Trying to Figure, why so many City Center style sets 'feel' overpriced at first glance. Maybe its a Visual Effect; when you're presented with so many different things at once overlapping; your brain glosses over the details and each individual thing looks small. brain goes from, nice recycling truck with recycling center to -> insignificant little orange truck in the background.
It's missing two buildings at least to call it a town centre. The shopping street had more substance to it. That set is more if a town centre than this
I feel like this set is a little on the plain side. I don't really see anything here (apart from the blind dog and minifigure) that feels special to me. However after about 50 years of LEGO City/ LEGO Town that is to be expected from it. A thing that I have to critique about the sets of the 2021 City sets in terms of the roadplates is that in my opinion, on their own, they don't really add anything to the sets. Sure they are helpful if you're building a City. But for a kid who gets the Family house, the roadplates in there are just... kinda there. When it comes to connecting sets with the new road system I think LEGO would've been better of making all these sets compatible with the road plates, but don't include them in the sets themselves. As you said the set feels really overpriced, however it is technically not that bad (still overpriced) and it is in my opinion the only set, where the inclusion of the road plates makes sense to connect the separate building. While I don't really like the new roadplates, I think giving them a long run could be good for future city builders even in the adult community. I just wish they were more well thought out and maybe even compatable in terms of width to the road plates we had before.
That’s a good way of looking at it. Set 31026 Bike Shop and Cafe was $90 and did well. Looking at that set, the buildings are built more but has fewer vehicles and minifigures. I think you are right, that $80 looks like a poor value for this set without the roadplates, when looking at 31026 for comparison.
I did the same thing you did - thought "this set is a little sparse for $100" but then I also pieced it out and priced it out and then felt better about it. We got this set to use as our "City Starter Construction Set" and I think it was a great introduction for us (including my 5 year old son) to do just that - start our Lego City. If you can't start off with a $300 module then this works perfectly and has lots of room for multiple play scenarios.
Modulate are designed for adults and this is designed for kids as young as six. Plus the modulars are far more expensive. This set was not designed to compete with the modulars.
Your price calculation inside the Lego world might be ok, but that take nothing away from the fact that it is overpriced as a toy. And as far as I know, Lego does not even include extra pieces to connect multiple road plate based sets. That is just outright greedy.
Lego overall is grossly overpriced, especially for countries with weaker economy than that of US. And i agree, for that price they should include some extra 1x4 and 2x4 plates. I'm pretty sure they'll make separate set with those plates...
@@nihili4196 actually if you look at the typical price of plastic toys, Lego really isn't that crazy, I've seen tiny figures go for 10 dollars and action figs go for like 15 sometimes
Design has a price on itself as well, I don't think we pay only for the materials inside the box alone. That's why we feel the price is over what it should be, because despite having a significant amount of things inside the box, the overall design was conceived badly. I may be wrong but, the car wash for instance, it's the kind of thing that seems like it doesn't need that many parts to build, it doesn't justify, at least. The building has many parts and yet, as Jang said, it still looks empty. That feeling of emptiness is driven by bad design, in my understanding.
Road plates are almost half the cost too.Subtracting 1 of the 4 road plates and the park, instead adding another building by the recycling area, would have looked better. The "park" is just so sad looking.
@@lopoa126 Town Center isn't the proper name to describe the set, unfortunately. It would be more appropriate to call it Town Corner or something like that, because a city center is so full of buildings and with the larger square or park in town usually sited there. The new road system also looks weird to me. Despite having more conditions to customization (which is good), it doesn't look that much realistic because we expect roads to be well in an inferior level in relation to the buildings around it. This road system looks like the road is over the sidewalk and one should climb a step to cross it.
I think the “cherry tree” is supposed to be a tomato plant, that would make sense as in the official pictures you see the pizza chef grabbing something from it. That’s my conclusion at least. The set looks nice, it just feels a little empty and the price doesn’t help either
I'm contemplating picking up a kit every month, and doing so for a long time so i'll have a city one day. I have tons of SW kits. Missed out on The Hobbit home of Bilbo, The Simpsons Home and Ghostbusters Headquarters back then, which I really wanted in the city. Anything else is just cool. But, idk. Even if I take the time and buy them slowly, it's still a bit much to invest in. Missing those key kits hurts, too.
LEGO City seems to have gone downhill FAST since the introduction of the ‘city adventures’ series. Why don’t they revisit a little old Wii U game called LEGO City Undercover?
@@nihili4196 yeah, I genuinely think at most 60. The road plates do not add enough value for it to be 100 dollars. I’d say maybe 30 to 40 for the buildings and minifigs and then of course the road plates are already 20 in the set of their own so about 60 dollars. But, I still would personally skip out on this set even if it were 60 lol
That is disingenuous. Just basing it on the brick count and the average price of 10 cents a brick you can get to $80. And you have to remember large windows and plates are always a bit more pricey. It is not difficult to reasonably get to $85 or $90. I doubt you could part it out on Bricklink for less than $80, be honest.
I think we are finally realizing why LEGO City heavily focused on police and firefighters for all these years. They provide play value for kids with so many play features they usually excuse the barren designs. When they try to market the same bland designs (that appeal to younger audiences) as legitimate "town buildings", it exposes how lackluster the line is.
