Aanchir

IDK, the context in which the Pirate-ish stuff appears in these themes (i.e. as the hiding place of sunken treasures or an ocean animal habitat) reminds me more of the 1997 Divers, 2007 Aquaraiders, and 2015 Deep Sea Explorers sets. Though thinking about it, depending on how they frame this in the story, I wonder whether LEGO might ever consider using a story arc like this that fleshes out the history of the area around Heartlake City as setup for a spinoff theme set in the area’s past… it could certainly be a neat new direction to take!

Another upcoming Friends set with some nice pirate-y contents is https://misterbricks.nl/lego-friends-41378-dolfijnen-reddingsactie.html, which includes a cool shipwreck, the new coral piece and sea creature accessory pack, and a piece of Sand Yellow (Dark Tan) cloth that reacts with water to reveal a treasure map! Similar new pieces appear in https://misterbricks.nl/lego-friends-41380-reddingscentrum-in-de-vuurtoren.html and https://misterbricks.nl/lego-friends-41381-reddingsboot.html, the last of which also has pirate ship hull elements in white (previously seen in the Dolphin Cruiser set) and Vibrant Coral. But I figure the shipwreck would be of the most interest to folks here as far as pieces are concerned, since the others are pricier and have a lot more parts/colors that might be a little bright for the tastes of historic builders.

Not quite half width for the Creator Expert standards… still just 12 studs wide instead of 16 studs.

In general, I agree that it's unfortunate that digital models don't tend to get as much attention as physical MOCs. I have other friends who specialize in digital creations like @The Mugbearer who have experienced similar difficulty getting recognition for their creations. Glancing at some of your topics, you have some fantastic builds, and the fact that I haven't noticed them before has less to do with them being digital than them not being in the subforums I tend to frequent most often or the themes I have the greatest passion for. That said, while I agree a lot of the more active segments of the LEGO hobby tend to skew towards wealthy or privileged demographics due to the high costs traditionally associated with the hobby (as well as wealthier people often having more leisure time to spend on hobbies in the first place), I don't know that the lack of attention your MOCs have gotten is a matter of digital models being perceived as "low-class". It takes more than realistic rendering to really perfect a digital MOC image — after all, even a photo of a physical MOC can fail to show it at its best if the lighting is less than ideal! And with stuff like transparent pieces or interior spaces, light placement is something you might want to start exploring more in your renders. Sometimes whether working with photos OR renders, really capturing all the detail can require multi-capture photography — this means taking multiple photos or renders from exactly the same angle but with different lighting placement, and then digitally editing the clearest parts of each image together so that there's a strong contrast between light and shadow on every side of the subject. This was a skill I didn't learn until I worked as a photo studio intern at Hasbro a few summers ago, and it effectively simulates an extremely elaborate lighting setup without the complicating factor of having a bunch of different light sources in an individual shot. Your Indiana Harbor Belt and NZR train MOCs are some that I think might benefit from experimenting with this type of technique, since in some of the renders like this one the excellent lighting on the side of the train is undermined by the front of the train being flooded in shadow. And also remember that sometimes, realism is overrated — LDD screenshots like those you used in some of your topics, in which the shading of parts only varies depending on their angle relative to the light source, generally don't have as much issue with details being completely obscured as more realistic renders where parts closer to the light source can cast deep shadows on those further away . The screenshots in this topic do an amazing job communicating all the clever details and building techniques you used, regardless of their lack of realism. Anyway I don't mean to sound preachy, because I sometimes have difficulty even completing physical MOCs, let alone getting them any meaningful amount of attention after the fact. And I'm a complete amateur when it comes to digital rendering. But I think you're really great at what you do and should think about expanding your skills even further. I can't promise it will result in better feedback here on Eurobricks, but it's still stuff worth considering!

