Lego City is a theme under which Lego building sets are released based on city life, with the models depicting city and emergency services (such as police and fire), airport, train, construction, and civilian services. Legoland Town is one of the three original themes that Lego produced upon its launch of the

Lego minifigure A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine produced by Danish toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and have been a success, with over 4 billion produced worldwide as ...

in 1978 along with Castle and

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...

. The Town brand was briefly replaced with Lego World City in 2003 and 2004 before it was simply rebranded as Lego City in 2005.

Overview

The Lego City theme traces its origins to Lego Town, a theme introduced with the first

minifigures A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine produced by Denmark, Danish toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and have been a success, with over 4 billion produced wor ...

in 1978, when a completely new range of buildings and vehicles were introduced for the European markets, although Lego sets with city buildings and vehicles had been commonplace since the late 1960s. In 1975, a precursor to the minifigure was introduced, in the same scale but without moving parts. Through the mid-1970s Town sets had buildings and vehicles functioning more as models, with minifigures unable to ride the vehicles. This continued with the new minifigures, for some of the sets in its early years. In 1980, the

Trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

theme was completely revamped to complement the Town sets. By 1983, the remaining vehicle based sets that were not minifigure compatible had been discontinued. All sets were originally released under the "Legoland" label until it was discontinued and replaced with "Lego System" branding in 1991. Eventually, different subthemes under the "Town" brand were used to tie together related sets, such as police, coast guard, emergency services, airport, road rescue, trains, fire, and harbor. In 1999 Lego Town was replaced by City which was known as Lego City Center in The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The theme was discontinued in 2002, and replaced by Lego World City in 2003. During the Christmas season, a City-themed

advent calendar An Advent calendar is used to count the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Since the date of the First Sunday of Advent varies, falling between November 27 and December 3 inclusive, many reusable Advent calendars made of paper or wood ...

set is sold through the online Lego Shop and at retailers. On June 22, 2019, '' Lego City Adventures'' aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

during a Saturday morning lineup along with ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character ...

''. From 2020 on, the annual City Advent Calendars would be based on the show specifically, rather than Lego City in general. In June 2020, following the

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

by police, Lego made an announcement that they would temporarily stop marketing police-related Lego City sets. Due to misinformation claiming that they removed these sets from being sold that led to backlash, Lego issued a follow-up statement emphasizing that the sets were still for sale and that digital advertising for the sets would just be temporarily halted. In January 2021, Lego released a new plate-based road system for the City theme that differed from its predecessor, which used baseplates whose height equaled one-half of plate. However, this system was criticized by some members of the Lego community due to its alleged incompatibility with the former baseplates, which had been gradually reduced in usage and limited to sets such as Lego Modular Buildings, and are less cost-effective.

Sub-themes

According to

Bricklink Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aro ...

, The Lego Group has released 1392 playsets and promotional packs of the Lego City theme. Outside of Lego City's generic city and town life based sets that are released regularly (with Fire and Police being the two most prolific - both of which have been the flagship sets throughout the history of the theme), City has had various subthemes, many of which are recurring. Under the Lego Town theme, the subthemes released during the 1990s and early 2000s also had individualized branding and labeling. In 2003 and 2004, the only town-based sets were released under the "World City" label. Since the launch of City in 2005, they are just labeled as City sets but often have multiple sets based around a single concept released at the same time during Lego's release schedule. Many of these subthemes would diverge notably from the urban city life depicted in general sets, including such themes as leisure resorts, rural farming and space port rocket launching. In September 2021, Matthew Ashton, The Lego Group's Vice President of Design announced the City alongside Friends, Creator, Classic, Technic, Speed Champions, Monkie Kid,

Ninjago Lego Ninjago is a Lego theme that was created in 2011 and a flagship brand of The Lego Group. It is the first theme to be based on ninja since the discontinuation of the Lego Ninja theme in 2000. Whilst it retains some elements of the previous ...

