Aanchir

Wasn't Horizon Express already a modern variant of 7745? I mean, 7745 was literally named "TGV Supersneltrein" in Belgian catalogues, and Horizon Express was pretty clearly based on a 1980s TGV locomotive. That's not to say that a full TGV-inspired train like that would be unwelcome in the City theme, of course! And you're right about that 6x6x2 windscreen being a very good fit for that style of locomotive, particularly if used in both transparent and solid colors and paired with part 87619 (if it's still available to the designers). But needless to say, it'd be simpler than the Horizon Express, and probably less exciting to anybody who's already had that more advanced Creator Expert portrayal available to them. Now, personally, my biggest train-related hope for next year is still for a train station, freight depot, and/or level crossing using the new LEGO City road system. I feel like that would be a pretty natural "next move" for both City trains AND City roads, especially since much like the 16x16x2 "platform bricks" of the 90s, the new City road plates could potentially be used not only as street-level roads, but also as station platforms or boarding ramps for a car transporter wagon/autorack. I'm a lot less picky about locomotives and train cars, since I tend to be pretty impressed with the sort of innovations featured in new LEGO trains even when they're not anything special in the eyes of a dedicated collector. That said, I'm a sucker for "livable" interiors, so I would be happy to see LEGO continue to improve the amenities aboard their passenger trains, like the cafe car in the 2018 passenger train which I was very pleased with. I don't know if it'd be realistic to expect "luxury" features like sleeper cars or dome cars on a modern passenger train set, since it's pretty rare to find those on real-life passenger trains these days, but in the very least it'd be awesome to see a passenger car with a toilet aboard! Considering how common toilets have become in other types of sets, their absence aboard most LEGO passenger trains feels a little odd. I know space is tight aboard LEGO trains even compared to passenger planes like 41429, but I think LEGO could still potentially make it work, especially if they make good use of panels to reduce the exterior wall thickness in certain parts of the train. Those are actually just part 35193 turned on its side! A very cool and clever building technique (and a potentially useful recolor for Spacers), but probably not too useful for train builders who haven't already figured out a use for that part in their own MOCs. The skytrain from 80036 The City of Lanterns is perhaps more directly relevant to this thread, in spite of its narrow gauge and cartoon pig motifs. Its Bright Red roller coaster chassis pieces could be a useful new recolor, and I'm much more pleased with this multi-carriage build than I was with the single-carriage skytrain from 41347 Heartlake City Resort. The compact design of the support struts is also pretty nifty! It probably goes without saying that a lot of us AFOLs would prefer an actual monorail over a two-railed skytrain, but this is the first set that I feel really demonstrates how effectively it could work as a skytrain in an urban setting. Sadly, it looks as though this skytrain design would still not be able to handle inclines, since the roofs would collide with each other as they approach the base of a slope from either direction. That remains the biggest obstacle I've encountered when trying to design enclosed skytrain or space train carriages for the roller coaster chassis in my own spare time. On a somewhat related note, I forget if I've mentioned it in any other threads, but the curved roller coaster track pieces could make an interesting truss for a train bridge, even if the actual track is built using traditional LEGO train tracks!

It is pretty neat, and I love that it uses the same style of pin connections as the buildings and scenery in 80011 and 80012. Of course, these buildings differ from those earlier ones in that the individual stories are all of uniform height (7 bricks tall) and can be separated and rearranged similarly to the "mini-modular" style in many Friends and Creator 3-in-1 sets. This should allow for a lot more mix-and-match potential, especially if LEGO continues to maintain those standards in future Monkie Kid sets.

Hmm, those colors could be neat if somebody wanted to build some additional mini-doll crewmates for Sweet Mayhem from The LEGO Movie 2. Even though that's not as popular as other space factions among a lot of AFOLs, it could be a neat one to explore in MOCs.

I doubt it would be replacing ALL instances of Cool Yellow/Bright Light Yellow in the City theme. @TeriXeri was specifically proposing that it could replace the sort of narrow Cool Yellow accent stripes we've seen on recent Police and Fire sets like 60276 or 60282. That'd be a pretty subtle change, and it's a far cry from the sort of German EMT vehicles you mention that use yellow as one of the main colors, not just for high-visibility stripes. Moreover, a lot of ambulances in the UK have light yellow body paint AND high-visibility chartreuse yellow decals — a distinction that would be lost if LEGO had to use just one color in both of those roles. Beyond the context of emergency vehicles, a high-visibility fluorescent yellow color like the one we're beginning to see next year could be a great fit for all sorts of other uses. Next year's fire helmets are a good example, as are the printed stripes on firefighter jackets, which LEGO was already using fluorescent yellow ink for even before they had a matching plastic. But additionally, it would be a pretty good color for hazmat suits, road worker / crossing guard vests, factory equipment, power tools, bicycle helmets, police tape/barricades, caution signs, tennis balls, etc.

