Space78

Good point, and that would be interesting if Space were a "cross theme" theme! From all the leaks we seem to know there will be multiple space themed sets next year. I am also very curious if that is a one year deal, or if "Space" will continue for a while.

Another possibility is that Lego has given up on powered "advanced" train models. Yet another possibility is that they decided not to consider a power option since the original Ideas submission was not designed with power in mind.

From the looks of the box picture for the rover, seems like Lego might be making "Space" a subtheme of City? I'll be really interested to see what the minifig looks like.

The reason for not having powered track can't possibly be for safety. Is everyone aware that there are multiple track powered toy trains marketed to kids??? Lionel trains, MTH trains, lots of HO stuff, etc. etc. All powered by rails, some AC (3 rail) some DC. I believe @zephyr1934 is correct, dropping 9V track was a cost cutting measure in the mid-2000s. Holger Matthes says exactly that in The Lego Trains Book (2017, no starch press). I get it, they were looking to cut costs at a time when they were on the edge of bankruptcy. All I was reflecting was that battery power is a step backwards from track powered trains. But let's face it, Lego has been retreating from "advanced model" trains since 2013. Horizon express was the last in a (roughly one every two years) line of more advanced train models. Who knew that was going to be a golden era for Lego model trains? After that Lego has not sought to market an advanced model train that is designed to be powered. Lego keeps one freight train and one passenger train designed for children in it's City line, and that's really it for trains. So, we are left with ideas sets (OE), and the odd time when a special model appears (2017 Crocodile). Makes me wonder what happened after Horizon Express that caused Lego to abandon trains for advanced builders?

Wow, I did not know that. I'm planning to get one of these set at some point, but if it had been too large to fit on Lego track, i would not have bought, especially at a higher price for a larger model. That just confirms that Lego views this as a static model. I may make me re-think purchasing one. It's kind of sad because I really enjoy the more advanced models we got 2002-2013. Unfortunately, Lego seems to have long given up on those. I'm sure "9V trains" is small group here, but the OE is another example of where a "powered rail" (9V) system is way simpler. I know Lego is a toy, but they are clearly marketing a number of sets to adults, the OE train included. Does Lego not understand that the vast majority of model train fans want to run their trains? That being said, I don't know of other successful model train systems that are battery operated. It's kind of weird that Lego went from battery operated in the 4.5V system to rail powered (12V and 9V) and then backwards to battery operated, although with remote control capability. I've read about it being a cost issue, especially in the cost cutting years in the mid 2000s. But, it's also hard to believe trains as a theme was/is big enough that raising the price of track would have been a deal breaker. Needing to accommodate a battery box with enough power and life in a train model definitely constrains the design possibilities. The Lego Santa Fe F-3 and BNSF GP-38 have fun interiors with a model of the diesel engine inside and other small details. In contrast, no room for that in the Maersk GP-40, and it affects what the exterior can look like

Interesting, I didn't know Lego was doing that. Makes sense, I believe Target is the only retailer that has the Creator 3 in 1 castle in the U.S. They were discounting it in the summer, so I bought one. I think it is currently on sale again. Would not mind a second copy, but I just placed a couple of large orders with Lego to get the Insider weekend deals. Lego budget might be gone until after Christmas.

Yeah, I guess that's the gamble with sets at EOL, they might sell out before the official end date or they might not. In the case that a set does not sell out by the EOL date, is it typical for Lego to discount remaining inventory? I've seen retailers do this with remaining inventory, but in the U.S. I think only Walmart is carrying 10497 among the major retailers. Neither Target nor Barnes & Noble seem to carry it. (Anyone have any clue why Target did not carry this set?)

I'm wondering for those on the 9V metal track system (like myself) if one could just put a 9V motor "truck" on one end of each carriage for power? I would think two motors would be plenty of power for the train, and the carriages should supply enough weight to get goo traction in order to push the tender/engine. Not an ideal configuration, but with 9V, you don't have to manage a space for a battery box or motor/gearing. The non-powered truck could be appropriately modified to match the power truck in looks.

I have three and counting. I'm actually looking to pick up another set at a favorable price. When these go end of line January 1, are we expecting Lego will discount them on the website?

Great review. Thank you for going into so much detail, including pictures. Bought this set as a Christmas present for my daughter who is a big Ahsoka fan. I'm sure she'll enjoy it. I think the most disappointing part will be the terribly small cockpit. Fitting Ahsoka and Huyang in side by side should have been a high priority for the designer.

Agree, I'm just not convinced that group is spending their Lego funds on "nostalgic" sets, vs. the hundreds of other sets Lego offers.

Understood. My assumption is that AFOL's in their 20's tend to not have $200-$400 to drop on a nostalgic Lego set, or at least might be less willing to spend their Lego $$ on that. I've seen this in other hobbies. It's people in their late 40s and older where the kids have moved out and now they have (more) disposable income. Couple that with nostalgia for their childhood/growing up years, and companies have a strong reason to cater to that age group. Yes, I agree with this. I think Lego could do some pretty neat things "re-imagining" classic Fire, Police, and Hospital sets from the late 1970s. I just don't know what the demand would be.

