When Should City be Cancelled?

[xxix5]

13 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Yes, that's true regarding the nature of Prohibition Era gang conflicts; but, it is surprising that Lego had ever even considered it as a playtheme at all to begin with.

Now you mention steam locomotives, yes, there's a particular example of a facet that couldn't be covered by the City theme due to its modern setting; so, expanding the timeframe of the line would open up the doors to period specific relics such as that. 

Yea, and maybe they could just create a trains theme, as I think they had one back in the day, and that way what LEGO could do is have around 10 sets a year, and they could have bridges and things that we probably won't get from City for a long time. Now, in the instruction booklet, they could show that these sets can go with the current trains, and maybe even show some alternate builds. What's sad is that the holiday steam train from 2016 didn't come with power functions, and it only had 700 something pieces for $100 USD.

 

[Digger of Bricks]

58 minutes ago, xxix5 said:

Yea, and maybe they could just create a trains theme, as I think they had one back in the day, and that way what LEGO could do is have around 10 sets a year, and they could have bridges and things that we probably won't get from City for a long time. Now, in the instruction booklet, they could show that these sets can go with the current trains, and maybe even show some alternate builds. What's sad is that the holiday steam train from 2016 didn't come with power functions, and it only had 700 something pieces for $100 USD.

Unless we see some significant interest peak for trains from Lego's general audience, I wouldn't expect any fuller train subtheme from City any time soon. But, a broadening of the theme's timeframe beyond the present day could at least assure us some steam locomotives, as I personally don't care really about most diesel/electric locomotives myself.

[xxix5]

1 hour ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Unless we see some significant interest peak for trains from Lego's general audience, I wouldn't expect any fuller train subtheme from City any time soon. But, a broadening of the theme's timeframe beyond the present day could at least assure us some steam locomotives, as I personally don't care really about most diesel/electric locomotives myself.

Steam trains for life. And from what I heard from a post on here, we can expect 2 trains and a train station this year due to some pattern

[Cobb]

They should just rename it to 'Garage' with all the vehicles. They can name it City when they start to gives us some buildings.

[fordtruckin]

44 minutes ago, Cobb said:

They should just rename it to 'Garage' with all the vehicles. They can name it City when they start to gives us some buildings.

Thats the funniest thing I've heard all day! So true.

While it is nonsense to get rid of the city theme for any stretch of time; more buildings beyond the police and fire ones would be welcomed.

[MAB]

On 28/02/2018 at 2:36 PM, xxix5 said:

I do like quite a lot of the current City sets, but think about it. The world's changing. And I get tired of seeing the same old Police station with a few new features every few years. But don't you think that the City sets are becoming quite a bit repetitive? Just2good, along with most of the LEGO community are getting tired of the same old same old. If they do make an overhaul, you know that there will be a good replacement, maybe have several themes to take it's place.

2

LEGO doesn't care what adult collectors think of their child-focused sets. When a kid wants a police set, and they can't have one because LEGO made one three years ago and won't make one for another three years, it is a problem. When it is the child's fault that they weren't into LEGO back then and any "real" loyal LEGO fan would have bought it and now want something different, it is a problem.

And the world isn't changing that much, there are still police cars and police stations. Kids want this type of set.

 

One of the biggest surprises for me is that they haven't yet done a police modular.

 

On 28/02/2018 at 4:38 PM, xxix5 said:

... but as a subtheme for police, how about desert police, and another subtheme would be all about monorails and steam trains.

 

They are doing this all the time, frequently changing one aspect of City. The core police type sets are always there, but they've recently done for example, Mountain Police, Forest Police, Swamp Police, ... In a sense, it doesn't really matter what the police type is, as they have similar aspects that appeal to kids each time, there will be cops and robbers, there will be a helicopter, etc.

 

As to monorails and steam trains in City, I'd hope they don't go there. How many kids go on a monorail or steam train, or are knowledgeable or care about them? Sales of even normal trains are slow, those would be worse. Monorails used to have a certain futurism about them, now they are just theme park or airport transfer systems. I'd hope they keep the kids sets for kids, keep out what adults want in them and keep in what kids like (helicopters are more fun to play with than trains according to my kids and are cheaper as less parts, plus they don't need loads of track to set up before playing, using up their play time).

[MAB]

On 28/02/2018 at 12:47 AM, deraven said:

I wouldn't mind seeing them go from World City -> City -> Future City or something like that. 

