TeriXeri

Those 4 wide truck with trailers seem very popular within 3-in-1, as there have been 7 sets like this format since 2011, basicly every 2 years, except 3 years from 2021 to 2024. To me , this comest closest to the 1996 Giant truck + extra cargo ,rather then the 1990 helicopter truck, mainly due to the helicopter color being so different, and the original 1990 set using an european style cab. (but the red stripe design certainly is the same) But yeah, as far as large scale vehicles go, the concept of Model Team existed for quite a while after it's disappearance, with Creator 3-in-1 having large scale vehicles up to around 2010 with similar sizes, Advanced Models from 2008-2012, until the appearance of the Creator Expert branding in 2013, which later became Icons.

I can see LEGO doing something like the 2024 City space wave but underwater, in the future, just not right now with 2023 City (arctic) Divers and Avatar Way of Water, and also a big underwater-palace set with atlantis-like humanoid crabs in a Monkie Kid set. Of course City 2015, 2020, or 2023 are not direct replacements of aquazone (rather more inspired by 1996 Divers, especially 2015 and 2020), it lacks the 90s space look, but with 2024 City space going to futuristic designs, I don't rule out that could happen with an underwater setting at some point, I mean, City , and even Friends got aliens, that means they can do some fictional underwater theme as well. What I don't expect from City , is Aquazone in the way of conflict between Nauts and Sharks however, but the explorer part of a single faction could certainly happen, same with the explorer part of Rock Raiders, just minus the monsters. For actual remakes, Icons might be the place, but the complex nature of such themes with many transparent pieces of retired shapes , it'd probably be re-imagined sets rather then straight up remakes.

Yeah overall, Police and Fire figures seem to have gotten an update , less gold badges, no flame orange overalls (fire pilots/ship captain), and the vibrant yellow mostly has moved to the Pilot/Motorcycle helmets, or in the case of Police, high-vis vests. Also the Police buildings and vehicles lack the gold "badge" logo or Police text, it's mostly a silver shield with star on a black or darkblue background. All the criminal minifigs also at least have orange prison overall (or rolled down overalls in the car chase, or orange overall with purple jacket on top in the CSI truck) , basicly inverted style from 2016 Prison Island where it was full striped suit with orange shirts underneath.

While the product pictures of the City 60406: Race Car and Car Carrier Truck , make it seem the truck headlights could be Trans-Neon Green (same as 41946: Extra DOTS - Series 6), I wonder if it ends up being just regular trans-yellow. However, 2023 sets still did have the neon colour, like the lightsaber in 40658: Millennium Falcon Holiday Diorama If the color is not "dead" it could still mean LEGO can tap into M-tron or Blacktron 2 etc at some point (M-tron probably easier to reproduce with existing moulds, but no magnets, while Blacktron 2, misses quite crucial shapes like the 8 sided windows, which would not look the same if bubble canopy would be used, altho an aproximate 8 sided shape is seen in the City Space Base control tower, so perhaps that's the better alternative)

Not sure if it's just me noticing, but there seems to be a big increase in useage of transparent tiles, plates, and pieces used this year, not just City, also Friends etc. Hopefully they also worked out the milky look, or "soft" easy to scratch surfaces. Obviously things have been in the works for the Trans-Black, being fully replaced by the new blue variant (instead of brown) as well. Also noticeable is the usage of Vibrant Yellow has gone down quite a bit, to mostly a 1 plate stripe on vehicles. The color is not gone however, and I like the new vibrant police vest. (of course the space sets did get a new orange color as well)

I agree the command rover just seems to be a transporter, with few action features , beside the removable module that can be reused elsewhere, and gives something for the crane on it, or the launch base to move. I mean, 8 wheelers are still cool (I loved the couple from Nexo Knights like Axl Tower Carrier could go head to head with General's Siege machine), but the cheaper 6 wheel rover has more action with the suspension, as a standalone set.

