I see videos of people trying to explain how to fit these abominations into their preexisting Lego cities, and it requires a significant amount of parts and labour to raise the stuff they've built on baseplates to match the height of these things. I think these road plates are trash. I can make my own using tiles (i.e. on top of 16X32 baseplates, or what have you) but that is also significantly expensive.
I don't like these at all. Juniorized and cumbersome.

I agree. I don't think that will sway opinions much at all.

I actually like them a lot. They fit up much better with modulars than the old baseplates that required you to make a double sidewalk. Making crosswalks movable is also a nice touch, I didn’t like having to deal with double crosswalks when I put plates next to each other. Their 2 plate thickness is a bit annoying, but nothing that can’t be fixed by raising buildings placed next to them.

Explanation is what I expected. Makes sense to me.

I've never been interested in road plates, you can't do much with them, but these new parts have a lot of building potential and truly excite me. I can see lots of great MOCs using them in creative ways for years to come. Assuming the concept catches on with the kids.

Anyway, need curves and slopes.
Also, other colors.

All will be forgiven if they release some curves

I think the system is pretty neat. Overall compatibility with older play sets is great. Take 60132 for example, which is a nightmare to connect to base plates.
I understand the hate though if you have a layout consisting of base plates currently. What then? And yeah, people just don’t like change in general.
One thing I personally do not like is the absence of bends/curves, but for a city layout these are in fact less important.

It's still an early system but I like it better than the previous one. More customizable, just need some curved parts in the mix.

Bought 60290 Skate Park today, my first of the new plates. Not enough tiles added for possible expansion or above mentioned addition to your city. Weak clutch power. I'm disappointed. To widen or vary these elements, LEGO must provide some tile kits. And curves. And single Elements. For a reasonable price. Really, they need to go down, or this experiment will be over sooner than they wish.

A bit sad that we’ve gotten to the point where Lego has to explain their every move to the naysayers, but it’s a credit to them that they address these things to some of their harshest critics.

This is probably a step in the right direction - it's not *as* customizable as going pure manual with individual tiles and plates and slopes, but it's also significantly less cumbersome while still allowing a lot more building options for younger/amateur builders, which are presumably the largest and target demographic.

Yes it's going to be a pain to raise a lot of layouts to fit the new system, but it's probably going to be worth it in the long term for a lot of builders - it means a lot of buildings only need to be attached to enough plates to fit their footprint and would make rearranging/modifying/transporting layouts easier.

As for curved and angled roads - those can probably be achieved by building a raised sidewalk on top of the road tiles and curving/angling that using either hinged plates, wedge plates, etc.

Most importantly though, what I think is probably the least talked about thing - these are quite likely going to be much easier to pack and ship in bulk than traditional baseplates.

I wouldnt say I hate the new system although it has many faults, namely the ridiculous price of $33 AU for the exact same thing as the old system (say a road in front of two modular buildings).

But I really hate this press release. Reminds me of the sort of thing the government comes out with in response to unnecessary COVID rules (such as arresting people sunbaking ALONE on a SEVEN MILE beach) or misconduct by MPs.

They rant about kids and building but kids arent interested in being limited to roads. They talk of city building but who builds cities? AFOLs. (yes some kids build cities but not on the same scale). And I cant see any kids wasting their pocket money on $33 just to get a darned road. Kids use the living room or bedroom floor. I know I wouldve really been annoyed as a child if say my shopping street had a road in front of it but the rest of my buildings had nothing.

This system alienates AFOLs who own modulars (lets face it, I dont know many Lego cities that dont use modular buildings) as well as being problematic with baseplates in general. Its frightfully expensive for the same amount of road sections as the old system. There are benefits but Im also puzzled as to why now? And I love how they talk of building and connectivity but dont include 2x4 grey tiles to actually connect different sets.

This system would work a lot better with not only curve sections but Lego also needs to start making large plates readily available to buy just like the old 32x32 baseplates.

Give us some sets of just 32x32, 16x32, 16x16, 8x16 plates in colours like regular green, light grey, dark grey, tan, white, blue (maybe brown)

This new system means all baseplates will be below the road so for example if you have a park beside your road, unless you own lots of green plates youll be relying on a green baseplate which will look silly below the road. (it could be beneficial in a beach setting though).

But Im really concerned about sidewalks. If I dont own any large grey plates, and Im not directly connecting to a building, what am I do put next to the road? You cant have a sidewalk for a building then a random two plate drop down to the baseplate then later on the sidewalk starts again. What about parking? Again, without plates, are my cars supposed to just deal with a 2 plate drop?

@Lasers said: "I don't like these at all. Juniorized and cumbersome."

I just don't like these because of the ridiculous cost involved.

The City sets with them are all vastly more expensive than they should be.

Also, while I'm here ...

"The new road plates play an integral role in the LEGO City products where it, due to the modular nature of the builds, allows you to be creative and create the LEGO City of your liking."

... provided you don't like curved roads.

"Going forward we will also be able to include one or more road plates in relevant products across the LEGO City portfolio. This was something we were not able to with the old version."

And I don't understand this, at all.

90s sets were built on base-plates that were entirely compatible with the road-plates available at the time. Why are they saying, with these two sentences? It doesn't make sense.

They also forgot to mention the biggest bonus from this new system of road plates. "We get to milk even more money from our hapless customers."

While I appreciate the effort, if it is for kids it remains vastly superior to buy a LEGO road mat over this stuff. It is larger has space to accommodate for things and can be rolled up and put away when finished. Most kids wont care either way. As an adult builder though it is cumbersome to have to buy these with no curves (so far) and expecting to make something that resembles a road confined to a space (tables or shelves). Unless "creative" only means straight down the middle of your table/shelf and going straight with only 2 lanes. Once enough of these are seeded my tune might change but after carefully considering it, it really only benefits new fans who dont have a lot invested in the previous floppy plates.

Old road plates (and baseplates in general) were not manufactured by TLG but outsourced, and they were looking to get rid of them for a long, long time.

I actually prefer this new system (though it needs several additional parts to work, such as non-existent curves), but the price is just prohibitive. If they want people to adopt the new system they need to halve the price for a couple of years, otherwise it will have the same fate as the city people packs which no one buys unless they are heavily discounted.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the shift is more because of what Sammael says. Feels like the system needs a couple more extra parts introduced (curves) to show off its full potential. As is it's a little too vestigial to judge yet. Also maybe cut the extra knick-knacks to knock down cost? If people want lights and benches there's the extra polybags for that.

^ and ^^
Exactly as I think.
Yes, the price is too steep, but they've been introduced *one week ago*, so I expect that the price will eventually come down, and that they'll release a curve roadplate in the next batch (probably June 2021).

My opinion? Besides the price, I think it's cool, and gives the possibility to make a small city also to people who don't have enough space to make a modular baseplate one. I think it will gain popularity over time.

I recall being a child in the late 70s when the original road plates came out. I would have loved to buy them, and remember looking at them in woolworths (remember them?). But they were too expensive for my meger pocket money, I would have rather spent my cash on a car or truck, and did! I think kids will make the same choice with these!

Remember when they made a new road system in 2000 for 6600-2 and then never used that system again?

Good heavens. Adult men who build toy cities in their basement are afraid of change?

Who would have thought?

The only problem I see with new plates is that they are WAY MORE EXPENSIVE that previous ones.
I do love them though!

@phi13 said:
"Remember when they made a new road system in 2000 for 6600-2 and then never used that system again?"

That’s what I thought too. It’s early 2000 for the City sets again: oversimplified for young kids. I’m not that optimistic for Citys future...

How is a system that uses MORE PARTS simplified compared to the old system which used exactly ONE PART?

Seriously, some people.

