Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[lifeinplastic]

The printed parts in this modular are rather disappointing. One of the things I like about modular buildings are the lack of stickers so a bit annoying the printed parts aren’t very useful.

Edited Wednesday at 07:11 PM by lifeinplastic

[Roebuck]

13 hours ago, icm said:

Yeah, that's one thing that really irks me about this modular: the classic minifig chair in the trash. It's such a small detail with no impact on the build, and of course it takes no imagination at all to simply leave out that part of the "storytelling", but even as a throwaway (har har) joke it's so disrespectful. People who own the set can put whatever parts they want in the dumpster at the back, but it's rude for a relatively new set designer to make an easteregg about throwing away 40 years of company history.

I have not read the instruction or know if there is an official statement about this "story" in a interview etc or if it's just is people that interpret it that way, but it's possible the chair is in the trash because it got damaged in the leak

[karmadrome]

So, with this year's Modular having been released, I wonder what what next years - 20th anniversary Modular - will be.

What type of building do you expect? What businesses could be in it? Who's responsible for the design?

We've had so many businesses over the past 19 years (see first page of this thread), so what is still missing and could be expected? For example, we are still missing a hospital and a supermarket; however, I doubt the 20th anniversary set would be a hospital.

My dream would be if Jamie Berard (the godfather of Modulars), Mike Psiaki (my alltime favourite designer) and Francois Zapf (the designer of the Tudor Corner) worked together on this one. Jamie is most definitely involved, as he remains the creative lead of the Modular series.

I think we can safely assume that it will be on at least 1,5 baseplates.

The anniversary would be the perfect occasion to step up the game and finally include lighting in a Modular, but I doubt we will get it.

[Pauolo]

3 hours ago, Roebuck said:

I have not read the instruction or know if there is an official statement about this "story" in a interview etc or if it's just is people that interpret it that way, but it's possible the chair is in the trash because it got damaged in the leak

The story of the chair being thrown out because no one would buy it was mentioned by the main designer in an interview. It's probably in the instructions book too, but I'm not yet at this part.

I don't necessarily see it as depressing. I'm guessing the designers set themselves a challenge to not use the chair element even once in this build. Then the main designer still added one, but not for sitting on it. It's also a way to show designers are now aiming to have a lot of brick-built elements rather than relying on specialized parts. I could see with the past modulars and the Botanical Garden that they're having fun with these mini builds.

 

1 hour ago, karmadrome said:

My dream would be if Jamie Berard (the godfather of Modulars), Mike Psiaki (my alltime favourite designer) and Francois Zapf (the designer of the Tudor Corner) worked together on this one. Jamie is most definitely involved, as he remains the creative lead of the Modular series.

I'm guessing Mike worked a bit on TC, or consulted on it. Anywhere where triangles are involved, I would expect his input.

I honestly don't know what to expect for the 20th anniversary. 5th (TH) was the tallest, 10th was the largest (AS, by then), 15th had the most impressive shape (BH, by then). 20th could be a combination of a corner and a straight building (with NHM set for retirement at the end of this year, Lego won't mind having another large modular next year).

Something novel could be a double-sided straight modulars, like the Lego employee exclusive Toy's Shop or Bricky_Brick's Music and Jewelry Ideas proposition that unfortunately didn't get approved. The problem though is that having a well-detailled back serves no purpose if most buyers only expose one side of it on a shelf.

They could also try another skyscraper. I wish for an art deco tower, but I'm guessing that's what the super hero themes' designers are going for if they ever do a modular Daily Planet for this year or the next.

As for the 20th anniversary modular's theme, again, anything goes. I wish for more public service buildings rather than another restaurant or place of entertainment.

[Sammael]

4 hours ago, Roebuck said:

I have not read the instruction or know if there is an official statement about this "story" in a interview etc or if it's just is people that interpret it that way, but it's possible the chair is in the trash because it got damaged in the leak

2 minutes ago, Pauolo said:

I honestly don't know what to expect for the 20th anniversary. 5th (TH) was the tallest, 10th was the largest (AS, by then), 15th had the most impressive shape (BH, by then). 20th could be a combination of a corner and a straight building (with NHM set for retirement at the end of this year, Lego won't mind having another large modular next year).

I would expect a 64-wide 2-corner set, with some tribute to Cafe Corner and Market Street. Perhaps a Hospital (finally) with a cafe and fresh fruit market? In this style?

[RichardGoring]

35 minutes ago, Pauolo said:

I honestly don't know what to expect for the 20th anniversary. 5th (TH) was the tallest, 10th was the largest (AS, by then), 15th had the most impressive shape (BH, by then). 20th could be a combination of a corner and a straight building (with NHM set for retirement at the end of this year, Lego won't mind having another large modular next year).

