I hear there is a designer's video, but I haven't been able to find it. Does anyone have a link?

The more I see this the more I like it. I have skipped the recent Winter Village sets and don't have the earlier house but I can see this fitting in with the Holiday Train and Station (10254 and 10259 ) - and the release of Santa's Sleigh as a separate set makes even more sense now.

@bananaworld said:
"
Mmmm... flame-grilled Father Christmas..."
… his nuts roasting on an open fire.
Jack Frost stealing your LEGOs :~P

The LEGO.com site states an October 1st release. I’m assuming the 16th is VIP and they just haven’t posted that notice..?

@Gustoffr2d2 said:
"I love Chris McVeigh's designs, but this really should have been a different color. Any color OTHER than that of the only other house in the village already. And LEGO REALLY needs to get back to issuing "Real World" Village buildings. There are plenty of ideas out there! Like a Grocer, a Schoolhouse, a Police Station, a Diner, an Inn, a Town Hall, etc."

Technically 10229 was primarily medium blue, while this one is royal blue, but yes, too similar. I agree; real world village buildings would be both more unique and more intriguing. I'd love to see a diner or an inn!

I think LEGO is choosing to go for the simple route because they assume something familiar or something novel (like a cottage or Elf Club House) will sell better than something "mundane" like a grocer or diner.

@SINTAX said:
"The LEGO.com site states an October 1st release. I’m assuming the 16th is VIP and they just haven’t posted that notice..?"

On UK website it states VIP early access from 16th September, with main release on 1st October.

^
This would be a good argument if (and only if) you completely ignore that a house is a very generic object that appeals to a large number of people (not to mention the Christmas theme) and a game usually only appeals to the gamers who actually play it.

It seems obvious to me that a set aimed at a wider audience will sell better (in absolute numbers) than a set that is quite niche.

A Great house set that would fit into multiple settings, its not oversized so it can fit with 3-in-1 somewhat, can be modified for other seasons , or even medieval by changing some colors/roofs.

This is more then just a Christmas Set.

I still think 31120 is the best set of 2021, but this one is not bad at all, considering fewer Creator 3-in-1 "houses" these days.

@PDelahanty:
@YanVanLan:
Many people (like myself) are only planning to buy this because it’s part of the WV theme. They also only release one of these sets per year, unlike traditional Christmas Village lines where the entire run of this theme would be released two or three times over each year. We don’t know what impact even producing two WV sets annually would have on sales.
Make too many and a lot of people would drop out for being overwhelmed by the expense, plus the thought of trying to find places to display them all once per year.

Compare this to the Mario theme, which is going to have much broader appeal to kids who are too young to register for a Brickset account, and who might very well be trying to collect the entire theme before it burns itself out.

The WV theme is D2C, and the Elf Clubhouse at physical Target stores is the first time I’ve seen them break from that pattern. Mario sets, on the other hand, are all over the place. Mario should have at least one more year before it winds down, and between the wider release and larger product portfolio, it would not surprise me if, by the time it draws to a close, Mario had actually turned a larger profit than the entire WV theme up to that point. Long term, WV should catch up, but with limited product range, limited availability, and limited sales window, they already have to produce these for 2-3 years to make them profitable.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Gustoffr2d2:
We already know the blue Fiat has 48 elements that had never been produced in Light Royal Blue before, which doesn’t even broach the subject of how many of the other elements were no longer in production. Speculation was that we’d be seeing these elements show up in several other sets just to justify putting them into production, or taking advantage of the fact that someone else had already done so. The color of this is therefore likely just a result of the timing involved, and I would not expect the third house to be another shade of blue.

But the other thing to consider is that it’s not just two blue houses. It’s two buildings out of ten that feature blue as a primary or accent color when the majority are in shades of tan or brown. I also see two with green and two with red, so on the whole this actually balances things out."