For context, as opinion-free as possible, here's some statistics:

An old-style T-Intersection baseplate would be, stud-for stud, was 16 studs wide, 32 studs long, with an 8x16 extension, plus two 8x8 sections of building space, and and 8x32 building space.

The new system includes 16x16 and 8x16 plates, plus 4x16 ramps - you are, as the builder, responsible for filling in the building space yourself with plates (some of which are included).

Excluding basic plates to fill in the blanks, here's a conversion ratio for road configurations to their modern counterparts.

Straight - Two 16x16 plates.
Right Angle Turn - One 16x16 plate, Two 8x16 plates.
T-Intersection - Two 16x16 plates, One 8x16 plate *OR* One 16x16 plate and Three 8x16 plates
Cross Intersection - Two 16x16 plates, Two 8x16 plates *OR* One 16x16 plate and Four 8x16 plates

This pack contains Four 16x16s and One 8x16, not counting the ramps, which are somewhat difficult to factor in. This means this pack is roughly the equivalent of:
2x Straight Roads, plus a little extra.
1x Straight Road and 1x T-Intersection.

There are not enough 8x16 plates available to put together more complex layouts, given there's only one available per pack, so you'll need to supply your own for larger layouts.

Regardless, the way it works out is that, on a per-stud basis for roads only, this is roughly the equivalent of a 2-pack of 32x32 road tiles, sans the green plates, of which you're getting a little less. You're also getting a handful of streetlights, stopslights, signs, and plants.

As a quick price comparison (USD only, sorry) these are $19.99 compared to previous 2-packs which, [adjusted for inflation], cost about:
1979: $4.99* [$13.46] (10-stud wide road) *Price data from 1982, would be $17.89 if from '79
1986: $5.75 [$13.65] (18-stud wide road w/sidewalks)
1997: $6 [$9.73] (16-stud wide road)
2002: $7 [$10] (20-stud wide road)
2005/2019: $14.99 (20-stud wide road)

Since it’s the city design team. They should talk about the lack of creativity in the last years city sets. Because let’s face it, most of them are pure garbage.

I don’t mind them - will use them in the future.
I wish they were black (matt black ideally).

In terms of the height difference from modular baseplates my plan is just to buy some thick card sheets and cut them to baseplate size to raise the baseplate to just below the top of the road (so there’s a step down from the pavement.

So where can we read about this detailed thought process? All I see here is a Marketing blurb.

There's no denying that these road plates are quite flexible. The height difference isn't a major issue. It's Lego after all. Anything can be made any height you want, very easily.

The only showstopper is that they look absolutely hideous. High gloss, wet look roads with badly filled pot holes really isn't the look I'm after!

Overall, great for a child's temporary layout on the carpet, but a bit tacky for a permanent setup.

Customer services seemed unaware if these were an addition or a replacement, only saying that they were a 'fun alternative' to the thin road plate, which had 'not currently been retired'.

I wanted to comment on the new roadplates for a while now, and I guess after this official statement from LEGO it's the right time.
I'm an AFOL myself and build with the 'old' roadplates. However, I don't think the new roadsystem is targeted at me/us. What us AFOLs sometimes forget is the fact that LEGO is primarily a children's toy. They are still the target audience and give LEGO their biggest income, whether directly or through kids' parents. And if we all take a good look around us we can see that kids' interest in LEGO is dwindling. Markets in Europe and the US are declining for years now, which is one of the reasons that LEGO goes all out on the 'new' Asian market (Duplo 10943 anyone?).
I believe the new roadplates are an attempt by LEGO to make children build full cites again (like most of us AFOLs used to do when we were kids), and to connect multiple sets (and from that: buy more sets). Maybe it's a way to get some enthusiasm and imagination back in kids playing with LEGO. We also don't know the sales results of the old baseplates: maybe they weren't selling, or were only bought by AFOLs, and no longer by kids or their parents.
LEGO knows it got to do something. They can squeeze AFOLs for their last pennies with more and more D2C sets (a new $800 SW set coming anyone?) but at the end they lose (money). Because AFOLs get older, and kids nowadays won't be the new AFOLs in ten years.

Personally, I like this new road system a lot more than the old road baseplates. I always thought they were clunky and difficult to put to practical use.

If you wanted to make a city layout using modulars, you would have to tile over the green portions to make it look presentable, and that leaves you with some less-than ideal double sidewalks. And if you wanted a road with more than 2 lanes, you were just out of luck unless you went fully custom.

I used to see people complain all the time about how they wanted roads with more than 2 lanes in their cities. With this system, you can easily have as many lanes as you want.

I do agree though that some cheap tile packs, as well as some curved road parts/etc, would be very welcome additions to the line.

Edit: I just did a test build in stud.io. If you were to custom-build the new 8x16 and 16x16 road parts using dark bley plates and tiles, the cost for the same amount of road included in 60304 would be over $40 USD. And that doesn't include any of the connection tiles and other bits included in the road pack, just the cost of re-creating the 5 road bricks themselves.

These new roads are simply money-makers for a company that has lost connection to the most important customers. Kids don't care about roads, the simply put their creations on a carpet and use whatever they have to make up roads. Roads are useful for ppl who create huges scenes of modulars and MOCs and for them this is a kick into ...

They are glossy (isn't that what you see when you look at the road in front of your house ).
They have a ridiculous height, ignoring 50 years of existing product history in regards to buildings and streets. How do I integrate my 6378 into this mess?
No curves (yeah, never seen this anywhere in RL).
They are way too small for trucks.
They don't have any space for extra lanes (going by bike anyone?)
People were asking for a sidewalk that's higher than a street like it is in RL and what do they get? A street higher than the sidewalk?

The only reason these exists is another reason to make products even more expensive. Just look at 60929. The building is a joke being being 6 studs deep, two cars which are ok and most of the money is spent for these glossy abominations. And this ships for 100 EUR???? For two super-small buildings and a car and a ok-ish truck?

I believe they genuinely tested the new system with kids and got a very positive response. It's weirdly fun and surprisingly easy to reconfigure. I think they're right that it's more true to the point of LEGO.

Also, to make your modular buildings the right height for the new roads, you can literally just put one layer of cardboard from a LEGO box under it.

"Going forward we will also be able to include one or more road plates in relevant products across the LEGO City portfolio. This was something we were not able to with the old version."

Well, obviously, they could. And did. Even specifically designed roadplates for some sets (like gasstatons and firestations), which interacted with the standard roadplates.

The new system is less limiting for the boxsizes, that's true. And they can throw in just one road-element, which might make it a bit more cost effective.

I think it's a vast improvement and this year's City releases show some excellent uses. I'm looking forward to seeing MOCs that use them, and future innovative uses from Lego themselves.. The only downside I can see is the lack of curves but I think we'll get it eventually.

I do see the issue with changing existing town layouts to this new system, but who says that's necessary anyway? I'm sure these things could be creatively introduced into an existing layout, perhaps with a construction crew and roadworks at the point where the road transitions from the old road plates to this new system.

I'm always impressed by the commenters here who have a market research department that rivals Lego's own. They always seem to have their finger exactly on the pulse of what "everyone" wants. Odd that it tends to line up with what they personally want, but who am I to argue with rigorous studies?

@Lego_max said:
"That’s what I thought too. It’s early 2000 for the City sets again: oversimplified for young kids. I’m not that optimistic for Citys future..."

After the early 2000s came the wonderful late 2000s, so let's hope the cycle repeats itself.

@aleydita said:
"I think it's a vast improvement and this year's City releases show some excellent uses. I'm looking forward to seeing MOCs that use them, and future innovative uses from Lego themselves.. The only downside I can see is the lack of curves but I think we'll get it eventually.

