TeriXeri

8 deep (7 studs with 1 stud wall) is my favorite for 3-in-1 scale buildings, also was used in recent sets. Hinges usually have to compromise depth unless done 50/50 like Emmet's Dream House which was 16x16 so 8x32 when hinged open. 6 deep is used in City/Friends builds, but that's about the absolute minimum to not be a facade imo. 32 is also able to be divided by 16 or 8 , so would be compatible with something like a Road plate for a sidewalk, so using 8x8 or 8x16 plates for buildings can be fairly "modular". The recent Main Square town hall just looks too shallow, and basic, overall that set has some nice points but as far as builds go in large sets, I think the Hotel from Capital City looked more charming, I'll stick with Creator 3-in-1 for buildings, or some Friends sets. The 2019 and 2020 Creator 3-in-1 sets aren't on 8 deep plates but overall still maintain the scale with 8-10 deep buildings with 2-4 studs of sidewalk.

Flesh tones were introduced to portray the real-life actors or non-LEGO source material (like Comic) characters. Looking at the first Star Wars or Harry Potter years, those were still yellow, until eventually there were people of color based on real people/actors (Lando/NBA etc) Different flesh tones have different torso prints, hand color and head color, so it's not as simple as swapping 1 piece (unless its a figure with gloves and generic torso of course). Minidolls are flesh tones as the only exception when it comes to LEGO in-house themes but minidolls aren't compatible with minifigs anyway, outside of hair pieces and accesoires. Duplo could be seen as an exception as well but Duplo has a lot less figures each year compared to minifigs, so flesh tones makes sense because a fair amount of Duplo sets nowadays are Licensed as well, very few Duplo figures were even yellow to begin with. Duplo also has been using skin tones for a lot longer, can see sets going back all the way to 1983. Differences can certainly be seen in something like CMF, Licensed figures have skin tones, as had the german football players, but generic London Olympics sports figures used yellow as they were not named characters. I still prefer yellow figures as that's what my collection has the majority of, the rest being monsters/ghosts/aliens etc, or some minidolls. Also , so far, no license really has been must-have for me since I came back into LEGO in 2016. and started exploring more and more themes since about mid-2018.

LEGO possibly cutting down overall number of sets could be a factor (Covid), just look how many large sets we just had announed in recent months, Monkie kid's smallest non polybag being a €30 set etc. Also 36/72 a box at even distribution might help selling complete sets better instead of feeling(Covid)

Volkswagen ID3 , close enough to a Golf/Polo/Up to be recognizable, but still is an entirely new branch of Volkswagen going fully electric. Could even be a 2 pack with a Classic Beetle , should certainly look interesting at 8 wide using newer rounded parts.

I am personally 100% fine with the style of Creator / City / Friends houses with open backs. Hinges are nice but sometimes made 1 side of a wall really thin interior (like a few studs on Corner Deli's top floor), so if a building is hinged, I'd rather see it 50/50 in terms of depth instead of just a hinged thin wall. Even in the Creator 3-in-1 theme, LEGO made lots of variations on houses, from previously fully enclosed houses on baseplates, to hinged, to "modular" 16x8 and 8x8 sections with removable windows/walls, to the most recent Pet/Toy Shops with open backs and some sidewalks that connect with technic pins. In the last 3 years, I collected 3-in-1 buildings over modulars, even while the price of a modular usually is better per piece/volume on paper, smaller sets tend to get larger discounts. But when it comes to City, most buildings look a bit too simple , especially 2020 examples like the Service Station or Main Square town hall, but that might have something to do with the 5+ direction. I do hope 3-in-1 buildings will settle on the current design and expand on it, instead of swapping styles 3 times in 4 years as they did from 2017-2019.

I know of a case where someone used white 2x4 bricks (with screws through them) to hang a curtain rail on the ceiling but that was decades ago.

A Forest theme could be nice indeed. Either could be research (animals like Deer, Lynx, Woodpecker etc) or Industrial. LEGO has had logging in City sets before, so maybe a sawmill or paper factory type set could work if it were Industrial, even tho not exactly environmentally friendly, but honestly, neither is Gold Mining which was a LEGO city subtheme twice now. And I'm talking commercial logging in pine tree forests here, not ancient forests or rainforests. Paper bags for example still are more enviromentally friendly then plastic bags. 2018 had a Forest Tractor , and logs in the Cargo Train set , 2019 magazine had the same figure + log in a magazine gift.

Since @leafan hasn't posted in over 2 months, here's some update : Viking Village by BrickHammer was added in mid-July, and now recently hit over 5000 https://ideas.lego.com/projects/65930f7b-ff6e-45bc-a644-61b5896c26b2 Just so happens to be made by the same person who recently got Imperial Island Fort to 5000 as well.

Yeah I noticed Pirates no longer is in the Themes list. The Ship filter doesn't pick up Pirate Ships either.

Haven't seen @leafan posting in 2 months so no updates Imperial Island Fort by BrickHammer reached 5000 https://ideas.lego.com/projects/525beaf3-c948-45d5-ab3a-76e51e484984

Quality Control is certainly a valid issue, the other 2 are caused directly by Covid.

City certainly is priced much worse in USA, but in Europe , varies per country, Star Wars (and some other licenses) sets are really much higher instead.

