Lyichir

Personally, when I had the choice I opted for the Monkey King Warrior Mech. I'd consider the monkey mech, with its height and plethora of gold parts, a bit of a better display piece, while the Secret HQ feels a bit more like a playset with multiple features only being visible if you open it up to display the interior. General Ironclad is exclusive to those two sets but the Warrior Mech is also one of only three sets to include Monkey King himself (all fairly expensive), and one of only two to include him in his battle armor (Mo the cat was originally exclusive to the Secret HQ but has since then appeared in several cheaper sets). The Monkey Mech also pairs well with several other sets—it looks great displayed in a face-off with the Demon Bull King or the new Bone Demon set, and the building with MK's apartment and Pigsy's noodle shop can connect to the Panda convenience store in 80011 Red Son's Inferno Truck or the gatehouse in 80006 White Dragon Horse Bike. That said, eventually I ended up getting both sets (the lure of the monkey was just too strong!), and I don't regret getting either.

Not that this is confirmation one way or the other (it could be from a completely different set or theme), but Bricks & Pieces recently added white 1x2 masonry bricks (that so far, haven't appeared in other sets in that color). If there were an upcoming Peach's Castle, it wouldn't necessarily be unlikely to use parts like that...

The main reason for that is that Ideas sets, like other D2C sets, are produced and sold in much smaller quantities than "mass-market" sets sold at regular retail (even massively popular sets like modular buildings don't get produced and sold at anything approaching the quantities of your typical $9.99 City or Ninjago set, because the latter is stocked at more locations and falls within more people's budgets). As such, a new mold specifically for a set like that would cost a similar amount to produce as any other, but generate less return on investment overall than one that will be produced for monumentally more products. On a practical level, requiring Ideas proposals to rely solely on existing molds also keeps expectations low. Creating a new mold, regardless of the overall cost, is a complex process, and most Ideas users likely have no idea what would be more or less feasible in terms of new parts. Obviously when it comes to the final Ideas RESULTS new molds can become possible through various avenues (for example, the Steamboat Willie budgeted its new molds into the Disney Collectible Minifigure series, which as a small, cheap "impulse" set would be produced in far greater quantities). But the circumstances and considerations that go into what is or is not practical would differ for each set and might have to be negotiated independently with licensors, so keeping the guidelines as they are and occasionally getting the chance to offer new molds in a set anyway results in less disappointment overall than giving people free reign to include new molds in their proposals and ending up having to reject the possibility in finalized sets if they turn out not to be practical in that case.

And instead of believing in the cost of introducing a new mold we're supposed to believe... you? On what basis, exactly? I find it's incredibly easy for somebody on the "outside" of Lego to call the people who represent it to us (designers, community representatives, etc.) liars without any evidence or insight to actually back them up. But generally, when you ask why Lego isn't making or doing a particular thing, it's probably pretty safe to assume that if it were realistic, reasonable, and profitable to do so, they'd already be doing it. They didn't get to their current levels of success by leaving easy money on the table. Injection molds can vary in price due to numerous factors, including their precision and durability. Many alternative toy brands, which rely more on "de facto" parts molded to purpose instead of a system of reusable parts, can use cheaper molds because the need for precision can be reduced (since connections between parts can use screws or fasteners that aren't designed to be put together, taken apart, and put together again), and they only need to be as durable as however many copies/variants of that toy they plan to make. Even Lego uses cheaper molds in some cases—depending on the type of part being made and its purpose. A single-purpose figure part, designed for a one-off movie or TV character, doesn't really have the need to be produced for the same lifespan as a functional building element that's likely to be produced in quantities hundreds or thousands the size, and it doesn't always even need the same level of precision if its details are mostly aesthetic instead of having connection points that need to have precise clutch power or support the weight of a full-size model. But for functional architectural parts, like the kinds of parts that are needed for modular buildings, that precision is necessary. But more to the point... every cost has to be weighed according to whether it's the best use of that money. If Lego had been interested in prolonging the use of some of those older retired parts, they probably would have done so back when they were retired in the first place, making new copies of the molds as soon as the old ones wore out like they do on a regular basis for "staple" parts like basic bricks. A part being retired (whether or not a direct replacement has been introduced) generally means it's been deemed obsolete or unnecessary going forward. So why exactly would you expect Lego to spend money they could spend on a new part serving a new purpose to instead reintroduce ones they decided long ago were no longer worth preserving?

Oh, there are so many that come to mind... Lemme make a list of some of the more unique ones (at least ones that make sense for a structural build rather than a vehicle) that come to mind. The opening portals from Portal of Atlantis and Skyra's Mysterious Sky Castle Opening doors activated by a sliding function like in Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle, Elsa's Magical Ice Palace, and Skull Sorcerer's Dungeons Too many interesting "transforming" features from the Hidden Side theme to list The horizontal splitting feature of the Fire Temple The shadow puppet theater in the Temple of Airjitzu

It wasn't really "no reason"... the older Friends horses didn't have any articulation, while the newer ones can move their necks like the classic Lego horse. That said, I'm not really sure what if any changes the current minifig horse would potentially benefit from. Perhaps more likely for a new horse trailer set would be a new recolor for the horse, especially if the trailer is a larger one that carries more than one horse (since in that case two differently colored horses would have more personality than two identical ones).

