The 2017 German Toy Fair (Spielwarenmesse) was held in Nuremberg earlier this week, and as is customary, it gives LEGO fans a first look at a selection of new sets and themes from the second half (2HY) of 2017.
Photography at the German Toy Fair is rather limited and the more intricate details are hard to make out, but there’s still tons to get excited about. Special thanks to Promobricks and klemmbausteinlyrik.de for permission to share the LEGO photos from the German Toy Fair 2017! Do also check out klemmbausteinlyrik.de’s Youtube channel while you’re at it too!
via promobricks
The most exciting thing out of Germany is a look at the new LEGO City Jungle subtheme that is set to debut in the second of the year. I’ve fast become a fan of the second half LEGO City subthemes, which have placed an emphasis on science and exploration, tackling cool settings such as the Arctic, Deep Sea Exploration and last year’s Volcano sets.
The Jungle Sets look like a lot of fun and I especially love the new animal moulds – it’s a little small, but we can make out a black Panther and a Jaguar, which is also represented as a super-sized brickbuilt sculpture below the display.
via klemmbausteinlyrik.de
There’s also a new Venus Flytrap/Carnivorous Plant piece which also looks quite cool. The yellow vehicles also look pretty neat. I’m generally a big fan of wildlife-themed LEGO sets and LEGO animals, so I expect to buy most, if not all of these sets when they’re released sometime in June 2017.
via promobricks
We’re also getting more Coast Guard sets which have been done before, and doesn’t really strike my fancy.
via promobricks
Following on the success of last year’s Fun in the Park set, LEGO are giving us another beach-themed version, aptly called 60153 Fun at the Beach which features plenty of beachside fun. This looks like it will be yet another hit (as all Minifigure-themed sets are), and I especially like the hammock piece!
Above it we also get another minifigure-themed City set, 60154 Bus Station which has a really nice-looking Bus, Bus Stop and a Newsstand! I love public transport sets, so I expect these two sets to do very well!
No Star Wars sets were allowed to be photographed, but we do know that we’ll be getting the following sets:
75183 Darth Vader Transformation
- 3 minifigures – Anakin, Darth Vader & Darth Sidious (Palpatine)
75182 Republic Fighter Tank
- 4 minifigures – Clone Trooper, 2 Battle Droids and Aayla Secura
75167 Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack
- 4 minifigures – Bossk, Dengar, IG-88 and 4-Lom
75531 Buildable Stormtrooper Commando (Constraction Set)
75532 Stormtrooper with Speeder Bike (Constraction Set)
Star Wars Advent Calendar 2017 – The Force Awakens-themed. Finally! Won’t talk about the contents as I like to be as spoiler-free as possible, but you can check out Promobricks for a brief description of characters.
I’m actually most excited about the Republic Fighter Tank! I’ve been getting into the Clone Wars 3D-animated series on Netflix (which holy shit, is really good!) and have developed a new-found appreciation of the prequel characters, so getting a minifigure version of Aayla Secura is high on my priority list this year.
via promobricks
We also get confirmation of LEGO Minifigures Series 17 (which should go on sale on 1 May 2017) AND the Ninjago Movie Series, which ties into the LEGO Ninjago Movie which is set to hit theatres in the US on 22 September 2017.
Glad to see the Numbered Series minifigures return after the LEGO Batman Movie Series (which I liked but didn’t love). It’s also interesting to note that the Ninjago Movie Series will have a whopping 20 minifigures to collect, in the same vein as the Batman Movie Series.
Aside from the major characters and villains, I am hopeful that LEGO will use the Ninjago Movie Minifigures to load us up with oriental/Japanese-themed characters.
via promobricks
Cars will be making a return to LEGO, this time under the Juniors theme. This will tie in with the Cars 3 Movie which will open in cinemas in mid-June. Cars 3 has a really kick-ass trailer and I didn’t expect to be as excited for it as I currently am! Hopefully the LEGO sets will be great as well.
via promobricks
No details here, but there are 3 sets slated for DC’s Justice League movie, which gets released on 16 November 2017. 3 sets is a little on the low side, although it’s on par with the number of Batman v Superman sets.
It being such a huge tentpole release for Warner Bros and DC (and being so close to Christmas!), I’m kinda disappointed that we didn’t get more!
via promobricks
On the Marvel end of town, it’s confirmed that Thor Ragnarok and Spider-Man Homecoming will be receiving two sets apiece! Super excited for these, especially Thor Ragnarok!
Via Promobricks
Via klemmbausteinlyrik.de
The 2HY 2017 Creator sets also look pretty dope with two new houses, including a very modern design, complete with solar panels.
