TeriXeri

I love that, especially for a theme with a lot of named characters like Friends, there are bound to be repeats, but LEGO is certainly starting strong here with different outfits and face expressions. With more variation, hair and face swaps can be done easier as well to make new characters. City is also adjusting a bit, at least 2023 looks to have things like criminal torsos without numbers on it, instead of having another criminal 87653 in 22 sets, and most figs don't look less detailed compared to their LEGO City Adventures variants from the years before.

Been a while since I bought a City magazine, but the little construction road roller build is simply genius, using those fairly new 3x3 round cylinders, just fits together really well. Also the minifig torso is only used in 2 other sets (2019 downtown fire and 2022 4+ cement mixer), but the print is great, love the silver, and sharp print contrast Too bad my country only has 6 of those City magazines a year now (out of 12).

New wheels do look interesting, thinner then the older space wheels (well old is relative, last used in 2020 ninjago) but still have the 4 studs outside. I wonder about the diameter, nexo knights introduced an open sided 37 mm sized wheel (also used in sets like a City and 3-in-1 Rover), but this still looks a little bit larger, somewhere around 45 would be my guess.

While Legoland parks and discovery centers do have shops, they are seperate from the stores you find outside of those, regular lego stores have no relation to merlin.

Looking closer at the 2023 buildings, and the new 2 plate high bases. looks like most of the buildings floors can be removed, with tiles underneath. Especially the Police Academy structure looks to be able to seperate in various 16x8 and 8x8 modules, and then have technic pin hole to connect them side by side, so you can make a really wide structure instead, also pin holes at the sides of the 4+ police station allows to add it to the side as well. The car "garage" layout is customizable as well, but uses + shaped holes instead.

They did add a studded version of the road plate with the 1x4 side notches to connect them easily on most sets with buildings, basicly a 8x8 or 16x8 variant, used on both normal and 4+ sets. 4+ last used this in 2022 in a set like City Farm but that looks to have been replaced by a proper 8x16 variant now more compatible with road plates and also seen in the Friends 4+ house set as both floors. New "road plate"

Not a new part but. 60384: Penguin Slushy Van looks to have those half cylinder parts in trans dark blue on top of the van, so could work in Space Police 3 / Exploriens.

I think a police officer in Friends isn't a bad thing, as it's a story driven theme, look at 2023, looks like all minidolls get names. City had a focus on named characters in the past few years (and some others before that), but mainly talking LEGO City Adventures here, which seems to have ended with 2023. Ironically City's most known named figs perhaps are Chase McCain and Duke Detain, both police, and pretty much main characters in their media appearances. With the expanded roster of Friends, and entirely new part of a timeline/story, I don't mind that City stopped doing named characters so prominently, or perhaps paused until some other show appears. While some LEGO City Adventure characters and Stuntz certainly had some very unique looking figs, it doesn't seem that unnamed characters are any less detailed or special imo, both 2023 Friends and City have a very varied selection of figs/dolls, in hairstyles, faces and outfits, some repeats but also a lot of new prints or colors.

Nexo Knights also had a few sets using that, after their wave 1 set fortrex used rubber thread inserts, was the first set with those (and some ninjago/technic sets after, including the still current 42140: App-Controlled Transformation Vehicle) the other sets afterward all had rubber helper wheels inside. Of course, smaller threads don't have inserts, so a hidden helper wheel is even better.

True, it's a "sports car" not a race car. And there's a neon helmet with blue in the stuntz bike set , that'll go well with this color scheme too. Overall, I think this wave's €10 sets are all strong, good value , even the 4+ with the cat, dog and 2 figs. Also, LEGO City adventures and Named Characters, seems to be done, overall this wave has a lot of different types of face prints/expressions and new designs.

I like how LEGO finally made some Octan-E batteries, in 60383: Electric Sports Car looks like printed 1x2 tiles in the back of the car : Looks like a simple build but a nice parts pack, I like neon yellow, and black wheel arches are a generic useful color. A hairpiece or neon yellow helmet would be a nice bonus but overall, I think it's a nice small set at it's price point, considering 2023, and this has all printed parts (including a solar panel)

Agreed, probably might take a little while as the rest of the 3-in-1 sets look to be March releases. I personally hope this will be a set using larger amount of basic red roof slopes. Which hasn't been used much in recent time, at least not in 3-in-1 buildings since 2017.

