What is your favourite theme of 2021?
Posted by CapnRex101,
LEGO has greatly expanded their product range during 2021, continuing established themes and launching new ones to provide incredible variety.
An impressive selection of 29 different themes have accordingly been available this year, but which theme has been your favourite? View the options and choose your favourite below.
Which theme received your vote this year? Let us know in the comments and remember to nominate your favourite sets and minifigure of 2021, if you have not done so already.
Those polls will be published during the next couple of days.
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I like the Harry Potter, and especially the design of the HP Collectables set
I really liked Star Wars this year, but I don’t really get anything else, so I’m rather biased. The Imperial Armoured Marauder is great, I love the Scout Trooper helmet and I’m getting ready to open Darth Vader’s helmet. Mando and the Child Brickheadz look great and with the Ahsoka Brickheadz announced, there are some great display sets. I love Bo-Katan from the Mandalorian Starfighter, along with Gar Saxon and Paz Viszla and The Armourer from the Mandalorian Forge. The undersized vehicles like the X-wing and TIE Fighter are a good idea, if repetitive. The Snowtrooper Battlepack is the epitome of an army-building set, whilst the UCS sets (AT-AT and Republic Gunship) are stunning, if pricey. The only bad things I can find are the new blister packs, prices and the lack of Phase 2 Rex and Cody. If LEGO get their company together, I can foresee a great few years for LEGO Star Wars, with plenty of inspiration coming from The Mandalorian Season 3, The Book of Boba Fett, Kenobi and Rogue Squadron, as well as the rumoured Old Republic film.
However, just from reviews and news, I’d probably have to say Friends. The sets have been amazing although there’s a few too many stickers for my liking…
IDEAS also looks good, my personal favourite being the Medieval Blacksmith, but with Winnie the Pooh, Sonic and Home Alone coming, it also looks to make the Top 3 for me.
Close with Creator Expert too, my mum has really enjoyed getting the Botanical Range.
Ideas has had a really strong year -- three of my favourite 2021 sets have been from there (Winnie the Pooh, Medieval Blacksmith and Home Alone), as well as the Typewriter, Vintage Car and Sailboat.
I gave my vote to City because of all the useful animal moulds they gave us this year in the wildlife subtheme :D
Harry Potter is a theme I follow closely, but even if they were very innovative this year not all the ideas were winners in my mind.
Ideas gave us Castle fans 21325 Medieval Blacksmith this year, but it was missing the goat and it is not up there with 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay from last year.
Creator Expert was average to me with the modular, flowers were nice however not very fun to build.
Most of the big Adult sets this year was not for me :)
Tough to pick between Creator Expert (Titanic/Bonsai/Bird of Paradise/Porsche) and Ideas (Typewriter/Winnie the Pooh/Blacksmith). Voted Creator Expert in the end.
Strong year for Ninjago too so I guess that’d be my third place (Ninjago City Gardens/water dragon/jungle dragon).
9 themes containing entirely original properties (not counting duplo since that's kind of it's own stuff, and not counting Xtra since isn't much of a theme) and 17 comprising entirely or at least in part licensed properties. I'm not the biggest fan of that ratio. At least we got something new with VIDIYO this year...
Creator Expert - they really went all-out this year!
For me, it’s Monkie Kid, then Ninjago, then Vidiyo (yes, really).
So many inventive characters and sets with really great details.
Kind of surprised to see "Creator Expert / LEGO for Adults" in a big lead, but seeing as they're branded "18+" just like all Ideas sets (except the two GWPs), the latter sort of belong to two categories...
I find it hard to compare the themes as they are all so different. Proportionately I have bought a larger percentage of seasonal sets this year, so if I'm going with where I put my money, it would be seasonal. Ideas is a close second.
Looking at the results so far, yeah no real surprises there
Diehard Ninjago fan, so greatly enjoyed this year. Not only celebrating a tenth anniversary, but gave my girl Nya a focus season/wave all her own at long last.
