City Advent Calendar - Day 4
Posted by MeganL,
Yesterday we had a puzzling lamp/mail station. Hopefully the build that's behind door number 4 is a little bit more intuitive...
We're back to microscale, and it's another vehicle. At first I thought this was a fire vehicle, but there's a minifigure arm cast attached to the back of the vehicle, which leads me to believe that this might be an ambulance. Perusing City sets of the past few years I think this may be the ambulance in 60204 City Hospital from 2018.
Again, not much festive, but this does include red!
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Seems like the micro scale builds are also including a relevant minifigure scale accessory (brush on the car wash, this cast).
Maybe they're meant to be toys
@MisterBrickster said:
"Maybe they're meant to be toys"
I would agree.
It's a bit surprising that the microscale vehicles resemble older sets that are not available on the market anymore - I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but from marketing point of view it would seem more logical to foreshadow something like e. g. the ambulance from the upcoming 60330 hospital (though it would be possible only without neon yellow at this point :D ).
Besides, where are the minifigs? :( Earlier City advent calendars featured the first minifig on day 1 or 2, which could increase playability early on, but now we are on day 4 with two mini vehicles, a mini car wash and a North Pole sign(?).
I have to say, these City advent calendars are getting worse and worse, it feels like LEGO isn't even trying anymore with them. I don't even like the Friends sets, but if I was going to get one of the advent calendars, I would most likely get the Friends one as it is def the best of the bunch.
Ahhh, it's an arm cast! I thought it was meant to resemble a puff of exhaust fumes from the ambulance going so fast. :-)
This year's advent calendar has way too many micro builds. Exactly half of them are, and only two you could consider Christmas-y. I'm not saying the advent calendars are getting worse in general, because they've always been a bit of a mixed bag, but the 2019 City advent calendar and the 2020 Harry Potter one were decidedly better than any of this year's, both in terms of builds and value. But as long as LEGO's core audience (the kids!) like them, it's fine.
@Michael40Plus said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
"Maybe they're meant to be toys"
I would agree."
I too would agree. I'm actually using these calendar microscale builds to stock up my toy department ot the 10211 Grand Emporium.
Am I the only person who's pretty happy with this advent calendar so far?
The post/pole debacle aside, I think it's been a strong start. The vehicles are always the best thing to get IMO, and we've had two of them. The buildings are usually a bit underwhelming but the car wash is much better than most of last year's (it's an entire building rather than just a frontage, and the vehicles fit through it neatly). I find the minifigs the least interesting because there's not much to build (and I don't own much Lego at that scale). Of course they'll show up at some point, but I don't mind that they haven't yet.
@SlimBrick1 said:
" @Michael40Plus said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
"Maybe they're meant to be toys"
I would agree."
XD I love it when people think LEGO is an adult only toy. XD"
I think what they mean is that these microscale models are supposed to be toys “in-universe”, given to the minifig children. It’s something they’ve done in precious advent calendars, give a micro model and then next day a child with a remote control.
I’m more used to ambulances looking boxy rather than sleek like this guy. Looks like the sort of ambulance that would be deployed out of Thunderbird 2
How convenient! When the ambulance runs you over, they have a full body cast prepped to seal you up inside.
@Brickalili said:
" @SlimBrick1 said:
" @Michael40Plus said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
"Maybe they're meant to be toys"
I would agree."
XD I love it when people think LEGO is an adult only toy. XD"
I think what they mean is that these microscale models are supposed to be toys “in-universe”, given to the minifig children. It’s something they’ve done in precious advent calendars, give a micro model and then next day a child with a remote control.
I’m more used to ambulances looking boxy rather than sleek like this guy. Looks like the sort of ambulance that would be deployed out of Thunderbird 2"
It reminds me of the kind of emergency vehicles that Lego had back in the 90s; things like the Night Patroller or the large fire truck from the Fire Control Center.
Just my $0.04 (adjusted for inflation).
I love the City Advent calendar and really enjoy the micro build choices it has. To me that makes this one of the best calendars. It is fun to have a decent build each day and watch as your micro city scene on your play mat gets bigger and bigger. Fantastic!