TeriXeri

Already posted this in the animals thread, maybe it's an obvious observation, but I do think the Elephant is the same in both sets, except different horn/tusk pieces, even the Orient elephant already had removeable tusks : It might be the standard 3.3 cm tusk, but maybe its a new size piece.

Many City Passenger trains, and even Town trains, including Iconic trains like the Metroliner, haven't really drasticly evolved the same way Cargo locomotives have, exception would be Horizon Express but that's already pretty old (8 years, but there have been a lot more SNOT and slope parts since) without using a prefab cockpit. In comparison to the old pre 9V trains, which might have been more basic using slopes, but still were fully brick built. Of course Cargo locs are mostly more boxy compared to a high-speed TGV/Bullet train etc even in real life. But many of those modern prefab large cockpit pieces just don't appeal to me, neither in trains, airplanes etc. Metroliner and the followup design "Cargo Railway" (which is still mostly a passenger train), looked fine imo as they still used angled within LEGO part definition, but those rounded prefab pieces just look a bit odd to me. The 2010 passenger train maybe could be seen came closest to older trains as it's mostly brick build on the sides but the 2006 - 2014 - 2018 passenger trains are very prefab and I personally don't like them.

I actually think the Elephant might the same in both sets, just larger seperate horn/tusk parts, and the trunk is turned around in the box picture. Small tusk really look the same size/shape as the standard small horn : 1,4 cm Larger tusk might be the larger standard horn, but can't say for sure : 3,3 cm

Birds of Paradise looks recognizable but it's hard to unsee the technic panels in the leaves. Sure the shape is there, but it's too smooth, especially at a €100 price point. Maybe it'll look better in a high-res video and different light angles compared to a Box art render however. I'd love to see a small Cactus, or Succulent (Aloe or Madagascar Palm shape) in LEGO form, or maybe a bed of multiple mini plants, with different cacti/succulents and optional flowers on the cacti.

I got this idea of instead of thinking of minifigs as strict characters, instead, you could turn all the somewhat duplicate Ninjas or Nexo Knights into their own colored factions by swapping heads/hair etc, it's LEGO. Just trying to think of different ways to use a collection of minifigs, while a theme like Chima was more well defined within Animal Tribes, that doesn't mean that Ninjago , Nexo Knights etc. couldn't be seen as seperate factions as well, instead of Lions vs Wolf , you'd have Red vs Blue Knights, or Green Knights vs Red Ninjas etc. Instead of seeing an army of 10 Lloyd vs 10 Kai, you'd have 10 different green ninjas and red ninjas with different faces. I collected many Nexo Knights sets for example and now I end up with like multiple (some even duplicate) of each main knight, with variants per season and some 1-off variants, but they still have a Falcon, Fox, Bull, Dragon, Lion etc on their torsos. So instead of thinking those duplicate Characters, as Clay, you could turn them into Falcons 2.0 or whatever you want to name it. And while this won't be strictly Historic/Classic Castle or Ninja, it's a good idea to expand already owned figures into a different purpose. Having 10 variants of the same knight or ninja, with very much mostly the same head on each , does get a bit boring after a while. Certainly with a set like the 3-in-1 Castle on the horizon, but no real current Castle figure packs etc, I think it's a good way to work within existing parts. Using Nexo Knight or Ninjago minifigs might be too futuristic for historic uses, but I think the well-defined colors work well within an already colorful MOC setting from Creator sets, and the 2021 Blacksmith is also fairly colorful. And this is for now leaving the vehicles and robots out of the equation, just strictly thinking minifigs, and Shield Tiles. Maybe it also reminds me of older times when it was just Smiley faces instead of Character, but that's an entirely different topic.

I might just use it for MOCs as well, and then change faction easily by swapping Nexo Knight tiles on the towers and such. That brings me to an idea of using my current Nexo Knight figures, since I have a lot of the main character figures, basicly the knights do already have a different emblem and color on their armor to make some crossover future knight factions. Especially the knights themselves as seperate factions, like the generic soldiers + King/Queen would be lion knights, Clay (Blue Falcons) , Axl (Yellow Bulls) , Lance (White Horses), Macy (Red Dragons), Aaron (Green Fox/Wolfpack) by swapping heads and shield tiles, at least that seems like a fun use for duplicate characters. 2016 Nexo Knight got me back into LEGO after 15 years, so I collected most of it, and Castles certainly are among my favorite LEGO subjects, and after 5 years I want to do more then just display it.

The temple does have clip/bar connections on the sides so it can be connected to it's own modules, just wonder how big it ends up.

I agree, there have been some sets on water or near water, like the Forestmen Fortress had a full moat, Wolfpack Tower and Royal Drawbridge were on blue baseplates, as far as modern Castle, a few sets involved ships or coast (skeleton/trolls) , but other then the Bridge sets like Gargoyle Bridge (no water but mossy rocks) , and Drawbridge Defense, there haven't been that many full castles with moats, many of the older castles either had no moat, or were on raised bases. The Windmill build draws more on the civilian / guarded inn type of set, the Tower more on the Drawbridge sets of the past, and the main build can still hinge to close up, nice variation within a very interesting color palette. Overall I can see Elements across many different eras of Castle sets, like for the windmill build, the red side with the armor/shields really seems inspired by : 3-in-1 definately seems a great theme to introduce some older Castle factions again, Crusaders were still made in 2016 for a GWP, and later had a shield appear in build-a-minifig. Forestmen parts are still made as well (the hats at least) the main thing I worry about from 3-in-1 is lack of horses. Right now our most likely chance for another Castle set would be approval of the AFOL Designer Program Castle in the Forest.