I do see the issue with changing existing town layouts to this new system, but who says that's necessary anyway? I'm sure these things could be creatively introduced into an existing layout, perhaps with a construction crew and roadworks at the point where the road transitions from the old road plates to this new system."

Exactly. People are acting as if Lego is taking away all their existing road baseplates and forcing them to buy these new ones. If you don't like em, you can keep using your old ones and buying more old ones. There's plenty available on bricklink if you want to stock up!

Um, That’s a very brief ‘several benefits’ description. Good grief.

The explanation makes no sense to me. I can understand not being able to fit a 32x32 flexible base plate in smaller sets, but this style plate used to exist in various sizes from 8x16 up. There didn't seem to be any issue manufacturing the plates with specialised road designs for garages, fire station etc. Lego seemed to stop pushing plates for a road system.

I can't remember the last time I saw road plates in a non Lego store e.g. Smyths (although the pack configuration was terrible). There was a whole eco system built around this. Who remembers the small packs of road signs etc? Now we've an extremely expensive solution to a problem that was solved much more eloquently 30/40 years ago. Why? I've asked Huw twice about the vacuum forming machines rumour (probably nonsense) but I've never received a response.

I've not got an opinion on the new ones (yet).

But "Going forward we will also be able to include one or more road plates in relevant products across the LEGO City portfolio. This was something we were not able to with the old version."?

Really? What about 377-1, 379-1, 381-1, 588-1, 1589-1, 1590-2, 1592-1, etc etc etc? Or do they belong to the period when we had more choice of buildings & vehicles than construction site equipment or police chases?!

I have always had my problems with the classic road plates. Due to their fixed proportions, they’re pretty awful if you want to do something else than combining them with modular buildings or the few houses on baseplates LEGO has produced a long time ago. I’ll give a few examples:

They always have the same width for the roads and the sidewalks. When trying to place certain buildings (like the small stores from the Creator 3in1 line I’m using) on the sidewalk section, they will overlap with the road section. And most vehicles I’m using for my city are really small, usually 4-stud wide and sometimes 6-wide, so the huge roads are often not needed.

They are half a plate thick. Ugh, I hate that so much. They’re practically useless when it comes to combining them with modern buildings (modulars are the only exception, and a lot of people who want a city don’t have money or space for that) because they’re all built on regular plates nowadays. So to make regular baseplates work with recent buildings, you’d have to buy even more plates to place them on top of. And again, a lot of people don’t have the money to buy all that extra stuff. Oh, and it’s also a huge pain to place regular large plates onto baseplates and even moreso when trying to take them off.

They always have the same amount of lanes and it can’t be changed by adding another one next to it. No real extra info needed there.

One standard road plate only has a single use. Want to change your city layout to a more curved or straight pattern? Too bad, gotta buy more plates and end up with a lot you won’t be needing anymore!

And the new system fixes every one of those issues! They’re compatible with regular plates and you can even seamlessly connect them to one another. They’re much smaller in width, but if you don’t like that, simply replace the stripes with normal tiles and there you go! (Or just keep buying the old ones if you like them so much, nothing is stopping you from doing so.) You can adjust the number of lanes, and the shape and direction of the roads (too bad there’s no curves, but I think there’s a big chance we’ll be getting those in the future. And I don’t really need curves anyway since I’m only using small vehicles). And you barely need any extra parts to connect them with other buildings! Oh, and they don’t take a lot of space either, which is a problem I’m constantly running into with this hobby. It’s just so much more useful than the standard road plates ever were. Of course they’re not perfect, but in my opinion, they manage to come pretty close!

My kids were initially interested by the new pieces but once the models were built, they just weren't that bothered. I didn't feel the road plate made any difference to what they were playing. They had zero interest in the hockey add-on fwiw.
I think the road plates are making these new sets more expensive and whilst that is to be expected, if LEGO wants me (whether as an AFOL or parent of KFOLs) to adopt something new, they need to encourage me...
...perhaps make the sets cheaper!?
Alternatively, find a way to better promote them... (perhaps impractical currently but) free samples at toy shops or cover mounts (albeit with theft issues), even offer the supplemental set as a permanent GWP for a £120 spend (or whatever made it work) on CITY (and Creator?) sets.
For the intended use, I think they could have tried harder to build some excitement in this new approach.
However, as pieces to have introduced into the array of parts at our disposal, I think they're fantastic, I'm excited to see how these are used in mocs, the idea that these could appear in other colours is also very exciting.

Since I have a small town section (made of the small creator sets), and it's 1-2 plates high, this system will work really greatly for me!

As mentioned in previous reviews this are more versatile for bridges, tunnels, hangers etc., so look forward to seeing large scale modulars using these new pieces which can be replicated on a smaller scale at home.

@mr_Fikou said:
"Want to change your city layout to a more curved or straight pattern? Too bad, gotta buy more plates and end up with a lot you won’t be needing anymore!

And the new system fixes every one of those issues!"

Hang on, though. The new system makes that last one worse. The new roads are far too narrow for a lot of City vehicles that are edging more and more towards 8-wide. To solve this, you'll have to ... but more plates and end up with a lot of things you won't actually need.

And if you need to put a corner on your street-scape, you'll have to, do what, exactly? Buy a whole lot of extra pieces to contrive a solution.

Good, bad or upside-down, this new system has plenty of problems on its own.

I get the arguments for and against, but my main problem while playing with the concept is that the tiles link together is on the visible surface. With a two-tile high piece, the opportunity was surely to have them clutch together underneath and provide a cleaner look.

Got my first new roads yesterday and to say that I love them is an understatement.

And the fact that they are also included in sets blows my mind, it's exactly what I'd been suggesting LEGO for years (well, I was suggesting to add road basteplates in sets again, of course, but this turns out to be even better than that.)

I almost feel like building a City layout again, now.

The arguments used to defend the new road plates, well, apply the same way to the old ones. Big lol

Also, big challenge for the Afol community? Yes, spending lots of money rebuilding layouts if needed, during pandemic times with already expensive but awesome sets coming out every month... 2nd big lol

My city is not big, 54 baseplates area. Am I gonna spend 400 euros to rebuild it, replacing road baseplates that are a success since I was born or even before? No...

I've considered before the mils techniques, but for the same reason of the new road plates, I'm not going to use them, a lot of other Lego priorities!

"Going forward we will also be able to include one or more road plates in relevant products across the LEGO City portfolio. This was something we were not able to with the old version."

Wierd,...so, this was possible 30 years ago, but not in 2021??
I smell a bullshitfactor of + infinity

How many roads do YOU know, in your City, that are 90 degree constant curves?

Me neither.

Goodbye waffle roadplates... that never even butted up to each other.

@Lasers said:
"I see videos of people trying to explain how to fit these abominations into their preexisting Lego cities, and it requires a significant amount of parts and labour to raise the stuff they've built on baseplates to match the height of these things. I think these road plates are trash. I can make my own using tiles (i.e. on top of 16X32 baseplates, or what have you) but that is also significantly expensive.
I don't like these at all. Juniorized and cumbersome."

I couldn't agree more. I also think, LEGO is in a creative crisis similar to the one before the introduction of the Star Wars theme, which saved LEGO at the time. Sets are in abundance, designs are more and more "juniorized" and one of the red flags for me is the use of horrible dark violet and dark-blue green colour schemes in LEGO Technic sets.

I can see why a lot of existing city builders may be frustrated with the new road plates. They will have to spend a lot of time and money adapting their current layouts to fit with the new system.

But for Lego's target market (which doesn't include the people in my first paragraph) I think these are a great thing. They are a vast improvement over the old system because they make much more sense. And when was the last time you saw a city built around big curves like you see in the outgoing baseplate format? Cities are all junctions and straight roads! Or of they're not on a 90-degree grid the roads are on some weird angle that will never fit in-system with the rest of Lego.

