Yoggington

This is true and I agree. I for one would certainly like to see a lot more Castle stuff for example. I think the irritation comes when people make sweeping statements about how there are way more licensed sets than unlicensed - because this simply isn't true. Phrased the way you've put it now, I can get behind that.

See that's the thing, if you go ahead and do that count you'll find it's pretty close to a 50:50 split. It can be quite surprising to find there are so many City sets, Friends sets, Ninjago sets (e.g. respectively for 2025, 50, 42 & 48). Meanwhile in the licensed side, only really Star Wars has comparable numbers (2025: 54). After that you're looking at Marvel (38) and Minecraft (34). Following those, numbers get distinctly small. Even ones that 'feel' like big hitters are not. Like Harry Potter (20) is smaller than you'd have the impression of. There were more Botanicals released (13) than DC sets (12). And so many 'themes' have less ten. Like in no way is the One Piece theme (6) comparable to the Duplo range (27). But thinking back through the marketing for the year it seems to feel like it is. Most in house themes don't get a whole ton of marketing or hype - because they don't need it.

Of course you're allowed. But when you post something like the below - which has no such restrictions. Then get called out on it and react by clarifying in a way that suits your argument, you should be able to see why people react strongly. Like, it is not "just licensed stuff nowadays", and there are absolutely many more than "only two non-licensed themes left!". It's a hyperbolic argument, and it seems very dishonest to say that actually you meant if you only count this limited number then I'm right. Hopefully you at least know it is far fro an unpopular opinion. It's been rehashed in the thread at least a half dozen times.

Why would you even count themes rather than sets? I've had a brief scour over Brickset just to check some numbers. Numbers in this post are very loose, I've just quickly tallied in five minutes. Using the categories you provided (which have big holes in the first place), there were 127 unlicensed sets versus 250 licensed. So closer to 1:2 than counting by theme. If you include themes like the icons sets that are unlicensed, or Dreamzz (rumours of it's death aside, it was going strong in 2025), that number climbs to 149:250. If you include minidolls, because you already are with Wicked & Wednesday etc., then you gotta count Friends too. The ratio is up to 191:259. If you include all the technic, botanicals, architecture, duplo, etc etc that you've overruled, then the ratio stars to tip in the unlicensed favour (although there are arguments about whether a set is or isn't that could tip it either way)

You know, if we're going to move the goalposts that much, you could just count the licensed sets alone. And then we can say that Lego doesn't produce a single non-licensed set!! The absolute gits!!

That is so satisfying. Well done.

Oh wow, four years ago already. I'm glad to see someone making use of this! Looks good.

Couple of new animals in the leaked images for the next CMF. I count five, though some are recolours of previous.

Can't say I'm enthused by any one fig, but there's a few neat parts in there. The skeleton fish & the nemo fish for starters. The tuba, the gunblade and the.. raccoon?

Occasionally have a VPN on, but not typically. I'll have a poke about with cache & cookies. Knowing it's not the same for everyone is good info, thanks!

Crowdfunding for Series 7 starts in 20~ish hours. A few pre-reviews are popping up. I'm quite happy to skip them all this time, and wait for the jam-packed Series 8.

If you like Ancient Rome, this guy should be in your rotation: https://www.youtube.com/@RoccoButtliere His project seems too ambitious to be truly realised, but he's showing no signs of slowing down.

Is there a way to turn this pop-up off permanently? Clicking the 'No thanks' just snoozes it until the next time it decides to ask. I've had a dig around in settings and I can find how to enable them, but no way to have it stop asking.

I didn't mean to come across bluntly, I'm just not sure this is a space where these hobbies need to cross paths.

I like the sound of mixing loose lego round in a tub, but this is very different to the satisfying click clack of Azul tiles in a cloth bag.