Tc99m

Honestly, I would get my hopes up too much for diorama's (yet). There has been only one set announced so far, it's not that LEGO is launching a whole range with several waves each year (like they do with other IP's, that have a theme with both bigger and smaller sets). They're also keeping it into the Icons theme so far, it's not a separate theme like SW, HP, etc. A lot will probably hinge on how well this set is going to sell, but to me it looks more like LEGO is going to treat Star Trek like they do IP's such as LOTR or Zelda: one big Icons set a year - perhaps one or two smaller sets to accompany them and if we're lucky a CMF-series. And if that's the case, it will probably more 'generic' sets (like starships, shuttlecraft, etc.) that appeal to a broader audience than smaller diorama's which will appeal more to Trek fans only (although I'd wager my money on one of the Enterprise bridges). Not trying to be a party pooper btw, but just being realistic - I really don't think we'll get the same amount of sets that Bluebrixx released. Barclay has only 5 TNG appearances, unless you count his cameo on First Contact. The majority of his appearances (6) was actually on Voyager. For me, Ro was a way more prominent character than Barclay (on TNG at least). 6 of her 8 appearances were in season 5 and they were obviously setting her up for more appearances in season 6 and 7 (since a few of her season 5 appearances don't really revolve around her as a character, but she's just treated as a regular member of the bridge crew), but Forbes notoriously didn't want to commit herself to a show fully (hence her character being rewritten into Kira for DS9, and later B'Ellanna Torres for Voyager - for which they tried to get Forbes as well).

LEGO thinks (perhaps correctly) that the target audience wants 'a vehicle'. So, what can accompany a starship set? A shuttlecraft of course. And you need someone to pilot the shuttlecraft, and Ro is the only recurring character who's established as a pilot (of the main characters, both Geordi, Wesley or Riker would qualify, but they're already in the big set of course), although we never see Ro piloting a Type 15 in TNG. Other recurring/main characters like O'Brien, Yar or Pulaski would be an odd match with the shuttle. Another factor might be that the designers wanted to include another female minifig. In that sense, I feel a bit bad for Yar that she is left out in favor of Ro and Guinan (I remember that Denise Crosby was also a bit sad that she wasn't approached for a cameo in ST:Picard). Said it before: not mad about Ro, but truly a missed chance to do a transporter room set, which could have come with an O'Brien minifig and would have made a nice display set for the other minifigs. I'm also not a big fan of the boxy design of the Type 15 shuttlecraft, the Type 6 would have been a better choice imho.

Well, it's been leaked! The general design is essentially a remake of 10254. More (light)blue instead of green, a big polar bear instead of the tree on the cargo wagon, and a passenger wagon with a big bow on top (like a present), four (adult) minifigures (conductor, engineer, two passengers). Includes a tiny platform (no train station) and can be motorized with PoweredUp. It includes 16 curved rail pieces, so you can let it ride around your tree and a 3d printed miniature locomotive (which has working wheels). Also leaked: 41843 Family Christmas Tree (3171 pcs) - A Christmas tree build that you can open up and has little dioramas inside. Also includes a miniature sleigh with 1 reindeer, a miniature cat build, elves and Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus minifigures.

I really don't think Ro is more popular in the fandom than O'Brien (who has appeared in more Star Trek episodes than any other character besides Worf, and of course, is the most important person in Starfleet ;) ). Then again, Ro is still a popular character (I always liked her, so I'm not mad at it), and the logical choice for a shuttlecraft GWP, since she's a pilot (and perhaps the designers thought O'Brien was more of a DS9 character anyway). It would have been fun if there had been a transporter room GWP instead of the shuttlecraft; it's such an iconic piece of Star Trek tech (more iconic than that boxy shuttle imo), it would have been an opportunity to include an O'Brien minifig and it would have been a nice display set for the other TNG minifigs.

Now that the main Winter Village set has been announced: did anyone pick up any rumours about the Winter GWPs? Normally there's two, always a challenge to pick the right time to order your WV-set with the GWP you like the most, haha.

This image was just published on a Dutch LEGO fansite. I wasn't that enthousiastic about the set when I saw the leaked (low quality) images before, but the colors look really good on the box. Previously felt it was to generic-city-ish, but I'm coming back from that. Here's a link to the backside of the box that shows the interior: Very shallow buildings, that's a bit disappointing. The set as it is would not justify a €130 price for me, so I hope they keep it around €100.

LEGO never confirmed or denied it to my knowledge. But considering that they released a tiger with a brick built pink butthole around the same time. I'm sure that if the tiger "meets their high quality standards" (to quote TLG), a little tongue-in-cheek humor like a Santa minifig with a naughty list will meet them too. ;-) I personally suspect it was some logistical/production issue, or possibly something in the design of the sets or minifigs that didn't work out and was overlooked. Since TLG doesn't confirm anything, the only way we'll be sure if the rumour is true is if they release the set this year with or without the naughty list. If this year has completely different GWPs, we might never know for sure (and the rumor will persist too, I'm sure).