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Assuming they use the LotR model of one large Icons set a year instead of diversifying into other set types, the next thing they should do is the Refit Enterprise from The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, and The Search for Spock. That's the number-one or number-two most iconic Starship Enterprise, and it's the only classic (pre-2005) Enterprise that no other brick company has done at a large scale.

I'm happy to report no missing pieces or stickers in my shuttle. The instructions were a little bent though.

I'd been planning on keeping the shuttle closed until Christmas, but enough people have talked about quality problems in that gwp that I think I'd better build it without delay just to check the inventory! Yikes.

A Hogwarts "castle" like the one unveiled yesterday for the abominable Disney doll things.

The thing about locations is it's more natural to use the everyday locations in your home or school or park as play settings for minifigs or vehicles than it is to use location sets as a play setting for a makeshift vehicle made of a brick (made of clay) or spare parts (made of plastic). Vehicles are complete in and of themselves, while locations are only a small part of a much larger whole. That's my two cents about why vehicles sell better to kids (including me when I was a kid) than locations do.

Hay que pedir un TIE Vengador en todos los idiomas del mundo para que Lego sepa que todos lo queremos dondequiera que estemos por todo el mundo. Naciones del mundo, únense en fuerte clamor para el Vengador!

For a moment I got excited because I thought that meant the new Razor Crest was about to leak. But it's the midi version, of course. Still a few months to wait for the Crest.

@danth I haven't taken pictures in a tidy environment with no background that I'm willing to share on Flickr, but I can DM you a link to my Google Photos album if you're interested. I still haven't bought the light bluish gray 6x6 tile that I really need to complete the rear ramp of the Starfleet Voyager, but other than that it's pretty complete.

Thanks for the link. I already saw that video but I haven't taken the time to follow along with the speed build in Studio. FYI, a website calling itself Freizeitgalerie.com claims to have the Aldi ship for sale, but it's a scam. I foolishly tried to check out from that website and got hit with a fraudulent charge of 490 euro. My bank was able to refund me the 490 euro, but the PayPal dispute is still ongoing. I thought I was smarter than that, but I guess I'm not. Gonna have to be more careful about avoiding scams in the future.

Glad to hear that! Looking forward to seeing your version of it.

None of the Series 9 selections interest me, so that's simultaneously disappointing and relieving.

As long as you acknowledge that what you build is inspired by this Mass Effect MOC posted on YouTube by UsernameGeri four years ago, I wish you all the very best in building whatever take on it suits your fancy.

Sure wish I could get that Aldi ship in the US - or even just get a scan of the instructions and a parts list. I have some white hulls and sails sitting in my parts bin, waiting for the right ship to use them. If anyone on Eurobricks has the Aldi ship, could you please scan the instructions and DM me a link to a Google Drive folder or something? Thanks. That market share has already been lost. Lego has effectively ceded Pirates and Castle to the knockoffs for about a decade now, and the abundance of cheap knockoff castles and pirate ships available on online marketplaces makes it much harder to regain that market segment at a competitive price than it would have been if Lego hadn't let Pirates and Castle die in the first place. Of course, I'd love to see Lego make a comeback with full retail lines of good Pirates and Castle sets at the full range of price points.

Yeah, I just bricklinked the parts for the 2016 X1 a few months ago. It holds up really well nine years later. When I was a kid I didn't get the fuss about minifigs. They were just something to put in the pilot's seat and I didn't do anything with the other minifigs in the set. I still don't really do anything with the other minifigs, but now I appreciate having a good selection and distribution of characters, and I appreciate minifig contents as an important part of the value of a set.

Cada is doing an 8w licensed Speed Racer Mach V? That's a must-buy for sure!

Yes, but the resellers will charge a hundred bucks for the gwp and twenty or thirty bucks for each minifig.

Oof, the Mando speeder bike is really rough. From the piece count I was already thinking it would have to be a 40% off buy, but the build is so bad it's only worth it at that discount. Luckily City sets at the $10 price point usually hit that discount by the end of the year, so hopefully this will too. The Cobb Vanth speeder is so big and clumsy, and it absolutely doesn't need to be. I was looking forward to it for the figures, but I'll have to wait for 30-40% off on this one too. Even at full price, though, it'll be a bargain to get a Cad Bane for the half-price-no-figs Justifier I got at B&M a couple years ago. No opinion on the mech and battle pack, those really aren't my thing.

I know Mando's N1 is the relevant one right now, but I'd much rather have a UCS model of the Naboo N1. Oh well, I guess there should be adaptations of the set in Naboo colors pretty soon after the set comes out.

My Antique Shop was delivered two days ago. The courier didn't pay any attention to the delivery instructions and left it on the street outside the neighborhood postal center, but the people at the npc were able to pick it up, so all's well that ends well.

I would be happy to have a complete line of 1xN plates and tiles, like Cobi has.

Well, the idiots at OnTrac tried to deliver after business hours again. I finally went on their website and entered delivery instructions in the chatbot. I hope they pay attention to the delivery instructions for their fourth and last delivery attempt tomorrow! If they don't it'll be a big headache to get this straightened out.

There's a pretty decent alt build on Rebrickable for that! https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-216053/Camobricktape/galactic-venator-alt-build-10497/#details

OnTrac has attempted delivery of my Antique Shop twice, but the idiots didn't get to the neighborhood postal center until after business hours either time. I hope they don't make the same mistake two more times and then give up trying to deliver this unique and virtually irreplaceable set. OnTrac's web site claims its shipping costs thirty percent less than shipping through other "legacy" services. Just one more example of "only the best is good enough" for Lego!

Yeah, it's to prevent sagging. It's like an I-beam: the tall joint has the clips on the top and bottom of the joint, because that's where the most force is. In my own NCS builds, I prefer to use a more compact four-pin joint that uses two 1x2 Technic bricks with two holes stacked right on top of each other. That has plenty of force to hold together the front and back halves of two-module spaceships like the FX Star Patroller and Gamma V Laser Craft with almost no sagging and no rotation. It ought to work well for modules as large as the cockpit of the new Renegade, since that's no heavier than the back half of my FX Star Patroller or the back half of my Starfleet Voyager. (I built a Starfleet Voyager remake recently that splits the front and back half for mix-and-match swapping with my FX Star Patroller and Gamma V Laser Craft remakes, but I haven't taken pictures of it yet.)

Ugh, I hope not.