The DownFall of LEGO City

[Powered by Bricks]

1 minute ago, icm said:

I think we can all agree with that, but that's not specific to City or Town.

Personally, I think 60104 is the best City airport terminal, but that's just me.

I feel it’s a bit empty, nice exterior but maybe could’ve had a small kiosk/cafe inside.

And ever since 2021 introduced the My City collection, I was hoping for even more sets.

I wished the Fire and police stations stayed 100€, with 2/3 vehicles. 2022  Police Hq is a great budget station but the 2024 lacks structure and looks weird, given that none of the land vehicles can properly fit inside the garages. 

 

[icm]

Yeah, the recent downsized Police and Fire stations haven't been a really successful experiment. The small buildings with road plates were a good idea that needed to stick around a few more years for more development.

[karrit]

LEGO City is a broad label for a variety of offerings.  Personally I have little interest in Police or Fire Vehicles or buildings for those.  Never really have.  I'll sometimes grab the polybags but when you are talking $30-$200 sets I want to see something really interesting.  Residential & business properties are virtually non-existent in current day city offerings.  If you want any of those you need to buy Creator or Modular.  The Speed Champions line doesn't interest me, nor does the F1.  The Ski Slope set was interesting but too industrialized (citified) while the Friends one was way more realistic & interesting visually to me.  I'm a sucker for the Space & Outdoors sets but they really shouldn't be subthemes of CITY.  The food trucks are something different but how many does one need.  The Harbor set is decent but the building is lacking.  I know people keep saying they want a Hospital, School, Airport but does anyone really think they could do justice to any of those without them being $200+ sets?  This line is aimed toward kids not us AFOL's so once a certain price point is hit the sets won't sell well so they don't even try.

[icm]

I think a $100 school would work really well. The last two City hospitals were really good at $100 and $120. I think a standalone airport terminal would also be really good at $100. Really, I think $100-$120 is the sweet spot for a large standalone City building with one or two small vehicles to go with it.

[icm]

Just out of curiosity I counted the number of non space buildings in Town in 1995. Just three!

Five in 1990, seven in 1985, five in 1980.

Edited March 12 by icm

[Brick900]

Still at least improved overall, I don't think City is at all at its worst. We had some pretty good sets last year. City faced a rebranding past about 2019 after the era with the "HEY!" commercials.

Now on the focus of vehicles over buildings, that is a bigger subject. Some people will say that they like it because it is designed more for children, and a lot of people defending the City theme have pointed out that it is meant for children. This extends to themes other than City as well. I actually started a topic about this: 

Edited March 12 by Brick900
Listed comment, prefer to be general and list topic

[Powered by Bricks]

What would you consider as the worst era of city ever? 

[SpacePolice89]

2 hours ago, Powered by Bricks said:

What would you consider as the worst era of city ever? 

If Town is included the worst period was 1997 to 2000 with the junio rized sets (although the Res-Q, Extreme Team and Arctic subthemes were not junior ized and were very nice). All mainstream Town sets were strongly junior ized during those years. Otherwise it is the current period (2020-onwards) that is the worst with strange colors and cartoonish sets.

Edited March 12 by SpacePolice89

[Brick900]

What kind of sets would you like to see in the future?

[TeriXeri]

On 3/12/2025 at 12:33 AM, icm said:

I think we can all agree with that, but that's not specific to City or Town.

Personally, I think 60104 is the best City airport terminal, but that's just me.

I like the interior of 42656 Heartlake City Airport and Airplane but the focus of that set is entirely different from 60104, where the City set is more about loading/unloading the plane, the Friends set is far more about the actual terminal and passenger "roleplay" , and probably the most "detailed" yet in that aspect, but it misses big Airport things like control tower , and the airplane is kind of secondary, no door or stair, or vehicle, or walkway or whatever to suggest boarding it.

 

60434 Space Base and Rocket Launchpad has like the best control tower yet, even tho it's a weird space-crane, the top part could easily be used for an airport with perhaps a few changes to the screens and radar shape.

Edited March 13 by TeriXeri

[The Island Chronicles]

4 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

If Town is included the worst period was 1997 to 2000 with the junio rized sets (although the Res-Q, Extreme Team and Arctic subthemes were not junior ized and were very nice).

