TeriXeri

I got a theory, if there will be a stadium, it was probably meant to come out in 2020 (alongside the Superstar Shoes 50th anniversary in 2020), but was delayed due the Euro 2020 and Olympics being delayed 1 year as well, and next year a stadium still will be relevant for another Winter Olympics and World Cup Soccer. The 2020 Service Station did have a Soccer sticker, so it was already a thing in City sets then. And stands with minifig seats could still be useful with Stuntz sets as well. LEGO-Con is in a week so if there would be something big like that, it'll probably be revealed there, so far there have been multiple 1-off larger City releases in September, and last year had those elite police sets appear in August without really any pre-announcement.

Very nice for an extra build, I can imagine it as a lookout tower, or even lighthouse (with fire on top). I really like the green slopes in this set for cliffs, which sets apart the natural terrain to the man-made tower walls.

2022 probably will have a City Train, perhaps with the Hidden Side Train Ramp , as almost all City Cargo trains had a switch track included, and a dead end would be perfect for kids to load their train on. Kind of weird to have that piece in only 1 set : A Monkie Kid train wouldn't be that weird, considering Hidden Side had a "ghost train" and Monkie Kid seems to follow a somewhat similar pattern of Hidden Side in terms of how the theme and sets are built up. (minus the Augmented Reality which went to Vidyo) I personally would love to see a 3-in-1 Train set, with focus on the train build, and few to no side builds, and then don't include electronics to keep the price down. I didn't have many trains , but the displayed alternate builds (in the manual+box) to the 1996 Cargo Railway https://letsbuilditagain.com/instructions/4559/ were almost on par if not better then the main build depending if you wanted a Steam loc, or Rail-Layer vehicle, which means a 3-in-1 could potentially work. Maybe it could even be a Space themed train (or Theme Park Space , since Creator 3in1 does make fairground sets.)

And it's also kinda sad how the 'new' black horse was last made (only) in 2013, and it's 2022 next year.

Of course understandable, I was mainly suggesting it for people who happen to have that set built or have the parts from it. There also was a darkblue colored Falcon pentagonal shield tile in the random Nexo Powers Series 1 but it's transparent blue around the edges.

I think both versions work well, the Makeover is more in the style of what I see for LOTR sets or Harry Potter pieces (Tan Walls) and many MOCs on here, the original yellow walls would fit well with older more colorful castle factions and 3in1/Nexo parts/figs. Overall, I think a lot of color option for tudor/wood framing of walls are possible, like light yellow or white walls, with dark brown/black or even darkred wood beams , could even make the roofs orange/black/darkbrown etc. There are a lot of variations in the real world as well. The Blue banners on the makeover do look better for a Falcon fortress. This stickered part from Nexo 70315: Clay's Rumble Blade might not even look bad as banners either.

Indeed, Nexo had this marble "statue", the larger knight helmet could still work on it (double printed face shows an evil/angry face) The Chess Set variation of white helmets could also work for a faction of more varied "Lance" knights (basicly using the variations of Lance torsos/legs with different faces), but multiple versions of Lance all have a useable horse emblem. And there's a horse Shield Tile as well : For less Techy figures,this is probably the more suitable torso/leg combination without too much orange lines on it : (Battle Suit Lance) (I'm just focusing on speculating mostly about Nexo parts/figs as it's the main "Castle" theme I have currently, especially in number of figs)

At the very least, white / black weapons /helmets can fit with the White/Black Skeletons from either the 2007/2008 Fantasy Castle waves, or more modern recent Ninjago waves which had (legacy) Skulkins and Black Skeletons , and a white/black and black/white version of a runesword . Not all the helmets will fit on the Ninjago modern skulls however. Also the 2018 Nexo wave had black/white villains (with red eyes and green contrast prints), but might be a bit too techy for pure fantasy, but I think black or white helmets would still work on them. , As a bonus the eye torso print really reminds me of Sauron, or Warcraft (Old Gods / Darkmoon Faire) , kind of makes sense as they were controlled by monstrox "servers" to connect the digital to the physical world in the final comics. Nexo also used black shields for 2 years (2016-2017) for the villains , which offer some customization options. For white Shields there's this part , in 2018-2021 sets : https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=30166&colorID=1&in=A

I think IDEAS is booming right now when it comes to Medieval sets and Castles, and I think the current submissions are a lot more diverse compared to about 2 years ago it were mostly very large buildings about the size of the (original submission) Blacksmith , now I see all sorts of Castles and outposts and civilian settings that are more set-scale or could be hybrid Pirate compatible as well. And that's not including the 5 Castles in the next review, and Castle in the Forest Crowdfunding.