, Collectible Minifigures and

DOTS Directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS, also known as TB-DOTS) is the name given to the tuberculosis (TB) control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization. According to WHO, "The most cost-effective way to stop the spread of T ...

themes were continue until at least 2023. From 1991 to 2002, sub-themes included Arctic, Boats, City Center, Classic, Coastguard, Construction, Drivers, Extreme Team, Fire, Flight, Football, Launch Command, Leisure, Maintenance, Medical, Outback, Paradisa, Police, Race, Racing, Res-Q, Shell, Space Port, Telekom, and Vehicles. From 2005 to the present, sub-themes have included Airport, Arctic, Cargo, Coast Guard, Construction, Deep Sea Explorers, Farm, Fire, General, Harbour, Jungle, Medical, Mining, Police, Seasonal, Space, Town, Trains, Traffic, Volcano Explorers, and Wildlife Rescue. Stuntz is a sub-theme and was launched on 1 October 2021. Total of 10 sets being released and featured fly-wheel powered bike functionality through pull back motors. Also included launch ramps, flywheel stunt bikes, obstacles, building LEGO flames and dare-devil type challenges.

Octan

Octan is a fictional

oil company The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest ...

that has appeared in multiple Lego sets since 1992. Before that time, logos of the real-world oil companies Esso,

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

, and Exxon were used on sets. The Shell logo continued to be used on promotional sets after that time. In 2014, Lego announced it would not renew its marketing agreement with Shell, under pressure from the environmental group Greenpeace. Octan first appeared in the 1992 sets "6397 Gas N' Wash Express" and "6594 Gas Transit". Since the release of the Octan name, Lego has not signed any further deals with Shell or other gas corporations, as Octan was made the primary vehicle fluid company. ''Octan'' (or ''oktan'') is the Danish word for octane, a component of

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...

. Octan has appeared in a number of

Lego video games Since 1995, 85 commercial video games based on Lego, the construction system produced by The Lego Group, have been released. Following the second game, ''Lego Island'', developed and published by Mindscape, The Lego Group published games on it ...

. ''

Lego Island ''Lego Island'' is a Lego-themed action-adventure game developed and published by Mindscape. It was released for Microsoft Windows on September 26, 1997, as the second Lego video game overall and the first one outside Japan. In the "proto- ...

'' for example features an Octan gas station and the company sponsors the race track. In ''

The Lego Movie ''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, its story focu ...

'', Octan is the base company of the main antagonist Lord Business. His company is the producer of almost all of the commodities in his dominion. In the Lego set "7747 Wind Turbine Transport", a variant of the Octan logo is depicted which reads "Octan Energy", implying a new division responsible for renewable energy. In the set "60016 Tanker Truck", another variant is seen with "Energy" in much larger and fully green type. Set "60257 Service Station" is one of several that feature a third, seemingly finalized design, depicting "OctanE" with orange and blue replacing red and green respectively, as the logo on an EV station, and at least one race car sponsor (Set 60256). In a number of Town and City sets it is shown that Octan has a racing team that competes in at least Formula One, GT racing and rallying.

Video games

A video game developed by

TT Fusion TT Games Limited is a British holding company and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Giant Interactive (now TT Games Publi ...

called ''Lego City Undercover'' was released for the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Th ...

on March 18, 2013; a port of the game was released April 4, 2017 on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

. A prequel to the game was also released for the Nintendo 3DS on April 21, 2013. Lego City content, based on ''Lego City Undercover'', was added to the

toys-to-life Toys-to-life is a video game feature using physical figurines or action figures to interact within the game. These toys use a near field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID), or image recognition data protocol to determine ...

video game '' Lego Dimensions'' on May 9, 2017, via a "fun pack" containing a Chase McCain minifigure and a constructible Police Helicopter.

Television series

In 2019,

premiered a new series in June of that year, based on the Lego City theme. The series, titled Lego City Adventures features the newly introduced named characters from the brand as they do their daily jobs in the fictional metropolis.

Theme park attractions

In 2002, a Lego City themed land was introduced to

Legoland Deutschland Resort Legoland Deutschland Resort is a Legoland park located in Günzburg in southern Germany, roughly halfway from Munich to Stuttgart, which opened in 2002. It is 43.5 hectares (107 acres) in area, and it is one of the four most popular theme parks ...

, featuring Airport, Harbour Cruise, Hyundai Legoland Driving School, Hyundai Legoland Junior Driving School, Lego Factory, Legoland Express, Power Builder and Shipyard Playground. In 2011, a Lego City themed land was introduced to

Legoland Florida Legoland Florida Resort (stylized as LEGOLAND Florida Resort) is a vacation destination in Winter Haven, Florida. The resort features the Legoland Florida theme park itself, the Legoland Water Park, three on-site accommodations and a separatel ...

