Well, I can only speak from my personal experience, and from that there is a clear and noticeable downward path. As it can be useful to see how much stuff you're getting for free here's a picture showing the unopened bags: The upstairs is furnished with a bed, chair, potted plant, colourful mat and a sideboard with a TV on top.

And the sad part is that all of the quality issues point to cheaper manufacturing methods like those used by cheap alternative brands, while LEGO prices keep rising drastically.

LEGO ?…. You want your new year resolution to be that you get sidelined for sales ?… because it looks like you’re trying really hard to do so. The chalet clearly belongs to a bodybuilder because the upstairs room is dominated by a vastly over-scaled weightlifting bench, something I've not seen in a set before. The fronds of the palm tree add a welcome splash of colour, as do the vines growing up the side of the building. And if you’re a fan of LEGO CMF, you might notice that Speedy Gonzales may have a run in this place. A unique cheese slope from the LEGO Looney Tunes Collectible Minifigure Series (71030) is cleverly added inside the LEGO Houses of the World 3 as a fun reference as well. There are some fun details included as well such as a weight bench conveniently positioned near the bed. There’s also a fireplace complete with a gently suspended flame. All brought together, these little details add a dash of authenticity to this charming and captivating set. Take a Look at the Official Specifications for the LEGO Houses of the World 3

I was sure you were going to answer like that. This makes sense from producers perspective. But it absolutely makes no sense from buyer perspective. Especially about a thing that one buys for fun and not out of necessity. Getting more for the same amount of money in specific time frame is economically a free bonus. Even though this bonus has a value and cost. But you, as a buyer, did not 'sacrifice' anything to get this bonus." From the product description and the “1” in the set name, LEGO is beginning a new cycle of collectable GWPs, and is the first in the LEGO Houses of the World collection. A gift for travel and architecture fans – This set can be given as a gift for anyone interested in different culturesThe cheese and chocolate bar on the sideboard suggests to me that we are in Switzerland rather than one of the other Alpine countries! That said – I don’t think this is a must-have, so don’t succumb to FOMO as we’re only one week into 2023, and I’m sure LEGO will have plenty of other delights and surprises in-store for us! 40584 Birthday Diorama

And while parts quality has noticeably increased over the years with most of the important alternative brands, LEGO's has from my experience declined as described.

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Only four, huh? Central America, and I’m guessing China will get one of the other three. No way they do one each from Europe and North America unless at least is from an indigenous people, and I wouldn’t be surprised if neither gets one, given how they started this. Maybe Africa, South America, or somewhere in the Pacific islands? Yes, it’s becoming very awkwardly uncomfortable to buy LEGO…. So much so that one of my New Year’s resolutions was to thin out my collection, by selling off some of the older sets I have. And to top it off, it’s a “meh” set of a house anyway; not something I would put on the shelves with the other pieces I have. This gets…messy. Scientifically, Central America is defined as the region connecting Mexico to Colombia, because it sits on its own continental plate. The UN definition lumps Mexico in with them, and another definition for “middle America” carves off Colombia and Venezuela from South America. South of the US, most people just use the very Eurocentric Olympics definition of the Americas as a single continent. Within Central America, there are five nations that are former members of the Federal Republic of Central America, who consider that to be one distinct definition, while also counting all seven nations under a different definition. One definition even rolls the Antilles in (and the Dominican Republic is even part of a Central American EU-like alliance). So, Encanto, being set in Colombia, could be included in Central America by one of these definitions, and there’s probably enough cultural overlap with parts of Central America that you’d find similar housing styles throughout. Except for the color scheme, it looks architecturally similar to the Spanish Mission style that extends all the way up into the SW United States.

Wait wait wait that really works? I always assumed that you would have to return a GWP if you returned the set that enabled you to get the GWP…" This is turning out to be a rather delightful series of sets that are sure to appeal to those outside of LEGO's core demographic. It's always good to get a feel for how much free stuff you're getting with GWPs and in this case quite a lot, probably around 300-350, pieces.

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Be inspired by different cultures as you build the first in a collection of LEGO® Houses of the World. In tribute to the buildings of South America, this house (40583) features distinctive architectural details. The theme continues inside with South American interior decor. The modular design means this house can be combined with others from the collection (40590, 40594 and 40599) – each available separately. Once again there are plenty of details inside on both floors which are best appreciated by taking the three sections apart. As with the first in the series, 40583 Houses of the World 1, the building stands on a plot of land that's 10 studs deep by 12 wide with a pavement at the front and alleyway at the side. It's two storeys high and features a small balcony above a white arch supported by decorative pillars. I know someone who did start building microscale MOCs of the Modular series. Then 10230 was released as a GWP that precisely duplicated his efforts…and stopped. He moved across the country soon after, so I have no idea if he ever expanded his own run. I don’t know what happened in Australia, but it’s not a problem with government in the US. It’s a problem with government in California. They have a few really bad laws on the books that created this problem. One is that it’s too easy to challenge new construction, which was done to allow the little guy to stand up to corporate interests, but wealthy communities have weaponized in the spirit of NIMBY to keep affordable housing from dragging down real estate value.