Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Bainter-ban]

Any idea on which sets are being retired this year? Assembly Square is listed at "high risk" at retiringsets, while Downtown Diner is "low risk". What do you think? I need to decide which one to buy before they retire... 

[thenightman89]

  On 8/18/2020 at 7:20 AM, Bainter-ban said:

Any idea on which sets are being retired this year? Assembly Square is listed at "high risk" at retiringsets, while Downtown Diner is "low risk". What do you think? I need to decide which one to buy before they retire... 

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Oddly enough, it's been reported that Downtown Diner is due to retire first.

https://www.thebrickfan.com/rumored-lego-direct-to-consumer-sets-retiring-in-2020/

[Bainter-ban]

  On 8/18/2020 at 12:43 PM, thenightman89 said:

Oddly enough, it's been reported that Downtown Diner is due to retire first.

https://www.thebrickfan.com/rumored-lego-direct-to-consumer-sets-retiring-in-2020/

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Thanks for the reply! That is strange, but after the early retirements of Brick Bank, Town Hall and Detective's Office I am not that surprised. Seems like Lego is quick to retire sets that do not sell as well as other modulars. This probably indicates that Assembly Square is still selling quite well, while Downtown Diner is not. 

[Carefree_Dude]

Any rumors or anything on what the next building will be yet?

[Salix]

  On 8/29/2020 at 6:26 PM, Carefree_Dude said:

Any rumors or anything on what the next building will be yet?

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I saw a rumour the next modular could be LEGO store. I don't know if that's true though, but it would be cool.

What I can say though that it's not gonna be a corner building if the pattern continues of: 1x corner, 2x straights, and repeat. Market Street being an exception btw.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Salix

[Driver Brandon Grumman]

  On 8/29/2020 at 6:26 PM, Carefree_Dude said:

Any rumors or anything on what the next building will be yet?

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  On 8/29/2020 at 6:49 PM, Salix said:

I saw a rumour the next modular could be LEGO store. I don't know if that's true though, but it would be cool.

What I can say though that it's not gonna be a corner building if the pattern continues of: 1x corner, 2x straights, and repeat. Market Street being an exception btw.

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C'mon Lego! Please let the next modular be that bus terminal and coffee shop I saw on Lego Ideas. Then again they may be under Ideas. 

Edited August 29, 2020 by Brandon Pea

[Options]

The bus station/coffee shop is very nice.  However, like the Barnes Noble/Starbucks, you probably won’t see it until it’s knocked off by one of the Chinese manufacturers.  Just too many pieces for Lego.  While I don’t like vehicles included with modular sets, the buses are are great designs and I’d like to have both of them.  I don’t think we’ll see anymore modular building sets like Market Street where the origin of the set comes from outside the Lego design team. Many of the ones I’ve seen in Ideas are beautiful.  If you need more than one modular a year (like I do), then some of the alternative build plans available out there are  great.  One of the alternate builds of Assembly Square doesn’t require any additional pieces and is a great building. 

[Robert8]

Nah...

I don't believe that LEGO Store modular rumor....

[Options]

First floor is a lego store, second story is a loan company where you can borrow enough money to afford what’s on the first floor.  Third floor is a lepin office knocking off what’s for sale on the first floor. 

[Carefree_Dude]

  On 8/30/2020 at 1:38 PM, Options said:

First floor is a lego store, second story is a loan company where you can borrow enough money to afford what’s on the first floor.  Third floor is a lepin office knocking off what’s for sale on the first floor. 

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This would make a great MOC but i don't know how you'd do the top floor short of actually using off brand bricks

[8fifty]

I still hope for a modular post office as the next Modular but I don't really expect it to be one. Have there usually been some credible rumors in the past about what the next set would be?

[Options]

Over the years, the ‘leaks’ seem to have been fewer and fewer.

[Kalahari134]

What is most at risk of retiring next? I think I'm going to have to sell the car...

[autolycus]

  On 9/5/2020 at 2:48 PM, Kalahari134 said:

What is most at risk of retiring next? I think I'm going to have to sell the car...

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All of the news and rumor sites say Downtown Diner will retire this year. None have mentioned any other modulars.

[RichardGoring]

When sets retire, is there any warning? Downtown Diner is now out of stock everywhere, but it says Temporarily Out of Stock on the Lego website. Does this suggest it will come back before it's retired? Same with the Ideas Treehouse. I really hope I haven't missed them!

[Kirton Bricks]

Normally (I think) if the set is due to be retired it'll swap to Sold Out so it would suggest they'll come back.

It's the same in the UK - been Temporarily Out of Stock for months but other shops have had both in stock for short amounts of time which suggests both are still being made. I'd pick them up as soon as you see them though as the Diner is highly likely to retire this year, especially with the new modular out in January.

As for modular leaks...I think someone said book shop a few months out last year but not sure if it was a guess or an actual leak...

All part of the fun speculating though! I feel something like an Opticians or a hardware store could be part of a future modular, perhaps one similar to Detectives Office/Brick Bank where there's different style buildings/ocupations.

[JLSD]

I so hope they will release a helicopter hanger as the new modular...they have released so many copters that i feel they need a place to "unwind"...

[Blazej_Holen]

I hope for normal building like School, or some public administration or Police station. This modular should come with that Cabrio (contest from last year), so I expect something odlschool and retro. Maybe that Car dealership Mike Psiaki was talking about in DV to the Dinner set? Dealership would be fine and it will nicely complement Dinner and Corner garage. 

