danth

I have a comment here on why the City Safari Truck might not be exactly up to snuff. 🤣

My local Target and Walmart didn't show any of these sets in stock on their websites. Yet they both had the sets. My Target almost never gets any new Lego sets until months after they're released, so I was shocked to see lots of next year's sets there a few days before Christmas. It looked like they got all of the Jan 1 sets and put them all out, and then got absolutely wiped by Christmas shoppers. There were only a few sets from each theme left when I went. Which was annoying; if I knew my Target would actually come through this time, I would have gone earlier! I went back a couple days after Christmas and the shelves were almost completely empty. My nearest Walmart also had a bunch of new sets when I went a couple days ago, but their shelves were still full. I got the Interstellar Spaceship there. When I checked out, it was marked as a non-sale item because of the release date, but the employee overrode that for me. Lucky! At Target I had no such issues though. I didn't see the new Dreamzzz or Friends Space sets at either store. I did see a couple other new Dreamzzz sets though. So maybe the Space ones got sold out before I saw them.

Well I've so far built a few of the new City Space sets. The Space Construction Mech is pretty great apart from the stickers. Stickers in a small $10 set are pretty aggravating, especially when there are danger stripe stickers on a 1x4 tile that could have been printed and reused. The prints you do get are great though. The Intersteller Spaceship is flawless. $20 for 240 pieces, a great design with a cool gimmick, and no stickers? Can't really beat that these days. The 4+ Spaceship and Asteroid Discovery is what it is; nothing to amaze an AFOL but no complaints either. You get nice prints and minifigs.

Well, I found the new 2024 City Space sets at Target. I got a few of the Space Construction Mechs, the 4+ set, and the big Space Base and Rocket Launchpad. I would have been down for a few Hover Bikes and Intergalactic Spaceships but they didn't have any. This is the first time I've been able to snag a new Space set before Christmas. I wanted to get Benny's Space Squad for Christmas of 2018 but nobody had them out early. So I'm pretty stoked for Christmas this year! It's going to be nostalgic.

Lol

What if a Space fan doesn't like the Monkie kid space ship because it's actually a space shuttle and it has horrendous colors and literal clouds for tail fins and includes weird monkey demon figures and isn't part of a larger unified Space theme?

Boy, Eurobricks does love to gaslight it's Space fans. We should all be happy because of the ugly megablocks Monkie Kid shuttle, the City NASA sets, and Technic sets now? Just keep being intentionally obtuse, Eurobricks. The 2024 Space sets are pretty good and pretty sci-fi, but the previous stuff from various theme are not what fans of Space themes want. OBVIOUSLY. AND you all know that.

I've actually argued that the age of the SW designs doesn't matter. I've never said "SW sucks because 40 year old designs, but Classic Space good because 40 year old designs." I also think a 40 year old franchise can be creatively bankrupt (mostly due to being scared of pissing off the fanbase with anything new that doesn't look Star Warsy enough), while a 40 year old Lego theme that has constantly evolved can not have that same problem, without any irony or hypocrisy on the part of the person noticing.

What I mean is, saying that 40 year old space ship designs aren't popular with kids, in the context of what kinds of Lego sets will sell or won't sell, doesn't make any sense, because it is objectively true that SW space ship designs are 40 years old, and it is objectively true that Lego keeps releasing sets with those 40 year old designs. So is Lego losing money on SW sets? Are they not selling? Or are they not selling to kids, and we all need to admit that SW sets are mainly for adults? Or does the age of a design not matter? Choose your own answer. I admit I totally missed this part of MAB's post: I'm not sure what he was trying to say now. Wouldn't a new Space theme also have new designs and stories? How can Classic Space even constrain a story when it didn't have a story? Maybe he meant if Classic Space itself returned as a theme, with only Classic Space style minifigs and designs, but I'm not sure anyone considers that even a remote possibility. It'd be great if we could get a new Space theme that wasn't limited to one good faction and one evil faction. Then you could have a new factions (with new helmet designs or whatever) intermingled with various throwback figures.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but I think the difference is that SW has had scores of sets each year, and Ice Planet has had nothing for 3 decades and doesn't feel stale. And SW Lego designs are beholden to the movies (or shows or whatever), but Lego was able to do something original with this Ice Planet figure (new helmet and armor) even while maintaining the color scheme and basic concept. Also I'm very in favor of NEW Space factions, with new color schemes, and I've said that before. Not sure if that has any bearing on the irony you mention though.

