Review: 60306 Shopping Street
Posted by CapnRex101,
LEGO City sometimes provokes criticism based upon the dearth of buildings. However, several different structures accompany the road plates introduced recently, including the stores which comprise 60306 Shopping Street. They appear relatively small, unfortunately.
Presumably that reflects the presence of three vehicles which is perhaps disappointing for anybody expecting greater focus upon buildings. However, these models appear quite impressive based upon official images and I appreciate their varied sizes. Additionally, the maintenance truck works nicely with the new street lights.
Minifigures
Six minifigures are provided, including appropriate characters for each role within this set. The first such character works at the bakery so wears a traditional chef's hat and a reddish brown apron which returns from several earlier figures. Ideally, the coffee cup icon would have been updated to feature a pretzel, matching the branding outside the bakery, but I like the tiny name tag and printed legs.
The maintenance worker is dressed in a standard orange jacket with metallic silver high-visibility strips across the front and back. The intricate zips on her torso look superb and I like the dual-moulded hat and hair component which was introduced during 2014. Moreover, the printed goggles seem perfect for a minifigure maintaining street lights.
Additional characters are dressed in sportswear which seems appropriate because this set contains an outdoor gym and a cycling shop. The female minifigure features a splendid dual-moulded hat and hair component that has only appeared once before, in 60234 People Pack - Fun Fair, while the torso is available in two other sets. The colour combination of white, black and red and looks great.
The male character comprises more common elements, although they maintain an appealing standard of detail. I am particularly satisfied with the lime green torso which includes realistic shadows beside the drawstring. Furthermore, this sleeveless component seems ideal for the outdoor gym, although the designer chose not to use a head with beads of sweat which may have been suitable here.
In fact, none of these minifigures include double-sided heads which is unusual. Nevertheless, I like the prominent facial hair and spectacles on the next character, whose light bluish grey hair piece only otherwise appears in 75968 4 Privet Drive and 80106 Story of Nian. The dark blue shirt has appeared on many previous occasions but looks lovely, including dark red stripes.
However, I was pleasantly surprised to encounter a new head when assembling these figures, belonging to the child. Similar designs with freckles and cheerful expressions seem ubiquitous but this example is unique. Something utterly distinctive would have been preferable, although any variation is welcome. I wonder whether this piece was created for another set that has not currently been revealed.
The Completed Model
60234 People Pack - Fun Fair introduced an interesting bike frame with attachment points for creating various unusual vehicles. This element has only been available in white before now, although it appears equally appealing in flame yellowish orange. The medium nougat cargo container is integrated neatly and looks quite realistic, providing space for accessories or a minifigure inside.
Ideally, the medium nougat container would feature more consistent colours when viewed from every angle because the light bluish grey, dark bluish grey and black pieces visible below seem slightly awkward. Even so, I am pleased that the designer chose to include another new vehicle rather than swapping the colours of the ice cream and coffee tricycles that have been produced before.
This elegant sports car also appears reminiscent of previous models, although its colours and precise shaping are both unique. The colour combination of black and yellow looks marvellous and I like the repeated stripes which are present across the model, including through the use of stickers on either side. The pearl silver accents beneath these stickers look nice as well.
The vehicles measures 11cm in length which appears consistent with other cars within LEGO City, notably including 60285 Sports Car. Moreover, the width is appropriate for the new road plates and I like the proportions of this model when viewing it from the side too. The rounded wheel arches are particularly attractive, contrasting against the predominant yellow colour on the bodywork.
As usual, a number plate sticker is applied at the front, displaying initials with the set number. The gentle curvature of the bonnet looks perfect and I appreciate that a few visible studs are scattered across this model, breaking up the numerous curved slopes. There is only space for one minifigure inside which is perhaps disappointing, although I love the sleek windscreen and white 1x2 clamps behind the driver.
Exactly the same curved slopes form the rear section of the car, creating a satisfying balance. The trans-red lights and twin exhausts look perfect here and I am impressed with the realistic 1x2 grille slopes flanking those exhausts. In fact, my only criticism of this sports car relates to the dark voids which are visible behind the wheel arches because they could have been filled quite easily.
While those vehicles are quite appealing, my favourite is the lowly maintenance truck! Cherry pickers have appeared in multiple City sets, including some which are evidently designed for maintaining street lights so match the latest example. However, this model appears far more authentic in my opinion, featuring greater detail than either 3179 Repair Truck or 60054 Light Repair Truck.
The bumper seems particularly distinctive, extending beneath the bodywork at the sides and rear. I like the hazard stripe stickers flanking the number plate and the short bonnet looks excellent too, differing from most City trucks. The angle of the windscreen appears unusually shallow in combination with the bonnet, although I appreciate the variation between this truck and others.
