TeriXeri

Overall it's not very clear what the interactive stuff does, and the pictures of those glowing geodes don't make it easier, like a fig is holding one too , so if there are actual lights inside those geodes, it's probably using inductive coil (wireless LED power up to a few cm) I'd imagine some type of power source inside the volcano. But I think this is a bad idea because I imagine it will inflate price on sets and you still need some Iphone it says.

Just found out, that LEGO was used to make concepts for a very old video game , Populous, released back in 1989. Later , they even added brickland as a tileset for the expansion version. Not Zelda, but still 80s video game LEGO related.

Total War : Warhammer 2/3 has vampire pirates with polearms and armor (Zombie mob, and then the far more menacing fully armored Depth Guard), but even without going the undead route, that could work for living sea-based medieval/fantasy figures as well, can even leave out the pistols / rifles / cannons if it's Castle focused. I mean, LEGO has had ships / coastal battles in Castle sets before, even long ago with the Black Knights ship, and smaller "viking" like Lion Knights boat , and much later in Knights Kingdom and Fantasy , notably 65767: Attack from the Sea and 7029: Skeleton Ship Attack

Definately Kraken in this case, as much as I like Gryphons in fantasy , and the red / white shield + gryphon definately gets the Reikland faction vibes from Warhammer fantasy, a sea based medieval faction is more unique.

Gold would be the most fitting, if only for the fact that the gold ink from the space logo on played with original figures and printed bricks is usually long gone + that means, it has been part of the Classic space since it's launch, just as ink :) However, if it were meant to appear regularly in actual CS sets, I'd say Teal, as it's the most different from what has been done so far. Teal would be the inbetween color as well between existing (similar to how orange is inbetween yellow and red, and pink was inbetween white and red) , whereas I see the magenta, lime and azure just as different lighter/darker shades of the pink, green, and blue space figs.

Yeah, so far it's the 3-in-1 Castle that seems scheduled to retire, not Icons. Did you forget 31120 ? it might lack figures a bit (only 2 falcon knights), or no horses, but still one of the best "affordable" castle of recent times, actually the lowest price directly sold Castle set for the past few years. (even if it has been full price here pretty much all the time) Hopefully the fact it lasted almost 3.5 years (if retiring after 2024), is a sign that more can come, the Pirate Ship lasted even longer and even will still be around even for 2025, Viking Ship was more niche and had a shorter lifespan, even with Viking Village being current. The last "wave" of somewhat castle sets, to me, feels like the 2020 Ninjago dungeon subtheme, would certainly fit in Fantasy Castle from the 2007/2008 era.

Lego finally seems to do 6 wides with side by side minifig seats in a few new sets (Car Truck, LEGO truck, Stegosaurus Van ), hopefully will become more of a standard instead of a rarity

31151: T. rex certainly looks like one of those sets with giant alternate build potential, with the very useful color scheme and parts, for other dinosaurs or dragon builds, but also terrain, a tree or something using military green camo type of colors.

Even beyond the main build, this set does have a lot of very interesting parts in useful basic colors (black/white), and most of the build is symmetrical so you get at least 2-4 of them too, very good Purrts pack for spaceships or structures or perhaps some volcanic island beaches. As far as the build goes, I think they really did well, keeping the LEGO look with just enough studs and sloped pieces instead of going all artsy studless and overly rounded.

It's a very cool piece, introduced last year in City first, with the Police Academy, and later the Ski Centre (first vertical elevator using it), but yes, this year did continue that with 3 more vertical elevators , one with Megalopolis (Monkie Kid), and then of course Friends Hospital and Mansion. One of the most innovative LEGO moving pieces in system sets in recent times imo, since this means elevators don't need gearboxes or winches with ropes to have a simple moving function, which tend to also take more parts and more space. (interestingly enough the 2 City sets using it ,actually do also come with a rope winch but it's used as a safety line for minifgs on climbing wall in both cases, not for the elevator/sideways platform)

Same here, as it made more sense , before transparent bright green lego even existed or was considered, calling it neon yellow goes all the way back to something like neon markers, which usually already come with a different type of green.