The 2021 Boat, makes sense to add a dockside Police station. In terms of Fire sets, 60213: Dock Side Fire retired, so another Fire Boat in that new set , to go with the still current 60215: Fire Station (which has a dock as well) also kinda makes sense.

I still don't like stickered headlights, and especially when LEGO tries to add fake glow to them on the box art.

New Disney set has a Mickey/Donald Farm theme, hmm, looks like 4+ , but it has a moulded sheep (and a white rabbit/tan horse)

New Police / Fire set with a small seaside police Lighthouse/Prison Dock, and a villain boat and some flames. Floating Helicopter / Lighthouse set is quite similar to the late 2020 set

I agree, the pirate torso is a bit of an odd choice, would rather have seen something like a generic scale mail like this : But on the other hand, I suppose it's just meant to be a civilian look with optional armor/helmet included. There's also another Tan horse in a Mickey/Donald Farm set (with a Sheep as well)

31122 Fish Tank set, that's unexpected, but looks very fun : Very colorful aquarium main build, with a Painting Easel and a Treasure Chest+Sword+Crab+Seagull Alternate builds. 31121 Crocodile , seems a bit larger compared to previous brick built animals but very detailed in terms of nails, teeth and scales, with a Snake and Frog alternate.

The new Dragon in the Creator Castle still has vibes of the old 90s Dragon (especially the head), Brick Built does really work there, could even replace the wings with red parts to make it even closer. That dragon also is iconic to LEGO stores and LEGOLAND so it has a legacy.

Such a good set, the main build being able to fold is very nice, and even the Windmill Wall alternate build looks great (and seems to have a lot of leftover extra parts to expand it still). I don't mind the color scheme at all. Love the arrow slit tower windows as well. The Dragon certainly doesn't look bad either and clearly the head shape seems to recall on the Dragons of the 90s and LEGOLAND/Store dragons. Back in 1995 this was my biggest Castle set , up until the Nexo Knights at least for me, so even that 3rd Tower build feels somewhat special. Sure, the thing missing could be Horses and perhaps more knights, hopefully there will be more figure/horse battle-pack type sets in the near future, a new King and Wizard needs a home, but I can certainly see this very MOC worthy as well. I got many Nexo Knight shield tiles, so with multiple sets could even make different faction castles with 2 of those sets, or even just decorate the main build Towers by replacing the grey tiles.

The camper definately is regular yellow in high res screenshot it's very clear next to the regular orange skateboard/lifejacket , and stephanie's light yellow hair.

Don't forget a Zebra, LEGO has done printed horses before so a Zebra should be possible. I think it's the premade 4+ large vehicle chassis piece with the attached fenders, lacking customization options. And perhaps the price to volume, seems a bit expensive if it's €50, but nothing wrong with the animals or terrain imo.

I agree I like the terrain and animals, but the vehicles are just meh, I don't like those prefab aircraft/helicopter cockpit parts. The Monkey Set is fine as its just a quad.

Might be unpopular, but the more I look at 2021 sets, the more the Friends Horses start to grow on me, also for use for Minifigs, might get the forest stable set at some point maybe.

5 different colored horses in the 2021 Friends sets, while not the traditional Minifig horse design, the color variation available is certainly much bigger then the single horse via the Blacksmith right now.

60300 is the cheaper small set with 2 monkeys, but 60302 the large Elephant/Crocodile set has 2 monkeys as well.

So the small horse got an update it looks like, with the removeable back piece, and I assume dual moulded hair color , great for minidoll kids to ride I suppose. That makes a total of 4 big, 2 small horses this year in 3 sets. Now I also hope minifig horses get some more attention in the future, with the mould still being used for a set like Medieval Blacksmith.

I agree a farm would be very good, seeing how the 2020 Safari vehicle lead to Safari sets, I wonder if the 2021 Tractor has some connection there (just 100% pure speculation, doesn't have to mean anything like the Harvester Transport before that etc.) As far as Safari animals, would be interesting to see a Zebra set , while Zebras aren't really riding animals, I'd take Zebra over anything at this point for lack of minifig Horses. Friends get another Forest Horse Stable set for summer, which makes it the 3rd Horse themed set this year (total of 4 big horses , 2 small in 3 sets in 2021), but minifig horses are rare nowadays, the small minidoll horse also got an update with a removeable back piece so minidoll kids can stand on it.

Those purple sea creatures remind me a bit of Naga from Warcraft universe. Also, I do like that the ninja don't stand out as much with their dive gear on so they just be regular divers other themes like City sea explorers. Overall, also has a lot of potential for Space builders I imagine, the sea bounty especially having such a large transparent area. Temple is still my favorite, but the Sea Dragon isn't bad either, I like it much much more then the Jungle Dragon.