I am surprised how long this theme has been going on and how many sets it's produced. I for one find the theme rather boring. I don't know, just too common and everyday. Does this theme really sell that well compared to other themes?

Because little kids play with city theme, answer is simple I dislike it, except for a few special sets...

My kid loves it. This theme, or one like it is probably a permanent fixture.

While it may seem dull and boring, and many sets in this theme get repeated, it is still a very popular theme, especially among children. Children love police and fire sets, as well as other trucks and vehicles etc. City is one of my favorite themes and I'm 29 years old lol. I'm also not like most...........

City is by far my favorite theme. It's what the vast majority of my sets were as a kid and I started investing because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get cool sets before they EOL when my kids are old enough to play. It doesn't get more exciting than cops and firemen. And everyone can relate to it in real life. Part of the draw is the depth of the city sets. You can build a whole city with legos and the city/town sets have been around for much longer than 2005. The other series (except star wars) are pretty small in relation. I think the city sets are good because the bricks are more generic than the other series sets, which means when I tear the set apart (which I did a lot as a kid) and construct MOC's the blocks are more useful than some of the weird blocks in other sets.

My kids have a decent amount of the City sets. For some reason this has always been my favorite.

Yeah, it will never go out of style with kids. They remake everything, but since it's genaric, it is still cool. I personally love the simple, colorful look of the sets, even though I don't have any of them.

These were also my favorites as a kid, even though back then (early to mid 80s) there weren't that many different themes. We were limited mostly to space, city and castle. From an investment standpoint, I don't see much of an upside to them since they tend to remake all of these sets every 2-3 years. But from a play standpoint, it is what my kid most identifies with. My oldest is only 4, which is still too young to really build any by himself, but I will but him a few smaller sets to play with after I build them for him. I started buying city sets that I thought he would enjoy when he got older that may be harder to find. I just recently purchased all of the items from the mine series. I know that even in a year or 2, he will still love these types of things. I passed on the fire station and police station since I am sure by the time he turns 5 or 6 there will be a new one out... and even if there isn't, I still have the original from the 80s in a box in the attic we can bring out if we need to. I think these do well because kids actually play with them more and can identify with them, but from an investment standpoint... Not many are worth a lot... I just wish I had been collecting back in 2009 when they had the 7633 - Construction site. He would have loved that one as well.

I think my question is, if you put kids in front of different Lego Themes, like Star Wars, City, Space, Harry Potter, etc., do that many more kids choose City? Because yeah, if that's what parents buy for their kids, that's what they'll play with. But if they had the choice, would they choose a City set instead of another themed set? I just don't think I would have when I was a kid...

Kids look up to and try to recreate what they see around them. Kids typically spend more time outaide than say watching movies and tv about wizards, space fantasy, etc.

Pretty sure that City is either #1 or #2 in worldwide sales with Star Wars.

I really enjoy the city theme. The styles and improvements made to vehicles from the past has really come a long way. My personal favorite are the garbage/recycling trucks. I rarely see them go on sale so either they are already the best deal that can possibly be cut or so popular the price never needs to be lowered.

Some city stuff is great! I loved the World City theme they made a few years back, some of that stuff is super valuable now too!

It's one of the core Lego themes and I think they have said that it is pretty much a permanent fixture. Probably because it is very popular and also the margins they make on it are probably better than most other themes as there are no licence fees to be paid.

I think my question is, if you put kids in front of different Lego Themes, like Star Wars, City, Space, Harry Potter, etc., do that many more kids choose City? Because yeah, if that's what parents buy for their kids, that's what they'll play with. But if they had the choice, would they choose a City set instead of another themed set? I just don't think I would have when I was a kid...

you are putting different themes in front of kids every time you let them walk through the Lego isle at the store......

I really enjoy the city theme. The styles and improvements made to vehicles from the past has really come a long way. My personal favorite are the garbage/recycling trucks. I rarely see them go on sale so either they are already the best deal that can possibly be cut or so popular the price never needs to be lowered.

This right here. The older Town sets from when I was a kid growing up were rather dull and uninspiring which is why I went with anything Space all the time save for a few exceptions. But now, the current City sets are very well done and look closer to the real thing than they ever did before. I have a number of City sets and will keep collecting more of them for my own cityscape.

Someone else already asked this question before, but here goes anyway. When compared with every other theme out there such as Star Wars, City is a theme that everyone can relate to because it is based on real world ideas and vehicles like a recycling truck or tanker truck and so on. Not everybody is into Space themed sets (that includes Star Wars) or can relate to Super Heroes maybe, but City most definately.

Sure, City may not have the most exciting designs out there, but what do you expect from a line that has dump trucks and camper vans?

About a year ago I was watching a show in the History Channel about factories, and the Lego factory was featured. The show went through the whole process of designing and manufacturing the last lego police station. The lego people called it the "flagship set" of the lego world.

I think the only thing holding the city set back from being investable is that so many of the sets are repeated and improved upon so frequently. I would only pick up the really unique city sets that aren't repeated very often if you hope to turn a profit.

My brother was collecting it and then dropped it and picked up LOTR and the Hobbit theme but I think it's still popular!

I think the only thing holding the city set back from being investable is that so many of the sets are repeated and improved upon so frequently. I would only pick up the really unique city sets that aren't repeated very often if you hope to turn a profit.

It does make picking out 'the right ones' more tricky because of redos, and then there's 'desireability' to consider too.

Something I've found is that any City sets related to train stuff typically does well. Problem is, there's not a lot of City train stuff released, instead we get tons of Police and Fire sets. But Police and Fire are what kids love and they're the ones driving sales.

Thats the whole reason why trains do so well in the secondary market, they are underproduced. I see this as a good thing since any train will have a lot of value, the fact is, there aren't enough of them produced so every one soars in the secondary market.

Something I've found is that any City sets related to train stuff typically does well. Problem is, there's not a lot of City train stuff released, instead we get tons of Police and Fire sets. But Police and Fire are what kids love and they're the ones driving sales.

That's for sure. Has anybody seen the price of Lego 7996 Track Crossing? That thing is worth sooo much now because Lego decided to discontinue it a while back. I just picked one up for a hundred bucks on eBay and thought that was a steal even though it was only 25 when it first came out...

I think the only thing holding the city set back from being investable is that so many of the sets are repeated and improved upon so frequently. I would only pick up the really unique city sets that aren't repeated very often if you hope to turn a profit.

+1. This is what has caused me to pass on these sets so often. I just picked up a police station, but only because I got it for 50 bucks. But I'm guessing there's been at least 5 police stations and fire departments released in the last few years, and each set subsequently released probably sees diminishing returns upon retirement.

+1. This is what has caused me to pass on these sets so often. I just picked up a police station, but only because I got it for 50 bucks. But I'm guessing there's been at least 5 police stations and fire departments released in the last few years, and each set subsequently released probably sees diminishing returns upon retirement.

Exactly... thats why City theme (excluding trains) without 40% discount is not very good investment overall...

I absolutely love the City theme, it's what got me into LEGO. I collect it almost exclusively, so much so, that I probably wouldn't really collect LEGO. Apart from a few models like 10220 VW T1 or the Sopwith, I'm not really into any other themes; no SW, LotR, Indy, etc. I don't look for a profit return, as stated previously, they typically do not return well without major discounts. I just love miniature cities. Had I not already had my foot in the door, with a large layout 20 years ago, I probably would be collecting HO model trains... or own a Ferrari