MAB

You will need to contact LEGO if you want an official answer. Although chances are they will tell you that it's great that you are into Constraction sets but currently they have no sets on the market and that they would love to see them return like you but you will have to wait and see.

You might as well just open both ends and flatten. It takes up essentially the same space and you can still reuse the box later.

The soap trick works fine, you only need it very diluted but it gives a little slide better than just water. But if they are 2x2 stickers on a 2x2 tile, just looking should be fine if you put the first edge in the same place each time.

They still call it a top-selling theme, and in fact it is the only licensed them that currently is. This line is from the first half 2019 report: Top selling themes in the first half of the year were a mix of homegrown favourites and partner IPs. In no particular order they were LEGO® City, LEGO Creator, LEGO Friends, LEGO NINJAGO, LEGO Technic and LEGO Star WarsTM. LEGO Marvel Avengers sets performed especially strongly and LEGO Movie 2 products also contributed to consumer sales growth.

I find the set very bland although I was never into Sesame Street. Even if I was, I'm not sure I'd buy it as an adult. I don't mind displaying things a teenage me enjoyed (Ghostbusters, Simspons, Star Wars,...) but would I display toys a 3-5 year old me enjoyed? Probably not.

It is because that is what people enjoy. Why do people still enjoy superheroes that were in cartoons in the 40s/50s/60s? Why do people still enjoy LEGO sets that were designed in the 1980s? SW has remained popular as people have passed it down to their kids. It is a highly nostalgic movie trilogy for kids born in the later 60s / early 70s. The "god-awful" prequels were enjoyed by a new generation early 2000s. I thought they were bad when I first saw them, but that is mainly as they were not the OT that I grew up with. I recently rewatched them with my kids, and they thought they were great. If a kid watching the OT movies today wants a SW X-wing with Luke Skywalker, should he have to only have access to one made 20 years ago? Of course, you might same the same about a LEGO theme. If a kid today wants a Blacktron set, should he only have access to one made 25 or so years ago? The difference is SW is still a popular franchise. Blacktron (or any retired theme) is just a toy from the past, most kids today will never have heard of it.

Minecraft did it in just under 48 hours.

I think current City is OK. It could be better for AFOLs with more variation in themes, less emergency vehicles and more houses. But I also realise it is mainly targeted at kids and so sets need to appeal to kids. AFOLs have modulars. As to the idea of larger packs - I don't object to the content, just how it is packaged. I have no problems with big sets either, if they are justified. I do have problems with big sets made out of lots of smaller components that could (and should) have been sold as individual sets and there is no real reason for them to be combined. Especially for kid targeted sets. I'd prefer to see one vehicle, or two similar vehicles with some sort of play connection, per (cheaper) set rather than a larger number of vehicles at a higher price. They will sell better, and if your kid wants them for a birthday present, then they make good presents. Wheres the combination pack is probably too expensive for many of the gift givers. That said, I wouldn't care too much if there are larger combination packs, so long as there are similar vehicles in smaller sets also available. The alternative ius to sell the individual packs and also combine them. LEGO has partially done something similar in the past, with their "super packs". Such as: which just contained four perfectly good standalone sets combined together.

1.5m x 1.5m is 6x6 baseplates, so a decent area. For example, you can have three parallel 8 stud (one way) roads with 4 stud pavements/sidewalks running down the joins of rows/plates 1+2, 3+4, and 5+6. That still gives a build area of 24x32 on each plate if you go back to back between plates 2+3 and 4+5, and you have 36 plates so 36 separate buildings. If some houses are only 16 wide, then you can increase further.

Personally, I don't see the point. I think I would rather have smaller sets containing 1 or 2 vehicles, along with a couple of minifigures and a tiny bit of scenery. So things like these (from 2018): I think those sort of sets are fine as they are. They give a coupe of vehicles that go together, some minifigures to play with and a little context / setting, at an affordable price. If they went instead for larger vehicle packs, then they would: 1) be expensive - even though the price per vehicle might be the same or cheaper, 2) have things you don't like: if you like a couple of the smaller packs but not the third then you buy the ones you like whereas if they stick six vehicles in one superpack and you don't like two, then do you still buy the set? The interesting thing is that even though my kids have very few car based sets, they have loads of LEGO cars. I guess as wheels and windscreens are not exactly rare and they make their own.

