TeriXeri

Certainly recognize that logo, it's even much older then the 90s, used as far back as 1978.

If only LEGO did animals like they sold Playmobil for decades now, like a "Lion Family" pack etc. Playmobil has also done many Zoo and Safari sets, certainly would be nice in LEGO form. One exception I wouldn't want to see are wild animals under a Circus theme.

Still mostly a set builder, I always build a set first but then it ends up being on display. But the plans to take things apart are always there, just needs to get myself to do that, and go even further by mixing sets and their parts, at that point, it's LEGO , not a glued model-kit after all. I used to mix and match with no worry as a kid, still had regret of taking sets apart at times, but with a lot more focus for detail nowadays, it's sometimes hard to break the perfectionism of a complete/built set, and knowing the parts are still all right there. I actually got back into LEGO after rebuilding my old sets around 2015 , but I still keep those seperate, but I can accept the missing/broken pieces on those sets as they are 20+ years old. Most of my recent MOCing been with parts from those "Classic" theme boxes + spare parts (lots of 1x1 etc.), but often get taken apart days after as well. Also been building the alternate builds on 3-in-1 set more often, keeping the loose parts seperate as well still.

Congratulations both of you

Looks great, reminds me of the SH "125" from Transport Tycoon/OpenTTD, which was based on the real-life Intercity 125. And in that game it was just as simple as this but I still recognized the style even before I read the post, the yellow/blue certainly helped.

I have gotten several GWP as well, but this year I just don't have a long list of sets to buy right now at full price, with other sets/themes on the horizon that might change. Most of the time when I buy sets from LEGO directly is because they are only sold by them, so in the case of the Chinese New Year Temple/Lion Dance getting the Rat GWP was a nice bonus. As for the Train, it's actually a pretty nostalgic item, similar to another 1980 train we had in the family. (7710), I know this one is based on 7810, so I can see the appeal. Just for me, after getting the Christmas Tree last year, and the Rat earlier this year via the Temple/Lion sets, I don't have any urgent must-haves to spend €100 at LEGO.com right now.

True, maybe I over-analyzed things a bit much. And you're right, LEGO City has been right there on that same page, and that has been on the market for 15 years now, and only just now filed for the Trademark for the City logo. (possibly to stop clone brands from using it)

Even before the parts count or Mario name was known, "leaf" blind bag was rumoured to be priced around €3.99 for weeks now (a retailer website had estimated price, package size and weight on it) (back then still rumoured to be monkey kid) , the set numbers being part of the main line of sets made it already very unlikely to be a CMF. Nexo Powers (Series 1 & 2) and DOTS (Extra Dots - series 1) set numbers have been part of the main wave of sets. CMF always had some different numbers, even Unikitty uses 414xx for it's sets vs 41775 for the CMF. Also a regular Polybag was ruled out as those always start with 3xxxx + different package size. Some people jumped to conclusion too easily just based on the price alone. Now with the actual parts count, I'd just expect it to be some form of random power-up blind bag with coins/stars/flowers/mushroom type parts in it.

Same here, played a lot of the games, all the way back from Commodore 64 to Game Boy, to NES/SNES/N64, to Wii, and spin offs like Dr. Mario, Mario RPG, Mario Party, Mario Kart in multiple games. I haven't played a lot of the later ones (3DS/WII U), but the basics of games like Mario Run and Mario Maker certainly still hold the same "classic" Mario platform style. Mario Land 2 being among my favorites for sure, that was ahead of it's time imo back in 1993, years later, still played it on the Gameboy Color and GBA SP. Also later played the original Super Mario Bros. on the GBA SP.

Ok, I didn't really mean big "issues" as it had already been accepted in the EU, more like a possible explanation for some form of delay. But beside that, Super Mario is going to be the summer 2020 theme anyway, I still think Monkey Kid will come, but sometime later.

I normally don't just buy sets for GWP alone, especially not at €100+ like the current train. But with the timing for the Christmas Tree, the combination of good % discounts (For LEGO.com standards) and using my VIP points, made it worth it. Also the Christmas tree being fairly substantial ~400 parts by itself.

I actually skipped on the City Donut Shop set, seeing how 3-in-1 basicly released a Cafe/Petshop the same year, and now a Toy Shop this year I don't regret it. For a LEGO Shop, 40305 is still available, and while not labeled under a theme it could easily fit with City or Creator 3-in-1, even is compatible with some of the 2017-2018 Creator sets with the parts that can be re-arranged. As a mainly collector of buildings, I wouldn't mind if minifig civilian buildings went completely toward the Creator theme, but I can understand why kids want vehicles to interact with buildings in City sets as well. But I also display my buildings on a shelf, so open-backs I don't mind so much. That set in the picture is just so much better proportioned ratio with buildings to vehicles, I'd prefer such sets over the current vehicle-heavy Donut shop type sets. Eventually I'll likely take apart my current sets and make some larger buildings out of them.

