TeriXeri

It could continue, if LEGO consider this it's own thing like Stuntz was, which had multiple waves in a row.

Yeah the €20 / $20 sets are really good this year , amazing medical helicopter that's one of the best minifig helicopters ever, then this burger truck has all prints and can hold other cargo, and the interstellar spaceship and 4+ space set come at this price as well, the Police Car chase comes with 2 nice vehicles as well. Even the 4+ City Ambulance isn't terrible , not as nice as other years ambulances, but still a better 2024 set compared to the Friends ambulance (which cost $35/€35 which I take into account)

I wouldn't say Friends took horses out of City directly, more like LEGO stopping regular Castle sets after 2013, took most horses out of minifig themes completely. (with some exceptions like LEGO Movie 1, Scooby Doo, and a few Harry Potter) LEGO doing Minidolls for Friends and Disney princesses certainly was a factor too that made LEGO swap design focus to minidoll horses, as those are basicly extensions of what was covered by Paradisa , Belville and Scala target groups, but I still think the main factor for lack of Minifig horses, is the design focus from how LEGO handles Castle sets in the last decade. 80s and 90s, you would find most horses by far via Castle , and then Western, Paradisa, many tiny sets even came with them, and that has stopped as well. 2010 still had a €10 Castle minifig horse set, but that has not happened for a long time (now the minimum minifig horse sets start at like €30), the closest example would be a set like 43233: Belle's Storytime Horse Carriage from 2024 for €16, but that's a Friends style horse. Even something fairly simple like a King's / Queen's Carriage with 2-3 horses would help a lot, currently there's PAB , but PAB alone won't introduce more horses. But yes, maybe City still has a glimmer of a chance too, as the 2023 Police set actually had a horse.

All the 2024 City fire department flame logos and 6 of the fire vehicle numbers are printed for 2024, so it's not just 4+ sets leading to getting more prints treatment, overall there has been a big increase in prints in City, also the flames and burger sign in the burger truck are then printed, 5 wanted posters in the Police sets as well, and the go-kart stripes etc, and the danger stripes do actually appear as a 1x2 tile in the Crook hideout set, altho the ones in the mech are stickered due to being a different yellow. However, there are also still examples of LEGO using the same sticker like multiple times in a set as well, like the prison brick wall pattern x4, the space station airlocks x8 , or the race truck stripes x4, or the little 1x2 owl logo x3. LEGO has been adding more stands in more sets , 31126: Supersonic-jet from 2022, and now 31152: Space Astronaut from 2024 for example. The avatar theme had a bunch of stands as well, some being transparent.

I think this was a good way to introduce many parts to the new color , and Friends still has some new purple windows as well. Especially the City Space base has 8 of those very angular windows, 4 of which make a stretched octagon, very useful for spaceship designs that don't want to look rounded, as the old octagons seen in themes like Futuron, Blacktron 2, or Aquazone have long retired. Also the partly curved panels can further help with some of those older space base designs using long window panels. I know the color isn't the same, but new trans-black is a universal enough color to be used as stand in, as there are plenty of new opaque colors to use as accent nowadays imo. Is it the best solution ? no, but I personally would not mind doing some MOC using trans-black windows and then use normal non-transparent pieces for some color. I don't even think a design like 6932: Stardefender 200, or 6981: Aerial Intruder wouldn't look too terrible with new parts (like the newer half octagon windows , and curved panels instead), maybe the trans-black would make it like a special covert-ops variant , probably purist blasphemy, but that's what I imagine can still work. Also this space subtheme introduced the new Orange as bright accent color, which if replaced by let's say Blue, you'd have a Futuron branch of this subtheme, or perhaps yellow or vibrant yellow on black, would be a blacktron branch. (again not purist but what could be interesting) To be honest, I'd probably rather use Ice Planet remakes with trans-black windows, the new orange, white and blue, instead of reverting to regular trans-orange if the choice was not to use neon orange windows, would it look weird? probably, but I also think Classic Space builds with very curved designs look a bit weird, it's all about opinion. Of course there have been themes like Nexo or early Monkie Kid which have boosted the available parts in trans neon orange, while some other space window colors have been more scarce in angled shapes. My point is, that trans-black can be used as "neutral" windshield color, including completely new thought up factions, with then colors filled in the rest of the model, and then used for many builds, still much nicer color then old trans brown, or something like trans-light blue imo.