Minifig Mario sets could be nice, especially one of the Castles, even better if it's a full Castle on all sides (with hinges/modules) instead of a half-castle like Disney/Frozen/Angry Birds. Minifgs would also be a reasonable way to make a Mario Kart spinoff (like Mighty Micros)

71391 Bowsers Airship might be of interest to Pirate Fans / Shipbuilders, multiple ship parts in Medium Nougat .

So the new frozen castle uses many of the smaller Nexo windshields in a new color, so the mould is still there. However I still wonder if LEGO will ever use the large windshield again in different colors again. Other non curved windshields still in use might be easier to use with the straight front however. (I posted the red version for contrast) I also wonder if LEGO will ever make a new version of this one , with a bar end instead of the old connector, the Nexo Knights windscreen could somewhat count as a modern version however. Overall, I'd love to see more colored angled windscreens in a theme like 3in1, and not just trans-black/clear/lightblue.

So this is a €90 LEGO shoe, vs the still currently available wearable ZX8000 €140 LEGO branded shoes hmm I guess it's pretty close to the real Superstar (within parts limits), but even those, you can get the real ones for €100 a pair. But then again, LEGO makes typewriter, plants, piano etc, so there must be some market for LEGO real-life-objects. (all under the Adults Welcome 18+ brand)

I also have most of the buildings 3-in-1 has released since 2016, and I think the scale works great on a shelf and with other City/Friends sets.

Tons of projects up there under the Castle filter, too many to list here. The main critic from me would be the use of Flesh tone in some of the non-licensed projects makes no sense to me, especially if it's a digital model, and right now there are so many submissions it might actually keep votes away (not everyone collects licensed, or was into LEGO when themes like LOTR were current) On the other hand I really appreciate how diverse the IDEAS are getting now, instead of just "oversized" buildings (the blacksmith was fantastic but I actually like the final model better).

As someone how started collecting Creator 3-in-1 after 2017, I agree 3in1 can have flaws like lack of horses or large amount of figures, however, I still like how most sets still use regular pieces and not just panels/pillars (the 2017-2018 "modular" buildings were simpler but even then don't use 6 wide panels like some City/Friends sets do) , City also uses a lot of ugly 6 wide canopies on helicopter/aircraft (the 8 wides look better). The main thing I liked about 3in1 is that most buildings don't include extra vehicles , whereas City pretty much always did, and the vehicles made up half or more of a set before the 2021 line of Town+roads. City did have multiple "fun in the xxx" which bolstered my collection a lot, even the themed one with Space was great, sadly that stopped already. Right now 3-in-1 is my main theme of interest, not just because they actually suggest making other things from LEGO, but mainly because of the more basic parts. The current placement of Pirates/Castle/Space under 3in1 isn't perfect but I still think it's not a bad solution either, as LEGO says themselves, it basicly saves them making 3 sets, and the Pirate Ship had 3 very distinct models. I looked at the parts on the Castle, and I actually like the parts a lot, there are a lot of 1x4x3 panels instead of 1x4 bricks but those are still better useable then huge 1x6x5 (non-window) panels imo, also a large amount of slopes. That said, there are multiple Castles up in the huge IDEAS 57 projects lineup next round, and seeing how long some take to release, I don't think seeing one of the Castles picked for a late 2022 / Early 2023 release is impossible. As for the future of 3-in-1, I'm not sure what the large creator set of 2022 could be, on one hand I'd hope for a Sci-Fi Spaceship, on the other hand a larger Town/House set. I also still hope for some of the €50 price range set to cover more Pirate/Castle, as so far there were multiple smaller Space related sets Xtra could also be an option to supply more Classic theme accesoires, or plant parts like palm leaves/bushes, or maybe even a horse as there have been a shark before.

While this is 3 months old, it does give some more depth on the current state of Classic themes and why they are under 3-in-1 currently. https://www.brickfanatics.com/lego-designer-says-creator-3-in-1-is-the-new-home-of-retro-themes/ If anything it doesn't rule out any Pirate/Castle sets beyond the current ones.

So far the Castle , Crocodile and Aquarium sets seem to have a somewhat limited availability outside LEGO.com.

Those look great, they really properly transform into what could be a City / 3in1 type of set. Fathom is my favorite, great shape and the waterline contrasting colors work well.

