Let’s look back at the past year and talk about the best and worst themes for 2017.
###Best
The LEGO Ninjago Movie: A solid batch of sets with great vehicles, structures, and concepts. The movie was pretty meh, but at least we got one of the best lines in the past decade or so in return.
The LEGO Batman Movie: Another movie entry because I’m original like that. TLBM has had some of the strongest land-based vehicles and minifigures ever. My only major criticism of the line is the abundance of Batman vehicles, but those are to be expected.
City: Say what you will about the theme, but it really brought its A-game this year. Although City did have their usual Police stuff, the addition of more resident-focused sets this year was nice. The Jungle subtheme was also a really neat spinoff, acting as a sort of homage to themes like Adventurers.
###Worst
DC/Marvel Superheroes: Both themes have basically been minifigure packs for years, but it was really bad this year in particular. Don’t get me wrong; I love minifigures, but they really shouldn’t be the biggest draw for every set they’re in. I guess it wouldn’t be as bad if the builds weren’t so boring, mediocre, or lackluster.
Nexo Knights: Aside from Lance and his amazing everything and the Battle Suits, 2017 has not been kind to what was one of the better themes of the prior year. The color schemes became horrendous and a lot of the builds looked incomplete.
Star Wars: Okay, I love me some Star Wars and there were quite a few really solid sets this year, but man, the prices REALLY got bad this year. I know they shouldn’t make or break an entire line of sets, but when a TIE Fighter that looks relatively unsubstantial and light on parts is going for $80, there’s an issue.
I gotta say, I agree on the whole. DC/Marvel would do better as blind bag series, which would also allow us to get more random minifigures for a reasonable price. They could still have sets, of course, but they wouldn’t have to be weird looking and terrible parts amalgamations, they could just make sets of actual, in universe vehicles that people like, instead of overloading us with stupid looking Spider-Man vehicles. Or weird looking batman ones. (Those are the two superheroes I find most guilty of this, even though batman does have vehicles, many that we are given are… sub-par)
As for Star wars, I still love it, but the prices certainly are abhorrent.
On the positive side, I didn’t really get many TLBM sets, but they looked pretty spiffy, and the two TLNM sets I have are absolutely spectacular (Green Dragon and Destiny’s Bounty).
Wait, this isn’t a Least/Disappointing set listing?
I’ll be picking listing off almost every themes of lowest to highest (Note: some will be set in random order):
#Worst:
###Ideas:
While 2 set like the 21310: Old Fishing Store & 21309: NASA Apollo Saturn V are loved by the community, the other 2 however are underwhelming. 21308: Adventure Time is rather overpriced due to the sheer amount of standard bricks used, there are some prints and new recolor here and there, but it still lack any play value and collecting them as a display set is still feels underwhelming if you compare it to the Dimensions figures.
I have no comment on the 21312: Women of NASA gender title, the figures have fine prints, but the builds looks fairly weak, almost tied with 21110: Research Institute from 2014 of weak mini builds.
###Brickheadz:
Either a hit or miss, 41596: Beast & 41588: The Joker have pretty good shaping, while 41486: Captain Phasma & 41592: The Hulk is rather underwhelming by a degree. I will say these are decent parts-pack, but most of the more impressive sets are coming off from Comic-Con exclusive.
###Minecraft:
Lego, we don’t need more Steve & Alex minifigure.
Anyways, these are nice play sets (sad how this is the only few themes that only focus on biomes/landscape rather than a vehicle), but few sets are pricey from the whole standard brick builds and have few glaring sets that interest me.
###DC Super Hero Girls:
Another theme that uses the Friends figures design, the only things that stand out are the mini-dolls and the 2 largest sets, 41239: Eclipso Dark Palace & 41232: Super Hero High School, other wise, everything else doesn’t seem memorial to a Lego fan personally. Also there are hardly any words for a 2018 wave.
#Average:
###Nexo Knights:
This poor theme…
Personally I find the larger sets like 70352: Jestro’s Headquarters & 70356: The Stone Colossus of Ultimate Destruction felt thrown in and focus on too much on play features over aesthetics despite these villain being a rugged mess. The heroes sets doesn’t look appealing and centralized on the Battle Suit gimmick, but still ends up looking awkward for some.
Only reason why I put this on Average scale is due to the cool molds.
