Wesley D

Has anyone an idea when we can expect the Sailing Ship Adventure that won the contest last summer to become a GWP? I really hope it lasts longer than the Vintage Car in january. Having experienced today's Bricklink fiasco, I already feel stressed out just thinking about trying to get the ship!

It's a bracket piece that's missing! I made you this picture: Record Store Sign on Flickr I hope this helps!

I would have prefered 16 minifigures like in the previous series, even if that would have ment updated reissues and reinterpretations of previous characters, especially since there is only one non licensed series a year. Yet I have discovered an advantage. Having only 12 minifigures makes feeling the blind bags much easier!

This set's detailing, colors and setting are great, but as much as I want, I just can't fall in love with this set. I just keep seeing it as oversized to represent a medieval house. I was thinking of modifying it, but in lack of time and creativity to do so, I can't justify spending €169,99. Inevitably I make the comparison with Pirates of Barracuda Bay, that feels like the essence of LEGO Pirates, that I bought right away for only €199,99. The blacksmith would have benefited of being a more humble cottage, a small but important part of a medieval setting, a harbinger of more sets to come!

I ask myself if there really was a mistake? I could believe they have tried to find out which factions are the most popular ones. Who knows, the construction of a Castle set could have been started already behind the scenes.

A castle set is high on my wishing list, but as much as I want to love this blacksmith, I just don't feel it. I still consider the building is too big (with an eventual castle in the future in mind), and I don't really dig the minifigures. Too bad for me, as I think the horse drawn cart adds a lot charm to the set as a whole. PS: the bear carpet is appropiate in castle setting, but I consider it a bit cruel in an official LEGO setting.

I just ordered the labrador / golden retriever dogs, they are available in tan (73937) and in brown (74038).

I wouldn't be that harsh to call it a "fundamental flaw", building a minifigure display requires adaptation anyway. The visual effect is great!

I love your reporters for covering all updated news from Ballabreek! Happy new year!

LEGO is trying hard to make the new road system work by adding them in a lot of City sets, but I don't think it is the ultimate solution. While I love the modularity, the roads are too narrow for cars wider than 4 studs.

This bothers me too, I preferred the dimensions of the original submission. There the minifigures seem to be sitting a tad lower, what's better looking. Nevertheless I'm looking forward to build the car. I keep finding it amazing squeezing 2 minifigures next to eachother in a 6 stud wide car!

I'm in the same boat as you. To me the blacksmith feels like it's missing liveliness on its own. I think the set requires more activity, it needs to show a story, what isn't visible right now. Perhaps the accompanying minifigures will convince me more. I can't imagine complementary sets will follow, as previous Ideas releases were standalone sets too.

I know that wasn't a realistic expectation. I wouldn't dare to imagine the indignation among the supporters of the original submission on Ideas, remembering the hassle when Pirates of Barracuda Bay was revealed. On the other hand: the desire for castle sets is extremely high, we would almost support and buy anything LEGO releases that comes close to a proper castle set. The picture of the blacksmith doesn't really affect me. Perhaps more official images will change my mind, but either way: at the pace LEGO releases D2C sets, I guess sooner or later we will get fine sets that will be more appealing to me.

I don't think I'll be buying this Medieval Blacksmith. Where a lot of fans think the official build differs to much from the original submission, I think it's too alike. I have voted for the blacksmith on Ideas because I really long for a castle set, but I hoped the LEGO designers would change the project fundamentaly. I can understand some think the result is too polished, I think the finishing is fine, but I was hoping for a complete redesign. Just like how the Pirate Bay became Pirates of Barracuda Bay. I still consider the building too big and was rather hoping for a small medieval 'village' of 2 houses and scenery, filled with references to classic castle. The blacksmith how it's leaked feels to me more like a static display model than a playfull set that triggers my imagination. Another LEGO Ideas building, the Old Fishing Store, did both for me and captured my heart right away. I continue looking forward to a castle or a small medieval village in the future!