Personally, I think those were some of the best times for Lego town-based sets. For sales and from a business standpoint, it was probably one of the worst time periods. But for those who grew up with those sets and have nostaligic memories from that time period (myself included), I can confirm that it was one of Lego's best times.

Btw, You also forgot about the Divers and Paradisa - and my personal favorite, Race, btw. 

[Brick900]

You can make two different sets (e.g. two different airports, as was the subject here) and still build them from different approaches though.

Edited March 13 by Brick900

[icm]

24 minutes ago, The Island Chronicles said:

Personally, I think those were some of the best times for Lego town-based sets. For sales and from a business standpoint, it was probably one of the worst time periods. But for those who grew up with those sets and have nostalgic memories from that time period (myself included), I can confirm that it was one of Lego's best times.

Btw, You also forgot about the Divers and Paradisa - and my personal favorite, Race, btw. 

See, that's nostalgia for you. I first got into Lego at that time, and even when I was the target age I wasn't very impressed by Town Jr sets when I saw them in the mail order catalog.

[SpacePolice89]

6 hours ago, The Island Chronicles said:

Personally, I think those were some of the best times for Lego town-based sets. For sales and from a business standpoint, it was probably one of the worst time periods. But for those who grew up with those sets and have nostaligic memories from that time period (myself included), I can confirm that it was one of Lego's best times.

Btw, You also forgot about the Divers and Paradisa - and my personal favorite, Race, btw. 

Yes, I forgot to mention Divers and Paradisa which both are also great. But almost all mainstream Town branded sets released during those years were so simplified that I stopped buying them. I couldn't understand why they did it and I remember being shocked over the sudden change from awesome sets like 6335 Indy Transport released in 1996 (which is one of my favorite sets) to very simplified sets that I didn't like such as 6486 Fire Engine. The problem was that they replaced normal Town sets with Town Jr and therefore discontinued detailed sets and lost customers which in turn contributed to their financial problems in the late 90s.

[lifeinplastic]

I think Lego City has improved a lot since the early 2000s slump. 

For adult collectors there are Modular Buildings and some City-related sets that rank up there with the best of all time like the A-Frame Cabin and the Botanical Garden.

I realise these are expensive though and the actual City theme should have more affordable sets. I actually think the last few years have been pretty good. The January wave wasn't so good but usually this is when all the Police and Fire sets are released, which really doesn't interest me and never did as a kid. 

I don't have any problems with vehicles - they are usually cheaper sets, which is good for buying gifts for children, etc.

I own a lot of Lego nowadays and there are so many sets available so quite often I will skip City sets if there is nothing particularly new or appealing about them. For example, the Off-Road Mountain Truck 60447 looks decent enough but I doubt I will buy it purely because there isn't anything much included that I really need or want. However, if it had included some sort of suitable animal like an eagle or a bighorn sheep (or whatever animal he is looking at with his binoculars), then I would definitely have one by now. 

I yearn for the golden days of the early 90's where there were a lot of 'leisure' sets as well as the Paradisa theme (bearing in mind there were fewer colours and moulds back then). I’d like to see more travel and exploration based City sets as well as a return of the ‘Fun at the Park/Beach/Outdoors’ minifig packs.

Edited March 13 by lifeinplastic

[Lion King]

I think City’s 2020 - 2024 period is the best becuase of animals, Space and Johnny Thunder’s adventure.  I have no interests in Fire and Police sets at all unless someting new about them new techqiue, printed parts, new parts, etc.  i enjoy different subthemes - ocean, African wildlife, farm, Arctic, Space, Adventurers.

[imposter]

MODERN CITY

• Exploration (2023-24) Arctic, Deep-Sea, Jungle
• NASA Space (2022)
• Sci-fi Space (2024-25)
• Sci-fi Rollercoaster (2024)
• LEGO CSI (2024-25)
• Stuntz (2021-23)
• X-Games Skate Park (2021, 2023)
• E-Sports truck (2023)
• Monster Jam! (2023, 2025)
• City 3 in 1 modular (2025)
• Space YEAR!
• Formula 1 YEAR! 

And the list goes on and on. In year 2026 we will get another CITY subtheme YEAR! 

