Why Lego reduce releasing hospital / clinic theme

[The Brick Boss]

14 minutes ago, Medzomorak said:

Nobody is hasty. I'm giving you answers. No need to imply anything on your debate partner just because you feel that way. You are putting frills on your argument, especially that thing with 'action based'. This is not slow processing, this is not reading the other forum members' answer, or just conveniently ignoring arguments contradicting yours. You are also making answers which implicate never-written arguments from the debate partner. Considering this, I think you've just made up your mind already and waiting to be agreed upon by others.

What's your problem dude? This comment that I've just quoted sounded like hastiness as well. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[Medzomorak]

Just now, Brandon Pea said:

What's your problem dude? This comment that I've just quoted sounded like hastiness as well. 

I'm in an endless loop at this moment, so I might just take my leave.

[The Brick Boss]

All I was doing was reading what you had said and giving my point of view after I had processed what you were trying to say. That's all. I wasn't trying to anger anyone. Yet you felt the need to accuse me of something I wasn't doing. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[TeriXeri]

City has gone with years without Hospital on the shelves before, 2012 hospital was sold by LEGO from July 2012 - March 2014, so there was no hospital until 2018. (or 2017 via Friends)

City still has a winter-sport hospital set now , but it's more specialized : 

That set just released in september so likely won't retire soon.

I don't expect another City Hospital till at least 2021.

Edited March 8, 2020 by TeriXeri

[The Brick Boss]

1 minute ago, TeriXeri said:

City has gone with years without Hospital on the shelves before, 2012 hospital was sold by LEGO from July 2012 - March 2014, so there was no hospital until 2018. (or 2017 via Friends)

I did mention earlier that those kinds of civilian services obviously are more popular among girls thua why Friends has more of those than City. 

1 minute ago, TeriXeri said:

City still has a winter-sport hospital set now , but it's more specialized : 

That set just released in september so likely won't retire soon.

I do have to admit that technically we did get two hospitals back to back. The City hospital from 2018 and the one that you showed in 2019. Maybe the medical field in the Lego world is rising to popularity again. 

1 minute ago, TeriXeri said:

I don't expect another City Hospital till at least 2021.

Since they've been on a six year streak, I was initially thinking 2024. But the Ski Resort kinda broke that streak by being released in 2019. So 2021 may surprise us. 

[ks6349]

17 hours ago, Brandon Pea said:

I agree. However some builds make sense like that hair salon. 

Nevertheless, what I miss most is still the time of "Lego system". Do you?

However, I was still a kid at those time so I wasn't able to buy any sets with my own will.... my parents were always reluctant to buy me lego

when I could work and afford to buy, it was already the time of City. City also has a lot of great sets, but still cannot compare with the Lego system....

By the way, thanks for your great and fair support on another thread 

Edited March 9, 2020 by ks6349

[The Brick Boss]

Just now, ks6349 said:

Nevertheless, what I miss most is still the time of "Lego system". Do you?

However, I was still a kid at those time so I wasn't able to buy any sets with my own will.... my parents were always reluctant about buying me lego

when I could work and afford to buy, it was already the time of City. City also has a lot of great sets, but still cannot compare with Lego system....

I do miss the days of Lego system because I was a child and have history with sets. Matter of fact that was when I got into town related sets. 

I also was a kid at my time. Single digits to be precise. The difference is....I have more money now that I am an adult. Born in 1992, by the time I was a teenager and old enough to work, City had come for me as well. 

City does have a lot of great sets. I think in a way, we can compare old school town to current City. I mean they had arctic, space and divers then too and those were still considered town subthemes.  

[ks6349]

13 minutes ago, Brandon Pea said:

I do miss the days of Lego system because I was a child and have history with sets. Matter of fact that was when I got into town related sets. 

I also was a kid at my time. Single digits to be precise. The difference is....I have more money now that I am an adult. Born in 1992, by the time I was a teenager and old enough to work, City had come for me as well. 

City does have a lot of great sets. I think in a way, we can compare old school town to current City. I mean they had arctic, space and divers then too and those were still considered town subthemes.  