Really? The impression I got was quite different. The boardwalk amusement park and octopus ride sets look amazing! Creative, colorful, and with lots of awesome play features. Plus a fantastic pirate ship ride, swing ride, an ice cream stand with a waffle iron… all stuff very different from what we've seen in most previous amusement park sets, and expertly executed! Not much all that new or unique about the horse trailer, but the Bright Yellowish Green recolors of the 3x3x6 and 3x4x6 arched panels are delightful! Love those parts but always disappointed by their lack of color options. Also, Mia's pickup truck totally suits her outdoorsy style! The gymnastics set is definitely pretty novel in terms of subject matter, even if I'm not much of a sports/athletics person. Some creative functions for the uneven bars and trampoline, and also some cool new parts/recolors such as the ribbon and the recolored Elves amulets as gold medals! The pool isn't too bad either, and I love the creativity of the flamingo and pineapple floats. Even if it doesn't introduce too many brand-new play features, it's got a creative look that stands out from past swimming pool sets and will probably be popular among kids who missed out on those. But yeah, we're definitely still waiting on finalized pics of the ocean animal rescue subtheme, which I'm very excited for! I have mixed feelings about the cart, because yeah, it's very different from what I'm used to, but at the same time, how much more "un-LEGO" is it than similar parts like the hand truck, wheelbarrow, and wheelchair? Even as far as looks are concerned, it might look much less unusual in a more typical neutral color like medium stone grey or silver metallic.

Thinking about stickered displays in Space sets always has a way of making me feel nostalgic for the hologram stickers in the Exploriens sets… I would love if LEGO would do that again in the future. LEGO has had holographic stickers in more recent sets (including this year's 41366 Olivia's Cupcake Cafe from LEGO Friends), but I think Exploriens was the last time they used holography to capture the actual 3D image of a physical LEGO character. Subsequent holographic effects in themes like Space Port, Harry Potter, Mars Mission, and the LEGO Friends Amusement Park sets have mostly stuck to capturing multiple layers of 2D graphics. In this era of being able to digitally render characters in three dimensions, you'd think the practical costs and difficulties associated with physically constructing a scene to record as a hologram would be negligible, but it may be that there are other costs associated with holographic images separate from the manufacturing costs that I'm not aware of.

I think one of the reasons LEGO used to put an upper age limit on sets was to steer people towards stuff at a building level more suited to their likely maturity/skill/experience level. Even in a theme like Technic, it's easy to see how a set like https://brickset.com/sets/42072-1/WHACK! might seem boring or silly to older teens and adults compared to more sophisticated and functionally advanced sets like https://brickset.com/sets/42078-1/Mack-Anthem or https://brickset.com/sets/42082-1/Rough-Terrain-Crane. I also think a possible motivation might have been expecting some parents to read a 10+ age rating on a set as "this is a toy for ten-year-olds" and opt out of getting it for a 14-year-old or 16-year-old. After all, how many of us at the age of 7 or 8 would have been excited to receive a set with a 3+ or 4+ age recommendation on the box? As adults, most of us now understand that we can generally enjoy a lot of sets regardless of our recommended age. Parents are not necessarily so understanding, particularly with regard to a toy that they expect to be creatively and intellectually stimulating, and recipients who may be frustrated if their parents treat them as any less grown-up or capable there are. And furthermore, when people are shopping for gifts, they often like to be able to narrow their choices down somewhat. When shopping for a gift for a younger buyer, it's easy to do so by only looking at sets that they're above the recommended lower age limit for. But for older buyers, if there's no upper recommended age limit and a gift giver doesn't know enough about LEGO to know what differences there are between sets at different target age ranges, then lower recommended age limits that are all below the intended recipient's age don't narrow their choices at all! And a buyer who feels paralyzed by choice might be much less likely to purchase a LEGO set at all. That said, there were obviously enough people who either feel the same way you do (whether for the same or different reasons) that LEGO has now gone back to simply recommending a lower age limit. Hopefully that serves them well going forward, as I agree that people can enjoy sets designed for much younger builders as long as they appeal to their interests!

