AntiKragle

Well, sounds like the words of of someone who has seen the entire set. Sounds like FaF figures are off the table. Now, I would hardly expect a full reveal but could you confirm a few bits of information? 1. 16 or 20 CMFs? 2. Number of batsuits? 3. Number of minor villains?

I think you may have nailed it with this prediction. A museum or gallery celebrating the history of Lego and perhaps a gala opening party happening on one level seems highly plausible. I think it's more likely than some type of retail store unless it's a modular Lego store.

I think you can readily predict that we will get all of those types of sets. Colour scheme for Arctic will probably be orange/blue as before. What I really would like to see is more brick built snow/ice scenery, new animal moulds and an igloo would be great.

Wow, thanks for this. An early return to Arctic is a surprise - I hope they have a new angle and it's not just cracking ice blocks for crystals. Maybe Antarctic with penguins/seals/whales?! Any details on special non-theme sets like the minifigure collections or gas station/cargo terminal/bus station sets that we have seen in the last 2 years?

This is like the Turin Shroud of Lego!. People will be really disappointed when they reveal Lego Friends Ultimate Shopping mall.

I'm really hoping for more batsuits particularly: the Batriot, St Batricks, Arctic Batman, Easter Batman, Baturion and Reggae man. For a joker variant I'd like to see the Friends are Family version with the shades. I would like to see the bat-teddy bear from FaF as an accessory somewhere too.

Wow, thanks! - it's great to acquire new non-Lego related knowledge. It may help my pub quiz performances.

Camels in Australia? Really? That's a new one for me.

Presumably 60175 is the retail exclusive. So what are we missing? Police dog van tracking bad guys or a small police plane? Maybe one of the criminals will be disguised as a mountain goat ( if they can do a silly tree costume)

Thanks for the new info! Great that we get new animals. Can you clarify what you mean by bee yard? I am hoping that this is a typo and it might be another animal piece!

I'd like to see a waste management sub-theme with street sweepers, garbage trucks, skip trucks, liquid waste vacuum truck or hazardous waste trucks, a road roller trash compactor (pieces made for the Joker Steam Roller set) and a large recycling centre. So many sub-themes are in remote locations, lets keep City in the City!

Apart from 60181 Forest Vehicle the selection sounds completely uninspired. However no ambulance in the great vehicle range raises my hopes of a hospital in the summer offerings...

I would totally expect a summer exploration/scientific theme as these have been big sellers and provide trophy sets for kids Christmas gifts. There has been a summer theme like this since 2012 with only 2013 being the exception (Coast Guard and Cargo). I expect we will get new trains in Summer 2018 but it is difficult to predict what an exploration theme/location might be, desert may be too similar to jungle and not give enough new vehicle options. I think it's to soon to go back to Arctic. An alternative option would be to revisit the farming sub-theme. Have there been any firm rumors regarding great vehicles yet?

Looks like 853656 could be an update of the city playmat 850929 comprising 5 separate pieces. A poor substitute for real road plates!

I am not convinced about an Oz theme. CMFs need to appeal to kids not just nostalgic AFOLs. Sales are driven by impulse buys in toy stores. The Wizard of Oz just doesn't seem to be that exciting for kids these days ( a father's observation). Unless there is a tie-in movie/event that is fuelling their interest at the time of release then I just don't see it. On the other hand, recent reports on the Avengers:Infinity War suggest up to 60 Marvel characters will appear in a scene (too many for Lego sets) and the Marvel Superheroes game will also feature lots of characters that will not be making it to regular toy sets. With Marvel there is worldwide appeal and CMFs would be sought by kids and adults. Finally there is an ongoing reference to an "old" theme. Do we know of this means existing current theme or actually a theme that is being resurrected from a long period of non-production or is it just a property that is historically old? Any evidence to support any of these 3 possibilities?

For September 2018, the rumours are that it'll be a licensed theme but an old theme. What would have sufficient universal appeal to sell well globally? Marvel super heroes? Lots of Marvel movies out next year ( Black Panther, Avengers, Ant Man & Wasp, X-Men) but apart from the Avengers movie probably most of these will only have a few sets. Would tie in with popularity of the game too.

I'm going to stick with predictions rather than what I would like to see. 1. Police - I expect this will be out-of-town police along the lines of forest/swamp as this seems to be following a 3 year cycle and avoids concurrently available sets looking too similar. Perhaps mounted police on horseback, crooks mountain hideout, mountain station, and some staples that we haven't had in a couple of years such as a police dog van and a large police helicopter 2. Construction - I predict road building, e.g. Starter set, cement mixer, steam-roller, dump truck and tracked cold milling machine. large set could be highway bridge construction like 6600 from 2000. 3 Great Vehicles- smaller sets likely to include at least 1 racing vehicle, probably rally car, or hovercraft. Some sort of garbage truck perhaps on the line of city sweeper from 8404 or maybe a container (skip) truck like a city version of 42024 technic set. Given the popularity of the Pizza van I think an Ice cream truck will be coming. Other vehicles - Articulated Tanker truck, Large tow truck, mobile crane (although may be part of construction), Tractor with trailer ( I don't see an entire farm sub-theme, more likely to turn up in Friends I think) and finally a long-awaited ambulance hopefully a large one. 4. Trains - summer likely to see a new wave of trains (2) and a station 5. Exploration sub-theme- This has become very popular but I am struggling to figure what next year's version will be. Needs to be exciting, sufficiently different from preceding year and have a good selection of vehicles and play features for children. I am not sure safari can offer that (maybe global animal rescue) and it could be too similar to Jungle. Desert? How many different vehicles can you really put in the desert? Ancient ruins are done in Jungle too. I thought we could see a type of mining but would overlap with construction. Perhaps we may see something along the lines of geoscience or seismology surveying. However, as I don't see a Zoo being released anytime soon but TLG are certainly making more and more animals available in city sets so I think a wild animal rescue (elephants, rhinos, giraffes?) would be very appealing. 6.Specials- Fun at the ...Zoo ( for larger animals you would need to buy the animal rescue/jungle sets but a few smaller animals (penguins, monkeys, reptiles) could be included. Replacement for City Centre from 2015 - I agree we could see an updated Town Plan. Again a Town Hall with bride and groom, vintage wedding car, small food kiosk, taxi or rickshaw, new cinema (Palace cinema will likely be retiring) and perhaps instead of a service station.. a medical centre/hospital (ambulance could appear in this set). Alternatively, a convenience store/cafe/bookshop and we get a stand-alone Hospital set.

1,2, 1,2....this is just a test!