TeriXeri

True we got 2, also 2020 got a People Pack type set for Ninjago (Gamer's Market) maybe LEGO is testing such sets outside of just City as well.

LEGO has 3 skin tones as far as I know with Friends dolls (Light Nougat / Nougat / Medium Nougat ), and licensed minifigs also have Reddish Brown. I think it would only complicate things, rather then be a solution to do the same for Minifigures. Minifigure heads and hair can be swapped easily, but then there are torso + hands, and some legs that can show skin color as well. I'd think hair pieces are the safest way to diversify yellow minifigures. Even while a named character like Duke Detain has a particular hair style and thick eyebrows, it doesn't automaticly make him a certain race, especially when using his sunglasses side of the head. Also I do think LEGO has moved away from the more stereotypical head prints as well, compared to the early 2000s, and so far yellow figures potential race have been much less prominent Both from 2003: Orient Expedition subtheme of Adventurers had some asian faces with a bit of a "slanted eye" look: Even LEGO's own yellow NBA players had some African/American look to some of them : In the current age , I don't expect LEGO doing face prints like that again, seeing how themes like Ninjago, Monkey Kid, Chinese New Years etc are moving toward more neutral faces. Overall, proportions and styles of head prints seem to have become more standardized in recent years, as even early Harry Potter figures used a very different style of face prints compared to later ones.

The Divers Subtheme is good, but there are some 5+ sets like those pull helicopters, that's 3 sets I have zero interest in, even with that new variant of Freya. The majority of sets are decent to good, but not much is really amazing, especially at full price. I'd say the better sets imo this year are Race Cars, Tuning Shop, Underwater Base, Mail Plane (but exclusive here), Ice Cream Van, Safari Truck (but exclusive here). Also wish Polybags were available more widely, I really like them for 2020, but it really depends on country/area/ on what shops have them in stock, LEGO already sells Xtra polybags, so having Polybags from other themes directly sold at LEGO.com would be nice. But the year isn't over, 2019 had City sets come out in September. On another note, seems the City magazine in NL turned to only 6 issues this year at this rate, August will have issue 4 with the cop+criminal, so I wonder if we even get the racecar or harl hubbs later.

Agree here, they switched to 5+ for many sets, and it's causes some builds to be pretty simplified. They seem to be focusing on those Lego City Adventures characters. Also no people pack, I know last year had 2, but still imo was one of the better features of the City line since 2016. That said, there are still a fair amount of sets I like, especially the €10-€20 segment does well.

Sets that aren't LEGO exclusive, tend to go on sale relatively fast. I see this set already listed at €87 on local online retailers in my country, but I'm certain it'll drop more in the next months. More then 30% off for Creator 3-in-1 sets isn't unusual here. Of course situations could be different per country

Here's an example from a 2020 Friends set like Emma's Fashion Shop. The 2 dolls included have a different skin tone (Light Nougat / Medium Nougat) and the shirts in the shop are different as well, so could Andrea (the left minidoll) use the white shirt torso? of course, but it could look a bit odd. And then there are other minidolls using an in-between color with Nougat, for example from the main 5 friends, there's Olivia. Yellow Minifigs don't have that limitation amongst themselves, but of course can run into incompatible parts using licensed minifig parts, and the other way around. I'm just speaking of regular parts swapping, no hands/arms swapping. I'm not saying Friends or Licensed themes are doing it wrong, this was just an example when it comes to mix&match parts. Swapping hair pieces/hats is much simpler in comparison, and LEGO even uses extra hairpieces in some barber shop sets, and they also sometimes add hairpieces to characters that would otherwise wear helmets.

100% agree here, I started collecting City/Creator late 2018 so missed most of the 2011-2017 seasonal vignette sets. Easter Bunny with the scooter/chicken was a decent one for 2020 but it's small. And LEGO at least made the Thanksgiving 2017 set available again in 2019, but I hope they make new ones. I don't collect Brickheadz.

I love the Neon Orange parts on the Monkey Kid sets for sure, I was a big collector of Nexo Knights. But right now my main focus is on collecting the new summer Ninjago wave, since Monkey Kid isn't getting any discounts as long as it's LEGO.com Exclusive. But the White Horse Bike set still looks decent, so at some point I might get that one.

