Digger of Bricks

Brickset - Review: 70675 Katana 4x4

Well, if I were to speak for this year's "Mars Mission" wave of sets out of the many exploration subthemes we've seen from City in recent years, it's hypothesized by some that Space-themed lines outside of Star Wars currently haven't a way to gain a foothold within Lego's product portfolio due to such (i.e. Disney's Star Wars). Even to lesser extent, it could be theorized that in-house exploration-based playthemes within the vein of Adventurers/ Pharaoh's Quest/Atlantis/Dino/Power Miners/etc. are in a similar position due to the Jurassic World theme's possible monopolization of such. So, my point being, in-house takes on those subject matters may be able to coexist with such under the immunity umbrella that the City theme could be providing, hence keeping such themes available to kids who aren't as keen on City's typical offerings.

Well, of course any product they put out is for the sake of money (I mean, duh... ); but, I'd specifically like to know if he perhaps had any knowledge as to why those subject matters were slotted into City rather than a theme of their own (i.e. Adventurers 2.0).

Well, from what I know, I don't believe @dimaks13 has ever been wrong before as a rumor source, as he's a pretty trustworthy on such matters.

Unless I've got it all wrong, Jonathan seems to only hear Nancy from the though the "gateway" at the base of that tree she crawled through, whereas Nancy can faintly hear Jonathan's echoing calls surrounding her rather than from one particular outlet. If sound did travel either direction, Joyce could've audibly heard Will just as he could hear her speaking to him, hence there being no need for the Christmas lights and all. I'm pretty sure those tunnels were instead the Upside-Down's ecosystem making its way into our world on the other side from Hawkins Laboratory.

Tell me, did this contact of yours give any insight into why Lego chose to "shoehorn" those subject matters into the City theme? For me, the kind of "Rescue" subtheme I'd hope to see from City is one centered around post-natural disaster search & rescue, similar to 1998's Res-Q subtheme.

If there were a basic spaceship shape I'd like to see set as a standard for such, it'd likely be more or less within the vein of the "flying automobile" look that Space Police III went with, just at a smaller scale a little larger than the average Speed Champions build. Plus, much like Speed Champions, individual racecraft builds could also be sold as standalone sets alongside "dual" playsets, giving the line a "Great Vehicles" subtheme much akin to what City and Star Wars would offer.

Well, for a number of observable reasons, the Upside-Down always seemed to me to be more akin to liminal plane rather than a distinct alternate reality. I mean, remember Will in Season 2 analogising to Mike his phasing in-and-out from the Upside-Down to being like a View Master reel being stuck between slides? Though he may not have been explaining the nature of the Upside-Down, the View Master analogy does seems appropriate for explaining such, as inanimate objects and structures in Upside-Down mirror their real-time placement on the other side. Plus, sound from the "normal" side is faintly audible in Upside-Down, but not the other way around.

This guy's also got some good stuff in the vein of Space Racing you might wanna take a look at! Flickr - Volker Brodkorb's Albums

While I know others here who've said that Playmobil and Lego shouldn't be compared with each other, the way I see it, they're still both in the business of selling system-based playsets, even though one's a construction toy while the other isn't; so, there just has to be some shared general customer based between the two, and Playmobil offers quite a bit that Lego hasn't an answer to at the moment in their own product portfolio. I mean, Playmobil still has their own Castle and Pirate lines where Lego lacks both at the moment, not to also mention that Lego's never even had their own Ancient Roman line of playsets where Playmobil's had such for a while now.

I plan to end these with Series Z. Even by that point, TLG will likely have a lotta catching up to do with you at the rate they're going now...

My personal theory on the Upside-Down is that it's instead a interdimensional realm, a "space in between spaces" if you will, hence the seemingly thin boundaries between the two. To put that hypothesis into perspective, just think of the Mind Flayer & Company as insects and rodents living within the walls of the Multiverse analogised as a house, with individual rooms within that house representing different realities.

Huh, sorta in the same way Firefly and Quantum Suit Ant-Man share the same helmet mold? Ya know, I kinda like that idea, but Dr. Fate's helmet has a forward-swept crest more on par with the S17 Retro Spaceman's helmet rather than an aerodynamic, swept-back crest that would be necessary for most Rocketeer-inspired aviator characters.

