Future of Farm

[dr_spock]

I think I would like to see whole chickens instead of just drumsticks. An ATV would be nice. My in-laws have one their cattle farm to get around. It's a blast to ride around and tossing up cow patties from the wheels. Maybe an electric fence to keep the cattle from breaking out.

[Matt Dawson]

The main 'trouble' with farm is that it doesn't fit into the city range really - neither do trains, but ho-hum.

Other 'troubles' are lack of support/farming equipment/trailers (muck spreaders, thrashers, Jeeps/Landrovers etc) as well as lack of crops - one wonders why lego created the combine harvester if it's got no harvesting to do. Lack of animals is also another issue - since when did a farm have just 3 cows?

[Mr. Elijah Timms]

If it were to continue, I would like to see sheep, a farm house, a proper barn...

I could really see them put together a beautiful set with a nice little farmhouse and a matching barn to go with it. Not that sorry excuse for a Fisher Price barn they threw in the Farm set, but something substantial and brick built. They could certainly be designed to work together with matching roofs and other similar details. And maybe they could throw in a nice little retro truck with wood planks down the side, or something to that effect for the farmer's family to get around in. And, finally, how about a scarecrow minifig!!!

[Zorbas]

The introduction of the Farm subtheme in the City theme range was one of the best moves TLG had done. It brought a refreshing air in the picture, having new sets that were different from the usual City sets at that time. Since variety is --in my humble opinion-- probably the key element to success for the City-Town theme, Farm sets were happily welcomed from many town fans.

One more great thing that makes the Farm subtheme stand out is the overall colour scheme. It is probably the most colourful theme, something that TLG had partially abandonded in the last years. As a kid, I was always fascinated by the colours that you could find in a town display and it was one of the reasons that made me a town fan. The recent years' colour palette in the City theme was a bit "heavy" for me with all these dark and -ish colours and having pure green, red and other "lighter" colours was also a nice thing for the eyes.

Last but not least, animals! Farm is all about animals and having new animal moulds is just brilliant. How about an ostrich farm for example?

I would really love to see the Farm subtheme expanding and having new sets in the years to come. There are some great ideas already posted in here and I really hope that we will see some of them being brought to life plastic in the near future. There is still potential.

Btw, all the Farm sets look just beautiful together!

[prateek]

And, finally, how about a scarecrow minifig!!!

That would be awesome in Series 3 of the collectible minifig collection

[WesternOutlaw]

That would be awesome in Series 3 of the collectible minifig collection

Don't forget that he needs to be holding a Classic Castle-style pitchfork (and we don't want the cheap Atlantis trident plastic either).

[Klaus-Dieter]

Don't forget that he needs to be holding a Classic Castle-style pitchfork (and we don't want the cheap Atlantis trident plastic either).

Since the classic hay fork looks of course fantastic but looks of course much to ancient for a today's farm:

What about a new City related, grey pitchfork?! (Since TLG are making that many molds for that many elements this should be no problem.)

And yes, a new minifigure collection including a farmer would be great - but not as an Exclusive but similar to the regular sold City Minifigure Collection. Like following: here.

Klaus-Dieter

Edited March 29, 2010 by Klaus-Dieter

[Brick & Mortimer]

I don't mean to bump an old topic, but I'm afraid I might have the answer to the future of the farm sub-theme.

I used to think that the categories "Exclusive" and "Hard-to-find" on Lego S@H were largely interchangeable.

So, my point:

Following themes are mentioned in the Hard-to-find category

-Belville,

-Pirates and

-Farm

There you have it, Belville and Pirates will be discontinued, so likely there won't be any new Farm sets

My apologies in advance if I'm the only one who didn't knew this already and I'm stating the obvious...

Reason for edit: deleting pointless sentence

Edited November 14, 2010 by Brick & Mortimer

[pacc]

By the wishes in this thread there doesn't seem to be much playability left. (complete cornfield in 6 stages of growth or?!)

When the city suggestion thread had lots of ideas that fit city corner etc.

I think Lego could have bridged the gap to a girly theme with a horsetrainers mansion.

And there is always farmville games;

small chickenhouse (chickens and eggy bricks), vegetable greenhouse, small distribution truck and marketstand / grocery.

[The Yellow Brick]

I think Lego could have bridged the gap to a girly theme with a horsetrainers mansion.

Well we are apparently having a new 'Girly' theme' next year, so I wonder if it might be connected with farm at all or in anyway

[Ferdik]

I like farm and hope it continues!