For existing builders, they're probably going to have to come up with some way to… I dunno… use their imagination to mix-and-match new with old, and that's just IMPOSSIBLE with the amazing and wide range of Lego bricks available to them. How difficult!

@CarolinaOnMyMind said:
"I agree. I don't think that will sway opinions much at all. "
Especially as it doesn't give one single valid or even remotely relatable reason for the introduction of the new system.
The new system is basically a big slap in the face for everyone who has built up City layouts over the years/decades using the tried and true baseplate system and now is supposed to either somehow integrate the new products or exchange their entire layout for the new system, which seems both cost-prohibitive as well as a huge hassle.

The new system by its very design is so flawed in so many ways that it beggars belief it even passed QC at LEGO.

The only reason I see why they introduced it is to make even more money.

Reading a statement like

"We believe this will be a big advantage for the kids as they don’t need to buy a separate road plate product to get started building their LEGO City."

It is not our fault TLG decided to not release sets on baseplates anymore.
With those old sets we also didn't "need to buy a separate road plate product to get started building" our LEGO cities.

Just goes to show how little these guys understand their products, their customers and most of all their own product history!

I wrote quite a harsh email to LEGO customer service about the new road system, and their answer confirmed my suspicions. They basically admitted that the new system was not ideal for people like me with "legacy layouts" and that it was aimed at new customers. Well, guess what @TLG , old customers also buy sets. P*** them off and they start looking at alternative sources. Well done!

Well, if you don't like them, just don't buy them. There's no need to bash on the new system, you can always keep your old one, TLG isn't forcing you to swap your layout.

2021 brings a lot of surprises - e.g. I agree with @AustinPowers :)
This is not an explanation just Marketing / PR, in other words: we wanted a new system because it will make more money as people will not be able to buy perfectly useable baseplates from the 80s.

@gabri_ves said:
"Well, if you don't like them, just don't buy them. There's no need to bash on the new system, you can always keep your old one, TLG isn't forcing you to swap your layout."

I already pointed this out to the haters, and noted that bricklink still has hundreds of the old road plates in stock. It doesn't seem to sink in.

I wonder how many of the people raging over this change actually own a city layout with the old plates, or are just complaining for the sake of it.

@bobaphat107 said:
"I wanted to comment on the new roadplates for a while now, and I guess after this official statement from LEGO it's the right time.
I'm an AFOL myself and build with the 'old' roadplates. However, I don't think the new roadsystem is targeted at me/us. What us AFOLs sometimes forget is the fact that LEGO is primarily a children's toy. They are still the target audience and give LEGO their biggest income, whether directly or through kids' parents. And if we all take a good look around us we can see that kids' interest in LEGO is dwindling. Markets in Europe and the US are declining for years now, which is one of the reasons that LEGO goes all out on the 'new' Asian market (Duplo 10943 anyone?).
I believe the new roadplates are an attempt by LEGO to make children build full cites again (like most of us AFOLs used to do when we were kids), and to connect multiple sets (and from that: buy more sets). Maybe it's a way to get some enthusiasm and imagination back in kids playing with LEGO. We also don't know the sales results of the old baseplates: maybe they weren't selling, or were only bought by AFOLs, and no longer by kids or their parents.
LEGO knows it got to do something. They can squeeze AFOLs for their last pennies with more and more D2C sets (a new $800 SW set coming anyone?) but at the end they lose (money). Because AFOLs get older, and kids nowadays won't be the new AFOLs in ten years.
"

Just want to address the "dwindling/declining" part: as highlighted in TLG's annual statements, their sales in Europe and the US actually increased over the whole past decade. The only blip was 2016-2017 for the Americas and 2017 for Europe. Growth in those markets resumed in both 2018 and 2019. Single digits only, but growth nonetheless. H1 2020 (not necessarily very representative) even saw double digit growth in those markets.

I'm sold on the new system. I've always resented how the old road baseplates were sold in packs of two, which meant the official plates were expensive, even bought individually on the secondary market. The new plates aren't exactly cheap, but at least I'm not going to be stuck with a crossroad that will only ever be a crossroad.

Besides which, I have one small table to build my layout on, that's it. It's going to be a nuisance to modify my modulars, sure, but the new plates are more versatile overall as a trade-off

"We also acknowledge this is a big change for the AFOL community but we believe long term the new road plate will allow for even greater fan builds and customization."
I mean, honestly it isn't. Most AFOLs aren't building cities with LEGO City buildings, not primarily anyway. They're building cities with Modular Buildings. Most LEGO City products AFOLs use are vehicles and minifigure packs.

I think the problem comes down to City KFOLs and Modular Building fans of all ages having completely different needs by virtue of Modular Buildings relying on the legacy standard. City buildings haven't used baseplates in over half a decade. That's at least one generation's worth of City kids already. So the new road plates serve that market well. But if LEGO is retiring the legacy road plates, then that leaves the Modular Building users (and other baseplate users) in the lurch, having to rely on the secondary market for new purchases which isn't always as accessible or convenient as retail store purchases, despite what the more tech-savvy AFOLs here insist. That's just about the only "big change" I can envision for AFOLs.

Even beyond City, the Creator 3-in-1 buildings that don't use baseplates are all highly compatible with this new system. That goes all the way back to 2011's 5766 and 5771, and includes 31009, 31010, 31012, 31025, 31038 and more, as well as the mini-series consisting of 31026, 31036, 31050, 31065, 31097 and 31105 (which even have 1-wide DBG tile borders on the sidewalks adding up to 2 to the width of the new roads — I agree the default lane width simply isn't enough breathing room for 6-wide vehicles with mudguards, but I understand the need for the 8/16 grid system). I'm certainly looking forward to reaping these benefits in my own layout despite only owning 31050 of the bunch. I'm glad I don't splurge on Modular Buildings (and I've also lately been reconsidering getting 10270 at all, I absolutely cannot justify the cost even after discount).

I'm also looking highly forward to integrating these new roads with my train tracks by fusing them together using tiles to make level crossings that are truly level, without having to worry about ballasting the tracks on top of an additional baseplate layer covering my entire layout just to get them completely level over the legacy roads. Originally I was unsure if I had to elevate my rails by a total of 2 plates if I wanted to keep the 6x8 slopes, until Caz (who reviewed the new roads on New Elementary) suggested keeping them truly level instead, obviating the need to elevate either the roads or the rails. So much money saved, and so much fewer studs to dust over every couple of months!

I don't really see how these new road plates can be considered to be 'juniorized'? The alternative is a single monofunctional plate. The new system may have flaws but it allows for much more customization. Want to add a bicycle lane? You can do that. Green median? You can do that. It's a very 'LEGO' approach. My only gripe is the size of the central road plate. Ideally, it'd be split in four quadrants. That would allow for even more flexibility.

It would be really good if there were some official plates available to raise the original thin baseplates a little, so that they would line up with a standard plate. Maybe with a tiny stud near two of the corners, so that they would stay in place.

Lego, please?

2020: Lego makes Speed Champion cars wider.
2021: Lego makes roads narrower.
Big brain time...

While not personally a fan of these new road plates (as my city, like a lot of AFOLs, has been collected over a long period of time, and has an abundance of sets that are built on the old road plates), it’s easy to see why Lego has gone down this path. It’s a company, and it has obviously decided, based on a extensive market research, that this is the future of Lego roads in the context of driving profits up. Time, and financial reporting, will tell whether it’s the correct decision.

The press release (‘explanation’) though is extremely poorly written, and it’s no wonder that it has further fuelled the annoyance of people. The reference to the old version not being included in previous products is complete garbage (particularly if you assume the reference to Lego City is meant to go back to the early classic town sets) and really poor given how much emphasis the Lego brand places on its long history.

