2014 City Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[El Garfio]

I hope US economy goes well, because for the most part of European citizens, the crisis is not still gone out. And have to give thanks if in the 2014, they only suffer a salary cut instead of being fired.

I see a bunch of over 50 euros sets (and many over 100 euros), that only one (of the most nearly to 50 euros of course) could arrive to a fortunate kid next Christmas. The rest could be fortunate if receive a 20-30 euros set.

Meanwhile there is a cloth store that are selling Ministeck 150 pieces sets for 3 euros and 260 pieces sets for 5 euros. Of course, they are not LEGO, they don't have the same quality, but LEGO is a toy or a hobby, and when you have less money, the first you cut is the budget for LEGOs.

IMHO, I think that LEGO, Playmobil, Hasbro,... has to think about how many big (and expensive sets) people can afford to buy and then think about if they are going to have an acceptable return of investment or, they are not going to arrive to cover expenses. Because, of course, the margin of a big set is more than the one you get from little sets. But the expenses of not selling it are also bigger.

[Bricknblue]

Wow, the Arctic sets actually look really impressive. I'm sort of getting a "first twenty minutes of National Treasure" vibe from them.

Seriously, though, these are different enough from the usual City fare that I might just pick up a couple.

(Also, am I the only one who has Johnny Horton's "North to Alaska" running through his head right now?)

For some reason CITY sets have been as expensive as Star Wars sets for newer sets. Like that Police helicopter and hideout set this year, it's $70-$80 for 550 pieces? The big Arctic base has 736 pieces (I think) and the rumor before the pictures was $100, but it really should be $80-$90 because the police station has 100 more pieces for the same price.

But the Arctic helicopter only has 226 pieces, and that would be a $30 set three years ago, but today it will probably be $40+. It's just silly.

[Hrafnblod]

I hope US economy goes well, because for the most part of European citizens, the crisis is not still gone out. And have to give thanks if in the 2014, they only suffer a salary cut instead of being fired.

I see a bunch of over 50 euros sets (and many over 100 euros), that only one (of the most nearly to 50 euros of course) could arrive to a fortunate kid next Christmas. The rest could be fortunate if receive a 20-30 euros set.

Meanwhile there is a cloth store that are selling Ministeck 150 pieces sets for 3 euros and 260 pieces sets for 5 euros. Of course, they are not LEGO, they don't have the same quality, but LEGO is a toy or a hobby, and when you have less money, the first you cut is the budget for LEGOs.

IMHO, I think that LEGO, Playmobil, Hasbro,... has to think about how many big (and expensive sets) people can afford to buy and then think about if they are going to have an acceptable return of investment or, they are not going to arrive to cover expenses. Because, of course, the margin of a big set is more than the one you get from little sets. But the expenses of not selling it are also bigger.

I feel your pain. Things are still rough here in the States, too, with lots of new issues coming up to bog down the recovery. That being said, Lego knows what they're doing. Even if it sucks for those of us who are having to cut back, Lego is making serious profits these days from the reports I hear about. I don't think their sales are hurting, economic meltdown or no.

For some reason CITY sets have been as expensive as Star Wars sets for newer sets. Like that Police helicopter and hideout set this year, it's $70-$80 for 550 pieces? The big Arctic base has 736 pieces (I think) and the rumor before the pictures was $100, but it really should be $80-$90 because the police station has 100 more pieces for the same price.

But the Arctic helicopter only has 226 pieces, and that would be a $30 set three years ago, but today it will probably be $40+. It's just silly.

This is exactly why I don't get people throwing around broad-stroke generalizations like "licensed sets are more expensive!" Star Wars may not be cheap, but Superheroes/Hobbit/TMNT all pretty much tend to fall in the 10c/pc category, at least in the US. City is expensive as hell, for what you get, on the other hand. I'm hopeful about these sets but not optimistic. They look like they should be $7/$20/$30/$50/$70-80, going by the boxes and the looks of the sets. I'm expecting $12/$25/$35-40/$60/$100, though.

