Arstotle
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About Arstotle
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I may be beating a dead horse at this point, but I feel the need to note just how tightly kept Lego keeps their plans for the Winter Village line these days. All these leaks for 2027 and 2028 that have come out in the past few days - huge sets from various different lines, and it all looks and sounds quite legit. And yet, not only is there no leak for Winter Village in 2027 or 2028, but we still don't have a clue what the set will look like that will be (almost certainly) releasing in less than two months. Just amazing, the security around the Winter Village line. Kudos, Lego.
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40866 is almost surely going to be a replacement for 40499, but with fewer deer and at a higher price per piece. Hopefully the deer will be a bit different so as to add some variety to our village. Brickclicker is also reporting set 40875 for $60, which is going to be an Up-Scaled Mrs. Claus Minifigure. Given these holiday set leaks, I would think we'll get some leaked info or pics on the new WV set within the next two weeks. (It's crazy that there's already a very solid leak about the 2027 modular, but we have no info on this year's WV set yet!)
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I could certainly be incorrect in my assumption, and that piece might simply be sold out on Bricklink, but if it really doesn't exist on the site any longer, I would think that's the most likely explanation. But I agree with you that Lego got just a bit too specific/detailed with that piece. Just having the first initial and then a scribble after that letter would have worked just as well for the piece, and wouldn't have been potentially offensive to anyone.
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With Bricklink being owned (or whatever the situation is) by Lego, I could see them not allowing pieces to be sold that were never officially released. That naughty list piece comes from set # 40489, and you can still find the set on ebay, but it's surely not going to be cheap.
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The light bricks have been a running theme in the Winter Village line. The original Toy Shop had one, and I'm fairly certain the Bakery had one too. Not so sure about the Post Office after that, but it seems like more sets than not have had light bricks. They've been doing this line long enough that the light bricks in a WV set almost have a nostalgia to them. For all the flack that the North Pole sets get (and I'll admit, I wasn't overly enthusiastic about them initially), I think they really add a nice architectural element to the line that the more realistic sets don't bring. Looking back, I really enjoy the look of the Gingerbread House and the Elf Clubhouse, and even Santa's Post Office - whatever you think of the set as a whole - has a pleasing aesthetic. I now find myself enjoying the difference between the realistic sets and the North Pole sets, and that further frustrates me that last year's train set wasn't a North Pole train instead of being just a crappy realistic rehash. I'm surprised they're not retiring that thing this year the same way they axed Santa's Post Office after one year.
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I like the set overall. I imagine over the years we'll see some variety in the depth of the build and the overall building configuration, but they'll follow the general format of a nice facade and an open back. The front looks great, but as shallow as the sides are, I'm surprised they didn't put a bit more detail there. The sides are rather unappealing, but it's not constructed in such a way that you would anticipate putting another building right up next to it, thus hiding the side of the building. I think the side are a misstep here. The GITD aspect of the minifigs is lost on me - it's a nice gimmick, but I question if it lasts the entire life of this collection (which will hopefully be lengthy). But the appearance of the building is so well done that it seems to redeem any shortcomings. I'll definitely be picking this up and starting a new collection! I think I might have to pick up the 40822 Jack-o-lantern pickup truck to help fill out the village, too
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With the success of the Winter Village line, Lego should have done this five years ago. If they pour some creativity into these sets, I think they'll prove to be very fun to build and collect. It'll be interesting to see if they do some kind of a GWP that ties into the new line. I always love those GWP's that work as part of the Winter Village.
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This is more of a prayer than a rumor - please, not another train station! Unless it's a North Pole Train Station. That could be fun (and it's what they should've done with that train last year!)
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I love the City advent set this year. That's two great years in a row for City advent! I love not only the fawn, but also all the elves! Great for our winter villages for sure! You wonder if we might not see that fawn mold in the WV - either this year or next. I know it wasn't an official WV set, buy you got four adult reindeer molds in that Santa's sleigh set that was produced for several years. I believe that set is retired now, but I would imagine that Lego will try to keep some kind of set like that in circulation - it must have sold well.
