So, I did some brief research.

Before settling on their current dates, there was a brief period where Fantastic Four was scheduled to release before Thunderbolts. Back in November of last year, Captain America was delayed to its current February date (December set), Fantastic Four maintained a temporary May 2025 release date (the April set date makes more sense in that regard), and Thunderbolts was delayed to late July (so perhaps a June/July/August set release date).

I hope we get sets for the Thunderbolts. With the exception of Deadpool & Wolverine (the first R-rated Marvel film), Lego has consistently produced sets for every Marvel film since 2014, so it would be disappointing to not get set(s) for the film. I'm aware a.clay.bricks shared rumors that the F4 set in April would be the only set based on a new Marvel film to release next year, but I'm hoping they're wrong and there exists plans to release a Thunderbolts set or two in the Summer of next year.

Hopefully we get updates on the Summer wave of Marvel sets soon, and hopefully we get sets for the Thunderbolts. If we don't, oh well, but I figured the above findings could explain a potential absence of Thunderbolts sets for the time being. Otherwise, fingers crossed for Avengers Doomsday sets in 2026.

On 12/9/2024 at 1:35 AM, Classic_Spaceman said:

Do we know if City, Friends, Star Wars, and Harry Potter will be getting calendars in 2025?

Like I've said in the HP thread, I cannot imagine they'd stop with them completely. (You also forgot Disney in your list, yes, there's another one now!). Advent calendars are easy money for LEGO given the price-content ratio. And more importantly, everyone is doing them! By "everyone" I mean both other brick companies (Bluebrixx, for example, had a bunch of them this year) and other toy companies like Playmobil or Schleich. If LEGO stop doing them, people won't stop buying advent calendars, but they'll grab a Playmobil or Schleich one (or for the AFOLs a Bluebrixx one) instead, so LEGO would really only play into the competitors' hands.

I can imagine them taking a break for single themes like Marvel, especially if the last one didn't sell, or to switch one theme for another with a fairly close target group - like Friends and Disney might not need one each, or maybe we'll get a Ninjago or even DC one instead of Marvel? But I cannot imagine they'll stop doing them completely.

Besides, the HP one this year was just stuff for people to beef up their Hogwarts Castle Great Halls (which had a list price of EUR 200 to begin with) and the summer wave includes the Hogwarts Castle Main Tower with a list price of EUR 250, so there should be plenty of empty space again that needs filling, too.

Edited December 12, 2024Dec 12 by brickbride

1 hour ago, brickbride said:

…or maybe we'll get a Ninjago or even DC one instead of Marvel? …

DC advent calendar has already been ruled out.

3 hours ago, psqidexslizer said:

DC advent calendar has already been ruled out.

No surprise here. The Marvel calendar was already criticised for having too-common figs, I don't think a collection of like three Batmans and three Jokers would go over any better. ;-)

6 hours ago, brickbride said:

No surprise here. The Marvel calendar was already criticised for having too-common figs, I don't think a collection of like three Batmans and three Jokers would go over any better. ;-)

That is ridiculous - It obviously would be a Batsuit (reuse with a plain head), Bruce Wayne (Christmas sweater), Batgirl (reuse), Mr. Freeze (reuse), Joker (reuse), Harley Quinn (Christmas sweater)! 
 

It’d be great if we got three sets for each Captain America film next year. Along with the airport battle, maybe a brick-built motorcycle set with Stealth Suit Cap and the Winter Soldier, and a car for Red Skull with Cap and Peggy? I know I’m being too optimistic here.

On 12/12/2024 at 11:52 PM, Swordy said:

It’d be great if we got three sets for each Captain America film next year. Along with the airport battle, maybe a brick-built motorcycle set with Stealth Suit Cap and the Winter Soldier, and a car for Red Skull with Cap and Peggy? I know I’m being too optimistic here.

If they want to do a big push for Cap, it should be 2026. 15th anniversary of Cap 1, 10th of Civil War, and 250th of the America he is Captain of.

On 12/12/2024 at 6:22 AM, brickbride said:

Advent calendars are easy money for LEGO given the price-content ratio.

If people buy them, that is. They always hit big sales on any stock that didn't sell before December, but this year I've seen (though unfortunately been unable to purchase) things like the Star Wars calendar as low as $20 from major retailers BEFORE DECEMBER, which does not imply they are succeeding financially.