I know the theme's popularity is founded upon its modern-day basis, but like I'd lamented here earlier, I do wish the City theme ventured outside of that modern context for the sake of giving some representation to recent decades past (the '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, etc.), as I can't think of another preexisting theme outside of the Collectable Minifigure line (and maybe Creator Expert's Modular Buildings to a lesser degree) that could fulfill such a need. Both. Remember the Town/City Center theme from the late 90s to early 2000s? Everything worked together. There were no subthemes that separated the sets. That's what made it awesome. Well, despite not sitting under the spelled-out umbrella of Town, technically those sets are organized by many cataloging sites under subthemes: Brickset - Theme: Town And you know, being the neat freak that I am, I'm rather comfortable with umbrella themes and their subthemed structuring, as I wish more themes were actually consolidated in such an organized matter.

How so? As in their reoccurrence, structuring within themes, or both?

Man, I'd LOVE to see a distinct theme such as that nowadays, but I'm afraid those tropes and premises can only thrive currently by banking off of a preexisting theme's popularity, hence sitting under City's umbrella as subthemes. If that weren't the case, we'd have Adventurers and further in-house Space themes still with us.

Yeah I agree, although I also like the licensed themed CMF lines. I think at least 1 non-licensed series should be guaranteed every year, with the other two reserved for whatever they want. Also, as a Castle fan, it's pretty much our last bastion of hope for new stuff. It goes without saying that unlicensed CMS are also the only place we may ever see Lego represent genres, historical eras, and individual archetypes that could otherwise never see the light of day within a typical playset-based theme. Castle as a theme may more likely than not return someday as it's always done, but could you honestly say that the same will ever happen for, say, Ancient Greece and/or Ancient Rome in any way?

I'll just add, I've long been a proponent for the idea of a Sci-Fi/Space Racing theme, as it'd be the perfect antidote to Star Wars' seeming stranglehold on in-house Space themes currently. It'd be much more colorful than Star Wars, offering a wide variety of wild spacecraft designs not limited to just two factions, technicolor canopy recolors galore, and a premise centered around sportsmanship rather than good-vs-evil centric conflict! All-in-all, it sounds like a real win-win to me!!!

If we were to indeed see a Rocketeer-inspired CMF in the near future, a new rocket-pack/jetpack mold is a must, as Jango/Boba Fett's jetpack is just too particular to Star Wars to be reused for such. On the other hand, a new flight helmet mold wouldn't be as critically needed, but it'd make such a CMF much more of a draw for me personally if it did introduce such depending on how they'd execute it. Design-wise, either it could take the form of a winged/tail-finned aviator's cap, or a full-on Art Deco helmet much like The Rocketeer's in spirit; but, that latter approach would have to find its own unique take on such that could easily be its own thing without resembling The Rocketeer's too closely, much akin to what I feel this original character design had achieved:

How could you forget about GARCs (i.e. Galactic Asteroid Racing Circuit)?!!! Particularly, @Sylon's contributions to the fan genre happen to be some of my all-time favorite Space/Sci-Fi MOCs!

Ironically, a few users over on the set's main topic were actually complaining that it looked too much like a Creator Expert set rather than a Technic one. Honestly, I don't see how that's supposed to be a bad thing... Oh, and a few others said the Olive Green looked like VOMIT in their eyes...

Dang, I kinda wish this were a Creator Expert set instead... The Brick Fan - LEGO Technic Land Rover Defender (42110) Revealed

I myself checked out both the first and second seasons for the first time last fall. While I found the first season to be pretty much perfect, I wasn't so keen on the second's "Mind Flayer" antagonist, as I kinda wished they'd keep the Upside-Down's flora and fauna exclusively relegated to being non-intelligent organisms. I mean, I feel there could've been other ways of keeping the show interesting moving forwards without needing to resort to some sorta Cthulhu-like "boss" figure. But, besides that nitpick though, the second season did offer a lot of great character moments dynamics for its protagonists, though my primary interest in the show is still more invested in its sci-fi lore rather than its protagonists arcs. Speaking of such, does anyone here have their own theories on what the "Upside-Down" is exactly?