I wonder if they'd consider a circular building. First thought was an observatory, but a library would be awesome, and round libraries are certainly a thing.

[Pauolo]

1 hour ago, Sammael said:

I would expect a 64-wide 2-corner set, with some tribute to Cafe Corner and Market Street. Perhaps a Hospital (finally) with a cafe and fresh fruit market? In this style?

That would be bold, but I feel a double-baseplate modular would be a space problem for those collecting them. I sure hope they make a detailled hospital one day though, and a single baseplate won't be enough.

 

44 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

I wonder if they'd consider a circular building. First thought was an observatory, but a library would be awesome, and round libraries are certainly a thing.

A circular shape is certainly tricky, especially if you take into account how to design the floors with plates and how to add anything inside without getting too much negative space. I'm all for it if they can actual pull large circular shapes though. And yeah, that would make for one lovely library.

[Lion King]

On 1/7/2026 at 2:11 PM, lifeinplastic said:

The printed parts in this modular are rather disappointing. One of the things I like about modular buildings are the lack of stickers so a bit annoying the printed parts aren’t very useful.

Why these prints are disappointing in your view? 

11 hours ago, karmadrome said:

So, with this year's Modular having been released, I wonder what what next years - 20th anniversary Modular - will be.

What type of building do you expect? What businesses could be in it? Who's responsible for the design?

We've had so many businesses over the past 19 years (see first page of this thread), so what is still missing and could be expected? For example, we are still missing a hospital and a supermarket; however, I doubt the 20th anniversary set would be a hospital.

My dream would be if Jamie Berard (the godfather of Modulars), Mike Psiaki (my alltime favourite designer) and Francois Zapf (the designer of the Tudor Corner) worked together on this one. Jamie is most definitely involved, as he remains the creative lead of the Modular series.

I think we can safely assume that it will be on at least 1,5 baseplates.

The anniversary would be the perfect occasion to step up the game and finally include lighting in a Modular, but I doubt we will get it.

Or a four-story skyscraper as a 20th anniveary set?

[lifeinplastic]

39 minutes ago, Lion King said:

Why these prints are disappointing in your view? 

I don’t see them having much use for MOCs as they seem a bit specific to the set.

The Brickleys sign is on a curved window and I don’t really want to use that name, the Sale print cannot be used as a general sale sign for a non chair-selling business and the ocular chair/throne looks a bit too specific and maybe old/fashioned.

Lego often spoils things by adding too much and not considering that people may wish to use the prints to build something outside the set. For example, the Jazz Club had a nice ‘live music’ sign, which would have been awesome but they decided to add ‘and Magic Show’, making it a very weird venue indeed.

[Lion King]

1 hour ago, lifeinplastic said:

I don’t see them having much use for MOCs as they seem a bit specific to the set.

The Brickleys sign is on a curved window and I don’t really want to use that name, the Sale print cannot be used as a general sale sign for a non chair-selling business and the ocular chair/throne looks a bit too specific and maybe old/fashioned.

Lego often spoils things by adding too much and not considering that people may wish to use the prints to build something outside the set. For example, the Jazz Club had a nice ‘live music’ sign, which would have been awesome but they decided to add ‘and Magic Show’, making it a very weird venue indeed.

That’s very true - those printed elements are very limited for MOCs, yes.  To me, I appreciate those printed elements jsut because they are not stickers (glaring at modular GWPs).  Maybe “Music Shop” sign would be better than Brinkley. I am not sure if I understand that name?  Like - is it suppsoed to be punny? For example, Book Shop has a book printed “Moby Brick”, which it’s very humorous. 

I think a printed sale piece might be useful for any furniture store MOCs , but nothing else. 

[lifeinplastic]

10 hours ago, Lion King said:

That’s very true - those printed elements are very limited for MOCs, yes.  To me, I appreciate those printed elements jsut because they are not stickers (glaring at modular GWPs).  Maybe “Music Shop” sign would be better than Brinkley. I am not sure if I understand that name?  Like - is it suppsoed to be punny? For example, Book Shop has a book printed “Moby Brick”, which it’s very humorous. 

I think a printed sale piece might be useful for any furniture store MOCs , but nothing else. 

Yes - don’t get me wrong they are far far better than stickers, which is why I always look forward to the modular sets. I just wish the designers would be more considerate of usage outside the specific set. A more general ‘Sale On’ or ‘Clearance Sale/Everything Must Go’ tile without the chair image would have been better as this could apply to many businesses.

Another example is the name tag on the CMF waitress torso, which made the figure too specific and restricted multiple use. If we are paying greatly increased prices for products these days then they really need to be the very best and worth paying for.

Edited 6 hours ago by lifeinplastic