TeriXeri

Agree that'd be a great step, I had some hope that LEGO would do more in terms of "expansion" sets when City had people packs and Xtra appeared, but both of those seemed to either have disappeared, or gottten some weird product choice like Road Tape. Xtra would have had so much potential to be a modern version of the old "SERVICE" type of packs, for accesoires for themes like Trains, Castle , Pirates etc. Example of what Service offered way back then (late 80s) , combine those in a modern updated rolling stock pack, and people can build what they'd want on top. Now, I know there's Bricks and Pieces merging with Pick a Brick, that will be revamped, so not sure how the price/availability of parts will be. City does have the new road plates as expansion pack but that's only logical when the road baseplates were a mainstream product for 40 years vanished.

It retired only 20 days ago, same as Disney Train. Yes I know many sets unofficially were sold out months before that, but the official end date on both Crocodile and Disney Train still stands at 31-12-2021. Train sets have a history of not being january releases, or back-to-back availability, there were years long gaps between availability of Santa Fe, Emerald Night Horizon Express. The only train sets with consistent releases are the 4-year cycle of City trains.

The Epic Battle sets are the only 2021 sets that are EOL.

Accessories 60205: Tracks (2018-now) 60238: Switch Tracks (2018-now) 2018 City trains do have a small crossing and passenger wait area, but seperately sold larger City Station and Crossing go a lot further back (2014 and 2010) I can understand wanting the 70s / 80s / 90s or early 2000s type of sets back for expanding rolling stock. It just seems selling bigger sets beside rails is the current strategy, same thing also happened with Castle or Pirates (IDEAS / 3-in-1) , after the 2014/2015 era of sets ended. Still 2018-2021 especially had a lot of train related sets being sold at the same time, and with Crocodile and Disney retiring, there sure will be something for AFOL again in the near future. Seperate station + small crossing : 10259: Winter Village Station (2017-2018) Trains with station / side builds: 75955: Hogwarts Express (2018-now) 10277: Crocodile Locomotive (2020-2021) - 7 wide 71044: Disney Train and Station (2019-2021) 8 wide 70424: Ghost Train Express (2019-2020) 10254: Winter Holiday Train (2016-2019) 40370: LEGO® Trains 40th Anniversary Set (2020 GWP)

Just because XXX doesn't get made into sets via IDEAS, doesn't mean LEGO hates or doesn't care. Just because 10, 100, trains making it to 10000 vote, doesn't make it automaticly a viable "idea" for LEGO IDEAS, however the current Big Boy in review might have some chance for a set as it's somewhat famous for being the world's largest steam locomotive, which sets it apart from many of other the regional trains submissions. Studgate made it to Bricklink Designer Program but that's a train packed into a big station set, very different from what LEGO already does with their expert trains.

Will be a while before the deal is final, could be somewhere 2023. Personally I don't expect OW2 this year, 2021 had both the Game Director and Executive Producer leave. While I don't expect the entire blizzard game development to halt completely , OW2 is something different compared to an expansion.

I'd love to see more variants of the husky mould with different painting / colors. Also the return of the big beak parrot mould in some more single-moulded colors but then painted for some sitting falcon, hawk or parrot/parakeet, lego prints a lot of owls but not parrots, and 1989 parrots had printing possible. I think the latest use of dark red octopus was fine, just would love to see it used again, maybe a printed version, or glow in the dark, or camouflage colors, but the shape might be too complex to print properly, dual moulded marble colors might work, overall a pretty complex LEGO piece that needs to be flexible, yet not too brittle.

Agreed I love the "painted" color, especially on tiles and such because it's consistent across the whole part. I had the old chrome from the 90s and some of my big swords from Royal/Fright Knight have flaked. 2018 Nexo Knights had a lot of pearl gold in 2 variations of color, LEGO was in process of changing their pearl gold formula a bit , most parts are fine, but some of the tiles, especially 1x2, the older pearl gold have mould shape marks (like a V shape on tiles) and on the older pearl gold while shinier and less orange, the markings are more noticable and darker compared to the same tiles from 2019. Overall I don't mind the newer pearl gold, but I like the addition of the Gold Ink/Metallic Gold in recent times, especially on tiles.

Gold Ink are the laquered gold pieces seen in monkie kid and such now (4 ingots in 30562: Monkie Kid's Underwater Journey) not exactly chrome but matte paint.

