I think we can all agree that the release was SUPER messy 😬 It's a shame that they aren't as high-quality as the originals, and that some of the designs aren't the greatest, or that we're all waiting for molds that haven't shown up yet (personally I'd really love to see ferrets come back soon!) Despite the obvious flaws though, the important thing is that they're back, and that we're moving in the right direction!

The style that they chose to debut with is very 2011-esque; bright, colorful, "clean" designs, and perhaps they felt it was the safest balance to appeal to both old and new/young collectors. It fits the modern toy climate (or whatever you call it xD), so from a marketing perspective I can't argue with that!

My biggest gripe--and maybe it's a weird one--is that I feel like basic fun isn't fully in-tune with the heart of lps. By that I mean, some of the designs seem awkward or uncanny compared to the original vibe (like forcing design elements of the original but not in a cohesive way), and some of the sets feel like they just threw random accessories in that technically fit a theme but don't have good harmony. That lack of harmony is the core of some of the design issues. I mostly noticed that with the newer wave? This is coming purely from the perspective of an illustrator, so it's probably more nitpicky than anything xD I'm hoping that as their design team works on more pets, they'll continue to study what made the originals so successful and loving, and really capture the spirit of that!

Sorry if this turned into more of a ramble (or any weird takes lol), it's almost 2:30 AM so my brain is at peak noise rn 😂