Looking at Harry Potter, sets are all based on movies that are almost 10+ years old since the last 2011 movie, and of course the books are still read/sold and other media like games. I like the current diverse approach of Ninjago subthemes, LEGO doesn't really go into full Castle/Pirates/Space/Aquazone themes anymore, so Ninjago going pseudo Gaming / Castle / Islanders / Aquazone in the last few waves is still more interesting then just Legacy , but even so, I think Ninjago could probably still survive a few years of 100% Legacy sets.

It's a shame smaller sets Castle/Pirates fell to the wayside, but LEGO seemed to have caused it themselves. Smaller sets introduce kids and fans to themes easier, and more frequently, but if a set is too small like a 4+, it doesn't really allow alternate builds that much either. Even outside the whole licensed vs non-licensed , there so many themes have multiple sets reserved for 4+, which I don't think is needed when there are actually a lot of set reviews where people build/play with 5+ or higher sets with kids as young as 3. Also even within a theme like 3in1, while not having 4+ sets, there's a lot of spread, between brick built animals, microscale and minifig "themes" in a very limited amount of sets per year. Nexo Knights had sets of all sizes, but also was an in-house licensed theme, with a lot of books/magazines beside just bricks, and an app-game/TV show, I don't consider it a traditional contiuation of the Castle/Space lines. Currently Ninjago seems to go a more "subtheme" type of direction as well, with, going from Fire&Ice, to video games, dungeons and dragons, then islanders and now aquazone in a ninjago-fied way, but also LEGACY does allow to keep some roots in the former years. Overall there are more sets then ever before, but that also means more competition. Harry Potter sets rebooted in 2018 , but the current sets are not at all based on any new movies, unlike Star Wars making a lot of sets based on either the recent trilogy, or Disney+ series. HP obviously is popular, it's all over social media, and the forum here is one of the most active, it has advent calendars, minifig packs, CMF series, "UCS" type of sets and since 2018 isn't what I consider long ago yet, but I will never see it as a Castle replacement (Even Lord of the Rings would be many times closer). With that said, I wonder what the future holds, but right now, LEGO seems to be at a trend of adding more licenses, more large licensed sets, more 4+ sets. A lot happened in the last couple years, LEGO Movie 2, the start of the 18+ line, Hidden Side came and went, Monkie Kid appeared, Ninjago got Legacy sets, Xtra , City Road rework, and I don't think it ended there so I'm still somewhat optimistic. Subjects like non-city Trains, Castle, Pirates and non-NASA Space look to be scattered along a few releases, mainly focused around IDEAS , or 3in1, but overall I think in terms of larger sets, they have been very good (Barracuda Bay was my favorite 2020 set, 31120 my favorite 2021 set)

If those are long-term "parts packs" at a cheaper price (VIP points) I have no issue with it, but if it's going to be limited like most other VIP sets I don't like it. I'm still hoping for LEGO to expand their Xtra range with more Castle / Pirates / Space accesoires, and more plants.

That's a nice take on the set design for sure, mostly a recolor but it works well with the original pirate brick walls.

I see Harry Potter went the modular approach of expandable (including some smaller sets), and I really wish a more Classic Castle type of wave/theme went that route as well. 3in1 Castle related stuff wouldn't be bad but I don't think they would ever be a lot of figs or horses that way. Also Battle Packs or Minifig packs again to bolster at least some new collections. I know Pirates waves were scarce too with 2009 2015 and 2020, I just hope we won't have to wait another 5 years for another Castle faction or Pirate Blue/Redcoat type of figs (and I dislike CMF style including of such figs, but I can see how it works for 1-off colors/prints) Right now, while I'm happy with the 2020/2021 Pirate/Castle sets for sure, however, right now the Castle isn't sold outside of LEGO.com in my country yet But I doubt it'll stay exclusive (hope not), the Pirate Ship wasn't directly widely sold last year, but eventually got some 25-30% off. It's not that the set isn't worth it at full price, but when planning multiple castles it makes a big difference with a discount.

The 2000 soccer stadium and smaller Zidane goal sets were one of the last LEGO sets I got before a 15 year break from LEGO, but for me those soccer sets were extra relevant as it was Euro2000 in Netherlands/Belgium and it was a limited edition with extra orange shirt minifigs (orange was a very new color at the time) Green torsos were also rare at the time. I still have both sets intact (stadium was in a drawer for over 10 years), but the figures lost clutch on their feet from using the figures on the field(stands with springs) so they can't grip on studs anymore I also found it interesting how LEGO used the same front torso print from 20 years earlier, but different arm colors, and back print numbers, I had 2 of those older figures and used them as spectators.