Edited March 13 by imposter

[Izzynufc-2]

On 3/11/2025 at 10:54 PM, Powered by Bricks said:

Want specific ideas?

-Cargo Center, like the one in the 80s

-Post Office

-Central Park

-Theme Park, not Park Attraction

-Lighthouse

-Factory

 

I’m surprised we’ve not had a Lego city post office

On 3/12/2025 at 8:59 PM, Brick900 said:

What kind of sets would you like to see in the future?

A Steam Train Railtour 

A Dump Truck

A Tall Crane 

A Wrecking Ball Crane 

A Truck carrying a locomotive 

A Railway Musuem 

An Air Show 

A Cement Mixer as we’ve not really had a decent one since 2013

A Garage similar to the 2012 one 

An Airport with all the new modern pieces 

A Post Office 

Lighthouse 

[MAB]

I'm fine with what City is. It is a child's theme aimed at children and so has a focus on action rather than a more pedestrian view of life. Adults have the Modulars for building cities. There are now 20 buildings to either buy or use for inspiration for MOCs. City sets can still provide minifigures, printed parts or stickers and other parts to make buildings and vehicles. Other themes such as Ninjago also occasionally provide some lovely buildings or street life type sets that can be used as is or adapted to fit in.

[Maufol]

Let's see, the cornerstone of the entire City set, the key, is the main objective they're focused on: children and (children's) playability, and therefore also the final price that parents must face. Therefore, they've always been less detailed than those intended for AFOLs, but no less fun. Why are there more vehicles than buildings lately? Clearly, it's for something that eludes us, because perhaps we don't know a lot of the data they do handle (and I think they do very well), and perhaps that data indicates that today's children prefer vehicles more than buildings. And despite everything, I, for example, as an AFOL, have sometimes bought City sets because I've seen that they fit very well and almost unchanged with my collection of modular sets (because the modular sets are our "City" sets, although they are considerably more expensive), like the "Picnic in the Park" (60326), or the wonderful "Grocery Store" (60347), perfect for modding and creating a complete building.

What I really miss is a new line in line with the modular: vehicles (not only speed cars...) and trains for us, the AFOLs, or other urban structures, but well detailed to put in our modular cities... basically, the MOCs that many people make, who by the way, may have seen that since we're already managing with our MOCs, why bring out a new line...

[Renny The Spaceman]

Part of City's zanier nature as of late is, of course, just due to LEGO's aesthetic changing circa 2019 and now every non-licensed theme looks like TLM2 stuff to varying degrees but I do also wonder if part of it is the fact it can't be the basic theme anymore. For the longest time City could be more basic because LEGO had a bunch of other original themes going around but now city is where all the wacky ideas that'd sustain a small 2 or 3 wave theme need to be housed so that means they gotta push the boat out more

[imposter]

CITY is so much more than buildings and vehicles. It is sci-fi. Arctic. Jungle. Customise your city! There is no need to live in the past.

Edited March 18 by imposter

[The Island Chronicles]

Welp! After seeing the new Lego City tower, I can confirm that Lego has gone downhill. 

[lifeinplastic]

Yes - it’s not my cup of tea. Hoping the other sets will be a bit more logical and neater looking.

[TeriXeri]

I don't think LEGO tower is that bad, it just tries to be too many things at the same time, but it's a wacky kid's playset for sure. (60271 Main Square was also just very big mash up of things tbh worse then City Tower but that's talking in hindsight, especially with a current red train set available seperately) 

Downhill, yes, Downfall, no.

If it remains a LEGO exclusive set, I doubt I'll ever get it. (60271 Main Square also was exclusive at the same price range, and even less pieces)

60380 Downtown was much better and not exclusive (And I still like that set more then the current iterations of Friends Mainstreet/Downtown sets they got going right now)

Friends is my go-to for small/medium buildings/shops, as 3-in-1 kind of stopped those, and City has not continued their 2023 buildings).

I suppose the intent of the Tower set is to mainly be a big gift set for people who see it in LEGO store, and because it's such a mashup, those kids would want more space, trains, action/skating, fire, police and construction sets City has right now, so it's also a marketing strategy, not so much AFOL targeted. 

 

Edited April 2 by TeriXeri