TeriXeri

Built the Police Academy set today, I like it a lot, especially the system of those 8x8 and 8x16 stackable modules. I like those 2 plate high 8x8 and 8x16 plates, they feel really sturdy and nicely sized, and the way things are finished with L-shaped plates makes it feel even sturdier. If there will be more Police sets for 2024, I do hope one of them is a focus on a Prison. Also with more focus on buildings seperate from vehicles, a proper Crook hideout that's not just filled with police vehicles seems a possibilty again.

I think a current comparison to a raised rockwork "baseplate" would be a set like Motorized Lighthouse, which is also on a 32x32 baseplate, and does use 4 BURP ("big ugly rock piece") to get the raised look. Not saying BURP will be 100% needed , with 2500 pieces, but I rather see some of those instead of large wall panels to the fortress. But overall I do prefer brick built, instead of being over dependant on panels/burp. The main entrance keep of Lion Knights Castle did it 100% brick built, and certainly still is an impressive tower, even if it's just half the set (I'd assume around 2500 pieces out of the 4500) Actually I think I'd even prefer the folded approach like Lion Knight's Castle has, an Eldorado that could fold open to reveal a dungeon/cave could be nice use of what used to be unused hollow space under the raised baseplate.

I see it's retired in US too, but in Europe, it's still available, and not even listed as "retiring soon". Unlike the 2018 passenger train (which disappeared from most shops between July and November 2022) , it's also still widely available in at least 15+ online shops in my country. In comparison, the 2022 cargo train still looks like it has limited production here, which makes sense if the 2018 train is still available in a lot of places. It's just interesting to see, as it's almost June 1st, the 2022 cargo train has been released almost 1 year now, co-existing with the 2018 train. Of course this isn't the first time 2 cargo trains are on the market at the same time, the 2014 Cargo and 2015 Heavy Haul trains were both available until 2018 (with the 2014 train being widely available and 2015 train being limited exclusive, not too different from what's happening right now)

It's quite interesting to see how the 2018 Cargo Train seems to be extended to at least mid or end of 2024 now. But it's understandable that the 2018 set is likely still popular, as imo, it's a better set as a whole, with more play features and better side builds, and also more recognizeable as a "Cargo" locomotive in parts of the world.

Brickmerge lists Police Station, Book Shop, Assembly Square all as ~2023 expected end date. Those 3 are also on Stonewars "End of Life" lists. Of course none of this is official yet. As for Boutique Hotel and Jazz Club, expected to retire at end of 2025 and 2026 respectively .

Basicly every Bank set after 1997 has had cops and robbers elements added to it. As time went on, more criminals were added : (2011) 3661: Bank & Money Transfer still had a criminal, but at least the biggest vehicle was a money truck. , 1 police 1 criminal (2017) 60140: Bulldozer Break-In already had 3 much larger vehicles, 2 criminals, 3 police (2022) 60317: Police Chase at the Bank went even bigger with the vehicles, 3 criminals , 3 police Only exception being an alternate build on 3-in-1 31097: Townhouse Pet Shop & Café from 2019 (Brick Bank Modular from 2016 is an entirely different category so won't compare that)

Interesting choice to include Ski and Snowboard pieces, but hey, LEGO releasing a Ski Ramp in City in June/August + it's winter in the southern hemisphere during that time. Of course, can imagine that snowboard is a wake board, and the skis are for water skiing.

Probably unrelated, just an easter egg poster of another LEGO theme, like there have been Bionicle, Ogel, Znap, Rock Raiders references in a couple sets the last 2 years. (and many more)

I manually translated it (via those alphabet sheet pictures available) I gotta admit the face does look a lot like the "Classic" smiley captain face seen on Redbeard and Ironhook But the 2009 Pirate wave was all about Brickbeard, from the Brickbead Bounty set, the Captain Brickbeard figure being in a lot of products, and the golden hook being a clue setting it apart from Redbeard/Ironhook.

Saw the sticker here : https://www.instagram.com/p/CslqRsbLEp-/?hl=nl It's set 6253: Shipwreck Hideout from 2009 Translated Ninjago Alphabet says (see spoiler):

Release date for US/CA probably will be better once that US factory is complete, North/South America only have 1 factory for the region, while Europe has 3, and Asia has multiple now as well with more being built. Even Friends has this 4+ Horse Training , or the 4+ Star Wars set seem to be pushed to July 1st in US , (June 1st in Europe) , so there seems to be some priority in play. And while parts for sets aren't strictly made in 1 location, there's still logistics in play, especially shown during Covid when Mexico factory was closed, they had to ship in sets from European/International boxes with stickers on them for the parts counts ,which is a US/Canada rule. LEGO mostly has 2 "regions" for it's sets with different box print and different paper sizes for instructions (V29 International and V39 North America). Most notably US region boxes having parts counts and also mostly text in English/French/Spanish , as well as different safety and quality control logos etc. And different regions does go back a long time, as there used to be a time where Pirate Cannons in US weren't able to shoot. Why City got pushed instead of something else, I don't know, but there have been cases of different release times for Ninjago, Harry Potter or 3-in-1 in the past as well, generally always between the June / August periods. This time, it looks like Ninjago and Harry Potter do get June releases in US, while that has been different in the past before.