Plus look at the design of the house! Going for something more than just a rectangle, I'm really liking the angles! Very glad about the price too, seems like all the 18+ sets are more and more expensive as they release them in more and more quantities, but I will happily pick this up!

@PurpleDave :

Fair point you make there. I was making more of a general point of more generic sets versus more niche market sets; but you are right in pointing out the limited availability as a factor in this specific case (and many others, I'm sure).

I guess I also didn't realise how limited some D2C sets are in some regions, since I'm lucky to have a mayor toy store (chain) in my region that has (almost) all 'so called' D2C sets on its shelves (eventually).

@YanVanLan:
In the US, with TRU gone, and KMart nearly so, Walmart and Target are the only two national chains many people have access to where LEGO sets are sold. They generally carry majority of the regular retail range in the physical stores. There are some larger regional chains, like Meijer in the Great Lakes region, or Fred Meyer in the west, that also stock retail sets. For D2C, it has mostly been limited to LEGO Stores, LEGOLAND stores, and online shopping through Amazon, Walmart, and Target (as long as they can distribute at the warehouse level, logistics are more manageable than if they have to ship to physical stores and Hope people buy them in every location). Within the last year, however, Targets have started beefing up their D2C offerings in physical stores. At first I thought it was just a few select store stocking returned product to shelves, but now every Target has several copies of the Elf Clubhouse in pristine condition, and a wide range of black-box sets. They carry mosaics, Creator Expert cars, and have an entire section that’s just black boxes (if you think these sets stand out amongst the more colorful offerings, you should see the effect when they’re all grouped together). The largest two sets they stock are the big R2 and Ecto-1, which retail at $199.99, but there are at least eight other sets in the $149.99+ price range. So, we’ll see how that pans out for them.

It's always interesting to me how many companies use the term "holiday season" in order to appear inclusive, but at the same time almost exclusively feature Santa themed items. I'm not just talking about Lego here, I'm referring to stationary, decorations, etc. It's as if they're appeal to multiple cultures, but only making stuff from one of them.

I suppose my point is: it would be nice to see a winter village set that isn't clearly derived from a Santa/westernized Christmas view.

@Dash_Justice:
That’s a difficult ask. They make a point of avoiding anything religious. There are a few holidays (Christmas, Easter, Halloween) that have been secularized enough that this rule does not apply to them as long as they stay on the secular side of the fence (no nativity, no crucifixion, and nothing to do with Catholic saints). They’re also the three most commercial holidays in the US. Thanksgiving is another big one, and what we consider to be the first Thanksgiving very much had religious roots, but I’m not so sure about what eventually was established as a federal holiday. St Patrick’s Day is even named after a saint, but has become more a celebration of Irish culture, and drinking. St. Valentine’s Day has become so far removed from its origin that it’s almost always shortened to just Valentine’s Day. Technically, even the Western New Year’s Day isn’t free from religious roots, as it was often adherence to one religion or denomination that determined what day of the year was observed as the start of the year, and when (if ever) any particular nation finally switched to the Roman tradition of January 1st.

But if you’re looking for non-Western holiday representation, Christmas is by far the worst place you can start looking. The Chinese Traditional Festival sets have a lot of representation for Chinese New Year, but with no analog to Christmas, there’s really nothing they have to offer that can compete with Santa for attention.

@Dash_Justice said:
"It's always interesting to me how many companies use the term "holiday season" in order to appear inclusive, but at the same time almost exclusively feature Santa themed items. I'm not just talking about Lego here, I'm referring to stationary, decorations, etc. It's as if they're appeal to multiple cultures, but only making stuff from one of them.

I suppose my point is: it would be nice to see a winter village set that isn't clearly derived from a Santa/westernized Christmas view."

I would think that's because other celebrations are intrinsically tied to other religions whilst Christmas has very much drifted away from being exclusively about Christianity. And while there is no problem with acknowledging the existence of other religions, there can be problems with acknowledging specific religions.

