TeriXeri

Nice review, 1 small detail, the front grille stickers are put on in reverse?

Lifeguard Beach Post, and Rescue Helicopter Transporter, would be the 2022 version of "Coast Guard" perhaps? A yellow colored helicopter (with red and blue accents) would be pretty nice, to go with the other "Beach Rescue" set.

Popular people on platforms like Twitch and such getting 10-100k+ live viewers nowadays, and if they would do some advertising on something like LEGO ideas could skyrocket submissions in hours, that's how stuff like Goose Game got to 10k within a day. Often also is why licensed IDEAS are generally popular right now as they draw in a lot of non regular LEGO buyers but fans of X movie, game or show. Votes by themselves mean very little, as it's an open platform non-LEGO buyers/fans can vote just by making an account. And that's not to discredit people's submissions here, just the current way social media goes, social media keeps growing, but the 10k vote number has remained the same for years, and that's how we ended up with 50+ projects in next voting phase. And crowdfunding like Castle in the Forest selling out 10000 sets under an hour (now that we know there was a glitch), should also mean LEGO is getting somewhat more attention now, and the 18+ marketing seems to spread the brand. 50+ submissions and then only picking one or a few projects, and moving some toward Bricklink program might work for a while ,but long term if the average amount of 10000 projects stays like this, or even grows, I can see either more submissions restrictions or voting changes at some point.

Anyway, back to the subject of City 2022. I wonder how the Park set will be structured, as an add-on set like Road Plates, or more like the Skate Park set with minifigs. I don't have a Police Station yet, so I hope the 2022 version is a bit more like the 2008 version with a driveway. Xtra 40311: Traffic Lights retired, so I wonder if 2022 will have a new version, maybe a Traffic Signs instead of lights. Xtra 40312: Streetlamps also retired, so I hope for a new version with glow in the dark street lamps.

Those are so good, again , 3-in-1 is great by itself but the alternate builds people come up with make the theme even more attractive to me. And then to think this is from a Crocodile set I always look at the parts lists for sets, and especially 3-in-1, and combination of SNOT parts and ball joints just add a lot of extra value to sets for MOCs. This set in particular also has a good color selection.

The recent Vidyo shark and octopus and other pirate figs really made me think of this Fantasy Pirates vibe.

US/Canada has different rules with Box and Instructions, like Warnings and Piece Count, if you look at Brickset, the instructions come in 2 regional versions too, Worldwide and North America. It's not that simple to just make all sets/boxes in any factory and ship them worldwide. Back in 2020, when the Mexico Factory was closed and there were big shortages, LEGO actually did ship boxes to US with piece count stickers on them, but I think that was only done as an emergency measure and not a standard. "lucky" is relative, I usually wait a while for sets to become more widely available or go on discount after a while. In recent times multiple City/3-in-1 sets remain LEGO exclusive as well, which usually means it's better to wait for a Gift-with-purchase. For example, my favorite set of 2021 by far is the Creator Castle but I haven't bought it yet, for now it seems to remain a LEGO exclusive. There aren't many physical LEGO retailers here , and especially no mega store chains like Targets and Walmarts. US have their own advantages, like Target is selling LEGOLAND sets now.

They released the first week of June in Europe.

I think they are better then Costumes, especially the Shark and Octopus figs actually would fit in fantasy Pirates / Aquasharks type of themes. The Candy/Teddy Bear figures and bright colored animals fit more in an "alice of wonderland" type setting, and the werewolf/demon/dragon more in a castlevania/dark woods fantasy setting. Overall, very wide selection of figures for sure, but I'll stick to the way that I prefer regular sets instead of the CMF/Boombox type of distrubution. I still do hope more Stage sets in 2022, and that they sell well enough to continue them with like a Frankenstein Castle stage, a Faerie/Genie Stage, and maybe a South American type of stage based on figures.

For the same budget as the Secret HQ I'd prefer the Flower Fruit Mountain, I know that wasn't a choice here, just my opinion, which is a bit biased toward locations. Similar to the Monkie King mech budget ,i'd prefer the Flaming Foundry.

First thought was something like the video game Populous, where 2 factions fight the eternal battle for control, blue being good, red being evil. On more closer look it also has some World of Warcraft vibes, especially the border between Eversong Woods and Ghostlands.