Unfortunately, the interior features typically limited detail and only provides adequate room for one minifigure. Such bright colours also seem incongruous to me. The opening doors are welcome though and I like the black door mirrors as well. Additionally, the roof includes a realistic light bar and an electricity symbol which also appears on either side of the vehicle.
Distinguishing the cab and cargo section with different colours is extremely effective and I like the colour scheme of red and white, with a yellow stripe through the centre and black accents. Those colours continue on the 'City Service' branding while two additional stickers are placed across the articulated boom, featuring alternating yellow and black hazard stripes.
Several accessories are stored around the boom, including tools and safety barriers which can be deployed when repairs are taking place. Replacement glow-in-the-dark 1x2 plates for the street lights are accordingly provided in their own container, although they are not going to receive any charge inside this dark box! Nevertheless, I am impressed with such clever use of the available space.
The cradle boom cannot be extended or retracted. That is unnecessary though because its height is already perfect for the new street lights, as demonstrated below. The articulation is reasonably extensive and I like this cradle which can accommodate one minifigure. The part number for this component has been updated but I cannot identify any changes to the actual element.
Upon completing construction of the shopping street, I was rather surprised by the relative proportions of the street, the pavement and the buildings. The buildings appear quite small beside the road plates and the pavement is remarkably wide. This seems beneficial for play which is evidently the most important factor, although I think the resultant design is awkward when displaying the model.
Two standard road panels and one crossing are provided, creating a street of fitting length to accommodate the buildings. These elements have proven somewhat controversial but I am impressed with their versatility as different 2x4 tiles, plates or other pieces can be set into the roads. They include 2x4 tiles that are decorated with white stripes, thereby matching those on the crossing or forming central markings.
Yellow 2x4 ridge components surround the crossing, clearly delineating where vehicles are required to stop. They look excellent but interfere with the underside of the aforementioned sports car because the chassis element offers limited ground clearance. However, I like the printed pedestrian crossing sign which is also available in 60304 Road Plates.
Further to their adaptability, the new road panels provide various customisation options which were not available previously. A dark azure cycle lane accordingly runs alongside this street, granting relative safety to any cycling minifigures! This cycle lane does seem rather narrow, although I like the 2x4 tiles which are decorated with bicycle symbols, even if they are not evenly spaced along the cycle lane.
Fire hydrants have appeared in many City sets but this design is unique, featuring a red BB-8 head on top. The resulting shape seems very realistic and I love the trans-light blue 1x1 round tile placed beside the hydrant, presumably revealing a leak! In addition, the combination of 1x2 palisade bricks and 1x1 bows form a lovely picket fence, separating the outdoor gym from the pavement.
The gym is reasonably simple, featuring two exercise bars connected to an orange frame. The curvature of this frame is attractive and the neighbouring medium nougat bench looks splendid as well, including a water bottle. Unfortunately, some uncollected dog poo can be found behind the fence. Evidently there are some irresponsible dog owners residing in LEGO City!
Several bakeries can be found throughout Heartlake City but these are rarer within LEGO City. This example is therefore appealing and I think the exterior colour scheme of green and tan with dark green and white awnings looks nice. One table and chair are positioned behind the ornate railing and I like the traditional menu that exhibits croissants, pretzels and another small pastry.
However, my favourite detail is the modern bicycle rack that makes ingenious use of two pearl silver ring blades, originating from the Black Panther range. This looks absolutely fantastic and the standard LEGO bicycle slots neatly between these rings. Customers visiting the bakery can place their orders inside or approach the external serving window, where an updated 1x1 round tile with coin printing is found.
While the bakery looks reasonable from the outside, the structure is extraordinarily shallow so there is limited room within. I was certainly not anticipating a spacious interior but there should be adequate room to display several minifigures in here. The open roof is disappointing as well. However, the serving counter, coffee machine and pretzel stand each look splendid and various baked foodstuffs are provided.
The cycling shop seems more substantial and comparatively modern beside the bakery. The rounded window display looks impressive and this colour combination of blue and dark azure stands out against the pavement, although these tones are not necessarily complementary in my opinion. Perhaps white stripes could have been included to separate the colours.
Additionally, both the magenta bicycle displayed inside and the medium azure mountain bike mounted on the roof are brand new in their respective colours! These are very welcome and I love the decorative mountains situated behind the mountain bike, including white peaks which represent snow. Such fun signage is reminiscent of 60233 Donut Shop Opening.
The cycling shop is more spacious than the bakery, accommodating a larger counter with an updated computer monitor. Once again, the roof does not cover the whole interior which appears more consistent with the Friends theme rather than City. I would rather the roof extended further, although I like the glow-in-the-dark light fixture which is situated above the door.
