LEGO Sci-Fi Ongoing - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

[danth]

4 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

BDP Link
We need to get this made!! 

I clicked "Love it", is that how I vote to get it made?

I really like those craters!

[Renny The Spaceman]

11 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

BDP Link
We need to get this made!! 

@danth
 

How does the brickink designer program work? not sure how I vote and how I'd purchase it if it succeeded? 

[RichardGoring]

30 minutes ago, Renny The Spaceman said:

How does the brickink designer program work? not sure how I vote and how I'd purchase it if it succeeded? 

The process is outlined on the main page - Designer Program Series 2 [BrickLink]

They showcase all the designs now and get people to vote for what they like. Bricklink then takes that information and internally reviews the sets, incorporating factors like the popular vote, other sets available, feasibility of the model, and market potential, and then produces a shortlist of five designs. Those five then get reworked a bit by the original designers with a bit of help from Bricklink (but not nearly as much as a full LEGO set). And then they will be ready for crowdfunding in June next year. If 3000 copies sell, then the set will get made. There is a maximum of 20,000 sets that will be made of each design. And you'll finally get the set at the end of 2024.

All of which is to say, keep an eye on the forum, or LEGO news sites, or Bricklink for when the crowdfunding happens. In previous rounds, things have often sold out within a few days (sometimes within an hour!).

[danth]

Another good one:

Bricklink designer page.

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, woodford86 said:

Just saw falconfan’s post that we might get a dedicated space CMF series next May….I HOPE its true but given its May I could easily see it being Star Wars.

But a throwback series dedicated to a classic theme each…holy eff I’d buy so many. Give me castle!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

[Classic_Spaceman]

5 hours ago, LCP said:

60428 : Space Mech(9.99$, 140 Pieces)
60429 : Recovery of An Asteroid in Space(19.99$, 126 Pieces)
60430 : Spaceship(19.99$, 240 Pieces)
60431 : Space Rover with Aliens(29.99$, 311 Pieces)
60433 : Modular Space Station(99.99$, 1097 Pieces)
60434 : Space Base with Launch Pad(139.99$, 1422 Pieces)

 

[jodawill]

I'm not holding my breath regarding the city sets. Those typically don't include anything I'd find relevant for sci-fi. But with all of this emphasis on space, it wouldn't surprise me if we get something else similar to 10497. I'm calling it now: we're getting a black space minifigure. Is it time to sell my collection of them now?

[Oky]

Nice to see the City subtheme continuing at least. Especially since they seem to be going more sci-fi with aliens and mechs which is odd, but welcome. 

[icm]

The PPP of this City winter wave is really good. I guess that means there's no new molds and they're using the rocket parts they already paid off. That's fine with me!

[hikouki]

Classic Space CMF next year… do I smell a new classic spaceman color?

I vote for bright light blue to complete the awesome set! Plus, a small accessory build for another minifig that uses a light bluish gray tank.

[MAB]

3 hours ago, hikouki said:

Classic Space CMF next year… do I smell a new classic spaceman color?

I vote for bright light blue to complete the awesome set! Plus, a small accessory build for another minifig that uses a light bluish gray tank.

If they do, I hope they also repeat plenty of colours again. Red, black, white, yellow, blue, green, etc. If they want them to sell to wider collectors and kids, they can't just focus on new colours for existing CS minifig collectors. It would also be interesting if they named them or gave them bios and so revealed official job descriptions. 

[Lyichir]

6 hours ago, MAB said:

If they do, I hope they also repeat plenty of colours again. Red, black, white, yellow, blue, green, etc. If they want them to sell to wider collectors and kids, they can't just focus on new colours for existing CS minifig collectors. It would also be interesting if they named them or gave them bios and so revealed official job descriptions. 

Repeating classic space colors is nice but I doubt we'll get more than one Classic Space-inspired fig in a full CMF series (even a fully space-themed one), since those tend to favor variety in the types of figs they offer. Assuming the "space" theming is accurate and not just a codename or something, the series will still more likely feature a mix of references to past space themes/figs and probably a fair number of wholly original designs as well (like the various space-themed CMFs we've gotten in the past with no obvious ties to past characters/factions).

[danth]

10 hours ago, icm said:

The PPP of this City winter wave is really good. I guess that means there's no new molds and they're using the rocket parts they already paid off. That's fine with me! 

