Themes LEGO should discontinue

[jonwil]

As much as I want more farm sets (or zoo or Australian Outback or other sets with lots of animals) TLG has information about what sells and doesn't sell and isn't going to release sets that don't sell.

Clearly themes like farm do better in Duplo (as seen last year) than in City.

 

[The Brick Boss]

1 minute ago, jonwil said:

As much as I want more farm sets (or zoo or Australian Outback or other sets with lots of animals) TLG has information about what sells and doesn't sell and isn't going to release sets that don't sell.

So......should we even have forums dedicated to ideas for Lego sets? What you just said would make that forum pointless. What I gather from your statement (and the statements from other people on the darn forum), is that what we want ain't happening. 

[Digger of Bricks]

6 hours ago, pooda said:

6 hours ago, danth said:

Hmm maybe they should bring back Town. 

I don't think they can afford to do that right now. Town is a subtheme under the City theme for right now. 

Um, I'm pretty sure City is rather a subtheme of "Town" if anything. Put another way, City is a part of the "Town" family of playthemes.

6 hours ago, Lego David said:

6 hours ago, gryffindorbrickkid said:

i don't think they should have discontinued juniors however though.

4+ is the exact same thing as Juniors. While they may have changed the name, the theme isn't discontinued.

To me, 4+ is a downgrading of Juniors from umbrella theme to mere designation. Not the same thing in my book. With 4+ now, you can never expect to see sets based upon themes and genres that are no longer or ever have been like Juniors could've easily done... 

2 hours ago, Vindicare said:

City seems to be a catch all. I wouldn’t consider farming to be under a City banner, but it is. It encompasses more than just city life, it also involves that guy who is waiting for the bus, to get to his job of volcanic exploration & study(or any other “action” sub theme released under the City banner). That’s how I take the theme to be anyways. 

At the moment, the only bridle City seems to be restrained by is unfantastical modernity.

[TeriXeri]

4 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

Um, I'm pretty sure City is rather a subtheme of "Town" if anything. Put another way, City is a part of the "Town" family of playthemes.

This is how I see it, the larger defintion of "Town" being the greater whole of Friends, Creator (minifig sets) , City , Xtra, Seasonal. 

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by TeriXeri

[Digger of Bricks]

Just now, TeriXeri said:

This is how I see it, the larger defintion of "Town" being the greater whole of Friends, Creator , City , Xtra, Seasonal. 

...hence why Eurobricks catalogs it that way under the Town subforum here. 

[Vindicare]

1 hour ago, pooda said:

So......should we even have forums dedicated to ideas for Lego sets? What you just said would make that forum pointless. What I gather from your statement (and the statements from other people on the darn forum), is that what we want ain't happening. 

There’s nothing wrong with a wishlist, just something fun for us AFOLs, even though we know they’re not likely to be made. They’ve surprised us in the past. Most notably, 8404. We may not see whole subthemes of the other stuff, but we’re getting out of the ordinary sets every now & again, like the Harvester. Sadly for us, they are far & few between. 

I’m with you on the current state of City, I’d much rather see more variety in smaller sets. Sets like Capital City & Donut Shop Opening are great. But there’s plenty in both sets that I wish weren’t there because we have plenty of that stuff already. In the case of the Donut Shop, I would’ve preferred not having the toy store & make the donut store bigger  and no crane truck & police stuff. But I know the target audience, they want action, which is why the crane is there to lift the Donut sign on the building. 

 

[The Brick Boss]

@Vindicare You're absolutely correct on your statements. 

Personally, I thought the moving donut was great action and some comic relief. I think City deliberately pairs popular subjects like police cars, fire trucks, buses, etc with less popular subjects like banks, burger bars or hotels simply because it works and sells better. Thus why we only see banks in police sets. I'm actually picking the bank from 2020 up. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by pooda

[jonwil]

We get a lot of banks because bank robbery is a crime TLG considers acceptable to put into a City set.

 

 

[The Brick Boss]

@Vindicare At the same time, City is the only theme that contradicts what we want to see.

