glendo

List your favourite modulars in order of preference, and explain why?

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OK, even though I own everything with the exception of MS (no plans to get it) I have only built some. Ones I have not built will have (xx) around them based on my feel.

GG - love the facade. I find this modular to be a great mix of interior and exterior features. I like that the upper floors are sparsely furnished to allow for some imagination

PR - love it! so much fun to build inside and out. I think the finished product is stunning and I especially love all of the roof detail.

CC - I din't think I would like this with no interior, but I really enjoyed the build, and the colors used. My son had fun working his own interior.

PS - although not particularly stunning on the outside, I like the sand blue and the flexibility of having 2 smaller modulars to move around in the city.

(FB) - like the styling and feel like it fits well in size with the rest

(GE) - looks OK, no opinion formed yet.

PC - this was my son's purchase, I am not in love with the exterior, just not my style.

(TH) - almost didn't buy, but I am a completist....Something just looks off with the scale to me, I would do the wider version, but I just don't have room.

edited 12/25 - built PR

Edited by pugmom

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1. Green Grocer. Although I don't actually own the set (yet) i feel it was the best overall.

2. Paris Restaurant - Most complete modular of all, only slight downside is size, but i can live with that.

3. Grand Emporium - I just like the concept of a vintage shopping mall, and is realistically represented

4. Cafe Corner - the revolution of modulars - I don't have it, but would very much like to.

5. Pet Shop - I like residential buildings and would like more of them, but the idea of a pet shop itself doesn't do anything for me.

6. Fire brigade - The exterior detail is great, although i'm not too keen on fire stations. The car is not up to standard.

7. Town Hall - I like the color and the idea and size of it, but it's aesthetically non-dynamic. It's good, but not incredible.

8. Palace cinema - STICKERS!! :angry: And the whole Chinese style is a bit of a waste of potential for a cinema, (the car is horrible)

9. Market street - I can see the charm of it at the time of release, but now compared to all the others, I think it struggles to compete.

I think the upcoming set will score in the lower middle with me.

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1. Grand Emporium - my first, great concept and my favorite

2. green Grocer - great build with fun inside jokes and building techniques

3. Pet shop - great possibility by 2 buildings, also great in smaller towns

4. Palace cinema - hated it first, waited to buy, but completist and during build discovered a couple nice details in it.

5. Paris restaurant - i really really hate that friends cooking wear, but the building itself is great

6. Fire brigade - nice clean build, not really spectacular

7. Cafe corner - after waiting to get and build it, a bit of a let-down. a lot of expensive pieces but just didn't do it for me, bland

8. Market street - don't understand the market, missed opportunity, but main building is fine

9. Town hall - to big in between other modulars, but to small inside, will be rebuilding it

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1st = Most favourite, 9th least favourite. I only refer to those that I own.

1. Pet Shop. It has everything; perfect scale, a beautiful architecture, six well planned rooms (all of which connect together accurately), lovely minifigures, relatable story, a green bicycle (!), animals and other great accessories. The build was also fun because of the constant change in situation. Like the VW Camper Van, I believe this to be one of the great LEGO sets because of it's universal appeal.

2. Green Grocer. The only thing preventing it from top spot is the lack of interior details - but honestly, there's fun to be had making your own! The architecture is stunningly beautiful and very efficient given how traditional the parts assortment is.

3. Parisian Restaurant. It must have the best selection of parts of any modular, and is about as straightforward as it comes when balancing a scenario with architecture. It's a little compact, though you can't help but marvel at how ingeniously the interior and exterior blend seamlessly. It's adorable.

4. Cafe Corner. This is the most expandable modular yet, as the building will continue to look good even when you add multiple floors. The architecture screams Italy to me, and I really love some of the building techniques on the ground floor. The interior is completely sparse however, so you need to give it some additional love to complete it.

5. Palace Cinema. It's completely original and that's what I like about it; it isn't trying to blend in seamlessly with the other buildings (which is the criticism that fans have). For me, it's the building that firmly suggests that these products are best appreciated as individual models rather than as a continuous street. The use of stickers is frustrating, and the scale is quite off, but you can still appreciate the beauty of the architecture.

6. Fire Brigade. In contrast, the scale of this building is excellent and it really strives for authenticity. The interior is sparse but feels designed to be that way, and it's effective. It wasn't the most challenging to assemble, though the great facade makes up for this. It also has the best vehicle.

7. Grand Emporium. It seems to be based on a Harrods (or similar), and manages to do so perfectly. However, the scale to me is a little off-putting as it needs just another floor to really make it as 'grand' as an actual department store. The first and second floors are also very repetitive, which although understandable, isn't as interesting as other buildings.