Saw a documentary about Otters living in and around the City-state of Singapore today, makes the otter set in the City theme a whole lot more relevant Of course otters are found on almost all continents except antarctica and australia, but still seeing those fairly large otter species using human structures in an actual large City to burrow/rest was interesting.

It's strange this set basicly retired super quick come 2023, but with Friends releasing a store with similar concepts (shopping carts, crates, recycling, "Fresh" branding) , it makes a little sense. However, I think that friends store is also priced quite higher then average as well compared to the other 2023 lineup, and not because of road plates or anything. Hope a reviewer will compare to the 2 at some point.

LEGO put themselves to the test with an upcoming 3-in-1 set being named Cute Dogs.

Torso in the otter set certainly looks new, like a forest-ranger type person with a badge (which would mean either Law Enforcement / Forest Keeper / National Park ranger etc in various countries) Which is different from the 2-leaf "park" logo introduced with the picnic in park vehicle, and now showing up on the park tractor vehicle/torso. Even if not all forest sets would be animal focused, I'd love to see some new crooks hideout in a forest cave or something (could still have a bear/wolf/lynx/mountain lion etc), just a little bit different from 2018, less focus on police vehicles as I think the dog van and other 2022 vehicles like the mobile command are plenty already. And maybe another bigger forest set with mainly focus on bigger built trees and optional flames, just without focus on a big water airplane this time, there's the big fire command center, which seems suited for the action. Of course some small scale sawmill / logging type of set could still work, just no mega tree-industrial machines, but at least a place to make some planks / small logs as those printed tiles already exist and are in use.

That's what I was thinking too, with the amount of trees, mostly pine trees, and then planks and wood logs in the construction set and a polybag, something forest seems in the planning, and City often follows their nature subthemes about 1-2 years after Friends does, Friends did have horse riding and forest in 2021 and look at where City is going now, with more horses, and pine trees and outdoor dog training etc. While of course this is just speculation, so far there were underwater themes 1 year apart, and elephants 1 year apart (friends were more asian focused but still), and Forest 2 year apart if it's happening in summer 2023.

Recently built this as well, Love the ship build, and the serpent was bigger then expected from pictures, despite having a fairly static front half. However, this certainly isn't one of those "get 3 sets" type of 3-in-1 for me especially with a potential viking village IDEAS set approved in the near future, but still nice to see some alternate builds that aren't just 3 boats. I especially like those reviews that also build the alternate builds and show leftover parts

Some 3-in-1 sets started appearing on LEGO.com : 31133: White Rabbit : 19,99 € 31143: Birdhouse : €29,99

That fresh market shop looks okay but way overpriced at first glance , compared to Autumn's House at similar piece count which is €20 less. City center looks a lot better, still €160 is a lot , but friends is a theme that gets rather large discount at times. 2022 41704: Main Street Building and 41709: Vacation Beach House looked a bit too "clean" in my opinion, sort of the same as the 41731: Heartlake International School style, not really my thing. 41732: Downtown Flower and Design Stores obviously has that modern building , but the triangle shape definately sets it apart from sets mentioned above. Mobile tiny house is very cute, even as an actual tiny house + car, I do like it. Cat Hotel looks fun as well, while probably more expensive then 41699: Pet Adoption Café, it looks nicer. Diner and Hair Salon are still strong entries. Skate park makes great use out of Stuntz Ramps and despite larger pieces seems fair priced as well, skateboarding has been a thing in Creator/City and even 2022 main street recently so a good fit to have it's own set. The room sets rely on stickers details but I think they are great starts to make MOCs/interior on the Friends/City/Creator 3-in-1 scale builds, and come with 2 dolls each, so 4 sets cover the entire main cast of 8. Nova's Room definately has that "streamer" setup feel, with the game/chat on seperate monitors + the stream rebroadcast on laptop (presumably could be Zac's). Leo's room might as well be a floor of a beach house, with the railing being a balcony, and the surfboard/diving gear included. Aliya's room sliding extra guest bed is nice, with a cozy more classic feeling. Liann's room is more open and colorful, I love the design of the stickers, and the pet terrarium. Overall I think those room sets make a strong start of the 2023 friends next generation by themselves, or when combined with MOCs or other sets, and I like this format of vignettes/rooms better compared to Play Cubes, there probably will be 4 more Room sets at one point , to complete the 8.

