icm

Yeah, I agree. I want to like the Spacebus, but it's definitely more Space Shuttle than Spaceship, and it requires a lot of color changes in the center section to be a satisfactory Space Shuttle. Having only two minifigs (the dreamlings don't count) and such a huge sticker for the canopy are pretty big marks against it too.

To avoid beating a dead horse too much, I've copied my post from 7/28/23 (in another thread) into the spoiler tag below. TLDR, between zany Marvel swooshies and zany Ninjago/Monkie Kid/Dreamzzz swooshies there's not much room for zany Space swooshies to stand out on shelves, within the product niche of "Space that is clearly not Star Wars or NASA". Edit, don't forget this - a very Spacey insectoid mobile base from 2021! Once again, a Space set in all but name (and a stubborn lack of helmets and airtanks).

Careful what you complain about. Too much complaining about clone battle packs, and all you'll get are Gungans, Geonosians, and Ewoks. Actually, that sounds pretty cool, if spread over a year or two.

Most likely the logo and the spacesuits will be different.

I buy Lego, Cobi, Bluebrixx Star Trek, and Sluban military aircraft.

I know next to nothing about accounting or cost amortization. I'm a grad student specializing in the orbit of Pluto, not a bean counter! But I think Lego probably prices sets with new molds such that the expected sales of the first wave of sets to feature those molds will pay the molds off (or rather pay back the cost of the molds with some profit, because I'm sure the molds are paid for in cash in the first place). They wouldn't want to amortize the cost of a particularly large or complex mold over multiple years or over sets in the future not yet designed, because they don't know how the first wave of sets featuring that part will do. For instance, the current dinosaur molds were introduced in 2012, and I'm sure the 2012 Dino sets were priced to pay back the cost of the molds there. At the time they wouldn't have know they would still be using them ten years later in a highly successful ongoing Jurassic license, although they may have hoped to be able to do that. At this point the cost of the sets with existing dinosaurs with new colors and prints remains high because they don't want to undercut themselves and lower expectations for achievable prices when introducing new dinosaurs. A better exhibit for my belief that expensive new parts are paid for in the prices of the first sets to use them is the Space Shuttle nose part and 6w curved cone introduced in the 2015 City Space Shuttle, set no. 60080. That set was outrageously overpriced, at $120 for 578 parts. The nose part also appeared in 60078, Utility Shuttle, in 2015, which was 155 pieces for $25. An unprinted version of the same part appeared in the 2015 City Deep Sea Operation Base, which was 909 parts for $100. It appeared in 60164 Sea Rescue Plane with 144 parts for $20 in 2017. In 2018, the Bat-Space Shuttle used the same nose part in a set with 643 parts for $80. The next appearance of the 6w curved cone was in the Rexcelsior in 2019, and that was 1826 parts for $150. So, comparing the Space Shuttle from 2015 to the Bat-Space Shuttle from 2018, I think that set 60080 must have been priced to bear the development and mold costs for the nose part and the curved cone. It's far too overpriced to be explained by the City tax alone (by which I mean that in the USA all City sets are overpriced).

There was a Trains 40th anniversary GWP in 2019/2020 that fits the pattern of being a remake of a smallish classic minifig playset. You should edit your post to include it.

I'm looking forward to the Mars base. I liked the Friends take on the Space Shuttle.

The PPP of this City winter wave is really good. I guess that means there's no new molds and they're using the rocket parts they already paid off. That's fine with me!

The 2022 sets inspired by Artemis must have done really well for City to return to space just two years later. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on any of these. Do they come out in January?

Oh boy, midi scale Tantive IV and Millennium Falcon? Sounds great! That big Skeleton Crew set better be amazing, but I'm confident they'll do a good job based on how good the new Ghost is.

It's possible the ornithopter will only seat one or two, to allow larger side builds. That's what they did with the RDA Samson helicopter in the Avatar sets, and that was $100, ~800p.

Every year I say, this is the year I'm going to catch up on what I missed in previous years. Then every year the list of amazing sets I'm going to have to skip gets longer. Bowie, Eldorado Fortress, Ghost, Gunship, E-wing, Corvette, Concorde, Passenger Airplane, Ornithopter ... And that's just from 2023, just from Lego. Then there's Enterprise NX-01, Enterprise-E, and Excelsior from Bluebrixx; and B-17, B-24, C-47, Red Arrows, and Eurofighter from Cobi .... And my bills going up by about 200% besides ....

I think I've said it before at least once - I blame the dearth of in-house Space themes (apart from one-offs like the Galaxy Explorer and the Blacktron Cruiser, and TLM/TLM2 sets that are associated with a movie license) more on Super Heroes than on Star Wars. As I see it, there's room on shelves for three different kinds of spaceships at a time, without much risk that either kind of spaceship will cannibalize sales of the other kinds, because they're different enough to target different audiences. These three kinds are Star Wars, NASA/City, and what I'll just call "something else." That "something else" is more brightly colored, more bold and imaginative and zany than Star Wars - something else that is clearly not Star Wars. But here's the thing - ever since Guardians of the Galaxy first came out in 2014, the Marvel spaceships have filled that niche of being brightly colored, bold and imaginative and zany. The best examples of that are the Milano and Starblaster from 2014, the Milano and Abilisk from 2017, the red ring-shaped spaceship from 2017, the big Benatar from 2021, and then the Bowie, the baby Rocket ship, and (except for the price) the Hoopty from 2023. Add to those the various Wakandan flying machines that look more like alien spaceships than airplanes (Talon, Dragonfly, Sunbird), the Benatar/Pod combo from 2018, the Quantum Realm from Ant-Man and the Wasp, the Quinjets with colored windscreens and space-alien soldiers for conflict-in-a-box, the various out-of-this-world Spider-vehicles, the Domo from Eternals (bizarre sales flop that it was), and that leaves little room for the distinctive niche of a traditional Space line: a small wave of brightly colored, bold and imaginative and zany spaceships that have closely related shapes and design features. So, yeah - I do blame the Mouse for the moribund state of that very classic theme called Space. It's just that the Mouse that I blame is Marvel Mouse, not Lucas Mouse.

