Aanchir

Yeah, probably not. That said, most Classic Space type outpost builds weren't that elaborate themselves, which is part of why the idea of one converted to a diner for this sort of set even occurred to me! I'm imagining something somewhere within the size range of of the "building" portions of Alpha 1 Rocket Base and Space Command Center (without the launchpad, car port, or comms tower assemblies), with a counter and a few booths inside. It helps that a lot of diners tend to be wide, flat structures, closer in proportions to the Lars Family Homestead Kitchen or Winter Market Stall than to Majisto's Magical Workshop, and that bases and outposts in traditional Space themes were generally not particularly enclosed compared to their more recent City counterparts. I can definitely imagine a brick-built alien chef behind the diner counter using either style of alien head, and two to four tentacle arms for holding food and utensils. And either the minifig-style head or the 2x2 dome head with a plate on top would be able to wear a chef's hat for an additional touch of humor! I wonder what sort of food will be included. Packets of dehydrated or or liquefied space food would have some retro charm, but would not really require the sort of prep work you'd really need a diner chef for, so I am imagining something more fanciful like a salad or sandwich made with some of the colorful alien plant pieces we've seen in this year's Space sets. And of course a couple of drink mugs like the ones in the Galaxy Explorer! Mind you, if the final set's contents aren't like the stuff I'm imagining, it could still be a very nifty set in its own right. I'm just rattling off possibilities that occur to me! I can picture a lot of different directions LEGO could take with a set like this.

I somewhat doubt it, since that would require quite a few more recolors than the orange one. After all, even aside from the helmets and airtanks, LEGO has not yet had monochrome Reddish Orange leg or torso assemblies in any set at this point, with or without printing! One thing I find charming about a space diner as a concept is that it'd be "retro" in more ways than one! I wonder whether it will opt for a similar design language to Classic Space bases/outposts or if it'll have a curvier sort of look in keeping with the streamlined aesthetic of a lot of real-life diners. There is something very charming about the idea of a diner converted from a Classic Space outpost or designed to resemble one, similar to how a number of real-life diners were converted from train cars or designed to resemble them!

Which is totally valid. I generally prefer non-licensed themes (new and old alike) over licensed themes myself. And a lot of my most recent MOC efforts have been "throwback" type stuff since I find the recent classic theme inspired sets such a rich source of inspiration — even those that don't relate strictly to sets or subthemes that were a big part of my own childhood. Certainly, we can disagree on how practical of a large-scale, long-term revival of many Space subthemes would be, or about specific aspects of their design philosophies — but I don't think you should somehow feel bad about your love for those sets and themes, and I apologize if it seemed at any point like I was judging you for that!

I apologize if that comment was in poor taste, but I thought in the very least it made it clear that I wasn't at all criticizing them FOR being nostalgic. If I made an error in thinking they were nostalgic for some of those themes, it's because I am nostalgic for themes like Ice Planet myself and wrongly assumed they were looking back on and admiring those themes due to similar childhood experiences. I'll try to avoid making that mistake in the future.

I don't see a problem with using proper names for constellation-based figures like Orion, any more than using the name "Lady Liberty" to refer to that minifigure from series 6. I also feel like there's a big difference between figures that portray established personifications of abstract concepts and ones based on real people like Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, or on literary characters like Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. If the figure were based more directly on the mythological figure Orion instead of the constellation (i.e. with hair and skin colors more typical of a human minifig), then a name like "ancient hunter" might be more fitting, since there could just as easily be other hunters from classical history and mythology with those same clothes and features. But as it is, a generic term like "constellation", "constellation guy", or "constellation hunter" would seem a bit silly to me, since it is very obviously NOT a generic constellation — the features and shield pattern specifically represent the constellation Orion. EDIT: Also Orion and Medusa are not the only two outside the licensed series with proper names — another that springs to mind is Santa Claus!

