Since I'm a recent buyer of Lego, I looked for several weeks to pick up a Lego City Fire Station (7208). I thought it would go great with the City Police Station and would be fun to setup and play with my son. I finally found two at Target and was able to pick them up during the BOGO 50% off sale they had a few weeks ago. I've since seen a few people pick them up for 50% off on clearance at Wal-Mart. Now the Lego City Fire Station (60004) is starting to show up at retail. I was surprised to see a new Fire Station set so soon? I personally like (7208) better and it looks more appealing with City theme, in my opinion. Which set do you think will have more longevity and long-term profitability?

I too picked up a couple 7208's before I saw the 60004. When I saw the new one I was shocked that it looks so similar to the old one which probably wont do good for the resale of the 7208. I do like the older one better so I will be keeping one for my own collection but I might have to hang on to the other 7208 for a lot longer than I expected. The value still seems high but I would imagine it will start to decrease once the 60004 starts showing up at more places.

Yeah, it will be tough to make a profit on either in the short term (I would think) due to availability and similarity. I've complained before (and probably will again) that there are too many fire and police stations in my city, and not enough other buildings. I get that they offer high play value for kids, but even kids must get tired of only playing with certain minifigs.

I guess the lesson here (for me at least) is that the city sets are a risky investment. Unlike many other themed sets where there will never be another similar one created the city ones are always going to have those basic buildings like a fire station and police station. Which is usually OK until they do something like this and make the sets look almost identical. I do agree I would love to see some new buildings and not the same thing over and over.

Well, the 7208 was definitely a better retail deal if you ask me as it had more pieces, and it was cheaper. So at the very least you got the better deal. I would think that might give it the edge in the long run because the new one doesn't look particularly interesting. They did the same darn thing with the police station a few years ago, and I have the better one I think.