Steinkopf

Wow is it just me or does it look like the designers have become more and more lazy, seriously the bank robbery looks like a half arsed take of 3661 from 20111, overall it's a rather lack lustre offering and I can see myself getting a maximum of 3 small sets , I am glad though as it means I will have more money to spend on Japanese N Scale than wasting it on LEGO. The Pizza Van looks okay as well as the Catamaran and SUV, the recreational fishing boat looks like a decent design, but when it comes to the rest I won't be wasting my time or money.

Yep it's still the same ungodly hideous jumble of bricks that is trying to be passed off as a train, I certainly won't be wasting any money on it, my advice to LEGO Train fans is to go onto Bricklink and order parts to build your own trains as it's blatantly obvious that TLG is not going to bring out anything remotely decent.

Don't try and dabble in semantics Jamie, the set truly sucks and to be quite frank my 10 year old daughter could do a better job designing a train set compared to this pile of ABS vomit.

I'm not the first one to voice that opinion and I won't be the last, there was plenty of other people who aired a similar disdain for this set on the LEGO Trains Facebook page.

I don't care about the price that is not the issue, the undeniable fact is the set is a piece of crap and just because it has a LEGO symbol in the top left hand corner does not automatically make it great.

One of the best things about 10173 is that it was an awesome parts pack, the design of the train was nothing special as it was very much akin with the style of the My Own Trains of that era but it had a ton of essential train parts even when compared to the so called Hobby Train 10183. When both of them went on clearance many years ago on LEGO S@H I decided to buy another 10173 instead of a 10183, I had purchased a copy of each about a year before and found that the Holiday Train was far better value, 12 sets of buffers compared to 6, 18 sets of wheels compared to 12 not to mention the 6 x 28 Train Bases and various other bits and pieces, sadly 10254 does not offer the same sort of value.

ElectroDiva you are spot on with those comments, if people see a set that has a touch of realism to it they are more inclined to purchase it, even members of the general public who have little interest in trains are able to discern between what a real train looks like and a totally unrealistic one. A big part of the sales success of the Emerald Night and the Maersk train was that they both had strong resemblences to real life trains, sadly the Horizon Express was less of a success but that was not due to the overall build of the model and had more to do with the fact you needed two of them for a complete train, that said the Maersk and Emerald Night were not really well endowed when it came to train length.

Hod Carrier I wholeheartedly agree with your view, I think those people who rely on TLG to provide trains for their collection are going to be sorely disapointed, sadly no matter how much we try LEGO Trains have been on a steady decline since the mid 1990's not that TLG have really helped to stop it. There are many factors that have led to the gradual decline, some of those are from external sources and competition such as games consoles and the like, that said TLG hasn't helped itself either with some of the most unrealistic and ridiculous designs that have no resemblence to any real train.

This would have to be one of the most woefully designed sets ever, it is to LEGO steam locomotives what 4561 was to LEGO passenger trains, I am so glad that I gave up on offical sets so many years ago as a way of filling my fleet, the only way you are really going to get any decent trains is by building them yourself.

To be frank you would be far better off getting parts from Bricklink and make your own, that way you can make what you want to have as opposed to buying only what is available, I have at least 40 wagons that I have built over the years and on average cost me half of what it would to buy a wagon from a set, this is despite the fact my models are generally more detailed compared to standard sets. Here is a link to some of the stuff I have built .

For what it is I think the ferry makes for a nice basic set that can be quiet easily made into a far more detailed model, the number of shortcomings that the model has can be fixed with a few simple alterations such as adding a ladder to access the cabin, I have seen small ferries such as these in real life and I think it pretty much captures the spirit of these types of vessels.

There was never a Ninjago Snake Train planned for production, Mark Stafford made the model as a bit of a joke.

Personally I would like to see more civillian orientated sets within the City theme but I know this is not going to happen, City relies heavily on some sort of "action play" taking place, in many respects it is an unwritten story which is created by the child as they interact with the set or sets that they have built. These stories revolve around heroic action or some form activity requiring strength, be it chasing robbers, racing to the scene of a fire or driving a piece of machinery on a construction site, for the target audience going to the supermarket or posting a letter does not provide the same level of action or excitement. This is where the Creator and Juniors themes step in, both of them can be easily intergrated with the City theme whilst at the same time appeal to a broader demographic compared to City's core target market, Creator Expert takes it that step further with providing more detailed and realistic models that appeal to an adult audience. When you look at the big picture LEGO has to tread that fine line of providing a product that is appealing and commercially viable, this includes providing sets that have a price point that ensures that the products will sell rather than sit on the shelves collecting dust. You also have to take into consideration the fact that there is a middleman in this picture, that is the parent or another adult family member or friend of the family that is purchasing the product, the vast bulk of LEGO sales have to be able to pass that test as most children are not directly purchasing the sets themselves. This is a point that is neglected by most AFOL's as they seem to forget that as adults they can go and directly purchase the sets, sometimes at the discretion of the "other half" when we want to purchase some of the more expensive sets such as Creator Expert or Train sets. I see both sides of the equation as a parent and as an AFOL, there are quiet a number of times where I question the size and pricing of a set and think how many parents would go out and spend $100 to $200 on a LEGO set, the City Square set is a classic example where it would definitely appeal to an AFOL who could justify it's cost, but to an average mum or dad it is a very expensive set.

I wholeheartedly agree with you there, I am rather tired of those people who seem to be bereft of any form of imagination or creativity, LEGO is the most adaptable constuction medium available on the market yet so many people are unable to grasp that concept. I tend to spend a lot less time here these days due to having to deal with grown men moaning and groaning about LEGO not satisfying their whims and fancies, they wonder why they are a point of ridicule by other members within the AFOL community.

The problem with Per Way machines is they would have very limited appeal to the core target market, for the adult fans there maybe limited appeal but that would be about it. Another issue with building any Per Way machines is the intricate nature of the equipment that they have fitted to them and the delicate nature of the build to give that level of detail, I know this from my own experience as there are very few people who have built as many as I have.