 

One problem with changing eras is that things do not necessarily go together well, which can affect subsequent sales. If a kid gets into future city, then present city items don't go well with it. If future city stops for three years until it comes back, what happens to the interest in it? Whereas forest police, swamp police, mountain police and regular old city police can all work together seamlessly. Most kids probably wouldn't notice much difference anyway and those that do will appreciate that a swamp may be next to a forest or mountain or city. So sets from one year can easily be played alongside sets from another. Whereas a hover police car next to a regular police car will look odd.

[deraven]

21 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Yes, that's true regarding the nature of Prohibition Era gang conflicts; but, it is surprising that Lego had ever even considered it as a playtheme at all to begin with.

It was more of a 1930's theme in general, but gangsters were an obvious inclusion given the era (and the need for antagonists for play value):

I think the old-timey feel of both the Winter Village and Modular lines are part of the appeal (at least for me), and those are arguably offshoots of City.  It's interesting how widely varied the "City" (and sub-theme) sets are when you really start going down the rabbit hole, which is probably the biggest reason it'll never die as I noted earlier in the thread:  they just add some variation when needed in a lower-risk manner with sub-themes, but keep the evergreen stuff that always sells.  If it ever stops selling, they'd probably just pivot away from those specific parts of the City line and focus on the best offshoot or subtheme, and the iterative process repeats.  Arguably one thing I think Lego never really does is true innovation. They naturally iterate rather than taking huge risks with whole new themes or categories, but I don't think that's a bad thing even if it's not exactly exciting.

2 hours ago, MAB said:

One problem with changing eras is that things do not necessarily go together well, which can affect subsequent sales. ... So sets from one year can easily be played alongside sets from another. Whereas a hover police car next to a regular police car will look odd.

Agreed for the most part, which is why I went on to say that themes like Ultra Agents fill much of that role without causing any disruption to the line in general.  And I guess that's the answer to how they keep it fresh while still maintaining that core set of products that is evergreen for their sales.

[Digger of Bricks]

16 minutes ago, deraven said:

I think the old-timey feel of both the Winter Village and Modular lines are part of the appeal (at least for me), and those are arguably offshoots of City.

Or more broadly, the accumulative collective known as Town, which arguably City, the Creator Expert Modular series, and the Winter Village line are all a part of. And yes, those latter two do seemingly have a 1940's American style to them.

[deraven]

 

2 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Or more broadly, the accumulative collective known as Town, which arguably City, the Creator Expert Modular series, and the Winter Village line are all a part of. And yes, those latter two do seemingly have a 1940's American style to them.

I totally agree with Cobb saying the line should be called "Garage" right now, but that leads me to my next thought:  The regular Creator line with their 3-in-1 buildings of various types does do an OK job of filling out a town with more than just vehicles.  So is the Town umbrella crossing over even into the regular Creator line?  It's all pedantry, really, but it seems to me that the main issue may be that they simply don't have all the components that make up a town under the same single line banner anymore as they were with, say, the Legoland lineup of the late 70's to mid-80's.

Interestingly, if you look at a lot of those years, the vehicle to building ratio isn't much different than it is today, and even worse if you do include things like the Modulars and regular Creator series buildings, etc..

[jdubbs]

To be honest I'm not seeing many compelling reasons why City would or should ever retire as a line. Sure, it's repetitive, but it's also geared squarely at a younger demographic than most of the other themes/lines. As such there is high turnover in the market City sets sell to.... kids don't stay young forever, and there is always an influx of new kids who weren't around to get the last police station, or hospital, or whatever. And realistically what would they even call the replacement line to differentiate it from City? They're not going back to "Town" (too provincial). Metro? Muni? Urban? Cosmo? Eh. 

I do wish LEGO would try to include 1-2 sets in City each year that compliment the modular buildings. Small-to-medium sized sets like a public fountain, playground, farmers market, a little town square with a statue, etc... none of which would likely make it into a 32x32 modular. Occasionally you see stuff like this in a Creator polybag or giveaway, but that's rare. 

The only other change I might make to City is to splinter it a bit, and put stuff like the arctic/volcano/jungle sets into a separate Explorer theme... and maybe expand it a bit once similar licensed lines like Jurassic Whatever go away. The explorer stuff doesn't logically fit in City, but this is purely a "problem" of nomenclature, which isn't a real problem at all.

Edited March 2, 2018 by jdubbs

[MAB]

15 hours ago, Blk69 said:

So......kids with smart phones really aren't going play with Lego.  This is a AFOL thing.

 

2

Loads of kids have tablets, so they can use the tablet with lego at the same time. Kids do play with things like this, look at things like wedo and boost.

[weeble1688]

Though I've learned "never say never", I highly doubt that The Lego Group would outright cancel the Town/World City/City theme as TLG regards it as an 'evergreen' theme, meaning it will continue onward.  The name of the theme may change at some point in the future (as has happened in the past), but the idea of a kid-friendly theme related to life around them is the 'evergreen' part.  Just my two cents!