I for one would not want a re-release of 10210 for a new Imperial Flagship. A redesign from scratch to at least the standard set by 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay would be the least I would expect. Why settle for less?

The BWE was mostly well liked, but it was criticized for not having enough power in the single motor that ran all the functions, resulting in some functions being unreliable. I personally found the building experience of the Claas a bit tedious, but the Arocs - that is everything a Technic set should be. The pneumatic wrecker truck from 2021, or maybe it was 2022, was liked by pretty much everyone as a perfect example of everything a mid-range ($100-$200) Technic set should be, and the Airbus helicopter is similarly praised (though not without some criticism about the strength of the landing gear and the tail boom). Neither of those are the flagship set of the year though.

The last one to debut to universal praise was the Arocs in 2015. Though not the 2016 flagship, the Claas was also universally praised.

Don't forget that Big Red was dunked on in its day for being overpriced and oversized, with too many decorative panels that only drove up the price. But yeah. I get the nostalgia for Big Red after seeing this one.

How about: every licensed character with a highly detailed costume should have leg printing? That's a narrow claim I can get behind. Dr Alan Grant still doesn't need leg printing for his tan chinos.

I actually really appreciate a plain simple pair of unprinted legs on a plain simple figure sometimes. Leg printing is appropriate for a lot of licensed figures with particular character designs, and there is does suck sometimes when legs aren't printed. But unlicensed figures, especially in City, don't always need it. An ordinary citizen's blue jeans or tan chinos don't need leg printing, for example.

True that. The General Grievous starfighter from 2020 was a stunning model. Really superb in every way. I wanted it so badly, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay $80 for it.

But usually if the main build ends up being too small for the budget they add a substantial side build to fill it out. There's no side build here. They should have included a nice big side build if they just really absolutely could not figure out how to make the spaceship itself worth the price.

You're too kind.

Lucky for you, Bluebrixx sells: A minifig-scale Type 6 Shuttlecraft from TNG, with 548 pieces for 40 euro (no minifigures, though) (https://www.bluebrixx.com/en/star-trek/104182/Star-Trek-Type-6-Shuttlecraft-BlueBrixx-Pro) Unfortunately, it's out of stock right now. It may be restocked in the future. A minifig-scale Class F Shuttlecraft from TOS, with 493 pieces for 38 euro (no minifigures, though) (https://www.bluebrixx.com/en/star-trek/104181/Star-Trek-Class-F-Shuttlecraft-BlueBrixx-Pro) Unfortunately, it's out of stock too. A minifig-scale Runabout (a very large shuttlecraft) from DS9, with 3090 pieces for 200 euro (no minifigures, though) (https://www.bluebrixx.com/en/star-trek/104585/Star-Trek-Danube-class-Runabout-BlueBrixx-Pro) This one is in stock. A minifig-scale Delta Flyer (a very large shuttlecraft) from VOY, with 1714 pieces for 130 euro (no minifigures, though) (https://www.bluebrixx.com/en/star-trek/104967/Star-Trek-Delta-Flyer-BlueBrixx-Pro) This one is in stock too. So there are ways to satisfy your Star Trek shuttle vibes with officially licensed kits of pretty decent quality, at least once they're back in stock (if they ever come back in stock). You don't need to settle for some overpriced knockoff.... ... But I should probably say that in the Community section instead of the Marvel thread. And, to be fair, it is the closest thing to a Star Trek shuttlecraft that Lego has ever made .... Meanwhile, you saying that it gives you Star Trek shuttle vibes has me going back to my wanted list on Brickset, and, with a deep sigh, putting the Hoopty back on. For, true to my title "Spaceship Specific", I am a sucker for spaceships and swooshyjets of all kinds, and I'll take any excuse to get another one. ("This one reminds me of a shuttlecraft from Star Trek!") ... Well, maybe I'll consider it if I can get just the spaceship for $30 or $40 on Bricklink. Otherwise, no dice.

I want to say that this spaceship reminds me of my MOC update of the 6985 Cosmic Fleet Voyager from 1985, and therefore of that grand old set by extension. I like to evaluate most licensed Lego spaceships and other licensed Lego sets purely on their own merits as Lego sets: if I knew nothing about the license and believed this (insert set here) was a purely in-house design, would it still be new and fresh and interesting and creative, doing something Lego has never done before or doing something better than it's ever been done before? Many licensed sets would make pretty great in-house themes if you told me that's what they were. Most of the Avatar line, for example. Many previous MCU spaceships and swooshyjets. But not this one. It's just a horrendously overpriced gray box without any play features or any distinctive visual flair whatsoever. It could not possibly be more generic. The old Cosmic Fleet Voyager had so much more visual imagination and play features that I'm embarassed to be reminded of it. And, of course, I'm the only one who's reminded of the Cosmic Fleet Voyager by the Hoopty. I should really try to stop seeing Classic Space in everything :) (Spoiler tag contains my Cosmic Fleet Voyager before I removed the stickers from the windscreen and changed the underside from light bluish gray to white.)