lifeinplastic

Most packs of sausages probably already contain some pigeon,

Perhaps it is a bit like sausages where they have to have a certain % of meat content to label themselves as ‘pork’ or ‘beef’ sausages. Two pigeons probably isn’t enough.. We can still call it that though, a bit like the gorillas jungle set, which is 95% helicopter - it’ll always be the gorillas set to me.

Probably just becoming a grumpy old man before my time but can’t stand most Lego YouTube channels with all the visits to Lego stores on ‘release day’. Mindless garbage in my view. Same as all the other rubbish about where to position your modular buildings. Much prefer seeing what people have created or projects they are working on, plus brickfilms and cities/layouts they have created themselves.

No more weird than the pigeon tower as a concept! 😝

I heard the Arctic train set contains a giraffe, zebra, rhino, hippo and a coral coloured flamingo… 😝😝😝

Yes - it’s not my cup of tea. Hoping the other sets will be a bit more logical and neater looking.

The thing about pigeons is there is more opportunity to be included in a wide variety of sets, unlike other animals. Pleased we finally have pigeons but I won’t stop moaning until the iconic African four are all available! I’m also glad I’m not the only one old enough to remember Pigeon Street and Long Distance Clara! 😂

I'm struggling to see where they get 40 African animals from (perhaps I haven't looked carefully enough). In my view, Africa is the region where most work is needed in the sense that there are probably the most 'iconic' of animals still very much missing (giraffe, zebra, hippo and rhino). I was hoping at least some of these would make an appearance this summer but the rumoured City sets would suggest otherwise. What is frustrating is that although we are gradually getting more animals, there don't seem to be too many new moulds each wave so even if a Safari/Savanna subtheme appeared next year, it seems unlikely we would get all four at once. The next time the theme would be then visited would probably not be for another 5 years, so sadly I don't feel the gaps in African wildlife will be near completion any time soon. Given there are other African animals that would also be very welcome (buffalos, gazelles, honey badgers, hyenas, meerkats, warthogs), as well as baby versions of the Missing Iconic 4, who knows when we'll finally be able to build a satisfying Savanna habitat? Not to mention some potential African sets should really include existing animals like the elephant, lion and ostrich... I know there are other gaps from other continents too but I think once the iconic 'Safari 4' are sorted then others can gradually be filled. Personally, I think Lego should include a small subtheme next year with a couple of new moulds and then add a small set each year following. For example, 2026 - 4 sets (large safari camp with elephant, adult + baby giraffe and gazelles, small river set with boat and adult/baby hippo (with ability to separate the upper torso to create a wallowing effect), small safari vehicle with zebras 2027 - CMF Zookeeper with meerkat, air rescue set with rhino 2028 - Watering hole set with buffalo, zebra, warthog 2029 - Small safari vehicle with hyena

Definitely - if only for all the potential new animal moulds!!

Perhaps they have already and you just didn’t understand them. What were you doing to encourage this penguin to bite you?

Tsk. There was me thinking you were a modern day Dr Dolittle. Your task this year is to learn some Penguinese.

I see. Do the penguins still refer to it as the 'Ice Age'?

I think Lego City has improved a lot since the early 2000s slump. For adult collectors there are Modular Buildings and some City-related sets that rank up there with the best of all time like the A-Frame Cabin and the Botanical Garden. I realise these are expensive though and the actual City theme should have more affordable sets. I actually think the last few years have been pretty good. The January wave wasn't so good but usually this is when all the Police and Fire sets are released, which really doesn't interest me and never did as a kid. I don't have any problems with vehicles - they are usually cheaper sets, which is good for buying gifts for children, etc. I own a lot of Lego nowadays and there are so many sets available so quite often I will skip City sets if there is nothing particularly new or appealing about them. For example, the Off-Road Mountain Truck 60447 looks decent enough but I doubt I will buy it purely because there isn't anything much included that I really need or want. However, if it had included some sort of suitable animal like an eagle or a bighorn sheep (or whatever animal he is looking at with his binoculars), then I would definitely have one by now. I yearn for the golden days of the early 90's where there were a lot of 'leisure' sets as well as the Paradisa theme (bearing in mind there were fewer colours and moulds back then). I’d like to see more travel and exploration based City sets as well as a return of the ‘Fun at the Park/Beach/Outdoors’ minifig packs.