What is more interesting is whether Jang will convert his whole city to these new road plates. I somehow doubt it.

@Luka_Lobe said:
" @Lasers said:
"I see videos of people trying to explain how to fit these abominations into their preexisting Lego cities, and it requires a significant amount of parts and labour to raise the stuff they've built on baseplates to match the height of these things. I think these road plates are trash. I can make my own using tiles (i.e. on top of 16X32 baseplates, or what have you) but that is also significantly expensive.
I don't like these at all. Juniorized and cumbersome."

I couldn't agree more. I also think, LEGO is in a creative crisis similar to the one before the introduction of the Star Wars theme, which saved LEGO at the time. Sets are in abundance, designs are more and more "juniorized" and one of the red flags for me is the use of horrible dark violet and dark-blue green colour schemes in LEGO Technic sets.
"

I think they are trying to separate or polarize their sets in two bigger groups. One with the juniorized “childish” themes (like city) and one with big big afol sets with thousands and thousands pieces in them.

I think this thinking is wrong. Personally i am a huge fan of the city sets too but what they are doing in the last few years, it’s just bad imho.

@LegoSonicBoy said:
[[[[We also acknowledge this is a big change for the AFOL community but we believe long term the new road plate will allow for even greater fan builds and customization.]]
I mean, honestly it isn't. Most AFOLs aren't building cities with LEGO City buildings. They're building cities with Modular Buildings. Most LEGO City products AFOLs use are vehicles and minifigure packs.

I think the problem comes down to City KFOLs and Modular Building fans of all ages having completely different needs by virtue of Modular Buildings relying on the legacy standard. City buildings haven't used baseplates in over half a decade.]]

See there's a thing here: baseplates ARE compatible with regular plates. If you stack a plate underneath a baseplate it will be the same height as two plates. It's still in-System, if you're willing to accept that they don't connect via the stud-and-peg system of Lego. And since buildings aren't meant to move, then there is little issue with having heavy items like modular buildings resting on top of an array of plates.

As with many things, if city builders have a real problem with keeping their layouts stable, then the third-party market will be able to fill in the gaps, I am sure.

I think its just odd that Lego would release smaller roads after making the width of cars speed champions 8 studs wide. And now they don't fit anymore. Why not make them broader?

@Rare_White_Ape said:
"See there's a thing here: baseplates ARE compatible with regular plates. If you stack a plate underneath a baseplate it will be the same height as two plates. It's still in-System, if you're willing to accept that they don't connect via the stud-and-peg system of Lego. And since buildings aren't meant to move, then there is little issue with having heavy items like modular buildings resting on top of an array of plates.

As with many things, if city builders have a real problem with keeping their layouts stable, then the third-party market will be able to fill in the gaps, I am sure."
That, too, though the pedant in me wonders whether the LEGO logo on the studs is what makes this combination of baseplates and plates in-System, or if it actually causes baseplates to stick out just that tiny fraction of a millimetre!

I think the main problem, as has been said before, is that kids don’t care about roads. I certainly didn’t when I was younger, I just lined up all my buildings in the shape of a road and that was fine by me. Heck, I even owned some road plates but never used them because I just didn’t have enough to make anything worthwhile and buying more seemed expensive.

So making the road packs more expensive than they were before for a system that doesn’t even have curved pieces doesn’t really look like it’ll be bringing a lot of kids in.

The new road plates were introduced for new customers only and not for us LEGO fans who spend yearly 4-5 digit sums on sets and like a system that worked for 5! decades. How else would LEGO justify a price increase and road surface decrease at the same time even though they cost less to manufacture?
The lanes are too narrow for new City trucks, the patched look is ugly and they only connect on hard, flat surfaces. Even the narrow bicycle lane or speed bump is a joke and the missing few extra tiles to combine the sets differently is a slap in the face. If the sales won't go as expected they will just stomp the plates to the ground like Hidden Side and other failed novelties.

The more I get my hands on these pieces and build sets with them, the more I absolutely love them and wish they had been around when this AFOL started building his baseplate-bound city and other layouts. Since they weren't, I'll probably just leave my baseplates where they are throughout my displays since shockingly, LEGO actually does *not* have the power to force me to immediately throw them all away just because the Jan 1 release occurred. Also, I have spares. Also, Bricklink.

I'll use the new system in alternate layouts and for big walls, elevated roads, and other less-standard uses, all while trying to build up enough excuses to buy in completely. The new plates are fundamentally superior to road baseplates IMO, absolutely more LEGO-like, in-system, easy to build with, actually possible to customize.

One definite negative is glossiness, but that's required for consistency with tiles used for connections. The other apparent downside is cost, but the difference is not as most people have perceived. Baseplate packs would come with one plate you want and one you don't. No matter how open-minded you are and how hard you try to efficiently use all four plate styles, once a city grows beyond a certain size you start to collect kilos of unwanted 4-way intersections. With the new system, almost all components are equally useful.

All of that is from an AFOL perspective, even, completely ignoring the market both new and old (and very old) road systems were all actually designed, tested, and produced for.

For all their worth, they seem to be particularly useful as bridges and piers so I'll mix and match.

Really dislike their gloss finish. Should be matte

@theJANG said:
"The more I get my hands on these pieces and build sets with them, the more I absolutely love them and wish they had been around when this AFOL started building his baseplate-bound city and other layouts. Since they weren't, I'll probably just leave my baseplates where they are throughout my displays since shockingly, LEGO actually does *not* have the power to force me to immediately throw them all away just because the Jan 1 release occurred. Also, I have spares. Also, Bricklink.

I'll use the new system in alternate layouts and for big walls, elevated roads, and other less-standard uses, all while trying to build up enough excuses to buy in completely. The new plates are fundamentally superior to road baseplates IMO, absolutely more LEGO-like, in-system, easy to build with, actually possible to customize.

One definite negative is glossiness, but that's required for consistency with tiles used for connections. The other apparent downside is cost, but the difference is not as most people have perceived. Baseplate packs would come with one plate you want and one you don't. No matter how open-minded you are and how hard you try to efficiently use all four plate styles, once a city grows beyond a certain size you start to collect kilos of unwanted 4-way intersections. With the new system, almost all components are equally useful.

All of that is from an AFOL perspective, even, completely ignoring the market both new and old (and very old) road systems were all actually designed, tested, and produced for."

THANK YOU Jang. I can’t wait to see what you do with these new parts.

It amazes me that so many people in a LEGO community of all things, have so little imagination that they can’t see the potential of these parts. I think people will calm down once someone actually shows off what can be done with them.

@DavidBrick said:
"I like them and I have a message for the people who don't.

Too bad. Most LEGO fans, probably 90%+ don't have the room for massive amounts of road plates, they have small displays that these work great on. You want road baseplates, buy the knockoffs, they look and work exactly the same."

Thank goodness your message means nothing to most of us.

@Graupensuppe said:
"2020: Lego makes Speed Champion cars wider.
2021: Lego makes roads narrower.
Big brain time..."

lol comment of the week right here. Everyone arguing about roads but meanwhile I'm quietly seething about "regular" cars being 6-wide instead of 4 ;D

Of course an explanation wont make a difference, certain afols need to have a moan and throw lego out of their pram about *something*.

Most city builders will already have a decent stock of old plates. If not, tough, you arent the target market for these. For the target market it makes a lot more sense, smaller more focused build/play, more flexibility, included in more sets etc.

The sooner people realise lego makes products for different markets, not just them, the better.