I mean, I'll try not to waste my time going into TOO much detail, but suffice to say that I'm seeing a lot of problems with this thread. First of all, @Lego David, when one of the examples of an exceptional function that you provide is from only six years ago, I feel like that alone calls into question the idea that there's been some steady decline in functionality. When the Hive Crawler was itself the only set of its time with that crawling function, couldn't you just as easily say that it was as much of an "exception" as the Spider Crawler? As far as the Agents copter goes, pretty much the exact same rotor function appeared in https://brickset.com/sets/70227-1/King-Crominus-Rescue from 2015. That set also functions as a drop ship that can deploy the lion buggy. And https://brickset.com/sets/70170-1/UltraCopter-vs-AntiMatter from the same year introduced an entirely new function, coaxial rotors that spin in opposite directions… oh, and it also has not just a winch but blaster turrets that extend to the sides. On that note, it's bizarre to me that you're so dismissive of spring-loaded shooters when that was one of just two functions/action features in a set you were praising in another thread not that long ago, https://brickset.com/sets/7477-1/T-1-Typhoon-vs-T-Rex. This year alone, there are loads of sets with extensive functions. Besides the many sets TeriXeri mentioned above, there's also: the wing-spreading function of https://brickset.com/sets/70679-1/The-Ultra-Dragon the revolving wall, catapult, swinging blade, and swordfighting functions of https://brickset.com/sets/70670-1/Monastery-of-Spinjitzu the swing-wing function of https://brickset.com/sets/70668-1/Jay-s-Storm-Fighter the counter-rotating drill and engines of https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/6268248.pdf (the drill function we've seen many times before, but the rotating engines in the back are a new addition) the fold-out blades of https://brickset.com/sets/70667-1/Kai-s-Blade-Cycle-Zane-s-Snowmobile the transformation functions of the various Hidden Side sets the Spinjitzu-activated splitting function of https://brickset.com/sets/70678-1/Castle-of-the-Forsaken-Emperor the cutters that spin when rolled along the ground in https://brickset.com/sets/70673-1/Shuricopter the lever-activated front cutter of https://brickset.com/sets/70675-1/Katana-4X4 the side cutters, functional steering, detachable flyer, and fold-out shooters of https://brickset.com/sets/70677-1/Land-Bounty the slammer functions of the Spinjitzu Slam sets the rapid-fire six-shot spring missile function in https://brickset.com/sets/70839-1/The-Rexcelsior! the synchronized engine rotation and the Plantimal's grabbing function in https://brickset.com/sets/70835-1/Rex-s-Rexplorer! the vampire transformation function and hot tub trap door in https://brickset.com/sets/70837-1/Shimmer-Shine-Sparkle-Spa! the spinning egg ride in https://brickset.com/sets/75937-1/Triceratops-Rampage the dragon dance function in https://brickset.com/sets/80102-1/Dragon-Dance …and probably more that I'm not thinking of. If I were to look at play-feature-heavy sets from other recent years, from themes like Friends, Nexo Knights, Minecraft, Elves, The LEGO Batman Movie, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Bionicle, and so on, then this post would drag on for way longer than it already has, and I doubt that any of us would gain much from that. Honestly, these topics of yours are getting tiresome. Every time it's the same thing, lamenting how LEGO is in decline in one way or another… and yet the types of decline you're imagining are getting increasingly spurious and out-of-touch with reality. I'm not sure how old you were when these mid-2000s to early 2010s sets were coming out, but I think something all AFOLs need to remind ourselves of time and time again (including me) is that there is literally nothing LEGO can do to recreate the magic of simply being a kid and experiencing the magic of LEGO play through those younger and less jaded eyes. LEGO could conceivably bring out a theme featuring pretty much everything we would have loved as kids and we would still be less enamored by it than we were as kids, when it was so much easier to overlook a set's weaknesses and when even fairly basic functions still felt new and exciting. Not only have LEGO's design standards gone up over the past decades, but so have our own. And of course, as adults, we have to think about practical concerns like maintaining a balanced budget or making efficient use of our living space much harder than most of us needed to as kids. So it goes without saying that sets we might have bought or asked for as gifts simply because they were new and exciting back then might be looked at with a more critical eye today. It's good that you're able to admit that. But even in the Overwatch sets, you're being a little bit reductive. Perhaps most notably, https://brickset.com/sets/75974-1/Bastion has a light brick and converts from robot to turret mode. And the rocket in https://brickset.com/sets/75975-1/Watchpoint-Gibraltar has a panel that opens to reveal hidden laser cannons, separates into front and back stages, and can be combined with the payload from https://brickset.com/sets/75970-1/Tracer-vs-Widowmaker. Moreover, I think that on some levels you are also looking at past themes with rose-colored glasses. In some of the years you wax nostalgic for like 2008, there were a LOT of sets in even heavily action-driven themes like Exo-Force, Mars Mission, Star Wars, Bionicle, Racers, and Indiana Jones in which the main play features were ones that you seem to largely disregard in today's sets: shooters, opening hatches, modules that split apart, articulated joints, "swooshable" or "zoomable" vehicles, and of course less "action feature" dependent role play scenarios. I'm not saying this is something you should be ashamed of being prone to. It's easy to fall victim to selective memory when the sets that were least impressive in terms of design or playability also tend to be among the least memorable. And most of the time, it makes no difference to remember past sets/themes in a positive light and gloss over the stuff that was less likable. I can be as prone to this as anybody, and am sometimes surprised when I look up an old set I loved even within the past decade only to see that "huh, it really isn't as remarkable a building experience/play experience/value as I remembered". But before you criticize modern stuff aimed at much younger buyers than us, you ought to similarly take a step back and take a serious look at whether the years you look back fondly at were really that much better overall, or whether you're simply judging them according to a handful of standout sets that have a fond place in your memory even today. Because as much as LEGO has changed over the years, a lot of stuff hasn't changed nearly as much as a lot of us older folks tend to imagine.