If the rigid 135-degree plate connector used for the mech arms and legs in 80030 gets released in a more subdued color, I'd love to experiment with it as part of a castle wall! It could be a neat alternative to existing hinge bricks/plates and "A-frame" plates for adding angled walls to a castle, and the proportions seem like they'd be pretty easy to work with.

From top to bottom: 6416 Poolside Paradise / Paradisa Palm Villa and 6285 Black Seas Barracuda / The Pirate Ship "Dark Shark"` 497 Galaxy Explorer and what I think is one of the Town Plan sets (I haven't been able to figure out which it is just yet, since the boxes came in so many different variants) 80012 Monkey King Warrior Mech (unboxed in display case) and 80107 Spring Lantern Festival 5988 Pharaoh's Forbidden Ruins / The Temple of Anubis and 6075 Castle

Admittedly, I have done a pretty job of keeping up with LEGO Ideas submissions except when they catch my attention here on Eurobricks or on social media. But this thread was a good reminder to browse some of the space projects currently gathering approval. I just went ahead and supported this one which is very much the sort of thing I was recently thinking could be a nifty Classic Space throwback set, and this one which appeals to my nostalgia for the Spyrius faction from my own childhood (though it sadly doesn't have nearly enough supporters to come anywhere close to that 10,000 mark before the deadline). I'm less thrilled with this one as a MOC, since it uses a lot of digital-only recolors that feel a little implausible for an actual set, but I absolutely love the concept and would be thrilled to see a set inspired by that sort of design on store shelves. Closest I think we've had to that particular flavor of old-school sci-fi aesthetics is Queen Watevra's Space Palace, and its specific role as the home base of a particular faction was very different conceptually than this sort of bustling hub for travelers from across the cosmos. I have never submitted any Ideas projects myself so I'm not really sure if there's anything else that Space builders could/should be doing to try and command more attention during this "gathering support" phase, or to design projects that more people will be willing to support. But I would definitely love to see a LEGO Ideas sci-fi set that's as impressive as stuff like the Medieval Blacksmith, Tree House, or Barracuda Bay. Anyway, looking through this stuff sort of has me in a MOCing mood, so maybe I should dabble in some spaceship builds myself… been a while since I last had a go at that. I'll try and keep tabs on this topic in case anybody else brings up any projects that Space fans might be keen on rallying around.

Oh, certainly. But with the other three sets chosen from the classic "play themes" of the 70s/80s, the absence of a miniaturized Town set of that era sort of stood out to me. Perhaps that's just because I've been browsing through a lot of old 1980s LEGO ads, catalogs, and magazines online lately, and Town tends to show up about as prominently as the other play themes in those. I didn't mean it as a criticism of the sets/themes that the builder chose to re-imagine as MOCs, just was curious if it had crossed their mind.

While I haven't seen much of the show, I've read up on some of the characters via the LEGO City Adventures wiki, and apparently yes, they are a trio of criminals who go by those names.

It's a good question! I know I've never really seen Classic Space uniforms on alien characters in vintage promotional media like the Jim Spaceborn comics. I have recently been looking through some other sorts of vintage LEGO promotional media out of curiosity (like old LEGO single-page comics that appeared as ads in European comics and magazines like Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse). There are some comic storylines from back then that portray groups of classic space astronauts encountering separate "alien" groups with the same style of uniforms — but as far as I can tell, they are "alien" in the traditional sense of "foreigners from another world" rather than as non-human "space aliens". Most instances of non-human "space aliens" that I've seen tend to be portrayed as wacky non-LEGO creatures, sort of like the aliens of Commercia in the Jim Spaceborn comics. The Idea Book 6000 also featured an alien race encountered by the two human protagonists. But these aliens, identified as "Zarconians" from the Planet Zark in the British "Captain Indigo" comics from Bricks & Pieces magazine, are custom builds using minifigure torsos and legs, front-mounted air tanks, and heads made from basic bricks. A couple of them use Classic Space torsos, but it's hard to tell if that is meant to have any significance besides as one of several random torso choices. So I think this is the first definitive instance I've seen of a non-human crewmate for the Classic Space fleet!