, featuring Ford Driving School, Ford Jr. Driving School, Flying School, Boating School and Rescue Academy. In 2012, a Lego City themed land was introduced to

Legoland Malaysia Resort Legoland Malaysia Resort is Malaysia's first international theme park, which opened in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia on 15 September 2012 with over 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions. It is the first Legoland theme park in Asia and s ...

. The City area is designed as a miniature town with attractions and rides controlled by children. The area featuring Boating School, Driving School, Junior Driving School, LEGO City Airport, LEGOLAND Express, Rescue Academy and The Shipyard. In 2017, a Lego City themed land was introduced to

Legoland Japan Resort is a theme park in Nagoya, Japan. It opened on April 1, 2017. It is the first Legoland theme park in Japan; the second in Asia, after Legoland Malaysia Resort; and the eighth worldwide. The park was projected to attract over two million visit ...

. Lego City is on the park's north side, with fun activities for the children and family to do together, like the Junior Driving School where children learn to drive an electric car and receive a driver's license at the end of the ride. Coast Guard HQ allows the driver to take the wheel in a gentle and relaxing boat ride. Besides showing children how to drive, the Rescue Academy offers a fun experience where teamwork is needed to put out fires. The resort also has a LEGO Cinema where everyone is welcome to watch LEGO movies. LEGO City has various places to visit such as the Studio Store, Heartlake Shop, and City Shop, each shop with a different theme. There are also three places to buy snacks or lunch, Pit Stop Juice ‘n’ Drive, Brick House Burgers and Marina Snack Shack. In 2021, a Lego City themed land was introduced to

Legoland New York Legoland New York Resort is a theme park in Goshen, New York owned by Merlin Entertainments. Consisting of seven Lego themed lands on a property of . The park contains numerous structures and attractions made of Lego or designed to resemble L ...

a land that is made to look like a city and based on the Lego City toy theme. The area featuring Coast Guard Academy, Driving School, Fire Academy and Junior Driving School. '' Lego City 4D - Officer in Pursuit'' was released in

Legoland California Resort Legoland California Resort is a theme park, miniature park, and aquarium located in Carlsbad, California, based on the Lego toy brand. Opening on March 20, 1999, it was the third Legoland park to open and the first outside of Europe. The park i ...

on 12 April 2019 and then rolled out to other Legoland Parks and Legoland Discovery Centres in 2019. It is currently located in all Legoland parks and Legoland Discovery Centres and is available at scheduled times alongside other short films, including '' The Lego Movie: 4D – A New Adventure'' and '' Lego Ninjago: Master of the 4th Dimension''. In November 2021, Lego City themed land was announced for the upcoming launch of Legoland Shanghai Resort in 2024.

Reception

In September 2016, The Lego Group reported that the Lego City,

Lego Star Wars Lego ''Star Wars'' is a Lego theme that incorporates the '' Star Wars'' saga and franchise. Originally it was only licensed from 1999 to 2008, but The Lego Group extended the license with Lucasfilm, first until 2011, then until 2016, then ag ...

Lego Ninjago Lego Ninjago is a List of Lego themes, Lego theme that was created in 2011 and a flagship brand of The Lego Group. It is the first theme to be based on ninja since the discontinuation of the Lego Ninja theme in 2000. Whilst it retains some elemen ...

and Lego Nexo Knights themes had delivered a turnover of DKK 15,692 million in the first half of 2016, a sales increase of 10 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year. In March 2022, The Lego Group reported that the Lego City,

Lego Technic Lego Technic is a line of Lego interconnecting plastic rods and parts. The purpose of this series is to create more advanced models with more complex technical functions, compared to the simpler brick A brick is a type of block used to b ...