[Bricknblue]

I almost fell over at the prices in the January catalog, Star Wars and City were so expensive, it was insane. Super Heroes has no make up, TMNT has a little, but City is sickening. We will find out in about two weeks when the NYC fair starts and the set tags have the name, number, price and piece count.

[Manx]

Arctic theme is (in my opinion, ofcourse) one of the best city factions ever! Vehicles are designed very well, looks very simillar to original, colour sheme is fantastic and animals and minifigs are great.

[LegoBenzine]

Ohh myyyy. All three train sets look like must buys. Arghhhh. So many buyable sets, so little money..

And that my friend, Is the curse of the Lego Brick

[lightningtiger]

The funny thing is a Oz, City prices have fallen.....take the police prisoner transport both Kmart and BigW sell it for 24 dollars AU, r.r.p. is actually 29.99.

More retailers in the market place generally pushes prices lower.

We have to wait until March for the Oz toy fair to find out our prices, but by the looks of it I'll be just buying trains.

[green dewback]

Gotta say I'm really disappointed that the nice-looking snowcat (with the wide tracks) isn't the one that comes stand-alone in set 60033. Those two snowcats should've switched sets. The snowcat in 60033 isn't particularly appealing when you've seen the one in 60036, but it would've been an okay vehicle to get with the base camp set since that set has so much else going for it. A missed opportunity by LEGO there, because I think a lot more would buy 60033 if it had the better snowcat. I know I would, but now I'll probably skip these sets altogether.

I agree 100% with you.

Rubber tracks and simplistic vehicle cab of the standalone ice crawler set probably broke my interest in it.

[dylanheitlager]

On brickipedia you find a picture of the bike and repair shop. I couldn't attach the picture because it is too big

Edited February 1, 2014 by dylanheitlager

[lightningtiger]

On brickipedia you find a picture of the bike and repair shop. I couldn't attach the picture because it is too big

So, it's the same image as in another topic......Creator Houses 2014....since it's a creator set not city (though these and the modulars are part of the world of Lego City).

Edit - Link for images of the City Advent Calendar - http://www.promobricks.de/spielwarenmesse-2014-lego-city-adventskalender-60063/1680

Edited February 1, 2014 by lightningtiger

[jfbat]

Gotta say I'm really disappointed that the nice-looking snowcat (with the wide tracks) isn't the one that comes stand-alone in set 60033. Those two snowcats should've switched sets. The snowcat in 60033 isn't particularly appealing when you've seen the one in 60036, but it would've been an okay vehicle to get with the base camp set since that set has so much else going for it. A missed opportunity by LEGO there, because I think a lot more would buy 60033 if it had the better snowcat. I know I would, but now I'll probably skip these sets altogether.

A nice sub-theme overall, though whoever decided that the minifigures should have blue hoods on orange jackets should be fired because that just looks horrendous. The point of the hood piece is that it should look like it's part of the jacket/torso (see Wyldstyle in the new LEGO Movie sets for a good example), so having them be two completely different colours is just blech.

I agree 100% with you.

Rubber tracks and simplistic vehicle cab of the standalone ice crawler set probably broke my interest in it.

I agree too. But I think it's a matter of pricepoints. The snowcat from 60036 is bigger and would therefore be more expensive than set 60033 is going to be. I wouldn't be surprised if a standalone version of the snowcat from 60036 would be priced at around the same price as the helicopter. And that is probably just not the pricepoint Lego were looking for in set 60033, as it now fits in nicely between the affordable snowscooter and the helicopter.

Also: what I sometimes find annoying is that larger sets have simpler vehicles than the standalone vehicles in the same series. Especially in Fire, Police or Ambulance stations. The vehicles are just that little bit too simple sometimes in these sets. So I like that they decided to put a decent snowcat in the polar station set. But it puzzles me a bit too, as there is now no need to buy that extra set for a "decent" snowcat, from a sales point a bit of a lost opportunity.