I'm the opposite here because I don't collect licensed at all. (which might be an unpopular opinion) While old Pirates/Space/Castle sets don't really live up current 2021 standards in detail (but still work well) , the more generic sets always been my favorite, especially 3-in-1, and I love modern "remakes" like Barracuda Bay. As for complaining, I see complaints about licensed all over the place, from LEGO not making XXX license (especially vocal on IDEAS), to nitpicking every little print and figure. (but those complaints aren't exclusive to licensed either) On the other hand, I can understand where complaints like "yet another x-wing / landspeeder " etc come from but same could be said about things like Fire and Police sets, basicly everygreen subthemes/vehicles that appear as long as themes like Star Wars or City exist, and new kids and new/returning adults get into LEGO all the time still, especially when LEGO is now trying to attract other audiences via things like Plants, TV-Shows etc. And I'm not saying that having different tastes/opinions about LEGO are wrong, in fact I think it's cool that LEGO fans are very diverse in their favorite themes and sets and figures and I think having the choice in many themes and set types is a good thing. Nostalgia can indeed be a very strong thing and I do have my preference for Classic themes, but far from everything, everyone has their different eras of LEGO they like, I have no connection to the 2001-2015 years for example as I didn't follow LEGO much at all during that period. I don't expect full set lines of Castle/Pirates/Space in the current strategy of LEGO, but some big sets like Barracuda Bay once in a while would still be very nice, 3-in-1 having visits to those themes is nice but not optimal in terms of figures/horses etc. For now, I see LEGO is certainly going into a different direction compared to a few years ago, with more 18+ sets, City changing to more locations again, and 3-in-1 going in various things, even the "Classic" , and Xtra themes are still trying different things like themed packs, light bricks, transparent pieces etc. I've been back into LEGO for about 6 years now,. and I think in a further 5 years things could be very different again, themes come and go.

I do like that this wave likely contains vehicles and such that haven't been seen in a while, as someone who was away from LEGO and not collecting City until about 2018. The last cement mixer trucks were 2013 and 2007 so that was a while ago for sure.

Shark, Husky and Parrot were in Xtra before, maybe chicken and pig/sheep/horse will be one day... (and Cow horns came back not too long ago as well) Still I love those themed packs for sure , I can forsee a Castle themed pack with a horse and weapons/armor to be popular as well.

I missed that one but still, that's 13 years old in 2022.

I think if LEGO does a farm subtheme it would be summer, seems to be the case now that most city summer will be the outdoors/explorer type themes, and winter focuses on the roadplate/my-town sets. Tractor was winter 2021, but so was Safari Jeep 2020.

Horses in City are new, Town and Paradisa had horses, but in the recent 7 year or so after (2013) Castle ended, minifig horses have been exceptionally rare especially in non-licensed. If it's a smaller set like €30 max, with 2 horses that would be amazing, or a €20 set with 1 horse.

That's a very cool factory scene by itself, and then being Ogel Themed adds bonus points for sure.

I feel GWP are really starting to queue up, with the ship , then cardboard space rocket and recent castaway island, so I hope at least 2 of them still come this year. Well, this month has the Adidas shoe now, and the Christmas GWP (charles dickens) comes back for a few days mid-july, and then also a Friends/City polybag GWP later july. August/September/October still have some new set releases (especially in US), and after that the holidays/Black Friday stuff starts, so I hope at least we'll see the sailing ship before october.

So Creator Expert just got a classic Farm truck with vegetables and a milk can, and currently theres a minifig farm with such a truck in review, hmm. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/299064a7-4585-425b-8ee2-73ab7730c498 - A NICE DAY AT THE FARM Maybe I'm hoping too much, but I can wish.

So many Farm teasers in this set (especially Milk) , hopefully City will go minifig farm next year then. Or is this a hint for the A NICE DAY AT THE FARM ideas set in review ? Remember the Fiat 500 (March 2020) had a Colosseum (November 2020) in the background.

DOTS surprised me more this year, compared to it's launch. I don't like the bracelets or bag tags (not taking LEGO outdoors), but the buildable pencil holders and drawer/jewel boxes are pretty cool. Lots of DOTS also is a great addition and the best set so far for value. Letter tiles are pretty nice as well, but the set itself it too expensive for just those, but I still got the Creative Designer set for the other parts as you can build a bunch of smaller hangers, drawers, holders with the parts. The Rocket pencil holder is the most unique imo, has the more unusual parts like the coral rocket engines, silver quarter tiles and those blue wing plates are also nice. The 2021 Secret Box set has 2 large pieces that form a box, so not much building involved, but it's also cheaper and can be decorated from both sides compared to the 2020 Jewel box, so both sets have their own pros and cons. I think the theme can combine well with the Vidyo stage sets in terms of colors/parts and figures.

Sets don't look bad, but need to see a review of the bikes functioning before actually deciding to spend €8 on a bike + fig.

Castle sold out super fast in Europe region, oh well, maybe next time. I'm not even upset as it's likely a clear sign to LEGO, and there are like 5 castles in the big upcoming review as well, that potentially could still end up at the AFOL program too. It just hit 5000 , Sold out 100%.

Not exactly new , or historical parts, but DOTS actually has a bunch of 1x2 and 1x4 white bricks that multiple bricks tall, might be useful for some easier white builds like smaller pirate forts to fill in areas.