Lego City 2024

[TeriXeri]

2 hours ago, danimarroquin said:

Ok either CITY needs to step up their game or transfer some Friends designers to CITY ! 
This set  it’s fantastic and friends keeps raising the bar on their sets , I really wish they would make a mansion like so complete in the city line .

It does have compromises like no kitchen, which I suppose with the lifestyle of a pop star, that's not really needed but still.

Also the set is an exclusive, without that it'd likely be over €250.

Still makes it a fantastic set however.

City downtown was already discounted from €210 to under the €150 range (not because it's bad, but that's just what happens with non exclusive City sets in some European countries)

Edited December 6, 2023 by TeriXeri

[Wolfman_Bricks]

Would make a great Stark Mansion after some mods

[Classic_Spaceman]

6 hours ago, Wolfman_Bricks said:

Would make a great Stark Mansion after some mods

I was thinking the same thing! The basement bedroom could be reworked into Tony’s garage. 
 

[danimarroquin]

21 hours ago, Wolfman_Bricks said:

Would make a great Stark Mansion after some mods

Oh wow ! That would be a great next UCS marvel set . 

[legoturtle]

Hello all,

Do you think that there could be a EXPLORATION topic also... because TLG combined (Deep Sea Explorers) and (Arctic) together. Also Jungle and Space are exploration. Because probably most of the LEGO CITY fans try to build own city, BUT there is so many sub themes about exploration. 

CITY sub themes: Volcano Explorers, Wildlife rescue, Arctic, Deep Sea Explorers, Jungle, Space and now even Exploration.

[Aanchir]

On 12/6/2023 at 8:42 AM, danimarroquin said:

Ok either CITY needs to step up their game or transfer some Friends designers to CITY ! 
This set  it’s fantastic and friends keeps raising the bar on their sets , I really wish they would make a mansion like so complete in the city line . 

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/andrea-s-modern-mansion-42639

seems that friends has no budget and no limits for their sets , compared to city that always try to keep it on  only 1 set every 2 years above 150 dollars. 

I mean, this is only the third LEGO Friends set that's EVER cost upwards of 150 dollars, so that's hardly a sign that the City design team is working with more limited budgets! Overall I think the root of this difference you're noticing is more about the themes' differing focus and design philosophy than any sort of budget limitations.

LEGO City has always had a heavy emphasis on action and vehicle play, whereas LEGO Friends has always had more emphasis on dollhouse play and other slice-of-life role-play. Thus, LEGO Friends tends to get at least one "family house" set nearly every year at a price of 70 dollars or higher, and often other houses those same years at varying price points. Meanwhile, LEGO City has only had four family house or apartment building sets in its entire history, three of which were just released within the past few years!

Rather than houses, fire and police stations tend to be a staple product in each new year of City sets — and traditionally, these have been among the top-selling products for the theme every year, giving LEGO little incentive to deviate from that pattern. Conversely, the Friends theme has arguably had one fire station (the Friendship House was converted from an abandoned fire station, and some of its stickers and play features still allude to that original purpose), but has never had a police station set. I'm not bothered by this particular omission myself, but a lot of the kids who make up LEGO City's main audience surely would be!

Many of the City theme's largest sets (with names like Town Square, City Square, Town Center, City Center, Downtown, etc) are often just as focused on creating "Town Plan" style cityscapes for vehicles to drive around as they are on the contents of the buildings which make up those cityscapes. Larger LEGO Friends sets might come with a single car or truck, but otherwise tend to be largely geared towards pedestrians, and much of their playability is focused on the buildings/structures themselves rather than on what goes on in the spaces between them.

While these two themes have gotten much closer together over time as the designers learn from one another (for example, living spaces in City houses and boats have gotten much more detailed over the years), I expect some of these broader differences in design philosophy will still remain relatively strong in the years to come. That's not a mark against either theme, necessarily. They are just playing to different strengths.

[cosmic]

Not a huge fan of this wave but I love that Prison Island. Our first Prison Island was nice at first glance but upon revisiting images it did have a very black and white color scheme. This new set incorporates browns and blues in a way that feels organic and cohesive. The interior gives a lot to work with and I noticed some of the inmates appear as criminals in other sets throughout the wave which is very exciting to see. Very nice detail to have included. Overall an amazing set but quite literally the only one that piqued my interest with this leak.