Hands down friends, every year friends has gotten more and more creative, this year being no exception! Although I too love creator expert, I feel that the affordability and value of friends is a big draw for me! The sets are colourful, inventive and super creative, I can’t imagine lego without friends. Minidolls also really charm me and this year’s selections is better than ever with back printing! My second favourite theme would be the Ninjago theme, since it has great characters and cool builds as well, with the spectacular Ninjago city gardens
I was expecting to see Star Wars at the top, was quite surprised that Creator Expert, which I voted for thanks to 10283 Space Shuttle, has most votes.
I’ll have to go with Marvel. They really redeemed the line this year with the Infinity Saga line and Daily Bugle.
That said, Creator Expert and Ideas are close behind.
I've got to go with Mario but only because I bought the NES and the 64 cube, both if which were imersive builds with clever and new build processes. I found the Ideas range (usually my favourite) rather underwhelming, not because they're not lovely finished sets but because they're just not challenging enough (admittedly have I bought the typewriter that opinion may have changed)
Sorry I forgot about the Creator Expert range of which I bought 5 this year, they were really good... except the flowers, nice finished result but probably the most boring build I've ever done... but then again I haven't done any of the Art builds and boy to they look boring.
It's hard to vote for Creator Expert this year since I'm only interested in the cars and modulars because they've been better in previous years.
My vote goes to Ninjago thanks to the great Ninjago City Gardens, the Versus sets, Zane's Titan Mech, and some of the sets from the Island and Seabound subthemes.
Runner up would have been Marvel. There are so many sets there, some great, some not so much, but the Guardians Ship is the crown jewel.
Easy pick for me, I always love CMFs. This year gave me to 2 of my favorite series to come out to date from the theme: Looney Tunes and Marvel.
Star Wars and Ninjago are close behind though, they had some great sets.
I went for Ninjago. First the Island and then especially Seabound were fantastic in their designs and creativity, not to mention the city gardens and Zane's Legacy mech.
Hard to choose just one! I’d say Creator (both 3-in-1 and Expert), Ideas, Super Mario, and Collectable Minifigures.
Star Wars was quite strong, as were Creator Expert & Ideas. I got quite a few sets from each of those themes.
But easily my favourite theme is Creator with all the 3-in-1 sets. For me, it's the most "Lego" sets that Lego make. Great value, great playability & encouraging taking apart & further creative building. Plus they're generally a good source of nice parts.
Creator 3-in-1 remains my favorite theme, 2020 and 2021 didn't have as many "town" buildings, but the addition of Pirates/Castle and more Space/Sci-fi strengthened the lineup.
I also voted on theme as a whole, IDEAS had the nice Blacksmith this year but I had no interest in the others so it doesn't make it a "best theme" for me.
Monkey kid needs some kudos, that theme is crazy awesome!
Star Wars, for me sadly. Although I'd really like to have a Lego original in that spot again.
My best experience with Lego of this year was with Ninjago Islanders sets, i absolutely adore this spinoff and I am lucky enough to live in Poland where lego magazines are the cheapest, so I could reinforce my islanders with 892176 and 892178 I just wish there would more sets in this offspin. There was also Ninjago Gardens. So that's my vote. My second choice would be Lego Magazines in general, every month I buy quite a lot of them with Lego Explorer being my favorite.
Same as it is every year: Classic. Lego in its purest form.
It’s a mix of Minifigures, 3-in-1 Creator, Marvel and DC for me with a bit of Ninjago.
Creator proves its the best theme since it premiered!
My personal favourite theme is Star Wars, however 2021 has been fairly weak this year. I also love Marvel and Harry Potter, but not a big fan of the sets for this year, especially the modular building Hogwarts. Daily Bugle is exceptional though! Technic has produced a couple of great sets, but I voted Minecraft as I feel that 2021 has possibly been the strongest year ever for the theme!