45 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

If people buy them, that is. They always hit big sales on any stock that didn't sell before December, but this year I've seen (though unfortunately been unable to purchase) things like the Star Wars calendar as low as $20 from major retailers BEFORE DECEMBER, which does not imply they are succeeding financially.

Well that's a retailers' problem, not so much LEGO 's. The only one LEGO themselves has discounted this heavily was, I think, the Marvel one (which might well be the reason why Marvel reputedly won't get one in 2025). Plus, again, given the price-to-pieces ratio EUR 20 isn't that unreasonable a price, so even if LEGO themselves sold them for that they'd likely still make a profit. The larger issue is that retailers might sell them at a loss but that's probably true of a lot of LEGO Sets, not just advent calendars.

53 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

If they want to do a big push for Cap, it should be 2026. 15th anniversary of Cap 1, 10th of Civil War, and 250th of the America he is Captain of.

Ha ha your country is younger than Jabba the Hutt. ( Not the idea of Jabba, but his in Universe lifespan). The Wookiepedia article for Jabba should be longer than the Wikipedia equivalent for the USA. 

11 minutes ago, brickbride said:

Well that's a retailers' problem, not so much LEGO 's. The only one LEGO themselves has discounted this heavily was, I think, the Marvel one (which might well be the reason why Marvel reputedly won't get one in 2025). Plus, again, given the price-to-pieces ratio EUR 20 isn't that unreasonable a price, so even if LEGO themselves sold them for that they'd likely still make a profit. The larger issue is that retailers might sell them at a loss but that's probably true of a lot of LEGO Sets, not just advent calendars.

If retailers are giving a set a 56% discount two months into it's release (and again before december even hits), they are not going to be likely to buy many copies of subsequent versions of that set in the future. That is definitely a problem for lego and probably why we aren't getting as many calendars next year.

7 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

Ha ha your country is younger than Jabba the Hutt. ( Not the idea of Jabba, but his in Universe lifespan). The Wookiepedia article for Jabba should be longer than the Wikipedia equivalent for the USA. 

Oh, woe is me, my country isn't thousands of years old, whatever will I do?

41 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

Ha ha your country is younger than Jabba the Hutt. ( Not the idea of Jabba, but his in Universe lifespan). The Wookiepedia article for Jabba should be longer than the Wikipedia equivalent for the USA. 

And our country is younger than the Maker.

Edited December 14, 2024Dec 14 by CloneCommando99

9 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

If they want to do a big push for Cap, it should be 2026. 15th anniversary of Cap 1, 10th of Civil War, and 250th of the America he is Captain of.

Since when has LEGO cared about anniversaries, though? In the grand scheme of things, does America’s 250th Anniversary even compare to the 90th anniversary of when Ole Kirk spilled coffee on his shoes? /s

9 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

If people buy them, that is. They always hit big sales on any stock that didn't sell before December, but this year I've seen (though unfortunately been unable to purchase) things like the Star Wars calendar as low as $20 from major retailers BEFORE DECEMBER, which does not imply they are succeeding financially.

I find that the decline in sales for Advent Calenders is but a microcosm of LEGO as a whole. When consumers vote with their wallets and choose not to buy, how does TLG respond? Maybe advent calendars as a Christmas tradition are declining, thus less sales. Maybe people are choosing other products, given the wide diversity of calendars nowadays. Maybe it’s the price. LEGO’s calendars have always been the best, but are people willing to shell out a huge premium for that?

8 hours ago, Agent Kallus said:

Ha ha your country is younger than Jabba the Hutt. ( Not the idea of Jabba, but his in Universe lifespan). The Wookiepedia article for Jabba should be longer than the Wikipedia equivalent for the USA. 

Your country is younger than the Byzantine Empire, if I recall correctly.

36 minutes ago, Swordy said:

Since when has LEGO cared about anniversaries, though? In the grand scheme of things, does America’s 250th Anniversary even compare to the 90th anniversary of when Ole Kirk spilled coffee on his shoes? /s

They do arguably too much for star wars anniversaries, and I was just having a bit of fun with America's big anniversary coming up as an attachment to my more real point about next year being an anniversary for two cap films.