 

I'm going to be very honest here, I am not a fan of Lego City going to space in the way that it is doing it. City has always been a pragmatic and realistic theme grounded in relatable figure designs and builds. I somewhat appreciate the experimental venture to try and do something utopian or conceptual like running into life on mars. But this type of material has been conventionally reserve for separate space themes, while City kept a focus on the mundane if you will. I guess I don't mind and I can look the other way for this wave, but moving forward I hope they reserve alien life and "Space Force" machinery concepts to sci fi Space themes and keep to rockets, satellites and other realistic source material for the City theme. What's even weirder is seeing the Friends figures in space. That was actually quite comical.

Also, we haven't had an original Space theme in some time so that would have been nice. I'm also just not feeling these sets in general? We had a Rocket launch center and Moon base a few summers back and those sets were amazing. I was hoping moving forward we'd revisit farm material, go into some city architecture or even delve into cultural architecture and do city sub themes for different countries. That would be cool to get a Spain based wave, then a NYC based wave, then a Dubai based wave for example. But aliens and space force? it's a bit much for me.

 

[The Island Chronicles]

22 minutes ago, cosmic said:

Not a huge fan of this wave but I love that Prison Island. Our first Prison Island was nice at first glance but upon revisiting images it did have a very black and white color scheme. This new set incorporates browns and blues in a way that feels organic and cohesive. The interior gives a lot to work with and I noticed some of the inmates appear as criminals in other sets throughout the wave which is very exciting to see. Very nice detail to have included. Overall an amazing set but quite literally the only one that piqued my interest with this leak.

 

I'm going to be very honest here, I am not a fan of Lego City going to space in the way that it is doing it. City has always been a pragmatic and realistic theme grounded in relatable figure designs and builds. I somewhat appreciate the experimental venture to try and do something utopian or conceptual like running into life on mars. But this type of material has been conventionally reserve for separate space themes, while City kept a focus on the mundane if you will. I guess I don't mind and I can look the other way for this wave, but moving forward I hope they reserve alien life and "Space Force" machinery concepts to sci fi Space themes and keep to rockets, satellites and other realistic source material for the City theme. What's even weirder is seeing the Friends figures in space. That was actually quite comical.

Also, we haven't had an original Space theme in some time so that would have been nice. I'm also just not feeling these sets in general? We had a Rocket launch center and Moon base a few summers back and those sets were amazing. I was hoping moving forward we'd revisit farm material, go into some city architecture or even delve into cultural architecture and do city sub themes for different countries. That would be cool to get a Spain based wave, then a NYC based wave, then a Dubai based wave for example. But aliens and space force? it's a bit much for me.

 

So that was a lot, but that basically explains my perspective on this winter wave. The only brightside to this wave in my opinion would probably be the fire station and the racing car sets. I'm not really a fan of the space wave either. I think my wallet is going to be okay this winter. 

[TeriXeri]

5 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Many of the City theme's largest sets (with names like Town Square, City Square, Town Center, City Center, Downtown, etc) are often just as focused on creating "Town Plan" style cityscapes for vehicles to drive around as they are on the contents of the buildings which make up those cityscapes. Larger LEGO Friends sets might come with a single car or truck, but otherwise tend to be largely geared towards pedestrians, and much of their playability is focused on the buildings/structures themselves rather than on what goes on in the spaces between them.

City 2023 certainly did change the ratio of building to vehicle in it's street sets which is good, the big 2000+ piece set has only 1 4 wide vehicle, wheras if it were made a few years ago, it'd probably have at least 3 6 wides.

Also the 60372: Police Training Academy surprisingly only had 1 quad, in a subtheme which tends to be very heavy on action.

Same thing happening with the 2024 Fire station, it has 2 garages and a helipad, but just has 1 medium truck and a drone, with the truck being numbered 01, and the SUV and Boat in a seperate set being numbered 02 and 03 (helicopter is 04, airplane 05,  and 4+ bike 06), it could've been a single set if LEGO wanted, but they split it, which I think is nice to have a bit less focus on vehicles that come with the buildings (as Friends already did)

I also like that the command truck set went for a side build, instead of another police chase vehicle, overall,  there are less motorcycles as well in this Police/Fire setting, especially compared to the 2019-2022 sets, the 2024 sets even have none, beside the 4+ big build.

I think summer 2024 might add more buildings, as this winter wave did the usual "great vehicle" line with most standalone vehicles.