Current sets being delayed in some areas of the world likely plays a role in LEGO not producing 2021 sets early. Not just in US, it seems even European factories aren't back to full capacity as some sets are still missing or low availability. Overall, I assume there, might be a smaller number of total sets in first half year of 2021 to catch up demand and current production. I think introducing a few less sets for each theme is better then sudden retirement of current sets, however, it looks like Hidden Side might retire as early as the end of 2020.

Still hoping for either a James Bond or Warcraft minifigure theme. LEGO had made a James Bond car before, and Overwatch/Blizzard already had sets as well. Mega has made World of Warcraft sets in the past but that's already quite some years ago.

City had one of it's weakest 1st half year imo, and going to 5+ dumbed down some sets, also repeated characters do get a bit boring, due to that "TV show". Creator 3-in-1 was a bit weaker as well, with 1 stand out strong set being the Toy Shop. Second Half Year sets looking better for those themes, but overall Summer sets have supply issues in parts of the world so again might affect the sale statistics. Classic being up there is a surprise, but the 2019 and 2020 sets were pretty good, also the white baseplate is under Classic. 11717 is basicly a re-release of the 2018 10717 with added 16x16 plates but must have been popular so they extend the shelf life that way. I do hope LEGO has some surprises in terms of in-house themes for 2021.

For a Polybag that Tree doesn't look bad, more interesting pieces compared to the 2019 Santa build imo. At least they went for a somewhat different design using inverted slopes now. Also clever use of the helicopter rotor piece as the stand.

It's nice LEGO is going back to Seasonal minifig sets, but for now, this , or the halloween sets aren't sold in European LEGO.com. I do prefer this over the 2020 City Calendar for sure, and this is half the price.

Too bad neither of the 2 seasonal vignette sets (Halloween and Winter) are even for sale (yet?) on the European LEGO.com site. Does the set number some justice , 404 not found, 40423 + 40424.

New Winter Vignette set appeared : https://brickset.com/sets/40424-1 Imo this is pretty good, and makes up for a lackluster 2020 City Calendar, even if this repeats some things from previous sets, I do like how it fits in with previous sets in the City/Creator/Xtra and Winter Village.

That's what I am expecting, a multi-purpose terrain based Police with a mix of air/water/ground, 1 year after regular Police , we got Forest (2012), then Swamp (2015), then Mountain(2018), all 1 year after regular City Police (2011,2014,2017)

IDEAS doesn't really build a world with a single-set approach. I see this new place as a place for new concepts, for a theme, or a lineup of multiple sets. Many LEGO themes have a mix of multiple small and large sets , IDEAS rarely has small sets make it to 10k, let alone into a set. Sure, IDEAS does have some original sets out there, but very few non-licensed IDEAS set would be suitable for a theme of sets. Space Rocket Ride was a small set but that was made into a GWP. Exo-Suit was another small set, but derived from Classic Space, just like Barracuda Bay was based on Pirates, not entirely new themes. Old Fishing Store and Tree House were original , but large sets. The 2012 Cuuso minecraft set did eventually got developed further into a wave of sets, but Minecraft is an IP originated outside of LEGO. I do think having a different place for theme concept is a good thing, as it takes more then just a single set to be a theme, even while a set like Ninjago City is fantastic on it's own, Ninjago's success is a combined effort of 10 years of sets, not just 1 single set.

Only some of the magazines that come with the mini sets, like when Nexo Knights was current I collected those, and then switched to collecting City magazines in late 2018. City Magazine issue 4 just was released this week here with this small set, but those magazines vary per country as they are published by local publishers.

Interestingly enough, next City magazine here in NL will have the brown (Dark Orange) motorcycle from the tuning workshop. Also fairly unique parts for the minifig, with this Torso (only seen in the Tuning Workshop) : And a helmet in Dark Orange, which is also new for 2020 (2 other sets so far) : But no picture on Brickset yet , and no release date listed in the magazine itself But the City magazines in NL certainly are on a less frequent release compared to Germany since 2020, only been 4 issues so far and it's nearly September, so wouldn't surprise me if there's only 6 this year here.

I have no info from physical stores, but at least with the info I have from the most common online shops The Netherlands or Germany (that ship to NL), the Emma Jungle Cube didn't appear there. But I do see the Emma Summer Cube listed as Coming Soon at Brickshop.nl / eu (4 September). Maybe those sets will re-appear at lego.com, as the whole covid situation did have some effect on the production/delays on sets. Those play cubes do have unique parts as in 5 random colors of animals per set, so that might play a role in their limited availabilty/lower production numbers. Overall, I think it's a weird situation with the play cubes, but I think at this point further discussion would be a bit repetitive. I might still get the Fashion Shop and Park Cafe sets later. Beach House doesn't look bad either,

Emma's Jungle Cube never appeared on Shop@home as available. (Brickset has no Availability or Price history on the Emma set either) And I'm not saying the set never existed, it does exist, there's been video review and instructions of it, and a listing on ebay. The Summer Play Cube aren't even out yet (September 1st here) , yet Emma's is missing again, but the other 4 are listed. The other Jungle cubes were only sold for about a month in June and vanished in July (in Europe) ,but the fact that Emma's never appeared on a price history tracker is really strange, as is the fact that it's particularly happening with the Emma set twice. On the US Shop@Home, 4 Play Cubes are still in stock and being sold, with no history of Emma's. Now, to me, those sets themselves aren't a huge deal/issue, but the theory behind it is interesting.