When I look back at the pictures of the early Lego system sets, I think I wouldn't skip ANY single set if I were able to earn money and buy by myself in those time. Now, there are many sets that I'd immediately skip after the first glance because they are just...very not attractive.... For example, the recent City police stations.....

Edited March 9, 2020 by ks6349

[The Brick Boss]

47 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

When I look back at the pictures of the early Lego system sets, I think I wouldn't skip ANY single set if I were able to earn money and buy by myself in those time. Now, there are many sets that I'd immediately skip after the first glance because they are just...very not attractive.... For example, the recent City police stations.....

Yeah! I do have to agree. 2018 and 2019, I barely got any sets from those years. The only sets I got from those years were the hospital, some parts from the capital, some parts from the doughnut shop, fire station, burger bar, downtown fire rescue and space center. 

Edited March 9, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[ks6349]

4 hours ago, Brandon Pea said:

Yeah! I do have to agree. 2018 and 2019, I barely got any sets from those years. The only sets I got from those years were the hospital, some parts from the capital, some parts from the doughnut shop, fire station, burger bar, downtown fire rescue and space center. 

I once thought about getting doughnut shop but I skipped it at last, I like a bigger building instead of many smaller builds. The building on creator expert is my taste

instead. Have you got the book store??

[The Brick Boss]

Just now, ks6349 said:

Have you got the book store??

Nah! Not really a modular person. 

[Vindicare]

On 3/8/2020 at 7:03 AM, Medzomorak said:

The fact is that city is indeed the most diversed theme ever created by Lego, period. Why? Because you have arctic explorers, miners, jungle explorers, deep sea, trains, volcanologists, space, police, firefighters, medics, vehicles, cost guards, airport, cargo, harbour, swamp police, mountain police, construction site, traffic, tuning shops, even farm. This is all the previous 10 years and half of them is still available and new. It only takes a minute to check out Lego.com and see for yourself.

 

I was going to bring up the diversity of City, but you listed all I planned to. Now, one could make the case of bundling the Police as one, because even though the setting is different, the story is the same. I would tend to both agree & disagree. At the time Mountain Police came out I was tired of Police sets, but these were a great change of pace to me. I loved the new hats they introduced & reminded me of a different branch of LEO’s here in California. 

The bundle aspect also applies to explorers, as it’s  still a team of researchers doing stuff, just in different climates. But, I think they largely hadn’t their own identity, unlike Police. 

I would love to see a more well rounded City theme, but that’s coming from an adult who has a tabletown. So I’m slightly bias...and can’t MOC worth a damn. 

[The Brick Boss]

@Vindicare I agree with you 100%. That's because I buy a set to build what is on the front of that box. I don't buy sets for parts. 

Edited March 10, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[The Brick Boss]

....and I'm not changing the theme to my standards like that other guy said. I'm also tired of that accusation being thrown at me. People can deny it all they want. Go to other places outside of Eurobricks and people agree with me that City needs a redo for the 2020 decade. The only place that doesnt think so is people on Eurobricks. 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[Vindicare]

19 hours ago, Brandon Pea said:

@Vindicare I agree with you 100%. That's because I buy a set to build what is on the front of that box. I don't buy sets for parts. 

I’m right there with you. I’ve only closed off the back of the City bank(yellow one) from a few years back & the more recent LEGO store that came in the big Square set. Unlike most, I’m a set collector, so I can’t just readily pick through parts to build stuff. 

I don’t think they need a redo. Minor tweaks.  They have some nice variety in City, but they just need more of it. And smaller, individual buildings. Take the Donut Shop Opening for example. If it were me, I’d take out the crane truck, the police interaction part, & the toy shop. Then dedicate those parts to making a better donut shop. I absolutely love the cart & TV van. 

[The Brick Boss]

@Vindicare I'd do that with the Doughnut shop too. Same with the capital set. With me, there would be an actual capital included. 