Oh, charming! When I read the topic title I was expecting it to be just scaled-down versions of older sets, along the lines of the 60 Years of the LEGO Brick set — which are super fun, don't get me wrong! But that made it all the more of a pleasant surprise to see that what you'd actually built were more like "chibi"/"superdeformed" versions of the sets that retain all the core features but reduced to a smaller size that takes more liberties with the proportions — sort of like the LEGO Star Wars Microfighters. The resulting cutesy, cartoonish look is really charming! I can't help but think that if there were a LEGO video game with levels based on classic sets or themes, these sorts of simplified portrayals of the sets' layouts (with humorously oversized figures populating them) would be great "icons"/"thumbnails" for a level select screen, sort of like in Super Mario 3D World. I apologize if that seems like a strange or silly comparison to make, but it's one of the thoughts that popped into my head while looking at these MOCs! I'm kind of curious if you thought about making one for the Town theme, which stands out to me as one of the classic "play themes" you omitted here, and what sort of set you might choose to represent that theme in this sort of MOC. Naturally, I'd also love to see your take on other classic sets in this style if you decide that's something you'd have any interest in building! Great work overall.

It's kinda neat that the Bard minifigure's coins have a crown motif… although they're less versatile and harder to acquire in quantity than standard coin pieces or gold 1x1 round plates/tiles, there's something charming about the idea that the "Crownies" mint their own coinage. And even if you want to continue using more common parts for coins (as I suspect most medieval builders would), these ones could be used as something other than coinage, like a livery badge to indicate one's loyalty to the crown, or a signet ring or seal for royal missives. The Bard's lute is also a wonderful new element, and his outfit is a great fit for medieval scenes. The Moon Warrior has pretty strong fantasy RPG vibes, and I suspect that fantasy gaming on the LEGO design team had a hand in its influence (I'm not sure exactly how many LEGO designers are into tabletop or online RPGs, but I know Wes Talbott is, and I believe he's joined D&D sessions with some of his coworkers since moving to Denmark to join the design team). That little forest gnome/pixie figure with the acorn cap is also an adorable idea for a fantasy figure, albeit a more difficult one to use as-is in a minifig-scale Castle layout since their cap implies a very different scale than "human" minifigures (much like the Duplo "Little Forest Friends" figures which inhabited an upscaled world of giant plants and insects). To me, their whimsical and design language (such as the smiling mushroom) evokes the feel of vintage fairy-tale illustrations rather than portrayals of the "fair folk" from more modern fantasy works. Even so, there's a lot of uniqueness and charm to the design, and it could easily be adapted to other fantasy settings with a change of headgear and accessories. I'm really excited to see a new foal mold that finally fills the void left by the short-lived Paradisa foal from the 90s! It's very cute, and I can definitely imagine seeing recolors of it in future sets or minifigure series, much like we've seen for the cat mold that made its debut in The LEGO Movie minifigure series. The modern-day attire of the figure that accompanies that foal is less "groundbreaking", but could be useful for sigfigs. Although the white sack from the Raccoon Girl minifigure is likely meant to represent a plastic trash bag in the context of that figure, it could also be very useful in historic builds for wool or linen sacks (since materials like hessian/burlap had not spread to Europe at that time, and silk and cotton were still expensive imported materials). Tan or Medium Stone Grey would probably be preferable for representing unbleached wool or linen, but alas, this piece has yet to appear in either of those colors. I'm still hesitant to make any predictions about the anniversary set from that Ideas poll (I'd probably be content with a set based on any of the four top-voted themes, to be honest), but as awesome as it is to see a new color of the bycocket hat, I agree I'd love to see it in green or brown again in the future! Certainly, outlaw factions in general (Forestmen, Pirates, Vikings, etc) can get away with having rather motley color schemes instead of a proper "uniform", and I've seen a number of portrayals of Robin Hood's merry men that manage to feel cohesive without any one color tying the whole group together. But "Lincoln Green" is still Robin's trademark color in traditional portrayals, and it's hard to make a convincing Forestmen faction without maintaining that tradition. A shade of red would also be a useful future recolor for the bycocket hat. That tends to be Will Scarlet's signature color in most Robin Hood stories and adaptations, as his name suggests. I don't know exactly why Forestmen-related stuff tends to be so exciting for me, since as a 90s kid, I largely missed out on the Forestmen sets, and Robin Hood stories weren't nearly as big a part of my childhood as fairy tales, stories of King Arthur's knights, or modern medieval fantasy stories like The Lord of the Rings or The Prydain Chronicles. I suppose part of it is that I love the aesthetic of homes and hideouts integrated with natural woodsy settings (which is also something that greatly appealed to me about the LEGO Elves theme). Robin Hood stories are also very conducive to the sort of individualized heroic characters I enjoy in other themes, whereas knight factions often tend to focus more on generic "army builder" figures. Plus, the Forestmen's sneaky tactics (like roadside ambushes, covert rescue missions, and flashy one-on-one swordfights) appeal more to me than conventional siege warfare. So even if the original Forestmen sets seem kind of underwhelming to me in hindsight a lot of the time, the concepts explored in those sets are something I'd love to see LEGO revisit in a modern take on that sort of heroic outlaw faction. Especially with how many great parts and techniques they have these days for building forest settings!

