bigfigs altogether.

Obviously a minifig is cheaper, but it's not really money saved per set for Lego to use a minifigure (since the budget that doesn't go toward including a bigfig ends up available to put back into the brick-built contents of the set). That's why I consider the versatility of a minifig to be as much or arguably even more of a factor than the cost savings alone, especially from a design perspective. Minifig Sandy is not just cheaper, but can be put into sets without having to make fitting a bigfig one of the primary design considerations. I do appreciate the way sets with him have worked around that challenge, but there's no denying that most of the sets with him have had to be designed with his larger scale as a starting point, which ultimately limits the kinds of sets he could be included in. And of course, where you do start to get more substantial cost savings is in relation to a change we just plain never got in earlier years—new outfits or with different equipment like in the Galactic Explorer set! The Sandy bigfig wasn't necessarily designed with outfit changes or removable equipment in mind, so having him as a minifigure allows for those sorts of changes without having to basically redesign the figure from scratch each time. And I'm certainly happy to be getting that since before now Sandy has been the only member of MK's team not to get a single redesign! Now changes to Sandy will be no more expensive than they would be for any other member of the team. Hopefully we even get some new facial expressions for him over time!

Honestly I think it's less cost cutting and more just plain convenience. Sandy being a bigfig made him distinctive but also made it so that he couldn't really fit in any space that wasn't designed specifically for him (as contrasted with the TV series, where he can squeeze through door frames or into vehicles just fine despite his large size). Making him a minifig also allows for easy costume swaps, like the spacesuit in the Galactic Explorer set. Honestly I don't mind the change considering all that. It's a bit of an abstraction of his "true size", sure, but minifig scale is very often about that kind of abstraction and he still looks tough and cool enough for my taste. I even sort of prefer the simpler minifig-scale version of his weapon in the Macaque mech set to the bigger bigfig-scale version from earlier sets—the fact that it can use blade pieces on both ends makes it look sharper and more dangerous than the somewhat blocky version from before. Come to think of it, maybe a minifig-sized version of "Strong Spider" from last season would be easier to customize than making him as a bigfig... I'll have to toy around a bit with that concept.

If that's true then it's possible that that supposed new skin tone in one of the Harry Potter sets IS legit and not just a rendering issue. No idea what Medium Tan is, though, or its relationship to other colors—I don't even recall if there was any previous color "officially" called tan, since earlier "tan" colors were officially Brick Yellow and Sand Yellow. If it turned out to be another new skin tone for licensed themes/Friends, it might be something intended to closer resemble a typical Chinese/Japanese skin tone (i.e. a lighter tone but less "pinkish" than Light Nougat), since the existing options Lego has opted for for characters such as Cho Chang or Shang Chi in recent years haven't always been that accurate to the on-screen actors portraying them. But of course it's equally possible that Medium Tan could be something quite different from a skin tone. Or for that matter "Medium Tan" might be the skin tone from that Harry Potter set, and Medium Brown might be a new shade of brown entirely (something a shade lighter than Reddish Brown but darker than Sand Yellow or Medium Nougat).

Not really. The modular format it uses is a lot different (with thin strips of diorama-style level instead of the chunky, more "playable" modules of Lego Mario). The modules of the Sonic set also connect together with Technic pins instead of plates being used to link them. It seems to be much more a display model than a playset in general. That said, I wouldn't rule out future "expansions" to the Sonic set if it does well (much like how the Ideas Minecraft set paved the way for future "micro world" expansions and, eventually, a full Minecraft theme).

I do wish the theme were more popular outside of Asia, but less because I'm worried for its future or anything than because a) I wouldn't mind more fans to interact with online in general and b) I feel like its lack of global reach may be part of why we've gotten very little tie-in media (books, video games, etc.) beyond the show. But of course the latter probably has just as much to do with the fact that across the board Lego's media strategy seems to have shifted dramatically from the kind of media saturation that was typical for themes like early Ninjago, Chima, or Nexo Knights toward a smaller scale, more focused approach. I've heard that part of why Lego has drawn down the number of tie-in books has just as much to do with the instability of in-person schooling during the pandemic, since apparently school book fairs are a major driver of kids' licensed books like the sorts of chapter books or guidebooks that other themes have gotten in the past. Perhaps when (or at this point, if) things start to approach a state of normalcy, that kind of thing might rebound. I personally hope so, since that tends to be one of the many reasons why I tend to enjoy Lego's in-house story themes over licenses or open-ended themes like City.