Edited November 18, 2010 by Ferdik

[greg3]

Personally I'd like to see a farmhouse (maybe with a chicken coop, 4x4 and some more animals) Even if it ended up as an exclusive.

[pacc]

What do you know; the 2011 set 5683 has everything to connect farm and city:

Market stand with cachier, crates, sign and a delivery truck to go with.

Two flowers, two bread, two corn, a crate of oranges, a create of apples and a printed strawberry crate.

two minifigs and a cat.

Too bad it's duplo!

[Jasper Joppe Geers]

Just my two cents, but...

It seems to me that when it comes down to a theme that has

the intention to be realistic, just like the town theme e.g.

they seem to be somewhat reluctant to create the accesoires

as well.

To me, a farm theme is nothing without the acres.

So, why not create a different surfaced tile to create the

acres with? So far, all tiles are just polished surfaced ones.

Why not with some texture to create e.g. grass? or dirt?

And then, what about a different set of ploughs? Or potato

harvester? That would be great fun to me! And what about

fencing? So far, we have a couple of fences to build with,

but they're not exactly the ones to find around an acre..

On the other hand: in some way i think that traditional farms

are slight different in all country's... Hmm... Anyway.

A farm is just much more that a building, tractors, a harvester

and some animals. I'd say: have a look at that!

Cheers,

JJ.

[Legoist]

I think the potential for new farm sets is somehow limited by the need for new animal molds.

Also, a Farm theme is actually very educational but doesn't come with the same level of action than Police, Firemen, adventurers-type or space themes. Farm is the kind of theme that suits AFOL more than KFOL, girls more than boys, and parents more than children.

Put these together with the odd fact that Farm sets have been somewhat more expensive than average (at least the large Farm and the Pig Farm), and the future doesn't look good for the theme.

What I don't understand then, is why isn't Lego capitalizing on the Cow and Pig molds. It must have been pretty expensive to design them and then create the molds for them, so why isn't Lego putting out more cows and pigs in upcoming sets? Partly, they are doing this with the pig which is present in 3 sets (the Pig Farm, the Farmer impulse set, and the Kingdoms Advent Calendar), but the cow has been out for a year longer and has been seen only in 2 large sets (the large Farm and the Medieval Market Village). I really hope these 2 animal molds are here to stay forever like the classic Horse, but I am surprised not to see them used more massively.

That said, I would myself have quite a lot of ideas for possible farm-themed sets, but almost all of them would be unfeasible and attractive only to AFOLs. Maybe only a new edition of the iconic Horse Stables and a "farm battle pack" would sell well.

[Fugazi]

the pig which is present in 3 sets (the Pig Farm, the Farmer impulse set, and the Kingdoms Advent Calendar),

Don't forget Harry Potter's The Burrow set.

That said, I would myself have quite a lot of ideas for possible farm-themed sets, but almost all of them would be unfeasible and attractive only to AFOLs. Maybe only a new edition of the iconic Horse Stables and a "farm battle pack" would sell well.

I'm sure that TLG will come up with a "Zombie Viking Farm Invasion" theme in a couple of years as a follow up to NinjaGo that will reintroduce all those nice farm animal moulds!

[Jargo]

I use 6754 Family Home for my farmhouse but something along those lines would be cool. maybe more ranch style.

Livestock transport lorry. High sided with air gaps. long tail gate. multi-barred fence pieces for directing the livestock into their paddock. could be sold with either sheep or cattle. with sheep it could be double level inside.

Shepherd. fences, sheep, ram, sheepdog (preferably a Border Collie or Olde English), Shepherds crook.

Milking shed. Oooh something for the cows. I'm thinking that there's people who don't like the idea of cows as meat stock so a dairy farm is a nice alternative.

Sheep shearing shed. Another bunch of sheep, shearing tool, nice small farm building.

Thinking more about animals my mind turns to foxes, badgers, moles and crows. Shire horses, Donkeys, goats. Chicken, Rooster, Goose, Turkey, Duck, Pheasant. Moulded animals not brick built. A lot of which could be used in Castle sets too. Lego could easily make a profit from new animals. There's plenty of people willing to buy sets just to get the animals. I really can't see a reason why they couldn't be introduced in the castle sets and then brought out in a new wave of farm sets in a couple of years. if they follow a three year release pattern on themes why not just do a couple more waves of farm in 2012/2013? I'd be 100% behind it. Bought every farm set so far and love them way more than many of the city sets I spend most of my cash on.

[Brick & Mortimer]

....