I love the new road plates! And the glossy shine ! When space is premium these are perfect and versatile. The height difference doesn’t bother me.. cardboard, or other plate methods can be used.. just need to get creative which is what LEGO is all about... creativity.. we adults have hijacked a kids toy to bring back our youth and in many cases to enjoy it with our kids.. cannot wait for more variations on this system

@MrBob said:
"It amazes me that so many people in a LEGO community of all things, have so little imagination that they can’t see the potential of these parts. I think people will calm down once someone actually shows off what can be done with them."
Caz Mockett already did on New Elementary long before Brickset published their review: https://www.newelementary.com/2020/12/lego-city-review-mocs-60304-road-plates.html

Would've been nice if Brickset linked to it at least so more people knew about it. It provides a much-needed supplement to Brickset's IMO weak and incomplete review.

Can someone who uses MILS comment on how expensive a single MILS module is? New parts, please.

@LegoSonicBoy said:
" @MrBob said:
"It amazes me that so many people in a LEGO community of all things, have so little imagination that they can’t see the potential of these parts. I think people will calm down once someone actually shows off what can be done with them."
Caz Mockett already did on New Elementary long before Brickset published their review: https://www.newelementary.com/2020/12/lego-city-review-mocs-60304-road-plates.html

Would've been nice if Brickset linked to it at least so more people knew about it. It provides a much-needed supplement to Brickset's IMO weak and incomplete review."

100% agreed, I really wasn't sure about the new plates until I saw the New Elementary review, which really highlights how much more flexible they are than the old system.

I'm torn on this.

On one hand, I see how this system improves flexibility and opens the door to create connections that were not possible before. But on the other, the cost is astronomical for someone like me if I were to switch to the new system with all the plates and height modifications that would ideally be needed. My other issues include the lack of rounded curves and how some of the sets suffer from the use of these road plates. While the Modern House is quite excellent, Shopping Street feels like half of the business buildings were sacrificed to allow the road plates to be included. And that set is already extremely overpriced along with Skate Park.

I fully understand how this appeals to children, but for anyone who has spent years using the old system and has built things in scale to it, this feels like a slap in the face to completely abandon the standard that was established for decades. I understand that for many this system is preferred because it takes less room allowing for more buildings. But at the same time, it also feels odd to me because LEGO has 8-wide vehicles (Speed Champions and some City and Creator vehicles) and that makes it feel like it would be a tight squeeze for two to pass by each other.

I also have yet to see how these will affect railroad tracks and crossings.

Others say the saw the studded area on the road baseplates as an issue, but to me it was streetside parking. Yes, you could still do streetside parking with this new system, but that just furthers the cost issue.

And to those who say you don't have to change to the new system, that is true, but at the same time it would be hard to expand your city using products on the market. The problem is LEGO is likely to use this system in sets as is evidenced by this wave of City sets. While the parts could be used elsewhere, they still will quickly pile up if you buy different sets from the wave or future waves.

For those who say you can 'Buy the old road baseplates on Bricklink,' I also have bring up cost again. Some sellers already sold them for rather high prices and it is only reasonable to assume that the price of these will only go up even higher.

Overall, I wish LEGO would have given us a chance to offer feedback like they have with past major changes or at the very least given people more time to prepare. Best solution though would have been to move the road baseplates to be marketed under the Xtra or Classic theme therefore at least still giving people the option instead of just abandoning the prior system. I would of even been ok if they raised the price a little (say $9.99 for one baseplate assuming one would be $7.99 with the two pack going for $14.99.) to encourage people to use the new system.

I intend to keep using the old system- at least for now. The lack of curves is the biggest deal breaker for me.

Was there this much whinging when they switched road plates from green to bley? Or for that matter, from grey to green?

Was that another grievous betrayal of the "true fans", in that it acknowledged that the world isn't permanently frozen in the mid 1980s? Or were people maybe a little less convinced that the world revolved around them?

@Huw I've asked before, but is there any chance we could get a personal block list feature in the comments? I'm genuinely interested in hearing what most people have to say but there's a highly vocal minority of complete... Ogels... Who just can't deal with the fact that not everything is designed exclusively for them. The same names over and over, and I'd gladly never hear anything from them again.

I'm here because I *like* things. I don't really want to hear people blathering on about how they hate everything because they weren't personally asked for their consent first.

Friends, brickheadz, microfighters, junior sets, road plates, new ideas and themes, it's always the same and my god is it BORING.

Good news everyone. You do NOT have to stop using your old road plates.

@MisterBrickster said:
"I'm always impressed by the commenters here who have a market research department that rivals Lego's own. They always seem to have their finger exactly on the pulse of what "everyone" wants. Odd that it tends to line up with what they personally want, but who am I to argue with rigorous studies?"

It would be excellent if someone who participated in LEGOs market research would describe how that was conducted. Though probably they can't in fear of penalty and NDA.
I have participated in several and know of other events where potential customers test product prototypes. None of those proceedings bear any resemblance to real-life scenarios. First of all people are influenced by the excitement of having been chosen in the first place, they get to socialize with new people (that often are similar to them), you make decisions in a comfortable environment, there is peer pressure to give suitable answers, products are free and preselected etc etc. Rather useless waste of time.
IMHO LEGO would get believable feedback only if they slipped ready-made products amongst their lineup in actual stores and watched if customers actually discover, examine and buy something new and different. That scenario would never happen though.

Lower the price on the new road sets and give me 32x32 plates at a reasonable price and I will stop being annoyed...

This is a statement from Kim E. Thomsen, fromer employee of the LCE Team, explaining that "baseplates are produced by a 3rd party and LEGO prefers to put the models on plates, which are produced by LEGO."
(It's from a review I wrote at HispaBrick Magazine 026)

So basically, my opinion is that there is simply an economical reason behind, dressed with some "cool" explanations about building experience and bla, bla, bla.
LEGO was not happy with a 3rd party doing BP and they are trying to stop the collaboration, although I don't understand why LEGO can't manufacture BP themselves.
Only would like LEGO to be honest and say that.

@bobaphat107 said:
"What us AFOLs sometimes forget is the fact that LEGO is primarily a children's toy."

LEGO.... a... toy? What do you mean? What ever DO you mean?!!
It's a highly sophisticated inter-locking brick system. For adults making cool adult stuff. XD

@lluisgib said:
"This is a statement from Kim E. Thomsen, fromer employee of the LCE Team, explaining that "baseplates are produced by a 3rd party and LEGO prefers to put the models on plates, which are produced by LEGO."
(It's from a review I wrote at HispaBrick Magazine 026)

So basically, my opinion is that there is simply an economical reason behind, dressed with some "cool" explanations about building experience and bla, bla, bla.
LEGO was not happy with a 3rd party doing BP and they are trying to stop the collaboration, although I don't understand why LEGO can't manufacture BP themselves.
Only wanted LEGO to be honest and say that."

Baseplates were introduced almost 60 years ago. What changed in the past year or two to make economics the sole reason to take another step towards actual plates?

I’ve only got limited space right now for my lego city layout (vast majority being official modular blogs).. and i just switched to the new system. And honestly... I’ve never been happier with how my tiny city looks. Totally in love with the new road system. Makes the layout feel cleaner/tighter. And since they are half the width of regular baseplate roads.. I’m able to squeeze more content on my table. I never liked the huge shoulders on the road plates.. and the amount of tiles that would be required to create sidewalks. Felt like wasted space since the modulars already have sidewalks.

For me it’s just perfect.. and I’m happy I switched. But I understand that for people with larger layouts, it’s really cost prohibitive to switch, and it’d make sense to stick with the old baseplates.

Speaking of old plates.. that was what I used to elevate my modular buildings to create a curb for the new roads. My modulars are sitting loosely on two layers of old roads/other BP’s. Was my solution for what i see being a common complaint with the new roads being thicker. And it let me reuse the old road baseplates I’ve purchased over the years so that they aren’t completely wasted.