###City:
Don’t have much an interest on the theme, Jungle is a nice inclusion and there no overpriced gas station this year, but a 60154: Bus Station that is still pricey.
###DC:
They mainly focus on their Extended Universe this year, AFOL are mainly buying the sets for the figures and the only desirable set for me is the 76075: Wonder Woman Warrior Battle.
###Creator/Technic:
Gud stuff.
###Star Wars:
###Ninjago:
Hands of Time didn’t grab my interest and repeat some design with the whole Stone Army/Snake hybrid enemy thing, otherwise, the molds are alright for “cultural” detail.
###Collectable Minifigures:
TLBM is arguably the best CMF this year, while the series is overflowed with mostly Batman costumes and a boring Arkham Asylum Joker, we get a ton of obscure figures we might never obtain in the Superheroes line.
Series 17 is the worst this year, but not for the overall series. Alot of repeat like Surfer, Restaurant, Historic, etc., ETC. And I don’t get the whole Highwayman build-up since he isn’t rare, but still a cool figure I suppose.
TNM some figures are repeat, most noticeably Sensei Wu & Lloyd, while other have great molds and characters that can be used in everyday city sets like the Sushi Chef.
###The Lego Batman Movie:
While it still maintain some issue like the price, “buying sets for the figures”, and the HELL TON OF BATMAN FIGURES, this is still a solid theme.
Alot of the villain sets have alot of personality (ashamed they lack screen time) and the redesign figures looks impressive compared the original comic counter-parts.
#Best:
###The Lego Ninjago Movie:
While the movie received mixed criticism, it still maintain amazing sets and a good Price-per-Piece ratio that put Star Wars sets into shame. 70620: NINJAGO City is something I want if I’d got the room for this masterpiece.
###Elves:
An underated line, but still keep it’s head up.
The color scheme are still refined and have a mix of playset and vehicles.
###Friends:
Most of it’s strength come from the Summer wave, 41324: Snow Resort Ski Lift for example have alot going on for a reasonable price.
###Marvel Superheroes:
They also have an issue of having the issue of AFOL mainly buying sets for the figures, most noticeably 76078: Hulk vs. Red Hulk & 76084: The Ultimate Battle for Asgard, all the other sets looks very nice, most notably the Guardians of the Galaxy sets. Not to mention they all have vibrant color scheme compared to DC.
Lego Ninjago Movie - A combination of great sets and great prices. What’s not to love? Sets 70618 Destiny’s Bounty and 70620 Ninjago City are stunning
Lego Elves - I was particularly fascinated with the seemingly high quality dragon sets from last year, and 2017 Elves sets continue this trend, although less of them caught my eye. Set 41183 is the standout to me.
Lego Speed Champions - Though this theme is making very slow evolution I’ve always been impressed with the level of detail found in each set for on the whole quite reasonable prices. I am glad this theme has stuck around for so long.
Lego Ideas - 21309 Saturn V may be my favorite set of the year. I have not built 21310 Old Fishing Store yet but I am also quite impressed with this set as well. However, it is worthy to note that sets 21308 Adventure Time and 21312 Women of NASA did not meet my standards so perhaps this theme belongs in an “average” category instead.
Worst
Nexo Knights - The main problem with this year of Nexo Knights was the color scheme of the villains, which was awful. It made each villain set unattractive, which was made worse by the poor quality of the set’s design–notably 70352 Jestro’s Headquarters. Some of the hero sets were okay but the Aaron color scheme has the similar side effect of looking appalling.
DC Superheroes - This theme made a really weak showing with their three Justice League sets. I was not motivated to buy any of them and the prices were also typically high, being a licensed theme.
Star Wars - Generally I feel that the Star Wars theme puts out well-designed, high quality sets, but the prices on The Last Jedi sets especially are so absurd that I felt discouraged from getting any except 75187 BB-8 which ends up being rather small for what you pay. I think the best priced Star Wars set of the year was 75172 Y-wing Starfighter which I was very satisfied with.
Ninjago - Altogether I feel that the Hands of Time sets were rather weak, except 70627 Dragon’s Forge. These sets certainly weren’t the “worst” of the year but I did want to note the significant decrease in set quality from the previous waves Skybound and Day of the Departed.
The only Lego I’ve really bought this year are the Star Wars action figures. Out of the three that where actually released this year, one of them is probably my figure from the line, that I have collected.