Yeah, just speaking for myself, I'm a big fan of minifigures (and other LEGO figures), and they play a big part in my enjoyment of my favorite themes like Elves, Ninjago, etc… but for me, the builds in these themes are just as big a draw if not more! Moreover, even if brick-built figures like dragons they aren't "minifigures" strictly speaking, they are still "characters" in their own right, so perform a similar role to minifigures when either playing with the sets or setting them up on display. I can't really speak for kids' tastes myself — I am 30 years old at this point, have no kids of my own, and do not have a whole lot of direct interaction with my relatives' kids these days due to the pandemic. But LEGO regularly releases 3-in-1 sets with brick-built dragons and fantasy creatures, often with no minifigures to accompany them. And clearly SOMEBODY is buying those sets. I'm not any more interested in an "essay war" than you are, so if you'd rather "agree to disagree" (or even disregard my post entirely), I'm perfectly fine with that. I just wanted to share my perspective.

I wouldn't rule it out entirely. After all, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series provided new Star Wars content from 2008 to 2014, and LEGO still ended up launching three new Space themes during that time. And even if LEGO's changed their mind about whether Space and Star Wars themes can coexist in non-movie years, that doesn't mean they couldn't change their mind again in the future. Oh, these spacesuits are nicely designed! Certainly a bit less futuristic than we're used to seeing in actual Space themes, but they could still be decent MOC fodder. I'd be interested to see what sort of helmets LEGO pairs with these. Given the Dark Azure details around the neckline of the orange spacesuits, I could definitely see them reusing part 49663 but molded in White + Dark Azur instead of White + Black. It could just be that they haven't gotten around to that yet… I mean, I had been speculating about the possibility of an underwater wave since 2014 or so, and yet it took them a decade to actually introduce one. When there are so many directions a theme like can take, the designers have a lot of leeway in which of them they end up prioritizing. I would not be too surprised to see a space-themed Ninjago wave in the future — perhaps with spacesuits that pair the visored ninja hoods from this year's Ninjago Seabound sets with the breathing apparatus from the City Sky Police sets (I don't have any of the latter to test whether they are compatible, but it looks to me like they might be). I agree with @Lyichir that the yearly Star Wars UCS sets likely play a part in why we haven't seen any futuristic Space D2C sets like we have for Castle and Pirates, but I can't help but hope that LEGO might explore that possibility in the future. One possibility that would stand out pretty well from any of their sci-fi licenses. (and could be a great callback to classic LEGO Space themes) is a futuristic moonbase, perhaps taking inspiration from the moonbase collabs that Space MOCists often exhibit at fan conventions. I haven't browsed Space models on LEGO Ideas in a while, so maybe I should check and see if anybody has any active projects along those lines. It's also still a mystery what theme/themes LEGO will be focusing on for their anniversary sets next year, so for all we know LEGO might take that opportunity to finally take that plunge. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if they opted for a Space-inspired set, even if Bionicle was more of a childhood favorite theme for me personally. I guess part of why I remain hopeful about seeing a set like that despite not seeing any in over two decades is that lately LEGO has released a lot of "premium" sets that I'd never have imagined ten years ago — stuff like the Ninjago City sets, Chinese festival sets, Botanical Collection sets, Ideas Piano and Typewriter, "Everyone is Awesome", etc. It's not nearly as narrow a scope as it was back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when D2C sets tended to focus narrowly on 20th century town scenes, famous buildings, famous vehicles, and stand-alone playsets spun off from current/recent themes. Is that surface really supposed to be mechanical? I had always seen it as more as a hilly lunar landscape, since the "seams" across the planet are just part of the geometric style that appears in the backgrounds of most LEGO Movie 2 sets (in order to imitate the brick-built backdrops in the movie but still differentiate them from the actual LEGO parts that appear in the sets). You can see the same geometric textures on the box art for sets like Emmet and Lucy's Escape Buggy. Plus, there are other LEGO Movie sets with box art that DOES show minifigs on alien planets, like Rex's Rexplorer and Rex's Rex-treme Off-Roader. Even if an extraterrestrial jungle setting with breathable air is a far cry from the sort of barren lunar landscapes featured on most Classic Space box art, it's certainly more alien looking than Star Wars planets like Tatooine, Dagobah, Hoth, and Endor which really don't look much different from deserts, swamps, forests, or snowfields here on Earth. And again, if there were some "no depicting minifigures on alien planets" rule with this many loopholes, that'd still be more than enough leeway for LEGO to continue releasing actual Space sets. They'd just have to opt for a planet with a metallic/cybernetic surface, icy surface, volcanic surface, swampy surface, urbanized surface, etc. instead of defaulting to a sandy or rocky surface. After all, that's sort of what they're already doing with the 3-in-1 Cyber Drone set — the official product description says it's for "action-packed adventures in space", along with lots of similar phrases. If the Star Wars licensing contract did have some prohibition of other themes putting minifigs on alien planets, I can't imagine an abstract futuristic city backdrop on the box (let alone an ambiguous rocky backdrop like they used for the mech build on the back) would be enough for Disney to let that slide!

