TeriXeri

Very cool the Bone mech can be turned into a "base" of sorts. But the theme lacking discounts plays a role for me, despite the PPP being not too bad. (and I already have a lot of Nexo Knight vehicles so my focus is mostly on Locations) Still looking forward for the theme's development over time, as so far it's pretty unique.

A few years ago there was a LEGO City magazine comic featuring a fossil dig site and a T rex skull being hauled onto a ship, now there's an actual skull piece print, which is cool to see.

That looks huge, and glows in the dark, I bet it looks crazy at night. The overall shape and colors reminds me of a Sha from Warcraft (and the Sha were in a Panda/Chinese themed expansion so that makes sense).

True, Nexo Knights had a Minifig inside a Battle Suit inside a Mech though As for the sets, really seems the wackyness of Nexo Knights and Chima is here but turned up to another level.

The horses in the Yellow Castle use this exact building method :)

Cargo Railway was my only 9v train, always loved the alternate builds suggested on the box/instructions, and used the flip box to store all LEGO instructions/catalogs from up to around 2000. (I say "was" because while I still actually rebuilt the original back around 2015 before getting back into new LEGO sets , I still keep the "old" LEGO (year 2001 and earlier) seperate.) This is a great upgrade, the way the locomotive attached to the original set was pretty awkward, but still a great set for it's time from experience.

Physical toy shops are mostly disappearing here as well, I buy most of my sets online, even years before covid. The main issue with lack of shops is lack of polybags and such as those are usually too small to have free shipping. Lack of Toy shops in some cities seem to relate to high housing/rent prices , as shops come and go. 2 Official LEGO stores have opened in my country, but those are more for the experience, in prime locations. Book Shops/Supermarkets also still have multiple LEGO related books/magazines on offer. I don't think LEGO itself is declining however, a lot of it shifted to online sales, online is usually cheaper as well as there are no Target or Walmart type of shops here that stunt with their discounts. The Netherlands/Belgium also already had 2 seasons of LEGO MASTERS + special episodes.

Closest thing to a "Creator Style" House in the future probably will be the Home Alone IDEAS set.

Harry Potter has the right concept, with Castle rooms / Walls / Sets, that connect horizontally and vertically, it's just not a Castle theme replacement . LEGO has the designs, the parts, and even the Castle theme shows up in media , the LEGOLAND parks and LEGO Masters shows. Now, of course there are castle(s) via the AFOL program , but that isn't the same as a line of sets. 2021 isn't the worst of years in terms of Castle, but the chances of return of regular wave of sets for Classic themes seems small right now. I don't want to be negative for Harry Potter fans of course, as the theme did have a break from 2011-2018, but right now it's going strong. If anything, the minimum that would already be nice would be a few small sets with figures and horses from various factions to be used with the Blacksmith and/or 3in1 set while they are being sold, and Knights/horses isn't something harry potter is really doing either.

According to Brickset / Bricklink they are the Tub part , in fact the part first appeared in this color in the Saturn V set in 2017, and later were used in other sets in this color. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=64951&idColor=77#T=C&C=77 https://brickset.com/parts/6197966/tub

Not sure how a UCS City line would work, of course they can make 6-8 wides with a lot more detail (small pieces) but if they go the way like LEGO did with Speed Champions, they won't really be City anymore. I'm not saying that the 8-wide Speed Champion move was a bad one, a lot of people love the details for collection, but for many they became too big for City. Now, I would of course 100% support more detailed City sets, especially in terms of Helicopters and Airplanes, the aspect of brick-built has faded away quite a bit with the constant use of those rounded large parts, I wouldn't mind more options of slopes and angled windows in an "adult" city line. The Fairground Mixer set was one of the few Creator Expert sets without vintage vehicles, and yes those were detailed : I don't want City sets (even for higher age group) to turn into a licensed theme using real life vehicle manufacturers however. As for Buildings, I'd personally, would like to see more detailed City buildings under 3-in-1 (like the Bike Shop and Cafe scale) , still detailed but not simply another line of Modulars.