I would also prefer Silver Metallic if not for the fact that the larger 6x6x2 curve piece already exists in that color, and in general when MOCing I've found that I've had more times I want to use one or the other depending on which is in a more convenient color, than using both together in the same MOC. Granted, if they both CAME in the same color, maybe that would incentivize me to use them together, but for now I kind of prefer having more color variety between the two sizes to simply making one size in more of the colors that the other size already appears in.

I think as time goes on there will be more and more examples of Friends sets with colors that seem “normal”, not just because of changes in Friends but also because OTHER themes have been increasingly using colors that used to be almost exclusive to girl-targeted sets and themes. For years after colors like Cool Yellow and Light Royal Blue were introduced, non-minifigure parts in those colors remained largely exclusive to themes like Clikits, Belville, Duplo, and Friends… to such an extent that I remember some comments on Friends sets mistaking them for brandnew colors. Medium Azur was also largely Friends-specific initially But gradually we’re seeing these colors used in a wider range of themes like Creator 3-in-1, Creator Expert, Classic, and City. In hindsight, Heartlake High from 2014 was not so much more “girly” than this set, but it surely seemed that way at a time when Cool Yellow walls or Medium Azur accents were far rarer outside of Friends.

I thought that at first, but it seems to be a perfect match to the round plates in the middle, which don't look anywhere near as reflective. I think the shiny reflections are simply how the curved edges look under bright photo studio lighting. Honestly, I would be just as excited for Silver Metallic if not more so, because I love using metallic colors in MOCs… so you can rest assured this isn't just wishful thinking on my part.

Yesterday a lot of summer sets got revealed! The Heartlake Italian Restaurant, has some WONDERFULLY useful new parts for historic builders: the 1x2 double half arches from the Harry Potter sets appearing for the first time in White 1x1 curved top pieces in three new colors (Bright Red, Bright Orange, and Bright Reddish Violet), used here as clay roof tiles a recolor of the ice cream piece in Medium Lilac as a new food item: grapes! Just looking at this set it's easy to see the potential to reuse some of these parts and/or techniques in Mediterranean-inspired MOCs ancient and modern alike! Also, the Creator UFO ride has 5x5x1 curved quarter circle pieces in what looks to be Medium Stone Grey, which could be a great new option for larger stone arches like those over a town or castle gate.

