TeriXeri

Nice, Nexo Knights did have magazines as well, which actually had unique things like some mini vehicles , builds and figures not straight up copies from the sets. Hope it's the case here as well, unique builds, and a bit of altered variants of characters (could be as subtle as a mix of parts from sets, a hairpiece, or weapon build or flag/anvil side build), or a full unique mini vehicle like this :

Yeah that's what is more likely, I was purely just speculating some alternative ways how LEGO could do a printed huge tile to simulate the very flat baseplate ramp original, but never imagined it would be the go-to way to do it. An hidden cave entrance somewhere in the rock section could lead to areas not seen in the original, perhaps under the theoretical ramp section, leading to an underground section that's originally part of the big baseplate gap. Lion Knight Castle, and an alternate build on the 3-in-1 Castle used a stone that rolled sideways to enter cave areas, but this is the Pirates theme, so a breakable cave entrance section seems more fun, as Pirates / Soldiers have cannons. The original has a grate over the central big gap, so that could perhaps be part of a secret passage via a side cave/dungeon/prison/storage room, into the central courtyard, in the original , that "room" isn't really used, beside theoretical play function as an extra storage/prison pit. And then of course, without restrictions of a 32x32 baseplate, the entire set could be hinged , or split in the middle, to fold open for access, or have a wider display mode (Lion Knight's Castle does both, it splits in 2 , and then each section folds open)

Could be interesting, LEGO has been doing more larger hinged ramps and such in sets, so replicating that raised baseplate doesn't sound weird anymore. Question is if they'll do a textured ramp (small tiles on a plate), or using big (possibly printed) 8x16 / 6x6 type of tiles for the smooth look. This year, Star Wars UCS 8x16 info tile is a print ,and that Friends Community center also comes with a big 8x16 artwork print.

While those June sets are absolutely great, there are still a couple sets coming later this year, likely as September: (via brickmerge) 41756 Skipiste & Café 980 pieces 9+ 41760 Iglo 491 pieces 8+ And the usual Advent Calendar , 231 pieces 6+ I love the Ski Center for City, and that build will work fine for minidolls as well, so I wonder how those Friends sets will look , 9+ at least gives the impression that it could be a nice build that's not too simplified.

Currently still some missing sets on brickmerge (the gap between 60394 Otters and 60398 Family House) Indicated as August release. 60395 Combi Race Cars 362 pieces 60396 Tuning Race Cars 359 pieces 60397 Combi Monster Truck 301 pieces Combi likely indicates it has modular parts in a similar sense of 60389: Custom Car Garage (rougly translated the names from their german names) Sounds a bit like a new unlicensed "Speed Champions" type subtheme within City, with 6 wide customizable cars, perhaps replacing some of the stuntz products in future.

With that Technic Bugatti Bolide coming in a recolor in June, it makes that rumoured recolor for the 3-in-1 parrot set more likely. The set name has the new color in it : 42162: Bugatti Bolide Agile Blue And 31144 is also called Exotic Pink Parrot, indicating the recolor. Of course no indication when, but the set number is a regular 3-in-1 number ,and not a GWP number like last year's Mystic Witch.

EU and UK boxes should be the same, basicly LEGO has 2-3 versions of product, as also shown by instructions found online having 2 versions most of time (or a 3rd for Chinese themes) Instructions found online usually are indicated by paper sizes and also V29, V39 or V55. 'NA' or 'V39' indicates the US/Canadian version, 'IN' or 'V29' the international version, 'V55' the Chinese version. And I've seen V29 on labels as well when I received a LEGO set that came with it's original outer shipping box. US/Canada boxes have part number and set names onto them, boxes in Europe do not have parts numbers or even set names on most boxes that aren't from 18+ themes . And also that "distributed in the USA by" and US/Mexico/Canada text in English/French/Spanish is different on International boxes, instead it has text in english referencing distribution for UK, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The Xtra theme had so much potential for that (some had printed tiles) , maybe scale it up to the size of those VIP polybags, and then directly buyable. And I don't mean the Xtra cardboard roads, sticker packs or tape here, but just LEGO printed pieces.