Friends has 2 really nice farm sets (Sanctuary and Baby Cow Shed), and even a fairly low priced horse + rideable baby horse (or maybe a mini-pony) set with Horse and Pony Trailer) , the Farm Clinic set isn't that great for the price but also has a another new Friends Goat and baby Goat (altho the prints and cabinets are nice to be used in a custom Vet build as well)

I think LEGO will do moon based sets again if Artemis 3 ends up succesful (Late 2025/2026), and then Nasa will look further toward the Artemis 4 , and the start of the Lunar Gateway mission (2028 onwards) (given the 2 year or so lifespan of 2019/2022 space subthemes as well , some 2019 sets lasted all the way until december 2021, when 2022 space sets released just 3 months after that) . Maybe there's a small chance there will be an actual NASA theme with minifig licensed sets, but honestly, I still think there's a bigger chance for it to remain under City, without named astronauts etc. Remember LEGO has not done a new theme that didn't have some form of TV Show , Movie, since 2015 Pirates, and even so, some of those seperate themes have sort of ended prematurely (hidden side), or even worse (vidiyo) , and LEGO just released a new theme named Dreamzzz. That said, I do like the City and Friends Space sets a lot (no interest in the Technic sets but still looks quite interesting as it's not licensed) , especially the modularity, backwards compatibility with 2019 and 2022 sets, and likely future compatibility, gives the design of expandable space bases/stations a lot of potential. Both City and Friends structures are becoming more modular (not to be confused with baseplate Icons modulars), following Harry Potter, or even going way back in time to 80s castle. Would be fun to see spaceship/space station parts be used alongside City sets to make futuristic buildings, like why have a balcony, if you can have a spaceship cockpit lookout, and it should be possible wherever the technic pin holes allow it. Looking back , I'm a bit surprised that the 2023 underwater explorer sets don't use a similar system , even if just for the submarine ,especially as 60265: Ocean Exploration Base has full compability with 2019, 2022, and 2024 Space modules (or could be turned into a XXL submarine instead).

City 2023 certainly did change the ratio of building to vehicle in it's street sets which is good, the big 2000+ piece set has only 1 4 wide vehicle, wheras if it were made a few years ago, it'd probably have at least 3 6 wides. Also the 60372: Police Training Academy surprisingly only had 1 quad, in a subtheme which tends to be very heavy on action. Same thing happening with the 2024 Fire station, it has 2 garages and a helipad, but just has 1 medium truck and a drone, with the truck being numbered 01, and the SUV and Boat in a seperate set being numbered 02 and 03 (helicopter is 04, airplane 05, and 4+ bike 06), it could've been a single set if LEGO wanted, but they split it, which I think is nice to have a bit less focus on vehicles that come with the buildings (as Friends already did) I also like that the command truck set went for a side build, instead of another police chase vehicle, overall, there are less motorcycles as well in this Police/Fire setting, especially compared to the 2019-2022 sets, the 2024 sets even have none, beside the 4+ big build. I think summer 2024 might add more buildings, as this winter wave did the usual "great vehicle" line with most standalone vehicles.

Currently 2.3 million people playing it right now , which is double of battle royale currently (600k build, 450k zero build), and also 36k Save the World at the same time. Sure, those numbers will change if the newness of the LEGO Mode and Season will fade, and also Fortnite will release a car / racing mode pretty much today. Also quests giving Battle Pass levels, and an unlockable skin, likely is a big factor for people at least playing through those once. After playing some more, I'd definately say this is a LEGO valheim, more then LEGO Minecraft, at least that's what I can compare it with other survival games I have played. Tiers of equipment needed to harvest new type of rock/wood, just like valheim, also hunger, cold, heat, and the dodge-roll and blocking combat system + campfires/torches. The follower system is unique to this game tho, in this game you build and level villages, and they can follow you and help, or harvest missions which seem to take 1 real world day to finish. You can still build things, with panels and foundations like valheim to make custom log cabins etc, but no free building LEGO blocks 1 by 1 .