Despite the relatively generous internal space, this shop seems lacking in stock. Two helmets are displayed opposite the counter and the rotating turntable for the bicycle functions perfectly. Even so, I think the designer could have included some replacement tyres for the cargo bike or another bicycle could have replaced the helmet display, which seems excessively large.
Overall
60306 Shopping Street certainly places greater emphasis upon the street than the shopping. Unfortunately, the buildings are exceptionally small, leaving limited space for internal detail or minifigures. Enclosed structures are unnecessary within the City theme but I think they should have been expanded, especially given the precedent established in the excellent 60233 Donut Shop Opening.
The vehicles are therefore my favourite aspect of this set, although that is quite disappointing given my expectation for interesting buildings. Nevertheless, the maintenance truck looks very realistic and I also like the unusual cargo bike. The price of £59.99 or $79.99 seems expensive though, despite the broad selection of items that are provided. Taking that and the small size of each building into consideration, I would not recommend this set.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review represents an expression of my own opinions.
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75 comments on this article
This set really showcases what's possible with the great new roadplates! That cyclelane is wonderful, as is the cargo trike, and who wouldn't want to take a bite outta Rebetzel's Pretzels?
Thanks for the thorough review.
Shame about the price...
No matter how positive you are about the new road plates like I have been, I'm pretty sure we can all agree they take far, far too much away from what could've otherwise been a great Shopping Street set. This is only 10 USD less than 60233 Donut Shop Opening which was far more substantial and it was trivial to add a single 2019 road plate pack to that to match this. The bakery here is almost just a façade. Somehow the bike shop of all things is more spacious. There's even a bike lane to go with it. I actually like that, though.
It seems like a better use of money to instead get a couple of the Creator 3-in-1 buildings, a couple of the cheaper Great Vehicles, and one copy of 60304.
Hey look, new road plates!
Oooph... €70? Nope.
Thanks for the thorough review though!
So I just watched JANG's Pure Build of this set, and one thing that LEGO appears to be doing with medium-large sets of this year at least, is protect the instructions in a taped-up cardboard envelope. What a wonderful surprise, considering there hasn't yet been any evidence of the paper bags they had a whole press release for.
I like it...
But I really don't like the pedestrian (zebra) crossing. The printed lines and the lines on the tiles don't line up perfectly. Why not leave out the whole section so it can be filled in with grey tiles with or without white lines?
Also the bicycle signs on the road are rotated 90 degrees :)
these city sets are feeling more and more basic. the bike sign is nice but everything else looks too boring.
i will say the bike lane is nice, but where I live it is not blue.
@LegoSonicBoy said:
"So I just watched JANG's Pure Build of this set, and one thing that LEGO appears to be doing with medium-large sets of this year at least, is protect the instructions in a taped-up cardboard envelope. What a wonderful surprise, considering there hasn't yet been any evidence of the paper bags they had a whole press release for."
I have also seen those in videos but have encountered none in my own sets, with European packaging. Has anyone outside North America received instructions which are packaged in the new cardboard envelopes?
Yes, but I can't remember which set now!
@legoninjago69 said:
"i will say the bike lane is nice, but where I live it is not blue."
In 79% of the world they don't say "city service" either ;)
I love the set, and I appreciate the detailed review, especially highlighting the new or recolored parts, but I nearly fell over when I saw the price. I'll wait and pick up the parts I want after someone parts out the set on BrickLink.
Any thoughts on the updated printed tiles Lego is rolling out? I got updated prints in my Deep Space Rocket set and am a big fan, though I'm a little sad to see the old ones disappearing.
Woof, that's like a Star Wars ppp
grrrr give me my 4-wide cars back
@Mister_Jonny said:
"Any thoughts on the updated printed tiles Lego is rolling out? I got updated prints in my Deep Space Rocket set and am a big fan, though I'm a little sad to see the old ones disappearing. "
I'm not hugely fussed over most of the new ones but the 1x1 pressure gauge, when I saw that they were replacing that I was almost emotional. I don't even hate the new print, but it's just such a classic staple that I feel they should just retire it and put in something new, not an updated graphic
@CapnRex101, @Huw: So you're saying that it's... inconsistent? Greeeeeat. One other inconsistency I've noticed based just on my limited experiences and the larger number of unboxing videos I've seen is that some boxes for the same sets are packed more neatly than others, often even corresponding to whether tape or push tabs are used. My North American 70849 was extremely neat with uncrumpled bags and unfolded instructions, albeit just a little bit tattered, but I generally see this more with European push tab boxes, apparently. For example, a number of AustrianLegoFan's unboxings show neat packing with pristine instructions as well, while most sets we get seem to be extremely poorly packed with both bags and instructions a crumpled mess out of the box.
A small improvement to showcase the new road plates I think would have been to include lights for the pedestrian crossing and also remove the tile from the middle of the zebra and build a tiny pedestrian island between the two road lanes.