That video really gives me a vibe that the Nightmare King is like a variation of Jestro/Monstrox and the Dream Heroes are like Time Cruisers/Hidden Side , trying to stop it, with those hourglass powers being a little bit of Nexo Powers etc. That's how I feel about this theme at least. But that's not a bad thing, it's interesting overall, and no focus on apps. Also, sets like that Turtle Van, and Crocodile car, really makes this theme the incarnation of that whole "Rebuild the World" campaign LEGO has been doing for a couple years now.

I think it has more to do with LEGO being overwhelmed via brick orders , having had multiple periods of big delays/backlog of orders. People ordering minifig parts and animals etc seems to be a lot more known/popular nowadays. But maybe once that USA factory is done, it'll take some pressure off.

I agree as a set taken as a whole, it wasn't good. Jangbricks summed it up very good "Many things, but not much stuff?" As individual builds, it's not that bad, but a lot of them should've been their own smaller sets, like the Park + Diner, Tram with a somewhat bigger station , and then the Town Hall or Stage could go with the Limo. Too much mashed together LEGO City Adventures focus. 2023 took a turn for the better, with having building sets focus on the buildings for like 90% or more of the parts, instead of like 50/50. But I kind of have a similar feeling about the 2023 3-in-1 Main Street, while not filled with vehicles, it just gets out-competed by other 2023 offerings like Friends and City for this June wave. For me, In 2020, 60271 Main Square just got out-competed heavily by amazing sets like Barracuda Bay, and the Ninjago Dungeon wave, and the 3-in-1 Pirate Ship, and Townhouse Toystore. Best 2020 City set was the underwater base imo, which only retired a the start of 2023 (which now we know City has new Diver sets coming up in that Artic/Explorer color scheme instead)

Looking more at the Winter Sports Park, I wonder if it can be converted to a regular Chalet type of build easily. Those 2 slope modules look identical so with some mirror building could be converted to a triangle roof instead of a ski slope. Or a 16 wide shorter slope (the halfpipe end part of the ramp looks to be 2 8x8 modules as well to finish a 16 wide ramp normally) The set still reminds me a lot of the 2018 3 in 1 set 31080: Modular Winter Vacation, which had similar way to change slope into a regular roof, at a smaller scale.

Egyptian style adventurers are the thing that basicly started it all. But if it has to be something more relevant to current times, Ninjago definately is the longest running, and getting 4 "Ninjago City" sets and a Movie isn't something that can be easily ignored either. And I'm saying that as a huge Nexo fan , a theme that did bring back interest in LEGO back for me in 2016 , since 2001.

The azure Dragon is used as prow and turret as well , the front deck is quite hollow as a result however when the dragon is not there. The overall shape of the front seems to suggest it could slide back to form a shorter ship / close the gap, but there doesn't seem to be such an official function, but could be some interesting Mod to make it a shorter ship overall without the narrow "waist" part in the middle.

It has been a year since it launched as Beta in Europe, but now Online BAM is pretty much a ghost , only 15 heads, 13 headgear , 8 torso , 3 leg , 8 accesoire types remain. And no mention of it being a beta/test anymore.

I think it's Trans Bright Green, especially looks like that in the actual product photo with dark background. And while Trans Neon Green is still in some 2022 production sets (and some 2023 magazine gift), I believe that color is retiring at end of 2023 (will keep an eye on retirement dates for 2022 sets like Friends Roller Disco and Main Street) So far things seem to point toward full replacement of Trans Brown with the new bluish (Pirate Snub Fighter) version of Trans Brown/Black after 2024. Trans Neon Orange did disappear from regular sets (most notably Monkie Kid and Story of Nian) at end of 2021, but the color is still living on in a bit of an obscure place with the 2022 version of Serious Play Identity and Landscape Kit (which is for sale for €699 at LEGO.com) and Pick a Brick still has a few pieces. Found this list in a comment from Ryan H (who also made the color photos/timeline at brickset : https://www.flickr.com/photos/126975831@N07/51745770468/in/album-72157649729890049/

Looked it up and it's the utility worker from City 60374: Fire Command Truck

Looks nice, but certainly want to see how sets like Viking Village or the Dungeon and Dragons Keep will turn out, as this set is still quite a while away.