It's honestly hard to say since I'm not quite sure yet how this "Lego Gaming" category will be executed. Lego has only just started working with Nintendo for the Super Mario theme, for instance—will Nintendo be willing to have licenses like that (or other franchises of theirs like Metroid or Zelda, for that matter) labeled under an "umbrella theme" alongside competitors' franchises? It's hard to say—Nintendo can be notoriously picky about how their franchises are represented. Of course there's definitely no shortage of non-Nintendo sci-fi gaming franchises that could be covered. It mostly depends on what kinds of licensor relationships Lego can establish and what they deem to be a good brand fit (probably nothing too bloody or sexy, so no Mass Effect or Dead Space most likely). In terms of recent games I could see something like Subnautica making for a good Lego set or theme.

To be honest it looks more City to me. The colors are a little Friends-ish (I mean, it's an ice cream truck) but the design language (boxy, angular, slightly aggressive) is pure City.

Not yet! I've searched multiple times too since today is technically the first day the sets are available outside of review copies (general release in China). Of course I haven't checked Chinese sites or social media which is likely where some of the earliest impressions and such will come from. I'm eager to see some better looks at the set and its sticker sheet so I can complete my documentation of translations and easter eggs in the new set.

A container crane wouldn't be totally out of place in a railyard/cargo train set, either!

Or just is planned to be reused in another set entirely. Lord knows that City subthemes have no shortage of opportunities to include helicopters. A design that feels slightly too militaristic in the context of police sets might be deemed just fine to be reused in the next Coast Guard or exploration-based subtheme, for instance.

When designers are coming up with new functional parts, I expect a key question is whether the design problem at hand can be solved without them. In the case of this latchkey mechanism, the answer is not really (since the sets they were designed for had very particular needs as far as simplicity and functionality were concerned that would make a more complex solution impractical). Whereas as liftarms/axles get longer, so too does the size of the model using them—and the more space a model has to work with, the easier it is to redesign things to use existing parts (especially at the high age rating for typical Technic sets where complexity is no longer a limiting factor). So instances where a longer axle/liftarm could be introduced and no alternative solution would do are quite a bit rarer than for "specialty parts". Another thing this discussion omits, of course, is that there's a strong likelihood that that new part (so far only used in Disney Princess sets) came out of that theme's design budget rather than Technic's. So it's not really case of that part being made "instead of" parts that would be more useful to Technic builders, since the Technic team would have their own separate budget for new parts designed for their sets.

It's a truly lovely set. One small part (among many) of why I'm so looking forward to Monkie Kid's Galactic Explorer next year is that I think it is the work of the same designer, Chris T. Perron (whose initials are visible on one of the internal stickered viewscreens). Speaking of that vending machine, I've been working on trying to come up with additional modules for the City of Lanterns set and that's another nice bit of scenery that might be worth integrating into that modular format somehow.

There was a list of sets supposedly retiring after this year a while back. It supposedly included all of the 2020 sets except the Warrior Mech, Cloud Jet, and Secret HQ, as well as the RC Race and Cloud Bike from 2021. So if that was accurate, then those three 2020 sets and all of the 2021 sets apart from the two I listed should be coming back in stock on Lego.com at some point after the holiday rush dies down. If you're interested in Pigsy's Food Truck (which is on the list of sets retiring this year), Amazon US still has it in stock, along with most of the other sets that aren't retiring this year. So if that one in particular is on your wish list it might be worth picking it up while you have the chance. I'm considering it myself since it was one of the 2020 sets I skipped.

Keep in mind this was designed for a low age range Disney Princess set, not a Technic set. A more intricate mechanism using existing parts would likely be too complex for the target age range, not to mention potentially serve as an undesired distraction from the playset elements that are the actual core features of the set (and what kids buying the set are going to be most interested in).

