Space78

Hmmm... retiring space sets already? I'm going to speculate that the crosscutting "Space" theme is going to be a one year only thing, and next year there will be a new crosscutting theme. It's only a wild guess, but seems entirely possible.

Yeah, I was at Target on Friday afternoon and it looked "fully stocked." I picked up all three plushes and one of each color of the keychain lights. They had a full stock of probably 40 or so CMF boxes, but like you, taking pictures of the QR code with my phone did not work, so I passed on picking up any CMFs. My oldest daughter went on Saturday afternoon, and they only had one keychain light left, and less than 10 CMF boxes according to her. Walmart and Barnes & Noble also carry the CMFs, so I'll try again another day. In reality I only want the pink space baby, so I just need to find the right box.

Just back from Target and Lego space merchandise put a dent in my wallet! They had a "Space" themed end cap with adjoining shelves on the sides. Along with the plushes, they also had the keychain lights in all the colors (red, pink, orange, blue). I took one of each leaving the back row. I was very tempted to buy the whole box! They only had one orange one (which I took), leaving two blues, a red an a pink. Lots of other Lego merch that really has nothing to do with "Space" other than they put the logo on it. Makes me think the "Space" theme this year is more of a marketing theme than a "real" Lego theme. They had minifig display cases in gray and blue: Lego storage containers in the shape of a 2x3 brick: And then water bottles, 2x2 brick carrying cases, and the empty hooks were labeled "backpacks": All of these items had the gray triangle with the space logo and the word "SPACE" printed on a card attached to the item. I did not see the space logo anywhere on the item itself. Didn't get a picture of it, but the series 26 CMF boxes where on two rows of hooks on one side of the display. I have not figured out how to scan the QR code to determine which minifig is in the box. I'm really only interested in the nurse with the pink space baby. Any suggestions?

Orange one now on U.S. e-bay. So far, two CS astronaut colors that were not issued in the past as keychain lights, pink and orange. Wonder if more are coming (yellow, black, green,...)?

More Lego astronaut keychain lights showing up on U.S. e-bay, including one in pink. Need to get to the local Target to see if they have any.

Edit, I see on Bricklink these keychain lights were offered in 2012 in blue and red. Nice to see they are coming back. Will they likely be on Lego.com at some point, or do they sometimes offer things like these as a retailer exclusive?

Yeah, they've done a blue one before (and people want a lot for those on e-bay), but I've not seen a red one before. Not seeing them on the Target website, so might have to go to a store to see if they are there, I guess.

Has anyone seen new CS keyring LED astronauts in blue and red in retail stores or one a website? These just showed up in my e-bay search, but they have the 2024 space "logo" on the card attached to the keyring. https://www.ebay.com/itm/235536269981 https://www.ebay.com/itm/235536271208 I'm assuming the seller bought them locally and is looking to make a quick profit before they show up on the Lego website or regular retailers?

Thanks for that link. Yeah, the "Futuron inspired" look appears to be just a diagonal divide between orange and white on the torso.

OK, I guess there's also the possibility that the box are is incorrect, which has been known to happen before.

All we have is a box art picture at this point. Any chance oxygen tanks will be in the box, but just not shown on the box art picture?

Thanks for the link to that video. Confirms the minifigs that will be in the set. Interesting that the orange astronaut is still not a "general release" color (i.e. appearing in a retail set or separately from Lego/Lego stores). I have plenty of white astronauts bought from PAB, and have one orange one. I'm not seeing enough interesting other stuff in this set to make me spend $$ to get it when it becomes available.

White seems to be the CS spaceman color Lego is going to make available for a while. The parts have been on PAB for some time, I assume the whole time Galaxy explorer was available, and still there now. I could see Lego offering the orange one, since previously it was only available as the minifig in a couple of DK books. Would be nice to have that one out there again, though if it's just in a GWP, it's still not really a "general release" item. However, the yellow spaceman was in a "regular" set back in 2019 in 70841 Benny's space squad, so pretty easy to get that (and the pink one) if someone wants it. The white one was in that set also, so it just seems to me white is going to continue to be the most common color for a CS minifig.