I stopped paying attention to legos a couple years back and I have no money to spend on legos right now but dern, these videos are entertaining. Even though I probably won’t ever get this set.
@@frank.8823 i only know the 90's sets, and they were fun as a kid to play with, but they where just as simple i am afraid. When i grew up to my later teens, i allways fellt the same lackluster feeling i have when i see these shells and empty sidewalks. I do remember however, building lots of little moc's (and tearing them apart the next day) from the collection we had (three brothers all asking lego for birthdays and christmas ;) ) to fill the emptiness
Hey Jang, this may be a bit of too big of a suggestion but in your upcoming road plates video or in a separate video could you show some of the Creator "mini modulars" or the recent 31097 pet shop and cafe would fit with the new road system? Thank you. Greatly appreciate your work, keep it up
@@JANGBRiCKS I DID THIS with the same pet and cafe shop from lego creator and combining the buildings and roads from the recent 2021 lego city sets and it makes it less empty and more cooler!
I can appreciate having the open space in an environment because it lends itself to playability. Having space to put a hand/arm while playing is useful. Sometime space a functional design choice.
When I first saw this, I thought it would not really have much to it. Now, seeing in detail, I actually like a lot of things, e.g., there is not yet another construction crane but they introduced these recycling containers with a vehicle instead. These are really useful to let a city come alive. Since this set will sure be available for 70 € or even 65 € in Germany at some point this year, I will sure get it for my city. As an AFOL, City sets are always only a basis for modification and extension for me and this looks like a pretty interesting basis to me.
You finally got the set yayyy. I liked the fencing area above the pizza place but they couldve made it wider, there was alot of potential space wasted in front
I really appreciate your honest reviews and loved your idea of breaking the set down build by build and thinking about value that way. Will be using this strategy myself looking at future sets 👍🏼
That view of the buildings and streets from above kinda gives me an odd feeling, like an empty garry's mod map... Just kinda creepy and it feels like you shouldn't be looking at it like that.
I'm sitting here, wondering why they didn't flesh out the back of the pizzeria/dojo and give it a small hinge so it could be opened for play purposes. It's such a strange choice of design.
Personally, I have very little investment in whether this set is a good deal or not. I don't buy much Lego at all these days, let alone city (since 2018 I've bought two creator sets, a Minecraft set and pirates of barracuda bay), but I still enjoy being somewhat up to date about the state of things. On that level, I really appreciate the way you go through your own subjective thoughts, then try to give an (as reasonably as is possible) objective breakdown.
I'm actually a big fan of 'open spaces' that kind of stuff screams moc additions. It's the one thing I miss a lot from older sets. Well, that and big baseplates. I also miss that baller boxes with the viewing screen
I did the pricing calculation before and came to the same shocking result. But anyways, for 60€/$ this would have been a great start for kids. But Lego city 2021 was doomed when they put a 20€/$ price tag on those roadplates
Thanks for your take and review of City Centre. Glad you got this set and we get to watch your pure builds and the speed build as this set costs $140.00 in Canada and is not where I will be spending LEGO money this year.
Hey jang, on the truck, move the white 1x6 under the cab and get rid of the 2x6. Lower the grey fence piece one plate and than move the tiles all forward one stud. Than u can put the crane back. I know u dont need my help but figured i would say it anyway. And i would say $80 should have been the right price
i think if you were to swap one of the 4 stud boom pieces and the 2 stud boom piece, you could get the crane to fold in half at the back. i think lego have done something like that before
The discussion about roads illustrates, if nothing else, why Lego has been hesitant to do it before :P I agree with your assessment of the price, it adds up but just doesn't FEEL right. I think its a great idea for LEGO to include the road plates in these sets, even though it does boost the price so that folks can accumulate them well. I hope Lego sticks with this system and doesn't just abandon it after this season because I don't want those plates to start going for $300 each on bricklink in 2024 lol. Perhaps a compromise would be to continue to sell the road plate set and maybe do different ones that include minifigs or accessories etc (like a star wars battle pack, a city set that contains maybe two of the road bits , a food stall and 4 minifigs or something?) but then the main sets don't come with the road parts so that it doesn't jack up the price BUT the standalone sets should still be made compatible with the road system?
Before I clicked I estimated the model to be less than 50 dollars. That said I haven’t bought a “big” set in a long time and never one with road plates.
A lot of these new sets seem to have that "blur" problem for their prints. The vest was such a sad green instead of being bright and noticeable. Those road plates are going to make sets cost so much more than they should.
I honestly think that the kiddie ride is the best build out of the entire set. 😂 Seriously. Also Shirley Keeper (?) looks more like an Amazon delivery driver.
I think you're right Jang, if they included the bits to convert the Kendo studio into a separate building and just a few other accessories to flesh it out, I could see it being worth the money, nice variety of minifigures though
I’d love it if they broke the city sets up into separate sets for buildings. I want the buildings and even the road plates, but I’ve got more cars than I know what to do with. And no more fire or police for me as well.
i always loved minifigures sinc a kid.. more than the lego pieces itself. i wish a have money to collect them . cuz i love them so much , and love to play and create personalitys for them < 3
With a set called town square, I personally would love the car wash to be another building like maybe a post office. Also the dojo seems like it could have been something more made for a town square.