Edited December 8, 2023 by TeriXeri

[a guy from somewhere]

4 hours ago, cosmic said:

Not a huge fan of this wave but I love that Prison Island. Our first Prison Island was nice at first glance but upon revisiting images it did have a very black and white color scheme. This new set incorporates browns and blues in a way that feels organic and cohesive. The interior gives a lot to work with and I noticed some of the inmates appear as criminals in other sets throughout the wave which is very exciting to see. Very nice detail to have included. Overall an amazing set but quite literally the only one that piqued my interest with this leak.

 

I'm going to be very honest here, I am not a fan of Lego City going to space in the way that it is doing it. City has always been a pragmatic and realistic theme grounded in relatable figure designs and builds. I somewhat appreciate the experimental venture to try and do something utopian or conceptual like running into life on mars. But this type of material has been conventionally reserve for separate space themes, while City kept a focus on the mundane if you will. I guess I don't mind and I can look the other way for this wave, but moving forward I hope they reserve alien life and "Space Force" machinery concepts to sci fi Space themes and keep to rockets, satellites and other realistic source material for the City theme. What's even weirder is seeing the Friends figures in space. That was actually quite comical.

Also, we haven't had an original Space theme in some time so that would have been nice. I'm also just not feeling these sets in general? We had a Rocket launch center and Moon base a few summers back and those sets were amazing. I was hoping moving forward we'd revisit farm material, go into some city architecture or even delve into cultural architecture and do city sub themes for different countries. That would be cool to get a Spain based wave, then a NYC based wave, then a Dubai based wave for example. But aliens and space force? it's a bit much for me.

 

Counter point from someone who adores the space sets: we very rarely get any sci-fi space stuff now. I’ll take what I can get and all of that looks amazing. I’ll admit yes, it’s not very city like and should have been it’s own theme, but an own theme would require at least 2 years of sets, new marketing, and a ton of faith. This was the safer option for Lego. We always get space sets that are based around near future space, I’d say the Mars sets are as far as it will go. This interstellar space theme will be a fresh coat of paint for the city space line, and in a few years I’m sure we will return back to regular near future space. If I had to guess, this theme is a test drive to see if an original space theme would still do well, so I’m gonna get a decent amount of the sets. As you said, just let us starving space fans have one little victory and then we can go back to regular orbital space sets. Considering 2024 is the year of space, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a summer wave for space with a big command ship or something to dock with thee space station. 
 

I must ask though, what else do you want from a new space subtheme? We have covered a lot of ground over the years, I can’t really think of any fresh ideas for an orbital/near future setting. Maybe a large satellite like the Hubble? 

[TeriXeri]

6 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Counter point from someone who adores the space sets: we very rarely get any sci-fi space stuff now. I’ll take what I can get and all of that looks amazing. I’ll admit yes, it’s not very city like and should have been it’s own theme, but an own theme would require at least 2 years of sets, new marketing, and a ton of faith. This was the safer option for Lego. We always get space sets that are based around near future space, I’d say the Mars sets are as far as it will go. This interstellar space theme will be a fresh coat of paint for the city space line, and in a few years I’m sure we will return back to regular near future space. If I had to guess, this theme is a test drive to see if an original space theme would still do well, so I’m gonna get a decent amount of the sets. As you said, just let us starving space fans have one little victory and then we can go back to regular orbital space sets. Considering 2024 is the year of space, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a summer wave for space with a big command ship or something to dock with thee space station. 

I think LEGO will do moon based sets again if Artemis 3 ends up succesful (Late 2025/2026), and then Nasa will look further toward the Artemis 4 , and the start of the Lunar Gateway mission (2028 onwards) (given the 2 year or so lifespan of 2019/2022 space subthemes as well , some 2019 sets lasted all the way until december 2021, when 2022 space sets released just 3 months after that) .

Maybe there's a small chance there will be an actual NASA theme with minifig licensed sets, but honestly, I still think there's a bigger chance for it to remain under City, without named astronauts etc.

Remember LEGO has not done a new theme that didn't have some form of TV Show , Movie, since 2015 Pirates, and even so, some of those seperate themes have sort of ended prematurely (hidden side), or even worse (vidiyo) , and LEGO just released a new theme named Dreamzzz.

That said, I do like the City and Friends Space sets a lot (no interest in the Technic sets but still looks quite interesting as it's not licensed) , especially the modularity, backwards compatibility with 2019 and 2022 sets, and likely future compatibility, gives the design of expandable space bases/stations a lot of potential. Both City and Friends structures are becoming more modular (not to be confused with baseplate Icons modulars), following Harry Potter, or even going way back in time to 80s castle.