[The Brick Boss]

On 3/11/2020 at 1:00 AM, Vindicare said:

I’m right there with you. I’ve only closed off the back of the City bank(yellow one) from a few years back & the more recent LEGO store that came in the big Square set. Unlike most, I’m a set collector, so I can’t just readily pick through parts to build stuff. 

I have no choice but to agree on what some of the buildings look like. I do mods on buildings too. I'm waiting for the bank piece from the monster truck heist to come in the mail and I plan on adding a roof. I had do the same with the tuning shop by adding more windows on the other side, the service station by putting a window behind the area where the attendant stands and a roof, and with the race cars by removing that big air vent on the red racing car. I also turned one of the gas pumps around on the service station so that two cars could fit on either side. Then I added more washing equipment. 

Quote

I don’t think they need a redo. Minor tweaks.  They have some nice variety in City, but they just need more of it. And smaller, individual buildings. 

Oh no no no! I'm thinking perhaps a minor refresh. No, a lot of things will stay the same. Police, Fire, Coast Guard and the many different types of scientists will be there because they are what help City thrive. I meant refresh as in other lines of work will also get a chance to have a subtheme and not just be put off on the side as a great vehicle or a single town set. Jobs like postal workers (60250), farmers (60223), doctors (60204), builders (60219), sailors (60119), transit workers (60154) and City Pizza employees if you could believe it (60150)...that's just to name a few. Some of which have been dead since 2010. I don't think it's too much to ask for those back. 

On 3/11/2020 at 1:00 AM, Vindicare said:

Take the Donut Shop Opening for example. If it were me, I’d take out the crane truck, the police interaction part, & the toy shop. Then dedicate those parts to making a better donut shop. I absolutely love the cart & TV van. 

I'm with you on that one. It would be a full blown donut shop from me. Although, I'd also include a mobile donut van influenced by the 60150 Pizza Van to go with that one. Another example is Capital City. Instead of the crane with an undone museum piece, I would've actually added a decent sized capital building similar to the green building in this picture along with a limo. 

Now don't get me wrong. I'm gonna take advantage of builds like that crane and museum. But tbh, it seems like Lego stuck it in there to meet a certain piece count quota. It just didn't fit. For that one, you'll have to look beyond the name "Capital City" if you really want to enjoy it. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[TeriXeri]

10 hours ago, Vindicare said:

I’m right there with you. I’ve only closed off the back of the City bank(yellow one) from a few years back & the more recent LEGO store that came in the big Square set. Unlike most, I’m a set collector, so I can’t just readily pick through parts to build stuff. 

I don’t think they need a redo. Minor tweaks.  They have some nice variety in City, but they just need more of it. And smaller, individual buildings. Take the Donut Shop Opening for example. If it were me, I’d take out the crane truck, the police interaction part, & the toy shop. Then dedicate those parts to making a better donut shop. I absolutely love the cart & TV van. 

I actually skipped on the City Donut Shop set, seeing how 3-in-1 basicly released a Cafe/Petshop the same year, and now a Toy Shop this year I don't regret it.

For a LEGO Shop, 40305 is still available, and while not labeled under a theme it could easily fit with City or Creator 3-in-1, even is compatible with some of the 2017-2018 Creator sets with the parts that can be re-arranged.

As a mainly collector of buildings, I wouldn't mind if minifig civilian buildings went completely toward the Creator theme, but I can understand why kids want vehicles to interact with buildings in City sets as well.

But I also display my buildings on a shelf, so open-backs I don't mind so much.

5 hours ago, Brandon Pea said:

I'm with you on that one. It would be a full blown donut shop from me. Although, I'd also include a mobile donut van influenced by the 60150 Pizza Van to go with that one. Another example is Capital City. Instead of the undone museum piece, I would've actually added a decent sized capital building similar to the green building in this picture.

That set in the picture is just so much better proportioned ratio with buildings to vehicles, I'd prefer such sets over the current vehicle-heavy Donut shop type sets.

Eventually I'll likely take apart my current sets and make some larger buildings out of them.

