sasbury

Eurobricks Vassals
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  1. sasbury

    Lego City 2019 - Rumours, Speculation and Discussion

    Seems like the main complaint is about the Sky Police and some of the fire sets being fantasy based and not realistic. However, Lego doesn't care as long as they are profitable, and I'm guessing many kids will like them. The problem is we're expecting sets for a 6-year-old to also appeal to an adult collector. The solution is to have a secondary line of city sets for the 8+ audience. More REALISTIC, more complex, and more detailed. It would appease the adult buyer, and I'm guessing many kids would like a more realistic model as well. Again, take the Speed Champions concept and apply it to other vehicles. Lego has an ages 4+ city set (clearly aimed at a limited demographic). Why not have an ages 8+ city set?
  2. sasbury

    Lego City 2019 - Rumours, Speculation and Discussion

    Initial thoughts. • Pierre Normandin is a brilliant Lego city designer, and you can see his handiwork on a lot of these sets (look for the license plates with PN). • I can't figure out why Lego won't sell road plates in bundles of 2 straight and 2 curved without the intersection plates. Seems like a somewhat questionable way of making us buy two packs instead of one. • I think the police line might have jumped the shark this year. New ideas are good, but this one feels a bit over the top. • The city lineup is very large and diverse overall. Lego has come a long way from the late 90s. People keep asking for my take on the fire sets, so here goes. • Great to see tan firefighter turnout gear in addition to the black ones. Tan is becoming more common than black in many U.S. fire departments, and Lego was clearly inspired by this photo (note axe). • New axe piece. Yay! • With all the emphasis on minifig design from Lego the past five years, I'm still surprised they haven't done a single-tank air tank for firefighters. The Classic Space ones aren't correct. • These sets are targeted at kids, which makes sense. The designs are detailed and have a lot of playability, but it should be noted that they're really not accurate for either American or European apparatus. The burger fire truck is particularly focused on playability over realism – almost to a point of being laughable. On set 60216, I'm surprised they again put the turntable for the ladder truck at the back. On a tiller truck, the correct placement is in the middle. • The fireboat Fire Station 60215 is very nice. It would have been great to get a slightly larger fireboat instead of the jet ski. • Lego continues to struggle with the red lights (American) vs blue lights (European) for fire trucks. I might have found a way to give consumers a red version of the light-and-sound brick in one of the sets as an option. • Set 60216, is a nice fresh design concept. Great to see an environment vs. just a fire station. • Lego needs to revisit the fire truck compartment door offerings. The red ones are going for a fortune on Bricklink, and fire truck builders have been asking for 3-tall and 2-tall options for years. • Lego added sets for a younger audience, and I continue to think there's a consumer base for a more realistic level of fire truck and other city sets for older builders. Take the Speed Champions concept (realism, accuracy, complex builds) and apply it to other city vehicles. Overall, this is a very nice and large city lineup. Kudos to Pierre and his team!
  3. sasbury

    Lego City 2019 - Rumours, Speculation and Discussion

    The obvious way for Lego to address this would be through the Collectible Minifigure series. It's strange that we've had 19 series and no firefighter. This would allow them to produce an American Firefighter, European Firefighter (euro-style helmet), and specialty firefighters like Hazmat units. I've said it here before, but • Firefighter minifigs should have single air tanks, not the double ones from Classic Space. • Helmet printing is needed. • It's time for Lego to produce a stokes basket. The stretcher piece is a style from WWI – now roughly 100 years outdated. Hopefully, Lego will address some of these much-needed things soon.
  4. sasbury