I think the car wash needed to be bigger so it could have maybe a control and maintenance rooms for workers, that way it feels less empty. Plus for 100 dollars I think having another small building or also marking the tall building slightly larger maybe making each half a little larger for a little more minifig room and accessories would also help
The pizza place makes me think it's one of those places which pretend to be fancy looking, but they just bring in the frozen pizzas, and reheat them in the standard oven dressed up as a pizza oven... 😂
The problem with this set is - it isnt focused. The carwash+ chager dont fit this scene completly. If this was another proper building I would much better!
Can you share a short video combining all the new Lego City sets using the new road plate system please? The Town Centre, Shopping Street and Town house perhaps?
Definitely, I will do exactly that, then later follow up with another video demonstrating the integration of a modular building, cheaper Creator mini-building or house, and maybe even putting a traditional road plate at the end of a street for comparison.
Road Plates - $15 (since it doesn't come with all the extras) Park bench with ride, mother, baby, man and dog - $10 Pizzeria and Kendo Dojo with Kendo teacher, student, and Pizza Chef - $30 Car Wash with Car, Business Lady, and Crook - $25 Recycling Truck, Driver, and Recycling Center - $25 Firefighter and Motorcycle - $5 I'm getting a total value of about $110. But yeah, it does still feel like it's lacking in substance. Would love to see how you break down the set and price the individual 'units.'
I think we in other cases are used to that the prices for bulk is more favorable compared to buying smaller and more boxes. Also production and distribution cost should have benefits. Buying a 10 kilo bag of rice should be cheaper than buying ten 1 kilo bags. But we can probably find some sort of deals for this set.
9 minifigs. Actually not bad at all. Just looking at this review, I do like the recycling bins + track and the carwash actually as well. Won't probably buy it, but these kind of reviews, help me to get more and more ideas for my own city, based on modulars. trying to figure out what options the new streetplates do have which I can use for my city. Well, probably more space on my table, to add more buildings.
A decent set but it burns a lot on the road plates and takes away from the actual buildings leaving them bare and narrow. Could’ve done without them. I wish they utilized more of the small buildings like from the monkie kid sets to make a set like the last city center, the one with the hotel I think from 2019(?) or even the town square from last year. Those were pretty solid sets, at least in content.
£90! Like really? Who else rembers when Lego city wasn't 5+ with ludicrous prices. Personally, lego city peaked in 2016. Who else remembers the 60004 fire station. Massive building, trucks, helicopter and minifigs for just £60? Honestly lego should cut down on price. This set should be at most £25!
Thanks for letting us follow your thoughts about the value part. As other comments have already said, there is this something (design-wise, the overall look of it) that just doesn't FEEL right for that price tag and maybe they should have done some different math this time as they should want to get this whole new road plate system started. There are other sets (not only city) which have (and will) left me with the same impression... Lego being always expensive aside, sometimes they just fail with their pricing, no less, no more.
this is what i like about your video's your being straight with us and that merits respect. personally i don't quite mind prices, as i tend to only buy the monkie kid and jurassic world sets and maybe if i like them enough the modular creative expert buildings or the ideas sets.
Hey Jang. I've made the same exercise and I would say 70-80USD. But, as you've mentioned on a previous video, Lego sets will sell no matter price is given, so... I do understand 100USD, given the volume of stuff and potential!
Trying to think about what I liked as a kid, I think I would have enjoyed the road plates if I had them, but for the price the better value would be in more buildings. Kids are pretty imaginative and can easily imagine the roads, It's buildings and structures that kids like because it can spur scenario play.
This is a really neat set for two reasons: 1: They've included it in their pilot Braille/Audio Instructions program, so you can buy it for a blind or low-vision child, (or adult). As a partially blind AFOL, this is just awesome, and I hope to see more sets of a higher piece count and difficulty included soon. 2: They've included a minifig who is intended to represent a blind person. That's great! I mean, I could easily put a longish white peg, maybe with a hollow red or white stud at the bottom, in a minifigure's hand, say it's a white cane, and call it good, but this is awesome! However, I do wish Lego would leave off or alternate the shades on future blindfigs, like this guy and Savannah from the Friends line. It feels like stereotyping and bugs me a little, though I try and use my imagination to come up with other reasons they're wearing sunglasses other than oh, they're just blind/hiding eyes/whatever. I left feedback about instructions, and the shades, and the rep at Lego was really great! If you want to see a change in how they do instructions, or other things, talk to a rep and suggest it! After all, without feedback, how can Lego know what is and isn't working? Anyway, JANG, thanks for the great video!
Jang is right. (I spend way more time on this than I should, haha) 30$ - Pizza building +3 figs 20$ - Roads +park 25$ - Carwash +Energy outlett +Car + 2figs 25$ - 2 bins on plate + truck + 2 figs 10$ 2 last figs + bikes (a price stretch but still) So we have 110 Dolars while set is 100$ And has 3 unique figs!
