Grrr

It doesn't look like you've made the Brickshelf folder public yet?

Unfortunately someone in their Creative team needs to show more attention to detail and probably some better systems are required to differentiate preliminary from final images. Seems somewhat amateurish.

They've obviously used prelim images - wrong cop at the top right.

Thank you for the series. I am inclined to disagree with your assertion that the change of packaging suggests that the decision to switch to 9V came afterwards. I suspect it's more of a case that Lego purchased new packaging equipment, and removed/decommissioned the old equipment, and as such, sets out of necessity had to be packaged in new style boxes. There are many examples of sets of this era appearing in different style boxes between years of release, moving away from slide-tray cardboard and polystyrene inserts to cardboard and cardboard + inner tray + plastic boxes. Moreover, as the accessory sets where to be supplied for a few more years following the 9v launch, it may have been desirable to make the boxes as small as possible so they would be more convininent for mail order delivery, and would take less room on retailers shelves if they chose to continue stocking them for a while.

I've had this a few times - I think in some cases those large parts get manually added; so you end up with two on occasion.

One does indeed wonder why the press would bother attending if they are not allowed to report using either pictures or words. Obviously the likes of Zusammengebaut would want to go out of personal interest, but mainstream press needn't bother as they can't report anything. Personally, I don't really mind. I like seeing the leaks and information, but it's more important for me that the product isn't counterfeited to the extent that it affects Lego's margins (and therefore the pricing of the goods I want to buy).

I'm not so sure. If it were going to be a tent, surely it'd be the same plastic tent used in 41339 Mia's Camper, albeit with a different print. This appears to have a 4515 Slope 10° 6x8 as a roof. I'm guessing some sort of shelter as you might see along walking/hiking tracks. It's a pity actually as that tent is pretty neat, so would be good to have in the City line.

It's really not that hard once you start thinking about it. And then you can't stop. You'll ensure all the "Lego" words on the studs are aligned either up or right; etc.

I didn't buy it at the time. Firstly, I didn't think the design was especially strong, but more particularly, it was the way the Lego Factory theme was marketed that made the final decision. Lego Factory was not marketed the way Lego Ideas is today. Lego ideas takes a small number of models, brings them up to Lego designer standards, and markets them. A great result in a modular-ish fashion is the Fishing Store. Lego Factory on the other hand was purportedly going to allow you to upload a moc-design, and have it produced as a set with a production run of 1. If this were going to be the approach, I foresaw a lot of poor lego factory sets being produced, and therefore decided that completionism on this line would be silly and futile. As such, I decided not to buy the Market Street. In retrospect, I regret not buying it (especially as I left it on the shelf at a very low price at a closing down sale); , but it's price now makes it difficult to justify buying it now. I'm happy enough to classify it as a modular, but imagine many who similarly regret not getting the set quietly continue to go on about it not being an official modular so they have a "complete" set of modulars.

The colour swapping as several mentioned above is to help orientate the model during the build. Typically, the colours used for this sort of thing are basic colours; however, I believe there is some discretion with this provided they contrast, and sometimes designers will use colours that will work well in alternative builds or mocs.

Or the town plan will get a 6xxxx City number - still a few of those unallocated.

Second the suggestion of posts around the outside and draping a cover over. The other option which I'll probably do in my Lego room is to install a curtain rail around the perimeter of my layout table and simply have heavy curtains which can be drawn all the way around the Lego. It somewhat depends also on what sort of grime you're protecting your lego from. Most of my Lego is in a basement, so really only gets dust, which is relatively easy to remove with a duster. However, the Lego I have in my main house gets greasy from things like cooking in the same open plan area, and this then glues down dust, meaning the only way to clean the lego is to wash it with a mild detergent. In the later case, ensure that not only the top, but also the sides are well protected from airflow.

I still get frustrated at 2000's Lego set numbering. 3677 should to my mind be a fabuland set. Anyhow, - you're right, but it does have an easily removable roof. That's probably how both of these sets will work.

I'm starting to wonder more and more if these are not final images, but part way through the design. Hence no doors; and unresolved colour transitions especially on the passenger train.

Definately that colour scheme, though the image I'm looking at has an interesting nose piece - it looks like some sort of snot cockpit with a bubble windscreen (part 87752). I'd hope that this train will come with a loco and two wagons. Also, the loco appears shorter than many other trains, I'd guess it to be maybe 24 studs long - perhaps this allows for a 4-part train as opposed to the usual three?

It is very likely that these guys are looking at low-resolution or blurry images, and the models have a passing resemblence. I'll wait to see the real thing as I find often people say things are very similar or identical when they're totally not. I'd love to see the video @grimrecka mentioned - trying to find it now.