What we do want to see is most of the time cast aside for what we don't want to see. TLG claims that what we don't want to see is what sells. That's something we shall remain skeptical of until I actually see. Its not fair. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by pooda

[MAB]

10 hours ago, jonwil said:

We get a lot of banks because bank robbery is a crime TLG considers acceptable to put into a City set.

But only when the robbers are likely to get caught.

[Digger of Bricks]

2 hours ago, pooda said:

At the same time, City is the only theme that contradicts what we want to see.

What we do want to see is most of the time cast aside for what we don't want to see. TLG claims that what we don't want to see is what sells. That's something we shall remain skeptical of until I actually see.

Um, who's we? AFOLs?

You do know that AFOLs want to see many different things from City, and not all of them come away empty-handed.

[The Brick Boss]

@MAB @jonwil For some reason, Lego is just able to do a good looking bank even when they look simple. Like the one in the Monster Truck Heist set. 

19 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

You do know that AFOLs want to see many different things from City, and not all of them come away empty-handed.

The only people who embrace whatever Lego does with City are people that I have met here.

My thing is that TLG let's greed take control that they miss great opportunities  for their City theme. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by pooda

[TeriXeri]

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Edited December 9, 2019 by TeriXeri

[The Brick Boss]

You know what? I think this is a discussion for another time and place. Like on a page regarding what Lego should do to improve themselves perhaps? 

Sorry mods if that would be considered backseat moderating. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by pooda

[koalayummies]

5 hours ago, pooda said:

The only people who embrace whatever Lego does with City are people that I have met here.

Excellent.

[jonwil]

What sells in a theme like City is what kids like (and what parents like and buy for their kids) not what adult fans like. LEGO clearly has evidence that kids like (and want and get their parents to buy) police toys or racing cars or fire trucks which is why we get those things in City.

Oh and even I (as a die-hard AFOL) happen to like police and fire sets (the new police station will be going into my collection for sure)

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by jonwil

[The Brick Boss]

44 minutes ago, jonwil said:

LEGO clearly has evidence that kids like (and want and get their parents to buy) police toys or racing cars or fire trucks which is why we get those things in City.

We barely get road racing cars for City. The closest we've ever gotten to race cars since 2014 are those racing bikes and some buggies. Matter of fact, we're just getting back into the racing aspect in 2020. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by pooda

[The Brick Boss]

Now this one, I just think the subtheme itself should be discontinued. Not the sets themselves. 

Trains

Here is what I'd do. 

• Cargo Train - Cargo
• Passenger Train - Town 

If they were to do these, which I think they should. 

• Police Train - Police
• Fire Train - Fire
• Maintenance Train - Construction 

[danth]

[The Brick Boss]

@danth I'd like to see something like that. I wonder why I haven't seen a police train yet. 

[TeriXeri]

Jangbricks actually made one a few years ago:

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by TeriXeri

[The Brick Boss]

1 minute ago, TeriXeri said:

Jangbricks actually made one a few years ago.

Yeah! Something like that would've been awesome to see in 2020. Only it would be done using PF as 9V is done and over with. 

I also would've loved to have seen a fire train and a ballast spreading train. 

Edited December 20, 2019 by pooda

[Toastie]

15 minutes ago, pooda said:

Only it would be done using PF as 9V is done and over with. 

True - but PF is also done and over with. Maybe not 100% but close enough. As of now PUP is the way to go ... or whatever they come-up with next - they need to change because they need to sell. 

Best
Thorsten

[The Brick Boss]

21 minutes ago, Toastie said:

True - but PF is also done and over with. Maybe not 100% but close enough. As of now PUP is the way to go ... or whatever they come-up with next - they need to change because they need to sell. 

Yeah! PUP is the thing now. 

You're right! City trains do need to sell. My proposal for those is to make them non-motorized push along play like the other vehicles are. That'll make them waaaaaayyyyyyy cheaper and more opportunities for the emphasis on playability. 

[dr_spock]

50 minutes ago, pooda said:

Yeah! Something like that would've been awesome to see in 2020. Only it would be done using PF as 9V is done and over with. 

I also would've loved to have seen a fire train and a ballast spreading train. 

Made with bits and pieces from CITY fire trucks and CITY train sets.