13 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

If retailers are giving a set a 56% discount two months into it's release (and again before december even hits), they are not going to be likely to buy many copies of subsequent versions of that set in the future. That is definitely a problem for lego and probably why we aren't getting as many calendars next year.

A major chain store in my town had two different Friends calendars on offer this season, with last year's calendar priced at a regular EUR 15 (before additional store discounts). That's roughly 44% off and a year's worth of storage space wasted. In addition to likely complaints from customers that their kid already had the 2023 calendar, since nowhere on either the shelf or the set itself it says "2023" - though notably on the 2024 calendar it does! Another chain store still has the 2023 Friends calendar available at full price! If their stocks haven't been depleted now, in mid-December 2024, it might end up clogging their storage facilities for a whopping two years.

And yet we got another Friends calendar this year.

It's a problem for retailers right now. It might turn into a problem for LEGO if they keep up their pricing. It also might lead to a decrease in the number of advent calendars. But like I've said (and like @Swordyseems to agree), I don't think LEGO'll stop with either the pricing or the advent calendars in 2025 (sure they might weed out one or two but given that in 2024 we have six (!), that's still a significant amount overall).

5 hours ago, Swordy said:

I find that the decline in sales for Advent Calenders is but a microcosm of LEGO as a whole. When consumers vote with their wallets and choose not to buy, how does TLG respond?

LEGO are very close-lipped about their prices, and apparently forbid retailers from disclosing them, but from comments I've heard over the years retailers ought to get the products at a discount of roughly 20-30%. Which means that at least in German-speaking countries, Amazon would sell most sets at at loss (unless they get considerably more of a discount than others giving their purchasing power). Most physical stores - both smaller ones and chain stores - carry the sets at list price. But between marking down individual sets that don't sell well and general promotions like "20% off all toys" before holidays, they cannot make all that much of a profit on them either. Honestly, I doubt that any regular toy store or chain carries LEGO for the profits!

However, LEGO is - at current - still a major toy brand, and a toy store that doesn't carry any LEGO would be considered to have a poor selection which in turn would hurt the rest of their sales. Which is, presumably, why retailers put up with LEGO's increasingly ridiculous list prices. Including the ones for their advent calendars. But this position depends on LEGO being able to a) defend its market share with kids, and b) keep the more affordable alternatives out of toy aisles, so we'll see how long it lasts.

I don't think LEGO are going to be focusing on making affordable playset for kids anytime soon, with the exception of stuff like EUR 10 Friends sets which are often decent value for money. The new Hogwarts Great Hall set is EUR 200 and next year's Main Tower is supposed to be EUR 250 - again, for playsets! Even worse, for playsets with removable sections which you're supposed to replace with additional sets to be sold seperately! Right now, LEGO seem to be focusing mainly on sueing competitors in order to keep them out, along with catering to the AFOL market. Which works but only as long as there are enough affluent, brand-conscious AFOLs around.

From what I see in daily life, LEGO are slowly but surely losing relevance among kids. That's of course just a limited perspective given where I live and who I interact with - but pretty much the only kids I know who are into LEGO are those with AFOL parents, and then not all of them. Others might have the odd small set they've been given by their peers at a birthday party, and that's it. Overall, kids seem to be less into building bricks in the first place (which might well account for LEGO's increasingly frantic attempts to push their apps and online series) and then to care less about specifically getting LEGO sets as opposed to any other brand.

So I'd be really interested in hearing what LEGO's long-term strategy is. Their main AFOL target group of nostalgic 90s kids is going to dry up eventually.

Edited December 15, 2024Dec 15 by brickbride

21 hours ago, brickbride said:

From what I see in daily life, LEGO are slowly but surely losing relevance among kids. That's of course just a limited perspective given where I live and who I interact with - but pretty much the only kids I know who are into LEGO are those with AFOL parents, and then not all of them. Others might have the odd small set they've been given by their peers at a birthday party, and that's it. Overall, kids seem to be less into building bricks in the first place (which might well account for LEGO's increasingly frantic attempts to push their apps and online series) and then to care less about specifically getting LEGO sets as opposed to any other brand.

So I'd be really interested in hearing what LEGO's long-term strategy is. Their main AFOL target group of nostalgic 90s kids is going to dry up eventually.

