danth

Wow, totally nailed it in every regard. Even the minifig! Loved Calvin and Hobbes. Got me through some tough times growing up. I nearly cried when I read the last strip.

I love that pic because it illustrates just how bizarre this theme is. Suburban skater teen pilots a transforming/combiner firetruck/mech to fight ghosts. That's just too weird.

Wow, love that design!

Clear pic of the minifig from Space Rover Explorer from Promobricks. The Classic Space logo looks very nice:

Thanks for the heads up! Pictures at Promobricks aren't loading at all for me right now. Brickset worked though. EDIT: It was my ad blocker...that's never happened before. Weird.

That's pretty great. Almost looks mashed up with the Serenity.

This is why LEGO buying Bricklink is bad news. They're not doing things in the best interest of collectors. They're doing things in the interest of LEGO the corporation. If collectors can't find the vintage sets they want, that's fine for LEGO. They want us buying new sets.

I think I have just the solution: From now on all Batman sets should have transparent yellow windscreens! Then everything will match, and we still get those sweet, sweet Classic Space colored parts. You're my new favorite person! COMBINERS!

What did you expect for a car? Carry-on? Ha!

Speaking of wishful thinking, I'm hoping that windscreen ends up being trans-neon-orange to enable more Ice Planet MOCs. We've gotten quite a few windscreens in Ice Planet colors out of Nexo Knights, but in weirdish shapes.

That would make a lot of sense. The protagonists of the theme are total anachronisms. Hip kids with hoodies, cell phones, and attitude, that fight old-timey monsters in 1920's-styled locales. I guess that's kind of the point of the theme though? The "old" world is in drab colors while the "new" world is purple and teal or whatever. I prefer one or the other personally. If the protagonists looked like they were out of the same time period, I'd probably love the theme.

I would love that, but it looks trans-clear or trans-black to me. Always hard to tell from pics. Hope you're right and I'm wrong!

Awesome! Do you get the sense that these sets are aimed at your age group? I don't imagine that many teens are into LEGO, so I wonder how much of a teen market there is to tap, but I'm an out of touch older person so what do I know? I'm not trying to knock the theme by the way. I generally like about 70% of what it's doing, while the other 30% confuses me.

Oh, also, the Monkie Kid sets have some nice colored windscreens. Either trans orange or trans neon-orange, I can't tell. But either way we get Space MOC fodder, either Ice Planet or Mars Mission.

Here's the thing though. Every time someone asks "Why did LEGO get rid of this theme," people say "It didn't sell." And anytime someone asks "Why does this goofy theme exist," people say "LEGO knows what sells." These two answers contradict each other. Both cannot be true. Well, we're getting a Pirates Ideas set and a Creator pirate ship both in one year, and a Creator set with a Classic Space logo on the minifig. So you're right that they might not come back "as we knew them" but if things continue, it looks like they might come back as Creator sets.

This is what I don't get. Who is this theme supposed to appeal to? Who's buying these sets? I just don't get it. There's no way this theme is selling well, is there? Friends is a knockout for girls, boys love Ninjago, so what's the point of this theme? Maybe angsty teens are supposed to be buying these? I can't possibly believe some straight up non-licensed Space and Castle sets wouldn't blow these out of the water in terms of sales. If LEGO can crank out these shelf warmers, they can certainly bring back some much beloved and missed themes.

It's kinda weirdly both. Take away the alien and two of the builds are just NASA. The Vic Viper is totally sci-fi though. Seems like a very timid step towards sci-fi, but a step nonetheless.

I accidentally posted this in the 2019 thread so I'll repost it here: Some cool Dots pieces have been revealed that have the space ship from the Classic Space logo. Pair some of these with those Batman canopies and the new Orange spaceman! The bubble canopy looks like the 6 wide. FWIW the 4 wide was already released trans yellow in the Atlantis (?) theme. Or do you mean the angular windshield? That looks like an 8 wide in trans yellow which is pretty exciting!

Oops we both posted in the 2019 thread. Mods, any way to unpin this thread and pin the 2020 thread?

Thanks for the heads up. So these are legit: That is totally the space ship from the Classic Space logo!

Real or fake?

I guess the Space Rover Explorer counts. It has an alien, a Classic Space log on the minifig, and a Vic Viper as one of the builds. 311107 – Space Rover Explorer Also some cool Dots pieces leaked that have what looks like the space ship from the Classic Space logo, not sure if that leak is legit though.

After thinking about this more, that color scheme really is a miss. Even jang complained that it basically reuses the old Vacation Getaway motorhome scheme: Why not use a Classic Space or Futuron theme or really anything eye catching? Is there some stubborn unwillingness at LEGO to give Space fans something nice? Will a hit Space set be too embarrassing to LEGO execs who have been insisting all along that nobody wants them, so they sabotage them? Too timid to have a nice looking set that will compete with Star Wars and invoke a backhand from Disney? Maybe it would be easier to convince NASA or Space-Ex to use really cool colors since LEGO does only does that style of Space set now. On the bright side this could be the start of something good. Maybe if these do well, we'll get something more evocative of Older space themes, with colored windscreens, next time.

These sets are wild! Probably too wild for my taste, even though there are some pretty amazing designs.

This set looks amazing! Pirates fans must be overjoyed this year. I can't believe how good all three builds are. The pirate tavern is genius, and the skull island makes great use of the sail pieces. I realize the brick-built hull and sails are a big change from traditional LEGO Pirate ships and totally get how that could be off-putting to fans of the old Pirates sets. Hopefully Pirates fans can enjoy this set for what it is, even if it can never replace the original sets. Funny that this set has the crow's nest piece which is missing from the Ideas Barracuda Bay set. And neither of them use the mast piece, although that piece is in an upcoming Monkey Kid set. I guess the Creator set doesn't use the mast piece because it's not usable in all three builds.