I think part of the issue is that you are defining "practical" very narrowly. For the sake of argument, I'm going to focus mostly on the sort of buyers you describe who tend to buy sets, build them, and rarely take them apart or play with them. Even in these cases, builders can still get a certain sort of value out of those sets by displaying them as a form of home or workplace decor. Now, is home decor "practical"? I would argue that it is. Not only does it help a person's everyday indoor environments feel more comfortable, visually interesting, and welcoming, but it's also a way for people to personalize their surroundings with things that reflect their tastes and interests — even more so with LEGO, since it's implicitly customizable and modifiable if you are so inclined. Moreover, even just by periodically rotating out what sets you have on display (like, say, putting different seasonal sets on display for the holidays, or setting aside a place of pride for your most recently completed sets), builders can also freshen up their surroundings to make them less monotonous. There have even been a few recent sets (like the LEGO Ideas Tree House and Botanical Collection Bonsai) that come with elements that can be swapped out to match the season. Another reason some builders primarily prefer building LEGO sets over making original creations is because it's a leisure activity that they find calming or therapeutic — sort of like why many kids and adults enjoy jigsaw puzzles, coloring books, scale model kits, cross-stitch patterns, sudoku, etc. The modern world can be a very stressful environment for kids and adults alike, even more so when the pressures to use our time "productively" encroach on our leisure activities. That's not to disparage hobbies like reading, writing, art, exercise, gaming, etc. All of these genuinely do provide a lot of enjoyment and emotional fulfillment for many people. But many of these hobbies also run the risk of feeling like work, especially if you have a job that has similar mental, physical, or creative demands. And that sort of thing can quickly lead to emotional burnout, which can sour our enjoyment of such hobbies. As such, it's often valuable to have restful, relaxing hobbies that engage our minds and take our attention off the other stresses in our lives without demanding a lot of deep thought, quick reflexes, physical exertion, or self-judgment. Building a LEGO set is certainly more expensive than many other hobbies along these lines, but generally, buyers who enjoy it for that purpose have decided that to them, the emotional enrichment they get from LEGO building is worth the price. And that gets to another point that I feel is relevant — if a person's purchasing habits are driven only by some consumerist urge to collect, there are countless other collectable products they could just as easily focus on instead of LEGO: Playmobil, Schleich, Funko Pops, Sylvanian Families/Calico Critters, Airfix model kits, Nendoroids, Pokémon cards, action figures, comic books, die-cast cars, etc. And many such products have much lower prices than LEGO sets. Our modern society is hardly lacking in stuff for people to collect year after year! So when a person chooses to collect LEGO specifically, it stands to reason that they've found some value in it besides how collectable it is. Maybe it's the aesthetic appeal of the design language, or the building experience, or the customization potential, or any combination of those and other factors that draw people to the LEGO brand. But it's safe to say that with so many other products to choose from, few LEGO fans are buying it solely because it gives them something to collect and spend money on. In short, there are countless ways to enjoy LEGO, even if you DON'T build your own original creations or use the sets and figures for role-play/storytelling. And I think it's telling that even if you look back at earlier periods in the brand's history, before they really acknowledged AFOLs as a part of any set's target audience, you can still find product lines like the Hobby Sets and Model Team that were primarily geared towards display, not role-play or building original creations. The LEGO system's creative potential and play potential are certainly a big part of its enduring appeal, but they have never been its only source of appeal, and I don't think it makes sense to judge buyers who enjoy it in different ways and for different reasons than we do.