What do the squirrels and penguins have beef about?

I don’t need a Lego version but if they are trying to ‘de-extinct’ woolly mammoths then I’d really love to see prehistoric penguins back too - some of them apparently grew up to 7 foot tall! Yes please to Lego parasaurolophus though - I don’t like too many of the angry looking dinos we get.

I think a baby mammoth would be too bulky @williejm. How about a hairy mouse instead? 😂 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0jg4n776evo.amp

no - I want regular sized hippos where the upper body can be pulled apart to allow a wallowing effect where did I lose 7 1/2 points? ☹️

OK, I'm ready...! BEAVER - I love it when Lego makes sets based in the 'Great Outdoors' (like the beautiful A-Frame cabin). I would love to see more sets based on North American National Parks and if a moose is too large, we'll have to make do with a beaver. CAPYBARA - Who doesn't wish they were in those wildlife documentaries where they travel along the Pantanal, looking for jaguars or other scary animals with all the capybara families wondering what's going on (can we have a baby version too)? GAZELLE - sadly the African animals we really need the most probably are too large for this challenge. I long for the day when Lego has sufficient safari representation and giraffes and zebras can be joined by Thomson's gazelles at the waterhole! IGUANA - I went to visit the ruins at Uxmal in Mexico and the place has iguanas everywhere - perfect for Adventurers exploring Mayan ruins! LEMUR (Ring-Tailed) - Would love to see some nice detailed printing on the tail LLAMA - I'm pushing the size limits here I think but we need some Andean representation and my Adventurers cannot visit Peru and not see any llamas! ORANG-UTAN - the last to make my list but who doesn't want to explore the rainforests of Borneo? SEA LION - I took my parents on a long train ride to San Francisco for my Dad's 80th as they hadn't been outside Europe before. We loved watching the sea lions at Pier 39 and he is now too frail to travel so I look back fondly at our last trip abroad together. SWAN - I plan to build a large railway and would like to include a riverboat set with some swans TAPIR - I think a Malayan tapir could be represented beautifully in Lego but a mould could work for both SE Asia and S American tapirs. VULTURE - Perfect for Wild West scenes WOMBAT - I suppose a kangaroo is the more iconic Australian animal yet to be made but I wasn't sure if it would be too big for a CMF series and I just love those Playmobil wombats! Definitely - the CMF series is a great opportunity for Lego to include many animals that may not make it into regular sets. However, there are so many missing animals that would probably be too large too fit. The African animals are probably most notable absentees (Giraffe/Zebra/Hippo/Rhino). I'd also like to see North American National Parks sets with a bison or a moose. Plus, the Playmobil manatee set is so good! Yes, I wanted to choose a baby hippo as my very first pick but no point without the adult hippo (shakes fist at @williejm and his 'last moulds ever' rule)!!

Ouch! Only 12 more animals ever! I’m going to need some thinking time just in case Lego read this thread and think they only need to create 12 more! p.s. Don’t you dare Lego. You are already decades behind Playmobil…

At the Bentalls Centre in Kingston, the CMF boxes are secured by a removal tag on the shelf, so you can't remove them without shop supervision. However, there never seems to be any staff around to ask to remove them so I have always avoided buying them there.

*shakes head in dismay*

How dare you - that’s some of my finest work!

If anything is shaped like a whale, it’ll be the ‘Train Cetacean’ ! 😅

So what do we think is going to make the train set an ‘Arctic’ one, even if it is a passenger train or freight? We’ve obviously had both before without being specifically released as Arctic, so what would be the difference?

A good comparison and it does seem at first glance you get more in the older set due to the terrain and croc, despite less pieces. The BURP part probably contributes to that. It would have been good to have an animal with the newer set. That would have been the difference between me getting it and now probably not. A bighorn sheep or even the eagle would have been appropriate.