I know I certainly don't mind Alicia's face being reused, since I really want to create a mini-doll sigfig and Alicia's face (blue eyes, light skin, and glasses with warm-colored frames) is perfect. This will be a great opportunity for me to get it in a set I'm interested in anyhow instead of having to pay BrickLink prices to get the Alicia head or full mini-doll individually (and usually from sellers who don't carry other types of parts I'm interested in). Since we have yet to see finalized pics of a lot of the other summer sets, it's quite possible that some of these parts (particularly the basic ones like the arches and 1x1 domes) might also be appearing in other sets from the same wave. It's not as though colors like Bright Reddish Violet, Bright Orange, and White would be difficult to find other applications for within the Friends theme.

Whether it's nurture or nature makes no difference when many kids have already been subjected to all sorts of parental and peer pressure by the time they're old enough for LEGO Friends or other System themes. Nobody is born with a favorite color, but that doesn't make their learned color preferences any less real to them. Gender differences related to color aren't just about preferences, either. For example, there have been well-publicized studies finding that women in the sample group tended to identify colors using more varied and nuanced vocabulary while men in the sample group were more likely to use basic color terms like "red", "blue", and "green", and that women were able to match or differentiate between colors with more accuracy — which seems like one of the possible motivations for LEGO Friends using a much broader range of colors than many boy-oriented themes. I am pretty confident that this is likewise a learned skill, since girls are often brought up with more societal pressure to care about things like beauty and aesthetics, while boys are discouraged from caring too much about such things due to social stigma that caring a lot about appearances is superficial or effeminate. I've seen quite a few rants in the past few years about Beau Brummell's influence in cultivating an ideal that men's fashion should be all about maintaining a painstaking sense of plainness (e.g. impeccable hygiene but no obvious cosmetic flourishes, or impeccably fitted suits but only in unassuming colors like black, brown, navy, and khaki). But regardless, I don't think it's realistic to argue that kids of any gender aren't going to care at ALL about what colors a set uses. By age five, many kids will already have a sense of what colors they like or dislike, whether in general or in particular contexts. I've heard anecdotes from LEGO designers about some kids in playtesting sessions becoming outright angry or upset if they feel like a set is in the "wrong" color (e.g. a fire engine that isn't red). I also think it's misleading to refer to LEGO Friends colors as "harmonious pastels". Color harmony is as much about how colors are used as it is about which colors are used, and is hardly particular to "girly" colors. And pastel colors are light colors of medium intensity, such as the Light Green grass, Light Yellow beaches, and Light Reddish Violet accents in many Paradisa sets. Pastel would NOT describe many of the other colors people sometimes think of as "girly" or associate with LEGO Friends like Dark Azur, Bright Reddish Violet, Medium Lilac, Flame Yellowish Orange, and Bright Bluish Green. Even Bright Purple (Dark Pink) is deeper than what would usually be called pastel. That said… I wouldn't be surprised if the pastel colors are the ones in LEGO Friends sets that many male LEGO fans are most likely to have an aversion to.

In the very least, this is better than the Zane from the previous edition which was not exclusive at all. It does make me wonder where that First Master of Spinjitzu minifig we saw leaked a while back is from, though…

The main reason that occurs to me is that Moana followed in Frozen's footsteps by not being licensed, marketed, or branded as part of the Disney Princess IP. Since the change of branding for Disney sets, LEGO has also introduced the "Tangled: The Series" subtheme, which is likewise separate from the Disney Princess brand, even though Rapunzel herself is a part of the roster of Disney Princesses. However, in general, most non-CMF, non-D2C, non-Ideas sets based on older Disney Animated Canon IPs have remained limited to the Disney Princess subtheme.