Monkey Kid also recently ran into Trademark issues in the US : https://www.trademarkia.com/company-lego-juris-as-719033-page-1-2 Status Update! On Monday, February 24, 2020, status on the MONKEY KID trademark changed to NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION ISSUED - CLARIFICATION NEEDED. Status/Status Date: NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION ISSUED - CLARIFICATION NEEDED 2/24/2020 Estimated Response Deadline: 8/24/2020 See Trademark response services

Ok, interesting read, Mario being "leaf" all along, since those set numbers/cost/weight has been known makes sense now. I guess those 4 low-part count €10 set are those electronic sets from the teaser then.

It was mainly an observation to potentially help out the people who like to collect those type of sets, since the similar ride has been on the box 4 times now, with the exact same planet on top. 10257 Caroussel just retired last year December 2019. But you're right, there were more rides on that display that haven't been sets or aren't even on the box arts, it's just that Tower that stood out.

@TalonCard posted this photo from the LEGO House and that swing ride with the planet on top really looks familiar : https://candidbricks.com/2018/06/14/the-next-fairground-set-maybe/

Don't want to go too off topic from Pirates , but. That amusement park ride on the last photo , right behind the Pirate Flag, the Swing Ride with the planet on top. Really looks like the rumoured discussed Creator Expert set, might be an upscaled version, but still looks very much the same thing.

Maybe there are issues with the Trademark in the US as well, that could have caused a delay (not canceled/refused yet). Status Update! On Monday, February 24, 2020, status on the MONKEY KID trademark changed to NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION ISSUED - CLARIFICATION NEEDED. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may issue several different types of office actions about your trademark application. This page focuses on office actions that trademark examining attorneys send during the application process. More info : https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-maintaining-trademark-registration/responding-office-actions In the EU the trademark was Registered last year

Trolls and Minions hype will be one after the year, but this theme seems to launch very big and not being tied to a specific 1-time game, this could be a multi-year stayer. Star Wars appeared in 1977, Mario appeared in 1981 (Donkey Kong), but still very much known by name since 1985. So it's certainly targeting a wider generation of people compared to minions and trolls , not just the time frame, but the massive range of games, cartoons, merchandise etc around it, at a much larger scale then Trolls and Minions. I don't see this as a one-wave thing as the Mario Universe is huge and the cartoonyness of it all could easily be translated to LEGO. Could they have skipped Minions and Trolls, yes (in my eyes for sure), but I'm sure even that opens more doors to other Dreamworks/Universal themes.

I think it's great to see City do that, but also likely is done to keep away the clone brands using the City name and logo. Partly because they expand the brand beyond just the sets, it also mentions more then just toys.

100% agree here, having experienced many of the games of old, Mario been such widely used character in so many games. Not even just modern Nintendo consoles, but even early on it's been widely spread across machines like Commodore 64, Atari, Game Boy, NES, and even earlier via Arcade machines. Donkey Kong had a competitor called Jumpman Junior as far back as 1983 on Commodore 64, Mario Bros had competition from Giana Sisters in 1987 , Mario Kart had non-Nintendo competitors like Wacky Wheels and Crash Bandicoot racing etc. Despite the competitors, Mario still remains a very strong name today. Even without the competition, there's been so many different iterations of Mario, from RPG, to Platformer, to Mario Party, to 3d like Galaxy and N64. Putting it next to Trolls or Minions as just another license is totally unfair.

LEGO just recently made a Trademark Application for 2 Brickheadz logos : https://www.trademarkia.com/company-lego-juris-as-719033-page-1-2 One being the brickheadz Head and one showing a figure with the letter H forming the legs NEW APPLICATION FILED 1/23/2020

Just noticed LEGO submit an application for City Trademarks recently : https://www.trademarkia.com/company-lego-juris-as-719033-page-1-2 NEW APPLICATION FILED 2/15/2020

It wasn't "leaked" it's officially been part of LEGO's trademarks, even registered before Hidden Side was in Europe. https://www.trademarkia.com/ctm/ctm-company-lego-juris-as-206059-page-1-2 (Europe) https://www.trademarkia.com/company-lego-juris-as-719033-page-1-2 (US) Interesting update : https://trademark.trademarkia.com/monkey-kid-88739879.html Status Update! On Monday, February 24, 2020, status on the MONKEY KID trademark changed to NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION ISSUED - CLARIFICATION NEEDED. Status/Status Date: NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION ISSUED - CLARIFICATION NEEDED 2/24/2020 Estimated Response Deadline: 8/24/2020

Overwatch suffered from Overwatch 2 annoucement with being very early in development, and that just killed the hype imo. I'd say Mario is a lot stronger known name indeed, having 30+ years of games under it's belt, on many different platforms, not even strictly Nintendo consoles: My first Mario game I played was the 1987 version of Mario Bros on the Commodore 64, also Donkey Kong, Technically a Mario game before the name Mario. And even then, there was competition between the NES and the Commodore 64, Mario Brothers vs Giana Sisters. Jumpman Junior also was a Mario-like game on Commodore 64 before the official Mario name. Still, beside all that competition, Mario is still known today due to it's staying power and branching out into many different types of games later on, Mario Kart, Mario Party being large game-series on their own. One of my most played Mario games actually has been Mario Land 2 on Game Boy.