8. Detective's Office. I've been playing with it regularly as I work in brand retail, but have yet to warm to it. For me, this is the first building where the interior has taken priority over the exterior, and that's not a good sign for things to come. As interesting the playability is, this doesn't escape the fact that corners have been cut; for example, the use of masonry bricks rather than the Fire Brigade SNOT technique is, in my opinion, lazy for an Expert product.

9. Town Hall. Of all the modular buildings to date, I believe this has had the most squandered potential. Take away the minifigures and you have a very generic building that lacks originality and style. The interior makes hints towards authority, but so many ideas have been lost. Where is the grand central staircase? The office filled with records in filing cabinets? The statue outside? The price would also be forgiven if expectations were met, because the piece count was actually exceptional for the price.

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-Parisian Restaurant

-Green Grocer

-Town Hall

-Fire Brigade

-Pet Shop

-Palace Cinema

-Grand Emporium

-Cafe Corner

-Market Street

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I don't own them all, so firstly I'll rate what I have: 1) PR, I just love it! 2) GG, was a hard choice between the two, but for me, PR won out. 3) FB, I'm a firefighter by trade, so it had to be right up there!! 4) PS, I like the fact that you can seperate the two and the different coloured buildings are cool! 5) GE. I really like having the retail outlet in my City, but was a bit repetitive for me.

As for the others, I would rate them like this; 6) TH, 7) PC, 8) CC. These buildings didn't appeal to me at all. I do like the details within TH and PC, but I didn't feel that they'd fit into my City. I also have Town Plan, so I already have a Cinema and Town Hall. As for CC, I couldn't justify the asking price for a facade, no detail inside whatsoever. On the plus side though, this does allow the owner to do their own internal fitout.

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1. Green Grocer - Still the best looking modular in my opinion, and the first to strike the right balance between outside and inside details.

2. Fire Brigade - The only modular that looks about as good from the back as it does the front. I'm American so I have a certain fondness for this one.

3. Parisian Restaurant - I like that it helps break up the block a bit and for a small footprint there is a lot going on. Huge improvement over the two entries before it.

4. Cafe Corner - I'm still really fond of the one that started it all. Not having any interiors is a bit of a downer, but the exteriors are still some of the best in the series, if not the best for me.

5. Grand Emporium - It looks great sitting on the shelf, but it is a rather uninteresting build with the top two floors being nearly identical.

6. Pet Shop - Two unique builds, each interesting in their own way. It was the start of the trend to make the modulars a bit more like the Creator houses (pins connecting floors, 1x1 rounds for flowers), which I wasn't thrilled with.

7. Town Hall - Wacky proportions, elevator is just a regular tile rather than anything designed, and ugly interior details. No interesting building techniques besides maybe the skylights.

8. Market Street - Definitely the odd man out, but for an entry level set it isn't bad. That strange, mostly useless lot next to the main building brings it down.

9. Palace Cinema - I hate everything about this one. Worst car in Lego history, stickers, bare-bones interiors are poorly done, and exteriors are clumsy as heck.

Waiting until I have the Detective's Office before passing judgement, but based on the pics it will probably fall between the Pet Shop and Town Hall, closer to the bottom than the top.

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The contenders for number 1 are really close, but ultimately i have to go with:

PR- The most beautiful inside and out in my opinion. Definitely quality above quantity

PS- So close to the top. Probably my favorite based only on the outside. Love the colors and quaint downtown feel.

GE- Always reminds me of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, a staple of my holiday season. I love the escalators and classic look

GG- I think it might be the alley that wins this one for me. Love that design feature that makes for a really cool structure. A bit lacking upstairs.

FB- The brick-built 30'2-40's look that this one has definitely wins the nostalgia factor for me, but the fact that its only real inner detail is on one floor is bit of a con.

PC- Though it uses stickers and may have a less than perfect limo, I love the iconic look of this set and the comical posters.

CC- While the outside is really nice, and the hotel sign introduced us to the brick-built writing staple in these modulars, the totally empty interior takes alot away.

TH- Features like the elevator and openness of the floors are nice, but like many have said, it's just a bit too boxy (and expensive).

MS- No surprises here. The concept of an open market is cool, and the top floor porch is kinda nice, but structurally its just pretty bland.

I also estimate our new modular to come in somewhere around 3rd place or so for me :classic:

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Top 3 - GG, PR, FB (since FB was the first one I built it's special to me - also table tennis table is the best interior piece of all modulars).

Middle 3 - GE, PS, TH - although TH is stunning from the outside and the town is not the same without it. When I saw first pictures of TH released that's what convinced me to start and finish collecting all the modulars.

