TeriXeri

LEGENDS being exclusive greatly limited their reach. Maybe internet shopping was bigger in the USA compared to Europe at the time, because many people only even knew their LEGO sets from their local toyshop yearly lego catalogs or the little product booklets that came in the sets themselves. Consider the fact that LEGO only just now opened their 1st physical stores in NL in 2019, and many countries don't even have one yet. If LEGACY Ninjago proves succesful I can imagine that LEGO might try that for other themes, nostalgia is a pretty big marketing factor trend right now, just look at all those remakes/remasters that are going on.

It looked familiar, because I do have 2 of those from sets (with yellow hands) The same torso with yellow hands is in 6 more sets starting with 3 City sets: 2016 Fun in the Park 2017 Advent Calendar 2018 Hospital And 3 Christmas/Winter village sets for 2017. https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=973pb2336&in=S

I get vibes for this set from it : But maybe that's the red vs yellow colorscheme and I have that set built in my old collection.

Well, at least my speculation was just based off set numbers, which sometimes can be all over the place. I don't think it's Bionicle just per se just because of set numbers, there were Dimensions sets after that which Leaf is closer to. There's just a ~300 number gap between Dimensions and Ninjago LEGO can use for something, and Leaf rumored set numbers are there. 2020 Ninjago set numbers made a big jump as well from the 706xx range to 717xx range. 2015 Pirates set numbers were only 5 apart from the last 2013 Castle set, and ended with 70413 Brick Bounty, which is followed up by Hidden Side 70418 JB Ghost Lab and that's neither a Castle or Pirate theme. https://lego.fandom.com/wiki/Category:70000_sets for overview of set numbers. I just hope it's Pirates instead of Constraction myself.

Still find it a bit strange that Police had no boats at all in 2017, 2019 and 2020 so far, and only 1 small riverboat in 2018. I wonder if LEGO is saving them for the right moment, like a Harbour Police set. Not that I am suggesting more Police sets for 2020 , it's just something I noticed.

Another "copy" of 2009 / 2015 would be a bit bland. Going more in a direction like Ninjago Legacy could still work for me, maybe focus on Islanders and Armada factions rather then Soldiers this time. Another direction could also focus on Exploring more inland (Conquistadors) with some horses. Or have a Traders faction (Gold / Silver / Spices / Gems / Food etc.) And instead of Islanders , maybe a more Maya/Aztecs type native faction. So then you'd basicly merge Pirates with Adventurers, the Pirates can still steal the loot from some sets and have conflict at the coastline.

1994 Enchanted Island was my last and largest real Pirates theme set, so Islanders 2 would work for me.

I would just want regular pirates/islanders/blue&red soldiers, especially focused on their islands, forts, harbours. Maybe also a set that shows civilian aspect like trading market , or a trading ship that could act as target for pirates to loot/plunder/steal from. Of course 1 or 2 large Pirate/Soldier ship sets could work as well but if they do those, I hope they'd be their own sets. The IDEAS Pirate Bay set could serve as the island Headquarters for the Pirates already , so if they make more sets, most of the other buildings could be soldier/neutral coastal settlements. Possibly a smaller pirate island set with a skull cave to hide loot in. (I know skull cave been done a lot before but they could make them different enough with modern parts) No airships, or weird hybrid sets as Ninjago done Sky Pirates, and Lego Movie had Metalbeard's Trike/Mechs already recently.

Just to clear up confusion : It seems there are 2 very similar versions of this head, I thought it was this head at first, but it's the older one in the Ebay listing. Newer one used 2012-2019. (this one is at Bricks&Pieces for €0.28) https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3626cpb1933&idColor=3#T=S&C=3&O={"color":3,"st":"4","iconly":0} And the older one used from 2003-2012. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3626bpb0193&idColor=3#T=S&C=3&O={"color":3,"iconly":0}

LEGO.com Bricks & Pieces sells this head for €0.28 directly, so 50 of those would cost me €14 + €1,80 shipping = €15,80. Compared to this seller in the US, the shipping alone is €12,65 , so would cost me at least €21,72, potentially at least +21% more VAT if exchange rates cause it to go over €22. Ebay might have amazing looking deals, but in recent years, shipping and VAT basicly causes it to be way more expensive then the listed price suggests. But I base this off my country, and not a worldwide example. Otherwise, the seller might have gotten his heads from buying a lot of sets and parting them out, this head has been in 34 sets.

Just built the Sky Police Diamond Heist set, and that armored truck is probably underrated. It's large, but still compared to the 2019 Fire Chief Truck it's the exact same length/wheel size and wheel position, but can also hold 2 figures in the front and 1-2 criminals in the back. Certainly worth it at discount as it's retiring soon.

I have yet to see CMF in a store at all. I rarely see regular Polybags, but I still see a lot of €10-€20 sets in many stores that aren't purely Toy focused. Magazines are sold in many supermarkets and bookstores as well. Multiple dedicated toy store brands went bankrupt in recent years or had to close a number of stores or change store name. Online sales work great for regular LEGO sets, but for something "random" like CMF, it doesn't. (talking about main market, not secondary/bricklink markets) It's not all going so negative with LEGO stores, as they just opened 2 official ones (Utrecht/Amsterdam), but I personally would mostly go there for other features like build-a-minifigure/pick-a-brick etc.