Excellent set. Atrocious price.
Wooow, I hadn't noticed the existance of 2x6 tiles yet, they look great in this color.
The new road system looks great, lots of potential for customization, something lacking in the old road plates. Imagine using multiple to build ramps that slowly curve up or down.
I thought the yellow ridge tiles were meant to represent speed bumps, in which case interfering with the underside of the sports car would be entirely accurate ;)
@pvp3020 said:
"I thought the yellow ridge tiles were meant to represent speed bumps, in which case interfering with the underside of the sports car would be entirely accurate ;)"
Correct, they're speed bumps according to the 60304 product description. I've just never seen them around a pedestrian crossing out in the streets. They're usually within residential complexes.
This is terrible. I am a City guy, first and foremost, but this is just awful. It's all about the road plates, and what would otherwise be a $60.00 set is now $100 here in Canada. This whole set looks like it took a good half hour to design. Lazy and expensive. Just terrible.
A few positive things strike me as a PFOL (parent FOL):
- lots of play ideas in a relatively compact space. This should be great for (at least younger) kids to stop from getting bored too easily
- versatility of layout even with the few main units. I note how the construct allow relatively simple removal of each building & road. Also good for packing away after play, which is a real strength of the new road system.
- use of the road to integrate multiple elements. For example, lack of cohesion was a large complaint about 60271 Main Square
- good scope to extend the buildings to the back with relatively few & simple bricks
So while I see it may not be perfect in itself, I think it is in line with the press release about the road system in that it looks to encourage further building which is the essence of Lego.
This looks almost promising at first glance but the lack of depth in the buildings completely negates any positive vibes. The bakery doesn't even get a roof!
That's a nifty little set but at $80 MSRP it's awfully steep for what you get. Thanks for the honest and smart review.
79.99 EUR for a 533-piece City set is way too much (exactly 15c/piece), even with the unwanted roadplates. I can't see any desirable new moulds either - for that much cash I would have expected the return of the cypress tree or something...
2 nice vehicles, 6 minifigs and 2 ok buildings. And the road plates. Like, I'd be all over this for $50, but at $80? Wow, no way at all. Which stinks, but these are becoming just way too overpriced. :(
If they're going to sell a number of quality cars, trucks, and roads in the City line for relatively low prices, a set like this should not dedicate most of its plastic to cars, trucks, and roads. There looks like about $20 worth of buildings in this $80 building-based set.
I completely agree with the person above who suggested buying two Creator buildings and the basic road plates set instead.
I think that the city sets are designed for kids who just want to have fun and these look really fun to me (a 68 year old kid). I think many adults are looking at these through the wrong lens to judge them. We need some feedback from the kids!
@CapnRex101 said:
" @LegoSonicBoy said:
"So I just watched JANG's Pure Build of this set, and one thing that LEGO appears to be doing with medium-large sets of this year at least, is protect the instructions in a taped-up cardboard envelope. What a wonderful surprise, considering there hasn't yet been any evidence of the paper bags they had a whole press release for."
I have also seen those in videos but have encountered none in my own sets, with European packaging. Has anyone outside North America received instructions which are packaged in the new cardboard envelopes?"
Yes, my mom bought 42125 and those instructions were in the envelope.
@LegoSonicBoy said:
" @pvp3020 said:
"I thought the yellow ridge tiles were meant to represent speed bumps, in which case interfering with the underside of the sports car would be entirely accurate ;)"
Correct, they're speed bumps according to the 60304 product description. I've just never seen them around a pedestrian crossing out in the streets. They're usually within residential complexes."
We do have them in the United States on some downtown streets in some towns and occasionally on residential streets. I used to live on a street that had these to keep people from speeding through. ...and as someone who used to own a Nissan 350Z, some speed bumps were an issue with the undercarriage of that car.
All but the Skate Park for the NEW City Sets.... are a disappointment.
Buildings are WAY WAY too small in size. The Road Plates are too small in size. they did a really horrible job sadly in the constructing. If you want a good build of these Building Sets, pretty much need to acquire TWO of the Street and Town Centre to make a NORMAL size building. Their compacting has been bad. Who ever designed these.... hopefully the summers won't be the same deal.
Roads need to be wider; Buildings definitely need to be wider.....
I have seen a few of these road plates in reviews, but I still don't think that I will be getting them.
@Harmonious_Building said:
"grrrr give me my 4-wide cars back"
Exactly!! No opening doors and they can't even fit 2 minifigures, so what's the point of 6 wide? It's not about the details for instance... Also now there is less difference between a car and a truck for example. And why need a speedbump if the tyres of the car pass them. I will stop for now :)
The bike lane is fantastic though! Such a neat little idea!
I really love idea of this set. Even the interior. But its a huge shame the set for THIS PRICE has no fully build buildings.