Creator, specifically Creator 3-in-1. Honestly wish we could vote for our top 3 in this poll.
No surprise Creator Expert is leading but I think a lot of the sets are hot, expensive garbage. I own two of the sets in the line (Police Station and Flower Bouquet) and only the Bouquet wowed me.
Creator, on the other hand, had stuff all across the price range so much more accessible. Lots of great sets like Fish Tank, Medieval Castle, Tulips, Tuk Tuk, Ferris Wheel and a number of fun polybags.
I was torn between Marvel (really liked the Infinity Saga sets and the Daily Bugle is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!), Lego Ideas, and the CMF Series. I picked Marvel because it's my favorite thing to collect and they went back into the older movies with the Infinity Saga sets. Looking forward to next year!
If you are no media and licensed themes victim, there is not much to choose from.
Either City (which was disappointing for me), Creator Expert (was only interested in the bookshop) or Ideas, which at least had a few sets I bought this year.
So, I went for Ideas.
Creator Expert for me. Up until recently I would have voted Technic without a second thought, but the Technic team seem to have lost their way, or are at least taking a different path from one that I'm interested in going down. Too many 'play' sets with little or no functionality (just about every other theme is designed to be played with, can't you leave our Technic alone?). The depressing thought that Control+ is only going to become more prevalent when few Technic fans seem to want it. And too many sets like Dom's Charger, which could have been a great Creator set, but failed dismally as a Technic build.
I feel a second Dark Age coming on...
Speed Champions maintains it's top spot with me. The move to 8 wide continues to reap dividends in improved proportions, we got a roofless car for the first time since the very first wave, we ditched the side builds in favour of putting everything into the cars, and even the major innovation of the dragster was actually pretty cool.
And while they're not technically SC, the 66 and Nolan Batmobiles fit the style and we're welcome additions to the collection. The only disappointments were having to wait until June for SC this year, and the Ford pack being an unlabelled exclusive to Lego. I don't mind exclusives, I just don't like finding out on release day when other retailers fail to list a set for sale.
I'm pretty torn between Friends, DOTS and Super Mario.
Now doubt Ideas theme.
Three of my favs sets of the year came from the IDEAs theme, Winnie the Pooh, Home Alone and Seinfeld.
Creator Expert, Brickheadz, Minifigures and Technic also get honourable mentions too.
Monkie Kid, with 80020 White Dragon Horse Jet and 80026 Pigsy's Noodle Tank being particularly awesome. I am impatiently awaiting Saturday for 80035 Galactic Explorer.
Friareefior?
Wanted to say the Bricklink line for their Castle set, but noticed it wasn’t an option. Also, Bricklink supported scalpers by allowing them to purchase 5 in one order making it sold out well within half an hour. So probably not Bricklink because of its mismanagement of a great set that is now on the secondary market for 2.5x its MSRP within a year.
Next up is Ideas for its blacksmith shop
This was a tough call for me. It was either Creator Expert or Ideas due to both having amazing sets this year. I ended up picking Creator Expert because I had more sets from that theme than Ideas this year.
Harry Potter has been my favourite theme ever since they brought it back. They keep surprising us with great sets and fantastic character selection for the minifigs. They're really handling this licence pretty well.
I must say Star Wars had quite a few good sets this year as well.
It would be good if Lego's products meant we also had a choice of Adventurers, Castle, Pirates or Space.
What on earth does friareefigor mean?
For me, Harry Potter and Ideas were themes that impressed me the most. Great designs and lots of creativity. Very nice sets here to display, too.
If it weren't for the big AT-AT taking my vote for SW, it would have tied between Creator Expert (Titanic) and Ideas (Blacksmith).
Okay, who voted for VIDIYO? Own up!
Architecture continues to be my favorite theme overall, but there were just too few sets released this year, so I had to give it to Creator Expert.