[Aanchir]

On 3/2/2018 at 3:28 PM, Blk69 said:

My kids and their friends don't.  To many other exciting things they are interested in.  If I had a smart phone and the internet as a kid I wouldn't play with Lego ether.  

A lot of parents download apps for their kids to play with on THEIR smartphones/tablets… kids not owning phones or tablets themselves is not a deal-breaker. Also, I didn't have a phone until I was a teenager, but I did have Internet and video games when I was growing up in the late 90s, and it made me MORE interested in LEGO, not less. After all, I could suddenly play games and read comics involving my favorite LEGO characters, build cool stuff from the non-LEGO video games I enjoyed, download both official and unofficial building instructions for alternate models, look at MOCs/art/stories other LEGO fans had created, follow LEGO news updates from LEGO.com and unofficial LEGO fansites, etc.

These days with as many official and unofficial LEGO videos on YouTube, Netflix, etc. as there are (stuff I couldn't have dreamed of back in the 90s), I imagine tech-savvy kids have even more online connections to keep them engaged with LEGO as a hobby/interest.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Aanchir

[Venefic]

CITY is like the basis for LEGO. I do understand that they do seem to be recycling ideas but this theme is still very popular and there are a lot of sets made each half year. 

[Robert8]

CITY is always in the top sellers list. I dont see it going anywhere 

Especially now, when they are exploring new themes like Jungle

[Grrr]

The "City" brand is fine. But agree with your point, City has followed the same format for around 10 years now, and as an AFOL I wouldn't mind a change; though I'll always be more loyal to classic Town all the same. 

They key thing is that I still find a handful of City sets to buy each year, alongside modulars, Creator houses, Winter Village and a stack of other stuff, I've got plenty to work with. I'm happy to leave variations on Police stations on the shelf.

But, I do look with some envy at the ever expanding Friends line, and think some of those sets would make great City sets. Hopefully some cross-polination of those ideas is in order (it feels to some level as though Friends designers are prepared to take more risks, whereas the City theme has in my opnion the hallmarks of a group who are fearful of making mistakes given past excellence). In that regard, the current line up feels a lot like circa 1995 - slightly worse than previous years, but nothing wrong yet.

[Sir Stig]

City building sets that can be combined to form modular buildings (with or without floor separation). With a few more interesting building details. I've said it before, but that's what I would like to see. I think they could get a lot of modular fans buying more city sets that way.

[MrBrickMan]

Every day thousands and thousands of children are born that do not have a Lego police station.

[The Brick Boss]

I am a die hard City fan and I have to agree with xxix5 on this. Classic Police is the only police theme I buy sets from because I think that should be the only police themefor City. But I'm adding something else. Not only do I think too much emphasis is on police, but also on subthemes that have absolutely nothing to do with City life. (I.e. the explorers themes). Those subthemes should be cut from City and put under another theme. 

Now here are some subthemes I think City should replace the explorers and extra police themes with. 

1. Metro Transit - City should emphasize the bus system more. A metro Transit subtheme would do well since children love buses just as much as police cars and fire trucks. 

2. Paramedics - City has fire sets, police says and coast guard sets. Why not some paramedic sets to compliment those? Heck! You may even see a hospital. 

3. Roadside Assistance - Kids love tow trucks obviously considering that a lot of those are being made too. 

4. Octan Cup - F1 racing should definitely make a comeback in the City theme. I'd be all for that. 

5. Downtown - Then you have this theme which will cover the building aspect of City. This subtheme could include offices, dealerships, restaurants, etc. 

6. Neighborhood - I think City needs more houses. Lack of housing = more criminals. 

[TeriXeri]

-

Edited June 24, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Aanchir]

4 hours ago, pooda said:

I am a die hard City fan and I have to agree with xxix5 on this. Classic Police is the only police theme I buy sets from because I think that should be the only police themefor City. But I'm adding something else. Not only do I think too much emphasis is on police, but also on subthemes that have absolutely nothing to do with City life. (I.e. the explorers themes). Those subthemes should be cut from City and put under another theme. 

Now here are some subthemes I think City should replace the explorers and extra police themes with. 

1. Metro Transit - City should emphasize the bus system more. A metro Transit subtheme would do well since children love buses just as much as police cars and fire trucks. 

2. Paramedics - City has fire sets, police says and coast guard sets. Why not some paramedic sets to compliment those? Heck! You may even see a hospital. 

