LEGO City 2020 - Rumors, Speculation, and Discussion

[MAB]

2 minutes ago, TeriXeri said:

Yes, the Flying helicopters are simple, but they have to be, they are 100% playthings, not a building experience, as LEGO has tried other play features in recent times like parachutes and Ninjago Flyers.

They were in Ninjago in 2015, then again in 2018. So I guess this means that LEGO found they were successful enough first time around to bring them back in a later wave. And now they are trying them out in one City set.

 

1 minute ago, AnyColourYouLike said:

That's what they did in the '90 and it didn't work out very well for them.

What is what they did? Remember - this is ONE set aimed at younger kids.

They also added flyers to Ninjago (2x waves) in the past 5 years, and they must have been successful enough to do it twice.

[The Island Chronicles]

8 minutes ago, AnyColourYouLike said:

That's what they did in the '90 and it didn't work out very well for them.

...and during the Jack Stone era. Oh what a flop that turned out to be. 

Edited November 19, 2019 by pooda

[AMD]

12 minutes ago, AnyColourYouLike said:

That's what they did in the '90 and it didn't work out very well for them.

 

10 minutes ago, MAB said:

What is what they did? Remember - this is ONE set aimed at younger kids.

They also added flyers to Ninjago (2x waves) in the past 5 years, and they must have been successful enough to do it twice.

I don't remember any helicopter that its simplified and works like a spinner in the 90's.

Town jr/City center is my guess since that's from the late 90's but does not function as a spinner.

Edited November 19, 2019 by AMD

[The Island Chronicles]

14 minutes ago, Blazej_Holen said:

Lego city is worse and worse every year. Especially Police and firefighter sets. Only improvements are on more and more detailed fugures and some accesories and pets. The rest is just garbage. But I do understand that these are for young kids.. its just way too <insert that tiresome argument>...

.....and because of that, I am officially retiring from regular collecting and racing toward MOCing. 

33 minutes ago, AnyColourYouLike said:

I believe there's only one 'buildable' helicopter in this wave of sets...

That one I like. But not the others. 

[K_Tiger]

3 hours ago, Roebuck said:

the flying helicopters and especially the magnets is something I would have loved when I was a kid 

I was a G.I. Joe kid, and the flying helicopters takes me right back to a similar concept from the Joe line. I definitely get why AFOLs would be against them, though.

[Dominic]

HAHA YES WOO-HOO!!!!! They all look like regular old Fire and Police except... LCA guys!!!

[The Island Chronicles]

1 minute ago, K_Tiger said:

I definitely get why AFOLs would be against them, though.

Oh why not? When the helicopters would fall and break, that's where the fun was. If they make them unbreakable pull string flyers, that'll ruin the fun. The helicopter chase in that case is the only fun one here. 

[Anonknee Muss]

9 hours ago, Maple said:

Party like it's 1999 because welcome back City Center! 

I always wanted a LEGO helicopter I didn't need to build because that's what LEGO is all about! Not building things! Oh wait....

I mean I didn't expect much from the theme, but wow this is a disaster.

I’ll have to agree to disagree with you. With children in mind, these are pretty amazing!

[The Island Chronicles]

15 minutes ago, Dominic said:

HAHA YES WOO-HOO!!!!! They all look like regular old Fire and Police except... LCA guys!!!

LOL! I have a feeling that it'll be renamed from City to City Adventures! With that being said, I think I better expect Harl Hubbs to appear in the service station or tuning shop sets. Mayor Freck should appear again soon. 

Otherwise, I'll just use this guy! 

[Maple]

7 hours ago, Lordofdragonss said:

Oh, so I am not only one?
The only set I want is the Monstertruck with bank because it has good pieces for me.
Glad to magnets to be back, but wish they would be smaller.

The EU banned small magnets from toys, it's why LEGO got rid of them in the first place, and changed the Trains magnets to a big piece. They have to be a certain size so children don't eat them.

2 hours ago, AMD said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol

A googol is the large number 10¹⁰⁰. In decimal notation, it is written as the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeroes: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

 

I would love to have your enigma. Do share me your knowledge of wisdom with this beautiful word you spoke off.