As someone who isn't interested in Asian culture (Ninjago, Monkie Kid) and who doesn't like: licensed themes, the lack of baseplates, and too complicated builds (21322 took me over a month to complete - I prefer simpler builds); this year has been incredibly weak.
The only 2021 sets I got are:
76901 - only because I love Toyota's sports cars, I still think it's overly complicated and I definitely will not take that set apart, because I wouldn't want to rebuild it.
60298 - only for the minifig, because I loved Lego Racers as a kid.
@Arnoldos said:
I agree with many of your criticisms. I just don't find really large sets fun to build. At least, the fun isn't proportional to the increase in cost. People seem to go crazy over the large, expensive sets. I have a hard time mustering the enthusiasm.
Friareefior for me as well.
My vote went to Seasonal because no theme was consistently good. The Lego for adults subline especially bothered me with all its life-size statue items which just have no place in the average Lego collection that is more about minifigures. Each theme had at least one set which was phenomenal, much better than usual, due to the focus on adults making sets like the UCS AT-AT, Daily Bugle, Space Shuttle, Seinfeld and Home Alone possible.
But on the other hand each theme had huge stinkers as the sets with added focus for adults apparently resulted in a return to practices from the 2000s which I have hated even back when I was a child then. Less figures in sets, no pure army builders and increased prices for those army sets that are still there. The simplest soldiers like Stormtroopers and Falcon Knights are 2 per set and exclusive to two sets of 40, 60, 100€. Design choices like sand green Hogwarts roofs are allegedly made to bridge gaps between adults and children but are in my opinion only for children as adults focus more on correct details which in this case would be dark grey roofs, more detailed rooms which are not perfectly square, and compatability with the previous years of Hogwarts sets.
I started buying desireable parts through Legos online services when it became more easy to use around 2016, instead of buying regular releases because I could get more special pieces this way without having to pay Bricklink prices. Now the service is essential to keep up with new parts because individual sets by themselves don't have enough useful, new content. I have probably reached some kind of peak in my collection which is inevitable when you treat this hobby seriously for your entire life without pause, but still, if Lego were to charge higher prices on that service I would probably move to Bricklink or even other brands entirely because the prices are basically the same between the two platforms already, only with a few select parts being exempt, which I am grateful for.
I am buying some of the record breaking amount of adult targeted sets so I am spending less but close to the same amount of money on new set releases per year as I did in all past years on the regular lines with fewer D2Cs but I don't know. I can and want to trade in a good year of Star Wars sets for a perfect AT-AT if it's necessary but I don't know what is up with Harry Potter, I don't want anything in its current state and feel scammed for supporting the rebooted line in its first few years as they now opted out of doing ANY sets for 7 and 8. Less sets so they could fit some re-releases like the main hall I could understand but none whatsoever is a crime, especially since 6 and 5 also haven't gotten the attention they deserve and skipped major plot points like the Order of the Phoenix and the search for the Horcruxes yet again.
It feels like Lego separates adult and children sets since this year and it created problems for both. The adult sets start to lack basic functions and start being too static and boring in places where they don't need to be boring. And the regular lines become only for children which Lego apparently uses as a justification to dial down on details (all Harry Potter castle sets and Gideons cruiser) as well as healthy figure selection (no army builders, main characters split between all sets of a theme so kids need all sets and having all sets doesn't even guarantee having everything as there are still glaring omissions). Star Wars especially jumps back and forth between releases that are detail oriented like the X-Wing, Vaders chamber and AT-AT but aren't that special in its core components (one truly new figure per set), and releases that care more about just putting something out (all Mandalorian stuff).
I tend to vote for Creator Expert because of the modular only, but this year, it's Vidiyo that caught my heart. I don't think we'll ever see a theme so colorful, so diverse in its subthemes, and so approachable like music is. The minifigures were beyond compare, the stages were quite creative and colorful, and for sure I'll be inserting my Vidiyo bands in my city.