I did 7 for each building and included the car for the car wash because it’s really just a shell of a building, 5 for the recycling truck, 3 for the recycling center, a dollar for each mini figure, and 10 dollars for the road leading me to 41 dollar. Ill be generous and say that in my opinion this should be a 50 dollar set. I understand they need to pull a profit between shipping and bagging and boxing, so I’d say at the max this is a 60 dollar set. Anything 65 and above is a rip off anything below 50 is a steal. Objectively that’s at least how I see it.
I really like the look of the pizza oven in the pizzeria. That building along with a few extra parts to flesh it out into a restaurant or a busier takeaway place would make a really nice set by itself. Other than the recycling station which is a nice aspect, I think the rest offers very little. Take those pieces off the final set and you've got a nice, manageable $50 set. I would happily buy that, but not the whole set as is for $100. This is a prime example of Lego making a set that is unnecessarily big by filling it with lots of plain pieces and constructions and therefore 'justifying' the expensive price they charge.
I feel like the value just isn't there with this set. The buildings, figures, and vehicles are what make these types of sets in terms of play value and story-telling in my opinion. Kids can imagine roads just fine, leave them out and knock down the price.
Finally someone who is not complaining about new VS old but got to the core problem. I'm definitely on your side, kids want to play. If they need roads they will draw them on cardboard. When asking a child I bet 90%+ will go for bigger sets without roads if they have an option. Just ask someone between 5-12 if he/she wants a 20 bucks road-set or a 20 bucks house/car/truck or even friend's or ninjago one.
I think it's also necessary to judge a set by WHAT it is, rather than simply how much "stuff" it has, seeing as the design of it is an, if not the most, important factor. This happens to be a clear cut example; all the elements in the set would be more or less proportionally priced (and that's being generous) based on what they are individually, but combining them doesn't at all make a set worth $100 because they don't add to make a substantial scene/object. A set that only has one building (a shallow one at that), with the rest of it being made up of secondary and tertiary elements such as a car wash, recycling bins, and a green plate with a bench, is somehow supposed to be a town center worth $100...Thus I think it's not at all fitting to judge the set based on how much each element would be priced if sold individually, you also have to look at the whole
I see your point re the part count - my issue is the road plates - the addition of them is what bumps the price up, and if you don't like it you're stuck with it... it's not that the road plates are not worth their price, its the fact that the set is too expensive to make it worth my while as I don't want those road plates... If lego wanted to add road plates to sets, well that box is big enough to add a couple of the original road plates for the same price and it would have been a definite buy.
Set is clearly worth $10 USD and not a cent more, because maths! Proven! 😋
Lol😅
So why are they doing this?
Bruh😂😅
Lego Baby with carrier: $9
Rest of set $1
Trying to Figure, why so many City Center style sets 'feel' overpriced at first glance.
Maybe its a Visual Effect; when you're presented with so many different things at once overlapping; your brain glosses over the details and each individual thing looks small.
brain goes from, nice recycling truck with recycling center to -> insignificant little orange truck in the background.
It feels like its missing a building
If it had one more building I think it would look a lot better but then Lego would probably make the set £120
Yep
It's missing two buildings at least to call it a town centre. The shopping street had more substance to it. That set is more if a town centre than this
@@goldie0513 That's what a grownup says. Kids say: give me more cars.
This is honestly a sad excuse for a “town center.”
Looks more like a town corner than “center”
Exactly
Yeah, looks empty.
Ace Gloon exactly even the last one is so much better
@@boon7966 agreed
I feel like this set is a little on the plain side. I don't really see anything here (apart from the blind dog and minifigure) that feels special to me. However after about 50 years of LEGO City/ LEGO Town that is to be expected from it. A thing that I have to critique about the sets of the 2021 City sets in terms of the roadplates is that in my opinion, on their own, they don't really add anything to the sets. Sure they are helpful if you're building a City. But for a kid who gets the Family house, the roadplates in there are just... kinda there.
When it comes to connecting sets with the new road system I think LEGO would've been better of making all these sets compatible with the road plates, but don't include them in the sets themselves.
As you said the set feels really overpriced, however it is technically not that bad (still overpriced) and it is in my opinion the only set, where the inclusion of the road plates makes sense to connect the separate building. While I don't really like the new roadplates, I think giving them a long run could be good for future city builders even in the adult community. I just wish they were more well thought out and maybe even compatable in terms of width to the road plates we had before.
My problem with the set is, that all builds look loveless. If you want easy things for younger children make smaller sets that can be combined.
And not overpriced
I have been watching you for 2 years and I never got bored with you
If the set came without the road plates then literally nobody would buy it for 80$. That's just insanity
That’s a good way of looking at it. Set 31026 Bike Shop and Cafe was $90 and did well. Looking at that set, the buildings are built more but has fewer vehicles and minifigures. I think you are right, that $80 looks like a poor value for this set without the roadplates, when looking at 31026 for comparison.
I did the same thing you did - thought "this set is a little sparse for $100" but then I also pieced it out and priced it out and then felt better about it. We got this set to use as our "City Starter Construction Set" and I think it was a great introduction for us (including my 5 year old son) to do just that - start our Lego City. If you can't start off with a $300 module then this works perfectly and has lots of room for multiple play scenarios.
This why I prefer the modulars fully finished buildings you can easily implement into an actual city
Modulate are designed for adults and this is designed for kids as young as six. Plus the modulars are far more expensive. This set was not designed to compete with the modulars.
