Aanchir

That would be AMAZING, honestly. I still greatly miss the LEGO Elves theme and would love to see another adventure-heavy mini-doll theme in that same vein. And just as Elves excelled at many sorts of features and details we've rarely seen in more boy-targeted Castle sets over the years, a Pirates-inspired mini-doll theme could probably do the same for many nautical and tropical features. Imagine a island hut or pirate ship with actual hammocks to give their inhabitants a place to sleep, or a port market with merchants selling valuable goods like sea charts, tropical fruit, and exotic animals! Imagine the potential for accessories that acknowledge the cultural pastimes of pirates and seafarers — playing cards, checkerboards, musical instruments like fiddles and concertinas, journals for chronicling long sea voyages, and crafts such as woodcarving, scrimshaw, and macramé. There'd be even more possibilities if such a theme opted to include fantasy elements, such as magical treasures, sea monsters, and mermaid grottos. It's not as though any of this sort of stuff would be verboten in more traditional minifig-based Pirates sets, of course. AFOL-oriented exclusives in particular often tend to strike a pretty good balance between the sorts of features that are traditionally in boy-oriented and girl-oriented "play themes". Consider how Pirates of Barracuda Bay and Lion Knights' Castle both included features like kitchens, toilets/garderobes, and sleeping quarters — stuff that was traditionally much more common in Belville castles and dollhouses sets than in Castle/Pirates playsets. But speaking for myself as a passionate LEGO Elves fan, I'd be just as happy to get that stuff a theme with mini-dolls as I would in one with minifigs! Considering the size of the fern pieces, I feel like you could probably make a much more substantial-looking palm tree by using more than four fronds — and potentially even have some of the fronds angled upwards instead of just downwards. But I can see why they kept things simple in this set, since the palm tree is largely "set dressing" for the boardwalk amusement park scene. I am eager to experiment with such possibilities once I either have a bunch of fern pieces in hand or have access to them on stud.io.

That new beach park set is OUTSTANDING! Here's a link to it on BrickFanatics for those who haven't seen it. I'm very surprised that they're releasing a second 12+ Friends set so soon — I don't think that even Ninjago has had more than one 12+/14+/16+ in a single year. But the level of detail certainly justifies it! All the brick-built animals from the rides and signage look fantastic — the seahorse in particular makes very creative use of the new dragon horn piece from this year's Ninjago sets for its neck and tail! The coastline itself is also brilliantly constructed using Brick Yellow curved slopes, two shades of azure plates, and Tr. Light Blue 1x2 curved slopes for the waves. I think those and the Tr. Yellow curved slopes used extensively for the seahorse's fins are the first time we've seen that piece in any transparent color, unless an earlier example has slipped my mind or escaped my notice. The use of Tr. Bright Green Opal (Satin Trans-Bright Green) curved blade pieces as seaweed and Bright Yellowish Green fern pieces as palm fronds is also extremely inspired, and I hope we see those parts used again in those ways across other sets. The boardwalk itself is nothing special in terms of building techniques, but still shows an impressive standard of detail. Parts and building techniques aside, the park attractions are also really fun, varied, and creative. I've already spoken about how great the spinning ride's animals look, and hopefully the function looks just as fun and dynamic in motion as it does in a still image! The wave pool even on its own would be a neat, well-constructed feature that we rarely see in LEGO water park/swimming pool sets, but adding an augmented reality surfing game with a screen and camera helps it feel even more unique (and well-suited to Nova's love of gaming). The squid and pirate themed shooting gallery with microscale ships, squids, and water cannons is a clever nautical twist on the more generic target shooting games we've seen in other fairground sets from themes like Duplo, City, Creator, and even Friends itself. Though I suspect it MUST be rigged, since they're offering up a LEGO set as big and expensive as this year's Heartlake International School as one of their prizes! And of course there is a snack bar for refreshments — nothing too unique or novel there other than the palm-frond awning, but the Reddish Brown and Medium Nougat log hut construction definitely fits in beautifully with the overarching boardwalk/seaside aesthetic. It's great to see another appearance from Zac and Nova. In Nova's case, this is perhaps the most "active" we've seen her, since her primary passions and hobbies we've seen are more indoor-focused, and she wasn't in any of the camping-related sets from the first wave. We don't really get a great look at either her top or Zac's, but I can see that hers has some kind of game controller graphic. Its short sleeves are well suited to this sort of summertime outdoor activity. Her taste for contrasting bright and dark colors is also in keeping with what we've seen of her fashion sense in other sets, and the same goes for the vibrant tones of Zac's clothing. Not sure what to make of new character Dia. Both the texture and color of her hair are very similar to Nova's. Coupled with their similar skin tones, that could suggest that she and Nova are family — but could also make it less jarring if you choose to put Dia on the surfing game instead of Nova. I might be imagining it, but it kind of looks as though Charli is wearing a chest binder underneath their tank top. Charli already gave me queer/nonbinary vibes when they first showed up in the diner set, and if anything, their beachwear in this set reinforces that impression. Their tank top's graphic design has an amazing retro look perfect for the beach, and their metallic blue sandals are likewise a very stylish and eye-catching choice!