So, Police Station, you were beloved, but you couldn't hold your theme alone when 2 waves of Vidiyo hit. Here's to hoping there'll be more in the future after their break!
Although Star Wars is just naturally popular, I think it actually had a particularly good and well-balanced year this year, both in terms of unique and creative new sets but also balancing big UCS sets with new scaled-down play sets. The Creator 3-in-1 were also particularly strong this year I thought
@illennium said:
"Friareefior for me as well."
I'll go: orfiareeFri. (For those still searching what this means: look at the picture at the beginning of the article)
Seriously, I'm supposedly a 'Technic' guy but since their selection since 42043 is so weak I had to select Creator Expert. Technic, unfortunately, is not off to a good start for 2022 - let's hope the second wave will bring something interesting.
Harry Potter! It's been my favorite since it initially started, and hasn't disappointed me. Looking forward to the new classroom books.
I voted Harry Potter because that was the theme that brought me out of my Dark Ages in 2010. And the newer stuff blows that away. Granted the '21 offering wasn't as strong as '18-20, I'd still choose that theme since it is really the main theme I care about. I liked a sprinkling of Creator and Ideas, but if they went away I'd be less sad than HP going away again.
Sorry, but I'm going to give my opinion along with my total of two 2021 sets bought. If you don't want to read about my apathy for this year's sets, please scroll past this.
This year I bought a mere two sets, and opened only one.
Instead I focussed on repurchasing sets I used to own and to acquire sets I had been eyeing for awhile. Turns out it's waaay cheaper and more so much more fun to buy second hand sets than new sets I barely like. For me lego is making memories, and I just felt far more of a connection to older sets.
31111 was a decently fun set, bought because of its Titan XP colourscheme and Spyrius/Exploriens-like minifig. But those pins really feel wrong.
71735 I bought accidentally with an online order. I haven't opened it and am considering to sell it as I have already spent a lot on older sets this year.
As for why I bought so little... New sets are either super duper expensive and huge or low-effort. Try to buy something satisfying for 40 euro and you'll end up with a single car or a glorified background for minifigs. There's very few good entry level sets, and almost everything is licensed.
@Arnoldos
@guachi
Same here. I'm glad i'm not the only one who feels that way.
For as much grief as I gave the theme, I honestly enjoyed VIDYO. Even though it was a case of a good idea with an awful execution, I hope that we see another attempt at it. One of my favorite aspects was how the characters were mostly blank slates. They may have had some basic names, but the rest is more or less up to your imagination.
Vidyo is an easy choice for me, love the characters and builds, the whole vibe, and the color schemes just work. One of my all time favorite themes to be entirely honest
Looking at my purchases it has to be city of all themes.
Had to go with Creator, based mostly on the 3-and-1 sets. I feel that they capture most closely what I've always seen LEGO to be - simple-but-creative, imaginative, and broadly-themed. Moreover, they're doing an excellent job making it appealing for adults and children alike by drawing from past themes (Castle, Space, etc.), but also making them feel fresh and not derivative.
IDEAS was a close second, especially since it includes the Medieval Blacksmith which was my favourite set of the year. I also really like the thought behind the the fan-designed promotional sets, of which there were two. What stopped me from voting for Ideas, however, is that there is too much in the line that does not appeal to me, including the continuous resurrection of sitcoms and movies that cater to very specific markets. On a related topic (I know it's not technically part of "Ideas"...), this year's Bricklink Designer Program was great and I got some terrific pre-orders in, but there were two rounds of very expensive, time-sensitive purchases that forced some hard decisions among what were all excellent MOCs.