Nope, objectively, SW designs are 40 years old*, and objectively, Lego is still making them. 100% fact. And that single fact defeats any argument that Lego can't make sets that use old designs. But also, nobody who wants to see Space return is asking for "old designs". Throwbacks sets are cool, but Space sets have always been updated. Look at Galaxy Squad. Those were new designs. *Obviously I don't mean all of them, just the main ones from the original trilogy that also got rehashed in the sequel trilogy. We were talking about entire waves of a theme, so not really. But if they keep doing Icons sets, and maybe do more of them than just a couple a year, then that would be almost as good.

I think the old themes are old enough that an update to them can be just as "original" as anything else they might do, with the added benefit of existing lore and a built in fan base. Like the Ice Planet guy. He's just as original and exciting as anything else in the lineup, despite being based an old concept. I just wish the M:tron guy was as good. The Blacktron mutant is also just as original as if he was some generic mutated space explorer, but with the benefit of being Blacktron. Although personally I'd rather have a Blacktron fig I can use in multiples; I don't need multiple Blacktron guys with two right arms and other identical mutations. In my perfect world, we'd get a better M:Tron guy and maybe 2 more throwbacks, like another Classic Space or even Futuron guy (instead of the regular Astronaut) and maybe a 1997 UFO theme update (instead of the spider guy).

Are you intentionally misunderstanding here? Or am I totally confused? I think it's obvious he didn't mean City/Town, which still has sets released every year. And definitely not Homemaker. Think Castle or Pirates or Space. @SpacePolice89 is that what you meant? Yeah but Creator sets exists and they must sell because Lego keeps making them. Same with City and any other Lego set that isn't backed by a movie or some license. So non-licensed sets and original themes can exist at the same time. Lego can keep old fans and sell to people who only care about licenses. Can people stop saying this? It's objectively false. Star Wars designs are literally 40 years old. Even the updated X-Wing from the sequels was from the original 40 year old concept art. And Lego keeps cranking out sets for those same designs, so apparently "kids" like them. Almost all new sci-fi spaceship designs (from video games and movies like Lightyear) use the same design language as the original SW movies too. So what "modern view of futuristic ships" are we even talking about that kids are supposed to like?

Good god, no. Nobody buys sets at those prices. If they did, they'd be SOLD prices, and they would actually mean something. As they saying goes, things are only worth what people are willing to pay.

Not with that attitude it won't. 😁 We can all help it die. Just ignore it totally and don't watch or buy. There hasn't been a good SW movie for 40 years now anyway.

Yes. BrickLink price guide is great. It actually goes off of SOLD items so it's accurate. I hate, hate, HATE BrickEconomy. Do not trust anything on that site. It doesn't use sold prices and I honestly think they just make up their data graphs. The prices there are FAR above actual sold prices. I think they use seller asking prices, which is literally the worst way possible to do it.

The plant-based batteries remind me of "Protoculture" from the '80s Robotech animated series, in which seeds from a special flower were compressed to make "Protoculture" power cells. A few of these cells were enough to power a transforming jet fighter for a decent length of time. Of course the name "Protoculture" is stupid in this context; the name was taken from the original Macross series (which was dubbed and combined with a couple other anime to create Robotech) where "Protoculture" meant something else that actually made sense (basically the original humanoid society).

