I've been meaning to do this for a few days now... my thoughts on the 2015 January prelims... or at least the ones I am interested in.
Disney Princess
41063 Ariel's Undersea Palace has a new giant clamshell and a lot of other large trans-blue pieces, a golden slide, and Sebastian! Flounder is back too, and we get a Friends dolphin. I may pick this one up just as a parts pack.
41062 Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle... speaking of trans-blue! So many nice parts in this one, including what looks like some trans-blue with glitter. Again, I am strongly considering this one as a parts pack.
No Jasmine's Exotic Adventure or Aurora's Bedroom, but if they follow suit with the other two I may be getting a lot of sets from this theme in the new year.
LEGO Classic
Seems to be the new branding for basic bricks. Very different packaging for baseplates. I'm hoping that the rebranding will lead to new road plates and the like.
CREATOR
31031 Rainforest Animals is a must-buy for me. I really enjoyed 2014's Forest Animals, and this new set with a Parrot, Frog and Fly as the primary build will fit right in.
31034 Future Flyer has the best robot build I've seen from a CREATOR set as the main build, and two equally-impressive alternates. Definite buy.
31035 Beach Hut is a small set, but seems larger than 2104's Small Cottage. It will fit in nicely with 7346 Seaside House and 5770 Lighthouse Island.
31036 Toy and Grocery Shop is continuing the simplified modular theme from 31026 Bike Shop & Cafe. Since the CITY theme refuses to produce many buildings, I welcome these shops. The alt builds for this one look very interesting.
Elves
While I was surprised that this theme went with the mini-doll route, I also see a treasure-trove of new and interesting parts in these sets. New maps, big seashells, scissors, a beautiful sail, and lots of purple elements mean I will be picking up at least a few of these for parts.
Friends
Not as interested in what they are offering this time around. I see some new parts, but those are being duplicated in other themes (Princess, Elves). The exception is 41097 Hot Air Balloon, which I think could work in the CITY theme with minor adjustments.
Mixels
Glad to see the rest of the Orbitonz and Glowkies, but the new Infernites leave me cold.
CITY
Oh CITY, you've got me again. After skipping large chunks from the 2014 offerings, the new 2015 subthemes already have me hooked. As I've mentioned before, I LOVED the Forest Police from 2012, and the Swamp Police could be even better. I see myself getting every set from this subtheme, which will mean lots of new crocs and snakes. Hopefully the final sets have some other new swamp creatures.
And what I thought was a construction subtheme, is actually a demolition subtheme! Some new ideas here that have me hooked. I have some of the 2009 Construction subtheme, and I'm looking forward to getting these new sets to complement those.
The Great Vehicles look "great" again, but I'm thinking that this subtheme is starting to lose its cohersion.
One observation - the female minifig count is WAY up in CITY (and other themes). Good direction LEGO!
Ultra Agents
This theme is back for a second wave, and I am more impressed from what I am seeing from this second run than I was for the first, and that is saying a lot!
One of the new features is called "Power Bricks", which seem to interact with tablets somehow. Each set has varying numbers of these elements.
Spyclops is back and has been reimagined for the Ultra series, and the new main villain "AntiMatter" looks very interesting. Lots of new vehicles in black and trans-blue to complement the first wave. The UltraCopter looks amazing (and huge)!
Pirates
Well, I've already expressed some thoughts about the return of Pirates. Glad to see them back, but I wish they could be more than this. And where is the classic monkey?!? I am also holding out hope that the shark in the 70413 Brick Bounty will be the larger type that came with the 2009 pirate ship, as it is very expensive to acquire now.
Star Wars
I think it is pretty clear to LEGO-GAF that I am a LEGO Star Wars fan (and collector). I'll be getting all of these, but the standouts for me are 75075 Microfighter AT-AT (chibi AT-AT!), 75079 Shadow Troopers, 75081 Skyhopper (only one Tusken Raider? - ARGH!), 75082 TIE Advanced Prototype (HOT!) and 75083 AT-DP (love them walkers!) EDIT - and the Wookie Gunship, how could I have forgotten that!
DC Super Heroes
Green Lantern! Sinestro! Darkseid! Grodd! Braniac! Bat-Mech! No more Batman in every set! This is the year DC cuts loose, and I am loving it. Hoping we get a big D2C minifig-based Justice League set this year as well.