LEGO skipped 60416 this year as well , despite the poster listing it in the polybag : And there's no 60427 either, instead, the next City jungle set jumps to 60437

This, exactly sell them seperately, like they have done with road baseplates, after sets stopped using road baseplates. Road Plate packs are still far better compared to some inbetween solutions LEGO had at the end of the road baseplates lifespan, like a few versions Xtra/City/Friends cardboard roads or even road TAPE, which really should not return. As for the studded "road" plates, they had not appeared this year yet until the recent reveal of the 4+ 42636: Heartlake City Preschool , which seems to have 2 8x16 in Tan (42632: Farm Animal Vet Clinic from this year used the old 2014 style 8x8 with less studs and a 1x4 extension) After all, LEGO seems to be focused on making a lot of sets "displayable" adding like rounded plates at the outer edges, or putting things at angles, instead of sticking to a strict grid, and I don't think they want to be stuck with the same format for too long, as it seems themes like 3-in-1, Friends, and even Harry Potter , change their "modules" every few years. The only place LEGO really is "stuck" on, would be the Modular building format being on baseplates, but since those are primarily large sets (over €200 nowadays) , I think they don't want to lose their large collector base by suddenly changing the format. I mean, they did change the size of Speed Champs after so many years, and designs like Hogwarts keeps changing scale , roof color and style, but that doesn't really compare to LEGO being locked-in "baseplate-height" for those long time Modulars. One thing that does affect City and Friends imo, is that too many of the sets feel like all standalone builds, not part as a greater whole, as so many curved plates over the years does not make it easier to make larger terrain / buildings out of it, and the amount of round stuff (mainly the huge amount of buildings/terrain on curved plates) feels less LEGO-like to me in recent years, the Jungle Terrain is a good example of this, LEGO has added clips to connect multiple sets, and they do allow more dynamic display with those clip hinges, but it seems mostly designed for looks , and display (huge contrast to the 2017 Jungle sets terrain, which still of course could be displayed, and the airplane wreck set had hinges , but square/rectangle plates make it easier to combine) . Of course LEGO had their combination buildings and most are still available in City right now, but for new sets, so far I could only see that 60423: Downtown Streetcar and Station remains compatibile with those, using 8 wide station sections and the technic pin connectors (and then City/Friends/Technic Space using those octagonal connector modules, but that's a different format) With the giant crane however, it would not surprise me to see a vertical focused build next year, but the "blueprints" included in the 2 construction sets suggest one is the 2024 Robo rollercoaster and the other the 2023 Ice Cream shop)

Dragon looks like the most Warcraft-ish dragon LEGO has done, many similarities with Alexstrasza (Cataclysm expansion model, because of the pupilless eyes and chains) , dragon does look a bit thin in the mid section tho, but that's just a design choice, it's not trying to be a Warcraft dragon.

60304: Road Plates will still be available (but are listed as possibly retiring after 2025), but I imagine a new type of road of some sorts, will appear by then, as road baseplates have been around even long after sets using them were made. Sets being built on 8x8 and 8x16 modules seems to have stopped, as those 2023 sets (police academy, car wash, downtown, appartments, skate park, ice cream, ski ramp) are also all retiring at the end of this year, sets still use modules with pin connectors, just not of strict 8x8 and 8x16 2-thick plates (which needed at least 4-6 extra 1x4 plates or tiles to fill in the gaps) City certainly does not follow the same old patterns anymore, as trains also won't follow the old 4 year cycle , especially considering the 2018 cargo train is actually still in production, and the 2022 trains are possibly retiring in 2024 and 2025, and now there's the new tram set which is basicly an unmotorized train set.

Beach House looks really nice, it's the first creator house in a long time that's not a jumble of colors , or multiple smaller buildings, also looks like a deeper interior then the last street set. Could potentially be one of those sets where combining multiples is worth it. And it could be an alternative / addition to 42639: Andrea's Modern Mansion , as it's the similar style of architecture / location. T-Rex also benefits a lot from the larger scale.