@Gustoffr2d2 said:
"I love Chris McVeigh's designs, but this really should have been a different color. Any color OTHER than that of the only other house in the village already. And LEGO REALLY needs to get back to issuing "Real World" Village buildings. There are plenty of ideas out there! Like a Grocer, a Schoolhouse, a Police Station, a Diner, an Inn, a Town Hall, etc."

My dreams of a Winter Village bookshop will have to wait another year!

I do like the design, though it lacks the immediate wow factor of some of the other designs. I think it will look great mixed in with some of the prior releases, though maybe a little lacking as a stand alone. The unusual angles are pretty cool though, and I think there should be some really interesting techniques involved! Definitely a day one purchase!

@rishi_eel:
There have now been 13 WV sets. Knock that down to 12 for repeating the Toy Shop. Of those, two are Train-based, and one is just a collection of open market stalls. Of the remaining nine, three are fantasy-based, which leaves a 2:1 ratio between downtown and residential. Most similar collections would have offered a more balanced range of buildings. If they could achieve a 1:1:1 ratio between downtown, residential, and fantasy, with the odd miscellaneous outlier, I’d be cool with that. As it is, the WV Cottage was feeling mighty lonely as of last year. Given enough time, a bookshop is probably going to happen, but it’ll be tough to boost the residential count without just cranking out a bunch of houses in quick succession.

@PurpleDave said:
" @YanVanLan:
In the US, with TRU gone, and KMart nearly so, Walmart and Target are the only two national chains many people have access to where LEGO sets are sold.
...
and have an entire section that’s just black boxes (if you think these sets stand out amongst the more colorful offerings, you should see the effect when they’re all grouped together)."

Boy, that's sad to hear; I didn't realize how spoiled I was over here.
I have 3 stores within a 15 minute drive that physically sell almost every set available.

Mind you, that also has a big disadvantage: it takes a lot of self-restraint not to empty your wallet everytime you leave the house...

I know what you mean by the 'dark wall' effect. The store closest to me also has them grouped that way (including sets from all ranges, even the SW UCS sets), right next to the Technic sets (which aren't the most colorful either). The section feels odd compared to the rest of the store and within that section 10255 really feels out of place.

Though I like the set very much, my first impression when I saw the back part was that it is only half, if not a third of a house, the back is so open and there isn’t even room for the parents' bedroom. I wonder whether a second set is available to finish up the building (just kidding!). Perhaps I’ll buy two sets to have a more completed house…

@baabswed:
Except for the Market and Train, every WVC set has felt like an incomplete building. I think Gingerbread House is the only set in the theme to include a bathroom. I did once assist someone in “completing” the original WV Toy Shop (mostly advice on parts, and I also rigged it with lights). Still no bathroom, but it ended up about 3x the size of the original. That one at least had a roofline that made it easy to expand. I’m not sure it’d even be possible without heavily modifying this one. This looks like a single peaked roof that’s been bent in the middle to open up the interior. The two ends aren’t even oriented at 90° to each other. If they were, you could extend it to the left, to the right, or turn it into the corner of a square. In the latter case, you’d get a lot more room to play with, but figuring out the new roofline would be a challenge. If you straighten out the roof, you’d actually reduce the interior space, and probably need to remove some of what’s already there rather than add missing details.

Traditionally, Christmas Village lines aren’t very concerned with scale. People are huge compared to houses, and other buildings are significantly reduced in size. If you’re serious about doing this, have fun storming the castle. For me, there aren’t many official sets I care to display in our club layouts. The WVC is something I’ve been buying strictly for home use, where the incomplete nature of these buildings actually helps tie them all together.

Sets with no bathrooms? Quiet, otherwise LEGO's next set will be a Winter Village Outhouse with Santa using it.

At 99.99 USD Its about what I would expect this set to cost at this point.

^ Next fantasy set in this theme: Santa's Winter Latrine

Sleigh sold separately...but ya' knew that.:D

Also, Santa kinda' has a "someone jacked my ride..." look, standing on that chimney:)