LEGO City Problems/Rant

[lightningtiger]

Actually not so many beds might mean that minifigs are like horses.....they sleep standing up.

This topic has become of a comic club than rant !

[SweetiePie88]

Actually not so many beds might mean that minifigs are like horses.....they sleep standing up.

This topic has become of a comic club than rant !

I could use the laugh. Still am having problems with my partials and I'm down in the dumps

[dr_spock]

How many boys play toilets or bedrooms with their LEGO? I can see bedrooms as a part of Friends theme since my daughter and friends have sleepover parties.

[Minifig Lecturer]

My 2 bricks on this would be that if you are an adult you should not rely on LEGO for city buildings.

There's 2 big problems as I see it.

As everyone knows LEGO don't venture much outside the police, fire, ... usual sets, so that's problem one, revisions of sets every year. Presumably this is what kids want so we can't blame LEGO here. Second problem is really the main one and it is that the quality of the sets and value for money (versus cost of parts online) they tends to be low to very low. Fun for kids, they're playable etc (and that's great) but for realism they're fairly terrible.

So, all I can recommend is that you swap the buying of sets in your local store to the online purchase of bricks and pieces that actually allow you to build what you want. You will find that you can build much better MOCs than LEGO will ever produce and save a lot of money too.

Regards

[SweetiePie88]

My 2 bricks on this would be that if you are an adult you should not rely on LEGO for city buildings.

There's 2 big problems as I see it.

As everyone knows LEGO don't venture much outside the police, fire, ... usual sets, so that's problem one, revisions of sets every year. Presumably this is what kids want so we can't blame LEGO here. Second problem is really the main one and it is that the quality of the sets and value for money (versus cost of parts online) they tends to be low to very low. Fun for kids, they're playable etc (and that's great) but for realism they're fairly terrible.

So, all I can recommend is that you swap the buying of sets in your local store to the online purchase of bricks and pieces that actually allow you to build what you want. You will find that you can build much better MOCs than LEGO will ever produce and save a lot of money too.

Regards

Except for the fact that I have neither the time, patience, or the money for moc'ing buildings; I'd be doing it already.

[Sven F]

I used to be a kid too, and was into the city theme forever, but you can only have one police station and one fire station in the course of about 6-8 years that an average kid is interested in LEGO. All those christmases I got a "boat, helicopter or cops&robbers" theme that were for me lacking in playability and mostly scraped for parts.

I am not complaining today though, Lego has a large line or good buildings outside the city theme, things are much better today. Only thing that really, really bothers me, are road baseplates. Why do they keep changing them? and why do i have to buy useless crossroads with every straight piece?

[Minifig Lecturer]

Except for the fact that I have neither the time, patience, or the money for moc'ing buildings; I'd be doing it already.

I can accept the time and patience point you make but really it is far cheaper to buy new parts from online LEGO marketplaces than buying official box sets just for parts.

[SweetiePie88]

I can accept the time and patience point you make but really it is far cheaper to buy new parts from online LEGO marketplaces than buying official box sets just for parts.

Uh... I almost never a boxed set strictly for parts unless its on clearance! The only full retail buy I can think of at the moment is the spare lemonade stand but that's BC there wasnt much difference in the cost of buying a second scooter online vs buying the whole set.

[Redimus]

I'm not much of an architect, so I've decided to buy the odd City building then mod it to the point where it's actually fit for purpose. Admittedly, it's not the cheapest (my city firestation upgrade has easily cost as much when the original set plus additional parts are accounted for as any modular) but it has the advantage of being basically my own creation and designed specifically to fit where I want it to be. I love the one modular I've bought so far, but it's rather large and therefore doesn't fit where I want to (although ironically, is smaller than my firestation), and is so nice I really don't want to significantly modify it.

[SearchFunction]

I find it hard to believe that all they can come up with is the same old boring cops/robbers theme. More buildings is most def what we need. How about micro apartments? Small but fully sized houses? Some Hot Rods? Old fashioned gas stations? Motorcycle shop? (a cool one a la 70s biker). How about a small radio station out in the desert? That would be an awesome/fun little build. Maybe LEGO just isn't for me. Maybe I should find another more adult friendly hobby. Sigh.

For what its worth though I believe the new small cottage/hut theme in the Creator line is a step in the right direction. Also loving the dual shop theme. Def excited to see 2015s hut and dual shops.

There have been one-offs over the years like hotrods and stuntcrews, but there did use to be a few more sub themes like the postoffice, which I guess is becoming a rare thing these days and racers which still gets sets now and then.

There was a discussion a while back, about how few actual houses there have been in the cityline, and I did wish it was a yearly thing on line with the emergency services. The creator line does make up for it a bit, as well as the modular buildings.

Why is it wrong to ask fo "City" buildings? Everyone has the "build your own" answer to the question. Why should kids be made tobuild their own? Then why sell kits? Why not just sell buckets of pieces and be like "here, build your own city"? To me, the Creator and Modules are not scaled right compared to "City" buildings. Plus you have all these vehicles with nowhere to go. Do vehicles just drive around all of the time? Why sell a race car when there is no track or other like cars to race?

Lego also sells buckets of pieces some are roofpieces, doors and windows specifically. Or you could go for pick-a-brick if you really want something specific. Thats my only gripe with Lego, I really wish their PAB online shop was easier to use and had a wider selection.

The kits are made to show whats possible, and provide something interesting.

I agree and disagree with many of the things posted above. But I also find it hard to believe LEGO can't come up with something more interesting than cops and robbers for the city line. I just think it's a step in the wrong direction.

Agreed, move diversity would be welcome. They did make a mining theme recently though, but there are plenty of material to tap into. Construction would be one.

Someone said that there wasnt much focus on adults, but I belive both the modulars and the architecture line was created for AFOLS - the NXT and Lego robots too is definately aimed at AFOLS.

[lightningtiger]

It has popped into my head a possible fact, that the modulars are meant for city as a building extension......I'll give you an un-city reason, Technic.....you find simple builds leading up to huge RC builds. So Lego's theory is kids that played with city by the time they want shops and that kind of stuff they are old enough or wanting the build challenge of a modular.......like many toy companies Lego is assuming this to the case.