danth

Oh, a sticker would be a hard pass for me. With no minifig, that beautiful Space print is the prized piece of the set.

One other thing: I don't think all the parts for the upscaled astronaut are going to be available in all colors anyway. So the reality is, clear backed stickers are never going to solve all your problems. Also, how are are you going to get extra stickers? Super last thing: If I wanted to build this in red, I'd still rather have prints than clear-backed stickers. I'd just buy the third party printed pieces that will surely be available.

Thanks for taking the time to answer! Really puts some perspective on large scale MOCer vs. minifig scale set builder. 👍🏼 Yay! That was part of what I was trying to figure out with my questions. Clear backed stickers would be way more useful. Because almost all Lego stickers are NOT clear-backed, I've often railed against the argument that "stickers are more useful because I can put them on another part," because the shape and backing color dictate what parts you can actually use them on. Most stickers cover an entire brick of a specific shape anyway...and if the sticker color doesn't match the brick color, it's going to look weird. You can cut a sticker down to a smaller size, maybe (if the sticker is large but the actual decoration is small), but you are still limited by the sticker's backing color. Clear backed stickers fix that problem of course. I usually consider it a moot point though, because almost all the Lego stickers I've ever gotten in a set are opaque. Clear backed stickers are going to have all kinds of downsides though -- like seeing every spec of dust, lint, or god forbid pet hair that got underneath them. And I assume worse looking bubbles and thumbprints. And they must be made differently, right? Like plastic instead of paper, and maybe even a different adhesive. I wonder if they are more expensive?

Regardless, the vast majority of printed/stickered pieces are tiles or (curved) slopes of some kind, and these are plentiful pieces that almost always exist unprinted, so you can easily get them if needed. If you're buying sets for MOCs and want undecorated parts you might prefer stickers, but buying sets for a specific MOC doesn't really make a whole lot of sense when Bricklink and PAB exist, and buying sets for general MOCing is always going to give you loads of parts you never use anyway, and you can always buy Classic style sets if you want to avoid decorations. So while the preference for undecorated parts is valid, sets with printed parts is not much of a problem -- just don't buy them. Get your undecorated parts easily in other sets, or by buying them individually. And really the people who "prefer stickers because you can leave them off" don't prefer stickers to prints, they prefer undecorated parts to decorated parts, and don't actually want stickers or prints. People who want decorated parts always prefer prints because...stickers really have no upside if you actually use them. I guess there might be weirdos out there who like thumbprints and bubbles in their decorations and lint and hair stuck around the edges...

It's great. I think a lot of people were hoping for a minifigure, but the robot is a consolation. https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/lego-upscaled-blue-classic-space-astronaut-minifigure-reveal/

You're preference is totally valid. For designs that are large enough, I prefer them to be brick-built over using either a print or sticker. Or even for some smaller stuff, you can use textured pieces instead of prints/stickers. Like, I'd much rather a set use masonry bricks than some brickwork print. But if you consider prints as "cheating", wouldn't a sticker be even worse "cheating"? A printed brick is still a brick in your "system of bricks", but a sticker isn't. Are you mostly a MOCer? What about prints in a set like this? If someone gifted you this set, would you prefer the printed eyes were stickers instead, so you could leave the creature eyeless? Or would you not care because you'd replace the printed piece with some small tile or something to create your own eye? Or would you not bother with the set at all out of disinterest? What do you think of minifigures? Do they fit into the "system of bricks"? Should they have unprinted faces and torsos? None of these are rhetorical questions. I'm seriously curious.

I totally forgot about this thing: https://brick.news/en/blog/lego-ideas-gwp-2026-build-paint-and-play-minifigure-model-kit-revealed Not news, more of a reminder that cool things are (hopefully) still happening.

You know what's stupid? This thread may have convinced me to buy some of these ridiculous Remix sets. Because they are cheeeap when you look at the price per piece, and the sheer amount of stuff you get. $60 for 874 pieces, three good sized vehicles that all look pretty good, and from what I can, all printed logos! You can just consider the weird modularity a bonus that you can ignore.

I don't like that "It's for kids" is used all the time as an excuse for something being nonsensical. Also...the fact that you can choose not to buy something isn't really a great defense either. Personally I think whether you like these sets has more to do with your appetite for ridiculousness, which I have much more of as an adult than I did as a kid.

Well, sounds like @zeeverse doesn't like the recent City Space offerings, which is fine. Now it seems like we're all arguing semantics, which is boring. And failing to understand each other. I think we've lost Monkie Kid, so this year we have, what, City and Ninjago and Dreamzzz for unlicensed minifig themes? I'd like another, but I doubt we'll get one.

@zeeverse Have you seen these sets and do you like them? https://brickset.com/sets/theme-City/year-2024/subtheme-Space https://brickset.com/sets/subtheme-Space/year-2025/theme-City https://brickset.com/sets/year-2024/subtheme-Space/theme-Friends https://brickset.com/sets/71475-1/Mr-Oz-s-Space-Car

Same!

I though the modularity of the 2k Drive sets were pretty cool. The mix and match sets are absolutely ridiculous. Whether they're good or bad ridiculous, I can't say.

Does this apply to Ninjago or City or Star Wars? The answer is -- yes. Which is why Ninjago and City and Star Wars release different kinds of sets every year to keep things fresh. (And probably why Star Wars sets, out of pure desperation to do something new, now include "Smart" bricks.) The old Space sets kept things fresh the same way: Different colors and designs each year, new factions with new gimmicks and color schemes, etc.

Let me concede some things. I think it's true that Galaxy Squad didn't meet certain targets that would have green-lit more waves, but that's quite different from being a "flop" or not "meeting expectations". And I don't doubt that Alien Conquest had a wave cancelled but people always assume it's due to dismal sales vs just changing plans due to other opportunities (which might include another theme being a surprise smash it). And sadly I can't find the interview with Mark Stafford that you're talking about (unless it's this one but it seems to be about other stuff). So I think it's reasonable to ask for sources instead of relying on what sounds like assumptions and misremembered tidbits. I actually linked to timestamped videos and articles to back up what I've said about Star Wars.

I don't think, like, any of this is true (EDIT: Or maybe close to/partially true but wrong in the most important ways?). Galaxy Squad sold just fine, and Alien Conquest might have sold less well (it's the only Space theme that couldn't even catch my interest) but was ended due to Lego wanting to focus on Ninjago's massive success (it was launched in the same year). I think Galaxy Explorer was a fantastic seller, but the new Renegade is frankly not that good, and lack of sales (if any) is due mainly to its set design. Can you cite any sources for this? If Unlicensed Sci-Fi Space didn't sell, Lego would not have dedicated a whole year to it, or make the 2024/25 City Space line, which was essentially a Sci-Fi space line shoehorned into City, and we have no evidence that it didn't sell. Star Wars. People who are in deep denial will now swarm this thread to say it's not true, so be forewarned. But it has been confirmed by legendary Lego designer Christian Faber and former Lego R&D employee Suzanne Eaton.

Upscaled blue Spaceman released March 1st according to reddit. 40921, $59.99.

Very nice!

More pics from reddit:

Another look at the rover.

Someone found some educational sets that seem to be Space oriented and aren't listed anywhere. They were found in an actual store so I don't think this counts as a leak.

Absolutely.

Ah okay, that makes sense. 👍🏼

I think the strategy is to get all the money they can from big spenders, and from people who prefer cheaper sets but will absolutely cave and buy the big sets due to FOMO. Then they'll release cheaper sets later to get the more frugal people.