Edited March 11, 2020 by TeriXeri

[The Brick Boss]

1 hour ago, TeriXeri said:

That set in the picture is just so much better proportioned ratio with buildings to vehicles, I'd prefer such sets over the current vehicle-heavy Donut shop type sets.

Yeah! I wish I would've gotten it when I had the chance. Now it's rare and expensive ASF. 

To be quite honest, if it were up to me, all major civilian services in the city (i.e. emergency, transport, food, construction and public works, etc) would have a City subtheme and they would get guaranteed rotation based on how well they sell whether its 3 year, 4 year, 5 year or 6 year. Everything else would go under Town. 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[The Brick Boss]

On 3/8/2020 at 10:03 AM, Medzomorak said:

Because you have arctic explorers, miners, jungle explorers, deep sea, trains, volcanologists, space, police, firefighters, medics, vehicles, cost guards, airport, cargo, harbour, swamp police, mountain police, construction site, traffic, tuning shops, even farm. 

Yeah....uh....miners, medics, cargo, harbor, traffic, farm and construction are dead subthemes now. The only trace of those are individual sets sold under either Town or Great Vehicles. 

Arctic, Jungle, Miners, volcano and deep sea are all under Explorers. 

Swamp police and mountain police are under police. 

Like I said. Police, Great Vehicles and Explorers seem to be almost only what City focuses. 

Trains, Coast Guard and Fire are occasional and remain unchanged for three years. 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[The Brick Boss]

All the same, its not really diversity that's the problem. Its the type of diversity in the City theme. Speaking as an educated Lego town enthusiast, I empathize with the fandom in a way. Nowadays it does seem like the designers of City sets are quite hesitant to promote action within the city to subtheme status compared to action outside of the city. I remember @TeriXeri once telling me that 2015 and 2018 were prime examples. 2012 was one of those too from my perspective. Of course you have the regular police, airport, train, coast guard and fire subthemes that come every three years and you've got town and great vehicles. Unfortunately, harbor, cargo and garage seem to be dead - which is kinda sad because I loved those as a kid (teens are still KFOLs). But the latter two sound more like places to put sets from rejected subtheme ideas than actual subthemes. Otherwise, there is farm, arctic, space, divers, volcano, jungle, sheriffs (forest police, swamp police and mountain police) and miners. Of which don't really take place in the city itself. 

Personally, I'm actually a huge fan of the fire sets. I think I have collected every fire station because they just impressed me that much. Though the one from 2005 looked more like someone's house than an actual fire station. Glad they changed it in 2010. So because of that, I have a lot of red bricks in my collection.  I also had a short lived passion to want to join the ranks of the fire squad in my town. I might actually go for it considering that their help is always needed with this COVID-19 issue going on. The 2019 fire station I think is the best one that has come. Though the 2013 was also pretty darn good too. 

I have nothing against police stations being made for City as police are a vital civilian service just like firefighters, public transit workers, postal workers, construction workers, doctors, etc. I just don't think they need to be overdone. I understand they sell well, but I don't think there needs to be these huge waves of them taking up space with basically upgraded or different versions of what we practically saw in the previous police wave. I think two or three in between the actual police years is enough.  

This year however managed to impress me when talking about city life. The automotive industry, which is also a vital civilian service, was put to the test this year with not one, not two, but four sets dedicated to the auto industry such as motorcycle and ATV riding (60255), motorsports (60256), basic maintenance (60257) and upgrading/customization (60258). The entire auto industry was practically covered this year. Then there are the air transport sets. I guess I was hoping for more than two airports and an air race, but there are no complaints there. I might actually use the pull string helicopters to my advantage. Conveniently, the air race comes with an orange and green helicopter. I hope those are stickers and not printed pieces because I have special plans for those. 

Of course you have the police wave, but given that the last wave was in 2017, this is the year its supposed to come out. Though in my opinion, the station from the brick box should've been the main headquarters. Because it's the only place where I can get a police car that looks good. Not too much of a fan of the one from the highway arrest set. 

2020 seems to have impressed me. Let's see what 2021 brings. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Brandon Pea