Is that really how it works? I would assume Lego amortizes the cost of pieces over multiple years if not the entire lifetime of the part.

47 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

Repeating classic space colors is nice but I doubt we'll get more than one Classic Space-inspired fig in a full CMF series (even a fully space-themed one), since those tend to favor variety in the types of figs they offer. Assuming the "space" theming is accurate and not just a codename or something, the series will still more likely feature a mix of references to past space themes/figs and probably a fair number of wholly original designs as well (like the various space-themed CMFs we've gotten in the past with no obvious ties to past characters/factions).

Yeah...if I've learned anything, it's that the way I really want things to happen is rarely the way it happens. This goes triple for Space Lego.

11 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

60428 : Space Mech(9.99$, 140 Pieces)
60429 : Recovery of An Asteroid in Space(19.99$, 126 Pieces)
60430 : Spaceship(19.99$, 240 Pieces)
60431 : Space Rover with Aliens(29.99$, 311 Pieces)
60433 : Modular Space Station(99.99$, 1097 Pieces)
60434 : Space Base with Launch Pad(139.99$, 1422 Pieces)

I will never understand this "Space is City now" thing. NASA-styled city sets is one thing. But Space Mech? Space Rover with Aliens? In City? Almost assuredly in NASA colors as usual.

Look Lego...you just give us some colored windscreens and a real Space Logo (in GOLD, not orange or blue), and I agree to ignore this silly City thing.

[danth]

OK so adventure and space sets are in City now. Maybe the problem is the name. City. Obviously space stations are in space, not cities. And deep arctic sea explorations are in arctic seas, not cities.

So many we need to update the name. City is too narrow. We need something more vague. Lego Places? Lego Realms? Lego Land?

Lego Land has a nice ring to it. Maybe that could be on the box. Maybe on a yellow ribbon going across the upper left corner of the box?

EDIT: Nobody is picking up on the very obvious joke... 😁

Edited August 3, 2023 by danth

[icm]

20 minutes ago, danth said:

Is that really how it works? I would assume Lego amortizes the cost of pieces over multiple years if not the entire lifetime of the part.

I know next to nothing about accounting or cost amortization. I'm a grad student specializing in the orbit of Pluto, not a bean counter!

But I think Lego probably prices sets with new molds such that the expected sales of the first wave of sets to feature those molds will pay the molds off (or rather pay back the cost of the molds with some profit, because I'm sure the molds are paid for in cash in the first place). They wouldn't want to amortize the cost of a particularly large or complex mold over multiple years or over sets in the future not yet designed, because they don't know how the first wave of sets featuring that part will do.

For instance, the current dinosaur molds were introduced in 2012, and I'm sure the 2012 Dino sets were priced to pay back the cost of the molds there. At the time they wouldn't have know they would still be using them ten years later in a highly successful ongoing Jurassic license, although they may have hoped to be able to do that. At this point the cost of the sets with existing dinosaurs with new colors and prints remains high because they don't want to undercut themselves and lower expectations for achievable prices when introducing new dinosaurs. 

A better exhibit for my belief that expensive new parts are paid for in the prices of the first sets to use them is the Space Shuttle nose part and 6w curved cone introduced in the 2015 City Space Shuttle, set no. 60080. That set was outrageously overpriced, at $120 for 578 parts. The nose part also appeared in 60078, Utility Shuttle, in 2015, which was 155 pieces for $25. An unprinted version of the same part appeared in the 2015 City Deep Sea Operation Base, which was 909 parts for $100. It appeared in 60164 Sea Rescue Plane with 144 parts for $20 in 2017. In 2018, the Bat-Space Shuttle used the same nose part in a set with 643 parts for $80. The next appearance of the 6w curved cone was in the Rexcelsior in 2019, and that was 1826 parts for $150. So, comparing the Space Shuttle from 2015 to the Bat-Space Shuttle from 2018, I think that set 60080 must have been priced to bear the development and mold costs for the nose part and the curved cone. It's far too overpriced to be explained by the City tax alone (by which I mean that in the USA all City sets are overpriced).

[Classic_Spaceman]

6 hours ago, danth said:

OK so adventure and space sets are in City now. Maybe the problem is the name. City. Obviously space stations are in space, not cities. And deep arctic sea explorations are in arctic seas, not cities.