Temple set will definately fit in with the Core Dojo + training ground, as it uses very similar colors, beside the roof being darkblue instead of darkgreen but that sets it apart as a different building, the trees have the same autumn coloring. It does have a bit of a "Facade" feel to it however, there are hardly any rooms, but are partly cut off with angled plates, but it still looks good. I don't really like this season's Ninja hoods either. I haven't really collected many of the dragons, beside the 2020 Wu and Skeleton dragons, but I do like the Lava and Elemental dragons here. The Wolf / Hound, set is probably my favorite here, in terms of size/price etc, and can even be used as some form of Viking Fenrir .

This , there are fragments of classic themes scattered across sets nowadays, like references to Vikings in an upcoming City diving set, Dreamzzz has characters with Pirate hat, Knight helmets or even classic space helmet/airtanks, and both the heroes and villains use an assortment of Castle/Space/Pirate type weapons, and the builds are a mix of many things. Also the Classic theme itself , 11033: Creative Fantasy Universe definately has some Castle tower parts, and swords/spears/magic wand, while not directly a minifig theme, it loosely references Castle and Pirates via brick-built models, even moreso then 11022: Space Mission had UFO, ray guns and astronauts, and some space grille prints / computer slopes. And then if that Eldorado Fortress and Viking Village set release probably this year, there will at least be some bigger "classic" sets to be found for each theme, with Galaxy Explorer, Lion Knights. Ideas still has the Blacksmith set as well. And then the 3-in-1 Pirate/Castle/Viking sets are still around. None of it are full themes with many sets (so not really alive in the old sense), but I wouldn't call it entirely dead either.

That new 5 minute teaser for Dreamzzz looks quite good in terms of animation, as I believe LEGO now uses Unreal Engine 5 due to partnership with Epic (who made the Unreal Engine and Fortnite etc), certainly looks a bit more refined compared to the Nexo Knight animations. But the models shown don't really look like the LEGO sets, which I assume was never the goal.

Exactly, in Europe LEGO.com even sold the 2020 Police Station far into 2022 while it would officially retire as a new one appeared that year, they still had leftover product I assume. For the 2018 train, it probably sold well enough so it got extended + it was also out of stock for a while in some regions. The 2022 Cargo Train currently is still limited exclusive to only a few stores in my country, perhaps LEGO wants to wait a while , while the 2018 trains still sell before mass producing the 2022 train. The 2020 Passenger Plane is definately retired in official stores, but just like many other products, likely can be found in non official places. Right now there are still Hidden Side or LEGO Movie 2 sets to be found, and those retired years ago.

Great teaser video. Looks like LEGO going all-in, as they already have different language voice overs of that teaser out as well.

As far as unannounced sets for 2023 go : Eldorado Fortress Viking Village Dungeons and Dragons : Dragon's Keep Love surprises like the Minifig Land Rover and Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure as well. And then a whole bunch of Dreamzz, City, Friends, Creator, and perhaps some Ninjago or GWP's.

That Izzie / Izzy minifig is definately high on my "favorite minifigure of 2023" list. Hairpiece looks transparent opalescent with glitter/frosted finish on the actual photo's, very interesting overall. Overall, the Nightmare Monsters could easily fit in as an extended Nexo Knights monster faction, that's the vibes I get from it, obviously could fit alongside Ninjago Crystalized, or Monkie Kid Bull knights as well. The yellow eyes on the pieces/prints also give me a bit of a Warcraft vibe, from Old God related things in that game/lore, but also could be interesting to use as Cat eyes etc.