Friends comes with a Pony, LEGO describes it as such, but yes in this case, a minifig cannot ride this Friends pony, due to only being 1 stud wide, and minifigs are wider vs Friends kids. Still I do think LEGO did a clever design here, with the 1 stud gap and 1x1 curved brick to fill it, with a 1x1 square brick, it could also just act like a foal with a stud on it's back. A Minifig pony would pretty much just be a LEGO minifig horse, but a little bit smaller, as it still requires 2 stud wide, it cannot be much smaller to keep proportions. If there's one animal that got the most changes over the fewest years, it has to be minidoll horses , as they got changed quite a few times in recent years, with adding moving necks in 2020, changing eye print style 2023, and dual moulded manes etc, and also having variations in mane style.

I don't think that empty technic pin holes in this case have to mean something is meant to connect to it. Often does with regular bricks, but this chimney is such a specialized part, far more likely chosen for structural reasoning and not pin holes toward the outside.

Especially noticed this recently in sets like the seasonal vignettes, where the bases are built up, and then tiled over, the internal parts use 1x1 and 1x2 plates of multiple very different colors from the grass or snow/ice in the final steps when things get finished. Or the internal parts of a set like 40644: Piñata , which already has a ton of colors used, but the internal parts use greys, regular blue, red and yellow not seen in the final external parts, tbh with that set I did initially made small mistake as I mixed up coral and orange cheese slopes, and not the internal build. I don't think it's that big of a deal, but for something like walls or rockwork, having similar colors would be nicer for MOCs / alternate builds. However, sometimes those weird colors actually end up quite interesting for official 3-in-1 alternate builds (3-in-1 Pirate Ship has some really clever hiding of colors, to reuse them in the Skull Island (blue/tan/green coastline), and then the red/green hidden inside the Ship, which also happen to be at the same colors/side as real world navigation lights still seen in Ships / Aircraft (red = Left , Green = right) , which are then used for the Tavern. (altho maritime navigation on bouys/lights on locations can vary depending if they use IALA A or IALA B (which means Bouy colors are in reverse. And yes, back in the day, before late 90s, there were a lot less colors, and even if brown and green did exist very long before that, they were not seen in regular plates or bricks much, brown got a lot more bricks with Western, Green was mostly seen via baseplates and plans, and then mostly via Octan and some other plates, but got a lot more regular bricks and slopes during the early 2000. Orange got big with Arctic. And then some colors were pretty much almost exclusive to Paradisa or Belville for their first appearances.

City had a surfer with plastic sail in Beach People Pack in 2017, and a Sailboat as well, Friends had a Catamaran with plastic sail also in 2017. More recently Friends had a Sailboat in 2022 with 2 cloth sails 41716: Stephanie's Sailing Adventure, and a plastic surf sail in 41710: Surfer Beach Fun from 2022, and 41681: Forest Camper Van and Sailboat from 2021. The last time really big plastic sails were made, was in the Technic 42105: Catamaran from 2020, and 42074: Racing Yacht from 2018. So there have been many sets with them long after 2000 Arctic, but mainly after 2017, and it's still 7 years ago since the last City sailboat, so the "come back" does apply to the City theme for sure.

Sorry for Off-topic. Biggest difference is that eventually Sweden will have to use Euro (eventually, could take many many years ) and Norway not (as it's not EU) Eventually all EU countries except Denmark (as they submit an opt-out) are required to use Euro. Likely yes, I doubt "bad sales" was an issue (or certainly not the deciding factor) for that set at the time, even tho we all know, sales numbers , are pure speculation, and with LEGO retiring some sets within 6 months, and others last longer then 6 years, there must be many behind the scenes plans and factors.