Perhaps this has been said before, but to me it seems like Lego is doing a kind of "My First City" stuff with these new sets and the road plates, kind of a way for maybe newcomers to to get going with making city displays. A type of reboot. As others have pointed out, and in other threads, serious AFOL's who are really into building cities would hardly ever buy these sets and use them as is. They may get them for part packs, but wouldn't really be displaying them as they are currently.
I'm not saying I like these sets or think they're a great addition, just that's the vibe I'm getting from them.
some neat ideas, like the cargo bike and the bike lane, bringing lego cities into the 21st century. but 70€.....yikes
definitely overpriced, but my nephew loved playing with it
Going to have to agree to disagree on a lot of the Shopping Street. Sorry to be the nitpicker, but when you work with this stuff as part of your real-life profession (traffic engineer), you can't help but notice these things. Lego used to be quite good on the small details, but things are starting to slip.
The yellow car: If you're only going to have one license plate, it goes in the back, especially on a sports car.
Sorry, but 3179 is a more realistic utility truck, IMHO, especially with the inclusion of storage cabinets on the passenger side. Most trucks like this either have an articulating boom lift or one that extends (+ for 3179). Overall, the front end/bumper on 3179 is cleaner. The stacked headlights & hazard lights on 60306 are, awkward. Easily fixed, but the hazard stripes face the wrong way on the front bumper of 60306. This is the first time I've seen Lego get this wrong in a long time (ever?). The angle is supposed to lead the eye to the outer edges of the object (aka the passing side), not to the middle. The sides of the truck are wasted space. I appreciate the storage cabinet in the rear, but there could have been one, if not two side opening cabinets on each side, while still allowing for a "well" to store the mini barricades. The placement of the wrench and hammer storage seems to be an afterthought. Quite often these trucks see double duty, being also used for road sign installation/maintenance, necessitating the boom to be horizontal and perpendicular to the truck. Try to do that with this truck and you snap the tools right off.
I get it's a compromise with the new road plates (many missed opportunities here; a topic for a different thread), but no one does speed bumps like that, as these almost miss the wheel paths completely. Further, in a case like this, the whole crosswalk gets raised (similar to a speed table), not speed bumps on either side. Lego's design will earn you a lot of friends from the snow maintenance crews (/sarcasm). (Maybe this is why Lego snow plow sets are so rare?)
As others have mentioned, most countries do not use blue for bike lanes. Green will be the standard in the US, while many European countries use either green or shades of red. (Spoiler alert: Red will soon be designated for bus/transit priority lanes in the US in the near future.) Blue is nearly universally reserved for accessibility/handicap accommodations.
I do like the new style fire hydrant. The bike shop brought back memories of one of my very first Lego sets 6699.
The set does have some nice pieces, but as others have said, the pricepoint leaves A LOT to be desired. I can't help but wonder if we're going into another down cycle for the City line...
On a different topic, I'd love to meet the real-life version of the blonde minifig in the baseball cap. :D
Dry gun design, really highlights the strengths of the new road system. The bike lane is a nice touch. It still somehow feels a bit lacking for the price, but LEGO clearly nailed it with their target demographic considering it’s on backorder through the website.
@CapnRex101 said:
" @LegoSonicBoy said:
"So I just watched JANG's Pure Build of this set, and one thing that LEGO appears to be doing with medium-large sets of this year at least, is protect the instructions in a taped-up cardboard envelope. What a wonderful surprise, considering there hasn't yet been any evidence of the paper bags they had a whole press release for."
I have also seen those in videos but have encountered none in my own sets, with European packaging. Has anyone outside North America received instructions which are packaged in the new cardboard envelopes?"
yes, ecto-1 instruction came in cardboard envelope
I think shaving 10$ would've made it a fine deal
@bananaworld said: "This set really showcases what's possible with the great new roadplates!"
You're right!
We can see how the road-plates have jacked up the price to a, frankly, absurd cost. We can see how the road-plates are barely wide enough for a 6-wide vehicle (let alone an 8-wide one) and the yellow speed-bumps means that vehicles with low chassis can't even clear them.
Oh, and we also see that the buildings have been shoved to the side, and the bakery is suffering from the long-running Lego problem of being reduced to a facade, offering nothing more than a front wall and three-studs of space for the building interior.
And I know what comes next. "How dare you complain?" It's almost as if, being a potential customer means I'm entirely allowed to judge whether something is worth my money, or not. I'm trying not to be passive aggressive, but people are allowed to say, "I don't like this, for reasons x, y and z". And I don't.
The skate park is the only one of these new roadplated City sets that I want. There's potential, here, but even on clearance, the price is going to be prohibitive.