Just finished moon cake factory set, very fun build and some cool pieces. The rabbit mech is very interesting , and the hidden storage for ammo is clever, but those large 4x4x2 domes don't allow anything inside : My main issue would be clear backed stickers, but this time for their (lack of) opacity having the brick colors showing through the azure and orange backgrounds, but the sticker designs themselves are nice. Set being $70 in US might feel overpriced though, sure it has 600 pieces but a lot of small ones (about 40+ spare small bits) , €50 is a little bit better considering the rarer parts and figs. Chang'e one of my favorite figs for this year.

I think the existing small piece will be used (bionicle eye in white), or else the beach set would've had new eggs for the turtle nest, it's also used in a lot of recent sets like the friends main street has a store with eggs.

Pirates could very well be some theme LEGO would do something (could be small) for as part of 90th anniversary , I know a lot of theory has been going by the 1 big set from 1 theme type of deal, but 60th anniversary of brick had multiple sets as well, with that microscale GWP barracuda ship(as part of a 4-build), and then pirate builds and accesoires in the Building Bigger Thinking version of "Classic" sets that year. I don't think a single set of a single theme could celebrate 90 years of LEGO unless it's a collection pack of many vignettes akin to the chinese traditions set from 2022.

I haven't really figured out why there's the hole in the bottom on the Galactic Explorer, the little car is too wide to fit through, there are some clips that can hold stuff (staff/ammo) but seems odd just for that. Dropping figures or smaller cargo (Moon Cake boxes from the other set for example) still works if you load them in first though.

True, could be a mix of both space police 1 and 2 (Galactic Mediator) , 2 having the double cockpit and the little vehicle wheel placement , 1 with the trans-red for sure + the helmets and side windows. Seems to have some other references as well, there's a classic space figure on one of the monitors.

For me the Monkie Kid spaceship this year is the best sci-fi spaceship set since a long time, especially if looking for something with non-standard colors and colored windscreens. I wouldn't go as far as calling it Galaxy Explorer 2.0 (despite the name), but it does have some elements from that set like the big engines, and mini radar base that comes with it. It doesn't have a real ramp to load/unload the included vehicle tho. Monkie Kid Dragon Horse jet is still a very good single seater.

Just finished the Galactic Explorer, fantastic set. There are things that could be modded, but there's a lot of potential to fit more passengers or different cargo. Clear backed stickers are the main annoying part, but I can understand why they were used.

There are certainly a lot of different interests and sub-communities here, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Overall activity across the board seems to have gone up compared to a couple years ago, but LEGO also got a lot more media attention, especially adult related like LEGO Masters, and the adults/18+ approach drawing in more then just teens or younger ones. 3-in-1 represents the core of LEGO to me, as it provides a base, and maybe with the recent shift to Pirates, Castle, semi-Sci-fi space, etc, more AFOL will discover it, the Town aspect of the theme has slowed down a bit though. 3-in-1 is also a theme I'm completely baffled what people come up with as alternate builds in entirely different contexts,

2021 Surfer Beach House was a pretty decent house/shop type of build, bigger then the other 2 beach houses and while double hinged it was still fully closed.

To me, that mini tractor and snake rattler figure with a farmer disguise throwing eggs made me almost sure we'd get chickens this year, just makes sense, but yes the tractor from last year with the hay bales was a big clue. Now need some the cows to source the milk, made into ice cream for the various sets, grocery store could also have some milk cartons (they are in the friends shop)

I do welcome the online buying of BAM figs, even if it's older ones, and stores have newer ones.

If no MK underwater theme happens, could be fun to add some submarine styling to the Galactic Explorer, it at least has the colors and shaping for it imo. Simple mod would be adding the 2020 yellow propeller pods from City submarine to the teal engines, and the larger prop from the City underwater base to the main engine. There's also supposed to be a 3-in-1 Submarine later this year. (I don't have Hydro Bounty but do have the parts from those City sets) However, I'm still interested to see where this theme will go, the combination of Explorer and Moon Cake sets (as in full team of astronauts, and a launch+destination, and cool builds) are just my favorite sets of this theme so far. Even while I do love the small modular shops from the City of Lanterns too.

