Summer drops all at once, Batman's counting down, and Ideas hits 97

Speed Champions launched in 2015 on a simple framework: one brand, one car, one licensing deal per box. Eleven years and dozens of sets later, a Jaguar and Land Rover pack in the same box breaks that logic for the first time. The question for the fall wave is whether this reads as an experiment or a direction. If it repeats, the line's entire format opens up: rival packs, era pairings, automotive stories rather than licensing checkboxes.

LEGO has run polarizing format experiments before: Boost, SPIKE, digital integration waves the core community resisted. The consistent pattern: absorb the criticism, watch sell-through, decide quietly. SMART Play is drawing hostile reviews from two directions simultaneously. The eight-set wave (75420-75427) signals commitment rather than a trial balloon. Whether it survives into 2027 depends less on reviewer scores than on how it moves at retail.

The first 2026 review hit 97 projects, approaching triple digits for the first time. The community is producing more ideas than ever. The conversion math stays brutal: 3 sets from 146 projects in the second 2025 review. What grows is the investment fans pour into projects that almost certainly won't ship. That gap between community ambition and production reality is widening, and LEGO hasn't addressed it.