Also the shark is the light bluish grey version, seen only in the 2023 submarine before.

At first I thought it was because IDEAS sets often had fairly short lifespan to begin with around 1.5-2 years (saturn V got remade, perhaps because it was partly licensed?, but then again, Ship in a Bottle was remade too) , but later examples , for example the 21318: Tree House is still available in 2024 since August 2019! (with a price increase in 2022)

Agreed, 2022 City Space, and the Monkie Kid space sets had both helmet and hairpieces for their minifigs, (2019 only had some hairpieces in the People Pack set) It's certainly not a guarantee to have hairpieces, it's just getting more common, for City it looks like pretty much every figure gets a hairpiece if it has some form of helmet (but not if cloth hat) , exceptions are the go-karts drivers, police racecar driver , and space sets. For example for Fire department figs, I tend to leave the helmets on all the time, if they are in uniform ,exceptions would be something like the half-uniform , seen in the 2024 Fire Station with one figure not wearing a fire uniform jacket over their shirt/suspenders. Same thing for most race cars, leaving the figures in the vehicles with helmets most of the time. So over time, this means , those extra hairpieces become available for other figures (and hairpieces are still cross-compatible with minidolls which helps a lot too) But space does get dual moulded helmets etc. Overall I also see more and more unique torsos, or new leg prints appear as well (love the new teal legs with silver stripes for Medics, and the high visibility vest on darkblue on Police, comes really close to real world uniform style used in my area.

Looks like there actually is a 5th poster in the Car set so all are accounted for, at least on the Wanted list :

So, 4 wanted posters, and 4 criminals in Prison, yeah, gotta catch them all (to put them in prison) Or catch them again , 3 out of 4 criminals get re-used in the other sets (beanie hat guy even twice, after getting out of the Police Truck, and then later shows up in the hideout). Moustache guy isn't found in another set but the prison, so I guess he got caught by the ATV behind the scenes), Jet Ski guy gets away.

I don't expect a big ship until 2025 , 3-in-1 is still sold, and LEGO might consider those 3 Pirate sets, based on the lack of real Pirate Islands/tavern type of sets after POBB. Eldorado is basicly the "Fortress" / Harbour type of set until 2025. I hope on a Pirate village type of set , like Viking Village , either fully Pirate town (not shipwreck houses) , or more like a neutral Trading Post , which can still have a Pirate hideout in form of a (skull)cave, basement etc. Islanders are referenced, but I doubt that statue head in POBB meant much else.

Instructions also started to indicate much better what booklet builds what , while still showing the entire set : (not all shown) Or at least most of it (fire truck has it's own booklet) Building together seems to be part of this.

Sorry for bump, but 2024 really quite impresses me on some sets with the amount of prints. Like the entire Fire lineup of 2024 City gets all the fire logos (including 6 wide window) and numbers 01 to 06 as prints, and Police has 5* different 2x3 wanted posters, and then the various space logo and battery prints, and decorations on the spaceships, and solar panels. Still some annoying stickers on repeated parts like the corner panels in prison, or curved decoration on the racing truck tho, same sticker used at least 4 times.

Just looked at more sets, and the parts in 60401: Construction Steamroller look really nice. Especially this new printed tile, which this set has 2 of, will be useful for vehicles, like a warning stripe at the back of a truck (or extra large trailer, which in real world extra markings are required) Also a black windscreen, perhaps for some special operation vehicles, or just Biker Bob/Blacktron fans. Also , does anyone know what this means ? Z Tier? Z_TJER ? Z TLER (settler?) Printed Wanter Posters in CSI Truck, Hideout, and Prison Island LEGO did a lot of Fire prints for 2024: Printed Numbers: Burger Truck has all prints as well New Airplane rear piece (in white in Space Rover)