Looks like a good start to the new year! There's a couple more sets that you haven't added to the first post, by the way—[url=https://brickset.com/sets/year-2022/theme-Dots]Brickset[/url] has the full list so far. 41942 Into the Deep Bracelet with Charms and 41943 Gamer Bracelet with Charms. The Into the Deep bracelets look fun, though I'm still not a huge fan of the thinner bracelets since it's harder to make a continuing, varied pattern on them. I feel like the jellyfish patterns on this one would look cooler on one of the two-wide bracelets, where you could extend the trailing tentacles even further. The Gamer Bracelet, on the other hand, looks incredibly solid. I love the simple yet effective controller pattern made with just one printed tile, and the "GAME OVER" tiles look like they could be fun for a lot of different things! The charms for these bracelets look fun, though I might have to reserve judgment on them until I have them in hand. Hopefully they're light and dangly enough that they won't get caught on things and pulled off with just a one-stud attachment. For some reason the Candy Kitty and Neon Tiger bracelet and bag tag combos appeal more to me more than many of this year's bag tags. Maybe it's the fact that many of the printed parts look versatile, or maybe just that it includes a classic bracelet along with the bag tag. The very Lisa Frank-esque aesthetic of them doesn't hurt, either—both of them have a really strong visual identity. Extra Dots Series 6 looks incredibly solid—I'm personally glad that after the more gimmick-y Series 4 the Extra Dots packs have mostly "returned to form" with tiles and printed parts that work better on their own, as opposed to needing to be arranged with other tiles to complete a full image. By the way... is it just me or has Series 5 been hard to find? I don't think I've seen it in any stores even though it's supposedly been out since June. I really hope I haven't missed out on that one altogether, because it looked really nice. I don't really have anything to say about 41948 Cute Banana Pen Holder. I'm generally less interested in the "desk accessory" sets than I am with the bracelets, bag tags, and extra packs with their printed or otherwise unique sorts of tiles. 41949 Creative Keyrings, on the other hand, is quite exciting! The new keyring tags seem perfectly sized for customizing, and from the looks of it (granted, only one image so far) it seems to include the same letter tiles from the Creative Designer Box set this year, but in a cheaper package! This could be one of those sets where it's really worth it to buy multiples to stock up on letter tiles. Finally, 41950, 41951, and 41952 represent an interesting new extension of the Dots theme. 41950 seems designed largely to supplement the latter two sets and seems to include larger 2x2 quarter circle tiles for large lettering. From the one grainy image we have of it, it also seems like it might contain a decent number of parts in the new Vibrant Yellow color. 41951 and 41952 are large message board sets and include two new parts in both—a 1x4x2/3 semicircular bow piece (which has also been seen in one of the new architecture sets) and a 2x2x2/3 semicircular bow corner piece (which has so far only been spotted in these two sets). Both parts look quite exciting, especially for applications like this where you'd otherwise need a long row of the existing 1x1x2/3 bow brick. The large hanging message board concept of these sets also looks like fun, with plenty of customization potential.

Brothers Brick has a review of the Dojo Temple! https://www.brothers-brick.com/2021/12/20/lego-ninjago-71767-ninja-dojo-temple-building-on-the-ninjago-evo-theme-review/ Personally the more I look at the Dojo Temple set the more I like it. To me it feels a lot like a much better version of 70728 Battle for Ninjago City, with way more architectural variety and much better landscaping for the cliffs and stairs. I really like how the Ninjago fusion of tradition and technology is balanced in this set with the traditional temple and ninja headquarters in the "basement". And the inclusion of a mech doesn't bother me—on the contrary, it might be a nice way to decide whether the 6+ mechs really satisfy me enough to get the ones sold individually.. All in all it feels like it might end up being one of my favorite "ninja headquarters" sets the theme has had.

I assumed they meant another copy of the same cancelled set (Santa's Living Room), rather than an entirely different set that was also cancelled.

The thing is... that's not entirely unrealistic. It's not uncommon for real cities to have windows on buildings that overlook nothing but a narrow alley, if for no other reason than to allow more ventilation in the summer months (especially with older buildings that were designed before modern HVAC systems could allow for reliable air circulation in every part of the building). It's arguably less common in real world cities to have every building directly adjoin its neighbor, wall to wall, with no alley space between them. I get that having an alley or windows facing one is a less common feature for the modular series so far (with only a few such as the Downtown Diner including anything of the sort), but I don't see how introducing one that DOES include that sort of separation means that it's somehow incompatible with earlier models. In fact, as the article about earlier versions of the set point out, the lowered art gallery space was in fact specifically positioned to look better abutting the billboard and newsstand of the recent Police Station than a full adjoining wall would have! So far from being incompatible, those elements of the design were designed with compatibility being a specific consideration.

Honestly even if they did a yellow castle-inspired set they might still opt for molded horses—since even if they're going for retro aesthetics they needn't limit themselves to parts or techniques available at the time.

I don't think so. The Sandy bigfig from Monkie Kid has molding in orange, magenta, white, and medium azure (all on the front section of the preassembled bigfig body). That said, the toucan is a lot smaller, making the multicolored molding that much more impressive.

I agree that modulars can often look good taller but I think keeping additional floors optional (by buying an additional set or parts to duplicate the second floor) is still a better way to go, since it helps keep the sets from getting much less affordable and reduces repetition in the base set.

Review copies sent by Lego? Or did you find a place selling them early? I remember last year I randomly found some of the new Mario sets on a trip to Kohl's shortly before Christmas. We're getting to the point in the year where I should keep an eye out in case that happens again.

Ha, it could sort of be interpreted multiple ways I think. In the original Journey to the West, Tang Sanzang/Tripitaka was a celibate Buddhist monk. Mr. Tang's lack of romantic interest is most likely meant to allude to that, even though Lego mostly elides religious elements of Journey to the West in their reinterpretation of it. Either way I know that among many fans of the show Pigsy/Tang is quite a popular "ship", with the quarreling yet begrudgingly accepting dynamic between the two reminding a lot of folks of an old married couple. This probably belongs in the topic on show discussion, by the way, especially since it's not really specifically related to next year's sets.