I personally am still saying possibility for a harbor theme as well, as the magnetic part seems very suitable for that. This year seems very light on boats/ships so far, and 2018/2019 had no large ships. Seems too early for Coast Guard and I don't think they'll do another Divers yet as there's been various smaller sets with Divers elements/figures/builds in 2019 City/Creator/Xtra sets. I'd like them to focus on cargo and leisure however and not Fire or Police boats yet. I'd hope to see like a harbor master office, or marina as well. Just a coincidence : 2011 had a race boat transporter and the subtheme was Harbor , 2015 had a race boat transporter and the subtheme was Divers.

Fun part is, the Large LEGO Palm Leaf was introduced with Pirates in 1989

Well, I'm mostly going by previous years and a rumoured set list source, and there's 1 set labeled "Town D2C" which could mean the size of Capital City or City Square, and D2C means limited retailers which also happened for those largest City sets that cost over €120. 7 sets on it are In/Out, likely some subtheme, maybe 6 sets + 1 people pack. And then another set named "Town" could be a People Pack or Donut Shop type set.

20 sets doesn't look small to me (not counting the polybags and 4-minifig pack) 2019 had 17 sets at that point. 2020 still has a summer wave, of at least 9 more sets , which is likely a Subtheme + Larger "Town" set , and likely a People Pack, subtheme could also have it's own People Pack as Space had.

Blowing off with air might help short term, but long term it's still going to be in the building (unless done outside of course). I use a vacuum attachment that attaches to the regular vacuum hose, and looks like a short ~1 cm diameter garden hose, which has multiple attachments with brushes. So I have a 1 cm and 2 cm wide brush , which cleans areas between studs really well, and it doesn't seem to scratch it as it's soft enough.

Of course

I personally think 8 wide is fine for this, some food trucks are pretty large, and this example even is a Monster Burger truck in green with orange wheels. Would almost think LEGO based the set on this and then added the huge wheels.

And Bricks & Pieces calls this piece SUBMACHINE GUN Ø3.2 SHAFT Somehow, if it's used in LEGO's own themes like 2014 Ultra Agents, and also in 2019 Lego Movie 2, they have to add round pieces to it to make it some fantasy weapon like this : (Ultra Agents 2014 example) But if it's a licensed theme, it's apparently fine to to be used as a "gun" (Star Wars 2017 example)

Speaking of guns. What about this piece used as a gun (with some added pieces on the barrel) in a LEGO Movie 2 set , and earlier in an Ultra Agents set in 2014 (also with some extra pieces on the barrel) LEGO calls it SUBMACHINE GUN Ø3.2 SHAFT So LEGO adds a few rounded parts at the end of the gun, and suddenly it's a fantasy weapon and not a "gun" ? I'm just naming the cases of LEGO's own themes here. Licensed themes seem to have different ruleset where it's okay if a figure uses such pieces directly. Example 2017 Star Wars calendar :

Could be true, a theme like Jurassic World got 4 magazines in 2019, Lego Movie 2 had 2 magazines in 2019 Hidden Side so far had 2 magazines come out (Jack and Pizza courier gifts) The number of magazines overall vary a lot, 2018 City had 6, 2019 City has 12. Nexo Knights had 11 in 2016, 12 in 2017 and 9 in 2018. As for other magazines, there's Friends, Ninjago and Batman as well. Brickset has the little LEGO set gifts listed, which happen to be 100% the same as I've seen appear in stores in my country (The Netherlands) It's just that magazines are handled by localized publishers/translators so exact magazine publish dates may vary per country.

And a lot of people started to question the moment Brickarms was officially added as category, just look at the initial reactions: https://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=230627 I think in recent years this divide has only grown larger with all the attention of clone brands, 3d printing or custom printing on official LEGO parts. Obviously there is a division between purist and non-purist and sub-divisions within those categories, that said both opinions are equally valid. But now that it's becoming an official LEGO site, I personally wouldn't want to see any custom listings on it at all, but that's just me, if people want to buy/sell/use custom parts it's up to them.

That's how I see it as well. Non-LEGO parts should not have been on a "LEGO" marketplace website at all, compatible or not.

Tie-in content doesn't bother me if the sets are done right, I even collected many of it for Nexo Knights in the form of multiple books, magazines, and used the app and watched the show. The names can easily be changed, as easily as you can swap heads/hair/torsos/legs. 2009,2010,2011,2013 Castle had multiple buildings/location sets in each of those waves. If they can make a Castle theme like that again, with multiple actual buildings/locations, instead of just having a vehicle for each "hero" again, I don't mind what name/color/app/books are made for that theme. Nexo Knights was still a good theme, for 2.5 years , it didn't have a whole lot of castle location sets, the ones that were made were great, but seeing more locations would always be nice. Ninjago shows it can be done to have a good balance between action/vehicle/mech/creature and location/structures.