It is denied because it is an active license - LEGO still have LOTR/Hobbit on their list of active licenses (as of 9 Sep 2019). https://legoideas.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/356076-license-conflicts-and-resolutions We might consider it no longer active, but LEGO still considers it active.

The bolded ones all entered through the Ideas system, which is why they are blacklisted. No Ideas IPs appear on the allowed list.

Yes, but I guess that makes sense as they are typically "advertised" by movies at the same time, and once the movie has gone from theatres then there is no reason to have a longer run of LEGO sets. Yes, it is interesting that some people hold on to the design aspects / colour schemes of decades ago and won't budge. There are plenty of modern windscreens in trans blues and blacks, even some in neons and so on, yet these are not adequate replacements for the trans yellow. Although of course Batman has provided builders with some useful windscreens in trans yellow. But then isn't that part of the 'modern' problem. People want Space but it has to be the old Space, as it was, not some new Space. Get the colour of the windscreen wrong and they won't buy in to it. Isn't that partly why Space suffers.

It will not be a top selling theme, so we won't see it in the top themes list in LEGO's yearly reports. It will also be sold at a discount in some stores, like all other themes are. Other than that, we will never know how well it sells - whether it is any better or worse than short lived themes based on movies, such as Angry Birds or The Lone Ranger. I imagine some kids will like it, as will some adults. Whereas others have already decided it is a failure before seeing anything from it.

Yes, although it seems that many Space fans do not class this as Space as it is not sci-fi space, just City. Which of course is the problem with the other Space themes in the past. Many AFOLs criticized both AC and GS at the time, as they were not what they wanted from Space (much like 2013 Castle and Castle fans).

Look at how Disney markets it product, in stores and theme parks. SW is just as much a part of Disney as Mickey Mouse these days. Telling Disney that they don't want anything from one of the flagship brands of their portfolio for a while is commercial suicide. Another company would likely step in and take one of LEGO's continually best selling themes. And there are (rumours of) new movies or other media coming just about every year in the future. But also look at the sets from 2019. There is hardly anything from the current / future Episodes 8, 9 or Solo. Ep 8 and Solo were mainly 2018 sets. The majority of sets this year are based on Episodes 4/5/6. Yet those legacy sets supposedly give room for in-house Space, yet LEGO chose not to do them. So if you are correct that 'old' media doesn't stop in-house Space, then it appears LEGO doesn't want to do in-house Space.

I don't know which one has been made 10 times. There are more than 10 Millennium Falcons, but they are so different in scale they do not count as remakes. But then, I don't see the problem with remakes. People want an X-wing, a Millennium Falcon, etc. They want to be able to buy all the key characters in minifigure form. That is whether they were buying SW LEGO in the early 2000s, in 2010s or the future 2020s. LEGO will keep selling them as people want them. Should they remake, or just keep the same design on the shelves for 20 years? Personally, I prefer remakes, with updates with new building techniques and parts. If I feel a design is too close to what I already have, I don't buy it. There are plenty of other SW sets to buy, and even more non-SW sets I can buy.