Oh, that does look very nice! Could be very appealing as part of a parade or royal procession after a successful battle.

The upcoming LEGO Friends set 41737 has some great parts and techniques Pirates builders might appreciate, at least if they become more plentiful in other sets/themes! In particular, the shoreline makes great use of existing curved Brick Yellow slopes, Dark and Medium Azur plates, and 1x2x2/3 curved slopes in Tr. Light Blue (which I believe are a new recolor for that piece). The set also introduces ferns in Bright Yellowish Green (Lime) and wavy blade pieces in Tr. Bright Green Opal (Satin Trans-Bright Green) as seaweed! Also, while it doesn't necessarily have a lot of utility for Pirates sets/MOCs, I do love that pirate squid sign on top of the shooting gallery game, and the microscale squids and sailing ships used as targets! All the brick-built creatures in the set are really cute and charming.

Honestly, I find it a little fascinating that the Barracuda itself in PoBB had roughly the same size hull as the original set (around 50 studs long by 16 studs wide). Perhaps that's a testament to how MASSIVE the Black Seas Barracuda/Dark Shark was compared to most other playsets of its time! But you're right that PoBB expanded extensively on the original build in other areas: a full main deck; higher forecastle and quarterdeck; larger masts, spars, and sails (including a spanker); a longer bowsprit with a martingale boom; etc. For that matter, PoBB's primary shipwreck hideout build was naturally MUCH larger than any of the pirate hideouts from the original theme! And I expect an exclusive, AFOL-targeted Imperial fort would likewise be quite a bit larger than the original Eldorado Fortress, particularly since its footprint wouldn't have to be constrained to fit a preformed 32x32 baseplate. And honestly, being able to get big, premium models like Pirates of Barracuda Bay or the Lion Knight's Castle is another thing that LEGO likely would've balked at back in the days of Medieval Market Village and Imperial Flagship — to say nothing of the days of LEGO Legends! The change in perspective is probably in part because we've seen even larger and more expensive exclusives in some other product lines (including licensed ones) that have helped prove to LEGO how much adult builders are willing to spend on a premium model. In fact, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks mentions something else I hadn't really considered before — how big a role the success of the UCS Millennium Falcon (which was developed largely as a passion project, and not necessarily expected to sell in high volumes) played in helping the Creator Expert design team get approval for larger and more numerous non-licensed exclusives in subsequent years. Knowing that honestly gives me a new appreciation for those sorts of massive, several-hundred-dollar licensed exclusives, even though I personally have very little interest in them (or in licensed themes in general).