I think we're on the same line here hoping for a 90th anniversary Castle with lots of animals (I hope multiple horses) So far white and brown horse was still produced 2019, tan in 2021, dark orange in 2022. For City I hope at least a return of the Cow since the Cow horn piece came back in 2020, and sheep/pig are still in production Friends Tree Planting vehicle is quite a nice farm truck design as well, while it's bright with the Azure and a bit more modern (electric) design, bright colors did happen on those vehicles in the 50s and 60s

The new GwP polybag shows that small sets can still be very nice, but on the other hand it seems those more limited polybag promos seem more "generous" compared to main retail polybags. Monkie Kid, 2 skeletons with weapons, gold laquered items (2 large hilts 4 ingots), 2 crab, coral parts, vines, coral flowers, etc very good polybag.

I am one of those people who stopped interest in LEGO around 2001 due to circumstances (age, hobbies, video gaming/internet's rise), it was a pretty weird time for LEGO system themes from about 1997 until about 2004, my comeback was mainly due to Nexo Knights triggering a lot of ice Planet and Castle nostalgia from mid-90s (1994-1996 were very nostalgic years for me) I'd say overall early 2000s was the major downfall for most "Classic" system themes , this is a personal perspective in hindsight : Adventurers: appeared 1997, started out very strong, but even adventurers suffered some simplified blocky builds during it's own Dino era, still had some later spin-offs, licensed and unlicensed with prince of persia, indiana jones, pharaoh's quest and similarities to some early ninjago (Dragon Fortress especially) Castle: Dark Forest in 1996 that never was sold in Europe, followed by a somewhat simplified but still popular Fright Knights, followed by a completely new direction with Ninja, and then 2000 Castle was pretty much 1995-Juniors in terms of parts. Space UFO 1997 and Insectoids 1998-1999 had very cool and detailed prints and transparent parts/minifigs, but costly electronics, especially on UFO, 2001 Mars went a completely different direction without minifigs, current direction isn't as it used to be, but mainly via City/LEGO Movies, and now Monkie Kid/City for 2022. Pirates: "Classic era" ended after 1997, while briefly returning in exclusive released remakes in 2001 (which weren't that well known as internet shopping was small compared to now) , took until 2009 to be rebooted with a more modern take, short lived in 2015 as well, recently got strong remake with barracuda bay, future is a bit uncertain. Town: a mixed bag of junior and still some fairly nice sets and experiments like LEGO island or Jack Stone, the green-road plates probably cost a lot more to produce as well due to road being printed on it, also Spaceport Electronics probanbly were costly like the actual space themes, Sports was one of the more unique spin-offs, and those NBA figs were likely part of contribution to flesh figures beside Cloud City Lando, currently City still proves to be very popular. Harry Potter: appeared 2001, sort of following a similar blocky style as Fright Knights, Ninja and 2000 Castle until 2004, can't really tell much about popularity as I didn't follow the books/movies until years after, currently a very strong lineup since the 2018 reboot. Paradisa / Scala / Bellville , multiple themes focused mainly on girls, but can be seen as evolution to Friends and DOTS, Friends just reached it's 10th anniversary. Depending on theme, mid 2000s was about the recovery for some themes like World City, Orient expedition, was a more of less return to more normal style sets. Star Wars: had a start backed up by 3 prequel movies and it's non-stop run for 20+ years certainly shows popularity was big and still is. Bionicle: I have no experience with it , but I loved the Slizers, Bionicle itself lasted until 2009, then CCBS took various forms like hero factory, chima, buildable star wars figs, etc and a short reboot until 2016, so overall almost a 2-decade run of CCBS including slizers. Studios I have no experience with either but eventually lead to Dinosaurs and Spider-man, having their own spin-offs like adventurer dino/dino-attack NA(dino 2010 EU) and standalone spider-man into batman. Overall the sets had a lot of chrome parts and high amount of prints, including the green road baseplates with roads printed on top, which probably in the end were costly, combined with some themes having high-cost electronics. I still think 1995-2005 was a decade of a lot of experimentation, but also obvious success stories, and also evolution of themes into other themes. Current ninjago wave is a pretty good mix where different ages are taken in consideration, and I don't think it's fair to compare the 6+ sets to Juniors or year 2000s simplification, despite having less parts in those younger target sets. Also I think nowadays perspective of calling everyhing juniors is skewed by how many super large and complex sets , nowadays a lot of 16+ and 18+ sets exist, I think the current City target age of 4+ to 7+ reflects complexity compared to the upper end of 8+ and 9+ including Friends and Ninjago pretty well.

Current promotional polybag has some pirate stuff, drum gold ingots, 2 skeletons with swords, and some coral/plants.