At first glance it almost looks like that, but looking closer I think it's on a 1x4x2 panel, connected to the curved slopes above and below with SNOT brackets. You can see in some of the close-ups that the borders of the sticker don't reach the edges of the panel and that the "seam" between the brackets doesn't reach the edge of the sticker.

In addition to parts like the doors to the Café Corner and Market Street (which are no longer available) and the upper windows of the Café Corner (likewise), there are several types of parts which have had their molds subtly updated over the years (including panels and arches, among others), some of which make building techniques used in the originals impossible with the newer variants (such as the arch over the hotel staircase entry for the Café Corner, which attached parts directly to the underside of the arch in a way that the newer arches no longer allow for).

It's worth keeping in mind that Pokémon merch is not licensed by Nintendo itself but rather by The Pokémon Company—a three-way joint venture between Nintendo, Creatures Inc. (a second-party developer that is not owned by Nintendo but develops games almost exclusively for Nintendo systems), and Game Freak (a third-party developer that develops games for multiple platforms). Any licensing for the Pokémon brand would likely have to be done in a whole different process from Lego's negotiations with Nintendo alone for the Super Mario license (or any other franchises that are wholly owned by Nintendo).

This is very neat! I do sort of wish it included a skull motif like Ogel's bases in the first and second year of the theme... it seems big enough that something like that could be incorporated somewhere. Ogel has never been known for his subtlety, after all!

Hard disagree. The palace is MASSIVE already, much bigger than I would have expected for a castle that appears in one movie that barely spends any time in the interior (no shade on Frozen as a movie, but very little time is spent in the ice castle in the movie and very little of the interior apart from the grand atrium is shown). I would technically agree that the palace has been designed for mini-dolls, but personally I think those considerations are if anything ones that necessitated the interior being made larger—for instance, each "step" of the staircase is taller than would typically look right for shorter-legged minifigures, allowing the staircase as a whole to be made even taller and the balcony level to be elevated by extension. I don't think there's any reasonable case to be made that corners were cut here. I will say that as a fan of mini-dolls I do hope this is successful and that it could pave the way for something like a Friends D2C for the upcoming tenth anniversary of the mini-doll.

This new Spider-Man set might be of interest to historic builders. It has a decent selection of historic-compatible parts (including a gold sextant, a candelabra, and the new hourglass with tan sand, which is only currently available in the massive Frozen Ice Castle set). Dr. Strange has a new molded cape, too.

70430 Newbury Subway. Unlike the train from the first year it's not a "full" train (the front of the subway car hinges open and opens up to reveal a mouth full of teeth and the entrance into the Hidden Side itself).

This looks quite nice! I don't mind the lack of a license and the building techniques and details look lovely. I think the reason for this not being a typically licensed vehicle could be that this is intended as more of a "seasonal" set. The Christmas wreath is certainly an indication of that, but the autumn veggies might also be intended to let it do double-duty for American Thanksgiving (which, over here, sort of marks the start of the Christmas season).

It's not likely to happen, and a petition isn't going to sway Lego one way or the other. Designers have gone into the reasons why rereleasing modulars isn't likely numerous times. Too tired to track down the links right now, but in short: Older modulars use retired molds, which would cost a significant amount to recreate. Substituting some of those retired parts would be possible but would make the new versions "inauthentic" (less appealing to some collectors). The newer modular sets use more advanced techniques and the older ones feel more dated and simplistic by comparison. Lego can only release so many sets a year. Rereleasing a modular would essentially have to take the spot of a new modular-sized set, and a new set inherently appeals to more people than a rerelease of an old one (since people already have the old one and nobody has the new one). If you are fine with an "inauthentic" classic modular, it's not too daunting a task to make your own based on the instructions of the originals (making substitutions in the case of rare or expensive parts). You can even vary things like the colors up completely, if you want.

This is getting a bit into set discussion, but I might as well put it here since the movie set discussion topic is long gone. I also greatly enjoyed all the sets (which while large, were varied and consistently high qualit), but in my opinion additional outfits for the movie ninja might have felt a bit like overkill—after all, the movie theme was the first time we got all six ninja in both ninja garb and civilian clothes, including brand new hairpieces for all six of them. The movie having only one version of their ninja gear might have made things a bit more repetitive for people (like me!) who collected all of the sets, but on the other hand, it also meant that you could get all six ninja in their "definitive" outfits fairly easily from a wide variety of sets (for instance, you could get all six with hoods in the Destiny's Bounty, or without hoods in the Temple of the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon, or get neither set and pick up the ninja from their various mechs and vehicles instead). With smaller Ninjago waves, there's a lot less flexibility in that respect—for instance, for this year's Island wave you have to get most of the sets just to pick up all six ninja, with the only real "choice" if you want all of them being whether to get Zane from the Jungle Dragon or from the Catamaran Sea Battle. Anyway, I also probably ought to watch the movie again some time. I also enjoyed it for what it was even if I did initially leave the theater feeling a bit disappointed (not just because it wasn't the show, but also because with an action-packed opening sequence and a comparatively calmer ending, the movie felt a little unbalanced to me and left me wanting more). And visually, the movie was an absolute delight.