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Looks like we're going to have a new winter-themed set that won't quite fit in scale with our Winter Village, but I'm still thrilled that Ideas finally approved a Christmas Vacation Griswold House set. It seems like that specific house has been submitted in different iterations several times over the years, but it always lost out and I never understood that. I hope that Ideas puts together a set on the scale of the Home Alone house, and it needs to include all the minifigures you can possible think of as well as the RV and the station wagon with tree on top. This thing is going to sell like hotcakes!
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Storage is always such an issue with Lego. Even disassembled in a box they take up a fair amount of space. But if you're leaving your Winter Village assembled, waiting for the next holiday season, the entire village certainly takes up some space. Such is the price of this hobby. Modulars do disassemble into separate floors fairly well, but they'll take up space in the end. I'm afraid the closest thing to a modular we'll ever see in the WV line will be that Main Street set from a few years back.
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I would love to see a line of winter/holiday themed modular buildings, but I don't think Lego would ever go for it as it would probably cannibalize some of the sales of their traditional modular line. But if they started a new line like that (and I do think it would sell well), I would definitely buy every one. What gets my attention is the 41843 Family Christmas Tree set that Lego did last year. It's 3k+ pieces and cost $300+, and in the US it was backordered or out of stock the entire month of December last year. So, there very much appears to be an appetite for Christmas sets in that size and price range. I wonder if Lego couldn't put out a traditional WV set at $100 - $125 and then another large set around $300 that could fit in with the WV line if so desired. I think of the Haunted House set that came out as part of the Monster Fighters line from several years back, where that set was greatly out of scale with the other MF sets, but it was an absolutely outstanding set on its own and it still mixed in well with the other MF sets. I think Lego could do the same thing with their holiday/winter sets and do a "normal" WV set and then do a separate 3k+ piece Santa's Headquarters, or something like that. I believe both sets would sell very well (assuming Lego actually did a good WV set, for a change) through the holiday season and possibly year round.
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I agree with pretty well all of this. A fire truck rolls through my neighborhood every December. Lights flashing, carols playing and Santa sitting up top and waving to kids. It's not a tradition that I grew up with, but it certainly seems to be popular where I live. So, while the Fire Station wasn't my favorite WV set, I do see where it fits into the WV theme. Maybe they'll do a WV police station one day, but there are probably 20 better ideas...if only Lego could figure out how to do the WV line well again. IMO, the only reason it feels like the WV line has run its course is because of the poor choices that Lego makes with this line. They either go with a rehash (train #2, the third toy store - this time in a main street set up) or they go bizarrely off the board (North Pole Post Office). There are a lot of nice options for traditional village shops that would fit into the current WV well (the WV has been in need of a Sweet Shoppe for years) and would not be a rehash, but IMO the Alpine Lodge has been the only decent idea in the last handful of years. That's what is killing this theme - a lack of creativity and execution. Just look at the 2025 Employee exclusive to see what can be done with a 1000 piece holiday set (admittedly, that was another toy store and post office, so not that original, but still very well done). Hopefully they don't give us train station #2 this year (the poor sales of last year's train should speak for themself) and instead come back with an original idea and build. As for the other, I've thought that Lego should do a Halloween Village for years. I would think that would be almost equally popular with the WV. Hopefully that's what this "Haunted House" turns out to be, but I'm not holding my breath.
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I'm skeptical that we'll ever have a dedicated WV police station. Sure, you could put all the drunk mall Santa's in there, but it's just not very cheerful. If they ever did something like a WV town hall, I could see attaching a small constable's office, or something along those lines. But I think that's as close as we ever get to a City-style WV police station. Now, a North Pole version of a police station - maybe Lego could do something with that idea that would be more whimsical and fun, and less dark/sad.
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I agree with this sentiment. Including a smart brick would drastically increase the price, and I'd much rather have the Lego pieces rather than spending money on a smart brick. I don't disagree that there are potential opportunities for the smart brick, but the price of these things is so high...I really think these smart bricks will be gone in a couple years. Every once in a while Lego seems to try to work some gimmick into their sets. I don't think it's ever worked out. With the Winter Village line, Lego needs to focus on creating some new buildings that would fit well in our villages. These repeated sets - both the Toy Store rehash and now the repeat train - seem not to have sold well. The train never even went to backorder in the US, but essentially every other Christmas-themed set was on backorder or Temporarily Out Of Stock for practically all of December. I don't think I'm alone in wanting new, unique sets for our villages. No repeats, and no gimmicks.