Bottom 3 - PC, CC, MS - although again I like exterior of PC, and I like the colours of MS and CC.

DO will probably be in my middle bracket - I think it's a great modular but missing a little wow factor (although not possible to have wow factor in every single building...)

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I only have the Parisian Restaurant, Pet Shop, and Market Street, so I don't feel like I can accurately judge the others. Out of the three I have, I rate PR as the best, followed by PS and MS. The restaurant is gorgeous; the building techniques are ingenious, and it looks perfect in my city. I am a Francophile, so that modular being my favorite is a given! PS is also lovely with many nice details like the pediment over the door of the townhouse. I feel like one of the few that like MS. While it is definitely less polished than the rest, I like the colors and (few) details, like the wrought iron gate. I will concede that the MS interiors are terrible, but that's mainly because it was so early. I really dislike the stairs in MS, though; they take up the entire room and I don't see how to fix that without some major renovation work.

Regarding the others, the only one I feel strongly about is the Palace Cinema, which seems half complete to me with its poor interior and disappointing car. I have no plans to purchase that building.

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I see people are really hard on the MS set.. but it should be judged in context! It was a fan creation and, in fact that was the set thst started it all! This being said, my ranking would be:

1) MS (we wouldn't be discussing this topic if it wasn't for that set.

2) PR

3) GG

4) PS

5) CC

6) GE

7) FB

8) PC

9) TH

Edited by frogstudio

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I'll exclude the first 3 as I don't own them, but of the ones I have, here's how I'd rank them.

1) FB - it was either my second or third, but it's the proper firehouse I've always wanted in my town. When I was young, my father was a firefighter so I spent a lot of time and his fire house and that created an attachment to firetrucks and firehouses for me.

2) GE - lovely looking building and a very easily customizable interior.

3) PR - I got this yesterday and I'm still in the process of building it, but the details are fantastic. With every minibuild I find myself almost in awe at the techniques and beauty of the details.

4) TH - along the lines of FB, it's the proper town hall I always wanted. My Lego adventures got very political before I entered my dark ages, so this massive town hall is a great setting for some of those old shady characters.

5) PC - not art deco like I would have preferred, but I still love the look of it, especially the sign. Also the stock car was horrible aside from the design of the hood, but I turned it into something I'm very happy with.

6) PS - the first set I got, but my least favorite through little fault of it's own. It's a very nice set, and I'd love more houses in the theme, but it's still just 2 houses, compared to rest it's boring, to me anyway.

Edited by bootz

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I've only got the Town Hall and Palace Cinema right now, so I probably can't rank the buildings at this point. I'll say that I love both of the buildings but wish that the Town Hall was a little shorter and that the Cinema was a little taller! I'm planning to get the Pet Shop and then the Detective's Agency next...but I'm a little worried that everything will look tiny next to the enormous Town Hall!

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Parisian Restaurant: Love the whole thing, exterior and interior, very fun build and great addition to town. 9/10

Cafe Corner: The exterior is great, the little turret with the parrots and the fun techniques (e.g. the skis). Too bad there's no interior. 8/10

Pet Shop: Love the color of the pet shop half, some great minibuilds for interior. 7/10

Fire brigade: Like this one for being soo tall and only having two floors, love the car park, minibuilds (pingpong table!) etc. (hate the tree) 7/10

Grand Emporium: The facade is awesome and is super-awesome if combined with a second GE. The interior is meh and very empty and boring. 6/10

Market Street: The first one, still OK for me. Don't get the hate and all. It was fan-build after all. Mine is still heavily modded though. 6/10

Palace Cinema: Some parts are fun (the cash register, the posters) and beautiful (the sign) but overall very ugly imo. Interior is too plain and the car is just ugly. 5/10

Town Hall: Don't like the mix of styles, but still some interesting techniques and builds. 5/10

I think I would rate Green Grocer very high (9/10 or so), if only I can raise enough money to buy it...

As of now I would rate DO somewhere around 7/10, but we'll see next week ;)

Edited by cocabottle

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I have all the modulars apart from the first three, so I won't list those. Here are my preferences, from first to last:

1) Town Hall

I can be influenced by the fact that it was the first I bought, but I really love this building. It's the perfect center of the layout, I really like its bigness, the elevator, the columns on the front, the distribution of the spaces inside.

2) Parisian Restaurant

I don't like the fact that it's very small in comparison with most of the other modulars (but unfortunately this seems to be the trend), but I really like some building techniques, especially the roof part, an amazing work of art.

3) Palace Cinema

I agree with the common idea that the inside is very sparse, but I really like the exterior, the sign, the roof and also the entrance fitting perfectly on the corner. I also don't hate the limo as most of you do: it could certainly be better, but it does the job :-)

4) Pet Shop

The layout definitely needs houses, so I'm happy that there is at least one in this set. I really like the bow window, while I think that the inside could have been done much better.