Via klemmbausteinlyrik.de
Great to also get a tiny look at the new Elves sets, which revolve around a Goblin King! The Zeppelin Airship set also looks pretty sweet.
via promobricks
LEGO Architecture was on display too, which included the new Arc De Triomphe set and updated Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
via promobricks
via klemmbausteinlyrik.de
And last but not least, a look at the new Technic sets. I’m not a massive fan of Technic, but I know a lot of you are.
via Promobricks
via Promobricks
2017 is also the 40th Anniversary of Technic, and to commemorate the milestone, a special set has been designed. You can’t technically buy this 40 year Technic Anniversary set, instead, you’ll have to buy three separate Technic sets (42061, 42057, 42063) to assemble the set.
The instructions for this build will be available to download in the second half of the year.
It’s quite ingenious but I hope that LEGO Technic has some other big reveal later this year to make the 40th anniversary special.
So yeah, that’s it from the German Toy Fair 2017! The City sets on show are really exciting and I also can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for us.
To check out more photos from the event, head over to Promobricks’ Facebook page and klemmbausteinlyrik.de’s Flickr page!
Take the poll above to let me know which theme has impressed you the most, or let me know in the comments section!
The new Guggenheim museum looks like a much more accurate and better detailed set than the first attempt from several years ago, so I appreciate the update. However, I don’t really care for the precedent Lego is setting of re-doing buildings they’ve already done (like burj Khalifa, Sears Tower/John Hancock, etc). As an avid collector of this series, I will have to buy it, but there are so many architectural master pieces and landmarks out there that they could be focusing on rather than re-dos.
Yeah, the Guggenheim has definitely benefited from all the new elements and parts at LEGO’s disposal. I’m quite torn on remaking buildings – for newer fans, it allows them to catch up on sets that they might have missed out on, but some of their recent re-releases like the Burj seemed a little wasteful.
They could re-release more of the sought after sets like the Marina Bay Sands, or Robie House. I assume there are licenses involved that may prevent LEGO from re-releasing those sets, but yeah, I can see your point of view with wanting new sets and designs. I’m pretty surprised that LEGO haven’t released a Statue of Liberty Architecture set!
I feel like it would be the perfect model for that scale.
Liberty would be cool, maybe even at a little larger scale. I would love to build The Colosseum, Petronas Towers and St Basils Cathedral in Moscow just to name a few. St Basils could be really cool at the larger Lego Creator scale, like Sidney Opera House and Big Ben!
Oooh, as a Malaysian, I’d love the Petronas Towers! Those are some really fantastic ideas, a St Basil’s at the Big Ben Scale would be phenomenal.
I am so looking forward to build this 8860 remake!!
Oh, I wasn’t aware that it was a remake of an older Technic set. That makes it even cooler!
LEGO seems to be leaning towards a three-walled ‘facade’ design with the 2017 Creator buildings, much like the City theme buildings. It’s quite disappointing. However, the revamp of the packaging design is nice!
I guess it’s mostly because they want to encourage playing and interacting with the interiors. I don’t think that it’s that big a issue, since you can easily just seal it up, but yeah, I get what you mean. Hey, at least when you display them no one can tell the difference, haha.
Jungle feels like a rehash of Volcano which itself felt like a rehash of Arctic, though this set of vehicles looks the most interesting of the trio to me, particularly liking the set with the plane wreck. The bus will be a nice addition to a city as will the little cargo depot if you’ve got some trains, which I’m surprised there hasn’t been a new one in a while. Similar feeling with the coast guard stuff being a bit meh, probably due to a lack of civilian boats and beachfront things to pair it up with.
Glad to see the Creator buildings are getting bigger again after the more recent ones had started shrinking, picking up the slack on lack of buildings in City as usual.
Marvel and DC I’m tentatively excited for as they’ve got a record of being rather hit or miss, though I’m sure the minifigure selection will be quite good as always.
Yeah, I’ll have to get a better look, but the yellow vehicles stand out in a pretty nice way.
There’s been no trains, because I think LEGO have a special train in store for us this year. Call it a hunch, but I feel like we’re going to get a really nice, Creator Expert train that’s in the same league as the Emerald Night.
Coast Guard is meh to me because they’ve done it before. The large boat looks great, but I don’t think it’ll convince me to part with what I expect to be a $100++ pricetag.
I’m more optimistic about Marvel, mostly because (as much as I loathe to say it) the movies are much better than the DC ones. I am looking forward to getting a Jason Momoa Aquaman minifigure – I’m absolutely in love with the Justice League design. Also, it’s the closest we’ll ever get to a Khal Drogo minifig!
Don’t forget the two CITY civilian boats (catamaran and fishing boat) released earlier this year to pair with the Coast Guard sets!
They also showed the Friends Winter/Ski Theme, have a look they are one of my favourite new sets for 2017
Ah yeah, didn’t have permission to use those photos unfortunately! But yeah, the Winter Village is going to get a huge upgrade this year with all the Friends sets!
I’m so excited for the City sets!
You and me both. I totally skipped out Volcano, but I hope they come close to the quality and ingenuity of the Deep Sea/Arctic sets again!