... I think what I'm saying is that I feel that LEGO leaned too heavily on IDEAS (and related ventures) during 2021, and I feel a little over-inundated and burned out. Everyone who contributed to Ideas and/or the BLDP deserves congratulations - I just hope that LEGO spaces them out a little more so that we have time to appreciate them all! :)
I do like Star Wars and Harry Potter but can't collect them all to recreate scenes but I'm BIG in trucks so city sorts my needs ,plus you don't have to have every set from any year to get a city going( which I don't have)
Well, there were some AMAZING sets this year, NCG, the UCS Gunship, the Space Shuttle, the Bookshop, and many others, but those are my favorites out of my collection. I had to vote for Ninjago for that incredible new addition to Ninjago City, even if its just one set. I would have voted SW, for the Gunship, but unfortunately we all know how well Lego handled that...
Monkie Kid easily gets my vote. Some of the best and most creative sets available today AND an incredible cartoon series? Even against other themes I enjoy like Super Mario and Ninjago, it's no contest.
Marvel Super Heroes, because of the stunning 76178 Daily Bugle <3
Ideas.
Although, it was a good year for LEGO all around.
@CCC said:
"Vidiyo, as a protest vote. "
Does CCC stand for Contrarian Contrarian Contrarian? ;~P
I really dislike the JW theme, so some petty part of me is happy to see it doing so poorly.
Marvel Super Heroes, Ninjago, Star Wars, and Harry Potter have all had a great 2021. Had I the means to collect all of these themes I would, and I’d still pick Marvel as this year’s favorite based on the number of amazing minifigures (The Punisher!!! Who’d have thought we’d EVER get ANY Punisher, much less the classic white boots Punisher?), cool vehicles (“Anyone seen an ugly brown van out there?”), and action-packed play-sets (Korg and Miek are playing Fortnite, after all), and the crowning glory that is the Daily Bugle, which manages to out-awesome the UCS AT-AT.
I’m just disappointed that DC Super Heroes is not even in the running this year.
LEGO: Stick to the comic book-based sets and don’t put so much effort into the movie-based sets. Do a comic book-based Daily Planet next year, or a cartoon-based Watchtower (Justice League Action’s Watchtower would be mind-blowing), or a Hall of Doom! There are so many great sets packed with great minifigures you could be making on which I could be spending my money!
I wanted to put Disney, but Disney after about 2016 is not great, and they keep churning out the same stuff...So, Speed Champions.
Despite purchasing very little from Lego in 2021 compared to previous years, I have to give it to Monkie Kid. All those colors and interesting parts usage and the new theme is very enticing.
Ideas and Creator Expert for me, by a huge leap, but when it comes to the small sets and polybags I think the Friends and Marvel themes deserve an honorable mention.
It was either Creator Expert or Ideas for me, but I’ve gone for Creator Expert.
I’ve have to say I’m struggling to work out what the difference is between the two these days :-)
Missing in the list : Chinese 801xx & BrickLink DP 9100xx.....
I’m not extremely opinionated unless I share a common belief so objectively it’d be Star Wars since I got the most sets from that theme this year however the Harry Potter sets were the ones that interested me the most so I’ll have to go with that. The new castle designs aren’t a giant issue for me since I don’t have any of the gray roofed ones, just the 2010 Hogwarts. This isn’t a defense of that change, it’s just that I fit into the right circumstances for it.
Even though I don't collect them the theme that has stood out to me when reading Brickset this year is Friends and the new set 41704 Main Street Buildings is exceptional. It is really good to see Lego realise that larger more detailed sets will sell in themes other than Star Wars or Harry Potter.
Vidiyo has a bunch of issues, and had a rough start, but it remains the most refreshing theme of the year. I had great fun with the figures, the app, and some of the sets. I can't wait to see how they rework it, it would be a shame to see its potential unexplored.
I'll give second place to City. While the sets are not extraordinary, they introduced flywheels, "turning action" mechanism, new road system, and a bunch of animals, which are all great fun.
Indisputably Creator Expert. This year has observed numerous new sets as Lego expanded it's for adults catalogue! To me, there are some so-so ones such as 10291, but overall they have been outstanding, with an excellent Modular building, great new vehicles and innovative new sets (such as 10281). Based on the current results it also seems to be especially popular in the polls.
