Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

OK so I used to have a number of Lego sets many moons ago and I believe they were called Legoland town or something similar but basically it was a number of sets that came on big A4 size-ish bases that all joined together to make a complete town. So you had a town hall, fire station, petrol station, villas, houses and so forth which could all be placed together to make contiguous roads and conurbations etc. Here is a set that I fondly remember:

http://letsbuilditagain.com/free-lego-instructions.php?q=6349

My daughter got her first Lego for Christmas but it seems these days they sell Lego Friends or something but it all seems a bit crapper to me. The question to those in the know and who keep up with these things is what is the equivalent of the old Legoland Town sets that I used to own? Does such a thing exist any more or am I going to have to resort to second-hand websites and ebay?

I think it's Lego City that your looking for.

Just be glad that's it's city, Chima is the current favourite of the little nurgling here.

Why couldn't he just stay with Lego Star Wars...

Grumble, grumble. (Bah Humbug!)

Andrew

The “city” lego tends to go in themes. IIRC right now there is a swamp police thing going on. A few years ago it was a logging/ranger theme. The Boy got an arctic rescue one this year. I’m not sure if they keep the basic city stuff in production all the time. You can always hit up the lego website and see what they have.

The “friends” stuff is an abomination. No reason why girls can’t play with basic sets. The Wife agrees with me on this (and has a number of the architectural sets herself)

I looked on the Lego website and whilst they do seem to sell some city stuff, (there is a police station and a town square), it is isn't clear if it comes on big bases with roads that are designed to go together to make a town like the old stuff did. It mostly just seems to be emergency vehicle sets with very few buildings. Doesn't look like they make an equivalent town any more

You can still get the big bases - I saw them in Toys R Us the other day. It would be a question of combining these with some of their (expensive) town sets for older Lego fans.

For example, this was available a couple of years ago...

If you are looking for lego city stuff, ebay is your friend here. Also there are some youtube channels dedicated to lego, and you can follow thier builds to build unique buildings.

I even purchased some individual legos(there are websites who specialize in lego parts), to create a kit based on one of those builds, so my son could build a cool yellow school bus.

GG

The Legoland sets from the 70s and 80s are gone. You can still get a wide variety of buildings in the City and Creator series. There are also a number of sets (like the town hall above) in the Creator line geared more towards collectors/hobbyists. Those sets range from $149 to $199. The Town Hall in the picture is discontinued. If you happen to see one at regular retail, buy it.

None of the buildings come with the standard road plates like the old sets. If you really want to build a connected city, I would suggest going to eBay for road plates (they are relatively cheap - depends on condition) or visit Lego collector's sites to find road and/or suitable base plates.

 filbert wrote:
OK so I used to have a number of Lego sets many moons ago and I believe they were called Legoland town or something similar but basically it was a number of sets that came on big A4 size-ish bases that all joined together to make a complete town. So you had a town hall, fire station, petrol station, villas, houses and so forth which could all be placed together to make contiguous roads and conurbations etc. Here is a set that I fondly remember:

http://letsbuilditagain.com/free-lego-instructions.php?q=6349

My daughter got her first Lego for Christmas but it seems these days they sell Lego Friends or something but it all seems a bit crapper to me. The question to those in the know and who keep up with these things is what is the equivalent of the old Legoland Town sets that I used to own? Does such a thing exist any more or am I going to have to resort to second-hand websites and ebay?

Lego City, Lego Star Wars, Lego Lord of the Rings, and Lego Hobbit should all be solid stuff, I got the Bag End set as a decoration and it built perfectly fine.

What you want to absolutely avoid is modern Bionicle and anything similar to it. The parts were cheapened half a decade ago and thus they break easily. Stick to normal Lego sets with the traditional mini-figs and brick system and you should be fine.


If you want the big lego base sheets, you should probably be able to order them if you find the parts code from a lego store.

Lego city used to be boring as hell, recycling the same 3 police sets for 5 years street (police car, police station, police trailer)

Then they made it interesting as I got out of Lego.

It's a conspiracy I says.

 Bronzefists42 wrote:
Lego city used to be boring as hell, recycling the same 3 police sets for 5 years street (police car, police station, police trailer)

Then they made it interesting as I got out of Lego.

It's a conspiracy I says.

There's also Lego Medieval if they're still doing that.

 Wyzilla wrote:


There's also Lego Medieval if they're still doing that.

Barely...


The "main" LEGO sets now are City, some Space/Spy thing, Ninjago, Chima, Star Wars, LOTR, TMNT, Marvel/DC universe, "Friends", "Disney Princess Friends", Juniors, Creator, and some Technic stuff.

