TeriXeri

Yeah the fact they put the garage on technic pins and symmetrical design, means AFOL who want Bigger can easily expand it with 2+ sets. (or perhaps modify a Police Station Modular or something more like Fire Brigade was) The 2019 fire station was nice for the Dockside small set from the same year as well. The 2023 Fire Boat certainly is one of the best small Fire boats LEGO has done (won't compare it to the big ships from 2010 and 2016) , but for a smaller fire boat it's certainly better looking compared to 2021, 2019 , 2015 and 2013. (also comes with a Black hull, so can be used for Police Boat, or just generic boat easily as well)

3-in-1 Pirate ship Captain Torso is still unique 3 years later (yes it appeared in Castle in the Forest but that's a very limited product) , and the Viking Ship got 3 new unique torso's and 1 dual moulded crown/hairpiece. So I'm not dismissing 3-in-1 having more Castle potential just yet.

Thanks, I should've looked at pics more, I knew about the dual rotors being different but yeah that canceled helicopter was a lot bigger , especially the tail area, with a central tail rotor. Closest real world model seems to be something like the S-97 raider. with somewhat different landing gear / tail fins. (S-97 and the larger SB-1 are designed for the military in origin) , so some changes seem to happen from time to time with unlicensed City sets which resemble helicopters/jet aircraft, like the Sky Police jet/helicopter, Airshow jet transporter etc.

Agreed, the 2019 and 2022 Fire stations certainly were not bad, smaller yes, but also cheaper. I mean, this was $50 back then ( around $85 now ) Nowadays the current equivalent would be 2023 60375: Fire Station and Fire Engine ( ok it doesn't have a bike or heli but also still cheaper at €35, and a 4+ heli is sold seperately) , but there are options at least these days, because the 2022 fire station is still there , unlike the year 2000, there was just the Town Junior, 2003 Jack Stone, and wasn't until 2005 when City released a normal fire station again. I think splitting the building and bigger fire trucks was a good move, for 2019 and 2022, as it means the Fire stations are much cheaper then those Downtown fire sets now.

Sounds about right, if they are moving to a new school, at least 12/13 is usually the age people go to secondary school here, (i suppose comparable to Junior High in USA)

Strange how the magazines are so different, in Netherlands it was the Cat Tree miniset with the new Friends logo at the start of year, and just recently the Bunny at Vet station (both listed under Brickset as 2023). I know there are different language versions of the magazines, and also different publishers (Netherlands had Meis&Maas (now called Billy Bones), Germany/Poland has Blue Ocean I think), which could explain things. But based on that preview page, all 3 of those are from 2021 : Also I remember my country used to have 12 City magazines a year, until a few years ago it got reduced to 6 , so a lot of the listed minisets never released here. The main magazine I collected was Nexo Knights each release, and then 2019 City, but have become a bit more selective afterwards. I think I got 2 of those mini dinos from the Jurassic World magazine a few years ago, have been my only licensed sets (others being like 1 1999 Star Wars set and then a 15 year Pause from buying new LEGO)

Yes, Coral got 1x1, 1x4, 2x2 and 2x4 for the first time with 11027 and 11030 this year. 11027 is also the only set with Vibrant yellow 1x1, 2x2 and 2x4 right now. 11028 and 11033 introduced 2x2 in Aqua 11028 has 2x4 in Lavender 11033 has 2x2 and 2x4 in Transparent Opal

I'm glad the basic brick box with just 1000 standard bricks returned with 11030, even if 6 out of 10 colors are modern. Of course boxes with mostly basic bricks have existed over the past years. like 11016: Creative Building Bricks most recent example before it retired at end 2022, but the distribution was over 15+ colors and uneven, while 11030 is a lot more focused on 10 colors and 6 brick types of each color.

Yeah those are definately up on the list of failed City sets, especially recent ones. Sky Police had parachutes but they actually worked, and Stuntz bikes also work fine. I have mixed feelings about Stuntz and particularly a whole bunch of overpriced sets, but at least the theme is still easily accesible, with bikes being sold seperate and at least in Europe, some nice €20 entry point sets (priced much worse in US). Pull Cord helicopters that don't work are just on a whole different level from that. Perhaps the "Worst" sets are the sets that get straight up canceled, like the 60278 Crook's Hideout Raid did, mainly the fact it was canceled this late, after showing up in instructions of another set already. (the vehicles still got repurposed for 60317: Police Chase at the Bank, but after 2021 , seems City criminals stopped using bombs altogether)

This'll be fun to see in actual LEGO sets/bricks soon.

Could be interesting to see a "Cyber City" subtheme, after Stuntz ends or something. I mean, 60358: Cyber Stunt Bike and 60383: Electric Sports Car already have this great color scheme of neon yellow, medium azure and black. In the meantime, there's at least 11027: Creative Neon Fun to make some custom builds in those colors.