Also a sidenote: I am usually an ardent fan of Harry Potter but this wave evinces disappointment, with the sets being simplified and the prices being considerably way too high. City introduced the road plates, supposedly a brilliant notion but the execution is disappointing, with the buildings exceptionally diminutive contrary to the compendious yet functional ones observed previously. Speed Champions also is indubitably a solid theme to me with its generous eight-stud wide vehicles which allow consummate realism, but the stickers remain fairly high.
Star Wars for me, energised as it was by this year's injection of originality - ie The Mandalorian sets and the Bad Batch Shuttle, as well as a couple of nice new Clone Wars sets.
LEGO DC has been pretty weak the past few years especially compared to Marvel. I hope next year it improves.
Monkie kid was my favorite this year. I absolutely love the creativity in the builds and the characters. Plus that spider queen is a top notch figure. I don’t usually have a clean sleep of a release of any theme, but I collected the whole 2021 release wave. I will say that the weakest of the bunch was Red Son’s inferno jet, but the rest were some of the coolest things I’ve put together since the Ninjago Movie sets.
I don't know if Ninjago would necessarily be the best theme overall, because there were still a lot of sets that I had no interest in. But the vehicles and dragons and Ninjago City Garden models were all great and it was the best of what I collected this year, and so it will get my vote.
CMF gets a runner up from me for it's Series 21 and Marvel waves. (Looney Toons, not so much).
The seasonal Chinese New Year sets are by far my favorites. They look fantastic on display and are very enjoyable builds in the process. If I were to be limited to just 1-2 sets a year only, I would be perfectly content with just those.
This is gonna be unpopular. I'm so so tired of the licensed themes, and even Ninjago's getting derivative and City can't do anythingwithout making a TV episode about it.
A DJ llama with maraccas on rollerblades. A 3-eyed alien with glowing drumsticks. the very name Discowboy. a shark with a mohawk. Exquisite.
I'll admit the beatboxes are a ripoff, but Vidiyo was fresh and beautiful and brought me back into buying sets since Bionicle's end. Sad to see it go so soon.
In a year of very strong themes (Creator Expert, Star Wars, Ideas) Ninjago had the strongest portfolio from top to bottom. Flagshipped by 71741 Ninjago City Gardens, to the Legacy sets, to the Seabound subtheme, to the minifigs. I believe one of the best ways to evaluate a theme is to look at how many sets have been nominated for best set of the year. Ninjago has one of the highest nomination totals for set of the year with 71741. 71735 has received several nominations for best set under $40. Several of the minifigs have also been nominated in that category. The builds are really fun and 71756 Hydrobounty has some of the most difficult technical steps you'll ever see in a Lego set.
I'm giving my vote to Monkie Kid. I love Star Wars and Creator Expert, but there have been some really cool things coming out of Monkie Kid. I especially like the Dragon Horse 80020 and the upcoming 80035. I confess story-wise I have no idea what's going on... but the Space fan in me is pleased! I see Lego Mario is very low on the rankings, but I know if my son had a vote, that would easily be the winner. Understandably, Brickset skews toward the older crowd's tastes.
I voted for creator expert because of the botanicals sub-theme
Between Ideas (loved the Pooh set and the typewriter is my build of the year) and Harry Potter, I love HP.
Harry just edged it for the Icons kit, the chocolate frog collectable cards, Fawkes and a very strong Advent Calendar.
Instead of the obvious choice of Harry Potter, I chose Disney - merely for the sheep.
As much as I admire Monkie Kid, the policy of no retail availability means practically like the theme didn't exist at all.
@TeriXeri said:
"Creator 3-in-1 remains my favorite theme, 2020 and 2021 didn't have as many "town" buildings, but the addition of Pirates/Castle and more Space/Sci-fi strengthened the lineup."
I agree that Creator had a strong showing this year. I liked the futuristic elements seen in some of the builds, and there were some really creative animal and creature designs as well. 2021 also brought us 31120, which is a serious contender for best set of the year.