, Lego Creator Expert,

Lego Harry Potter Lego ''Harry Potter'' is a Lego theme based on the films of the '' Harry Potter'' series. It is licensed from Warner Bros. Lego models of important scenes, vehicles and characters were made for the first six films and all of the published boo ...

and

themes had earned for the full year of 2021. Revenue for the year grew 27 percent versus 2020 to DKK 55.3 billion and consumer sales grew 22 percent over the same period, outpacing the toy industry and driving market share growth globally and in largest markets. On 28 September 2022, The Lego Group reported that the

Lego Icons Lego Icons (formerly known as Lego Creator Expert) is a series of Lego construction toys aimed at a demographic of adolescents and adults. Beginning in 2000 without an established logo or icon, Icons features models such as aircraft, sculptures, ...

(formerly Creator Expert), Lego City,

and

Lego Friends Lego Friends is a product range of Lego construction toys designed primarily for girls. Launched in 2012, the theme introduced "mini-doll" figures, which are about the same size as traditional Lego minifigures but are more detailed and realist ...

themes had earned for the six months ending 30 June 2022. Revenue for the period grew 17 percent to DKK 27.0 billion compared with the same period in 2021, driven by strong demand. Consumer sales grew 13 percent, significantly ahead of the toy industry, contributing to global market share growth.

Awards and nominations

In 2008, Lego City was awarded "Toy of the Year" and also "Activity Toy of the Year" by the

Toy Association The Toy Association is an American trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a s ...

. In 2020, Deep Space Rocket and Launch Control (set number: 60228) was awarded "Toy of the Year" and also "Construction Toy of the Year" by the

References

Bibliography

* ''Lego City: Calling All Cars! (Level 1)''. Authored by Sonia Sander. Published by Scholastic US, 2010. * ''LEGO City: Emergency Rescue Activity Book with LEGO Minifigure''. Published by Penguin Random House Children's UK, 2011. * ''LEGO City: Fight this Fire (8x8)''. Authored by Anthony Michael Steele and Chuck Primeau. Published by Scholastic US, 2011. * ''LEGO City: Spot the Crook: A Search and Find Book''. Published by Penguin Books Ltd., 2011. * ''LEGO CITY: Space Mission Activity Book with Minifigure''. Published by Penguin Books Ltd., 2011. * ''LEGO City Brickmaster''. Published by Penguin Books Ltd, 2011. * ''LEGO CITY: Police on Alert! Storybook with Minifigures and Accessories''. Published by Penguin Random House Children's UK, 2012. * ''LEGO CITY: Fire Team Adventure! Storybook with Minifigures and Accessories''. Published by Penguin Random House Children's UK, 2012. * ''Lego City: Merry Christmas Lego City''. Published by Scholastic US, 2012. * ''Lego City Sticker Storybook: Escape from Lego City''. Authored by Wade Wallace. Published by Scholastic US, 2012. * ''Lego City: Save This Christmas''. Authored by Rebecca McCarthy and J Jason May. Published by Scholastic US, 2012. * ''Lego City Space Escape!''. Authored by Rafat Kotsut. Published by Scholastic, 2013. * ''LEGO City: Detective Chase McCain: Stop That Heist! Level 2 Reader''. Authored by Trey King and Kenny Kiernan. Published by Scholastic US, 2013. * ''LEGO City: Fix That Truck (8x8)''. Authored by Anthony Michael Steele. Published by Scholastic US, 2013. * ''Lego City: Where's the Pizza Boy?''. Published by Scholastic Inc., 2013. * ''LEGO CITY: Build and Find with Minifigure''. Published by Penguin Random House Children's UK, 2014. * ''Lego City: Mystery on the Lego Express''. Authored by Trey King and Sean Wang. Published by Scholastic US, 2014. * ''SAVE THAT CARGO''. Authored by Trey King and Chuck Primeau. Published by Scholastic US, 2014. * ''LEGO CITY: ADVENTURES IN LEGO CITY (READER BOXED SET)''. Published by Scholastic US, 2015. * ''Lego City: 3, 2, 1 Liftoff!''. Authored by Sonia Sander. Published by Scholastic US, 2016. * ''Lego City: Build This City!''. Published by Scholastic US, 2016. * ''Lego City: Catch That Crook!''. Authored by Michael Anthony Steele. Published by Scholastic US, 2016. * ''Jungle Chase! (Lego City)''. Authored by Ace Landers and Paul Lee. Published by Scholastic US, 2017.

External links

* Official sites
United States

United Kingdom
{{Lego

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Products introduced in 1978 sv:Lego#Lego City