Looking realistically (not nostalgically) at the various real-world themes that LEGO put out from 1997-2000 (Divers, RES-Q, Extreme Team, Space Port, Arctic), these sets are clearly connected (often quite directly, with Minifigs from one theme appearing in another) and could have been released under a single banner. We even see crossovers between RES-Q, Extreme Team, Divers, and Town Jr. in catalogue images. 

[Oky]

1 hour ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Looking realistically (not nostalgically) at the various real-world themes that LEGO put out from 1997-2000 (Divers, RES-Q, Extreme Team, Space Port, Arctic), these sets are clearly connected (often quite directly, with Minifigs from one theme appearing in another) and could have been released under a single banner. We even see crossovers between RES-Q, Extreme Team, Divers, and Town Jr. in catalogue images. 

True, but then again, all themes back then also existed in the same universe as seen in TimeCruisers and crossovers like LEGO Racers. It really does seem like City is the new home for adventure and space now. 

Also, it’s hard to look at those awesome catalog images and not get nostalgic! 

[Classic_Spaceman]

7 minutes ago, Oky said:

True, but then again, all themes back then also existed in the same universe as seen in TimeCruisers and crossovers like LEGO Racers. 

There have been crossovers between modern themes as well, and considering that the recent City space logo is just the CS logo in silver, I can see Classic Space being a future evolution of what is currently City space. 
 

[Oky]

22 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

There have been crossovers between modern themes as well

There have? I can’t recall any aside from TLM and LEGO Dimensions which aren’t  canon. They usually treat City, Friends, Ninjago, Monkie Kid, etc. as separate franchises. 

But yeah, I also always viewed Space as the future of City/Town and that logo all but confirms it. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, Oky said:

There have? I can’t recall any aside from TLM and LEGO Dimensions which aren’t  canon. They usually treat City, Friends, Ninjago, Monkie Kid, etc. as separate franchises. 

These four are unconnected (though Heartlake City has been listed as a destination in some City train sets), but other themes have been linked: Brains appeared in both Power Miners and Atlantis, Solomon Blaze appeared in Galaxy Squad and Ultra Agents, one of the Dino characters (Josh Thunder) was a descendent of Johnny Thunder, a comic linked Alien Conquest to Atlantis, Pharoah's Quest, and Dino (we find out in the comic that the AC aliens build pyramids in ancient Egypt (then returned around the time Jake Rains was exploring), and provided weapons and technology to the Atlanteans). There are other connections, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind. 
 

[Oky]

32 minutes ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

These four are unconnected (though Heartlake City has been listed as a destination in some City train sets), but other themes have been linked: Brains appeared in both Power Miners and Atlantis, Solomon Blaze appeared in Galaxy Squad and Ultra Agents, one of the Dino characters (Josh Thunder) was a descendent of Johnny Thunder, a comic linked Alien Conquest to Atlantis, Pharoah's Quest, and Dino (we find out in the comic that the AC aliens build pyramids in ancient Egypt (then returned around the time Jake Rains was exploring), and provided weapons and technology to the Atlanteans). There are other connections, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind. 

Oh, I do know about those. I thought by “modern themes” you meant current ones, not ones from over a decade ago. 

[Oky]

The upcoming Halloween VIP Add-on pack includes purple CS helmets! Sadly no air tanks as far as I can tell though. 

[Classic_Spaceman]

1 hour ago, Oky said:

The upcoming Halloween VIP Add-on pack includes purple CS helmets! Sadly no air tanks as far as I can tell though. 

The airtanks are on PAB, though! 
 

[GeoBrick]

8 hours ago, Oky said:

The upcoming Halloween VIP Add-on pack includes purple CS helmets! Sadly no air tanks as far as I can tell though. 

And the orange ones are included in the Summer VIP pack.

[Time77]

On 8/3/2023 at 5:32 PM, Oky said:

The upcoming Halloween VIP Add-on pack includes purple CS helmets! Sadly no air tanks as far as I can tell though. 

Image ommitted for the sake of brevity

I was about to buy 2 helmets the night before that leaked to go with my PAB airtanks; whew. 

Do we have any ideas on that space series?  Does it mean space vaguely as a concept (aka: could it be avatar, Star wars, etc themed) or is a space themed series like that halloween one from awhile ago (series 14?)

Edited August 5, 2023 by Time77