Jamie Berard mentioned here some reasons why the LEGO Legends line didn't do so well. They apply more to strict re-releases than to classic-inspired sets more generally, but probably played a part in discouraging LEGO from making more of those sorts of nostalgia-driven, AFOL-targeted exclusives until fairly recently. I get the impression they sold fairly well, but not well enough to become an annual/biannual tradition like the Modular Buildings, Winter Village, or Fairground collections. After all, with so few slots reserved for adult-targeted exclusives in each year's product line, making every successful D2C set into an annual/biannual tradition would soon leave no room to experiment with new and different sorts of adult-targeted exclusives. Also, it's worth noting that the Medieval Market Village's and Imperial Flagship's strong sales could be attributed (at least in part) to them tying in with then-recent Castle and Pirates releases. I suspect that played a big part in giving LEGO the confidence to make adult-targeted sets tied to other current/recent themes in subsequent years, like the Monster Fighters Haunted House, Kingdoms Joust, and Ninjago Temple of Airjitzu. But it didn't necessarily prove anything about the viability of nostalgia-focused exclusives based on inactive themes, and so understandably LEGO would have been warier about such products at the time. Trust me, plenty of us would love for LEGO to make full lines of classic-inspired Castle, Pirates, and Space sets. But a full theme inevitably takes up a LOT more production capacity than a one-off exclusive — which is tricky to justify when so much of LEGO's production capacity is taken up by reliable, proven themes like City, Friends, Ninjago, Star Wars, Super Heroes, Disney, Creator, Classic, Technic, etc. And when LEGO does have room for a new kid-targeted theme (like this year's rumored new theme "Dreamzzz"), its subject matter is often decided based on what subjects, visuals, and play patterns are most exciting to kids at the time — based on anywhere from one to four years of testing, research, and development. In some cases, the theme selected at the end of this process IS very similar to a genre or category that the company has explored in previous decades — such as Power Miners, Atlantis, Hidden Side, Ultra Agents, etc. But it can just as easily be something radically different than any "traditional" LEGO themes. In any case, it's not something LEGO tends to decide based on whether a particular classic theme "deserves" another chance in the spotlight. Sorry if I sound like a "Debbie downer" here! I genuinely am hopeful that there could be opportunities for new Castle, Pirates, or Space themes in the future. But realistically, I don't expect those possibilities to get any sort of preferential treatment over other new theme possibilities. If these traditional sorts of themes do end up making a comeback, it'll be because kids develop an especially passionate interest in them, as they have at various times in the past. On the subject of LEGO Pirates specifically: I recently received my pre-ordered copy of The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks by Daniel Konstanski. It discusses a lot of the development process behind old-school themes, including the original three minifigure-scale "play themes" which represented the past (Castle), present (Town), and future (Space). Even after Castle had proven successful, a host of other historic-inspired themes were considered, since designers couldn't know for sure whether or not the LEGO Castle relaunch in 1984 would end up being as strong a hit with kids. These included not only Pirates, but also Ancient Rome, Jules Verne-inspired fantasy, Vikings, Western, and Napoleonic Wars/"Europa". Of those possibilities, Ancient Rome was the one preferred by Castle designer Daniel August Krentz, but it was rejected because there was a popular Asterix the Gaul TV cartoon in Europe at the time, and designers felt kids would respond to an Ancient Rome theme like a poor knock-off if it didn't portray the Romans and their adversaries the way they were familiar with from that franchise. Niels Milan Pedersen was an eager proponent of the Jules Verne idea, but kids who it was tested with were not familiar with those types of stories and did not respond well to the proposed models (such as a Nautilus-inspired submarine), finding them confusing and nonsensical. After development on the Castle relaunch concluded, designers continued concept and model development for Europa, Western, and Pirates, in hopes that one of those three would be selected as the next play theme. Western was the next of these to be rejected because of the Kirk Christiansen family's aversion to weapons and violent scenarios like shootouts (and concerns that 19th century handguns and rifles looked too close to modern ones, unlike the other two themes' more old-fashioned looking cannons, flintlock pistols, and muskets). In the end, it took years before LEGO firmly settled on Pirates as their next theme. And it then ended up getting delayed for years longer because the Castle theme remained a massive hit even longer than expected, and LEGO didn't want to split their production capacity between even more themes and risk not having enough of either theme's products on the shelves to meet demand (sort of the same thing as what happened more recently with Ninjago, honestly). I think all of this gives some real perspective on how much it can take for any potential new theme to win approval over all the other possibilities under consideration — although development schedules for new sets and themes are fortunately shorter and more streamlined today than they were back then.