And, honestly, Lego's made enough mis-steps with extremely expensive sets that offer little value for money. In Australian toy-shops, there's piles of Super Mario sets that went untouched over the Christmas period (when Lego aisles were picked clean) and are now gathering dust, as the stores try to clearance them out just to get rid of them.
Really bad price for what you get for a city set just because it comes with the new road plates that some people don't even like. The best city/town sets would always be the classic 90s town theme for me. Not even close.
The speed bumps interfering with the sports car remind me of a funny lottery commercial in the Netherlands from 2000 (the joke being that if you participate in the lottery you run the risk of getting 'real' problems). Seems accurate to me.
I really like the aesthetic of this set, how bright and colourful it is. I especially like that bike lane, although I can't help but feel 3 studs wide would have been the sweet spot.
And it does feel like a bustling street. It's nice to get something other than police or fire.
But ouch ouch ouch that price!
If there's one thing that can be appreciated about the new city sets, it's the inclusion of a good amount of minifigures. Makes the city feel like... you know- a city. With lots of people.
Nevermind, I wrote that with the assumption that this set was 40 or 50 dollars before I finished the review and saw the actual price point. I kid you not.
Shops are cute but sparse. The bike lane is fantastic. The fire hydrant is adorable. It has the feel of an early '80s sweet but with the new roads. Cars are too big.
But none of it matters as the price is too high for what I get. I'd spend $40 on this set, not $80. There's no reasonable discount this set could ever have that would get me to buy it.
1. Good and fair review
2. Nice Roads
3. Cool Bike Lane and Trike
4. Ok vehicles
5. Really lame buildings (objectively worse than most City building offers of recent years.)
6. lame price point for play value (compared to City sets of similar value from recent years).
It's like they came up with a whole series of road packs that each come with a different set of buildings or cars for free.
Water flows to the lowest point. The street is higher than the shops...
Great to get all the new bikes in one set, and definitely has some nice play value.
At first the price seems a bit steep but if you assume the road section is maybe £10 (roughly half of 60304), and £10 for the truck, £15 each for the shops and the remaining £10 for the sports car and outdoor gym you end up with the £60 rrp. So it's just the perceived value that seems a bit off at first.
Maybe if you argue £10 each for the shops then £50 seems a more reasonable rrp. But we'd all like cheaper sets.
Apologies to everyone in advance, but this set is complete, overpriced garbage from Lego.
The buildings in this so called shopping street are just facades, and next to useless with play value (surely the whole point of them). Almost an afterthought to sell the new road plates.
Too many vehicles (it’s meant to be a shopping street - shops should have been the focus), too few pieces used on the shops and far too expensive. Should be an easy pass for most people. Lego seems to be going down a slope in the City range towards where things got dicey for them in the early 2000s.
@CapnRex101 : Are the bike symbols on the bike lane stickers or printed tiles?
@Andhe said:
"Great to get all the new bikes in one set, and definitely has some nice play value.
At first the price seems a bit steep but if you assume the road section is maybe £10 (roughly half of 60304), and £10 for the truck, £15 each for the shops and the remaining £10 for the sports car and outdoor gym you end up with the £60 rrp. So it's just the perceived value that seems a bit off at first.
Maybe if you argue £10 each for the shops then £50 seems a more reasonable rrp. But we'd all like cheaper sets."
Yeah, everyone is saying the road parts are responsible for the massive price hike, but mathematically when compared to the dedicated road plates set, these plates only up the price by about $10-$12 USD. Take the road plates and their cost away, and you're left with a $70 set consisting of two small vehicles and 2 building facades on some plates. Very poor value even without the road plates and their added cost.
I’m hoping Lego’s desire to integrate the new road plates in City leads to more small buildings and services set alongside a road plate. Imagine, we could even get a Post Office again!
Firstly, great review. Very in-depth and certainly detailed.
Like many I am no fan of the brick-built road system. Perhaps I will get used to it over time, though I won’t be incorporating the system into any of my builds and MOC’s. I much prefer the various 32 x 32 stud road plates and the diversity of MILS roads… sadly an expensive proposition.
The take away I get from this new road system is that you, the builder, are simply making a functional play set. It’s really nothing more than that. It is surely fun for children to build, connect and play... cars, trucks and bicycles will be zoomed around the LEGO City streets for hours... stopping regularly at intersections due to the lack of corners! This zoomability maybe gives credence to the lack of detail in the accompanying buildings. I gather it’s the zoomability of the vehicles on roads that’s at the core of this product! The buildings are mere decoration.
I note that these sets show a similarity to the Racers Tiny Turbo series from 2009 and 10. Though the streets (4550694: Tiny Turbo. Road Box) formed part of the packaging in some instances and are moulded as one piece, not brick-built. The 10 sets are detailed below… I also discovered that part 4550694 is only inventoried in two of the 10 sets!
