Retrocity

I am fine with 2 or 3. Not sure about full integration, but that could always change depending on how it’s handled. Some thoughts and ramblings: I only buy LEGO at this time. Grew up only buying/receiving LEGO. This is where my interests primarily lie, but I’ve grown interested in custom parts/prints. I’ve bought custom printed capes and other small cloth items along with printed torsos that used actual Lego parts. I’d like to get some custom sails eventually. I’ve also bought items off places like Aliexpress in the past. For example, I’ve bought goats, chickens, dragon plumes (I did get white plumes as finding official LEGO ones are extremely expensive), dragons, ect in colors never made available by LEGO. I also have a few animals like swans and boars that are original molds or copies of another brand. In a case like this, my preference is to buy the actual LEGO part unless it is not available in the color I want (gold dragon plume) or extremely expensive for what it is (white dragon plume). What is the stance on these and how they factor in moving forward? I feel there is a difference between buying from a 3rd party making custom parts/prints (whitelist?) and a site like Aliexpress where many parts are direct copies of parts but potentially in different color/also available in colors produced by LEGO (blacklist?). When it comes to 3rd party bricks and sets, I’m not too worried about it. I’ll click on what I want to see, but would appreciate if they have separate areas for general discussion. I already don’t click on sub forums for LEGO themes I’m not interested in, so it’s not that different. There are interesting 3rd party sets out there in themes I like. I’ll admit I was pretty turned off by some originally, but as more come out I do appreciate that there are 3rd parties releasing sets in themes like Pirates and Western. I wouldn’t say no to getting one in the future if it fit what I wanted for the right price. I think the biggest gray area is how to approach MOCs. I don’t necessarily want to have multiple sub forums with little traffic because someone used a handful of 3rd party parts on a several thousand piece castle primarily using LEGO. I think most of us want to see and discuss the build, but be aware of non LEGO parts used that are significant to the build. I don’t care if you subbed some 2x4 bricks of another brand because that’s what you had available. Supplemental usage like parts for minifigures, cloth pieces are pretty easy to spot and should just be called out for clarity. With the exception of some newer sets, a majority of my purchases come from bulk lots off auction, garage/rummage sale ect. I sort out 3rd party parts and used to just donate them once I’d fill a box. I’m sitting on a pile at the moment and have considered keeping them to use for interior portions of builds. When sorting, my stance has also changed a bit in the sense of, “oh that’s a unique part, maybe I’ll hold onto that and see how I can use it” rather than chucking it into the 3rd party bin. Of course, the quality of some of these really vary and some aren’t worth holding on to at all (but these aren’t really the brands being discussed here). I’ve been on plenty of forums in the past where other topics/brands are discussed with a dedicated sub forum(s). A specific car forum with a few sub forums for a couple other vehicles by that manufacturer and a catch all for discussion on other vehicles. Same for one on planted aquariums with a few sub forums for stuff like salt water and reef tanks. I think in general you are going to have percentage of people who stick to the main focus only and others who also are involved with (or have interest) in an associated sub forum. Sometimes the exposure is a good thing when discussing it with others who share the main interest and might have similar standards. Like I would expect someone on a LEGO forum to have a high standard for brick or build quality when it comes to a 3rd party and to get insight/comparison when discussing the brand. Lots of rambling but hopefully my thoughts make some sense.

Universal Monsters Castle was approved in the latest Ideas review.

Don’t mind the light strips/cords in the back, in the process of rearranging my desk. I think the Chocolatier Dragon looks pretty good on the front. I have a few other ideas for maybe a cleaner look, but I need to see if I have extras of those bricks in brown.

I received and built my Sea Serpent. I thought it was a fun build, and it looks pretty nice. I have the original, and in comparison, it is slightly shorter in length but wider for the most part. I’d love to make a few minor updates, maybe add some dragon plumes. Maybe someone will print a small flag with the updated insignia on it. I saw a version where the red dragon from the DND CMF was added where the plumes were on the original. I just placed the solid brown version from the Chocolatier CMF and it might look really nice too. I actually need to get a brick to hold it in place to see and will share a pic if it looks good. If it does, I might need to get an extra Chocolatier. I do hope an updated Black Knight's Castle is eventually released.

The Griffin torso immediately reminded me of the old scale mail torsos, so I'm not surprised to see it get reused with different colored arms (especially since the original came with red, blue, or black). At least for now, you can get more via PAB if you want and just swap to the arm color of choice. It always disappointed me that the Black Knights didn't have a unique torso like other factions and the scale mail / plate mail were used by Lion / Black Falcon / Royal knights as well. I understand why some are disappointed in the lack of a new torso, but given the history of the Black Knights and getting two other new parts, I can live. Now if Lego releases a modern Black Knights Castle, I want a torso with the insignia on it as part of it. I do have a few UV printed Lego branded torsos with the Black Knight dragon on it in the modern castle style. I put pearl dark gray arms on them (torso is red), but might try out dark blue on them. Would like to find a printed leg that would go with this and the Black Knight version of the Griffin torso. I think with the printed sail, it mostly exceeds what I would have expected from a GWP. I like the modernized Black Knights logo and hopefully this won't be the last we see of the shield.

Supposedly the Sea Serpent GWP comes with a printed fabric sail and dragon shields (assuming Black Knight color scheme) using the Hylian Shield shape! Only two minifigures, but getting a printed sail sounds great. No info on the torsos, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are the Griffin ones or use armor overtop a plain torso. Now just to see the purchasing threshold.