I wouldn't be surprised if this and some of the other non-anniversary throwback sets we've seen (such as the Bionicle and Blacktron GWPs) were informed in part by the results of the LEGO Ideas 90th anniversary poll. After all, even if LEGO didn't have the production capacity to deliver setts from all these popular themes/subthemes as 90th anniversary tie-ins, I suspect there are a number of LEGO designers who had already been eagerly exploring possibilities for throwback sets like these, and were simply waiting on the perfect chance to show their higher-ups how many fans of those themes were just as eager for sets of that sort. Plus, I'm sure some of those 90th anniversary throwbacks like the Galaxy Explorer and Lion Knights' Castle helped open the floodgates, so to speak, by showing that this enthusiasm AFOLs have for older themes CAN, in fact, translate to sales (something that some previous nostalgia-fueled releases like the LEGO Legends line from the early 2000s struggled with). And of course, it helps that LEGO is no longer as reticent about making dedicated adult-targeted sets as they were back in the 2000s and early 2010s when sets like the Medieval Market Village and Imperial Flagship hit the market. Back then, LEGO only had slots for 7 or 8 such sets a year, and a lot of those would inevitably be taken up by other, more "proven" adult-targeted product lines like the Landmarks Series, Modular Buildings Collection, Winter Village Collection, and Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series. Now that LEGO is willing to devote a greater share of their portfolio to adult-targeted sets, they will probably be able to produce these throwback-type sets on a more frequent basis going forward.

You don't owe me any sort of apology for that! Your experience is your experience. And it's not like this sort of quality issue is unheard of. The issue with the brown parts, as explained here, was a defective batch of colorless ABS granulate. Reddish Brown and Dark Red were not the only colors affected, but most other colors of brick produced from this batch of granulate were noticeably discolored (like these "brittle blue" bricks) whereas the Reddish Brown and Dark Red dye masked the discoloration better and made it harder for LEGO to isolate and dispose of parts that were made with the faulty granulate. As of a couple years ago, LEGO has finally managed to resolve this issue and get rid of all the defective Reddish Brown parts, but needless to say, it's still a risk you'll run into with older parts and sets.

I'm not sure about all the specifics, but I know it uses some sort of fluorescent dye, since it glows very brightly under a blacklight (on par with transparent fluorescent/"Trans-Neon" colors). It's possible that the fluorescent dye is designed to allow more light through to maximize the fluorescent effect? The actual plastic granulate is presumably the same ABS used for other solid-colored bricks, since parts made from plastics with different properties are usually assigned different Design IDs. For example, solid-colored 2x2 bricks (including the Vibrant Yellow one) are design number 3003, while transparent ones made from polycarbonate or MABS are design number 6223 or 35275.

For those with a taste for the fantastic/whimsical, the recently discovered Disney Magical Treehouse has some stunning new recolors: 6 x 6 x 2/3 ice/crystal textured tiles, 4 x 4 ice/crystal textured wedge slopes, and 1 x 1 rock crystals in Tr. Blue Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Blue) Ferns and a 4 x 6 x 1 1/3 pointed windscreen in Tr. Medium Violet Opal (Satin Trans-Dark Pink) Reeds in Bright Reddish Violet 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 2/3 domes (BB-8 droid heads/mushroom caps) in Bright Reddish Violet (Magenta), printed with metallic pink spots. Elephant tail/trunk, dinosaur tail/neck, and short triple stem/hair pieces in Aqua (Light Aqua) 2 x 6 x 2/3 spiral stair segments in Bright Bluish Green Not gonna lie, this set makes me really miss LEGO Elves, with its otherworldly "magical forest" vibes. I recognize, of course, that none of these parts except perhaps the crystals are particularly suitable for real-world or real-world-adjacent historical builds, but I figured that for those who dabble in more medieval fantasy or fairy tale influenced stuff, they'd be worth bringing up here.