Game feels like most like a LEGO Valheim to me, with the way early gameplay of gathering and combat goes, and the resources.

LEGO seems to only make smaller Pirates / Castle sets as LEGOLAND or GWP these days, pfft. I mean, there are at least some bigger sets too via the "normal" way (altho some exclusive to LEGO as well like Eldorado), so i'm not saying this is like 2016-2019. Yeah City doing time travel would not go well with City or Pirate fans I think, but neither does the Pirate Amusement park way they have done for a few years now with Pirate Rollercoaster, Treehouse, Playground and now a LEGOLAND ride? Well, at this this Ride exists in actual LEGOLAND so it still makes some sense.

Assembly Square official retire date is January 1st 2024 LAUNCH/EXIT 01 Jan 17 - 31 Dec 23

I think I only would do that if it's clearly something like a Star Trek Holodeck situation, where they try to fit the setting of the simulation (despite being located on a space ship/space station) , for example Star Trek has Western, Horse Riding, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes episodes. Other then that, City space themes , especially the 2022 version, did differ between pilot suits (yellow), normal uniforms (blue), and space suits (white with azure) depending if they were in a living space, ship, or spacewalk, but I haven't seen regular clothed figures in a space set, the most regular figures would be the scientist or base workers back on earth.

It does have compromises like no kitchen, which I suppose with the lifestyle of a pop star, that's not really needed but still. Also the set is an exclusive, without that it'd likely be over €250. Still makes it a fantastic set however. City downtown was already discounted from €210 to under the €150 range (not because it's bad, but that's just what happens with non exclusive City sets in some European countries)

On one hand that means no discounts (beside insider point stuff) , but I have a feeling tho if it were not exclusive, it'd probably be at least €250 as exclusive sets seem to have a somewhat lower base price, as seen with some sets before, like the 3-in-1 Birdhouse, or Dreamzzz village from 2023, or the Creator 3-in-1 Castle compared to the Pirate/Viking ships (€100 vs €130) But overall , it's still a very large set , and does not look "overpriced", the raised terrain with swimming pool and garage , and then 2 floors above it and overhanging, just makes it quite a large volume set as well, and it even has useable space next to the garage , behind the rocks. It's interesting like it also reminds me of 41135: Livi's Pop Star House, but now years later, Andrea is the "P0P ST4R" , but I guess Andrea orders food instead, as there's no kitchen (which I don't think is a flaw of the set tho) Also the Chinese New Years sets so far good have been good deals, perhaps due to being exclusive and thus lower base price. Monkie Kid also seems to be priced around exclusivity, especially in Europe, where the price is notably lower compared to the US dollar. I also have a feeling some very large sets are exclusive, as they can't just stuff store shelves with giant boxes of ALL available sets.

The most damage i've experienced, both in 90s, and now, are clips or minifig hands are prone to damage, but mostly from putting in objects wrong or fast, falling on the ground , etc. Old parts like first generation classic space helmets, town traffic signs, large flags, thin clips, saddles, 90s dragons wing attachment clips. I think older parts could get more stiff (talking about parts that are 20-30+ year old mainly), and combined with thin clip designs, are more at risk, or other retired designs like those 2/3 fingered round grabbing arms, used as far back as pre-minifig figure arms, classic space, to later in themes like aquazone. And then going back even to older days, LEGO used another type of plastic so even the regular bricks could warp, but that's talking like parts from before 1964. In more recent years (parts from after 2017) I had a minifig hand, traffic sign with clip, motorcycle handlebar clip, break (all black but probably cooincidence), but that's mostly due to falling and that's likely if an object is in a clip, + shock from falling, seems to split a clip easier, but yes, that's falling damage, not normal handling.

