Gaps in collection

flowerpotgirl

Life changes took me away from my bricks in 2014. Just returning to them now. What have I missed? 

Mr_Cross

Oh boy! Erm... arguing? Lots of arguing, mostly about what LEGO is or isn't releasing, how good or not good it is or isn't, whether it has or hasn't got stickers, if it is or isn't available in a paricular country and how much it costs. More than anything else, there's been arguing about how much it costs! You haven't really missed that though!

These are all the sets:

https://brickset.com/sets/query-5460

There are some real gems!

They did a few movies, masterbuilding contests is a TV thing in several countries, they made a MilF, a ship in a bottle, Wall-E and far too many Batmans... Batmen?

Someone will be along to correct me shortly ;-)

The_Rancor

Glad to know you’re back - What kind of sets or themes are you into? Ideas has been quite a big feature since 2014, giving us a wide mixture of different kinds of sets.

In terms of new in-house themes, there’s been Nexo Knights (futuristic castle mash up) and Hidden Side (spooky theme with app interaction) but the latter is probably the only one worth paying attention to for most people.

flowerpotgirl

I love the modulars, (now called Creator Expert, I believe), and have a lot of Friends and City sets, but will buy any set if it has parts in that I want. 

DeMontes

flowerpotgirl said:

I love the modulars, (now called Creator Expert, I believe), and have a lot of Friends and City sets, but will buy any set if it has parts in that I want. 

Creator Expert has been and gone, the modulates will now comic under the 18+ theme!

The_Rancor

flowerpotgirl said:

I love the modulars, (now called Creator Expert, I believe), and have a lot of Friends and City sets, but will buy any set if it has parts in that I want. 

There’s still one modular building every year but it’s likely 2021’s one will be in a dark 18+ box to follow their new branding. This year has been a bookshop, last year a Corner Garage and before that a 50s Downtown Diner, all in a slightly newer style with more animated minifigure faces. Assembly Square was a crescendo of the older style you’d have been used to, in 2017.

Friends has been going strong the whole time you’ve been away and Elves was a very good short lived in house theme that also used minidolls. Unfortunately Elves will have to be a second hand purchase if you want it now as the theme hasn’t continued.

Depends what you like in City, but I personally loved the jungle exploration sub theme in 2017 and the Arctic subtheme in 2018. There’s been lots of fire, police, helicopter and lighthouse reimaginings though, as normal!

Bumblepants

^Elves lasted 3.5/4 years, not short but it did feel like it still had room to grow. I am disappointed they didn't replace it with another fantasy/sci-fi or something. Maybe they expected DC Girls to fill that void and when it tanked they had nothing to replace it with.

The_Rancor

An (almost) exhaustive list of new themes added to Lego’s back catalogue 2015-now in case you’re interested:

• Elves (already mentioned)
• Speed Champions - essentially all branded realistic racers for single seater minifigs
• Scooby Doo - a license now owned by Playmobil
• Jurassic World - sets based on the films and more recently, the cartoon miniseries
• Brickheadz - Lego’s attempt at Pop Vinyl type pocket money characters
• DC Superheroes Girls (already mentioned, very short lived)
• Nexo Knights (already mentioned)
• The Angry Birds Movie - very odd figures but nice fun and colourful sets
• Boost - a simplified Mindstorms with heavy reliance on apps
• The Lego Batman Movie - actually a much higher standard than ‘normal’ DC sets
• The Lego Ninjago Movie - rubbish movie, amazing Lego sets
• Overwatch - the video game, decent enough but only for diehards
• The Powerpuff Girls - only 2 sets, oddly
• Unikitty - a bizarre spinoff cartoon of the Lego Movie, very wacky sets
• Xtra - new supplement polybags and bases for building layouts
• The Lego Movie 2 - some excellent sets that mix minifigs and mini dolls
• FORMA - an odd crowdfunded moving fish set
• Hidden Side (already mentioned)
• Stranger Things - not really a theme, but the Upside Down House
• Brick Sketches - 2.5D display pierces like small portraits
• Dots - wearable Lego wristbands and customisable items - like a better Clikits
• Lego Art - releasing 1st Aug, large ‘pointilism’ Lego artworks
• Minions Rise of Gru - we haven’t got all the sets because the film wasn’t released yet
• Trolls World Tour - more successful colourful sets to match the film
• Super Mario - still hyped since its release this year as a kind of board game
• Monkie Kid - imagine the best elements of Ninjago and they’re basically here whilst Ninjago itself is waning slightly

I didn’t realise how many themes had been released until I reminded myself - TLG have been particularly busy buying up random film licenses in recent years with differing results.

Astrobricks

DeMontes said:

flowerpotgirl said:

I love the modulars, (now called Creator Expert, I believe), and have a lot of Friends and City sets, but will buy any set if it has parts in that I want. 

Creator Expert has been and gone, the modulates will now comic under the 18+ theme!

A good comic modulates his jokes carefully ;-)

snowhitie

Nice summary @The_Rancor!

Welcome back to Lego @flowerpotgirl. The Harry Potter theme has also been dug up and restarted (to my joy) which has brought some great value buildings.

The_Rancor

Out of the 26 themes I mentioned over 6 years, 7 of them are from 2020 due to the embellishment with ‘arty’ themes like Dots, Sketches and Art, but i’m looking forward to getting hold of 3 Siths to make a Vader with the latter. My practise on many a Fairy Bricks mosaic should help!

flowerpotgirl

Just bought a few sets to get me started, bookshop is on backorder. I have managed to get hold of a holiday train (my brother bought this for his kids, and we all built it at Christmas). I also bought gingerbread house and a few friends and city sets. I have to say - so many new parts. My new Lego room is also coming along nicely. I am very glad to be back.

flowerpotgirl

I have to say the Dots theme is gret for parts, I keep buying them when they are reduced on Amazon.