I mean, while Ninja didn't REALLY fly around on hang-glider-sized kites, those ARE a part of traditional ninja legends and folklore. Likewise, real ninja would've disguised themselves as ordinary people, rather than dressing in kabuki stagehand garb — and they certainly wouldn't advertise their allegiance with color-coded outfits! In these regards, the Ninja theme is much like the Pirates theme, or even the Castle theme's Forestmen, Dragon Masters, and Fright Knights factions — drawing heavily from fictional portrayals in folklore, literature, theater, and film, not just from "true" history. All in all, even ignoring the Ninjago factor, I think others are right that we're not anywhere near as likely to get 90s Ninja throwback sets as we are to get more traditional Castle, Space, or Pirates ones. Some of these late 90s themes/subthemes like Ninja and Wild West might be really iconic to those of us who grew up with them (myself included!), but they were short-lived, and came out at a time when a lot of the AFOL "old guard" was becoming disillusioned with the company's newer offerings. By contrast, the longer lifespans of the Castle, Space, and Pirates themes has given them a lot of nostalgic appeal among multiple generations of AFOLs. I may not have grown up with Lion Knights, Black Falcons, Forest People, Classic Space, or Blacktron sets specifically (at least outside of stuff my folks obtained secondhand from yard sales or online auctions) — but I DID grow up enjoying LEGO Castle and LEGO Space on a more general level. It is possible that LEGO might eventually branch out and start making throwback sets based on short-lived late 90s themes/subthemes like these. But I don't see it being a high priority for them currently — not when there are so many other possibilities for throwback sets still on the table.

Looks like it! Neat to see that there are more features in the back like an artificial rock wall to get up to the deck. Obviously, this doesn't really do anything to improve its value for Pirates MOCs/layouts, but it does give it more play value and variety as a playground vignette than if the back were left plain.

For what it's worth, I suspect this particular item is meant to tie in with Children's Day (which is observed in April in Taiwan and Hong Kong), much like 40529 from last year. If that's the case, then the designers probably started out with the concept of a playground before the pirate theming was settled on. And the minifigs and accessories in this one do at least stick closer to the pirate theme than some of those other "modern day" sets listed above (or Tree House Treasures, for that matter) — enough so that either of these minifigs could plausibly be used without modification for a cabin boy or the like. I'm not saying your frustrations aren't valid. I'm with you in hoping that LEGO might have some more AFOL-targeted pirates sets with a more historical setting planned for the near future, especially considering how outstanding some of the recent AFOL-targeted Castle and Space sets have been! But I don't think this set precludes that possibility one bit. In fact, I think it's a good sign that LEGO is keeping these pirate-themed torso prints and headgear pieces in production, especially since they've been used so sparingly in recent years.

The Build-A-Mini parts for 2023's second quarter apparently include some Lion Knight parts, including a unicorn knight head (same head mold as the Vidiyo unicorns)! https://jaysbrickblog.com/news/first-look-at-the-new-build-a-minifigure-bam-q2-2023-selections-including-a-unicorn-lion-knight/ I'm sure this is "meh" to a lot of folks here, since it leans more into zany fantasy than a lot of folks' Lion Knight collections/layouts (or castle collections/layouts in general). Even to me, it's a bit perplexing that the designers opted for a Bright Yellow head like those used for human knights instead of more of a "horse" color. But it does feature printed gold cheek guards with ornamental lion patterns (matching those on the belt of 10305's Lady of the Castle, whose torso is reused for this figure). Even so, the other non-unique Lion Knight parts being added to BAM this quarter (such as the Lion Knight shields yellow lion rampant on a blue field, and the aforementioned lion knight torso with gold belt and gorget) might be of interest to castle fans buying BAM packs for other reasons, such as for the printed wizard robes and dual-molded wizard hat which continue to appear in this batch.