I grew up with the grey plates and green lines and when I rediscovered my love for lego with the modulars, brought more on ebay to incorporate into my layout. I found they worked well with all of my sets, city and modulars alike.

As for these new roads, I think design wise, they look far more modern than the old baseplates and it would be interesting to see what the curves would be like if they brought any out.

I read the elementary article and its interesting how they can be adapted, although it does point out the difficulty that everyone is raising about the height and solution to means buying a load of base plates and 2x4 bricks.

I don't dislike the new design, nor do I feel angry that lego has brought it out. However I won't be using it, as I'm quite satisfied with the ones I have.

Buying lego on other sites has always proved an expensive or cheaper alternative, depending on where you look. Lego is expensive, as the company has made itself lately. It comes down to personal preference, what you want for your collection.

@artofmanslife said:
"I love the new road plates! And the glossy shine !"
So true, just like real roads.
*facepalm*

Seriously, reading all the positive comments about the new system or the ones that sound like you are desparately trying to sweet-talk all the disadvantages to yourself to make them sound like positives is mind-boggling.

The negatives:
- almost four times as expensive per the same footprint
- glossy finish (since when are roads glossy other than when totally soaked from rain?)
- too narrow for standard City vehicles to pass each other comfortably
- no side markings
- full of gaps because of all the 2x4 tiles in them
- no curves
- too high to connect to standard baseplates

The positives:
- potentially more flexible

But go on, keep trying to justify to yourself why you will be happy with the new system. After all, TLG is counting on you to throw your money at them.

Oh and @whoever edited my previous post: you should have at least left in the part that would have explained why I wrote that these people don't even understand their own product history. As it stands now it makes very little sense. Then again, who cares. Most of the positive comments are likely by people who weren't even born when LEGO provided proper baseplates with their City sets (when the line wasn't even called City anyway).

Typically the walls of buildings don't have a glossy shine in real life either, but I'm still not bothered by my Lego buildings having glossy walls either.

I play with Lego because I like building. I don't therefore consider no predefined pavements or markings a problem. I'm looking forward to playing with them

been looking desperately for that "explains new road plates" in the links ... until i realised the whole "explanation" was right there in the article.

There are so few benefits in that new system and so many setbacks, i'm still baffled that this shall be "it" in the eyes of TLG.

It looks like the baseplate market for more serious city builders is going to other companies who can deliver what is asked for. Not sure the children builders really care or know what is given to them ... so the new system will be "successful" just by being there.

@AustinPowers, I’m surprised you haven’t completely switched to the “other” companies. Lego just can’t do anything right by you anymore.

@Yellow said:
"(...)
You have two choices, none of them are reasonable costwise:
- throw away all old baseplates and build everything on normal plates
- put old baseplates under this new road system as well
Does anybody like to do these options? Me not. LEGO, please don't discontinue the old baseplates and roadplates!"
Option 3: (as several people have sensibly pointed out on this thread) just put FREE cardboard underneath your existing baseplate-based buildings to raise them up the new road level.

Option 4: (as several people have sensibly pointed out on this thread) continue to use your existing roadplates and buy any extras you need from Bricklink or eBay; noöne is forcing you to change.

Personally I just wish I had enough space to make deciding which road system to use an option. Forget new road plates, I need a new house!

Here’s my current (work in progress) display.. just as a visual for what I meant in my earlier post about it looking “cleaner” to me. I know a lot of people will never like this new system, and that’s okay.. but for me personally, I’ve never been happier with how my tiny layout is looking.. and that’s 100% due to the new road plate system.

https://flic.kr/p/2kpzJEn

I don’t mind new stuff though I won’t be looking to buy it. Never likes how they package the plates in mixed packs before. Will they make a level crossing for trains? Perhaps. Will that make me want to buy the other sets - no. I don’t mind them trying new things. I think that’s good. Doesn’t mean I will buy it. People fussing about stupid stuff

@AustinPowers said:
" Seriously, reading all the positive comments about the new system or the ones that sound like you are desparately trying to sweet-talk all the disadvantages to yourself to make them sound like positives is mind-boggling.
...
Oh and @whoever edited my previous post: you should have at least left in the part that would have explained why I wrote that these people don't even understand their own product history. As it stands now it makes very little sense. Then again, who cares. Most of the positive comments are likely by people who weren't even born when LEGO provided proper baseplates with their City sets (when the line wasn't even called City anyway). "

No, I think it’s mind-boggling how ignorant some haters of LEGO’s new directions are to the advantages it has and the clear reasoning behind it. And how they still comment their hatred on so many articles. Seriously, if you dislike TLG, why even bother with them anymore or insult the people that do? It’s clear that many people do, in fact, appreciate LEGO’s recent efforts and that there’s also a big audience who doesn’t voice their opinion on social media like this but still is very viable to LEGO’s success (in other words, kids). You could even say that they’re the target demographic... Oh wait. That’s because they ARE.

Please, people (NOT just children) are allowed to like things you don’t and there’s no reason for you to insult them because of it. If you like your childhood stuff so much, then go play with that and quit complaining about LEGO’s new products. You’re not the target audience anymore. That honor would go to the current generation of kids. LEGO makes things that sell at the time of their release, not forty-or-so years ago. If that were the case, TLG would’ve gone bankrupt a long time ago and you wouldn’t be able to get your hands on anything new anymore, good or bad.
You should be grateful to live in a time where LEGO is still a (widely available) thing and acknowledges their adult fanbase, and even makes products specifically for them. But these road plates aren’t that. They were never meant to satisfy you, so please just stop whining about it!

I’m sorry if I came across as rude. It’s not my intention. Still, you insulted basically every one of us that likes the new system (which, I repeat once more, is actually possible without us being ‘inferior’ kids like you suggest with that message), so yeah. If I did seem harsh or anything, that’s because I’m legitimately upset and mad about your whole message. The sarcasm and insults are just unacceptable to me and I really want everyone to have a fair discussion with equal rights, which is not exactly how you seem to be going about things. Let’s just all please be a respectful community and accept others’ opinions, even if they’re the complete opposite of your own thoughts.

All I read is: "There are several marketing from the new LEGO City road plates being marketing in 2021. The new road plates play an marketing role in the LEGO City marketing where it, due to the modular marketing of the builds, allows you to be marketing and marketing the LEGO City of your marketing." Sad.

These aren't worth worrying about.

A few years ago, I spent a whole lot of time and cash building up a rather enviable collection of road baseplates in the 784 styles Lego has produced. It was especially difficult because 7280 only had one straight road, so I had to eBay off a staggering number of useless crossroads.

Then to my chagrin, I discovered that SNOT brick-built roads are almost infinitely superior to plain baseplates for AFOL layouts. You can do realistic pavement stripes, you can move them off-grid in a large landscape, you can give them a grade over rolling hills, you name it. I'm sold. All that time and money I spent on road baseplates was a waste.

You can get a few glimpses of what I did with them here:
https://youtu.be/Zcj-6KP0xkE?t=119

Although I think the new roads are useless to MOCers, they will be useful to kids and other amateur hobbyists. There will be a market happy to buy them off us. So any that we get can just go on eBay, with the profits plowed back into useful Lego.

I'm more shocked at the staggering price increase in City sets, which are far more expensive even when the set has road pieces in it or not. It's like 15 years of inflation happened all at once.

I wouldn't mind these one bit if Lego was going to continue selling the regular road plates.

The people saying "You don't have to use these! Just keep using your old ones and get more from BrickLink!" aren't really seeing the whole picture here. Yes, I can keep using what I've got...but I'll be adding new sets in the future...and will eventually need more road. Do you really think that the road plate prices will remain the same on BrickLink a year or two from now after Lego stops producing them and the supply has dwindled? These plates (especially ones in NEW condition) will be astronomically priced. As proof, look up what the space landing plates from the 1980s now cost.