I don't know about how this particular project went about it, but don't underestimate the importance of marketing your project yourself. Even a well-done project based on a popular IP won't get anywhere if the people who might be most interested in it aren't aware of it. For licensed projects, that often involves not just sharing the project in other Lego groups but also in circles more dedicated to that particular IP or brand, like fansites or groups. A big influencer sharing your project can also give it a huge boost—for instance, for a set based on a TV show if you can get the attention of one of the actors, writers and directors and they share it on social media, it'll be visible to all the people who care enough to follow them for their work. This might feel a little unfair at times, but it's the nature of crowdsourcing—generating hype for yourself is half the battle.

I think that it's probably the latter. That said, there's still a not-insignificant chance that the new fairings do still work on the non-"pushforward" frames, even if it leaves gaps.

Personally I love the look of the advent calendar—it's like what the main characters looked like as itty bitty kids! How cute is that? I would have gone gaga for something like that in the Elves theme after the webisodes first featured a flashback to when they were snub-nosed youngsters. That's a good question! I'm not really expecting straight rereleases, but a new version of Olivia's House could certainly be a neat idea, especially since Olivia and her parents are some of the characters whose appearances and roles changed most post-reboot. It would be amazing if Friends could also potentially get its first D2C set to celebrate the anniversary. Maybe something like some of the bigger City sets or 2008's Town Plan, with a couple of buildings, a central "town square" (perhaps with a statue or similar monument celebrating the theme's anniversary), and definitely all five Friends characters (it's amazing that this many years in there I think the upcoming Advent Calendar is still the first set to include all five of them). As a "constraction" fan, there's also a part of me that's been wanting Lego to try something with brick-built "fashion dolls" for a while (something more versatile and based more around standard parts and building techniques than the old Belville/Scala dolls). It'd be a challenge to get right (much harder than the recent Minecraft "bigfigs" that have the benefit of working with blocky characters), but maybe next year could be the year that the Friends theme could try branching out into that hugely unexplored market!

Wow, that's really interesting! I'd been wondering how the cannon would work. It didn't occur to me that it'd be an alternative start, but it makes sense to be one given that's how airship levels start in many games. Remind me, the 90-second timer it gives is new as well, isn't it? That feels like a nice functional difference that could benefit bigger levels. Kamek's scan tile being under his cloak explains why it extends back so far. Truth be told I'm not 100% happy with how Kamek looks—I feel like the lack of sleeves has a negative impact, and almost can't help but wonder if he could have instead used the "Minion arms" from those sets, which could be done with azure sleeves and yellow hands. I do love his broom feature, though. I don't think there's ever been a game where Mario or Luigi ride Kamek's broom after knocking him off it, but it feels right as the kind of game feature there COULD be and it's a creative way to differentiate him from other enemies in Lego form. The pirate Goomba is also a great way of modifying a common enemy to make them slightly harder to defeat—they're still a normal Goomba but you have to physically knock their "hat" off to scan them. You could probably come up with some similar hat builds for those and other enemies whose scan tiles are on their heads, perhaps inspired by some of the hats in Super Mario Odyssey.

Yup! Also the 2x2 barrel is new in that same color (used for the end of Kamek's broom). Both should be really nice for historic builders.

I don't think it's anything about maintaining a certain "ratio" so much as just having a natural limit on how many ideas can be produced in a given time span. Sure, Lego could fund and expand the program a certain amount, but ultimately there's only so many sets Lego can produce and release every year before the market begins to look overcrowded (to release even the majority of projects that get to 10,000, at this point, would probably require multiple Ideas sets releasing every month of the year). And of course Lego only has so many experienced designers who can be pulled away from their other assignments to work on Ideas sets—their time is valuable too.

I'm not sure what kind of "conclusion" you're expecting? This topic is, as far as I'm aware, a topic for general discussion of Lego Ideas. It's gone on for as long as it has because the Lego Ideas program has continued to function to select fan-submitted proposals and turn them into sets. While the nitty gritty of project timelines and submission policies has changed, and other types of contests have been rolled into the Ideas label, the core function of the program remains more or less the same as it was when it started.

It wouldn't be a terrible idea to do something special for the date anyway, whether as an individual (a MOC to go with Barracuda Bay) or collectively (a contest or collaborative building event). Plenty of time before then so you could always start planning now!

Sadly that's probably just wishful thinking... the "21322" number of Barracuda Bay is simply where the numbering ended up for the Ideas lineup (after 21321 International Space Station and before 21323 Grand Piano). Not to say that means there definitively WON'T be any Pirates sets next year, but that set number isn't really any sort of hint or foreshadowing.