TeriXeri

A new in-house theme is quite exciting. After some abrupt endings of previous themes like Hidden Side or Vidiyo (and even the last wave of LEGO Movie 2), in-house themes have been in a bit of a rough place.

Stuntz and Speed Champions march sets are revealed, hopefully the rest of 3-in-1 soon.

So stuntz clearly proves LEGO doesn't hesitate recoloring those ramps in even more colors for 2023, after already showing 2023 Friends skate park. So it seems very likely that the summer Ski themed set very likely to have some white ramps to represent a ramp or snowboard halfpipe. The Raptor/Dino bike set is probably the best build of this stuntz wave (beside the awesome design on the Cyber Bike that is), but that's also factoring in value, €20 isn't great, but it still looks more worth of stuff you get compared to the €35 loops set, which does have an extra bike (valued €8) but the build is very simple.

Friends definately going to have a lot of named characters, and Friends definately is the type of long-time lasting show already and 10 year history of the previous 5 Friends, the concept just works imo. City does stop LEGO City Adventures and character names in 2023, which I don't think is a bad thing for that theme, considering there still are many new character hairs and faces instead of the umpteenth duke detain fig. , I don't think the majority of those named City characters were very memorable either. That's not to say Friends doesn't get repeats, of course it does, but I think the minidoll thing allows for very varied outfits and dresses etc, in a theme focused more about hair/beauty salons and cloth/accesoires shops compared to City ever had. And there's also a lot more connection to the Friends characters when we get sets like their houses, bedrooms, activities instead of just naming the main police action hero, fire chief , or crook. City did have some characters like a pop star named Poppy Starr, but even then there was nowhere near the character connection compared to Friends artists/side character like Livi from a couple years back, Poppy Starr really got randomly thrown in the large airplane set, got a side stage in main square and then later shows up as Stuntz rider. But compare that to sets like Livi got , 6 sets in 2 years purely focused on her in form of bus,house,podium, limo, dressing room and studio.

It's certainly weird to see the chicken coop, supermarket and van go away this fast However, the 4+ farm barn is still remaining (along with the baby cow/pig/sheep it introduced) , and with the 2021 Tractor also still not retiring, the theme isn't 100% abandoned, as well as getting a potential 2 new tractors via the 2023 Park Tractor and Construction Digger sets. And some horse jumping in the police academy to expand on the Horse Trailer set. Still even with 3 City sets going away, there's still a fair range of sets remaining, more then previous couple years for sure, even moreso if you count the 2022 Friends Farm and 2023 Friends Fresh Store (both also quite expensive however)

Promobricks review on Brick Box : https://www.promobricks.de/lego-ninjago-71787-steinebox-im-review/155530/ The build suggestions in the instructions looks even better then the original design tbh when it's a bigger tower/dojo, and the color scheme still fits with the 2022 Dojo/expansion. And it's nice to get a full pack of bone weapons despite just having 1 monster fig. Also as noted in review, figure selection is a bit weird however, Kai and Nya being also in the 2022 Dojo and in multiple of the 2023 sets, but the students look nice. As for value, it's decent, not amazing, but you get a storage box, and with an eventual discount it's not bad.

Was hoping for more mission sets, however, with no known retirement date known on the current 3 sets which only released half a year ago , kind of makes sense to not see more yet. Ocean Exploration Base surprisingly lasted way beyond the original 2020 ocean subtheme, with it just now ending, and divers have been very regular as magazine gifts (at least 1 per year since 2019) so another ocean explorer set isn't a surprise, even the Police boat mission set has a submarine mode and an underwater build.

Main Street sounds great with 1400 pieces, the last big street set was the 31097: Townhouse Pet Shop & Café (969 pieces) , which was very underrated imo. It had some amazing original alternate builds with the barbershop+dentist+tram, and a tall bank building+greenhouse , I regret getting only 1 of that set, but there's always the inspiration it gives to make MOC in that style At least since 2019 those buildings have also been compatible to connect to eachother, with the 2020 Toy shop and 2022 Noodle shop builds (and earlier street builds like the Corner Deli etc with some minor mods). As for another 3-in-1 coaster set. The pirate one wasn't terrible, the main building was actually pretty nice style based a bit on lagoon lockup. Hoping this is based a bit around the old monorail space colors instead of some green "UFO" aliens seen in more recent 3-in-1 and City. Of course, a 3-in-1 Spaceship/Base would've been prefered but who knows what alternate builds can bring, since Space does go well with monorails.

Looks like some replacements for sets, but also new concepts, will have to see pictures and prices before final judgement but it's nice to see more City location focus. Would be interesting to see if the Ski / Climb center is like focused around some sloped build, the 2023 Police academy (and also 41324: Snow Resort Ski Lift) shows some verticality, and a climb wall would be a nice fit to get a ski slope a bit of height, but I think it's more likely to see something like previous sets and use maybe recolored stuntz ramps in white (and a design closer to 2023 Friends skate park) Another City Skate park hopefully has some more studless road plates and not focused around a lot of those newer studded plates, as that's just a waste of pieces in that case if it needs to be tiled up, just because road plates might not be used that much, I doubt they'll phase out anytime soon. Still waiting to see 3-in-1 Cozy House as well, as that's another potential 3 official new houses this year if you count alternate builds, and then this Family House and Apartment. It's not unlikely that appartment building is similar to something like the Downtown City fire sets, 3 story high, but actually filled in with walls and windows instead of on fire Just going by piece counts, the exploration ship could either be a very simple build, or maybe a smaller set like the 2023 Fire Boat, and former Diving Yacht, perfect hull size imo. Deep Sea Submarine sounds big for the piece count (avatar sub has 553 and isnt that small, and has 2 rocky builds), maybe it's more then just a sub, but also underwater terrain and perhaps a base or something, I did like the 2020 designs, and the 2022 3-in-1 sub goes well with the colors as well.