Would be fun to see spaceship/space station parts be used alongside City sets to make futuristic buildings, like why have a balcony, if you can have a spaceship cockpit lookout, and it should be possible wherever the technic pin holes allow it.

Looking back , I'm a bit surprised that the 2023 underwater explorer sets don't use a similar system , even if just for the submarine ,especially as 60265: Ocean Exploration Base has full compability with 2019, 2022, and 2024 Space modules (or could be turned into a XXL submarine instead).

Edited December 8, 2023 by TeriXeri

[cosmic]

7 hours ago, a guy from somewhere said:

 As you said, just let us starving space fans have one little victory and then we can go back to regular orbital space sets. Considering 2024 is the year of space, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a summer wave for space with a big command ship or something to dock with thee space station. 
 

I must ask though, what else do you want from a new space subtheme? We have covered a lot of ground over the years, I can’t really think of any fresh ideas for an orbital/near future setting. Maybe a large satellite like the Hubble? 

You bring up a great point that incorporating a Space Force sub theme into City was a safer choice than to produce an original theme, but it’s still polarizing for me. I guess there are calls to create a Space Force in real life but nothing has come to fruition yet so all the designs are experimental, but that in and of itself is not the strangest part. The aliens and hoverbikes and mars rovers are altogether too much for me. So I won’t buy the wave but I agree there is definitely a justification to put this into the City theme.

As for what other satellite sets I want, thats the thing is I don’t really want that right now. I honestly wanted more Farm content. That was my first priority as a consumer but come to think of it I would also welcome another Jungle sub theme. A few years back we had the Jungle sets with Jaguars and temples that seemed to resemble a South American expedition. I’d love for another Jungle sub theme but more focused on Australia with Koalas and Kangaroos instead of Crocodiles and Leopards.

[TeriXeri]

7 hours ago, cosmic said:

I honestly wanted more Farm content.

Friends has 2 really nice farm sets (Sanctuary and Baby Cow Shed), and even a fairly low priced horse + rideable baby horse (or maybe a mini-pony) set with Horse and Pony Trailer) , the Farm Clinic set isn't that great for the price but also has a another new Friends Goat and baby Goat (altho the prints and cabinets are nice to be used in a custom Vet build as well)

Edited December 8, 2023 by TeriXeri

[a guy from somewhere]

Space sets are now up on Lego.com. UK prices are (inter)stellar! Can’t wait to pick up some of the smaller sets. It’s a shame the massive command Rover doesn’t do anything though, it’s just a big tank. 

[The Island Chronicles]

3 minutes ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Space sets are now up on Lego.com. UK prices are (inter)stellar! Can’t wait to pick up some of the smaller sets. It’s a shame the massive command Rover doesn’t do anything though, it’s just a big tank. 

I saw the sets on the US site. I'm not gonna lie, they want too much for that space base set.

Edited December 8, 2023 by The Brick Boss

[TeriXeri]

8 minutes ago, a guy from somewhere said:

Space sets are now up on Lego.com. UK prices are (inter)stellar! Can’t wait to pick up some of the smaller sets. It’s a shame the massive command Rover doesn’t do anything though, it’s just a big tank. 

I agree the command rover just seems to be a transporter, with few action features , beside the removable module that can be reused elsewhere, and gives something for the crane on it, or the launch base to move. 

I mean, 8 wheelers are still cool (I loved the couple from Nexo Knights like Axl Tower Carrier could go head to head with General's Siege machine), but the cheaper 6 wheel rover has more action with the suspension, as a standalone set.

Edited December 8, 2023 by TeriXeri

[a guy from somewhere]

3 minutes ago, The Brick Boss said:

I saw the sets on the US site. I'm not gonna lie, they want too much for that space base set.

It’s £60 UK, still pretty pricy but i feel like the rovers gonna be pretty big but light. 750 parts for £60 with all the big special moulds is a better deal than most sets these days to surprisingly. Would have liked to have seen the space station knocked down £10 or so but other than that, compared to US prices I think the UK gets the better deal. Especially with the smaller sets. They want $40 for the 6 wheeled rover right? Ours is £25, and £18 for the interstellar spaceship. Which I think is $30. I agree, the US pricing is nuts. 
 

edit: just realised you where talking about the crane base. And yes, it’s way too expensive, £125 here. Damnnnnnn.

Edited December 8, 2023 by a guy from somewhere

[TeriXeri]

Not sure if it's just me noticing, but there seems to be a big increase in useage of transparent tiles, plates, and pieces used this year, not just City, also Friends etc.