Same here. They have full walls and way more detail.
I bought this set. Would have shelled out the extra hundred bucks based on what you said alone. This was okay, needed to start somewhere
Your price calculation inside the Lego world might be ok, but that take nothing away from the fact that it is overpriced as a toy.
And as far as I know, Lego does not even include extra pieces to connect multiple road plate based sets. That is just outright greedy.
Lego overall is grossly overpriced, especially for countries with weaker economy than that of US.
And i agree, for that price they should include some extra 1x4 and 2x4 plates.
I'm pretty sure they'll make separate set with those plates...
@@nihili4196 actually if you look at the typical price of plastic toys, Lego really isn't that crazy, I've seen tiny figures go for 10 dollars and action figs go for like 15 sometimes
Design has a price on itself as well, I don't think we pay only for the materials inside the box alone. That's why we feel the price is over what it should be, because despite having a significant amount of things inside the box, the overall design was conceived badly. I may be wrong but, the car wash for instance, it's the kind of thing that seems like it doesn't need that many parts to build, it doesn't justify, at least. The building has many parts and yet, as Jang said, it still looks empty. That feeling of emptiness is driven by bad design, in my understanding.
Road plates are almost half the cost too.Subtracting 1 of the 4 road plates and the park, instead adding another building by the recycling area, would have looked better. The "park" is just so sad looking.
@@lopoa126 Town Center isn't the proper name to describe the set, unfortunately. It would be more appropriate to call it Town Corner or something like that, because a city center is so full of buildings and with the larger square or park in town usually sited there.
The new road system also looks weird to me. Despite having more conditions to customization (which is good), it doesn't look that much realistic because we expect roads to be well in an inferior level in relation to the buildings around it. This road system looks like the road is over the sidewalk and one should climb a step to cross it.
I think the “cherry tree” is supposed to be a tomato plant, that would make sense as in the official pictures you see the pizza chef grabbing something from it. That’s my conclusion at least. The set looks nice, it just feels a little empty and the price doesn’t help either
LEGO pricing themselves out of the market. Perceived value is everything.
I really dont like the new sets, some are great and totally worth it and some are way overpriced
I'm contemplating picking up a kit every month, and doing so for a long time so i'll have a city one day.
I have tons of SW kits. Missed out on The Hobbit home of Bilbo, The Simpsons Home and Ghostbusters Headquarters back then, which I really wanted in the city. Anything else is just cool.
But, idk. Even if I take the time and buy them slowly, it's still a bit much to invest in. Missing those key kits hurts, too.
Go check your local lego aisles. They are very much still in the market.
LEGO City seems to have gone downhill FAST since the introduction of the ‘city adventures’ series. Why don’t they revisit a little old Wii U game called LEGO City Undercover?
BN’s Railway Videos City having named characters is sad. Imagination is much more fun then getting 3 named characters in each kit.
I don't know. When I add thing up in my head, I get to maybe 60-70, I just can't wrap my head around the 100$ price tag.
70 would be too generous. Anything above 65 for this set is waaaay too much.
@@nihili4196 yeah, I genuinely think at most 60. The road plates do not add enough value for it to be 100 dollars. I’d say maybe 30 to 40 for the buildings and minifigs and then of course the road plates are already 20 in the set of their own so about 60 dollars. But, I still would personally skip out on this set even if it were 60 lol
That is disingenuous. Just basing it on the brick count and the average price of 10 cents a brick you can get to $80. And you have to remember large windows and plates are always a bit more pricey. It is not difficult to reasonably get to $85 or $90. I doubt you could part it out on Bricklink for less than $80, be honest.
I think we are finally realizing why LEGO City heavily focused on police and firefighters for all these years. They provide play value for kids with so many play features they usually excuse the barren designs. When they try to market the same bland designs (that appeal to younger audiences) as legitimate "town buildings", it exposes how lackluster the line is.
I stopped paying attention to legos a couple years back and I have no money to spend on legos right now but dern, these videos are entertaining. Even though I probably won’t ever get this set.
I feel like just selling the road plates separate would make the sets more affordable and with more stuff
They do. www.lego.com/en-us/product/road-plates-60304
@@natbarmore I know there is one separate set, but what I meant was to sell every set without them, so if you want them you can buy them sperately
As the years go on. LEGO City gets more overpriced and more "junior-ised".
I remember city sets from the late 90s and early 2000s and I don't think so. These sets look much better.
Honestly it sucks imo
No 90s,2000s and early 2010s sets are better than these 2020s sets
@@frank.8823 i only know the 90's sets, and they were fun as a kid to play with, but they where just as simple i am afraid. When i grew up to my later teens, i allways fellt the same lackluster feeling i have when i see these shells and empty sidewalks.
I do remember however, building lots of little moc's (and tearing them apart the next day) from the collection we had (three brothers all asking lego for birthdays and christmas ;) ) to fill the emptiness
But on the opposite end of the spectrum. LEGO Ninjago get better and better sets and minifigs while the pricing stays the same if not cheaper xD
A car wash in a town centre? I mean come on.... that’s plain aweful! Should be a park, statue, bars, restaurants and historical buildings.