That's cool, based on the wall color, that's the City Comics shop. Ninjago was in City before via a few posters/video games as well, mainly set 60291: Family House from 2020, with a Kai figure in a video game screen, and the kid having a Lloyd shirt, a katana, and a dungeons and dragons poster (2020 was also the Ninjago Skull Dungeon year) So it seems Ninjago has it's fans in City but known via TV show/Games/Merchandise, rather then being a direct link.

Looks like from some retailer database. And even so, there have been sets that have been limited to LEGO.com for a few months at release, and then later sold at other shops, so if this January 2024 is a thing, it seems more likely that's a retailer sell date or something, while it can still launch at LEGO themselves July 1st. (just a theory)

I know it's a real design on smaller airplanes, just nothing in terms of large airplanes have had it so far, altho the AN-225 had which was the largest airplane ever (at least by weight) , did have a combined V-tail with 2 vertical stabilizers attached to it. After doing some more searching, from what I could find, the Comac Ling Bird model looks the most similar (it was a scale model that could fly)

Definately, with that nose shape introduced in 2020, and this white / darkblue color scheme , it does look like a Airbus factory color scheme.

The airplane at least some more seats I'd assume, the 2020 plane used like 80% of the space for Cargo/Staff due to it's design. On this new airplane , the wing is placed lower, like some people already did to convert the 2020 plane to allow a lot more seats. I do like that they went for a full white fuselage , makes the nose looks a lot better compared to the white/blue split. As for the tail design, I don't mind City doing some different things, that aren't 100% based on real-world designs, the 2020 plane also had a tail that was quite small.

Make of it what you want, but there's this "list" of color retirement dates I found : (Source , Ryan H flickr comment, same person who did a lot of the color info on Brickset) ) https://www.flickr.com/photos/126975831@N07/51745770468/in/album-72157649729890049/ But colors have been extended before, and in the case of Transparent Brown, it's very likely it's mainly a replacement to the new Trans Black seen in set 75346: Pirate Snub Fighter 111 Transparent Brown: EXIT 31-12-202447 Trans-Fluoro Orange: EXIT 31-12-202149 Trans-Fluoro Green: EXIT 31-12-2023 [!!!]339 Trans-Fluoro Green Glitter: EXIT 31-12-2023353 Vibrant Coral: EXIT 31-12-2026368 Vibrant Yellow: EXIT 31-12-2025370 Medium Brown: RESTRICTED371 Light Tan: RESTRICTED351 Trans-Bright Green Glittter: EXIT 31-12-2020341 Trans-Orange Glitter: EXIT 31-12-2020360 Trans Opal: EXIT 31-12-2027363 Trans-Brown Opal: EXIT 31-12-2024 [same as 111]364 Trans-Medium Violet Opal: EXIT 31-12-2027365 Trans-Violet Opal: EXIT 31-12-2027362 Trans-Light Blue Opal: EXIT 31-12-2027367 Trans-Green Opal: EXIT 31-12-2027366 Trans-Blue Opal: EXIT 31-12-2027

Yeah sets are up in Europe too, but other sites still have some better pictures imo. For example, those pictures (LEGO.com does have them on the back of the box, just smaller) This new building system really does remind me of the 2017-2018 Creator 3-in-1 buildings, but without removable walls/windows/doors, so should be a bit more sturdy, especially considering those 2 thick plates. I do like it, but I also don't mind the lack of stairs or open sections. The system gets better with more sets, and I think the color schemes, and windows/details of the sets fits better together compared to the Creator 3-in-1 2017/2018 sets. And honestly, by just combining modules, you can make crazy things like a skate halfpipe on top of a highrise building, or use a rock wall from the ski resort to get to a rooftop bar. Or with some imagination, you can put that 8x16 blue road plate without the bike tile as a swimming pool, or perhaps an aquarium (or use that transparent blue walkway as an aquarium tunnel) in combination with those animals/underwater scenery from those 2023 Divers sets

Brickmerge still has the set listed as 7/2023 https://www.brickmerge.de/10320-1_lego-advanced-models-lego And consider even LEGO City and Friends sets that are supposed to release in 2 weeks from now, are still not on LEGO.com, I'll just wait and see what happens :)

Probably inspired by it with the color (and there's also an actual aurora behind it), but the green lines are certainly meteors as there's a glowing crystal in the meteor in the mobile research set. But then again, it's just box art, and using the same background art style for the overall Arctic subtheme for 2023 makes sense . Would've been cool if that dual moulded meteor shell was transparent bright green as well but it makes sense they re-used the darker meteor variant from the Launch Base 60351 from 2022. Overall, I think the sets from this wave are very clever, the snowplow/pisten bully can be used with the upcoming Winter Sports center as well, and the seal/ship/ submarine and smaller boat aren't strictly Arctic either, so cover multiple interests.