That explains why they chose the yellow part sticker, while a yellow caution stripe 1x2 tile exists in the 2024 Crooks hideout, 4 clear stickers is cheaper then adding more printed parts (which this mech set already does have a good quanity of, 2 2x2 space logo tiles, and 3 1x1 battery tiles (+ 1 spare likely)

Parts lists with quanitity available now, they don't look as good as the 2023 "Bulk" brick packs to me, but still interesting parts selections. The Car set has 50+ wheels of multiple types, and some higher quanities of transparent 1x2 and 2x2 bricks and 2x2 slopes. Most interesting part about the planets set are 10x 1x1 round tile, and 2x1 plate in Glow in the Dark. The animal set with the various eyes and mouths can certainly be a fun toy, just perhaps not so much used in AFOL builds unless you want to make billboards or store signs of Dogs, Cats and Rabbits :) The notable new parts for 2024 in those sets are :

Not a 3-in-1, but listed under Creator at Brickset / Bricklink. 40725: Cherry Blossoms is probably my favorite small set for this theme so far for 2024, value looks really good (due to having many tiny bits in large quanitity), but also the build looks easily changed for some abstract highly customizable Minifig scale trees (35cm tall according to descriptionj) , with lots of connection points for various leaf types available, and brown stems with branches are more useful for "tree" building compared to regular Flower sets like Roses/Daffodils and the like with green stems.

The City 4+ farm set only just retired 2 days ago officially, so seeing sheep , cow, pig, or any of the baby variants reused wouldn't surprise me (maybe not all , but some) , they are still listed as Bestseller parts, and cow and lamb are also still made for Lion Knight's Castle. There are 2 colors of horse in official sets still + the reddish brown variant is also still a Bestseller part currently €6,00 , price seems to have gone up a tiny bit with 2024, but still less then when launched. And reusing the Goat and Falcon (in likely different color and/or print) from CMF would be a nice bonus, as well as any recolored "existing" animals (horse, sheep, cow, pig etc) As far as 800 extra parts, if it's anything like Medieval Market Village , a large central tree could take up a bunch of parts (or multiple trees with flowers or those new "Friends" leaves, or just A-Frame Cabin style which also takes parts in form of technic tubes and axles), and LEGO likes to use the newer Fern pieces in a lot of places as well, and lots of 1x1 bits on terrain or roofs A set like 40725: Cherry Blossoms is a good example how LEGO can put a lot of tiny parts in a small place when it comes to plants, and that's a 438 part set for €15 (as low as 3 cents per part), because it has a lot of parts in 20+ quantity. At 35 cm, even would work as Minifig scale trees (with giant flowers but that's LEGO), and easily modified for more colors and other leaf variants (not all real world trees have long branches either)

Since instructions are available now, as well as most parts lists, it's nice to see how sets are built. Fire Station can actually split in 3 seperate sections, 2 garages, and the top office is fairly loosely connected with some tile/jumpers on one side, so supposed to come off, looks like quite a solid set, with quite a number of regular bricks and slopes instead of straight up "pillar/panel" style of many previous versions. The fairly empty space between 2 garages, can easily be expaned to have some more features as there's about a 8x10 studded gap there to make a custom build on, but I can see it being used to have more office space, tool storage, or perhaps a locker room or something. Prison Island has a similar setup, with a left, right, and top tower being built seperately from different bags/instructions, as well as able to split the entire island in 2 sections, tower is connected with tiles again to be easily removable to customized to put another 8x8 section on. Perhaps you can even make it a fully enclosed island by turning each half 90 degrees as it looks nearly mirrored (altho one side would look flat and have pin holes/axles sticking out), but the option is nice , altho would not exactly make sense as prisoners could just walk out of the glass front door then, unless you replace it with the cell door already included in the set. Also has a lot of unused space inside to make custom interior, beside just the default washing machine. Overall I think both are strong entries in the City line, and a somewhat departure from the simplified builds (even with BURP rocks, but those give extra hollow space and don't look bad here)

Yeah was looking at the parts list and even that looks really nice, and it's all prints.