 

Jokes aside, I do understand your point of view but isn't lego city supposed to be targeting for kids? They're focus on play more than aesthetics but some themes cover the other way around. Lego Creator Expert is the best example as it hinders more on AFOLS. So whether you like it or not, City is focused more on kids who just wanted to play and having a good time with their toys.

I usually defend LEGO City because it's a kids theme and Police sells. However these are awful and worse than anything in World City, worse than anything sense the City Center Jr. theme in the late 90s which almost bad LEGO go bankrupt. That's the issue here. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between Junior/4+ and any of the police sets. Lego is a building toy, and at times I think they forget that. None of these sets look fun, and a speak as a man-child, besides maybe the magnet helicopter.

Also fun fact, the universe is currently like 14 billion years old (14,000,000,000) it's believed it will be around until about one googol years. (However there is also a theory it might rip itself to bits at a trillion-ish years.) It's the only reason I know the number. :) 

[The Island Chronicles]

11 minutes ago, Maple said:

None of these sets look fun.

That's why the HQ is the only 2020 police set that I'm picking up. 

[AnyColourYouLike]

Something's telling to me buy this one...

 

[Maple]

Just now, pooda said:

That's why the HQ is the only 2020 police set that I'm picking up. 

Is it still $100? It looks like an $80 set. I rather just buy another of the current one for $54-$64 than buying this mess of a 'station'.

[The Island Chronicles]

1 minute ago, Maple said:

Is it still $100? It looks like an $80 set. I rather just buy another of the current one for $54-$64 than buying this mess of a 'station'.

I would agree there.....and just get a Duke Detain minifig for it. 

Edited November 19, 2019 by pooda

[TeriXeri]

12 minutes ago, Maple said:

Is it still $100? It looks like an $80 set. I rather just buy another of the current one for $54-$64 than buying this mess of a 'station'.

Even while I like the 2020 design, I do agree it doesn't feel like a €100 set,  I'll likely wait for a decent sale to pick it up, seeing 30-40% off for City and Creator 3-in-1 happens eventually for many of the medium/larger sets.

Edited November 19, 2019 by TeriXeri

[AMD]

4 minutes ago, Maple said:

I usually defend LEGO City because it's a kids theme and Police sells. However these are awful and worse than anything in World City, worse than anything sense the City Center Jr. theme in the late 90s which almost bad LEGO go bankrupt. That's the issue here. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between Junior/4+ and any of the police sets. Lego is a building toy, and at times I think they forget that. None of these sets look fun, and a speak as a man-child, besides maybe the magnet helicopter.

After researching and watching documentaries about LEGO's history, I realized something. I take back what I said about Town Jr/City center. It is Not the worst of the theme Neither its one of those that LEGO gone bankrupt but Rather LEGO keep trying new things that caused the problem with the company which is why the former CEO Jorgen step in and improve their business without taking too much risk. World city is the first step up in a right direction to bring back what LEGO was before and serve as a foundation which will be known as city.

Watching JANGbricks video for his thoughts about city 2020. He's said he's not very impressed but not because its the worst of them all. It's because this stuff just isn't made for him, its not designed for him. You might argue about the past years that City 2020 are awful. That's to you but not to the target demographic or the parents to the target demographic. In short, Its the new generation that they are focusing.

Hard as it may be, I do feel your frustration. That's why there was a theme that was catered to you(UCS, Expert, Big Technic Sets and Limited licenses that breaks the rules of Lego's certain values(Heck, maybe someday in the future they may cater to certain audience that other toys companies wouldn't dare come across(anime, manga, light novels) but only time will tell)

You may not understand this but its hard to explain to you in this matter. You just have to find out for yourself.

[AnyColourYouLike]

According to Brickset, the police station is 111.70 CHF, which is approximately $89,99.

[TeriXeri]

5 minutes ago, AMD said:

Watching JANGbricks video for his thoughts about city 2020. He's said he's not very impressed but not because its the worst of them all. It's because this stuff just isn't made for him, its not designed for him. You might argue about the past years that City 2020 are awful. That's to you but not to the target demographic or the parents to the target demographic. In short, Its the new generation that they are focusing.

I 100% agree here, the 4+ sets especially aren't in my interest but I can certainly see them have a place for kids transitioning from Duplo to LEGO.

