It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Brickset.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, the Amazon.com.ca, Inc. Associates Program and the Amazon EU Associates Programme, which are affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Comments
Woo-hoo!
At the same time, if that would happen, I wonder if modulars would eventually include different skin colors too?
Dude. It's two dots for eyes and a curved line for a mouth. You can't get much more unspecific than that.
Personally, as someone claimed that Asians are a part of City theme, I hope for „day at Chinatown” people pack.
But rumor has it that those comes from promo sets sadly... They are to be too happy looking for regular set. :(
Downtown Diner is the 2018 modular, released on 01 Jan 2018.
Now personally, I actually prefer the newer style in DD over the older ones. I'm actually in the process now of buying replacement heads for all my modular minifigs specifically to replace those standard smiles with some more detailed faces, so I would be quite pleased if the new modulars all go the DD route from now on, but even wishful thinking aside I'm not ASSUMING that's going to be the new trend just because a single one of thirteen modular buildings did it. O-o
And proof that the next one will be a DNA testing facility.
Yes and no - we got some vague marketing speak about how nostalgia is a nice value but they're "excited to explore the new possibilities" of "expressive faces." I can't find ANY confirmation of who at lego actually made that statement, let alone that it was the "lead designer" - and even that doesn't confirm it will be the standard moving forward. That is a very common business tactic of acknowledging complaints, not committing to any one specific course of action, and leaving the options open for the future. You can find that same type of flowery marketing language regarding everything from shoes to sports cars, and they are rarely set-in-stone kinds of statements. Especially given how many fans complained about the move away from the old faces vs how many absolutely loved the change, it's hard to know where they'll go from here. That statement was made before the Diner was even released in response to feedback from images... a lot can change in that time. That's something their own internal customer feedback department(s) will assess; they're not going to do things to hurt their sales simply because someone made a statement about it online. They're not bound by that if they change their minds or if sales data shows the Diner was significantly less popular for that reason. That's usually why companies try to stay silent on stuff like that so they don't box themselves in or anger large groups of their customers.
Like I said, I personally hope they DO continue the trend of "expressive faces" as they're calling them, and I don't think it's WRONG to assume/hope they'll do so moving forward, but I do not by any stretch consider some wishy-washy marketing statement like this as "fact." Apple said they'd never made tablet computers because they're stupid; Starbucks said they would continue to support Teavana stores; Hasbro stated they would never do detailed "battle damage" paint on their toys; Google said they had no plans to retire Google Reader; heck, Lego themselves said they didn't want to direct themes or sets to specific genders and then turned around and made Friends and Elves and Disney Princesses; they also said they didn't want to make sets based on any types of violent or war-related franchises, and we've gotten quite a few in different themes with realistic guns and so on....
Sometimes the plans of a company change, and trusting their marketing dpt to actually deliver 100% FACT is going to leave you high and dry half the time. The people making those types of statements are rarely the ones actually making the decisions, and even when they are those decisions are not set in stone and can change for any number of reasons based on data NEITHER of us have any access or insight into. No designer at lego is just making off-the-cuff statements that aren't run through 400 marketing committees and filters before being released to the public. "Reliable assumption" is still not FACT; we'll know for sure when we see a reveal of the next Modular whether they're going to stick with that or revert back. I see no benefit or value to assuming one way or the other until we have some actual evidence to go on. If the whole point of the discussion is to speculate, and we're speculating on whether or not some leaked Asian-themed minifigures are for a new modular, it's equally valid speculation that they might NOT stick with that very recent change in design if it proved unpopular or doesn't fit with the new release the way it did for the Diner. These are all creative choices based on who is working on that modular, and the sales/marketing data they have for prior modulars. It's as much up in the air now as it ever was, until it's actually shown off to us it's impossible to know what the "facts" actually are.
https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-releases-statement-regarding-downtown-diner-10260-minifigure-faces/
http://brickarchitect.com/2018/interview-modular-building-series-jamie-berard/
I'm not saying they will never go back to the simple smileys, but its pretty clear from the lead designer of the Creator Expert line that they consider the new faces to be a step forward and they have no intention of going back.