I made an order Thursday night, bestsellers shipped Friday, and arrived today. No bonuses for me, but my Gold Space Torsos came after getting cancelled on the last order. Here's what was interesting. The package was delivered by Amazon instead of the Post Office. Came in a brown paper bag envelope instead of the normal yellow one, and it said Amazon Shipping on the label. Was brought to the door like any normal Amazon order in one of their delivery vans. I hadn't heard anything about this change and wonder if all bestsellers will ship via Amazon now.

We should get the official unveil on Monday for BDP 8 and Coconut Cape. I saw that it will be 209.99 USD, but I think the pricing was removed at the moment. From a teaser photo on the Bricklink IG, at least one of the soldiers has the light purple torso from the Ninjago City Workshops set from last year. I didn’t know about this torso before this teaser and it fits really well. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?M=njo0957#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

I agree that the ships do look similar in overall design but there are enough small changes, for better or worse, to differentiate them. The sails being generally the same goes a long way toward making them look very similar to me. Perhaps they could’ve gone with black, or dark red for the sails with white bricks for the skull. I do like the ship. I think as pointed out above, the ship will be bought for a lot of children who likely will enjoy it and don’t have the prior ship. It’s a shame there isn’t an alternative that would be more in line for an older crowd and I get the frustration. Like the prior one, I think it will go on sale often enough or be available cheaply on the secondary market for those who wait. I myself have gotten two of 31109, two of 31120, and one of 31132 off of bulk lot auctions cheaply (though it takes time and patience). Expecting the new ship and castle will eventually show up as well. As another talking point, I noticed the cloth sails from the Goonies set are available on PAB for a not too crazy amount (~$8 USD). I wonder if they might work on the alternate build sloops (or similarly sized moc ship).

The ship is fine, I’ll likely try to get it on sale at some point. I think it’s fair to wait for more pictures for a full assessment. I’d like to see what the cabin looks like. I also really like the kraken build. I feel like a teal/green version is needed for the Kraken knights (hopefully all the parts exist in those colors). I also agree that the alternate builds look good, potentially better than the main build. The two small sloops will look nice mixed in with some other bigger ships, maybe add a cloth sail to each. Like the new castle, I’m much happier to deal with a smaller part count if the tradeoff is new minifigure parts. New torsos/legs aren’t really coming in other sets at the moment unless you are going 3rd party. It’s easier to add on to the ship, understanding the likely increased cost of the ship and the cost to buy additional parts if you don’t have them on hand. Off initial glance, the captain’s torso looks like it could work for an imperial as well.

The Gryphon and Gold Space torsos from my early February order were cancelled today. This was from the brief time they moved a bunch of those parts from Standard to Bestsellers in the U.S. Looks like they are currently OOS online. I wonder if it has to do with the parts being moved back to the Standard parts list and stock not being replenished for remaining orders from when they were listed as Bestsellers in the U.S.

It looks like the CMF Tuba player will be useful as an Imperial. Not a great closeup out there of the torso without the tuba in front but looks good from afar. Nice red printed legs and shako along with gold epaulets to go with the white torso. The monster hunter might have a useful torso / legs for a pirate as well.

Good point with the alternate builds. I was thinking that the 2009 and 2015 waves included a couple Imperials with the largest Pirate ship. Perhaps one alternate build is an Imperial fort for the pirates to attack. 3rd could be some sort of trading post or civilian building/setting that both groups would be at. My initial thought was they included a civilian and a Serpent knight with the Horse Knight Castle and seemed to place a larger emphasis on a bigger and better selection of minifigures (with more of the budget put toward new prints for the minifigures). I honestly prefer more of the budget going toward new minifigure prints than more pieces in the Creator sets because I can add on to the build with extra parts. Options for new pirate themed minifigure parts are much more limited. Hopefully this bodes well for some new prints. I figure printed legs are pretty rare for pirates, so no budget really needs to be allocated to a new print there (though I’m not opposed to one, just thinking about how it’s been in the past). They made two new castle factions, make the Imperial faction a new color and/or bring back Spanish/Armada helmets. Say with 5 figures: two Imperial or other opposing faction, one Pirate captain, one male pirate, and one female pirate. They could reuse the vending machine torso for one figure, but I’m wondering if they want to keep it exclusive outside BDP sets. If it gets a 6th figure, one additional pirate or a skeleton. They could also make the captain a woman which would give some variety. Of course, they could just rehash existing torsos, or the set could be something unexpected but where’s the fun in speculating that.

Quite exciting to see it sounds like a new creator ship is on the way. It looks like it is 168 less pieces than 31109. The Horse Knight Castle is 67 less pieces than 31220. 6 figures versus 4 (counting the skeleton) for the new versus old castle. I think it would be fair to speculate 5-6 figures for the pirate ship. Considering the minifigure assortment in the Horse Knight Castle and Haunted Mansion creator sets, I am also hopeful we’ll get a nice assortment of new prints. Maybe a new Imperial figure as well.

These are also available in the BAM towers in LEGO stores if you have one nearby. If you get any, I’d love to see how they look next to the custom torsos from a color perspective. I’m planning to alter one of the creator pirate ships for a faction using those torsos (Dutch too I suppose) and had been thinking of at least getting an admiral torso from Rocky Mountain in orange. The BAM torso is reddish orange, and I was hoping they wouldn’t look out of place together. The ship looks great and those sails look really good on it