8123: Ferrari F1 Racers
8124: Ice Rally
8125: Thunder Raceway
8126: Desert Challenge
8186: Street Extreme
8196: Chopper Jump
8197: Highway Chaos
8198: Ramp Crash
8199: Security Smash
8211: Brick Street Getaway
In conclusion I reiterate… a great review by @CapnRex101, whether you like the set or not. I believe LEGO will have issues with the price point and design/style of these new City sets, well documented in the commentary. I also don’t believe the idea will be around after 2022. So when the major retailers in Australia have a 20-25% off sale… I’ll no doubt buy them.
@CapnRex101: That's some really impressive sticker application, what's your secret?
@Tupperfan said:
" @CapnRex101 : Are the bike symbols on the bike lane stickers or printed tiles?"
They're printed!
wonder how hard people will complain when LEGO completely changes the new road system in a year or 5 or so
Remembering what happened to Lego Town in the late 90s and the whole company , I have a very bad feelings about the future of Lego City.
Looks like a giant road plate with lack luster "buildings"
So lego could give us this for this for 70 euros but they can give us 80107 for 110 euros... the latter comes with all printed parts, more minifigs, over 3 times the amount of parts, (proper?) baseplates AND a lightbrick.... Sure, it doesn't have that much play value, no vehicles... but it is a more interesting build... quite funny that 80107 has some pretty fiddly building techniques and is only rated 8+. Where this set is heavily juniorised and rated 6+. I understand the R&D of the new roadplates needs to be earned back... but the difference between this set and 80107 is out of this galaxy.
@Lukasz64 said:
"Remembering what happened to Lego Town in the late 90s and the whole company , I have a very bad feelings about the future of Lego City."
You forgot the other half of that story where LEGO learned from its mistakes, became a better business and is now wildly successful. You also forgot the bit where they continued to make City sets.
If they deem this new system to be a success LEGO will continue to use it. If it is not they will need to re-evaluate what they're doing. This is what successful businesses do.
@Reventon said:
"I can’t imagine a kid (or even adults) getting excited about wasting 10 minutes building a ugly grey road when they could just used the old road plates and be done with it. Much rather spend that 10 minutes on the buildings etc."
Well then imagine them building a beautiful grey road with embellishments instead!
@LegoSonicBoy:
Repetitive builds get very boring. I once built six copies of 8557 Exo-Toa in one day, and by the end I wasn't even bothering to take the instruction book out of the box because I had the build memorized. But that build had a lot of variety, so it didn't get too bad considering I stopped after six. The roads aren't expected to end, and there's not much to the build. I expect even kids won't have too much trouble figuring out how to build the roads without instructions...and will quickly get bored of the process if they get more than one or two City sets per year. I'm already bored of building them just from looking at the photos.
This set certainly shows off the flexibility of the new road system. I like the vehicles and the minifigs; the building facades are cute and, since this is Lego, there's no reason one can't buy a few more bricks and extend them to a reasonable depth....
And then I saw the price. That's a good reason not to spend extra to fill out this set. In fact, it's a very good reason not to bother with the set at all.
I think 60304 seems reasonably priced, given all that's in it, but for people planning a larger layout it would be nice to have an even more bare-bones set for expansion purposes. It's not unreasonable to have an appropriate length of road added to this batch of City sets instead. Yet somehow these larger sets with the new road plates seem far more expensive than they should be. A pity, since I like the cargo-carrying bicycle, the new dogs, and the various other details only to be found in these sets. I like the road system too--but I don't like any of it this much.
@PurpleDave: These road plates aren't much more than a few 1x4/2x4 tiles at the very simplest, so they're barely more effort to deploy than legacy road plates. Not exciting, but I can't see how they'd be tedious either, even in a larger layout. They scale roughly 2 new to 1 old, just based on the 16-/32-stud ratio, meaning they'd need a little over twice as much time to deploy at scale. I'd say the tedium lies almost entirely in making all the roadside embellishments, like the 1000s of tiles worth of sidewalk (no way I'm doing that), and the plants, signs, streetlamps, fences, the works... which is mostly the same whichever road system you use, with perhaps a difference in 1 layer of plate depending on who you ask.
@BrickBees said:
"Wooow, I hadn't noticed the existance of 2x6 tiles yet, they look great in this color."
Ditto! Looks like they were introduced in 2019 with the 1984 Batmobile and have only been in a handful of sets. I'm always happy to see new sizes/shapes of tiles!
"Aha, ok, yeah, cool cars. Shops are a bit meh... Se..." *squints* "SEVENTYNINE NINETYNINE?"
I like the set. The only thing is the roofs that are too shallow, and the price that is too high. But presumably there will be plenty of discounts.
@LegoSonicBoy :
You're thinking about it like an adult. Put yourself in the shoes of a six-year-old kid. How many times will they need to rebuild these same roads to get sick of them?