In-House themes like Western , Adventurers, Islanders were pretty multicultural , yet weren't based on real-people/actors, and LEGO could fully decide their own designs, and those themes had yellow figures. Since then, many years later, there were licensed counterparts like Lone Ranger, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, which were sort of Western/Adventurers/Pirates/Castle but based on external material. With the introduction of Darth Vader / Darth Maul / Lando LEGO was likely being required to follow source material when introducing said character into LEGO minifig form, I'm sure some external factor was in play. Star Wars also was a theme that introduced special moulded heads for it's Aliens or Yoda. It's interesting how it didn't all happen in 1 year, beside Lando , 2003 NBA were the first light skin toned minifigs, 2004 harry potter followed, and Star Wars fully switched since 2005. Duplo, Bellville and Scala had no yellow figures to begin with , even while they pre-date 2003. Primo theme was an exception and did use yellow figures from 1995-1999, even while Duplo had switched to skin tones. Duplo figures have seen style changes over time as well, 1977-1990 used the actual color white for it's figures, then flesh tones were introduced, and now since 2017 looks to be the latest variation based on eye print style/hairstyles/skin tones. Friends was the first LEGO theme that used multiple skin colors at it's launch in 2012, and since 2018, the main characters got some changes , mostly eye colors and subtle skin color changes. https://www.brothers-brick.com/2017/12/08/lego-addresses-2018-friends-character-redesigns-bricking-around-guest-post/

Looking at the reviews of those pull-cord sets, on LEGO.com , it's very negative, and LEGO jumping in with "we'll pass it on to the design team". Did they really test those things themselves before approval? And there's still a set with 2 of those Helicopters somewhere, a website says August 1st, but I wonder at this point if it'll get sold at all. It's a €30 set, basicly you pay €20 for the helicopters and pylons. I'd think 2 airplanes with some more pylons would be a more interesting set. This set was €10 in 2017 :

This new for 2020 Elf Keychain appeared on Brickset, wonder if the next Winter Village set is going be Elf themed (Santa's Workshop related?). https://brickset.com/sets/854041-1/Happy-Helper-Elf-Key-Chain

European Toy Market is moving more and more to online retail. Even before COVID, toy shop companies were closing stores, some were bankrupt, some were taken over, but overall the number of physical stores is shrinking fast. The opening of 2 LEGO stores won't compensate for that as those were mostly for the experience, and Build-a-Minifigure / Pick a Brick etc, as the regular sets can be bought via Lego.com. COVID will just push physical toy shops even closer to closing (especially if not part of some large company), while online retail and transport companies are having "Christmas" type busy days, especially during March and April. I don't remember the last time in 4.5 years (since I came back to LEGO) that I bought a larger set in a physical store. - Back to Ninjago 2020, planning to get this wave of sets for sure. I never had Ninjago sets before, but just also ordered the Legacy 2019 Monastery + Samurai Mech sets (on discount) to get a ninja home base, a full team of Legacy Ninjas + Wu. Getting 3 of those Skulkin via those 2 sets is nice, while season 13 has skeletons as well, there aren't a huge amount of them, unless they add a battle pack of some sorts later. (like they did with the Nindroids this year). And if I wanted more, I could put the 3 heads (1 green) from the Skull Dungeon on the torsos of skeletons from for example Pirates sets. Gotta say I like the newer Skull design a lot better compared to the original ninjago season 1 (2011), just looks much closer to the actual design they had on the cards artwork.

I'm still looking to get the Underwater Base, seems like the best set of the bunch, as it's a base, and has a Hammerhead/Ray, and also doubles as a submarine. Those station parts could even be used for airplane fuselage or a larger submarine MOC, or be combined with the 2019 Space Station for some fun designs. €60 is a bit much, but I'm sure it'll be €40 at some point. And while the cheaper Anglerfish set has a decent rock build with crystals and such I don't like the Sub as much, I also like the drone in the Base set more. I also like those red suited Divers a bit better, as they use unique helmets, while I could use 2019 Space suits as underwater suits as well.