[Joebot]

4 minutes ago, AMD said:

Watching JANGbricks video for his thoughts about city 2020. He's said he's not very impressed but not because its the worst of them all. It's because this stuff just isn't made for him, its not designed for him. You might argue about the past years that City 2020 are awful. That's to you but not to the target demographic or the parents to the target demographic. In short, Its the new generation that they are focusing.

We know. These are kids' toys, they're designed for kids, etc., etc. ... we know. Does that mean that we shouldn't come here to Eurobricks and TALK about them? 

I've been as critical of Lego City as anyone in the past few years, but even I could admit that the City sets were very well designed (even if they weren't anything I was interested in buying). But these?? Ooof. I can't even make that argument this year. 

Two questions:

1) Why is every bad guy car red? 

2) What is the deal with Lego's fetish for "trucks hauling another vehicle?" I've never seen a helicopter being carried by a semi truck ever in my life, and yet Lego has been churning these things out for 25 years. I know everyone always makes fun of the way Lego shoehorns in catapults and helicopters, but for my money, the "trucks hauling another vehicle" sub-theme is even more bizarre. 

 

[Maple]

Yes I know the set isn't for me, but seriously, I'm a big child. The current station isn't the best to me but it has that fun, silly, barely any pieces action feature that launches the police car. The station is just a thicker looking flat wall. It's really awful. 

And I lived through LEGO issues around 2000. The problem was they were trying too many new things and realized they needed to remain a building toy company even with the rise of video games. At the time they called it something like 'return to basics' which is when Creator was released. The problem with docs is after the fact they can change history and just give you the one sided view.

Like if we asked LEGO today about the grey/bley color change they will say something different than the 10 excuses we got back 15 years ago because the company is different. 

In the late 90s LEGO lost their way by making things quick to build because children didn't want to build, they wanted to play. That was a disaster and LEGO wet back to it's roots. Now it looks like for 2020 that LEGO is doing a 180 again in the City theme.

[AnyColourYouLike]

Huh, it looks like we all missed something. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. 

https://www.promobricks.de/lego-city-2020-setbilder-und-infos/88925

[Maple]

Just now, Joebot said:

1) Why is every bad guy car red? 

2) What is the deal with Lego's fetish for "trucks hauling another vehicle?" I've never seen a helicopter being carried by a semi truck ever in my life, and yet Lego has been churning these things out for 25 years. I know everyone always makes fun of the way Lego shoehorns in catapults and helicopters, but for my money, the "trucks hauling another vehicle" sub-theme is even more bizarre. 

 

1. Dark red is the bad peeps color. Just like Arctic is always orange. This way is you have sets from the last several years they all match. It's just how LEGO does things.

2. Have you ever owned a Hess truck? This years is a tow truck towing another tow truck. I have only ever seen that once, but clearly these things sell. LEGO just needs to make money, that's it. We shall see if more of the same but simplified works for them in 2020.

I do like the argument that these are for 4-7 year olds and not for adults. I love the Friends theme and those are for 7 year olds. I mean that argument is silly.

[TeriXeri]

5 minutes ago, AnyColourYouLike said:

Huh, it looks like we all missed something. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. 

https://www.promobricks.de/lego-city-2020-setbilder-und-infos/88925

Oh wow more sets, thanks.

Mail airplane = amazing , 4 wide, yet a very classic look. Good color scheme, and the little bird could act as a mail pigeon.

Safari truck = amazing , a Lion(ess) as I predicted, and following the classic zebra stripe pattern of the old Town safari truck .

Even the Poilice builder box seems a decent addition/alternative to the 2020 Police Station set.

Edited November 19, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Maple]

3 minutes ago, AnyColourYouLike said:

Huh, it looks like we all missed something. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. 

https://www.promobricks.de/lego-city-2020-setbilder-und-infos/88925

Now those are what I expect from City. The Postal plane looks just like the last one but whatever, it's been years and it's still nice. The Safari car using the minifigure tree piece is nice. And that mini PD station is actually nicer than the big one. 

So all is not lost.

[TeriXeri]

1 minute ago, Maple said:

 And that mini PD station is actually nicer than the big one. 

I do like the PD box a lot, depending on price point , I actually might go for this instead.

Edited November 19, 2019 by TeriXeri