I feel that Ninjago takes the cake in this regard, with the high quality of the legacy sets, not to mention the bargain that is 71741, attention to detail in the island sets, particularly 71747, and my admittedly biased view on underwater sets. Not to mention 71738, which GAVE US KNEES ON BIG MECHS.
With dedicated adventure themes basically dead, its defaulted to Creator for about five years straight. And another wonderful year from my favorite ongoing theme.
I shocked myself a bit and gave it to Creator.
for the great pirate ship and castle! (though my favorite set this year is Barracuda Bay Ideas set).
I thought that the Sesame Street Ideas set was 2021, but it turns out my memory was wrong, and it was last year. Even so, there were enough great Ideas sets this year for that theme to get my vote.
@MutoidMan:
They could also do a GCPD precinct, and Starro the Conqueror.
I chose Monkie Kid!
1) The theme has been my second favourite ever since it came out, only behind both Star Wars and Ninjago which are tied personally.
2) The theme is still going strong after 2 years, which is usually when original LEGO themes like these start to die down. Just ask NEXO Knights and Chima. There must be something about this theme that is so charming to its audience.
3) The quality of the sets rival Ninjago - fantasy vehicles, as well as location sets like the City of Lights which are really not that common in Ninjago sets, it's mostly mechs or dragons or cars.
4) This one's quite personal but it's because the show draws its lore from the Journey to the West Chinese myth, which my grandma used to read its stories to me, and from memory no less. She still does sometimes!
The only flaw is the comparatively absurd pricing for most of the sets.
Toss up between HP and Ideas. Went with HP.
@RaiderOfTheLostBrick said:
"I’ll have to go with Marvel. They really redeemed the line this year with the Infinity Saga line and Daily Bugle.
That said, Creator Expert and Ideas are close behind."
I completely agree!
@PurpleDave :
A Starro the Conqueror set would be awesome, especially if it came with a ton of little rubber Starros to enslave minifigs, a few to enslave bigfigs, and a slew of new characters.
Do a companion Marvel set for Terminus, and I’d swap super villains to stage the first battles of JLA/Avengers.
I’m far less enthusiastic for a GCPD Precinct set. Frankly, that’s just Arkham Asylum but with more policemen, and it strikes me as abysmally dull.
I’d rather STAR Labs; LexCorp Tower; Project Cadmus; Space Cabbie, Jack, and Roxy Rocket; the Planetary Citadel on Oa; Vanishing Point; WayneTech Labs; or the House of Mystery! Anything with some novelty and the opportunity to introduce new characters, vehicles, and settings.
@MutoidMan:
While I like to imagine a Starro set being produced, I entertain no delusions that it will actually happen. It took me ~1500pcs to make one shaped like the cover from his first appearance. It’s huge (14” diameter if you splay the legs out), it’s not remotely sturdy enough for kids to play with, and it requires five flight sticks to prop him up in the cover pose. There’s no way it could stand on two legs like his big screen debut. If they want to make a version that’s more play-friendly, it’d be on the same scale as his Teen Titans Go! appearance. It just kinda sucks that they clearly weren’t thinking about how difficult it would be to model him when choosing what threat would require the most powerful superheroes to team up.
But GCPD offers an opportunity to include minifigs they normally wouldn’t. So far the only two named police who have received minifigs are Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hare (That I know of, Barbara Gordon has only been a member of the force in TLBM, Batman Beyond, and maybe a few Elseworlds titles). There’s no Bullock, no Flass, no Essen, and no Montoya. Montoya’s minifig could have a single-sided head that you can flip around to turn her into The Question. For villains, they could stick to regular gangsters, like Joe Chill. What Is really like to see them do is release it as a Modular. In an 18+ set, maybe they could do a villain that they might be unwilling to put in a regular set, like Victor Zsasz.
Ideas, by far and away the most diverse and all encompassing