Hey Jang, this may be a bit of too big of a suggestion but in your upcoming road plates video or in a separate video could you show some of the Creator "mini modulars" or the recent 31097 pet shop and cafe would fit with the new road system?
Thank you. Greatly appreciate your work, keep it up
I will definitely try to bring in some of those small Creator buildings 👍
@@JANGBRiCKS Thank you so much!
@@JANGBRiCKS I DID THIS with the same pet and cafe shop from lego creator and combining the buildings and roads from the recent 2021 lego city sets and it makes it less empty and more cooler!
You can get the road plates for 20€ (60304). So you pay for the two very small buildings, two cars and the minifgs 80€. This is very expensive
And the 4+ garbage truck 60220 is 20€(got prints 2 minifig and a bin) so remove 2 figs and the truck/containers. And we stick with 60 for the rest.
I can appreciate having the open space in an environment because it lends itself to playability. Having space to put a hand/arm while playing is useful. Sometime space a functional design choice.
well said
The set is great if you want to make your own city, but $100 is too much imo.
When I first saw this, I thought it would not really have much to it. Now, seeing in detail, I actually like a lot of things, e.g., there is not yet another construction crane but they introduced these recycling containers with a vehicle instead. These are really useful to let a city come alive. Since this set will sure be available for 70 € or even 65 € in Germany at some point this year, I will sure get it for my city. As an AFOL, City sets are always only a basis for modification and extension for me and this looks like a pretty interesting basis to me.
You finally got the set yayyy. I liked the fencing area above the pizza place but they couldve made it wider, there was alot of potential space wasted in front
Another great thorough review. The guide dog is a nice touch 🐾
I really appreciate your honest reviews and loved your idea of breaking the set down build by build and thinking about value that way. Will be using this strategy myself looking at future sets 👍🏼
That view of the buildings and streets from above kinda gives me an odd feeling, like an empty garry's mod map... Just kinda creepy and it feels like you shouldn't be looking at it like that.
It does feel like an unfinished area from a video game
I'm sitting here, wondering why they didn't flesh out the back of the pizzeria/dojo and give it a small hinge so it could be opened for play purposes. It's such a strange choice of design.
You are very generous with your pricing, Jang.
Personally, I have very little investment in whether this set is a good deal or not. I don't buy much Lego at all these days, let alone city (since 2018 I've bought two creator sets, a Minecraft set and pirates of barracuda bay), but I still enjoy being somewhat up to date about the state of things. On that level, I really appreciate the way you go through your own subjective thoughts, then try to give an (as reasonably as is possible) objective breakdown.
I'm actually a big fan of 'open spaces' that kind of stuff screams moc additions. It's the one thing I miss a lot from older sets. Well, that and big baseplates. I also miss that baller boxes with the viewing screen
The blandness of the city sets is why i have gravitated to the creator 3:1 sets. They are far better in my opinion.
As a nearly blind Lego fan myself
although I don’t use a guide stick sunglasses nor have a Service dog
I really appreciate this
it’s just awesome🥳🙌🏻
I really like how Lego is making a lot of sets with roads so that you can get all the sets and put them together to make a city
NEW IN LEGO CITY,
A MAN Is WALKING ON THE ROAD
Start the new rescue helicopter!
I did the pricing calculation before and came to the same shocking result. But anyways, for 60€/$ this would have been a great start for kids. But Lego city 2021 was doomed when they put a 20€/$ price tag on those roadplates
I thought what you called a "cherry tree" might be vines with grapes on them.
I thought it was a tomato bush considering its above a pizza restaurant
This reminds me of 2010 - 2015 structure sets where it was quite hollow, but large. Nice Review too!
You have the best and most logical reviews, keep doing what you're doing man 😁
Great review
The space is for the Covid queues 😁
Thanks for your take and review of City Centre. Glad you got this set and we get to watch your pure builds and the speed build as this set costs $140.00 in Canada and is not where I will be spending LEGO money this year.
The roads= 20$
So allllllll the little Rest is 80$????
Hey jang, on the truck, move the white 1x6 under the cab and get rid of the 2x6. Lower the grey fence piece one plate and than move the tiles all forward one stud. Than u can put the crane back. I know u dont need my help but figured i would say it anyway. And i would say $80 should have been the right price
i think if you were to swap one of the 4 stud boom pieces and the 2 stud boom piece, you could get the crane to fold in half at the back. i think lego have done something like that before
This set is $160 in Australia. And you think your prices are bad?
The discussion about roads illustrates, if nothing else, why Lego has been hesitant to do it before :P
I agree with your assessment of the price, it adds up but just doesn't FEEL right.
I think its a great idea for LEGO to include the road plates in these sets, even though it does boost the price so that folks can accumulate them well. I hope Lego sticks with this system and doesn't just abandon it after this season because I don't want those plates to start going for $300 each on bricklink in 2024 lol.
Perhaps a compromise would be to continue to sell the road plate set and maybe do different ones that include minifigs or accessories etc (like a star wars battle pack, a city set that contains maybe two of the road bits , a food stall and 4 minifigs or something?) but then the main sets don't come with the road parts so that it doesn't jack up the price BUT the standalone sets should still be made compatible with the road system?
Thanks for using logic!!! I'm the same way...need to think things out!
