I got my first Lego set in the early 70’s through a Velveeta cheese mail in promotion. The company almost went out of business in the early 90’s before they discovered movie tie-ins. I believe the quality of play was lost in this transition because the sets became more literal and less open ended. My first big set was a fire station which certainly literal but somehow seems more open ended then the movie tie/in sets.

The fire stations et al still exist, its just that they don't sell nearly as well as the tie-ins do, at least based on shelf space allocations.

This year's isn't huge: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/fire-station-with-fire-tr...

But the police station is pretty big: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/police-station-60316

(To me this looks more fun, but I'm a pirate guy: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/police-prison-island-6041... )