I feel like the vintage "re-make" sets are aimed at adults that had similar sets as a kid. Thus, we are probably talking about sets made no later than the mid-1990's. I have no idea how successful 10497 Galaxy Explorer has been, but I think Lego was right on target with that one: iconic set, well-done recreation, price point. I think Classic Space was a large part of a lot of kid's play time growing up in the 1980's. With Lion's castle, I think they way overshot the mark: too expensive. I'd like to have one, but for my money 31120 castle is a much better value and gets the job done re-creating a classic castle looking build. I don't have 10320 Eldorado Fortress, but it's on my wish list. I'd say $215 is on the edge of what I'm willing to spend for a "nostalgic" set. What's next? Seems to be solid rumors there will be several space themed sets for 2024 including a minifig series. I think it's equal odds we get something from Classic Space or Futuron/Space Police. I'm hoping we get some kind of base with some vehicles instead of another ship. Would be a nice complement to 10497. A re-imagined 6970 Beta-I Command Base would be super cool if it came out as well "re-imagined" as the Galaxy Explorer. Can't see another re-imagined castle set any time soon given the castle sets in current production. I'd LOVE to see a train of some type, but I think Lego has tried hard over the decades to have a viable train "system" that would take off and be a profitable category. But, here we are in 2023 with Lego still struggling with trains, if they pay any real attention to the line at all. One can hope we get another set like the Santa Fe passenger set from 2004 or the BNSF engine and TTX cars. However, that might mostly have North American appeal, and thus presents another challenge to the train theme in Lego. While it might be cool to have a re-imagined Town set, I just can't see much demand for a Fire, Police, or Hospital set, which surely were some of Lego's most popular sets back in the day.

Very, very cool. Thanks for posting those links!

All good points. However, with DS2023, it's clear Lego has "officially" made a complete purple spaceman. I think the question is, was that a one time, very small run for DS2023, or is the minifig going to have a general release in 2024? Agree the video is old, from 2020. BUT, at that time the brown spaceman had not been released, while clearly being shown in the video. We had to wait until this year to get that color. In my opinion, Lego will release a purple spaceman minifig, I think it's just a matter of when.

The 2020 Lego Christmas holiday ad. The purple spaceman is at the 38 second mark. Agree you can make the purple spaceman from parts, but as Jay's Brick Blog points out, with DS2023, Lego has now officially produced a purple Lego spaceman. They certainly could just produced a few hundred, or however many were needed for the sets, but I still feel this set and the theme of the conference points to something good in 2023...

I'm just thinking (hoping) that at least one 2024 set will have a purple spaceman figure, OR maybe there will be one in the collectible minifig series. Too many teasers on the purple spaceman: first the video from Lego showing a person dressed as a purple spaceman, now they include one in this employee set. Obviously Lego can do whatever they want with production, but seems unlikely they produced just a few dozen or few hundred (do we know how many?) purple spacemen just for this set. Given the orange and brown spacemen produced in recent years, and then the 10497 Galaxy Explorer, I feel like they are just building demand. At least we can hope that's what they are doing.

Wow, that's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing, I'd like to get my hands on one of those sets!

All that seems possible. It's also possible Lego just printed the copyright date on the US instructions as 1979 anticipating that would be the worldwide launch of space. On the other hand the US set number is also on the instructions, so it would have had to be a separate printing anyway. Still a mystery...

I know the catalog images appeared for a short time, then were taken down. Does anyone know when the catalog with the OE will be officially posted? Do we have an expected date from past experience?

Nice video, especially showing all the images, closeups, angles. Having looked at the original images and the catalog images, I do really like the coaches in the set. I think they are much better. They "rounded" a lot of the edges nicely. The more I look at the complete set, the more it does seem the engine fits OK with it proportion-wise. While Lego train fanatics would like a dark green engine, when I envision that color with those nice blue/gold coaches, I'm not sure I'd like that color combination. Also, from a consumer standpoint, I think the engine has to be the same color scheme as the coaches. One thing that comes to mind though, is could Lego offer these items in the same way the Santa Fe sets were offered? Why not sell the engine separate from the cars? In the Santa Fe set the engines were separate, and there were two car sets, one made two different cars and one made three. Or, to bring costs down, they could sell the steam engine and one coach as a set, then offer a separate set for a coach with some options for different builds like the Santa Fe cars. That would be super cool in my opinion, and I think they'd end up selling more sets.

Doing a bit more digging, Lego has a history page on their site that clearly states Space was one of the original three themes started in 1978. The history page further states: "The LEGO Group launches the LEGO minifigure in 1978, and thus the minifigure naturally is a part of the LEGOLAND Space theme launched that same year." So, the interesting (to me) question remains, why was Space launched only in the U.S. in 1978? Why do sets produced in 1978 for the U.S. market have printed instructions with a 1979 copyright?

This entry at Brickpedia states the Samsonite license in the U.S. ended in 1972, and I've read that elsewhere. So, I don't think that really answers my question. Further complication is that the original instructions for a couple of the 1978 U.S. sets I own have "copyright 1979" printed on them. Another observation is the 1978 U.S. Lego catalog available here does not list any space sets. A logical conclusion here is the initial space sets were designed in 1978, introduced in the U.S. in late 1978, but were not introduced in Europe until 1979. In that picture the 1979 copyright on the instructions for a 1978 U.S. space set is still odd.

I'm sure the experts here can answer this, or maybe this is controversial? Brickset.com lists the first U.S. Lego Space sets as year 1978: 462 Rocket Launcher 483 Alpha-1 Rocket Base 487 Space Cruiser 493 Space Command Center Item 2855028: Exclusive Spaceman Magnet has the printing "...in space since 1978" However, the European versions (897, 920, 924, 926) are listed as 1979 sets, and the U.S. version of the Space Cruiser includes the bricks printed "LL924". So, I'm confused on when Lego produced the first sets in the Space theme. Can anyone enlighten me on this or point me to a thread/site where this is explained? Thanks!

Some of the Ideas sets have good play value for kids (such as the Pirates and Fishing sets I mentioned), so maybe they are a bit more desirable than say the typewriter? I was going to get the typewriter, but then they were out of stock for a while and when they came back they raised the price 15%, so I lost interest in something that will live on a shelf. I am one of those that just doesn't have the space. The kids already have their favorite sets sitting in their bedrooms!