Hang on, since when is "nostalgia" a pejorative? All of us experience nostalgia (and biases related to it). And there are loads of sets — from the modular buildings, to the Winter Village collection, to Star Wars dioramas, to the recent classic theme throwbacks — that draw a lot of their appeal from their nostalgic vibes. That's not somehow a bad thing! Moreover, being able to acknowledge our own nostalgia is hardly the same thing as uncritically accepting the status quo. I recognize that in a lot of ways, many sets from my childhood were lackluster by modern standards — but I also realize that they still have plenty of strengths that would be genuinely just as appealing in a modern set or MOC as they would have been back then! I agree that the "insert that tiresome argument" filter feels rather outdated at this point and may no longer be necessary. After all, it can often be easier at this point to push back against overuse/misuse of the term than to have to explain to newer users why that term is filtered in the first place! But I also agree with my brother that the word that it filters is often really irritating, especially when used willy-nilly to describe any and every characteristic a person happens to perceive as "childish". Which I've definitely seen, to the point of people even describing aspects of certain modular buildings, the Medieval Blacksmith, or Pirates of Barracuda Bay that way! And it's not as though that frustration of mine is solely due to recency bias (which is just as real a phenomenon as nostalgic bias, and just as important to be conscious of. After all, a good portion of the themes that I'm used to seeing characterized that way are 90s themes that I greatly enjoyed in my elementary school years like Aquazone, Time Cruisers, Exploriens, and Fright Knights!

Oh wow! I like the use of 1x1 quarter circle tiles to evoke the Octan logo, and you did a brilliant job with the streamlining. The brick-built whitewall tires are also a great touch!

As far as I know, yeah. LEGOLAND parks and the LEGO House might also get them, but I've never seen them at ordinary third-party retailers. Granted, it's been a few years since I did a whole lot of in-person toy shopping, so it's possible that's changed?

The back of the butler's torso also has a pattern that matches the classic 1x2 tape cassette tile! Really fun little details for sure. Even if the butler is not specifically a throwback to any classic LEGO theme, those sorts of old-school details (monochrome text-only computer interfaces and magnetic tape based data storage) fit really great with its general retro-futuristic vibe.

A lot of LEGO Brand retail exclusives like this have this sort of branding, with a yellow brick-patterned border on the left side and no theme name next to the LEGO logo. Some other recent examples include 40638, 40644, 40678, 40709, 40714, and 40725. I think the category is just referred to in house as "LEGO Extended Line" (or LEL for short). Though I guess the shared Space banner on these ones does set them apart from those earlier examples which didn't have any sort of "brand names" on the package at all besides "LEGO".

I feel like this is a case where the designer only had one new element frame for 40715 and 40716, which they used for the printed eye tile. They probably just chose to include the white Classic Space torso and helmet as a bonus since they're still in production and haven't been in a low-priced set like these ones since Benny's Space Squad. But I agree it's less exciting than another color would've been.

Oh, these look like very fun parts packs for plant and creature parts! I can certainly imagine people repurposing the parts to come up with their own original alien designs. The new alien eye tile is also very cute, and complements this year's City/Friends/Duplo alien designs very nicely.