Also, a Farm theme is actually very educational but doesn't come with the same level of action than Police, Firemen, adventurers-type or space themes. Farm is the kind of theme that suits AFOL more than KFOL, girls more than boys, and parents more than children.

...

I think that sums it up quite well.

As a subtheme, Farm had one year to "proof" itself, and now it's already "Hard-to-get".

It's a pity TLC won't give Farm a break , I mean, look at all the ideas in this thread!

[Night City Dream]

Well, I think TLG won't expand the subtheme in the nearest future and that's a pity. Lego doesn't offer much these days as it used to do in the 1990s. Now everything is subject to market realities.

[peterab]

if they follow a three year release pattern on themes why not just do a couple more waves of farm in 2012/2013?

I read through this thread thinking exactly the same thing. We don't see new police or fire themes every year (even though it may feel like it :-) so we shouldn't expect a new city sub-theme like Farm to be repeated every year either. I think we might see it with the same frequency as something like Harbor.

I like your idea of seeing more animals in the Castle theme. It could also work well in the new girl oriented theme.

[Klaus-Dieter]

On the one hand it looks very bad for us getting a new Farm set in 2011.

On the other hand firstly we (very supposably) don't already know all City sets being released in 2011. So there is still hope that one of them might be a Farm set.

And secondly I'm even very sure that we'll see a new Farm set if not in 2011 then in 2012. Reason: Some time ago Ferdik told us that there'll be a Medeival Windmill set (for Kingdoms) next year. There shall be "white pigs" (= very supposably prototypes of sheep in a prelim picture) be included. Until now TLG has never released a new mold for an unlicensed theme which then was only used in one set (the cows were (even in different colors) used in the main Farm set and in MVV; the pigs were used in the Piglets Enclosure set, in the Farmer Impulse, in a HP set and in this year's City advent calendar). So it's highly likely that these sheep will appear in a City set, too.

What do you think?

I would be very disappointed if TLG stopped the Farm theme already after two years since there is still so much (vehicles and buildings) which has to be released.

E. g. Bruder's and siku's farm vehicles sell very well. So why shouldn't more Lego farm vehicles do the same, too?!

Klaus-Dieter

Edited December 1, 2010 by Klaus-Dieter

[WesternOutlaw]

It's interesting to see this topic re-surface. LEGO Farm may be pork saugage as LEGO devotes efforts towards creating that Police State in 2011. I'd be sad to see the theme go, esp. with what I've seen of the 2011 line-up, but one never knows. What's left on the store shelves are quickly turning into clearance, if there's any left at all. Reminder to self: must get that combine before it's sold out.

I'd welcome some new Farm sets with some great ideas in this topic, but we may have seen the last of them this year.

[mikey]

Realistically I think we have seen the last of Farm for a while, hopefully it might be revisited in the future, but I think it will always stay a minor theme for City.

I would love to see some of the set's discussed here, but I don't think Lego would consider them as viable sets. As Klaus says the Metal Scale Farm Machinery Toys are a classic line that always seems to sell well, I had these toys as a child and I did love them. You could get various tractors, implements, sheds, packs of animals etc., which were all sold separately. But it seems Lego have a limit on the amount of individual sets they can release (and also retail shops have finite shelf space), so it would be unlikely for them to devote a large proportion of sets to the theme. If they released a few each year then kids would grow out of Lego before they had enough farm Lego. Other ideas are basically packs of animals or landscape ideas and for sure I would kill to buy, say 10 Lego Cows in a box, or a Green 32x32 Baseplate together with loads of foliage pieces and a few hundred tan antennas, but these are not really viable sets for Lego.

So, I think that Farm might resurface again, but it is always likely to consist of a few sets which resemble the first wave: a tractor or two, a large set with a barn, maybe a house, and some sort of horse related set.

[Cancerkitty]

Unfortunately, I think mikey is probably correct. Farm will probably reappear in a few year, like the harbor and hospital themes that come and go without any permanence. It's a real shame too, because there's a lot TLG could do with the theme still, as evidenced by some of the awesome suggestions in this thread.

Ah well.

[CriticalBrick]

Unfortunately, I think mikey is probably correct. Farm will probably reappear in a few year, like the harbor and hospital themes that come and go without any permanence. It's a real shame too, because there's a lot TLG could do with the theme still, as evidenced by some of the awesome suggestions in this thread.

Ah well.

Well, even though I agree that farm was a good subtheme, I don't think that it could go anywhere else. But thats a good thing in a way. Less money spent on farm is more money spent on modular houses and pick a brick

I just don't see Farm making a comeback anytime soon

CB