I’m most excited for the new city jungle sub-theme and the Star Wars Bounty Hunter battle pack! Can’t wait to get my hands on a jaguar, panther, and some jungle settings. As for the Bounty Hunters, I’ve been wanting ALL those characters. I missed out on their appearance in the Super Star Destroyer set (in my dark age) and almost bought the Eclipse Fighter just for Dengar, but wasn’t that thrilled with the rest of the set.
Yeah, the Bounty Hunter Pack is a must-have for sure! Very nice of LEGO to throw them all in an affordable set.
Aw, Cars 3 is Juniors? Great, now if I want to get them, I’ll look weird. But it makes sense.
Hahaha that’s how I feel when buying LEGO books at Chapters.
The older Cars sets had a lot of large custom pieces, especially for the eye windshields, so I think it’ll fit in well with Juniors. The target audience with Cars is kids anyway, so I think LEGO know what they’re doing.
The last round also didn’t really sell well with adults. I still remember stores here in Australia struggling to clear the larger sets.
Slight disappointment: I was looking forward to the Jungle sets, and my first reaction was disappointment, because I was underwhelmed by the vehicles and had been hoping for a bit more of a science angle to add to my lego scientists montage (centred around the lego ideas set). But the non-vehicle elements look good, especially the animals.
The fun at the beach set feels less cohesive than the park set. But maybe I will be more excited when I see other ways it’s displayed.
Pleasant surprise: the Elves theme has some nice sets, particularly the airship and Pegasus chariot. I don’t currently have any Elves sets and I don’t know if I want to start buying them, but they are tempting!
Just as good as I had hoped: the bus set looks great. I wonder if it would take much work to turn it into a tram.
The photos are hard to make out, but I would hold judgement till the full photos are released. So far the Science/Exploration City subtheme hasn’t really disappointed outside of Volcano, so I’m quite hopeful we’ll get a good spread.
Agreed that it probably won’t be as good as Fun in the Park, but some of the minifigure designs and torsos look pretty snazzy. It’s also interesting that the Friends dolphin has migrated over to LEGO City!
Elves is always stellar, and I’m a big fan of all the yellowish green (or spooky green, whatever the name is) buildings!
Hard to beat the tram from City Square tho!
I’ve got to have that Fun At The Beach set!! And also the jungle themed City sets look like a great change to what they’ve been putting out. Can’t wait to see those! Thanks for the great blog with pics-as always!!!
Yeah. It’s a long shot, but I would really want to see more classic LEGO monkeys in the Jungle sets.
Thanks for putting all the pictures in one place Jay! Not too excited and i doubt I’ll get any of the sets here except maybe the Justice League ones if they turn out good and a few of the minifigures. I’ll have to wait until someone translates the advent calendar stuff. Wonder who the special fig will be. Hopefully Kylo Ren.
Update: Decided to translate advent stuff myself. There is a BB8 with a Santa hat, dunno if that’s the day 24 fig. Teedo and a Luggabeast. A sleigh. First order storm and snow troopers. A Y wing, falcon and shuttle. An ATDP (similar to ATST) and there is 8 figures in total (dunno if that includes BB8). (a new) Hope this helps if you were wondering what’s inside
Wow, plenty to look forward to, think I may need a 2nd and 3rd job!! Itching for the London architecture set and think I’ll snap this up from the first place I see it once it hits Australia. Darth Vadar transformation sounds exciting, hopefully it’s not a poor submission like the Carbon Freeze Chamber was. Lego Fun 2 the Beach looks great. Got the park last year and will definately snap this one up too. City Jungle theme could be interesting although the constant rehash of the same vehicles often leaves me feeling robbed. Can’t see which set the Venus Fly trap is on. I would assume the most expensive only??!
The one set I’m really looking forward to though is not here and since it’s announcement there’s been no updates. Where’s the old fishing shop from Lego Ideas?????
You mean you don’t already have a second job? 😛
I’ve heard that the London Architecture set has made an appearance at the Dreamworld LEGO store, so I think it’s only a matter of time until it pops up elsewhere.
Yeah, Darth Vader Transformation looks great, and you get Palpatine as well which is pretty sweet.
I think we should get an update from the LEGO Ideas team very soon. The Old Fishing Store and Apollo 11 set are pretty large… so I can kinda understand that they may need extra time to get it all prepared for a retail launch.
I’m a little nervous about Justice League – the minifigures should be good, but I just hope they’re a lot more exciting than the Batman v Superman ones.
My money is on a Christmas Rey/Finn.
I have already seen the new LEGO Architecture sets, in Liverpool Lego Store, I almost bought the London scene one, the London Eye looks fab!
The London set hasn’t reached out shores yet for some strange reason!
Good write up Jay. I think the London set is at the LCS in Dreamworld. I was there on Friday for moire photos and can double check if you want.
Oh? Good to know it finally made it there! I’d love to see new photos of the selection. If you’re putting up a new post, let me know!