Honestly, this idea feels implausible right from the outset. After all, the very reason LEGO introduced entirely new Space factions and color schemes every year or two from the late 80s onward was to ensure each year's sets felt fresh and new, and keep the theme from stagnating. If sets focus too heavily on matching the aesthetics of the sets that preceded them, they won't stand out immediately as "new" on store shelves, and they will have a harder time drawing in new buyers that might've been less drawn to the color schemes and motifs in earlier waves. In other words, the very reason that so many 90s Space factions and their color schemes felt so unique and memorable is that they were designed specifically to stand out from the Space sets that preceded and followed them! Factions like Space Police, Ice Planet and M:Tron might never have existed if LEGO didn't have that motive to avoid simply recycling previously established factions, spacesuits, and color schemes year after year. And that's also the entire reason that Space Police 2 and Blacktron 2 (two 90s themes that your "90s was best" thesis seemingly disregards) didn't just reuse the graphics, motifs, and color schemes from their previous incarnations! Besides all that, your arguments that the 90s subthemes were the best or that a "hard sci-fi" design philosophy is better than prior or subsequent aesthetics largely just speak to your personal tastes. I know that a lot of AFOLs in the emerging adult fan community back in the 90s far preferred the Classic Space sets of the 70s and 80s over the more specific subthemes that followed, and did not hesitate to voice their distaste for those later sets. Meanwhile, I was a 90s kid myself, but some of my favorite Space subthemes were Spyrius and Exploriens. The former was a cartoonish faction of spies specializing in giant robots and flying saucers, while the latter was full of weirdly-shaped spacecraft which made prominent use of gimmicks like holographic communication screens, giant "telescopic lasers" for communication, and colorful filters to scan magnetic "alien clue" tiles. But NONE of that stuff made those sets any less enjoyable to build or play with — if anything, it did the very opposite! Even the late 80s/early 90s factions you claim to prefer are hardly as scientifically grounded as you seem to remember them. Need I remind you of M:Tron's Particle Ionizer, known as "Cosmicopter" in the UK and "Exo-Copter" in Germany? Yes, it has what could generously be interpreted as rocket engines — but that doesn't change that it is fundamentally a space helicopter with spinning rotors seemingly made of the same material as its windscreen and radio antennas! Meanwhile, the laser bars on the Space Police prison cells are a staple of "soft" science fiction, with dubious real-world practicality. And to make room for those prison cells, the Galactic Peace Keeper and SP-Striker entirely omit any sort of rocket engines or thrusters, and even the Mission Commander has only two small rocket engines and two detachable rocket craft for propulsion. Oh, and the exhaust cones for those detachable rocket craft point… directly at the attached prison pods. Oopsie! Certainly, Ice Planet 2002 had plenty of realistic rocket transport vehicles, but it also had a flagship with two cockpits (how exactly is that practical?) that both convert into trackless rocket sleds. Moreover, its headquarters had no enclosed crew quarters despite the harsh environment — but it DID have a laser gate with beams that conveniently terminate after a short distance, more like a lightsaber than any sort of real-life laser technology. I get that you're especially nostalgic for these particular factions, which is totally legitimate! But in general, the reasons you think they're better than subsequent Space themes seem far more subjective than you realize. And even if we assume that some of them could be viable to bring back in the modern day, the idea of keeping them around in the long term contradicts runs afoul of the persistent need for novelty which motivated LEGO to create these factions in the first place!

Omigosh, a LEGO Friends ren faire would make such a neat set or range of sets! I could imagine it having food stands, an archery area, an arena for mock jousts/duels, fun medieval costumes and accessories, arts and crafts vendors… definitely lots of neat possibilities! One other possibility that occurs to me for including castle scenery in a modern-day theme like City/Friends would be a film set or studio. I've also thought for a while that Nancy Drew "teen detective" type scenarios could be neat to see in the Friends theme, and a castle is one of several settings that could potentially fit with that sort of concept (though that might be better suited to a dedicated subtheme of its own rather than part of a castle-inspired range).

Yellow on white printing shouldn't have any issues, I don't think. It's mainly when light colors are printed against a darker base that there's a risk of them looking muddy or faded. And I haven't heard of anyone having any issues with other figures with yellow-on-white face prints like Series 23 Snowman from 2022 or the space drone engineer from 2019.

