danth

Agreed. I find the red undercarriage distracting. It really detracts from the red & white striping. Glad you like it, but "visual complexity" can be used to excuse virtually any eyesore of a design choice. Do you actually think the red looks good here? It's almost like some AI didn't understand danger striping and bled red & white everywhere.

These are all very rad!

Wow, this is a good one. I'd love more historical sets like this. Prepare to be disappointed.

I too was excited about the Italian Riviera, but agree that it lost its wow factor after the TLG treatment. As for Pirates of Barracuda Bay, I was secretly glad it was redesigned to allow building of the ship. I was already tired of the "ramshackle building" copycats, so an actual pirate ship was preferable to me.

Part of preferring X over Y is not liking some things about Y. And if you list what you don't like about Y, because people demand you explain your preference, you get accused of "tearing Y down" and then "see, you deserve to be unhappy because you tear others down". Fans of classic themes literally can't win.

https://www.google.com/search?&q=Is+edward+scissorhands+a+christmas+movie Still seems like you're making it personal and holding a grudge against people for having a preference. You haven't made any real distinction between preferring unlicensed sets and "OMG LITERALLY MURDERING LICENSED THEMES AND DESECRATING THEIR BODIES". Everyone always demands that fans of unlicensed themes justify their preference, and then when they do it's always "OMG WHY DO YOU HATE LICENSED THEMES AND THEIR FANS AND THE POOR SET DESIGNERS" when we say nothing even close to that.

So? You should be able to criticize something, especially something you like, especially on a fan forum. It's not the end of the world, as much as status quo defenders think otherwise. And frankly, Lego can only make so many sets. There is only so much shelf space. If that wasn't true, there would be sets from every theme every year. But there isn't. So it's okay to say "I'd rather have more sets like X, even if that means less sets like Y." It doesn't mean you hate fans of Y. It just means you have a preference.

But classic themes are not the Ideas theme. I think a Christmas Vacation house would be fine in Icons. But I'd at least like to see original ideas from Ideas! And also the sets I'm complaining about are ALL CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSES FROM 1989/1990. That would be like getting 3 Ideas sets all from Ice Planet 2002. It's not. It's a lower bar to sell a licensed set. It just doesn't have to be as good. Any Lego designer would tell you that. They probably don't even like it as much working on licensing sets because of it. Oh wait: Thank you for this amazingly relevant tidbit! I agree with this! Ideas submissions have be good enough, even if they are based on a license. But submissions based on an original idea have to be amazing. NAILED IT. Yes. Space was replaced by Star Wars before they had any idea what the sales would be. And they keep bringing back waves of Space when Star Wars isn't in theaters. So obviously it sells, and consumers are deciding they like unlicensed Sci Fi Space. Anyway. I really don't mean to turn this thread into another licensed vs unlicensed argument. It's really about THE SAME EXACT IDEA 3 TIMES vs Original IDEAS. In the IDEAS theme! I mean come on. Home Alone Ideas set. CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSE FROM 1990. Christmas vacation Ideas set. CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSE FROM 1989. Edward Scissorhands Ideas set. CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSE FROM 1990. I mean, two of these sets 5 years apart would be one thing. But two in the same year? And should we ever really get repeated ideas in Ideas? I wouldn't be complaining if this was a licensed movie helicopter. Was yours a CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOUSE FROM 1989/1990? Because if so, the idea itself is low effort, regardless of the set design. To be clear, I meant that the final sets will be "slop", not the fan submission. Lego has a way of cheapening and dumbing down Ideas sets.

I don't have much to say in response other than agreement. The parts I quoted are the parts I agree with the most! Thanks for the intelligent reply.

Oh please. Can we not do this faux concern pearl clutching about "insulting" people we don't know and will never meet? I spend too much on Lego for someone to tell me I can't be critical of the state of things, that I can't be disappointed with what's on offer. No criticism or disappointment aired here is a personal insult to anyone. Especially when we're talking about licensed Ideas. The designs are from movies, and the original submissions get totally overhauled by Lego designers. So there's no insult possible to the original designers. And then you say this: So you delight in the dissatisfaction of fellow fans you interact with on this forum because they had the nerve to make valid critique (AKA "tearing things down" whatever that means)? Seems weird for someone who is so concerned about the feelings of designers you've never met.