Lots of great new parts in the recently-revealed Ninjago summer sets: Akita, a new multi-tailed wolf/fox mold resembling Japanese "kitsune" and similar fox spirits from Chinese, and Korean folklore A human version of Akita who wears miko (Japanese shaman/nun/shrine attendant) garb, plus a cape resembling kitsune tails and a mask/headdress resembling a kitsune face. A new style of spinner — this one lacks the clips on the sides which means it is a little less versatile in terms of connection points, but that also means that cosmetically it might function better as a general whirlpool or whirlwind shape. Appears in 9 different color combinations. New ninja hoods with a transparent aura around the head. Maybe a little Ninjago-specific, but also possibly useful for other Japanese-inspired fantasy characters. New Black, Reddish Brown, and Warm Gold (Pearl Gold) snake heads with Transparent Bright Orange fire motifs. In historic MOCs, I could see these working great as statues with a decorative glass or crystal inlay. Fire motifs are a common way of framing figures of spiritual power or significance in Middle Eastern and Asian art (comparable to halos and aureoles in European Christian art or the solar discs in Ancient Egyptian art). New snake-patterned shoulder armor in Warm Gold and Copper Metallic (Copper). A new polearm mold resembling a guandao/bisento/glaive in two different color combinations: Warm Gold/Transparent Bright Orange (Trans-Orange) and Titanium Metallic (Pearl Dark Gray)/Transparent Light Blue. Ice-encrusted samurai armor and helmets on zombie-like samurai minifigures. Other than the heads, these may be hard to use outside of Ninjago unless you have a really particular fantasy-heavy build in mind. A new fiery cobra hood and ice dragon wings, both punched from plastic sheets. These appear on a giant fire snake and ice dragon that would both be easy to adapt to a historical fantasy setting. Three different scrolls with Ninjago writing on them, punched from a single plastic sheet. Obviously meant to be Ninjago-specific, but I know many people have no trouble using parts with Asian or pseudo-Asian languages in historic settings regardless of their origins or meaning. A new giant shuriken/saw blade element in Transparent Light Blue and Warm Gold, potentially useful for traps in castles or ruins. Some very cool new sail shapes/patterns on the Landbounty. Like those from the movie version of Destiny's Bounty, they feel very historic in style, as opposed to the more sci-fi looking sails from Final Flight of Destiny's Bounty or Destiny's Shadow. As for recolors, which may be more enticing to people here: Lloyd's piandao-style sword from the movie recolored in Warm Gold. The khopesh, circular shield with center stud, and LOTR Elven polearm recolored in Copper Metallic (Copper) Wu's conical hat recolored in Sand Yellow (Dark Tan), plus a Sand Yellow cape of some kind on the same minifigure. A Transparent Light Blue recolor of the spiked shoulder armor previously seen on Maddox from The LEGO Movie 2 sets. All in all, not a whole lot of sets that will likely be especially desirable to historic builders who don't already enjoy Ninjago sets on the side, but certainly a lot of parts that might be worth taking a look at on Bricks & Pieces or BrickLink once the sets are out. There may even be more cool stuff that's harder to see in pics of the assembled sets.

My perception of the Land Bounty is a lot more favorable as well, though I suspect that's partly because I'm thinking of it less as a weaker successor to the more traditional ship/airship versions of the Destiny's Bounty and more as a far superior take on the "rolling HQ" concept LEGO previously attempted with the Ninja DB X (Destiny's Bounty Express). Rather than a somewhat boring and weird-looking truck, this design feels both a lot more detailed/playable than the DB X (working steering, yo!) and a lot truer to the Ninjago theme's wacky and playfully anachronistic tone. And in general, I feel pretty good about the fact that this set is such a different take on the ninja mobile HQ concept than the movie's Destiny's Bounty. As much as I've loved seeing the Bounty get more and more impressive with each redesign, I can't say I'd want to get stuck in a pattern where we get a new version of the Destiny's Bounty's "flying ship" concept like clockwork every two years. This seems like a great way to create a set that performs a similar function in the story and feels similarly iconic, yet isn't rendering itself or past Destiny's Bounty sets redundant. A lot of stuff I've seen has said June, but I don't know if that's for all countries. It will probably depend on when other themes are scheduled for release, since in general LEGO likes to spread their release dates out (it'd surely be taxing on their production, distribution, sales, and marketing departments if they had to launch the summer waves for all their themes at the same time). I suspect that LEGO chose to create just four Spinjitzu Slam sets since this is the second wave of spinner sets this year, similar to how they had fewer Dragon Master sets than Spinjitzu Master sets. If every wave had six new spinner sets I could definitely see how it might oversaturate the market. That said, it's totally possible we might see them get their own Spinjitzu Slam style minifigures and spinners in a future set, particularly now that it's seemingly becoming more common and less expensive for LEGO to include spinners in the regular playsets. Compare with how Lloyd and Nya got Airjitzu style minifigures and fliers/spinners in the Airjitzu Battle Grounds set, a full year after the rest of the Airjitzu sets came out.