People have been saying this since nearly the very beginning of the Ideas platform. It was a common refrain in response to the Minecraft set, the first one approved after the platform went global — because why would Minecraft fans want to pay MONEY for a plastic toy version of a digital play experience they already own? And yet the sales of Ideas sets have remained strong enough for LEGO to continue investing in the program year after year. The Minecraft set in particular sold well enough to pave the way for an entire Minecraft theme. LEGO has also gained enough confidence in the platform to release Ideas sets at higher price points than in the past — but even now, hardly any have even approached the sort of $300 price point you mention in your comment. And many of the larger Ideas sets like the Saturn V, Old Fishing Store, Medieval Blacksmith, Voltron, Tree House, Pirates of Barracuda Bay, have proven quite popular among AFOLs! So certainly, online support isn't a flawless predictor for what will actually end up selling. But coupled with LEGO's own insights that they use to narrow down which projects to approve as sets, the process has clearly been reliable enough to earn LEGO's continued support. So I'm not sure why the refrain of Ideas project supporters not being reflective of actual LEGO buyers continues to be brought up as if it's a perspective LEGO has never considered or questioned themselves. You're right that there have been an increasing number of projects reaching 10,000 supporters. That doesn't mean supporters of those projects are any less earnest about their willingness to buy those sets than supporters of earlier projects. After all, there are still typically only one or two projects approved per review period, so it's not like a person who supports a dozen projects a year is expected to make room in their budget for every single one of them — just for whichever happen to be selected. And since so few Ideas projects actually get approved or released as sets per year, it's not like stricter LEGO Ideas qualifications would somehow remedy your concerns about LEGO "flooding the market" with 18+ sets. If anything, a larger pool of candidates in each review period boosts LEGO's likelihood of pinpointing one or two that seem to be a safe bet by other metrics besides their supporter count.

I agree with this! I could imagine some great uses for them in other themes like Super Heroes as well. Truth be told, I feel like it's a bit of a bummer that the standard road plate pack is branded as LEGO City instead of LEGO Xtra. I feel like one of the strengths of the "LEGO Xtra" branding was that it helps clarify that those sorts of supplementary sets can be paired with any number of themes, not just City. But even with the road plates appearing primarily in City sets at the moment, I think there are still plenty of opportunities for LEGO to use them elsewhere in the future. And not just as roads, but also as rivers, racetracks, etc. Honestly calling the minifigures the "key selling points" of Castle/historical products sort of rubs me the wrong way… I feel like that sort of talk that makes those sorts of themes sound like a poor fit for the LEGO brand's very nature as a building toy. I realize that right NOW, more figures are what castle fans want/need most, since building elements for Castle models can be found in numerous other themes. But even so, I still think the builds are just as much of a "key selling point" for Castle sets as the figures. From what I recall, the 2013 Castle sets got a lot of criticism from Castle fans for their builds, despite having about as many minifigures per set as the Kingdoms sets that preceded them. Whereas I feel that the Blacksmith Shop and 3-in-1 Medieval Castle have gotten a much more positive reception from Castle fans, in spite of having far fewer minifigs relative to their size. And needless to say, the builds are even MORE of a "key selling point" for Creator 3-in-1 sets than for "play themes" like Castle, since alternate builds provide the core of that theme's identity, not just an optional "bonus feature" like the back-of-the-box builds in the 80s and 90s. Now, I haven't seen the 3-in-1 Viking Ship, but to me a brick-built dragon or sea serpent tends to add a lot more play value and building value than increasing the number of minifigures. I know that in my childhood, those sorts of fantasy creatures were a big part of what made themes like Castle and Vikings so interesting to me in the first place! I recognize that I might be an outlier among AFOL Castle fans in that regard, but I don't think it's too far-fetched to think many of today's kids enjoy these sorts of "side builds", given the popularity of fantasy creatures in other themes like Elves, Ninjago, and Harry Potter. Make no mistake — I'm not saying you shouldn't want more minifigures in these sets. I mean, I can tell you with certainty that I'd prefer if the 3-in-1 Medieval Castle included a king, queen, 2–4 knights/guards, a blacksmith, and maybe even a wizard (after all, wizards and witches were another part of what made the Castle theme so appealing to me as a kid). It's certainly a big enough build to accommodate them! But I think it's shortsighted to treat secondary builds like dragons and fantasy creatures like extraneous "filler" that gets in the way of including more figures. After all, it's quite possible that the enduring success of Creator 3-in-1 dragon sets over the years was part of what gave LEGO the confidence to begin introducing other medieval-inspired 3-in-1 sets! And with any luck, the Medieval Castle won't be the last set we see along those lines in the near future. I do agree with this, and I don't think that's too far fetched to hope for in the future, either! After all, 31111 Cyber Drone is effectively a low-priced space set. And there's already precedent for historical fantasy 3-in-1 sets at around a $20 to $30 price point, albeit without minifigures — last year's 31102 Fire Dragon is just one recent example. Some other ideas that come to mind for smaller 3-in-1 medieval sets are: A royal coach that rebuilds into a prison carriage or a tournament scene. Of course, this one might not be as big a hit with traditional Castle fans since it'd likely feature brick-built horses and not molded ones. A medieval inn/tavern that rebuilds into a farmstead or wizard's workshop. A forest outpost that rebuilds into a hill fort or walled garden. But I think your castle wall/armor shop/tree fort idea might be the one I like best, since not only would it be one of the most affordable of these ideas (by comparison, my medieval inn concept would likely cost somewhere between $40 and $50, similar to 31105 or 31118) but it's also easy to imagine at least two of those builds working with the same snap-together system of the current 3-in-1 castle, and I'm a sucker for that sort of modular system being retained across multiple sets.