I think even beyond those reasons listed by @icm there is the fact that "space" is a crosscutting "theme" this year, which I don't believe Lego has done in the past. The space theme this year may have more to do with Lego trying a new marketing strategy of a crosscutting theme across several lines (City, Friends, Technic, Duplo) than anything else. But that's also a guess. Here's another guess. Sales of 10497 Galaxy Explorer were very strong and Lego decided it was time to try a "reboot" of a Space line.

Right, but you've referred to the anniversary of "Space" (capital S), which most people here and at Lego (I suspect) would associate with the Space theme started in 1978. I find it very hard to believe Lego attaches much if any significance to that set from 1964. The picture you posted shows that you can "Build this 'Space Rocket' and your own toy ideas!" So, it does not appear to be a space rocket set as much as a suggestion of what you can make with the bricks in the set.

How is this the 60th anniversary of "Space"?

I agree, it's a great idea. Of course there were diners/cantinas in many science fiction franchises. I'm just not sure it will be too elaborate if it's really going to be a GWP.

Next month will have one or more Star Wars GWPs for May the 4th week. I don't think Lego runs other GWPs at the same time as I recall. So if there is another GWP in May, it would be in the second half, correct? Personally, I've given up on a purple astronaut being officially released. I think we'll get another color before we get purple, but that's just my speculation. I'm also not very hopeful about another CS set. I think the current crosscutting space theme is drowning out any other space items. On the other hand, doing the classic space micro-set in February was nice, but it seemed out of place lacking anything else classic space. It was also offered at what almost certainly is a low sales time for Lego.

Yellow (1979, 1982 in a set) was not an original color. The originals were red and white (1978), so it does make sense (to me) to be continuing white as the "common" space minifig. I think this is also seen in prices/availability. White and red tend to be the cheapest and most widely available of the original space minifigs, with yellow close behind. As far as re-makes of blue and black, IMO we are not going to get them. Some where, some how within corporate Lego, there seems to be someone (or a division) that make sure the "collector" part of Lego lives on. Or maybe it's that the "heritage" of vintage Lego is maintained. No idea, really, but there are a number of vintage Lego sets/parts people wish Lego would make again, but the odds seem vanishingly small.

The space figure is not very exciting other than if you like the space print. All of the parts to make a white spaceman are still available on pick a brick, so no need to get the set just for the minifigure - unless you want the face print.

The tinted windscreens are OK, they are just too dark for me. Instead of adding to the visual effect of the set, I think they take away because the "trans-black" is just too dark to easily see what's behind the screen. Lego is also using these a bit deceptively. The pictures on the boxes and the website have much lighter (almost clear) windscreens, so they don't really represent what is actually in the set.

I very much doubt this. I don't think anything in the City line is or ever has been targeted toward adults. Not that I have an in-depth understanding of the City line over the years, but if you've looked at the sets over the years, it's pretty clear they are kid's sets. I think Lego makes pretty clear which of their sets are targeted to adults.

I agree. Not considering something as Castle or Pirates theme just because it's marked by Lego as a Creator 3 in 1 set doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but to each their own. I don't care what marketing line Lego decides to put a set in. It's what the set is a model of that matters.

Source?

I think it's very difficult to compare "Space" theme to other Lego themes. Space is a fantasy theme, so the imagination is the limit as to what might be a "space" set. In comparison, Castle, Pirates, etc. are set in specific times/places in history. In that sense, a Pirates set from 1989 does not "look" different from the current Pirates offering. Same for Castle. Space has a lot of "sub-themes" if you will: CS, Blacktron, Futuron, M-Tron, etc. etc. It gets to the point where one set might look out of place next to another set if they are from different eras of space sets. The space sub-themes generally had a consistency to their look. Oh, I didn't think there was any question that the current City Space sets are in fact Lego space sets. Is that not the case? To me, it feels like they've just started another space "sub-theme." It's not a "re-make" of any previous space theme as far as I can tell.