    Planes designs that need improvement

    I'd also like to see the underside curved pieces in colors other than grey. And doors and engines in more colors – particularly blue and red. Does Lego still work with Maersk? I ask because a Maersk cargo plane would be awesome.
  5. Great looking set. Well done by Lego. I like the new vintage formal firefighter uniforms. I was hoping we'd get single-tank air tanks (the double ones from the Classic Space era are incorrect) and some printed firefighter helmets, but overall I give this set an A.
  6. Good point. Yes, the garage doors no longer fit Lego's standard of 6-wide vehicles. Many of Lego's own sets don't fit in those garages. I'm surprised they haven't updated that part. Hopefully they will!
  7. Perhaps I should have phrased it better. I think what I – and others – are trying to say is Lego is awesome, and the fire sets have been awesome. We have some ideas to make them even better – and expand the creative options. I'm a designer, and I'm also a business owner. I think most of what I do in my work is fairly great, but I recognize there is room for improvement. One of the things that makes my work better is feedback from my customers. And I appreciate that feedback when it's constructive. It makes my business and my work better. I have to believe that Lego takes that same approach. I know some of the designers at Lego, and they are brilliant designers and kind people. I like to think they appreciate constructive feedback. If Lego didn't appreciate customer feedback, they wouldn't have started Lego Ideas. Should we work within the existing parts? Absolutely. Is there room for new parts and new ideas? Absolutely. And I like to believe Lego appreciates the discussion as long as it stays constructive (pun intended).
  8. Great responses. Here are a couple of examples why Lego fire builders say lift doors are needed in both 4-tall and 2-tall versions. I've included both American and European trucks. Great ideas. Someone at Lego once told me that they won't do lime fire trucks because kids think fire trucks are only red and won't buy ones that aren't red. I'm not completely sure that's true. The obvious solution is an airport fire truck, which are most commonly lime green. As for the boat set, I think a fireboat headquarters would be awesome and provide a new direction for the theme. They could also do a heliport base.
  9. Dear Lego, We know you design sets in advance, and it's very likely we'll see another lineup of fire sets for city. In conversations with other Lego fire builders, we humbly submit 5 requests regarding that theme. Thank you, in advance, for your consideration. 1. It's time for a new air tank mold. The double-airtank Lego mold is now 40 years old and inaccurate. It's probably time for an update. Firefighters in the United States (and around the world) use airtanks that are a single tank, not a double tank. See this photo 2. It's time for a more modern stretcher (Stokes basket). The Lego stretcher piece is from WWI. We're now 100 years past that technology. We'd really appreciate a Stokes basket piece. 3. We're desperate for lift doors in sizes other than just 4-tall. A 2-studs-tall (4 wide) version would be awesome. Also, we need them in red. The ones on Bricklink are going for $25+ EACH! 4. We'd like a 6-wide windscreen piece that's not sloped. This part – but in a 6-wide version. 5. This one is optional, but would be awesome. How about yellow printing on a black helmet? This is the standard helmet for firefighters in much of the U.S. One way to address this would be to release a collectable American firefighter minifig. It's strange that in all the collectible minifigs, there isn't a firefighter. Thank you for reading this and considering these requests. -Steven Asbury (and members of the Lego fire community)
  10. sasbury

    New Fire Station and MOCs

    Good question. That portion of the rig is built upside down.
  11. sasbury

    New Fire Station and MOCs

    Thanks! The helipad takes a lot of space, so I'm thinking this station might also house the department's dispatch center. No medical facilities, but in extreme emergencies medical personnel might be dispatched with the helicopter. I had thought about adding space for more than one engine, but the station was already getting too large for the Lego room shelf. Thanks! Photos and links below.
  12. sasbury

    New Fire Station and MOCs

    It's a separate fire station, but in a similar architectural style. I designed the two to work together as Station 1 and Station 2. Theoretically, they would be located in different parts of the city. I envisioned the helipad station might be in a more remote location.
  13. sasbury

    New Fire Station and MOCs

    Yes. Here's a photo of the interior. https://www.flickr.com/photos/7568742@N04/36443646411/in/dateposted/
  14. sasbury

    New Fire Station and MOCs

    I decided I needed a place to land my new Life Flight helicopter. The solution – build a fire department heliport. I've also posted links to a couple of new fire apparatus MOCs on my Flickr. Everything is based on real fire apparatus. Let me know what you think.
  15. sasbury

    2016 City Sets - Rumours and Discussion

    I got the Lego fireboat for Christmas. It's a very nice set. I like that Lego is making larger boats as they're more realistically scaled. I would like to be able to extend the length of the hull (the width is perfect!) This would allow people to use the hull for cargo ship MOCs and larger fireboats like this one. The first Lego boats had this feature, and it seems like they could do a similar design with future hulls.