3. Roadside Assistance - Kids love tow trucks obviously considering that a lot of those are being made too. 

4. Octan Cup - F1 racing should definitely make a comeback in the City theme. I'd be all for that. 

5. Downtown - Then you have this theme which will cover the building aspect of City. This subtheme could include offices, dealerships, restaurants, etc. 

6. Neighborhood - I think City needs more houses. Lack of housing = more criminals. 

The explorer subthemes might not take place "in" the City, but I don't know if that's really as big a deal as people make it out to be. After all, City is more of a brand than a description of what that brand contains, same as how the Castle theme includes sets that don't contain and don't go inside a castle, and the Pirates theme contains sets primarily based on characters and factions besides pirates. Even the Town theme (which City fills more or less the same role as) contained plenty of subjects that didn't take place WITHIN a town — for example, many sets from the Launch Command, Divers, Outback, Extreme Team, Space Port, and Arctic, subthemes, as well as lots of other wilderness-oriented sets like Rocky River Retreat, Gator Landing, Derby Trotter,

Additionally, I don't think it's realistic to assume that if you made the less urban CIty subthemes like Jungle Explorers or Mountain Police into their own separate theme, that would somehow "create room" for more City subthemes. After all, pretty much the only limits on the number of City sets LEGO can make in any given year are customer demand and production capacity. And if you're still producing the same number of sets, just branding them differently, you aren't creating any more demand OR any more production capacity, you're more or less just breaking the demand and production capacity for current City sets into two chunks that add up to the same amount as before.

Not to mention that if these are only "taking the place" of themes we only see one or two of a year, it wouldn't make a lot of the types of sets you describe more frequent. After all, a lot of the general categories of sets you're suggesting as new subthemes have already been fairly well covered by existing subthemes in sets of the past decade:

• 2019:
  • 60233 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Downtown)
  • 60232 from the Town subtheme (Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
  • 60241 from the Fire Brigade subtheme (Downtown)
  • 60218 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60203 from the Town subtheme (Paramedics)
• 2018:
  • 60204 from the Town subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 60200 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Downtown)
  • 60180 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60179 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 60178 from the Great Vehicles subthem (Octan Circuit)
• 2017:
  • 60154 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Downtown)
  • 60151 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60146 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60145 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60148 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60140 from the Classic Police subtheme (Downtown)
• 2016:
  • 60132 from the Town subtheme (Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
  • 60116 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 60115 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60113 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
• 2015:
  • 60097 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
  • 60084 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60081 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Roadside Assistance)
• 2014:
  • 60056 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Roadside Assistance)
  • 60055 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60053 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
• 2013:
  • 60031 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Downtown)
  • 60027 from the Town subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60026 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
  • 60025 from the Town subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60008 from the Elite Police subtheme (Downtown)
• 2012:
  • 4433 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 4431 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 4429 from the Town subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 4207 from the Town subtheme (Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
• 2011:
  • 3661 from the Classic Police subtheme (Downtown)
• 2010:
  • 8404 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Roadside Assistance)
  • 8403 from the Town subtheme (Neighborhood)
  • 7848 from the Town subtheme (Downtown)

All in all, the only one of the subthemes you suggest that's severely under-represented compared to in the Classic Town era is "Neighborhood", presumably because LEGO has found that house sets sell better in the Creator 3-in-1 and Friends themes.

And unlike the exploration and police subthemes you wish to replace, which only tend to get a new wave every three or four years (or sometimes even less frequently), sets in categories like racing, medical care, downtown, road service, and public transit manage to show up pretty much every year or every two years under the current system — just without any guarantee of having a full wave of sets to complement them. And in many cases that would seem to work out just fine… after all, how many tow trucks or buses could you really need in a single year?

Edited June 22, 2019 by Aanchir

[The Brick Boss]

On 6/21/2019 at 8:07 PM, Aanchir said:

The explorer subthemes might not take place "in" the City, but I don't know if that's really as big a deal as people make it out to be. After all, City is more of a brand than a description of what that brand contains, same as how the Castle theme includes sets that don't contain and don't go inside a castle, and the Pirates theme contains sets primarily based on characters and factions besides pirates. Even the Town theme (which City fills more or less the same role as) contained plenty of subjects that didn't take place WITHIN a town — for example, many sets from the Launch Command, Divers, Outback, Extreme Team, Space Port, and Arctic, subthemes, as well as lots of other wilderness-oriented sets like Rocky River Retreat, Gator Landing, Derby Trotter,

Additionally, I don't think it's realistic to assume that if you made the less urban CIty subthemes like Jungle Explorers or Mountain Police into their own separate theme, that would somehow "create room" for more City subthemes. After all, pretty much the only limits on the number of City sets LEGO can make in any given year are customer demand and production capacity. And if you're still producing the same number of sets, just branding them differently, you aren't creating any more demand OR any more production capacity, you're more or less just breaking the demand and production capacity for current City sets into two chunks that add up to the same amount as before.