New or used? Even if used and in good condition, that's 900+ pieces and 7 minifigs, a good selection of sets, that imo still fit just fine in the current City.

Looks viking ship themed if it has 2 dragon heads like that.

After seeing official pictures,, the color choice does seem to make a lot more sense , and the white stands out very well when its next to larger solid areas of color (or empty), also probably stands out even moreso close up in person due to the white being Studs, not Tiles. And this is how it looks just with continents filled in.

Looks like it's a single box set 40490 , at least in US it says it will cost $10 when you buy $85 of other Ninjago products In Store Only also. https://www.lego.com/cdn/cs/set/assets/bltacf7de1ada8dc677/06_June_Calendar_US.pdf

Could be, I don't think anything of it is a 100% fact until an official statement. I personally think the way LEGO has done it, is subtle enough to leave multiple options open.

True, it very much makes sense for Lady Anchor to appear 5 times total (3 ships + 1 minifigure set + Rock Island Refuge) , and then to appear in Barracuda Bay again alongside Redbeard for a 6th time. (not counting re-release of the old Barracuda) And then the obvious same clothes of Robin Loot (brown hat, white arms, green shirt), which in this combination, only appears once in Classic Pirates on the Cross Bone Clipper, makes option 1 much more likely indeed. (mods can move this Pirate Discussion to the other thread instead of the Review thread if they wish, as I know this discussion isn't directly about 40516 review right now)

The Robin Loot minifig in the Barracuda Bay is described as "Former gunner of the Cross Bone Clipper" , which means formerly one of those 2 characters. It's up to imagination if it's just a clothes change or more. Set https://brickset.com/sets/6250-1/Cross-Bone-Clipper

With the IDEAS Earth Globe approved, I'd rather wait to see that first.

Yeah, If 3-in-1 follows a similar format next year, I'm hoping the 2022 large set will be a Fantasy Spaceship for sure.

I know this has been discussed earlier, but I hadn't looked into this theme before now. So far 5 of the Wave 1 Beatboxes got similar themed stages in wave 2. I wonder if that would mean, if there's a wave 3 , that there could be a Metal Dragon and Folk Fairy stage. 43102 : Candy Mermaid BeatBox -> 43111 : Candy Castle Stage 43103 : Punk Pirate BeatBox -> 43114 : Punk Pirate Ship 43104: Alien DJ BeatBox -> 43115: The Boombox 43106 : Unicorn DJ BeatBox -> 43113 : K-Pawp Concert 43107 : HipHop Robot BeatBox -> 43112 : Robo HipHop Car Stage sets are a much better format compared to the beatboxes for sure. Personally hoping that Monster/Metal/Dragon Stage could be Castle themed , and could be pretty awesome when done right. Or a Fairy Forest type stage since they got less figures currently.

Nice looking buildings for sure, love the roofs made of wedges. I actually apply my stickers with soapy water nowadays, on a wet piece, with a brick seperator as well, it's not flawless but being able to shift stickers somewhat, and less air bubbles when careful helps a lot. When I just came back to LEGO in 2016, Nexo Knights (Fortrex) had some large transparent stickers, that nowadays still look pretty bad due to not being able to move them, or fingerprints/dust, not using the wet method. But yes, curves certainly complicate things further for stickers.

I know, I'm glad LEGO started selling the Chinese New Year / Festival sets worldwide after the first year, as the sets are great. As with the faith of Nexo Knights, there was an unofficial type of ending via the magazine comics, the cartoon show never got a season for the 2018 sets, so yeah cancelled might be the right word, but the magazine still continued until the end of 2018 here in Europe. Hidden Side disappeared much faster, the summer 2020 wave sets were only sold for a few months, the last wave of Nexo Knight sets were available for over a year until early 2019.

I think LEGO did the right thing keeping the characters with no faces, and monochrome.

Many June releases are August in the USA, so its likely region dependant if there's a different release date for this as well.