Apparently the newest batch of build-a-mini parts coming to LEGO brand stores includes a pirate skeleton torso! It's a great design IMO, even if the use of plain white minifig arms is less than ideal (at least compared to other skeleton characters that have armor or sleeves to justify the use of standard arm pieces). You can see the back printing in one of the images from the full article.

The newly announced Dry Bowser Castle Battle set includes four of those parts in black, which will be especially useful for masts! And some of the alternate set images like this one even showcase how two of those can form a nice solid column with a sturdy base when placed back to back. Also, as I mentioned in the Historic Themes forum's topic analogous to this one, the 2x2 box/container with treasure chest printing (also visible in the pic linked above) could be great for smaller treasure chests, coffers, lockboxes, or jewelry cases. Nothing about the print seems too Mario-specific, in my opinion.

Another new recolor in the Dry Bowser Castle set is the 2-stud-long handle/hilt with studs on both ends (i.e. the part used in black on the Medieval Blacksmith's door handles and sign) in Medium Stone Grey. Never hurts to have a good generic connector piece like that in another neutral color! Perhaps even more exciting, the castle includes four 2x4x13 half-cylinder columns in black! This part is BEGGING to be used for sailing ship masts, and could also be useful for tree trunks or architectural columns like the ones from Night Lord's Castle. In any case, black is a color that could prove very useful in ANY of those applications. A lot of the time the decorations in Super Mario sets don't strike me as especially appropriate for this topic due to being very cartoonish and/or IP-specific. But there is one exception in the Dry Bowser Castle set: a 2x2 box/container with treasure chest printing (most clearly visible in this pic). Could be useful for smaller coffers, lockboxes, or jewelry boxes compared to the treasure chest piece, provided you don't mind the keyhole part of the pattern being in bright yellow. Especially since this box piece allows for such a wide variety of different lid shapes!

Love this build, especially after getting to see it in detail in some of the recent online reviews! Redbeard was a VERY good choice for a minifigure to depict at this 6x scale for a promotional item of this sort — even besides the individualized facial features that made him such a groundbreaking milestone in the history of the minifigure, he also has lots of unique, distinguishing details like his hook, peg leg, epaulets, and elaborate layered outfit which really give this model loads of unique brick-built flair. Noticing also that this model is to scale with the upscaled pirate treasure chest MOC that Mark Stafford shared from last year's LEGO Inside Tour: A Reddish Brown version of this would be a great companion piece to this Captain Redbeard figure! Sadly, it can't currently be built in Reddish Brown without modifications, since the 4x4x2 2/3 slope doesn't come in that color yet. But that could probably be remedied with some slight modifications. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on an upscaled cutlass build on stud.io. I'll share the file here once I'm happy with it.

Some references could be nice, though I think minifigs from other "knight" factions would be better off appearing in sets or CMFs where they can get a bit more focus (and thus, more dedicated prints and molds), rather than ones focused on peasant/civilian life. Troops from these factions would presumably need both printed torsos AND legs to measure up to the modern Lion Knight and Black Falcon minifigures. For the Black Knights in particular, I kind of feel like the best modern interpretation of the silver scale armor torso pattern that they used so widely might be a molded armor piece, rather than just a torso print — especially since, much like the silver breastplate torso pattern from the mid-80s, the this scale armor pattern appeared on several different colors of torso assembly across several different factions! As with the molded breastplate piece that's gotten so much use from the 90s through the present day, a molded scale armor piece could be popped onto any modern Lion Knight or Black Falcon character to give them a whole new look and differentiate them from their comrades-in-arms. The golden dragon armor from LEGO Ninjago provides an example of how a molded scale armor texture could look, though that one covers just the chest rather than the whole torso. I realize this is rather tangential, so back on topic: I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to include a singular Wolfpack bandit in a set like this to provide a little bit of danger and intrigue. Like the forest people, they could probably work fine with just two new printed elements (a torso and a shield) and unprinted legs. The old peasant hoods and molded capes could easily be swapped for a modern hood mold and fabric cape, which already tend to be available in colors like black and brown. Plus, if LEGO wanted to spread those new prints around a bit more to offset their cost, a modernized version of 6038 would probably be around the right size for a GWP set similar to the Forest Hideout! It's also possible that LEGO would rather continue to use the Forest People as the rebel element in a few more sets before reintroducing another outlaw faction. If they chose to do so but still wanted to keep things fresh, they could introduce a new torso pattern (without the need for a new shield as well). Or they could even use the existing red-and-green torso with a scruffier-looking face print and a hood piece instead of a bycocket cap, as a callback to some of the Dark Forest minifigures from the 90s. The crossed halberd heraldry was a bit before my time, but honestly I've never thought of it as a separate faction, just as an alternate torso pattern for Lion Knight guards and soldiers. That's how that torso pattern appeared to be used in sets — plus, it echoes the crossed lance motif that appears over 6080's gate. Regardless, I wouldn't mind seeing that shield in another set, potentially even with a new Lion Knight torso pattern to match (together with the existing Lion Knight legs pattern).