Not to mention that if these are only "taking the place" of themes we only see one or two of a year, it wouldn't make a lot of the types of sets you describe more frequent. After all, a lot of the general categories of sets you're suggesting as new subthemes have already been fairly well covered by existing subthemes in sets of the past decade:

• 2019:
  • 60233 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Downtown)
  • 60232 from the Town subtheme (Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
  • 60241 from the Fire Brigade subtheme (Downtown)
  • 60218 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60203 from the Town subtheme (Paramedics)
• 2018:
  • 60204 from the Town subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 60200 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Downtown)
  • 60180 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60179 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 60178 from the Great Vehicles subthem (Octan Circuit)
• 2017:
  • 60154 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Downtown)
  • 60151 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60146 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60145 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60148 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Circuit)
  • 60140 from the Classic Police subtheme (Downtown)
• 2016:
  • 60132 from the Town subtheme (Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
  • 60116 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 60115 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60113 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
• 2015:
  • 60097 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
  • 60084 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60081 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Roadside Assistance)
• 2014:
  • 60056 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Roadside Assistance)
  • 60055 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60053 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
• 2013:
  • 60031 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Downtown)
  • 60027 from the Town subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60026 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
  • 60025 from the Town subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 60008 from the Elite Police subtheme (Downtown)
• 2012:
  • 4433 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Octan Cup)
  • 4431 from the Great Vehicles subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 4429 from the Town subtheme (Paramedics)
  • 4207 from the Town subtheme (Roadside Assistance, Downtown)
• 2011:
  • 3661 from the Classic Police subtheme (Downtown)
• 2010:
  • 8404 from the Town subtheme (Metro Transit, Roadside Assistance)
  • 8403 from the Town subtheme (Neighborhood)
  • 7848 from the Town subtheme (Downtown)

All in all, the only one of the subthemes you suggest that's severely under-represented compared to in the Classic Town era is "Neighborhood", presumably because LEGO has found that house sets sell better in the Creator 3-in-1 and Friends themes.

And unlike the exploration and police subthemes you wish to replace, which only tend to get a new wave every three or four years (or sometimes even less frequently), sets in categories like racing, medical care, downtown, road service, and public transit manage to show up pretty much every year or every two years under the current system — just without any guarantee of having a full wave of sets to complement them. And in many cases that would seem to work out just fine… after all, how many tow trucks or buses could you really need in a single year?

Arctic, Outback, Launch Command, etc were their own themes then. They were just subsidiaries of the town theme. It's a big deal because they are badged as City sets when they have nothing to do with City. That's what I'm saying. 

I noticed you also took the time to go down the entire list. You didn't understand what I was saying on that point. I was saying they should have subthemes dedicated to those situations if they're going to make them. I mean given their own subtheme title and then promoted through the mini movies and television commercials - like police, fire and explorers do. 

On top of that, you obviously have not been keeping watch recently. Police and explorers themes come out every year. They are never given a break.

Lego is made to target all ages. Not just kids. City is one of those themes. So as long as we see issues with the City theme, we're going to critique. 

Edited December 10, 2019 by pooda

[TeriXeri]

-
 

Edited June 24, 2019 by TeriXeri

[The Brick Boss]

3 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

And Police does not Replace any other sets.

We get 1-2 City subthemes a year (Mining/Arctic for 2018, Space for 2019), do we really need seperate themes for a one-off subtheme  or a sub theme that only shows up every 4 years like Arctic or Space or Trains ?

And there are a lot more commercials for LEGO City beside just Police/Fire/Explorers

Here's one for the 2018 Vehicles : 

 

In fact most old sets in the 90s were just labeled "LEGO System"

And just because there have been other City sets not labeled as a subtheme, there's still relevance.

2018 had a Rescue Helicopter, 2019 a Snow groomer and upcoming Ski Resort, does that really need to have it's own label like "Wintersports?"

Labeling all sets into their own themes is simply impossible and would either get complaints of not having sets every 1 year, or not being made at all.

 

What I'm saying is that all the explorers themes should be put under one title. It's called nationalizing. Arctic, Volcano, Deep Sea Divers, Space, Mining and Jungle would all unify under one theme called "LEGO Explorers". 

I said nothing about how they should be put in their own themes. I was simply making a reference to older sets when I said that. Doing that now would be a waste of time.