I said pretty much the same thing on your other thread earlier in the year about putting Star Wars on a 2-3 year hiatus, but I'll say it again here. If LEGO tell Disney that they don't want to do Star Wars for 2-3 years and instead concentrate on their own Space themed sets, what message does that send to them? Disney and LEGO have a very close relationship at the moment. One partner telling the other they want a break to concentrate on doing some other themes without them will not end well. And asking for a break is like saying that they want to continue the license, but just not for now - we do like you, but just not enough to have faith in your theme right now. If LEGO end their interest in SW then I imagine Disney would turn to another brick company in the meantime, and the cost to get the license back again in future might well have increased, if Disney ever want to come back. Why partner with LEGO again in future if it wants breaks to concentrate on its own Space themes? Better to have a long term relationship with another company that is committed rather than one that wants breaks to produce something different. They'd partner with a more stable company that is wanting to continually produce SW sets instead. Plus if LEGO pulls out of SW, then Disney may well pull its other brands from LEGO and take them elsewhere too. Plus SW does not appear to stop LEGO producing Space sets. Galaxy Squad was 2013, Alien Conquest was 2011, Space Police III was 2009-10, Mars Mission 2007-08. Star Wars sets were also issued in those years. So at least under those agreements, there was nothing stopping LEGO doing their own space sets at the time. LEGO has also had a lot of real world type space sets, via City and Ideas. Clearly they are not ruled out in the agreements about Star Wars with Disney. If LEGO wants to do other space themes, they should do them. I imagine what is stopping them is public interest in them and sales. AFOLs complain about a lot of in-house space themes that LEGO has done, because it is not Classic Space. And killing LEGO SW for X years doesn't make the alternatives any better. You may say that there is no SW to compete with them, so they will sell better but in reality LEGO just lose the SW license and MegaConstrux SW sets will be on the shelves instead. If LEGO decide to stop SW, which is always a top seller, for any amount of time then they need to be really sure that what they produce in its place is going to be a fan favourite to replace its revenue. I cannot see an in-house Space theme doing that. Especially when another brand will be producing Star Wars sets and attention of SW fans will shift to that brand instead.

They have already done that for Jabba's Palace and the Rancor Pit. I doubt they would ever do sets for buildings much bigger than that, as it isn't really buildings that sell SW.

If LEGO pirates is as popular as some people think, they wouldn't need advertising. After all, City doesn't get much advertising, aside from being on the shelves at a store. Alien Conquest didn't, Galaxy Squad didn't, other themes like Monster Fighters and Pharaoh's Quest didn't. The Millennium Falcon has relevance today, as people (including kids) watch Star Wars. The Black Seas Barracuda on the other hand has little cultural relevance these days. Pirates is somewhat out of fashion these days (and even the last PotC movie only got one big set, no smaller sets to go with it). And as the Black Seas Barracuda was an in-house product, that is part of its problem. There is little nostalgia for it, outside of anyone that used to have it or want it. I'd also love to see some similar (but new) themes similar to those, although not only space. The problem is that LEGO seems to have done away with the one year style unlicensed themes (think Atlantis, AC, PQ, MF, GS, etc of around 2010-14). If they come back, we may well get some small space themes, along with other subjects. I imagine they don't sell so well though, as LEGO have stopped doing them.

Give that this is a product that someone is selling elsewhere, do you have the right to share or did you ask if you could share the instructions?

I think adults were way more excited by him than kids. There were a few kids I know get him and want to swap him for a "good figure". If they did new versions of previous popular CMFs, I'd be fine with that. So a new S3 elf, a new S6 Roman soldier, S2 Spartan, etc. These would not really be any different to new pirates, native Americans, castle figures, etc. After all, they have all been done in CMF before too.

Of course it is a suggestion, in reality a 5+ child could get on fine with a 7+ set if they are used to building with LEGO. The point here was that the older Castle sets were aimed at kids. Also they don't have to put the age range on there. They choose to put it on there. The only thing they must do (for many countries) is the safety warning about choking hazards and the under 3 year old warning.

The modulars are Creator Expert, not Creator. Of course, it is just a badge, but I imagine it is reasonably important here. If they were to start rebadging the modulars as City, then it implies they are part of the child's range. Part of the reason they introduced the 'expert' part of Creator was to distinguish these sets from the regular child-targetted Creator sets. Making modulars part of City would be a step backwards. Modulars are so different in technique and style (and age range and cost) to City builds, that I think it is good to distinguish them from City.

Thanks, after posting I recalled seeing it, probably in one of yours before. The Koruit ones are very nice, and a good match for their regular Gondor soldiers too. I bought a couple of them and just kept the helmet and armour. The helmets, like their other Gondor ones, are a bit big but not too bad.