Wonder if the fire bike is for the car wash fire caused by a renault espace convertible 🤔
Before I clicked I estimated the model to be less than 50 dollars. That said I haven’t bought a “big” set in a long time and never one with road plates.
A lot of these new sets seem to have that "blur" problem for their prints. The vest was such a sad green instead of being bright and noticeable. Those road plates are going to make sets cost so much more than they should.
I honestly think that the kiddie ride is the best build out of the entire set. 😂 Seriously.
Also Shirley Keeper (?) looks more like an Amazon delivery driver.
A pizza shop getting set on fire? Finally, Lego making the Do The Right Thing set we've all been after
Waaaaaaoowww went t h e r e with it
And yet they cancel a criminal base set for having a.. criminal base?
I think you're right Jang, if they included the bits to convert the Kendo studio into a separate building and just a few other accessories to flesh it out, I could see it being worth the money, nice variety of minifigures though
Your explanation at the end is why I only watch your reviews. You’re logical and don’t just shame Lego but also don’t just praise them
This should retail for 50 dollars or less.
I’d love it if they broke the city sets up into separate sets for buildings. I want the buildings and even the road plates, but I’ve got more cars than I know what to do with. And no more fire or police for me as well.
i always loved minifigures sinc a kid.. more than the lego pieces itself. i wish a have money to collect them . cuz i love them so much , and love to play and create personalitys for them < 3
I love how the dragon dojo sign looks exactly like the mortal kombat dragon
With a set called town square, I personally would love the car wash to be another building like maybe a post office. Also the dojo seems like it could have been something more made for a town square.
I think the car wash needed to be bigger so it could have maybe a control and maintenance rooms for workers, that way it feels less empty. Plus for 100 dollars I think having another small building or also marking the tall building slightly larger maybe making each half a little larger for a little more minifig room and accessories would also help
It seems to be priced like a licensed set. Builds are too basic.
The pizza place makes me think it's one of those places which pretend to be fancy looking, but they just bring in the frozen pizzas, and reheat them in the standard oven dressed up as a pizza oven... 😂
The problem with this set is - it isnt focused. The carwash+ chager dont fit this scene completly. If this was another proper building I would much better!
I still like the baseplate roads much more.
I’d love to see this set connected to Shopping Street to really see the potential of the new road plate system.
They do not include the necessary pieces to connect the road plates...
Can you share a short video combining all the new Lego City sets using the new road plate system please? The Town Centre, Shopping Street and Town house perhaps?
Definitely, I will do exactly that, then later follow up with another video demonstrating the integration of a modular building, cheaper Creator mini-building or house, and maybe even putting a traditional road plate at the end of a street for comparison.
Road Plates - $15 (since it doesn't come with all the extras)
Park bench with ride, mother, baby, man and dog - $10
Pizzeria and Kendo Dojo with Kendo teacher, student, and Pizza Chef - $30
Car Wash with Car, Business Lady, and Crook - $25
Recycling Truck, Driver, and Recycling Center - $25
Firefighter and Motorcycle - $5
I'm getting a total value of about $110. But yeah, it does still feel like it's lacking in substance. Would love to see how you break down the set and price the individual 'units.'
I think we in other cases are used to that the prices for bulk is more favorable compared to buying smaller and more boxes. Also production and distribution cost should have benefits. Buying a 10 kilo bag of rice should be cheaper than buying ten 1 kilo bags. But we can probably find some sort of deals for this set.
9 minifigs. Actually not bad at all. Just looking at this review, I do like the recycling bins + track and the carwash actually as well. Won't probably buy it, but these kind of reviews, help me to get more and more ideas for my own city, based on modulars. trying to figure out what options the new streetplates do have which I can use for my city. Well, probably more space on my table, to add more buildings.
A decent set but it burns a lot on the road plates and takes away from the actual buildings leaving them bare and narrow. Could’ve done without them. I wish they utilized more of the small buildings like from the monkie kid sets to make a set like the last city center, the one with the hotel I think from 2019(?) or even the town square from last year. Those were pretty solid sets, at least in content.
I think the set would’ve been better if it had another 2 small buildings, One would probably be a laundry place with another being a office.
I feel like the "cherry tree" might actually represent tomatoes instead?
I wasn’t sure about the trash bins until you showed them close up.
Yes more videos great jang keep it up love your work 👍😊
£90! Like really? Who else rembers when Lego city wasn't 5+ with ludicrous prices. Personally, lego city peaked in 2016. Who else remembers the 60004 fire station. Massive building, trucks, helicopter and minifigs for just £60? Honestly lego should cut down on price. This set should be at most £25!
It peaked in around 2011-15 for me. The police stations in that time period were the best.
Great value discussion. Hopefully people won't dismiss it without second thought!
I mean I'm just imagining this thing at the center of Jang's city
Thanks for letting us follow your thoughts about the value part.
As other comments have already said, there is this something (design-wise, the overall look of it) that just doesn't FEEL right for that price tag and maybe they should have done some different math this time as they should want to get this whole new road plate system started.
There are other sets (not only city) which have (and will) left me with the same impression... Lego being always expensive aside, sometimes they just fail with their pricing, no less, no more.
this is what i like about your video's your being straight with us and that merits respect. personally i don't quite mind prices, as i tend to only buy the monkie kid and jurassic world sets and maybe if i like them enough the modular creative expert buildings or the ideas sets.