That's one nice setup and fantastic picture! It gets even more impressive when seeing the resemblance with your source material, the original picture of The Queen's Gambit (that I'm really looking forward to see!). The 4x4 chess board looks like a perfect adaptation for our beloved minifigures, but I think white should be on the right! Impressive work!

I'm feeling spoiled. Yesterday the newest modular building and now the collectible minifigures that are revealed, the 2 LEGO highlights I'm looking forward to each year! Only having 12 characters felt odd at first glance, I was searching more of them untill I remembered the reduction. Perhaps it is indeed a clue the designers are running out of ideas, as this series doesn't blow me away at all. I like the stand up paddle boarder and I consider the castaway the star of this series!

The Police Station looks like an awesome set! Like always I was hyped for the new modular, but this one exceeds my expectations by far! Only thing I really dislike is the black box and the 18+ logo, as it both looks too harsh for a toy that brings me and many LEGO fans so much joy. The architecture is great, the colors are warm, it will look fantastic in any layout. On top of that it's filled with nice fun storytelling details. The escape route is just hilarious! I thought a donut shop next to a police station would be too cliché, but it seems to be combined seamlessly here! On top of that I personally had the feeling my modular collection was missing one essential building, a police station, so it's a fun feeling I don't have any expectations for the future and that everything that follows is a bonus! ... A school or a museum would be welcome too I'm looking forward to new year, I'm buying this wonderfull set as soon as the GWP car from the contest becomes available!

There are some really fun looking sets to play with in this LEGO City 2021 wave! The color scheme of the LEGO sets is great too! Some designing really dissapoints me! The cars in the fire and police sets and in the sets with the new road plates are really awful! There isn't even tried to make them look nice. I could expect those looks for a 4+ sets, but the more complex and incomparable better looking camper van, tractor and sports car are aimed at the same age group! Not only as an AFOL but even more as a parent this really bothers me! I'm curious how reasonable priced the sets with the new road plate system will be, considering the high part count that goes up in the roads, that even aren't that essential in enjoying LEGO city sets. I'm really excited for the new dogs and I think it's nice they included a visually impaired minifigure and a sports wheelchair!

Lately LEGO is producing a lot of objects that I would rather have as the original real things than made in bricks. Musical instruments, plants, video games... even as an AFOL and considering they're well made, I'd choose the functional original thing. I guess there must be interest in these sets considering the ammount of them.

Great work! I wouldn't have thought it was possible to make such nice and completely different buildings out of an official modular building. You must be very skilled to limit yourself to the parts of the original set and give all those parts a new place. I'm really impressed!

That 1x3x2 inverted arch (18653) is indeed essential, as is the 2x1x2 slope (60481). The original townhouse has a 2x2 turntable base (3680) above the front door, that was easily replaced by a 2x2 plate with one stud (87580) that exists in multiple colors. At the moment I'm done with building rowhouses, but I can't garantee I could resist trying other colors when the required combinations would become available!

Here is my row of painted rowhouses based on 10270 Bookshop:

I guess it will come in the first months of 2021, when the new modular building is available. I'm really looking forward to that car, just like the sailboat that I expect next summer! Just like every autumn I feel my enthousiasm is growing to discover the new modular building! I hope for a police station as it has been a while since the last governmental building.

If anything, the continuous spawning of big sets has made me more selective. I don't feel that bad anymore about missing out on a set. It has become impossible, or rather irresponsible, to go for everything that catches my attention. Furthermore the fast rate the sets are coming at feeds the expectation that sooner or later there will come sets that will be more advanced, better or appeal to me even more.

As there have been numerous examples of nicely designed backgrounds for LEGO sets, I'm not a fan of the black boxes. I can appreciate the last one 10275 Elf Club House as it still looks a bit joyfull with the minifigures and builds on a winter night northpole setting, but I've held 10277 Crocodile Locomotive in my hands and I thought it felt plain dead.