LEGO DREAMZZZ™ is the current trademark name, so yes, it's definately more then a codename.

Personally to me this doesn't feel very classic at all, too many round parts, not enough parts with sharp angles. It's not a bad selection of a parts pack, just doesn't really feel like it fits with any pre 2000s space. But if it's intended for Neo-Classic Space, fair enough. Still supporting the IDEAS projects

Certainly a weird one. The message of building from random parts or sections of different sets/themes is nice enough, but then the part with the map and the actual goal of where they go is just really random, still very fun tho. I always am a fan of promoting that LEGO is more then just static sets staying together 100% of the time, especially if it involves kids, as they can learn and develop skills from building beyond instructions/apps. (nothing wrong with keeping sets together, just personally I don't think LEGO is the best toy purposed for that)

I don't have the main street myself but instructions do help showing where the connection points are : Book shop https://www.lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/6400026.pdf 8x16 building on 16x16 plate Barber shop https://www.lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/6400015.pdf 8x16 building on 16x16 plate Corner shop https://www.lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/6400022.pdf 12x12 building on 16x16 plate The corner shop is the only building that works a bit different due to the building using 12x12 out of the 16x16, so the sidewalk is only 4 stud instead of 8.

They do look compatible, there's a 1x8 technic brick (7 holes) on both sets, with a 8 stud tiled sidewalk in the same color on both sets.

60304: Road Plates will still be available in 2023, so far no replacement yet, so it's definately not looking like a sign of road plate retirement yet. Road related but not exactly City, the Xtra theme however, seems completely done. I know there are those new studded 2 plate high plates, also of note, they are used in a 4+ Friends set, so not entirely exclusive to City, 4+ did use 2 plate high bases before but they had a slightly different shape, not perfectly 8x16 either as 4 studs were sticking out at the side (see a set like City 2022 farm)

Many useful parts in 31133: White Rabbit , white is a useful color, and it has some great selection of quarter round parts and slopes for a certain style of spaceships or space cannons, radar domes, fuel tanks etc. . For a smaller set like this, looks to have at least enough parts to form multiple types of full circles out of the quarter parts as there look to be 4 of each. Looks to have at least 6 of the more recent 3x3x1 quarter dome, not new either, just still recent enough, 2021, for being in larger quantities in smaller set, alongside other dome and quarter dome and arch parts as well.

I think LEGO in-house themes being a bit more light hearted and teen character based is fine, especially when LEGO keeps churning out sets from franchises like Marvel, Star Wars and DC, clearly established characters that are mostly 20+, outside of some of the kid's cartoon variants like Spidey and Friends And for City, the main characters were clearly older then teens as well back in the "Duke Detain" era of LCA, plenty of characters with beards, mustaches and stubble, or wrinkle type faces. Castle, Adventurers and Pirates clearly had older characters as well, many mustaches and beards. Then that leaves themes like Friends, Elves, Nexo and Hidden Side for being late teens-early 20s. Purely speaking the "age" of the characters here, not the set age on the box, I mean, Duplo Batman had sets that were 2+.

Yeah that does look quite a bit like a more modern build of Sunshine Surfer Van with more roundedness to it, not bad though, the alternate builds look very different and almost like their own sets. The 2 story beach house does look a bit like an alternate build from 31083: Cruising Adventures , also from 2018. (like the sunshine van) Beach sets have been a thing with 3-in-1 for a long time, but I don't mind, because it's quite consistent with similar palm tree designs, colors (like yellow walls, tan beaches, dark blue roofs etc), over time, it will easily form a bigger scene, or within itself if you get more then 1 set. Those €50 sets are also usually the sweet spot for decent discounts and then building multiple sets for alternate builds/parts imo.

Seeing how those ink monsters use catapults, bows and cannons, hopefully there will be some sort of main fortress for them, would be really cool to see some black and gold asian castle type build.

Those dark blue rock pieces made me instantly think of Aquazone rocks.

Missed opportunity to have a building with a bigger focus on dark red masonry bricks.

There's a price known now. £8.99 / $9.99 / 9.99€

It's interesting to see how different the 2023 Disney minidolls are compared to 2022, same characters but very different style of prints, especially the eyes and mouth prints have very different proportions and shapes. So it's not just friends getting a doll makeover.

Friends probably has one of those themes that do exist quite a long time but just now seem to start getting a lot more attention. Elves also seems to have gotten more discussion after the fact that it ended. 2019 LEGO Movie might've introduced more AFOL to minidolls etc, and the 2022 10 year anniversary and 2023 refresh certainly got the theme more media attention as well. But it's certainly not a new theme by itself, and even 10+ years after introduction, there's still a lot of "yeah but minidolls" acting like it's a different toy or something. I agree dolls and their animals certainly are of a different style, but apparently quite succesful enough to still get a lot of new attention, with new animals and especially 2022/2023 getting more minidoll skin colours, hair/hat-styles, face prints and new leg moulds etc. Disney minidoll sets also seem to follow the 2023 minidoll style update, quite a difference between a 2022 and 2023 Jasmine or Rapunzel head print for example.

Online BAM could really use any sort of update, inventory has only declined over time. I know it's still not available in north america, but why did they "beta" test it in Europe, only to leaving it like it's abandoned even after removing the beta mention. Would be at least nice to see any hint of the service being updated at some point, even if it's with older parts from 1+ year ago, or out-of-season leftovers. I am not expecting much update anytime soon (currently Pick a Brick standard is even paused due to a large amount of "unexpected" orders)