Box art for those arctic sets is strange, with those falling green meteors on every set box, while only being in 1 actual set : 60378: Arctic Mobile Laboratory Unless LEGO traveled back in time to the year 2000, and neon green spiders are invading the planet , the meteors had spiders in those sets :

Multiple European stores have City sets listed for June 1st. (of course they also list it as "expected date") But it's still strange none are on the official site, even Friends only has 4 sets shown so far, as June 1st. Creator 3-in-1 has a August release date here as well for the 2 sets. (2022 had them release in June, so things can indeed change) Purely speaking for Europe here. US release dates can indeed be different.

Nexo Knights did have season 1 and 2 in 2016 of a similar style with lava monsters and season 3 and 4 lightning monsters taking a different turn on the main story in 2017. (2018 was a different case as the show was canceled, but there were still some new sets with cyber-tech-vampires and 9 magazines released in europe with comics) But there was also a lot of media content shown that was never made into LEGO sets at all, and I don't just mean the sea monsters or forest monsters, but also characters and locations that were in the show and multiple maps and books. (and also a whole bunch of monster types only shown in the game) But of course it could also be more like Monkie Kid, where multiple villain types appear in multiple seasons/waves of sets, not strictly in the same year in the case of Spider Queen, Lady Bone Demon, or Dragon of the East. Also there have been many variants of Staff builds and White Dragon Horse vehicles (Jets, Car, Dragon) across each season, which makes me think Bunchu and Z-Blob already appearing in different forms, will get more set variants later as well

There are also many more similar sets available at the same time. 60292: Town Center had a garbage truck for the last 2 years (2021-2022). 60316: Police Station has a Garbage truck (2022 onward) 41712: Recycling Truck is still a fairly new mid-2022 set in Friends. 60382: Vet Van Rescue is a 4+ set, so likely lower production run due to lower target age group, and also had a near identical Friends version with 41694: Pet Clinic Ambulance in 2022. Also the upcoming 60380: City Centre does have the first Vet building in the City theme, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a non 4+ VET vehicle set next year. As well as more similar VET/Pet related sets : 41738: Dog Rescue Bike, 41741: Dog Rescue Van , 41727: Dog Rescue Center (2023 onward) 41442: Vet Clinic Rescue Buggy , 41445: Vet Clinic Ambulance , 41446: Heartlake City Vet Clinic , 41692: Vet Clinic Rescue Helicopter (all 2021)

Leaving out the special case of 4+ sets, which are basicly their own category here It's not so much City has been going "downward" , it's more that the recent years they focused on a younger target age group. 2017 still had a few 8-12 Jungle sets. 2018 had very few 7-12 sets, and even the big releases like Trains and Capital City were just 6-12. 2020/2021 was probably the low point of age ratings in the recent City times, with most sets being 5+ and 6+, no 7+ at all, also it was the end of those "People Packs", a highly discussed loved category of City set. After 2022, City started adding a lot more 7+ sets again, with Trains, Rocket Launch, Moon Base , Hospital , etc. And now with 2023, that even increased, with the new big City Center set even 8+. In Comparison, Friends age rating on sets has been higher on average, even the smallest sets are 6+, and 7+, and the theme contains a lot more 8+ and 9+ as well and the larger sets even go up to 12+, also for a long time now. Creator 3-in-1 also has been rated above city's age rating on it's buildings as well, even during the City periods full of 5+ and 6+, 3-in-1 "City" buildings were 8+ and 9+, pretty constantly for 10 years. While age rating isn't a definitive factor for complexity etc (18+ doesn't automaticly mean insane complexity) , it's still a decent indicator of difference between City being generally simpler compared to Friends and 3-in-1 in terms of design goals. Of course a Friends 8+ building can still use big wall panels, but usually that's meant to have a place for a sticker decoration (as seen with sets like International School or Sports Center) , but those sets also have a lot more other details using regular bricks or sideway plate/tile constructions. Moving on, to sets like Botanitcal Garden, 12+ , basicly bridges the gap between Teens and AFOL target, and as expected, a lot of good comments on that set on LEGO fan sites etc, while City AFOL comments very often are just about the minifigs or especially exclusive animals in them. Meanwhile a 6+ City build like the Appartments, uses pillars and wall sections for basicly the entire build, and the SNOT tile section is rather simple 1 wedge plate. But even for 2023 5+ and 6+ sets , the new design approach is still very visible and an improvement imo.