lifeinplastic

Very sad that we have to rely on licensed sets nowadays to provide the mould in the first place and, for example, that we seem to have to keep our fingers crossed for Lego to to create a patronus version of a swan mould, which is a relatively insignificant accessory of a non-primary character, before we can even speculate that Lego will actually give us the non-patronus version. An actual swan would work so nicely in City sets and there are plenty of potential settings it could be included with...

I’ve never previously been particularly interested in other brands but feel Lego are forcing their long-term customers away with ludicrous prices and quantity over quality products, cashing in on fans of licenses, rather than long-term , loyal Lego fans. It’s made me very resentful of the company and I haven’t actually bought anything this year, except a clownfish CMF. I used to buy regularly and spend a lot.

Sounds dreadful but definitely the path Lego is sadly taking these days with licenses gradually taking over. Now it’s not just less unlicensed themes, the licenses are now encroaching on Lego’s original themes. Sad times.

You’d think the Head Designer would have a say in which sets were made and there are a lot of vehicles and not much of the nice outdoors stuff. Or whoever does decide which City sets are made said, we need more cars, let’s bring in the car guy. Either way, it’s not an era I’m enjoying much so far. I say bring back whoever gave us the gorillas a few years back but ask for no helicopters this time round. The tigers, olive crocs and red pandas appeared around the same time in lovely, reasonably priced sets. Failing that, whichever designer was a Paradisa fan…

That does explain things. Do we know how long he was head designer for Speed Champions and how long previous City head designers have held the role - is it something that changes regularly?

It doesn’t look like the new Head Designer for City cares too much about animals, sadly. He’s been lumbered with the F1 license, which is encroaching on one of the few non-licensed themes Lego can be bothered to produce and the only one really conducive to new animal moulds.

I don’t remember the giraffe guy in the Village People. I did go to a fancy dress party once as a part of a group dressed as the band though. We went into a night club afterwards and the DJ clocked us as soon as we came in and played YMCA. In hindsight it was a brave (or stupid) move, given it was a rough area. Even the water was hard.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a rhino in the Helicopter Prison Break, a giraffe with the Popcorn Tuk Tuk and a hippo with the Space Shuttle...

You know what would be a great series for Castle fans? A Castle Series! I take your point about the Executioner though - personally, I wish we just had regular mixed themed series so there's something that might appeal to everyone!

I'll hold my hands up about the Steam Train (last year's only decent City set in my view), although I was thinking more modern inter-City passenger trains. Not having that the High Speed Train from 2004 is good though - perhaps the best of a bad bunch!

Well this all sounds rather dreadful… *EDIT* Didn’t notice the Passenger Train which *could* be good, although I can’t think of any decent looking versions released since the Metroliner. It would be nice if Lego was generous enough to provide some scenery and animals. It’ll probably be an over/priced, unimaginative stickered mess though that doesn’t look like any normal train and there will be no associated sets to expand the railway. We’ll see…

I’d better not! 😂

More licensed series, more garbage…

Hopefully more exciting than this year. Would love to have a return of the Minifigure sets like ‘Fun In The Park’ or ‘Fun At The Beach’. Would really like ‘Fun at the Ski Resort’, ‘Fun On Safari’ and, as I’m getting married soon, ‘Fun At the Wedding’!

OK, so for a bit of fun as we await details of 2027 sets, let’s have a pointless animal themed guessing game… Pick two animals from each of the following categories, the first which you think is most likely to be the next new animal mould and the second which you would most like to see (we’ll assume the rumoured hedgehog and corgi in CMF series 30 are already a given, so don’t mention them)… 1) Domestic Animals e.g Pets/Farm (specify breed if choosing a dog) 2) North American Wildlife 3) South American Wildlife 4) European Wildlife 5) African Wildlife 6) Asian Wildlife 7) Australasian Wildlife 8) Sea Life or Polar 9) Extinct Animals 10) Cryptids/Fictional Fauna - included specially for @Lion King

Thinking the gondolier will re-use the hat from the ‘Dapper Dan’s’ included in the Disney Main Street set. I just hope they will print another colour band in the middle (red or black).