"Privatisation" is a weird word to use in this sort of context anyhow, seeing as LEGO has always been a private company. And I don't think anybody here is naive enough to think that LEGO would serve the public interest without considering how it benefits their own interests as a company (whether via improvements in their profits, sustainability, PR, or other metrics). But I still see no reason to scoff at this sort of news. Imagine if tomorrow, LEGO announced plans to bring back the Castle, Pirates, and Space themes. Can you imagine any of us treating that news as an invitation for a cynical debate about "the thin line between a praiseworthy idea and profits" or "the pros and cons of privatization claiming to serve the public interest"? I imagine a lot more of us would just be excited to see LEGO's interests aligning with our own. In fact, a lot of us would probably be hoping that it WOULD end up being a profitable business decision, since that would help ensure continued investment in those interests. The same can just as easily apply to this situation. I imagine there are numerous ways that LEGO expects the efforts and investments mentioned in this article to benefit them as a business — besides being good PR, pushing back against gender bias could also help grow and diversify the audience of various LEGO themes, and reduce pressures that often DISCOURAGE kids from buying certain sets. But that doesn't mean that LEGO investing in these sorts of efforts is a bad thing for the rest of us! Particularly when many of us have had firsthand experience with these sorts of biases, including in ways that have hampered or tarnished our experiences as LEGO fans.

That may be the case with some anime and manga, but certainly not all! There are a number of series (such as Pokémon, Little Witch Academia, etc) which are geared towards an audience of younger kids and typically don't include much more graphic or mature content than you'd see in a TV series like LEGO Ninjago. And even some more mature series (though, again, certainly not all) could still be viable for one-off "18+" products, much like LEGO did with the Stranger Things license. In any case, this is sort of tangential to the topic of "future castle sets", since it's just one of several directions LEGO could pursue for future themes, and not really one that would be any more likely to result in medieval-inspired products than creating a new in-house IP or licensing a western media franchise.

The Disney Encanto sets that were revealed today are not historic-influenced, but they do have some fun recolors that could be potentially interesting for historic or fantasy builds, such as an arched wooden door (64390) in Bright Bluish Green. The Luigi's Mansion sets announced yesterday also have a lot of nice parts in earth tones like greys, browns, and greens, though none that immediately stand out to me as new recolors. Could be worth a look, though!

The LEGO Elves theme also seemed to have quite a bit of anime influence in its own right. For starters, it fell neatly within the "isekai" genre which has become very popular in anime and manga over the past decade. Many of its characters had elaborate, brightly-colored hairstyles and elemental powers. And in its third year it even got an animated series from Studio Mir, a Korean studio that has animated various other popular anime-inspired series like The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender. It's true that we haven't had any actual licensed themes based on anime so far — and if we did get any, regardless of their content/genre, I feel that they might be more likely to focus on long-running or nostalgic franchises like Sailor Moon, rather than newer series that have had less time to prove their cross-generation appeal. But I think anime-inspired in-house themes with historical fantasy settings could certainly still be a very real possibility for the future.

From my experience, another decent option for an ear of corn is a stack of the 1x1 five-petal flower plates (part 24866) in a color like Bright Yellow or Flame Yellowish Orange. It's similar to the build you shared, but adds a little more texture to represent individual corn kernels. That said, compared to other LEGO fruit and vegetable pieces like apples, pumpkins, and carrots, I'm not sure if there would be any sort of "ear of corn" build, let alone a specific "ear of corn" piece, that works equally well for a cooked ear of corn at a restaurant or dinner table, and one still growing on a cornstalk in a farm or garden environment. That may be one reason why LEGO hasn't introduced a specific piece for minifigure-scale ears of corn even after all these years.