The Brick Show descriptions also included a confirmation of what appears to be a Lego Friends mini-monorail with the resort/hotel set based on the roller coaster track system.

Monorail on the new roller coaster tracks...

I think the key thing here is what surface you're building on. A wooden floor; table etc are fine for thin baseplates, normal baseplates, and even these giant bricks. However, if you're working on say carpet, the support isn't even underneath, and the moment you put pressure on to apply bricks say, the whole thing flexes - this is where traditional baseplates weren't so good as the pieces would pop off; but the old bricks, given enough pressure would snap, which is even worse. Personally, I like the current trend for large plates. They're very useful when building raised terrain (as were the old bricks) and combine well with regular lego. I use the old green bricks in the same way.

I think so. From 1997-2005 there were a large number of gaffes with regard to Town sets (and surrouding themes) which I'm certain caused a substantial loss of revenue. The key issue was, do sets need to be juniourised to appeal to a younger audience, or should they be detailed to appear to an older one; and if both, how do you do both at the same time. You can clearly see this conflict in a number of places; but again, the World City line is a good place to look - the trains sets are in many ways a continuation of classic 9V trains - reasonably detailed, complicated builds, while the police sets are clearly aimed at 6 year olds, and have few redeeming features for older collectors in terms of either design or parts. The City line to me, marks a clear re-launch with a new brief around what the lines wants to be, and they've stuck to that well. Especailly from say 2007 onwards, the line is quite unified and clear; with 6-wide vehicles; higher price-points, and a certain quality standard. I'm not sure if City would've done quite so well with AFOLs where it not for the painful period preceding it. I think many of us where relieved to have something new and decent, and as such started buying; and didn't need to forgive the changes given that it was such an improvement on what came in recent years before. Moreover, the new scale also integrated nicely with the new Creator and Modular sets (for the most parts) which also clearly appealed. Interestingly now, 10 years on, I'm starting to see things becoming stale from an AFOL perspective. Many AFOL's have stopped buying every subtly different police/fire station, and the same applies to vehicles. Obviously these models still do well with the target audience (kids). I suspect this is part of the reason why Lego is looking to move ever more AFOL money into D2C sets as AFOL spend on regular sets has been diminishing in recent years (and D2C sets tend to evoque a higher loyalty, buying every modular or every Winter Village set). I can certainly see room for a re-hash of the formula that's made City what it is; but it probably won't come for a few years yet.

I'd say started in 2003; with transition complete around 2005. Classic "Town" was definately 4-wide (excepting some sets like 6440); and City is for the most part 6-Wide from it's inception in 2005. World City represents the transition era. Note the Police sets - both 4 and 6 wide vehicles released the same year. The first year of City (2005) still has the odd 4-wide vehicle too. In reference to 6472 that @supertruper1988 mentions; I regard this as an outlier; given that it's a re-release of a 1992 set.

I think there has been massive change in the Lego community since the formation of the current eurobricks structure. When I first started visiting this site; it was in what I would describe as Lego's dark age. Focus was around the traditional themes of the 'golden era'; namely town/trains, pirates, castle and technic, and the majority of visitors to this site had known and loved these for many years. Now, a large number of those people who visited this site in the early 2000's have probably since entered a second dark age; perhaps investing less in lego due to career and family commitments. On the flipside; a whole new generation of AFOL's exists who never grew up with the classic themes; instead being raised on Bionicle; Harry Potter; Modern City, and even modulars and the like; This is especially true of people who have become AFOL's in adulthood; of which there is a sizeable number. For this latter group; it's totally understandable that their focus will be on the current sets; in much the same way that in the year 2000 I obsessed about the sets from the 90's I'd missed (most of which I now own). Secondly, as this group is satisfied with current lego offerings; there is substantially less insentive to MOC; especially given the amount of lego budget that can be spent persuing current good sets (there is no money left for many to buy parts to do other things with). As such; I think there may be an argument for structural change to these sections; paritcularly with regard to Winter Village and Modulars; but potentially even differentiating Classic Town from Modern City; and bringing in the Trains line where these overlap. Just my 2 cents.

^ This is massively important. Especially for common parts (eg black technic pins). Keep a box with an appropriate amount to hand, and then put the rest in zip-lock bags somewhere out of the way. Refill the box when it gets empty, or put over-flow in a ziplock bag when full. No Technic MOC is ever going to need 3000 black pins to hand in one go. As such, you can keep the parts in a smaller box, and have more diversity of parts within arm's reach while building/sorting.

I'm not recognising that ad - would you mind posting the whole page?

I'm half wondering if this is Lego simply using up the last stock of a whole bunch of random parts; and claiming it's a nod to all those people who complain about insturctions and specialised parts and you can't build anything with modern lego and back in the good old days you used your imagination...