And the designers who thought the birds in the F*R*I*E*N*D*S Apartment were fine! 😩

It can’t be long now until we start seeing set details for 2027. It feels like with pretty much every theme these days is licensed with the exception of City and Ninjago no Castle, Pirates, Space, Adventurers or seemingly something like Dreamzzz. Therefore the only real chance we have for ‘real’ animals to appear is City. i am quite concerned at how last year’s City sets made very little effort to fill the gaps so hopefully 2027 sets will take us away from the city centre to allow for the introduction of new animals. 1) As I often mention here, probably the most ‘urgent’ subtheme for animals would be Safari/Savannah. The reason being there are four essentials yet to be made (hippo, rhino, giraffe and zebra). Given that these are all quite large, it’s unlikely they will all be introduced in the same wave and we would have to wait a substantial number of years until the theme is revisited. It would therefore be good to start with some African based sets to at least give us a start on introducing the ‘Big 4’. There are a number of other animals that would also be useful here such as meerkats, gazelles, hyenas, baboons and baby versions of the ‘Big 4’, plus a return/remake of the ostrich. It is going to take Lego a long time to get there, so best to start now and use an exclusively animal related CMF series to fill as many gaps as possible. 2) US National Parks - we haven’t seen the bear and eagle for some time but I loved the ‘Fun Outdoors’ Minifig pack from 2016 vibe and would love to see more sets which evoke the early 90s ‘leisure’ sets (6665 river Runners and 6552 Rocky River Retreat). The A-Frame cabin was a lovely set too. This could provide more wildlife opportunities (beaver, moose, bison, raccoon). 3) Complete the farm subtheme. Missing animals needed include turkeys, geese, roosters and donkeys. Also introduce recoloured cows and sheep and baby goats! 4) Welcome to the Jungle - this could be Asian (orangutans, Malaysian tapirs, hornbills) or South American wildlife (sloths, capybaras, anteaters, toucan re-use). We have a lot of great plant pieces now too. 5) I hope Lego look for any opportunity to include other animals that may not require a full subtheme. For example, instead of a new train, make an Andean train with llamas or an Outback train with kangaroos. A riverboat/barge with swans. Pandas in the Lunar NY set. Then use the CMF series to provide vultures, wombats, peacocks, tortoises, which generally would not find a natural place in a standard set.

I didn’t expect anything from SpongeBob in terms of animals but we don’t really talk much about sea life here. I’d like to see… 1)The big turtles recoloured in olive green. 2) Sea lions (to recreate MOCs of Pier 39 and Central Park Zoo) - I’m think Lego thinks they are the same as seals, hence the City set with a San Francisco vibe 3) Playmobil had a lovely Wiltopia manatee set 4) Pelicans - not really sea life as such but coastal! 5) Whale sharks and belugas 6) Not an animal request but wish the CMF diving suits were rereleased.

So the Adventurers - Return to Egypt Ideas set was not approved, which is a massive disappointment. If I was optimistic and had faith in Lego these days, I’d suggest they perhaps rejected it as they want to introduce a wider variety of sets within the theme, which could result in Jungle sets. However, I don’t really think Lego cares enough about its legacy themes these days, only grabbing money from licensed rubbish…

I would think these figures would be held back for the Midnight Valley sets if this is going to be an annual thing like Winter Village. i still think the best set would be an all-animal accessory series. It could encompass different themes. More specifically, if the CMF bags each contained a ‘baby’ version of an adult animal that were available simultaneously in a normal set. e.g. A City Wildlife Photography set which includes a hippo and boat, then a baby hippo is also available in the CM line. This way Lego ensures both regular sets and CMF are both targeted as collectors would want to match up the adults and young animals. Not that I need to give Lego ideas about how to make £££, some good sets on the other hand, maybe!

Is this the rumoured Halloween version of the Winter Village?

Perhaps we’ll get the Animal CMF line that we thought the costumed series was going to be. A guy can dream… if not, I’m giving Lego plenty of advanced warning that I fully expect to see some Adventurers sets in 2028 (being the 30th anniversary of the theme’s debut). I know the Jungle and Asian subthemes didn’t follow until later but it would be a great opportunity for some new wildlife. By then we’ll need to start selling bodily organs to afford Lego though…

I’m looking forward to the Gondolier and the Spa Lady Presumably the actual gondolier may be like the train kid or ship captain with a vehicle accessory connected to the waist. However they do it, I hope it contains a specific piece that can connect to the front of a full size gondola for MOC purposes. Hope the spa lady has cucumber over the eyes (there was a pic of the bag where she had this but it was suggested this was a fake) also wearing a white bathrobe and with towel headgear. My dream is to build a minifig-scale Lego cruise ship so I always look out for any figs that might be compatible. A spa lady would work very nicely, so thanks for this, Lego (p.s. I still don’t like you very much these days though).

Sadly only brick built but should excite @williejm Grand Prize Selection: Rebuilding Outdoor Adventures | LEGO® Ideas