I've read interviews from designers where they talk about this, less in terms of "realism" than in terms of kids' idea of how things are "supposed" to be (which can be informed just as much by pop culture and other toys on the market as by their real-life experiences). For example, not all fire engines in real life are red, but apparently in some kid-testing sessions, some of the kids would outright cry if a fire engine wasn't red, because in their eyes that was "wrong". For that matter, a big part of what made LEGO City an immediate, enduring hit when it launched in 2005 — especially compared to the Jack Stone and World City launches that preceded it — was its focus on details that evoked a sense of realism rather than cool, futuristic vibes. So kids in the City theme's target age range clearly care about realism to some extent. On a personal level, I do prefer the color schemes in the Friends space sets to those in their City counterparts, but then, I'm often a big fan of Friends color schemes — whereas I'm very used to seeing other AFOLs respond disparagingly to those color schemes or any others that they perceive as "Friends-ish". I was likewise a big fan of the vivid, high-contrast color schemes in themes like Power Miners and Atlantis — which were extremely divisive among other AFOLs, to say the least! So while some of us might've been perfectly happy if the Friends space fleet's white/orange/purple color scheme were shared by Space sets in other themes like City and Technic, I can't help but dread the sort of discourse on sites like Eurobricks and Brickset that would surely follow…

Yeah, I think that's a very good perspective to have. As nice as these sorts of throwback sets are, none have had a consistent enough release pattern for the lack of a throwback to a particular theme in a particular year to make me worry that that theme is being neglected. And all in all, the fact that LEGO has continued to release additional Pirates/Castle throwbacks (and even Space ones as GWPs) makes me think there's still a strong likelihood of seeing more big Space exclusives in the future. That said, with this being the "year of space", it was hardly unreasonable for people to hope we might get another big Space throwback set this year. And when big hopes like that don't come to fruition, disappointment is bound to result. So I think we ought to try and be patient with each other, even if this year's space offerings do scratch the LEGO Space itch for some of us.

Beautiful work! It feels very seamless while also incorporating some different motifs from the ones I used, such as the brick window frames (as well as a ladder which solves the roof access problem from my model). That little market stall makes great use of the remaining ground space. Have you come up with any fun or clever uses for the extra interior floor and wall space in your expansion? It seems like it should provide enough space to add some stuff I didn't end up finding room for: for example, an interior dining table or some barrels/cabinets/shelves for meal ingredients, and maybe a maritime painting on one of the walls. And I wouldn't be surprised if you can come up with other ideas of your own that I never thought of!

While you could get the D6 shape right, it'd be tricky to balance the weight enough to ensure equal odds of rolling each number. I suspect that's part of the LEGO Games sets in the early 2010s used a single dual-molded element for the "core" of the die instead of more conventional SNOT bricks or brackets — it ensures there are no hollow spaces that might throw off the balance.

I love the little Dragonborn family photo on the sticker sheet! Reminds me of a lot of the sort of Easter eggs that would show up in LEGO Elves sets, with portraits of characters like Skyra the Sky Queen or Cronan the Goblin King from when they were much younger. I wonder if that egg in the photo is the one on the top floor of the tower, and the warlock stole it for their ritual — hard to think of anything much nastier/more villainous than abducting a soon-to-be baby from a happy dragonborn couple! Ooh, neat! thanks for sharing! If you or anybody else spots other cool or clever details that would not obvious to folks like me who aren't well-versed in the lore, I'd definitely appreciate you pointing it out! Hmm. I appreciate the printed eyes, though there is a part of me that still wishes they were on a curved or sloped part instead of just a flat plate so they would be visible from the front as well as from the sides, similar to https://brickset.com/sets/70653-1/Firstbourne or https://brickset.com/sets/76956-1/T-rex-Breakout.

The tall black tree also appears to have a leafy bearded face (either printed or stickered) on its trunk in some of the official images, so it may be a fantasy creature like a treant rather than a normal tree. I'm not too knowledgeable about D&D though so I couldn't tell you for sure what sort of species or enchantment it represents. EDIT: tree guy is more visible in this video:

Oh, that explains the "Ph" then! Seems like a nifty concept for a tie-in set, especially since it's more imaginative/playful/whimsical than a literal portrayal of some scene from his life/career might be. But of course, how interesting/desirable it is as a set (especially to folks who aren't already Pharell Williams fans) remains to be seen, and will depend on factors like what sort of parts/techniques it uses, how appealing it looks on display, whether it is playable when removed from the frame, etc.