[andythenorth]

The small snowcat is there because sometimes people like me are looking for a £9 / €12 / $16 / whatever toy to buy our kids. I never bother buying the teeny tiny sets, far too many bikes and quads in our house already, and spending £20-£50 on larger sets isn't something I'll do every time we go to the toy shop. We have enough big sets cluttering the house already.

Edited February 1, 2014 by andythenorth

[2maxwell]

Loved arctic. I'm very excited to see this theme come back.

[SMC]

So, it's the same image as in another topic......Creator Houses 2014....since it's a creator set not city (though these and the modulars are part of the world of Lego City).

Edit - Link for images of the City Advent Calendar - http://www.promobricks.de/spielwarenmesse-2014-lego-city-adventskalender-60063/1680

not liking the 2014 calendar, thought the 2013 one was best yet but this does not seem to have as good figs

[korpen4444]

Hi, I have a question:

Is the new police hat the same mold as the CMF one? I don't have the CMF so I want to know.

[SMC]

I think its the same

[CM4Sci]

Hi, I have a question:

Is the new police hat the same mold as the CMF one? I don't have the CMF so I want to know.

It's different. It's printed on the City one. I don't get why they needed a new mold, though.

-Sci

[Lyichir]

Hi, I have a question:

Is the new police hat the same mold as the CMF one? I don't have the CMF so I want to know.

I think it's different. The CMF one has a molded badge, whereas I think the new one just has a printed badge.

[SMC]

I think it's different. The CMF one has a molded badge, whereas I think the new one just has a printed badge.

really I have the cmf one but not the new city one

[korpen4444]

It's different. It's printed on the City one. I don't get why they needed a new mold, though.

-Sci

Thanks. I really think this mold does the Police justice. I'll most likely buy all the sets with the new hat. It's awesome.

[jonwil]

I suspect the reason they didn't use the CMF hat with the City cops is that the CMF mold probably costs more and they want to keep it exclusive to the CMFs. Same reason they haven't used the CMF baseball cap in City lines or any number of other CMF headgear.

Edit - Link for images of the City Advent Calendar - http://www.promobric...nder-60063/1680

Not a very good calendar this year, we get not one but TWO cops (both identical from what I can tell), another useless generic robber, the same Santa as last year and 3 generic civilians with boring torsos that we have seen many many times before. We also get a useless dog and a bunch of boring accessories.

Heck, you could probably almost build the thing just from the photo of its contents (only things I am not 100% on are the torso on the guy with the green legs, some of the hidden parts hidden behind the wall with the yellow window panes, the tool next to the grey shovel in the dark brown barrel, the trans-green thing next to the turkey, the 1 x 1 round tile in Santas hand and the 2 x 2 tile in the hand of the first cop.)

Its not like previous years that included hard-to-come-by parts.

[meyerc13]

Very disappointed in the City advent calendar. The sleds, remote control cars, and snowball catapult may have been interesting the first time, but now that we've seen them over and over again they are nothing special. Unless I can find one at a decent price, I may just skip this year. I'll make a final decision once I see a parts list just to make sure there aren't any awesome unique parts that I can't live without, but based on these prelim pictures I'm not seeing any.

[Bricknblue]

I skip the Advent Calendar every year unless I can find one for $10-$20 like in the spring of 2013.

[Lordofdragonss]

Let's see...

Foods we get: cake, two cups (*1), croisant, apple,banana, bread, bottle, 2 glasses(+1), WHOLE TURKEY and cookie(+1)

And: iceskates, LEGO DUCK, black gentelman hat, dog, neckbag, tile with printed notes.

IMO it look almost as good as the previous one. I'm wondering what is behind that window though...

And I hoped the second cop will be a mailman...

Edited February 2, 2014 by Lordofdragonss

[Legoman123]

The advent calendar should include a Husky insted of the same German Shepard we see every year. It would have made more sense because it is a snowy scene on the box and where better does a husky fit than in the snow.