Wow! It's kind of amusing to see a model that has a "set-like" look in terms of parts and colors despite being way more gruesome than a set would ever be. A good example of how bright colors aren't ALWAYS "kid-friendly". It's also neat how even with a lot of the same exterior design language as the original 3-in-1 castle, you made it much more ominous-looking via features like the gnarled, leafless trees, the large black torches on the balcony that overlooks the water, and the lack of the cheerful flowers from the official models. So while the official models evoke a picturesque countryside setting, this MOC feels more like it's set in some dreary and forbidding marsh. Ironically, I was just thinking recently about how odd it is that the Black Falcons have been portrayed as a more or less "neutral" faction in recent sets, when catalogs and magazines from the 80s (like the spring 1984 issue of Bricks and Pieces or the summer 1984 issue of "De LEGO Krant") typically portrayed them as a shady or villainous faction. Your MOC definitely calls to mind that old-school characterization! And I love that final image with the reanimated skeleton in pursuit of the prisoner! It really brings the setting to life (no pun intended)!

This is awesome! As large and monochrome as the walls are, the slightly uneven/rusticated stonework helps keep them from feeling too plain/repetitive. The large size also means that this could be a much better companion piece to models like the IDEAS Medieval Blacksmith which would look much too large compared to any "official" castle sets or MOCs of similar size. I also love the variegated brickwork on the keep (which I'm really glad you made — not enough LEGO castles even bother to include a keep!) and the chimney of the beautiful reimagining of the blacksmith shop set from 1986. I feel like a lot of modern builders tend to avoid using Bright Red for bricks these days due to all the other colors available, but you really demonstrated how beautiful it can with newer colors like Dark Red to complement it! It creates a beautiful balance between that old-school stylized look and more modern levels of detail. Now, as far as my personal preference goes, I wish there were an accessible interior of some sort — even if unfurnished, it'd be something else nice that you could add to over time. But I also understand that for a larger layout, those interiors would not likely be especially visible or within reach anyhow, so I can't blame you for focusing on the exterior appearance. All in all, it is definitely an awesome centerpiece to a medieval kingdom, and I'm glad to hear you intend to continue adding more models to it over time!

Funnily enough, I think this was a somewhat more popular opinion back in the early days of the Modular Buildings series, when they were considered something of an "anomaly" with their massive size, sparse interior decorations, and lack of an open back wall for ease of access. I am definitely a fan of the Modular Buildings myself, but it does frustrate me that they sometimes seem to have warped people's expectations of buildings in other themes, to the point that buildings in other themes like City, Friends, Creator, and even licensed themes are treated like they're fundamentally flawed or "cheapened" by not being fully enclosed. I think this perception misses the point of an open backed structure. Not only does omitting a model's back wall reduce its cost and allow for easy access to the interior for play, but it also allows a "minifig's eye view" of the building's interiors. Viewing the interiors from the sides makes those scenes more immersive for both play scenarios and displays, like you're actually there. And in TV- or movie-based licensed themes, it is generally a more faithful way of recreating the actual appearance of those scenes on-screen than a more impersonal top-down perspective. So I think which style of building is a better fit depends heavily on what sort of set or theme it's being used in, and what function it's meant to have within that set or theme. It might be somewhat inconvenient for people who want to create unified layouts with buildings from multiple themes, but I feel that's better than abandoning the practical strengths of either style of building for the sake of "consistency". I strongly agree with this. I loved the Fright Knights sets as a kid, along with the Dragon Masters sets before them. In general, the fantasy elements in these subthemes made them much more compelling to me than earlier subthemes that focused solely on knights and battles. After all, most of the medieval stories I was familiar with, like Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles or the tales of King Arthur and his knights, were packed with plenty of fantasy elements in their own right! The modular style of Night Lord's Castle (like the Ninja, Knights' Kingdom, and Harry Potter sets that followed it) was also EXTREMELY fun, and I still wish more modern LEGO castles included rooms/modules can be rearranged vertically as well as horizontally. Obviously, these sets had a lot of weaknesses too, but I attribute that more to the general set design standards of their time than the themes themselves. It's sort of like how I have a lot of affection for the Forestmen subtheme (which was a bit before my time), in spite of how dated their tree and foliage designs tend to feel by modern standards. It's not the fault of the subtheme itself that it came out at a time when curved elements, plant elements, and "earth tones" were so limited, and SNOT techniques and hinges tended to be used so sparingly. The concept itself (Robin Hood inspired tree forts and hideouts populated by a fun-loving and rambunctious band of outlaws) still feels strong today, much like Fright Knights' concept (stylized gothic horror-inspired castles packed with traps and secret passages, fanciful fairy-tale flying machines, and spooky character archetypes like witches and vampires).