Keep in-house figures yellow (Robots/Monsters/Aliens/Orcs/Goblins etc excluded). In the 2019 People Pack, there's a family with this type of hair : Make of it what you want, but I don't see a particular race here. In-House figures, even if they got names like Duke Detain, Harl Hubbs, Daisy Kaboom, etc. they are still 100% fictional figures. Chinese New Year sets use Yellow figures with mostly Black Hair as well, but I don't see those figure designs as stereotypical toward Asian/Chinese. Now, there are exceptions where LEGO uses skin tones for it's Minidolls, or has used it for themes like Scala or Belville, but those are still 100% fictional as well, just look at other doll toys like Barbie, or Baby Born etc, I don't see anything strange. Licensed Figures are mostly based on characters designed outside of LEGO's own source, so a skin color based on an actor/movie/comic book makes sense, and that's why we see the swap from Yellow to skin-tones in the early 2000s. In 2003 LEGO also started to make NBA basketball sets based on real people with skin tones, which very much makes sense. And to Quote LEGO themselves :

@berntLooks like this piece , I searched by color first, but since there also was a year 2005 on it, I'd go from there otherwise, sets with the part first came out in 2006 apparently. Bionicle Head Connector Block Eye/Brain Stalk (Piraka) - Light-Up https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=54359#T=C&C=18

I have some of those newer cardboard road plates , and I do consider them LEGO, not LEGO bricks of course, but LEGO branded.

Some people called 2020 the year of the Monster Trucks, but it's also the year of the Hot Rod, as there are at least 4 : - Tuning Shop (shown above). - Gift with Purchase (based on the Model Team set but minifig scale) - Marvel Iron Man Hot Rod in an upcoming Hall of Armor expansion set. - Creator 3-in-1 red car set has a Hot Rod alternate build.

Extra DOTS have a little transparent part on the packaging. I know random printed 1x1 tiles aren't the same as CMF "collectible" but the packaging exists that way. But since Friends Play Cubes are on the market as well, which are purely random colored animals (5 different colors of a specific animal per set, per series), I don't see CMF change. I guess the real AFOL collectors would use Bricks and Pieces for those animals instead, which can't be done for all CMF parts afaik. Still, I'd rather buy something like a People Pack type set myself, even if it doesn't have exclusive colors of parts, as it's a "one and done" thing, no randomness involved. Sets like Dragon Boat Race can show it can even include a build at a good price (but part of the reason might be because of the multiple uses of the same torso prints, leg colors etc) Also if it weren't for COVID, Build-a-Minifig was a good alternative for some figure building, and is more customizable. (for the people with a LEGO Store in travel distance of course). But still, overall, I'd personally would like to see CMF become non-blind, and directly purchaseable, but some collectors/sellers likely wont agree.

Blind bags are the main reason I'm not into collecting CMF. And I'm saying that while I bought Nexo Powers and Extra DOTS packs online. I also have never seen a single CMF bag/box in a store unless it was the official LEGO store, and Polybags seem pretty rare as well. Many Toy Shops are closing down here, and there are no Walmarts or Targets type shops here, most sets are simply much cheaper to buy online. Blind bags just won't add anything postive to buying online, physical toy shops are closing down here over the years, and even polybags and other small impulse sets seem hard to find in stores here. Feeling or being forced to the secondary market are not solutions imo. I do buy some of the Magazines, which are €1 higher priced compared to a CMF, but aren't a blind bag. I love the small-set segment, and LEGO does a great job on Xtra sets like food and plants as they are massable, but I wish that other theme polybags were easier to find here, or sold via LEGO.com I have to admit I do miss the €10 Starter sets with 3-4 City figures, or the €7 mini-boxed sets disappeared, but since 2019 the small sets segment changed a bit (Benny's Space Squad excluded), having 2 figures at most now, instead selling 4-figure Blister packs for €13. City had 1-2 larger People Packs per year as well from 2016-2019 with 14 or so figures, but no sign of anything for 2020.

Parts list say Medium Lavender : https://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-6300350

Technically the last Doctor set was the September 2019 Ski Resort set but you're still right, it was not on the list. Agree here, LEGO minifigs were yellow for decades, and still are in all in-house themes. Yellow was sometimes seen as a Racist color/slur toward asians but I don't think it was a big issue regarding LEGO minifigs & nowadays just look at Chinese New Year sets + Monkie Kid etc. use yellow figs. I never saw it as a color of any race myself, I didn't see the yellow Spacemen as naked either. Funny enough the yellow spaceman in Benny's Space Squad was the first figure with full yellow legs in 10 years, the character before that being also a yellow spaceman in 2009.

I sometimes see LEGO Friends commercials aired here.

Certainly a very nice build. It's large but not oversized to be a set.

I think the wording LEGO used, looks like it's a pause to advertising/promotional material, and not strictly stopping the entire selling of those sets.

Maybe the listed Fire sets might have to do with water cannons sometimes being used on rioters as those newer sets also include water cannons and water stud/tile shooters. Also the Duplo Fire sets aren't listed , which don't have projectile But the Duplo Police sets are listed.