A2L

Yes, let us thank wholeheartedly thank their marketing research department for introducing the lovely bear in a city set and hope they follow it up with many more.

A quick check showed that the monkey and shark have been around for many years! Wish they had kept the dolphin too. Oh have they proved that? Completely missed it. Any threads/links on this? Thanks! But again I feel TLG has not put animals out of focus at all and they do consider them as money earners. Why else will TLG put the best animals in only a few (sometimes just 1) expensive/exclusive sets? Take the goat or the reddish brown cow in MMV or camel in PoP. They never appeared again. So IMHO TLG says that if you love animals, go ahead and buy the expensive set and then only you can get them! +1 Or even as animal packs! They can pack the ostrich, camel and of course the ever available snakes, scorpions and spiders as desert animals pack! +1. Or even a new African or Indian jungle expedition themed set! The animals don't have to come in zoo or farm sets only. As for a zoo set, does TLG really want to make it? If you look at it TLG already has croc, bear, snakes, monkey, birds, ostrich, chimp, elephant, dolphin, polar bear (not considering current availability of course! Then take the last 3 out). Not at all difficult to make a zoo by adding just 2/3 more new animals. Other than new animals I just hope for 2 things: 1. Newer animals in smaller/affordable sets 2. Animal packs (existing animals) just like battle packs Till then Brick on!

Totally agree. Even if TLG goes slow in introducing new animals, it will be nice if the existing animals are introduced in more affordable and common sets so that more of us (and kids) can enjoy them. If they can put "too many" spiders, snakes, bats, rats and frogs in sets and that too the old designs, why not the dolphins or saw sharks or manta rays that are great but not seen anymore? Or even the new goats, hens and cows? Does anyone know if it is a production or business decision? On the bright side, it is happening with horses. That would be great. And the same animals can be distributed individually in other sets too.

In my opinion, the animals released by the TLG over the years are very few, though the numbers have gone higher in the last few years, compared to previous years. Does anyone know how decisions are taken about which animals to release? Duplo has lots more of them. Does TLG believe that kids (main target group) stop liking animals once they grow beyond 5 years. I have been asking quite a few kids and most of them say that they love to see more animals. They say that once they transition from Duplo to grown up themes, they miss the animals. Of course being an AFOL, I just love to collect animals. But I'd like to know from you guys if you feel the same way or most AFOLs don't care much about animals.

The new style, because they look more like animals! Even the sets are looking more realistic, so the animals go better with them, my opinion of course. I don't mind the old style either as long as it has printed eyes. In the end whatever the TLG gives, old or new styles, I feel that they need to give many more animals. There are too few, and most go to Duplo.

Missing *owl*? Thanks for the excellent review Catanas. However I couldn't see the owl in your set that S@H mentions in the description of this set. Neither did I see any picture of it on the box. Can you check on the parts list on the instruction manual if it is mentioned and whether it is missing in your box? Or did TLG decided to drop it?

The only way to find out if the set contains parts made in China, it seems, is to look on the box for the list of countries where the set has been manufactured. However I am not aware of availability of this information in a comprehensive manner. Is it possible for the reviewers to include the list of "manufactured at" countries (from the box) in their reviews? Or can we create a list of sets that have China as one of the countries of production. On a separate note can anyone help by letting me know if any sets of Prince of Persia or Indiana Jones were manufactured in China?

Well at the end of the day is there any place where I can find a list of sets and the countries where they have been manufactured (as printed on the boxes)? This will be particularly useful for buying specific pieces from bricklink. From my experience, I found most of the City sets manufactured in Europe, except the tow truck (can give set numbers that I have/seen, if anyone requires). Planning to buy some minifigs of Indiana Jones and Prince of Persia. Can any owners of these sets let me know where the sets of the above have been manufactured? The above may seem to be a digression but till I read this thread today, I was not aware that some bricks and parts were made in China. AFAIK only electronic components and fabric were. Today I checked Duplo boxes and they all (the ones I saw) had China as one of the countries listed. As for decrease in quality, whether it is the "Chinese" effect or not is debatable. But yeah we do see that a lot of parts recalled across industries are made in China, even from companies that do seem to have very high QC process (read Toyota, Honda etc). Again in case of Lego I do not know how much info is in the public domain as to what is manufactured in China except the what is there on the company web site.