As a LUG member, our layouts are based on a 32x32 baseplate. The only reasonable way to make these easily deployable is to build them onto 32x32 baseplates with incorporated sidewalks. This creates two problems. One, you've now made roads super expensive without eliminating the use of baseplates at all, and two, you've added a ton of bulk by raising the whole thing up two plates (which would necessitate raising every building the same two plates).
Our LUG already has fully-tiled sidewalks. Our roadplates are the current generation, but with sidewalks that are seven studs wide, causing them to overhang the road surface by one stud and (mostly) cover up the lines along the side of the road. They include one layer of plates with a layer of 2x2 tiles on top. Attachment points are placed in the center and one or both ends of each curb for the placement of trees planters and streetlights. Intersections are missing 2x2 tiles in three places to allow the placement of traffic lights. In mid-November, we set up our fifth and final layout of the year (normally we do over 20), which was nine baseplates deep, and I think about 36 baseplates wide. Using standard baseplates, we had the layout set up from bare floor in about 4-5 hours, excluding the stuff I came in to do the following day (setting up about 40' of motion blur trail for the Flash, and hiding 32 Crazy Batsuits for kids to look for).
If we used this new road system without baseplates to hold everything together, setup would have taken a lot longer and maybe required two days for the general setup instead of just one. For a home layout, it's less of an issue since there will be one initial setup, and any subsequent setup work will usually only involve changing one section.
@sparkbears:
Nope. The Batmobile launched with a 6x6 tile for the roof. It was only after they came out with a 2x6 tile last year that they switched it in the Batmobile to make the roof shiny like the rest of the car. I've bought two copies of that set, and both list 3306pcs on the box, while LEGO.com lists the count as 3308pcs. You can check the images, and they still show the frosty 6x6 tile on the roof, as they didn't bother to completely redo all of the set images just to account for such a minor change. I believe Super Mario was the theme that first included 2x6 tiles.
Bricklink's inventory doesn't even list them, as they need to be manually updated. Brickset scrapes the data directly from the LEGO servers, so they automatically update to reflect any running changes. The benefit of the former is they can also keep records of these running changes, and in extreme cases even catalog a second version of the same set when the changes become too drastic to manage (see 79104). Brickset's solution is easier to operate, but the inventories only reflect the latest official version, which in some cases may not have even shipped at all. As old molds are retired, they sometimes update the elements they produced. Old inventories can then sometimes be updated to include the newer version of a part even if they were retired before the new mold was even produced.
@PurpleDave: I suspect it'd depend on the individual — I myself would've been fine with it, considering there are enough (and enough of a variety of) roadside elements to serve as motivators. I got bored of my 90s green road plates really quickly for two main reasons: 1) my parents never got me more than a single pair of curves 6321 and 2) I simply didn't have enough trees, flowers, benches and such to decorate the baseplates. I did have a surplus of printed road signs 6427, which remain with me to this day and I'm curious to see how well it'll go with these new roads.
I definitely misjudged the amount of time and resources it'd take to deploy the new roads to an existing system of buildings, though, as I completely neglected the process of raising modulars to be level with the new roads, etc. And I wasn't considering the process of *migrating* the legacy roads to the new roads, merely deploying the new ones to a developing layout. That does sound like a lot of work.
@LegoSonicBoy:
Yeah, what works for a home layout and what works for a public display are two different things. Home layouts require minimal setup compared to how long they will stay intact, while the shortest show my LUG has done was only two hours (not including setup or teardown). I know of LUGs that do brick-built roads, and sculpted terrain, and those layouts generally require at least two full days (sometimes longer) to set up, and several hours to tear down. In another thread, I posted a link to a video of our most recent layout, which we just took down on Saturday. The layout was 9 baseplates deep and 36 baseplates wide, with two buildings that are taller than I am. We used our custom-designed tables which are bolted together for stability. I was the first person to walk in just a few minutes before 9am, and I was (as usual) the last person packing up after everyone else had left, but I still made it out to the parking lot before noon. I did cheat on packing one set of items, though, since I'll have need of them in the immediate future and didn't want to re-unpack them right away.
As much as I don't like the switch to these new roads, my LUG should be fine. We already had enough roads to do multiple large layouts simultaneously, and we snagged several more packs while Amazon had them on discount. Additionally, there are members of our LUG who have extensive collections of their own, each of which can be used to populate an entire layout without using anyone else's. The worst part of it is dealing with driveways. I've bought a few packs so I can make custom driveways for my parking lots, but I only did that to match the club roadplates. If someone else supplies the roads, I'm out of luck. The same goes for any new members who don't already have roadplates that match our club standard, as they'll need someone else to supply driveway entrances for them, which can be tricky when you've only got a few hours in the morning for setup before the public is let in.