Hopefully they also worked out the milky look, or "soft" easy to scratch surfaces.

Obviously things have been in the works for the Trans-Black, being fully replaced by the new blue variant (instead of brown) as well.

Also noticeable is the usage of Vibrant Yellow has gone down quite a bit, to mostly a 1 plate stripe on vehicles. The color is not gone however, and I like the new vibrant police vest. (of course the space sets did get a new orange color as well)

Edited December 8, 2023 by TeriXeri

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

Also noticeable is the usage of Vibrant Yellow has gone down quite a bit, to mostly a 1 plate stripe on vehicles. The color is not gone however, and I like the new vibrant police vest. (of course the space sets did get a new orange color as well)

I think the heavy use of vibrant yellow last year was partly to help "break in" the color with a wider variety of parts—now that it's no longer new and more parts are available, it can be used somewhat more modestly.

[BrickFit26]

Loving the LEGO City Space sets.

[Lyichir]

So a neat thing @Aanchir and I noticed yesterday when looking at pictures of the fire station set is that the figs have some nice variety—you have one firefighter still in his pajamas, one wearing just a t-shirt and suspenders, one with their jacket on over the same t-shirt (but with the jacket unzipped), and two in the full uniform (one with a red collar and one with a black collar). It's a neat way to offer some variety for the fire squad, including both on-duty and off-duty firefighters with a consistent uniform style.

[TeriXeri]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

So a neat thing @Aanchir and I noticed yesterday when looking at pictures of the fire station set is that the figs have some nice variety—you have one firefighter still in his pajamas, one wearing just a t-shirt and suspenders, one with their jacket on over the same t-shirt (but with the jacket unzipped), and two in the full uniform (one with a red collar and one with a black collar). It's a neat way to offer some variety for the fire squad, including both on-duty and off-duty firefighters with a consistent uniform style.

Yeah overall, Police and Fire figures seem to have gotten an update , less gold badges, no flame orange overalls (fire pilots/ship captain), and the vibrant yellow mostly has moved to the Pilot/Motorcycle helmets, or in the case of Police, high-vis vests.

Also the Police buildings and vehicles lack the gold "badge" logo or Police text, it's mostly a silver shield with star on a black or darkblue background.

 

All the criminal minifigs also at least have orange prison overall (or rolled down overalls in the car chase, or orange overall with purple jacket on top in the CSI truck) , basicly inverted style from 2016 Prison Island where it was full striped suit with orange shirts underneath.

Edited December 9, 2023 by TeriXeri

[legoturtle]

I bought all LEGO/Space sets (2022) and then all LEGO/Exploration sets (2023). NOW in 2024 I try to buy as many "Space theme" sets I can. 

I am not interested about city building or cars and so on. CITY have these awesome sub themes... could they be own themes? Well maybe but it would not change that much. I think it was a good decision combine "Arctic" and "Deep Sea Exploration" ... under CITY/Exploration sub-theme.

[The Island Chronicles]

The City sets I'm getting for 2024 are:

• Burger Truck
• Go Karts 
• Road Roller 
• Sailboat

I may get the fire station just to have the fire truck as my town already has a fire station. 

On 12/9/2023 at 3:27 PM, Lyichir said:

So a neat thing @Aanchir and I noticed yesterday when looking at pictures of the fire station set is that the figs have some nice variety—you have one firefighter still in his pajamas, one wearing just a t-shirt and suspenders, one with their jacket on over the same t-shirt (but with the jacket unzipped), and two in the full uniform (one with a red collar and one with a black collar). It's a neat way to offer some variety for the fire squad, including both on-duty and off-duty firefighters with a consistent uniform style.

Yes! I actually like those. If I do get the fire station, I may actually keep those along with the fire truck that comes with it. 

[legoturtle]

Shopping List 2024

30663: Space Hoverbike (polybag) 10 €

 

42178: Surface Space Loader 35 €

42180: Mars Crew Exploration Rover 150 €

42181: VTOL Heavy Cargo Spaceship LT81 100 €

 

42605: Mars Space Base and Rocket 90 €

60428: Space Construction Mech 10 €

60429: Spaceship and Asteroid Discovery 20 €

60430: Interstellar Spaceship 20 €

60431: Space Explorer Rover and Alien Life 30 €

60432: Command Rover and Crane Loader 80 €

60433: Modular Space Station 100 €

60434: Space Base and Rocket Launchpad 140 €

 

+ Space CMF