I think these new road plates actually add greater road design possibilities. Now we can have 4 lane roads or even 6 lane roads! Speed bumps are now easier to add and can be integrated well. While they’re annoying, you can now create a much greater selection of roads in your layouts. I see this as a win

@24nolf said:
" @PDelahanty said:
"I wouldn't mind these one bit if Lego was going to continue selling the regular road plates.

The people saying "You don't have to use these! Just keep using your old ones and get more from BrickLink!" aren't really seeing the whole picture here. Yes, I can keep using what I've got...but I'll be adding new sets in the future...and will eventually need more road. Do you really think that the road plate prices will remain the same on BrickLink a year or two from now after Lego stops producing them and the supply has dwindled? These plates (especially ones in NEW condition) will be astronomically priced. As proof, look up what the space landing plates from the 1980s now cost."
People who say buy normal road plates on bricklink are insanely uniformed. There is not and never has been(at least in recent years) any real inventory of road plates on the secondary market. I am consistently amazed with how uninformed “Lego fans” are about their hobby.
"

I mean, just doing a Bricklink search reveals several listings for various roadplates; and Ebay, while I don't recommend at first, always has listings if nothing else comes through. Prices may not be desirable, but I think it's disingenuous to say there's no inventory, or that Lego Fans are uninformed.

@24nolf said:
"People who say buy normal road plates on bricklink are insanely uniformed. There is not and never has been(at least in recent years) any real inventory of road plates on the secondary market. I am consistently amazed with how uninformed “Lego fans” are about their hobby. "
I have regularly bought road baseplates on eBay as my city has grown, and I was looking for more earlier today.
There are loads for sale.

(NB. I use the old-old-old style of road baseplates in old grey with green markings because they have narrower lanes which means a greater studded area. They often need washing, and sometimes a few days in Retr0bright, but after that they're as good as new!)

@aztecwarrior said:
"I'm finding that doing a pros and cons list is very helpful to decide whether you want to buy a set. So for this set...

Pros
It includes road plates (but that's what the set is, so this doesn't really count)
It includes small pine trees
It includes flowers
It includes road signs
It includes lamp posts
It includes stop lights
Includes glow in the dark pieces
Cons
It doesn't include any vehicles (it should include a motorcycle)
It doesn't include any minifigures to start your city
the speed bumps are to small
The price is a little expensive (should be same as road baseplates, $15.)

7 pros and 4 cons. I suppose it is a decent set. It is a good starter for anyone wanting to make a city. I would recommend to anyone with over $60. to spend.
Based on the pros and cons I put it at %65. Value
"

This is a very biased list. You should really just have Pros of "It includes road plates" and "It includes other stuff that isn't even a road and what is it doing in a road expansion set?" 2 pros and 4 cons.

This is just one of the things that bugs me about these roads...they're adding in other stuff we don't need for expanding roads. Keep the cost down by ONLY including the road pieces. If we want signs, flowers, lights, etc, put those in an Xtra set.

@LegoSonicBoy said:
" @MrBob said:
"It amazes me that so many people in a LEGO community of all things, have so little imagination that they can’t see the potential of these parts. I think people will calm down once someone actually shows off what can be done with them."
Caz Mockett already did on New Elementary long before Brickset published their review: https://www.newelementary.com/2020/12/lego-city-review-mocs-60304-road-plates.html

Would've been nice if Brickset linked to it at least so more people knew about it. It provides a much-needed supplement to Brickset's IMO weak and incomplete review."

I love this article so much!! Showcases exactly what I imagined, and even moreso with that classic space hangar!

Honestly, this new road system makes me actually want to pull my Town Plan out of storage for the first time since 2010, and build a layout using the new road plates.

Bonus points, I can’t imagine anything would make the haters seethe more than showcasing a classic like Town Plan arranged nicely with some of these new road parts. I’m liking this idea more and more. XD

Best base-plate ever: 305. Second best base-plate ever: 306.
They could probably make them even better in dark nougat (I know, I know, not going to happen).

Very little use for this road system but let's see how they manage to do curved ones and 45 degree angles. They should also have a 4x16 plate for bicycle lane or for road just slightly larger than single lane. Mat would also be better than shinny.

I don't get that: "base-plates are outsourced and Lego wants to get rid of them". Lego is raining money nowadays. They were doing were well before and this year (2020) will be extraordinary. Their sets are getting seriously more expensive and they are always out of stock - the promo for 40448 was supposed to run for a full month and was exhausted in a single day - how many orders do you think they got that day? They can buy back whoever makes the base-plate, they can buy back whoever has the right for the monorail tracks and they can certainly buy another freakin' mould for the goat.

@24nolf said:
" @Bhahouighf said:
"Over and over I see people fail to recognize that:
A) Having dimensions of base 8, these are quite easily integrated with modular 32x32 baseplates - simply stack one atop a layer of plates (or even another baseplate, if you don't mind a 1/2 plate curb height!) and surround it with road. 2 road plates = one baseplate edge.
B) These elements are designed to connect side to side as well as front to back to create more and/or larger lanes; if you're not satisfied with 8-wide lanes for your 8-wide Speed Champions, widen them! Heck, just build them out a couple studs with tiles (which can now be very easily lined up with the road surface) and your 10-wide roads are back!
C) "Simplifying the system" doesn't mean representing every conceivable road section as a specialized element, it means reducing the basic building block to a simpler form to maximize versatility. The fact that each plate takes up a quarter to an eighth of a regular baseplate's area makes this system much more customizable within the same footprint. Where one road baseplate with its strict sidewalks might have gone, a 32x32 four-lane road— or a two-lane with 15-wide lanes— can take its place. Additionally, only the crosswalk plates have a printed surface; the unprinted 8x16 and 16x16 plates can be used for unmarked road, straight road, three-way and four-way intersections, road with medians, you name it, it can be made.

This is a good system, people! LEGO stopped producing the old plates two years ago, so it's not as though they're taking a product away from you now. The only problem with these is the price, which will inevitably fall once they pay for their own development, and I hope at that point they'll start showing up in themes besides City— Friends, Superheroes, maybe even Monkie Kid and Ninjago. You are entitled to prefer the old baseplates and continue to use them, but you cannot call this system a cash grab when it captures the customizable spirit of LEGO better than the old way ever could."

You clearly are not a city builder. It’s very easy to spot commentators on here who don’t actually build city’s because the very first thing any city builder would say is: “There are no curves, you can’t use this system to build a city.” This is the least flexible “road system” in over 30 years. Now it’s not useless. Some of these parts would be helpful for building bridges but it’s an insane step backwards on the whole.

Saying this is a good road system is like saying the roller coaster pieces are a good replacement for the monorail system. People who don’t build monorails would probably not notice all the issues with the roller coaster parts.
"

to be fair and don't want to be rude, but with the old plates I've never seen a good city layout before because most of times it's juts 32x32 modulars next to each other and in front of them the good old 32x32 road plates. They have sidewalk from the modular and a bunch of "empty" stud lines from the road plates.

with this new these new plates this one won't be a problem anymore.

Old baseplates were too big to have a shelf layout or, single lanes or garden driveways to houses , since the smaller roadplates from the 80s and 90s (smaller then 32x32) havent been seen forever.

This system is just way better compatible if you want to have roadworks, or a tank station, or barrier seperating lanes, or widen the lane to 3-4 or more whatever you want.

The price is the big downside.

As for buildings, it's nice City has more now, but I hope it's not the end of 3-in-1 Shops and Houses, 3-in-1 sets having few to no vehicles included with their buildings is the main attraction for me, as that ups the value.