Honestly, I would give more than 60 to 70 max.
Hey Jang. I've made the same exercise and I would say 70-80USD. But, as you've mentioned on a previous video, Lego sets will sell no matter price is given, so... I do understand 100USD, given the volume of stuff and potential!
It needs at least two more buildings to be considered a town centre
you should start doing custom moc reviews along with your official set reviews
Trying to think about what I liked as a kid, I think I would have enjoyed the road plates if I had them, but for the price the better value would be in more buildings. Kids are pretty imaginative and can easily imagine the roads, It's buildings and structures that kids like because it can spur scenario play.
Nice set, it's good a way to evaluate the price. If it get around 80 I will definitly get it.
great video, Jang!
This is a really neat set for two reasons:
1: They've included it in their pilot Braille/Audio Instructions program, so you can buy it for a blind or low-vision child, (or adult). As a partially blind AFOL, this is just awesome, and I hope to see more sets of a higher piece count and difficulty included soon.
2: They've included a minifig who is intended to represent a blind person. That's great! I mean, I could easily put a longish white peg, maybe with a hollow red or white stud at the bottom, in a minifigure's hand, say it's a white cane, and call it good, but this is awesome!
However, I do wish Lego would leave off or alternate the shades on future blindfigs, like this guy and Savannah from the Friends line. It feels like stereotyping and bugs me a little, though I try and use my imagination to come up with other reasons they're wearing sunglasses other than oh, they're just blind/hiding eyes/whatever.
I left feedback about instructions, and the shades, and the rep at Lego was really great!
If you want to see a change in how they do instructions, or other things, talk to a rep and suggest it! After all, without feedback, how can Lego know what is and isn't working? Anyway, JANG, thanks for the great video!
Jang is right. (I spend way more time on this than I should, haha)
30$ - Pizza building +3 figs
20$ - Roads +park
25$ - Carwash +Energy outlett +Car + 2figs
25$ - 2 bins on plate + truck + 2 figs
10$ 2 last figs + bikes (a price stretch but still)
So we have 110 Dolars while set is 100$ And has 3 unique figs!
25 for the truck + extras? Are you serious?
@@neodym5809 Seeing how trucks like these are 20$. Yes.
I did 7 for each building and included the car for the car wash because it’s really just a shell of a building, 5 for the recycling truck, 3 for the recycling center, a dollar for each mini figure, and 10 dollars for the road leading me to 41 dollar. Ill be generous and say that in my opinion this should be a 50 dollar set. I understand they need to pull a profit between shipping and bagging and boxing, so I’d say at the max this is a 60 dollar set. Anything 65 and above is a rip off anything below 50 is a steal. Objectively that’s at least how I see it.
5:07 you could use the ramps off the road plates
Love your videos Jang
Picking this up today!
Ignoring price as a factor, the word "anemic" comes to mind, frankly.
I really like the look of the pizza oven in the pizzeria. That building along with a few extra parts to flesh it out into a restaurant or a busier takeaway place would make a really nice set by itself. Other than the recycling station which is a nice aspect, I think the rest offers very little. Take those pieces off the final set and you've got a nice, manageable $50 set. I would happily buy that, but not the whole set as is for $100. This is a prime example of Lego making a set that is unnecessarily big by filling it with lots of plain pieces and constructions and therefore 'justifying' the expensive price they charge.
Got this set for $58 USD with coupons and the great exchange rate with the Yen. I think $50-$60 is the right price for a set like this.
I feel like the value just isn't there with this set. The buildings, figures, and vehicles are what make these types of sets in terms of play value and story-telling in my opinion. Kids can imagine roads just fine, leave them out and knock down the price.
Finally someone who is not complaining about new VS old but got to the core problem.
I'm definitely on your side, kids want to play. If they need roads they will draw them on cardboard. When asking a child I bet 90%+ will go for bigger sets without roads if they have an option.
Just ask someone between 5-12 if he/she wants a 20 bucks road-set or a 20 bucks house/car/truck or even friend's or ninjago one.
UCS falcon in 2 hours 😂😂 Jang is great at capturing the ludicrous stuff from unwarranted criticism
I think it's also necessary to judge a set by WHAT it is, rather than simply how much "stuff" it has, seeing as the design of it is an, if not the most, important factor. This happens to be a clear cut example; all the elements in the set would be more or less proportionally priced (and that's being generous) based on what they are individually, but combining them doesn't at all make a set worth $100 because they don't add to make a substantial scene/object. A set that only has one building (a shallow one at that), with the rest of it being made up of secondary and tertiary elements such as a car wash, recycling bins, and a green plate with a bench, is somehow supposed to be a town center worth $100...Thus I think it's not at all fitting to judge the set based on how much each element would be priced if sold individually, you also have to look at the whole
I see your point re the part count - my issue is the road plates - the addition of them is what bumps the price up, and if you don't like it you're stuck with it... it's not that the road plates are not worth their price, its the fact that the set is too expensive to make it worth my while as I don't want those road plates... If lego wanted to add road plates to sets, well that box is big enough to add a couple of the original road plates for the same price and it would have been a definite buy.