Was looking through retirement of sets, and actually surpringly many 2023 retired in 2023 already, including a large set like the Downtown Flower / Designer shop, Seems both City and Friends have this trend of retiring some sets the same year ,or even within 6-9 months. Also currently on Brickset I see Leo's Room and Sports Centre listed for 31 Jul 24 , so mid-year retirement is also a thing. (of course retirement means LEGO.com first and foremost, other retailers can have product for longer , but it's still good to keep in mind on a wishlist or something to plan order of purchase) I don't think this trend of because of bad sales, but rather speeding up the amount of different sets available over the years bringing variation, instead of overproducing some sets that'll become hard sellers after 2-3 years.

Well, it's not unusual for a City set to retire the same year, happened with 3 out of 4 of the farm subtheme sets in 2022 (Vegetable Farm / Store and Chicken Henhouse), and those released June 2022. 2023 had multiple sets retire the same year as well, with March Stuntz, the June released Family House , and January Park Tractor, Construction Digger, Otter ATV, Vet Van and Emergency HQ (and perhaps something else I missed) Friends had a couple 2023 sets retire in 2023 as well, Holiday Camping Trip , Donut Shop, Grocery Store, Hair Salon , Cat Hotel , Skate Park, Dog Rescue Van, Bubble Tea Shop, and, even la large semi-AFOL targeted set like Downtown Flower/Design store (and perhaps others I missed)

Looks like LEGO made a mistake with the latest IDEAS Fan Vote , and noticed after a few days, that it had 2 projects from the same designer. Ironically it's called IF WE COULD TURN BACK TIME. https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/97cd2341-f8db-46d3-aa01-952f11ccf41e Karate Kid project was removed , Honey I Shrunk the Kids was added. https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/373e9387-d24f-4445-ad5d-38cc8c0824d5

I like the battle arena, but that price on the vehicle is really too much , surely it has large pieces and large rubber wheels often seem to cost a lot in ninjago somehow, but still €90 is too much. The mech price is okay, but that's mainly managed becuase they put 100% effort in the mech and just piloted by Cole , no side builds or side figures.

Wonder what the further plans of this "Space" thing will be, it's probably too early, but some 2024 space sets are currently on end-of life lists for 2024 already, like the City lab, mini mech and big rover, and the Friends base. It's only a few sets so not something unusual for City and Friends to have same year sets retire, it's not signaling an early full retirement of the Space stuff across the board. And I'm sure sets can get extended too, as a small set like 31058 Mighty Dinosaurs has been around since 2017 and for now will even be around in 2025.

So far I think it's just a 626 piece T-Rex set (probably follows the style of the other detailed animal builds), and a 939 piece Beach House (perhaps the only minifig 3-in-1 set of the year, but Dreamzzz went heavy on some genius 3-in-1 builds for this summer)

It's nice those camp sets are raised on some terrain , the contrast between the blue water, sand beach and green grass with the brown looks great. Looking forward to the Archery Range and Bed and Breakfast "Castle" ,

3-in-1 can be somewhat exclusive, from previous years, I remember sets like the Aquarium, Crocodile, Castle and the most recent last year's Bird House , or Pink Parrot being LEGO exclusive, or at least very limited distribution without the usual discounts.

LEGO Fortnite game has brick built steerable vehicles now, and with the last update pigs and farm building, so they have more and more stuff for physical sets to draw from , if they don't want battle royale combat stuff in sets. I doubt they would make those farm animals in sets though, I think sets using npc (especially those cowboy bandits, or falcon/wolfpack knight) figures would probably appeal a lot more to a wider audience instead of more "creator-like" farm animals. However, a brick built Brute set could certainly work if they do a LEGO Fortnite mode focused set. I think the actual buildable structures, or ruins you can find in game are a bit huge to do full scale but could still be referenced at a smaller scale, perhaps they can do themed furniture packs like physical version of that Brite Bomber pack they sold in the shop (could be sold like one of those friends "bedroom" sized sets)