Now that clearer official pics of the individual Disney figs are available, it's a little easier to pinpoint what parts seem particularly fun/useful for historic builds: Practically ALL the Evil Queen's parts will be widely applicable to historic characters. The crown is especially exciting to me as a new headgear option for minifig royalty. The antenna piece is also new in Warm Gold, and could be useful for accessories like scepters, fantasy weapons, musical instruments, and more! Her dual-colored cape (Black on one side, Dark Red on the other) and white collar are pretty versatile as well — it's quite rare for dual-colored capes like that to show up in sets! On that note, Jiminy Cricket has a smaller white collar which could have quite a bit of utility in its own right. Tiana's Spring Yellowish Green tiara/diadem is also a neat recolor, and while it's hard to get a good look at her hair in this image, it seems rather versatile. I'm honestly surprised that after multiple mini-doll/micro-doll appearances, it took her this long to get a dedicated hair piece (all the Tiana mini-dolls so far have instead opted for a recolor of Cinderella's hair and headband). Dr. Facilier's spooky tarot card could be a fun accessory for fortune tellers or magicians, though it wouldn't technically be historically accurate for medieval characters or builds (tarot cards existed in the late medieval period, but they were still used strictly as playing cards back then — their use in divination came later). The Queen of Hearts is the first time a set has included an unprinted heart tile in Bright Red! Besides being quite useful as a decorative detail, it could also be useful for health items in video game inspired fantasy MOCs. I wouldn't be surprised if the rumored Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree set used one of these as a heart container. Aurora's owl is a bit more cartoonish than other modern owl prints, but still generic enough for use in MOCs. Her gown and hair could also be useful for figs with a similar fairy-tale aesthetic, although her hair's Bright Yellow color means it will primarily be useful for people who use fleshies in their creations rather than traditional Bright Yellow minifigs. Pinocchio's hair with conical pileus-style hat could be of great use for peasant characters if you don't mind its bright color. For those who use fleshies in their creations, his legs could also be useful for child characters, although his torso is probably too cartoonish for many builders' tastes due to its oversized blue bow. Cruella de Ville's hair is very specific to that character and her outfit as a whole is too 20th-century inspired to be much use to historic builders, but the printed fur collar of her coat could certainly have applications in historic builds. Same with Prince John's spotted fur collar.