The inexplicable misspelling of "phriends" (not a space pun or anything else that would provide reasoning for that spelling) makes this sound kinda phony to me. But I guess I could be wrong about that. Certainly I'm a fan of rainbow colors so if that part of the rumor is true it certainly wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me. But other parts of this description are phrased too confusingly for me to even visualize. For example, are the assorted minifig head pieces visible as part of the frame, or stored in a compartment of some sort? Does "frame" indicate that the set is designed for wall-mounting, or is it more of a display stand type situation? is the trail supporting the spaceship, or the other way around? If this is true, the most useful conclusion we can draw from it is not to expect this to be a "throwback" type set as anticipated.

Truth be told, I suspect that if LEGO does another big "throwback" castle (regardless of faction), it won't be a remake of one or two specific sets, but rather an original design like the Lion Knights' Castle and Medieval Town Square were. After all, an "exact/near-exact scale" remake of an older LEGO Castle set would inevitably struggle to look as grand and imposing as LKC, even with refined building techniques — hence why that approach is a better fit for smaller GWP models or small side-builds in a larger model that aren't meant to be so grand or imposing in the first place. And an "upscaled" remake like the 2022 Galaxy Explorer doesn't work nearly as well with modern or historic themes as sci-fi themes, in my opinion. But I agree that a black castle would stand out from LKC in a really nice way, especially if it employed different building techniques and other visual motifs as well.

Love this! I like that you stayed true to the orb-shaped modular cockpits of the original sets while still employing more modern shaping. To me, modularity like that is as integral to Blacktron as prison pods are to Space Police. The pilot's seat becoming a planetary rover when you lower the boarding ramp is another delightfully retro Space set feature that you've polished up to perfection. Honestly, while I appreciate how official Space throwback sets in recent years have stayed true to the sharp angularity of their classic counterparts (not an easy feat while still aiming for a "futuristic" look by modern standards), in contrast to the curves typical of more KFOL-oriented Space playsets, this sort of heavier re-imagining is a delight, and honestly very close to the sort of look I envisioned for a Blacktron reboot baack when Space Police 3 was still current/recent. And make no mistake, the smooth curves you've achieved here go well above and beyond the quality and complexity of most kid-targeted playsets! The minifig crew is also brilliantly evocative of that era — I love that you included a captain and two lower-ranking human and alien crew members (although with the visor obscuring the latter's skin color, I mistook them for an android/humanoid robot at first glance). If I have one gripe, it's that the paucity of exposed studs makes the "LEGO-ness" less apparent at a glance, and also arguably cuts down a little on the playability of what's otherwise a brilliantly playable model. Like, if the black and white striped "wing" area on either side had studded plates on top in place of some of those smooth tiles, you could more easily stage a fight between two minifigures on the wing, or set a robot on one of the wings to work on maintenance/repairs. Occasional exposed studs can also be a useful reference point for the model's scale, which I feel would make this ship all the more impressive at a glance. Also, while I can see you included an ingenious dome-shaped storage space for the elaborate utility pack (itself an extremely clever re-imagining to the jetpack/mono-tripper from the original Blacktron 2 sets), there's something I can't quite tell — are there any storage compartments for stolen gadgets/drives of stolen data? Because I feel like that sort of thing is pretty important to Blacktron's espionage missions. I do see that behind the utility pack there is one of the printed tiles like the Blacktron 2 sets often hid inside these sorts of compartments, but I'm not sure if it is part of a removable data drive, or a control panel attached to the ship itself (since the sets used those printed tiles for both purposes). On a final note, I'd love to see a photo that shows how the landing gear folds up when the vehicle is in flight! Outstanding work overall! You clearly have a great appreciation for the features that made Blacktron what it was, as well as the creativity to recreate those iconic features in incredible new ways!