For what it's worth, and I know this is just another individual perspective, my young siblings absolutely love LEGO, it's basically all they ever want for birthdays and Christmas. If they have friends around, even with videogames as an option, LEGO is what they'll be playing with for the majority of the time.

In Poland I think LEGO hasn't been more popular. But I think it's in a big part money issue, it's more affordable despite ridiculous prices. People here just earn more than in the past.
 

Edited December 16, 2024Dec 16 by mrcngrck

Do we think we're gonna hear about the whole Summer 2025 wave before the year ends?

I have a feeling next summer we'll get 1 or 2 Age of Ultron sets. 

4 hours ago, calebcold3 said:

Do we think we're gonna hear about the whole Summer 2025 wave before the year ends?

I have a feeling next summer we'll get 1 or 2 Age of Ultron sets. 

I think a strong point suggesting that this will be the case, besides the wealth of AoU figures in production, is them bringing back the Ultron neck piece - why would they do that JUST for a $15 mech? 

12 hours ago, calebcold3 said:

Do we think we're gonna hear about the whole Summer 2025 wave before the year ends?

I have a feeling next summer we'll get 1 or 2 Age of Ultron sets. 

Hoping that the inaccurate Bucky torso is an excuse to reuse it for a Captain America Winter Soldier set. Although, they’re more likely to reuse the WWII outfit from the logo set than the stealth suit.

9 hours ago, poisonbricks said:

I think a strong point suggesting that this will be the case, besides the wealth of AoU figures in production, is them bringing back the Ultron neck piece - why would they do that JUST for a $15 mech? 

I think AoU sets are likely, but do we know for sure that the neck piece was destroyed? It was in a Star Wars set in late 2019- I know the standard we usually hear is that they're destroyed after five years, so I think it probably scraped through. Even if they count from set release rather than end of set production, I have to assume the mech with Ultron entered development before, like, October of this year.

2 hours ago, Buckethead said:

Hoping that the inaccurate Bucky torso is an excuse to reuse it for a Captain America Winter Soldier set. Although, they’re more likely to reuse the WWII outfit from the logo set than the stealth suit.

Hopefully they can print the arm this time

4 hours ago, Buckethead said:

Hoping that the inaccurate Bucky torso is an excuse to reuse it for a Captain America Winter Soldier set. Although, they’re more likely to reuse the WWII outfit from the logo set than the stealth suit.

A UCS Helicarrier D2C with Bucky and Stealth Suit Cap would be nice for next year's D2C (obviously there should be more minifigures than just those 2). 

3 hours ago, Lego Nostalgia said:

Hopefully they can print the arm this time

Hey hey, that’d use up the entire 2026 Lego Superheroes budget.

I definitely think there’s merit to a CA: TWS set coming out later given Bucky’s Winter Soldier Outfit and Cap’s TFA outfit and how much figure reuses are common with this theme nowadays. 

18 hours ago, calebcold3 said:

Do we think we're gonna hear about the whole Summer 2025 wave before the year ends?

I have a feeling next summer we'll get 1 or 2 Age of Ultron sets. 

One Age of Ultron set that can wrap up the remaining characters (Ultron, Quicksilver, non-phasing Vision) is enough for me.

I don't really want to see the summer wave become too over saturated with MCU remakes at the expense of other superheroes.
 

6 hours ago, Buckethead said:

Hoping that the inaccurate Bucky torso is an excuse to reuse it for a Captain America Winter Soldier set. Although, they’re more likely to reuse the WWII outfit from the logo set than the stealth suit.

Depends on what the set is. I can get behind the suggestion of a D2C Helicarrier but don't really see the point in doing a cheap set if its just going to be a throwaway build with two recycled minifigures that are already available in other 2025 sets. But again this is just me wanting more variety out of the Marvel theme.

4 hours ago, wesker said:

One Age of Ultron set that can wrap up the remaining characters (Ultron, Quicksilver, non-phasing Vision) is enough for me.

I don't really want to see the summer wave become too over saturated with MCU remakes at the expense of other superheroes.

Yeah, I think a Quinjet from AOU wrapping up the remaining characters like you said with 3 more figures (6 figures in total for a $100-$120 set) would make for a good set. It would look nice next to the 2023 Quinjet from Avengers 1. 

But.. knowing LEGO, we'll get a $60 Hulkbuster with only Iron Man and Hulk next summer.