A lot of weirdly-colored parts that never showed up in sets are produced either as prototypes or to test new molds for flaws/imperfections. There's quite a community out there of people who collect them. Ordinarily they're not expected to wind up in the hands of the public, but a lot have been given to employees over the years and then subsequently obtained by fans and collectors via either gifts or, on a decidedly more somber note, estate sales. Here's a gallery of just one collector's acquisitions, which includes not only unreleased recolors of well-known LEGO parts, but also even some prototype parts that never ended up appearing in sets in ANY color! https://www.flickr.com/photos/66166063@N07/

I've been skipping ninja vehicles that don't interest me since the Rebooted sets! I definitely wouldn't be getting my money's worth if I tried to buy every one without exception. But overall, I feel like this wave's ninja vehicles are refreshingly strong, with a good balance of authenticity and distinctiveness. I much prefer Zane's new chopper over the wei rder and less helicopter-shaped design of the NinjaCopter, or Cole's new bike over the much plainer design of the Blaster Bike. Even the Katana 4x4 achieves the "ninja off-roader" look in a way that appeals much more to me than the Jungle Raider did. Haven't put much thought into what particular sets I'm getting. I'll probably need more time to think on that and compare the pieces and figures they come with, not to mention look at their play features in more detail. But overall I feel like this wave is shaping up to be very strong!

Does it? I must have missed that. I stand corrected, then!

I would be tickled pink if they were to base the facial features of such a figure loosely on those on Captain Bart Seeker from the Jim Spaceborn comics! Nostalgic touches like that are always a lot of fun. I would also love to see a female Blacktron minifigure to complement the Series 3 Space Villain. It’s hard to think of many I’d be strongly interested in that aren’t so indulgent nostalgia-wise, because a lot of the blind-bag Minifigures I like best are those that either connect with themes I already own or am fond of, or those that have good modern, casual parts for building minifigures of me and my friends (which sci-fi figures aren’t so suited to). As brilliant as figures like the Retro Spaceman and Cyborg are, they aren’t the kind of figures that I generally tend to seek out, nor ones that inspire me to try creating/visualizing MOCs and custom figures the way that the Space Villain and CMF Spy did.

Yeah, I agree, I don't see much at all about the character that looks boyish or even androgynous. I suspect that the lack of lipstick may be meant to signify that she lives in the wild or away from civilization, sort of like San from Princess Mononoke. Or it could just be an aesthetic choice on the part of the designers and/or a reflection of the character choosing to present that way. But she does still have printed eyelashes, long hair, and printed curves around her waist, all three of which are pretty traditional female gender signifiers in both real-world culture and minifigure designs. So I think the idea that she's meant to look boyish may be extrapolating a little bit too much from just one design feature (the lack of lipstick).

I'm pretty sure the pink animal is a baby beluga rather than a baby narwhal (no horn). I imagine that's what you meant though. Definitely lots of really fun and exciting creatures, and makes me wish LEGO Elves were still going so some of them could be reused in a mermaid story arc… ah, well, that's what MOCs are for, I suppose!

This is brilliant! I love how the shape feels natural as a spaceship, yet also easy to recognize as the letters of the word SPACE! I also love how well you managed to balance curved shapes and straight lines in order to create something that looks refined and modern, yet also maintains that nostalgic 80s design language. Bonus points for the fin with stripes in the classic Space uniform colors! A lot of builders who make Classic Space throwback MOCs refrain from flourishes like that which aren't based in the original Classic Space color scheme, but you made it work really well! The full interior is also a delight and really shows how well your experience building houses translates to a sci-fi context. I can't think of many spaceship MOCs that were as thorough about making the interior feel fully livable, even at a scale like this. Really an outstanding MOC in every possible way!