Disagree; slop is a term to describe things that can be generated quickly without much thought and without care for quality. Licensed sets fit this bill because you already have a design and just need to come up with a reasonably good Lego facsimile for the set. It doesn't have to be amazing because there is an existing fan base ready to accept whatever you come up with. You can just slap stickers on them, you don't need to design reasonably generic/reusable prints. With Ideas it's even worse because the initial design doesn't have to be very good. It's just an Idea. Lego will "fix it up". So you have people voting for something just because they like the idea/movie, with the reasonable expectation that the final result will be acceptable. (The situation is reversed with non-licensed sets; the original designs are often amazing because they have to be, and the official released sets are always worse because they have to be -- the budget people require sacrifices to reduce cost.) Oh, I forgot to mention. "Ideas" implies fresh ideas. "Ideas" implies your ideas. The new Edward Scissorhands and Christmas Vacation movie sets are neither. They are the same exact idea as the recent Home Alone Ideas set. "A house from a Christmas movie from around the year 1990." Edward Scissorhands is 1990, Christmas Vacation is 1989! They're all considered Christmas movies. They're all the exact same Idea! This is why I call them "slop". AI literally could have come up with these "ideas". These are not organic. Someone saw that Home Alone won, and thought "What's the closest thing I can do do that?" It's just copycats. The exact opposite of what Ideas should be.

A little sad that half of Ideas sets are licensed slop. It's like Speed Champions but for houses.

New sets leaked and the Pirate Ship looks awesome. For alt builds you can make two smaller ships, which is just perfect IMO. And also a nice looking pirate base with tower. I'm glad we're getting a "themed" Creator set again with nice minifigs. All the animal/object Creator sets are great for people who like them, but we need minifig Creator sets like these, too.

The 2026 Creator Pirate Ship just leaked. It looks absolutely amazing, too. You're welcome everyone! We still need Space though. In related news, a 2026 City roller coaster set just leaked, and it is very Power Miners inspired. They have done a Pirates Roller Coaster, but it was Creator, not City. There was also the Exo Force roller coaster.

It's not just in the Lego fandom. It's in every fandom. If you dare to not like some new enshittified product, and prefer the vastly superior old product, the corpo cheerleaders will always say "it's just nostalgia". It's bad, because there isn't even a word like "nostalgia" for irrationally preferring whatever is new just because it's new. You have to make something up like "novelty blindness". Maybe "newstalgia"?

LOL! Holy...you weren't kidding! According to google, both PotC and One Piece feature cannibal tribes! Good god... Well played, @icm.

Can't we get back to talking about less controversial topics? Like how classic themes were totally better than licensed themes?

This is crazy good. You've outdone yourself again.

I think it can be done correctly. Like you said previously, as long as they are not "othered" and show variation and nuance. I think the Native Americans in the old western sets were mostly okay, but I don't know why they gave them faces that looked arguably more human -- with full eyes and noses instead of just pupils -- than the regular minifigs. Maybe trying too hard not to get in trouble? Something like the CMFs would probably be fine. Yeah, exactly. I was proposing full on medieval castles with knights and stuff, right under Lego City. With no explanation. Because IMO interstellar space ships with aliens under City was no less weird. Also, when I pointed out that weirdness, everyone said "who cares what's on the box?" So I'm embracing that.

One -- Yikes. Two -- Funny, I didn't know Maui Solomon was a white women.

People just say that. Nobody actually knows. The Galaxy Explorer had a special price at Walmart on release before there was any sales data. I think they used it as a promotional item. And then later it got marked down a few times like almost every other set does. I see SW and Harry Potter sets go on sale all the time. Yet people filter those specials out. It's all confirmation bias. I don't think Lego would do an entire year of space, complete with a CMF series & City Space wave, immediately after the Galaxy Explorer if it sold poorly. Now the Renegade? No comment. Agreed. Another option: do what they did for Space in 2024. I'm totally ready for City Castle and City Pirates. I'm only half kidding.

Wow. So you asked that question just as a set up to invite people to quit the hobby? Ew... The total condescension. Wow. @SpacePolice89 makes MOCs and posts them here and comments on other people's MOCs. And I guess you didn't read @Toastie's reply because he says he buys old stuff for MOCing. That's funny because fans of Classic themes are always told they should just shut up and MOC. But now if we just want to MOC we should leave the hobby? Super cool.

"Neglected" or "ignored" work. I recently bought: City Space 2024/2025. Unlicensed Sci-Fi space with few stickers. Education Space 2026 sets. Unlicensed space, no stickers, not necessarily "Sci-Fi" but close enough. Not really a theme though. Some Sonic and Animal Crossing sets, since the designs are good and there are no stickers. Other random licensed sets if they don't have stickers. Like Baby Rocket's Ship and (if I'm allowed to go back 5 years) the 2021 Tie Fighter. The 2023 City Modified Race Cars and Combo Race Pack were literally perfect sets Izzie's Narwhal Hot-Air Balloon was amazing Creator Castles Tudor Corner The BDP Mushroom House & Alchemist's Shop

You're in luck with the Renegade, it's still easily available for less than retail from the usual places.

All I know is this kind of patent seems anti competitive. It doesn't help anyone but TLG. Customers suffer if competing brands can't use certain shapes. Patenting a brick shape is stupid. It's not like nobody ever thought of a quarter circle before.