Honestly, I feel like there's a lot of amazing castle-building potential even with a lot of the big panel pieces that ARE still around today! I'm a big fan of the 1x4x5 panel with castle window, and the 2x2x5 quarter cylinder panel. I have a much easier time working with their simpler shapes and even-numbered widths than I did with the odd-numbered widths of old-school castle wall panels — not saying those were bad or that they lacked creative potential, just that they've always been a little trickier to wrap my brain around, especially when I was still just a kid. I've had a lot of fun MOCing with them on Stud.io — though I have regrettably never gotten any of my castle concepts to a state of completion I'm happy enough with to go forth and order the pieces I'd need to build them physically. I also feel like many old-school LEGO castles weren't as big as they seem to us in hindsight — most of the ones from the 80s and early 90s could fit neatly on a 32x32 baseplate (even 6080 King's Castle, if you remove the unused grassy area in the front). 6090 Royal Knights' Castle went further than any of its predecessors with its 48x32 baseplate, but became decidedly less substantial in the process, with just short parapet walls along the back and left side, and a column-based throne room tower with scarcely a single solid wall! Honestly, I think the shift away from solid baseplates and towards modular builds on standard plates (similar to those used for small and mid-size Castle sets back in the 1980s) was a real boon in terms of allowing fully-enclosed castles to extend their outer walls further — and even break away from a rectangular grid layout, in some cases — while maintaining a $100 price point. Yep! Both the 4x10x6 and 3x8x7 ones from the 90s were still appearing in sets as recently as last year, and a new 8x8x6 "corner" BURP was even introduced in 2016 to go with them! The smaller 2x4x6 cliff/ice wall introduced in the mid-2000s also remains in use in both solid and transparent colors, and just this year a shorter 2x4x4 version was introduced for the Super Mario sets! In general, the current LEGO parts palette is not lacking for big panel/frame pieces and other structural elements — especially since nowadays there are a lot of "4+" sets that make heavy use of them. These sets cater to a similar "preschool" age range to Fabuland sets from the 80s or Jack Stone/4 Juniors sets from the early 2000s, but with a less theme-specific design language that allows them to share more of their figure components and other parts with standard "play themes". Mind you, I do think that the more limited use of BURPs and other large structural elements in premium, AFOL-targeted sets like the Lion Knights' Castle is an appropriate call. Not only does that improve their appeal with builders who would feel underwhelmed by the simpler sorts of builds typical of more kid-targeted sets, it also gives LEGO a chance to get extra creative with the details of the model's windows, parapets, and landscaping. But rest assured, I don't see any signs that LEGO intends to do away with larger wall panels or BURPs any time soon.

60346 Barn and Farm Animals and 60301 Wildlife Rescue Off-Roader are also both 4+ sets with a lot of disproportionately large "starter bricks". That's probably at least as big a factor in their unusually high price-per-piece as their number of animal molds. Compare with 60280 Fire Ladder Truck, a 4+ City set with NO animal molds but a higher price per piece in USD than either of those other two sets! Large 18+ sets like the Lion Knights' Castle and medieval village are on the opposite end of the spectrum. They have lots and lots of small pieces and basic bricks that help to drive down their price per piece, and should certainly be enough to offset the cost of the animals. Also, keep in mind that the leaked pic of the village shows FEWER large, pre-assembled animals like cows and horses than were included in the Lion Knights' Castle. Smaller single-piece animals (even printed ones) like cats, sheep, squirrels, and owls usually still cost more per piece than basic bricks, but don't tend to drive up a set's price by nearly as much as large, pre-assembled animals. I mean, just look how many different animal molds and prints regularly show up in Friends sets!

Oh, heck yes! I'm kind of surprised it took this long to get clearer confirmation, but glad we finally have it.

Oh, dang, I thought it was Tr. Bright Green at first, but after a closer look at the lifestyle/in-hand product photos, it definitely seems like both the windscreen and the studs for the stud shooters are traditional Tr. Green! It's been a long time since we've seen any new windscreens in that color.

Yeah, nearly all castle walls in sets from 1984 through 1990 had one or more Technic bricks at their base like this so you could link multiple sets together into one big castle. Since we don't know yet whether the medieval village will be able to connect to Lion Knights' Castle in this same way, the clearest/most definite function of that Technic hole is a place to conconnect it to those sorts of old-school LEGO Castle sets. There were a few sets during the aforementioned span of years (namely 6034, 6067 , 6081, and 6085) which can't connect directly to the Lion Knights' Castle due to their base extending further forward than the Technic bricks used to link them to other sets — meaning that they'd be blocked from connecting by that sloped rock shown in your image. But they can still be linked together in a layout as long as you include another set between them and the Lion Knights' Castle.