Also a ninjago set comes with a large purple crystal piece , which could be re-used in this space line

Magnus is one of the heroes in Save the World as well, certainly a cool Viking character, I assume he was part of some battle royale season at one point, as there was a giant viking ship on a hill with waterfall in the last special OG 1 month season map (November-December 2023) that brought back iconic locations from chapter 1, (I didn't start playing regular until last season of Chapter 3 (Paradise, with the map being taken over by Chrome as time went on), so I mostly know chapter 4 in detail (which started with medieval theme, into neo tokyo Mega City, into Jungle and then modern styled "malibu" Mansions with Heists) I did like the Ageless Champion, knight boss and player skin from Chapter 4 Season 1, certainly could see it become a minifig skin, as it already was both a boss and skin in-game, could have various accesoires if made in physical, from a sword/shield, to a big 2 handed crystal hammer, or a sword gun, but I think the knight aspect works best with a melee weapon look.

Pre packed figures turn BAM from Build-a-Minifigure, to Buy-a-Minifigure, kind of goes against the name.

I wonder what 80052 is.

So with most 2022 sets retiring , it looks like the LEGO City Adventures era is almost over, as far as I can see, only 1 2022 set with LCA characters will enter 2024, with the 2022 Police Station : Chief Wheeler, Allen and Daisy Kaboom. The police officer in the command truck does look a lot like Duke Detain, but still is a bit different :) I do indeed think there's a good chance this will go the route of Stuntz, LEGO established this City space with exploration, aliens, and distinct roles for each color of character (but still generic enough to not be a full story-driven subtheme) , and Stuntz had 3 waves + extra bikes released inbetween. (just no bikes type of sets for City space). I think overall, summer 2024 City will focus more on expanding the locations/buildings using the 8x8 , 8x16 module system (A harbour or airport terminal could fall in that category as well), and Space / Arctic+Ocean subthemes will be the main themes outside of the City I think something like a Construction site could be interesting as well, it would fit with the previous "Downtown/Sardine Factory" styled Fire sets of 2019/2022, and also with the 8x8 and 8x16 module system to quickly build/demolish it, of course it might get a new crane type of set to support that as well (2022 crane retiring) (think of set 7633: Construction Site , from 2009, same year had a Road Roller and so does 2024)

So Blue, Green and Orange are basicly the 3 roles Star Trek (mainly based on The Next Generation era) tends to have, but simplified, with a shorter chain of command. LEGO Blue - Star Trek Red (Pilot , Command) LEGO Green - Star Trek Blue (Science/Medic) LEGO Orange - Star Trek Yellow (Engineering/Security) I think it's good that LEGO does some generic back story (I remember the short descriptions of the old Space, Pirates and Castle factions in catalogues, and yes those had named characters as well, just variations per country), but I also think that not every theme needs to have a tv show, books, etc to be relevant, I mean, 2020-2022 had big focus on LEGO City Adventures, just not in 2023 and 2024 sets, but that show did end late 2022, so it makes some sense they went for more generic, unnamed characters since about summer 2022 (City Train sets have no named characters)

Would be interesting if they had a playable minifig version of the fortnite optimus prime skin from like 3 seasons back (LEGO does have a literal optimus prime set) , but I don't expect it in physical form.

Updated with all 5 sets. There are more builds then shown on the front as well, like more car variants, or a larger house build. Planets set looks to have multiple glow in the dark pieces. Houses are more like facade's but not that different concept from the 2017 10703: Creative Builder Box , quite a lot of basic bricks and slopes, and old school large flowers from the Basic theme, and white windows that will work for something like a pirate fort or white castle. Cars seem to focus on just small wheeled old "town" style cars from the pre and early minifig days (which don't fit minifigs) , really does have a ton of extra wheels tires and transparent parts in the piles , as the box pictures are cropped. Pets also remind me of a very modern variant of LEGO Basic, with those eyes and mouth bricks, but in different colors and shapes. Personally I wait until full parts lists are known, to analyze the contents better, especially in terms of how much of a certain brick type or color is actually in it, as those pictures of piles aren't the best way.