Agreed, this is one of the vehicle sets, that's the right size/price design at the €20 listed price. Black hull definately is a good choice here, I do have the smaller 2019 red fire boat (mainly because the dock was compatible with the 2019 firestation), but seeing a built-up structure on the mid-hull is certainly nice here instead of another weird giant speedboat (2007/2013). This has more of a proportions to a set like 4012 Wave Cops , which isn't a bad thing, black hull could even turn it into a set like that for Police.

It was in the 60327: Horse Transporter set in another color combination (somehow can't find the part on brickset/rebrickable inventory) https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?M=cty1338 More detailed pictures of the sets : https://www.stonewars.de/news/lego-city-2023-neuheiten-januar/ Small green tractor set is cute, based on that small tractor planting saplings, and the forest torso in the garbage truck, and a couple burning tree fire sets, maybe forest will be a summer animal subtheme? One nitpick could be that some terrain- side builds use rounded plates, but on the other hand that's an upside as standalone display, I think it looks more dynamic, but just won't be as cross-compatible with expandable squares/rectangle road plates.

While a bunch of it is obviously "more of the same" subject matter (police/fire/medic/food vehicle/construction) , I do think at least the style of the sets is still trying new things. I don't mind the 4+ police/fire HQs/ambulance, not my target group but existing products just came out in 2022 and will be still around. Also there's the rescue HQ that basicly offers a fire/police/medic build in 1 (basicly an XL "starter" set, or expansion set, but also works great standalone for an outpost or new city) Academy is nice, LEGO trying new things, more building focused sets in City are good imo, especially this one where 95% is building focused, with only a small quad bike as vehicle, so that's nice to see in City, Horse is also a big plus, and I can certainly see the building work as a nice expansion to the 2022 Police HQ (my only police building). Clearly LEGO has thought on expanding upon 2022 sets here, with the horse in the academy (jumping bars also in the 2022 horse transporter ), or dog training from the 2022 police building. Also the other sets look good to me, sure the outdoor monster truck thing is big, but still shows newer things to City like a campsite and some terrain/animals, otter set is also good to see followups to the cheap 2 monkey / 2 chicken sets. The race car workshop set is very cool to see, I like the layout and colors, while not a full building, I think this is like great way to do such a set, like old 6 wide speed champ sets that came with garage/workshop areas, and in this case, I think the lack of a tow truck is a plus, not a minus, as the budget goes to the race cars and area instead. City, and Friends build style seems to be moving closer together a bit, in terms of colors and piece style, I do think the 2023 friends buildings like the hair salon and cafetaria will fit well with the 2023 City styles. Overall , while City is still vehicle focused, it's nice to see more terrain and side builds. (this is all judged before taking prices into account, and reviews will certainly shift opinions around, many sets turn out bigger, or have play features etc, you can't just judge from a few pics) Next set I'm mainly interested in to see next, will be the 3-in-1 Cozy House set , likely revealed later as it's a March set, but 800ish piece count sounds promising, especially considering 2023 Autumn's House in Friends as well.

True , but still use somewhat differing methods of organizing parts. Brickset often has a bit incomplete inventories, especially missing spare parts, or borrowing directly from rebrickable on old sets. (could easily be hundreds if not 1000s of parts difference between brickset/rebrickable on larger collections) , or different definitions of what counts as a fig, and different color names. Also Brickset is more focused by individual mould ID's, while bricklink tends to group things over much longer periods of time, mainly only varying when parts clearly have changes like closed/open stud, or clip types etc. Overall, 3 sites that function similarly, have some cross-compatibility, yet use some subtle differences/methods of set types (gear/books/magazine gifts etc) / parts ID/color names/spare parts etc.

Probably meant as extra data analysis of people's collection, since it's owned by LEGO, unlike Brickset/Rebrickable etc. Maybe also to analyze what types of likely AFOL customers have X set if they also own Y set etc. Not all bricklink users are sellers, so "my collection" is likely mostly for those users. Also maybe some people will be more willing to have a place to track their pieces/collections in an "official" LEGO owned location, rather then a semi-commericial one like Rebrickable (free to use but has premium options)