Even the upcoming "big" 3in1 set 31141 Main Street is now rumoured at €140, for 1459 pieces that better be some big plates , bricks and windows etc. (Friends main street is around 1700 pieces for €160 in direct comparison, but includes a truck as well) Now, of course, around 1500 pieces can still be the size of around 3 Toy shop/Noodle shops if they focus less on 1x1 little bits, so I'll wait for pics to final judge it. And larger 3-in-1 sets have a lot more potential for alternate builds, like 31097: Townhouse Pet Shop & Café still had some great alternates at under 1000 parts.

Very True. City, Friends, 3-in-1, and Monkie Kid, and even Seabound Ninjago pretty much had some underwater related sets on shelves at the same time, and even the Hidden Side mini-sub set could still be found after it retired. And Avatar also had a wave of sets dedicated to the sea/coral reefs,, etc, the concept of submarine exploration certainly still has been quite common, also there's more sea/undersea exploration sets rumoured for summer 2023 for both City and Friends again. I'm not saying those are replacements for Aquazone, but it's one of those concepts that's quite common at this right moment. But all those themes/sets had things in common where they explore underwater to find ruins/artifacts of some kind.

I think it all depends how that longevity is seen, while Space, Castle, Pirates are generally easily grouped on websites, other themes are not. Aquazone itself didn't last that long, it still got a bunch of spinoffs like Alpha Team (Mission Deep Sea) , Aqua Raiders and Atlantis that generally follow the same concepts. But as for the last 10 years or so, generally there have not been much Classic themes in the format they used to be, after 2013 Castle , Galaxy Squad, and 2015 Pirates, things generally shifted to LEGO Movies, or more recently IDEAS/Icons , and some via 3-in-1. The concept of normal in-house themes certainly isn't dead however, as recent examples like Nexo, Hidden Side, Monkie Kid, and soon Dreamzzz still have a wide range of size products.

Road tape as a "reward" is strange. I mean, this tape does look nicer then the last version, and I suppose 800 points isn't bad, as it's like slightly over a €5 discount code. I can imagine it being a decent deal when properly used on a shelf or kids' room or something, since you get 10 meters of it, but I prefer 60304: Road Plates.

I don't think flying ninja with dragon wings or giant eagle kites were accurate in the theme in the first place. Other then that, I agree the original Ninja theme overall did have a nice balance between faction flags, horses, and lots of strongholds/hideouts.

Ninjago minifigs are pretty easy to convert to some sort of Ninja Castle factions when you get bored of using the minifigs as characters, the main team of characters colors remained quite consistent over the years. Like if you have multiple Kai figures, maybe some swapping heads, would turn it into a red ninja faction etc.

Opened set 11027: Creative Neon Fun today, looks much better in real bricks, truly some nice bright marker colors with black to contrast. The orange in the set is actually flame yellow, while it's bright orange in 11030. I like the different approach being more color focused, and also more basic bricks, compared to many previous Classic sets of the last few years. More basic bricks, including 1x1, 1x2 and 1x4 work great to add some nice color to building in City/3-in-1 scale structure, and some of the other more specialized pieces can still make some nicely bright colored furniture or small vehicle.

Ok, so current minidoll distribution : Liann : 6 sets + 1 polybag Autumn : 6 sets Leo : 5 sets Aliya : 5 sets Olly : 5 sets Paisley : 4 sets Nova : 3 sets Zac : 3 sets I know this is only the first wave of sets, of likely many to come, but would be nice to see at least a little more Zac and Paisley in a small set this summer, especially Paisley currently only is in a pyjama variant in the smallest Room set. I do love the variations in outfits overall, and each character having a distinct style of clothing even in just 1 wave of sets, is noticeable. Will be even more interesting to see how the characters will look in the upcoming Beach/Sea and Winter/Skiing subthemes.

Looks like Bright Pink (Bricklink name) / Minecraft Pig Pink . As for the old Pink, there was only set 4562 from 2004 which had a 2x4 brick in that color, and only one of them per set.

Coming back to the rumoured 66744 set, now we know 66745 and 66747 are Bundle sets, so very likely for this to be the same for 66744.

Nexo Knights Spaceship : Ninjago Kai's Tuner Car:

3-in-1 could probably do a post office build pretty easily in one of their builds, but it'll likely have less sticker specific details. But some 3-in-1 sets have used stickers to show what they sell , like the Burger Truck and Noodle Shop. But a City set can come with more specific pieces/figures and a mail vehicle. (but I prefer a building and vehicle to be seperate)

Adventurers found a Pyramid in the Arctic : And some AI Rock Raiders :

Likely one of those boxes that have multiple sets in them, some 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 bundle type of set. https://brickset.com/sets/subtheme-Product-Collection