I found this from '88: https://images.brickset.com/library/view/?f=catalogues/c88us

Futuron was on at least some of the boxes. Pic here. Are you talking about the checkered pattern on Cosmic Laser Launcher or something else?

I bought 5. I'll buy more if I find some on sale at Walmart or something.

Ohhh, of course! I wonder how many others in the Space CMF series are based on something and we just haven't realized it yet. Maybe we'll figure it out when we see better pics.

Excellent choices.

I think you're blowing a few minor comments out of proportion, but really, is it that hard to understand why people would expect a Space minifig from a Space CMF? Especially since Classic Space is incredibly popular and there are 12 entire slots? Dredging up Benny's Space Squad is an odd argument since it's 5 years old now. The Exo Suit is what, 10 years old now? Why not bring up Classic Space itself? Imagine telling a fan of any other theme they can't complain because they got a set 10 years ago. It wouldn't fly. But I guess us Space fans are like second class citizens or something. I totally agree with you on that. But, we didn't get those things. If we did, there would probably be less complaints about not getting a Classic Space figure.

Here's what disappoints me about this series. For a Space CMF, there's not much here of use to me. Other than the Ice Planet and M:Tron guys. I can't use the Blacktron dude in a MOC, unless I need a mutant, which isn't what I want Blacktron dudes for. I want Blacktron dudes to pilot Blacktron ships. I would have also liked to see more actual reusable space tools. The chain saw is about all we get. I would like to see new space cameras, or detectors, or more transparent book cover pieces with cool prints in different colors. Or new head gear that fits on standard helmets instead of visors, like a comm piece with headphones and a mic. Excellent point! I would have preferred something that throws a bit farther back but if this is for Galaxy Squad fans then that's pretty cool.

Alright, time for my opinions: Aliens in Human Suit: Lame. They just painted an alien on the minifig face. The small dudes should be able to actually fit in the head or torso somehow. How? I dunno, that's for Lego designers to figure out. Maybe a new combined torso & head mold. Oh what, is that too hard or to expensive for Lego? Is this supposed to be a money printing thing for them, just slap on new paint to existing minifig parts, do a new helmet, and call it a day? Sorry but this isn't a charity for the Kristiansen family. They need to put in some effort and give us something new and exciting, and that means paying for new molds sometimes, even new torso molds. Robot cook: Interesting. New leg molds? That's what I want to see more of. Not sure if this is supposed to be a robot or cyborg since he has a human looking face. Need better pics. I don't know if a space cook with robo legs is what Lego fans have been clamoring for. Always interesting to see what they come up with. But sometimes I question, "why this?" Retro Space Woman: Actually pretty cool. The colors are great. M-Tron: Absolutely ludicrous that they got rid of trans neon colors and then did this. No excuses, they should have done something else, or brought back some kind of trans neon green specifically for a visor for this and the Blacktron figure. They got rid of the color, they can bring it back. Beyond that, I'm not sure this is the best way to do an M-Tron throwback. The printed part is going in the right direction. Alien 1: Don't care. Alien 2: Don't care. Alien 3: Shoulda been Seatron, or an Insectoids throwback. It's pretty random as it is. Anyone who is satisfied with a random alien they've never seen before would be just as satisfied with Seatron or a throwback, so why not please both the "Just give me any random alien" and the "Give me a throwback" people? Normal astronaut: Total waste. We get tons of these every year. A new CS color would have been more exciting. Ice planet: Closest thing to a win here. That had better be trans neon orange. The new helmet is interesting, but Ice Planet figs were known for their iconic visor as well. If this has a dual molded helmet with a built in trans neon orange visor strip, that might actually be pretty cool. If its a strip of paint, that's lame. I would have preferred trans neon orange skis to the penguin. Blacktron: Did anybody ask for this? I guess it's interesting, but not super useful to Blacktron fans. I suspect they went this way due to not having the right visor color available. Orion: Cool but not for me. Nurse and baby: Pink space baby is cool but the nurse doesn't seem very interesting.