Speaking of CG - this is first modular I am not excited to buy. And just tearing myself apart whether to buy it just because its a modular (and Bauhaus style one) or not. Honestly i like only the firdst floor just from outside. Rest is just "garbage". 

Back to the topic: hope that it wont be lego store (blah)

 

[8fifty]

  On 9/7/2020 at 5:42 AM, RichardGoring said:

When sets retire, is there any warning? Downtown Diner is now out of stock everywhere, but it says Temporarily Out of Stock on the Lego website. Does this suggest it will come back before it's retired? Same with the Ideas Treehouse. I really hope I haven't missed them!

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DD has been available for a few minutes at S@H today and is already sold out again. So it's quite possible that the set comes back another time ☺

  On 9/8/2020 at 9:49 AM, Kirton Bricks said:

As for modular leaks...I think someone said book shop a few months out last year but not sure if it was a guess or an actual leak...

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I'd say that was just a guess as I've read several of them. Even in the years before we finally got a modular book shop there've always been people who brought that into the game ?

[Kirton Bricks]

UK Folk - The Diner is now back in stock on the Smyths site if you're after it!

[autolycus]

I'm starting to worry that the Diner is going to be very hard/near impossible to get for RRP at this point. It has been "Temporarily Out of Stock" in the US for most of the time since March. It was back for a little while in August. Some big sets that are reportedly retiring have now shifted from "Temporarily out of stock" to "Sold Out" on the US S@H site. (Tree House and Taj Mahal).

I'm really hoping for one last wave of stock of the Diner, but I'm starting to worry I will have to get it from a reseller.

[Factioneer]

As much as I understand why THE LEGO GROUP is striving to control leaks and announce sets extremely close to their launch, I miss the build up of anticipation for sets like The Parisian Restaurant. But with all the pirates out there, stealing Lego’s IP, I get why they let it go down to the wire before official announcements. However, I think it would be fun for the company to release hints as to the type or theme of the new modular, or even tiny puzzle-piece corner images of a section of the new modular. Waiting until December is tough!
 

On a side note, is anyone here going to adapt the recent Diagon Alley set into modular buildings? May be an unpopular opinion among Potter fans but each building would make a good modular — except for the pink one! The building is great but I’d swap out the pink bricks for another colour. 

[Agent 86]

  On 9/17/2020 at 10:18 PM, Factioneer said:

However, I think it would be fun for the company to release hints as to the type or theme of the new modular, or even tiny puzzle-piece corner images of a section of the new modular. Waiting until December is tough!

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I agree. But, that doesn't really seem to be Lego's modus operandi. They could definitely tease new reveals for "known" upcoming releases (e.g. annual Modular vs. "surprise D2C") by posting photos of the minifigures, accessories, mini-builds, glimpses of architectural details on the facade, etc. 

[Options]

  On 9/17/2020 at 10:18 PM, Factioneer said:

As much as I understand why THE LEGO GROUP is striving to control leaks and announce sets extremely close to their launch, I miss the build up of anticipation for sets like The Parisian Restaurant. But with all the pirates out there, stealing Lego’s IP, I get why they let it go down to the wire before official announcements. However, I think it would be fun for the company to release hints as to the type or theme of the new modular, or even tiny puzzle-piece corner images of a section of the new modular. Waiting until December is tough!
 

On a side note, is anyone here going to adapt the recent Diagon Alley set into modular buildings? May be an unpopular opinion among Potter fans but each building would make a good modular — except for the pink one! The building is great but I’d swap out the pink bricks for another colour. 

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Really, really thought about turning it into a modular. But, the $399 price combined with the number of bricks that I’d have to use from my inventory to make it look right made it impractical.  Some of the garish colors are something that I’d never use. Plus, I’m not real big on mini-figs and the amount of pieces used for interior detail.  Instead, I bought a modular of Chinese origin and will pour at lot of Lego bricks into it and do some design modifications.  I need more than one modular a year. I’m reasonably sure that Lego has determined that’s all the market will support.  And, that’s fine. So, I do alternative builds or buy from other sources. One way I filled the void between modulars was to double the size of the Brick Bank while pulling out the laundromat and making it a separate building. 
 

 

[Vindicare]

  On 9/17/2020 at 10:18 PM, Factioneer said:

As much as I understand why THE LEGO GROUP is striving to control leaks and announce sets extremely close to their launch, I miss the build up of anticipation for sets like The Parisian Restaurant. But with all the pirates out there, stealing Lego’s IP, I get why they let it go down to the wire before official announcements. However, I think it would be fun for the company to release hints as to the type or theme of the new modular, or even tiny puzzle-piece corner images of a section of the new modular. Waiting until December is tough!
 

On a side note, is anyone here going to adapt the recent Diagon Alley set into modular buildings? May be an unpopular opinion among Potter fans but each building would make a good modular — except for the pink one! The building is great but I’d swap out the pink bricks for another colour. 

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Some official hints would be nice. The only real hint I want is price. Sure, it’s easy to get in the ballpark, but knowing how much to save up would be nice. Like they did with the WV Fire Station when it was upcoming. Oddly, they haven’t done that since.

I definitely want to put DA somewhere, just have no idea where... Being short on room & not wanting to remove stuff in favor of it is tough. I don’t plan on closing the backs up, even though it will look strange among the Modulars. I’m not going to put them side by side the Modulars as regular buildings, they’re going to be “hidden” as they are in the books/movies.