The "Creator" sets Ive noticed are a lot more generic in design, having usually 2-3 "kits" built out of the same bricks (as in, they include the instructions for 2 or 3 things, but you use all the pieces so you can only build one at a time)


There still is a Castle presence, but it's nowhere near what it used to be when I was growing up. Also, there's a distinct lack of pirate stuff, outside of LEGO Movie sets.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:


There still is a Castle presence, but it's nowhere near what it used to be when I was growing up. Also, there's a distinct lack of pirate stuff, outside of LEGO Movie sets.

A damnable offense if you ask me. Lego Pirates was the stuff of legends.

I think basically the answer to this question is 'yes', the sets I am looking for are still available but only on Ebay and only for stupid prices :(

Shame, I wanted to build a miniature town in Lego for my boy when he is slightly older.

Filbert, try looking at the website for the old kit instructions and then try Legos missing parts service, key in the part number and see if they sell those parts individually. It might be the cheapest option for the baseboards that your looking for.

Cheers

Andrew

I Still have my collection of Lego, basically all the Castle themes from start to end missing only 3 small sets, and all the LOTR / Hobbit stuff.

Going to get kids build it all once at suitable age and have a full room wide country with forts and villages (Think mount and blade )

 gunslingerpro wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:


There still is a Castle presence, but it's nowhere near what it used to be when I was growing up. Also, there's a distinct lack of pirate stuff, outside of LEGO Movie sets.

A damnable offense if you ask me. Lego Pirates was the stuff of legends.

Lego Pirate theme is making a comeback with the winter 2015 release waves, though the sets can't even begin to hold a candle to ones from the late 80's/early through mid 90's.

They sell the big green bases in the Lego shop and retailers IIRC.

I know John Lewis stocks lego.

The closest to the classic house seems to be

http://shop.lego.com/en-GB/Family-House-31012?fromListing=listing

I'm sure the big buckets are still available and take the house theme.

The lego site seems a bit poo to be honest, do you have any local retailers near you?

On a more general note I'm jelly of those Architecture sets.

They look to be out of stock at the moment, but the lego store does still have road plates

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Straight-Crossroad-Plates-7280
http://shop.lego.com/en-US/T-Junction-Curved-Road-Plates-7281

So while they might not do the built-on-the-road thing they used to do, you can still drive around in legoland.

This thread brings forth lots of nostalgia.

Lego was my main thing from 5 years old to, like, fourteen. I was spared the pathetic 'girl lego' thanks to having a two years older male sibling who was the driving force for most of it.

We had everything from Star Wars to Harry Potter to Medieval to Pirates to City, and lots of old Bionicle. Countless thousands of crowns went into Lego. Our poor parents, hahah.

<3

Lego was/is the best toy ever.
Hours and I mean countless hours spent with it. Such simple fun and worlds made from your own childlike imagination. What could be better?

Lego is Awesome, and I remain a big fan (if not exactly a consumer). There is a large AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego) community out there with some really creative people doing some amazing builds, co I can always recomend people google a look. As for the official builds and products: http://brickset.com/browse has a pretty complete catalogue, usually with good pictures of the sets.

To the OP:

 filbert wrote:
The question to those in the know and who keep up with these things is what is the equivalent of the old Legoland Town sets that I used to own? Does such a thing exist any more or am I going to have to resort to second-hand websites and ebay?

The 'City' (http://brickset.com/sets/theme-City/year-2014) theme is still around, and for a number of years now they have been doing the Modular Buildings (http://brickset.com/sets/theme-Advanced-Models/subtheme-Modular-Buildings), which look stunning, but are expensive and complicated. I've found the most interesting stuff occasionally pops up in the 'Creator' line, and I think this: http://brickset.com/sets/31026-1/Bike-Shop-Cafe might be a good fit for what you are looking for. They seem to be doing a psudo line in 'Creator' of buildings that use similar principals to the Modular Buildings, but are smaller, simpler (and more affordable), and possibly more 'play-with-able'. Something to keep an eye out for anyway.

Brickset, what a great site, thanks.

 Ratius wrote:
Brickset, what a great site, thanks.

Eurobricks is another great Lego community with a large number of adult collectors.

I actually just yesterday got the new Star Wars AT-AT from my parents for my b-day yesterday. Such a sweat looking set, can't wait to get into building it! (plus I love Snowtroopers, it's just too bad they appear for only one scene of being brutally slaughtered...)