5) Grand Emporium

Wonderful look from the outside, but practically empty inside and with a very repetitive build.

6) Fire Brigade

I don't find it consistent at all: the floors are very high, some of the microbuilds inside are precarious (the fridge) or impossible to appreciate (the details on the ground floor). The technique used for the number on the façade is also not very well done, in my opinion. But I really like how the pannelled walls of the front are built, with the small dark red tiles.

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I really do believe that none of the modular buildings are 'bad' or even 'okay'; they're all unique masterpieces. That said, I do have to give a shoutout to my personal favorites:

1. Green Grocer - pulled me from a decade of not caring about LEGO. It's got to be my #1 just because of that. Still my favorite in terms of interior, exterior, color and pieces.

2. Cafe Corner - GG may have pulled me from the dark ages, but CC definitely put LEGO back in my radar. Even though it has literally the worst interior (read: none, lol), it still has one of the more unique exteriors. This set definitely changed the way I, and I would assume most town MOCers build their buildings. Game changer.

3. Parisian Restaurant - It's like Green Grocer's rebirth, but slightly smaller. My favorite of the "CREATOR Expert" era.

4. Grand Emporium - It's the most commercial set out there, and that's bonus points for me. IMO it's the most expandable set without it looking weird.

And I like all the others too, though I won't find them being put into my city. I enjoy MOCing more than building from the instructions. I only have GG and CC built from the instructions, and not part of my planned city (more like some weird legacy thing on standalone displays).

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I'm not sure why this thread is necessary? Everyone has their own opinions and their opinions shouldn't matter to other people?

It isn't 'necessary'. It's simply fun and interesting. After all, in the big scheme of things, not much on a website like this is 'necessary'. And, it's not opinion vs opinion. It's simply a forum where people can say what they like and don't like. It may encourage thought and let's afols with a similar interest (modulars) say what they value in a modular and why. I may not like something about a modular (not an infrequent occurrence) and someone will point out what might be the designers idea behind the design.

Sounds like Santa stuffed coal in your stocking.

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I'm not sure why this thread is necessary? Everyone has their own opinions and their opinions shouldn't matter to other people?

The whole forum is not necessary, but it brings people together to share thoughts and ideas.

Edited by glendo

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Nice thread, I enjoyed reading all the different opinions

CC - For me the best exterior and also the best interpretation of the modular concept. No problem if there is no interior, I've been happy to do my own interior

GG - very near to CC, great facade

TH - A bit "shoe box" look if put standalone, but I like the elevator and the facade

PR - I like its french architecture, even if it is smaller than previous modulars

FB - A lot of new construction tecniques and with an additional floor looks better

GE - probably too much regular facade, anyway I added a floor

MS - I like its style, even if the stairs in the center of the rooms are really a beginners detail

PC - I don't like the building that very likely inspired it and also the realization seems incomplete (for example the roof). The cinema sign is the best detail for me.

Regarding the DO, unfortunately I think it will go in the bottom of my classification.

Frankly speaking, I'd love if the modular line could return to the glories of CC: i'm more interested in the architecure, even an empty interior for me it's OK!

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*edited and deleted*

It's the holiday season, after all...

Edited by Withacee

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I have found reading through this topic rather interesting. The range of preferences has been enlighting. Despite being a few days late here is my list.

1. Cafe Corner - I still think this is the best looking modular and still my default basis of comparison for all new modulars. I took one look at this and thought it was perfect for adding a grand hotel facade to my town. It helps that all of the pieces went to the building facade and no interior. With no open backs interior details are a waste of parts to my preferences.

2. Grand Emporium - Who wouldn't want a department store facade for their town. This is the one modular that might actually be too small in scale with the rest.

3. Palace Cinema - Something about the corner modulars just wind up being so cool looking and the best to use as stand alone buildings or part of a street line up. I loved the fact that the theater was faux Chinese because I already had the art deco cinema from town plan.

4. Pet Shop - I love the fact that this was two seperate buildings. This is the perfect scale for converted residential buildings.

5. Parisan Resturant - Brillant move shrinking the main portion of the building down to 24 wide. The only thing that would have been better is if they just made the whole thing only 24 wide with a lower piece cound and cost. I understand why that would mess up the standard though. Over all I consider PR to be everything most people here seem to think GG is.

6. Market Street - The one I missed. I have studied the instructions rather extensively though. Eventually I will build a mostly MS with some minor part substitutions and maybe even just change the main colors.

7. Town Hall - The best of the full sized straight modulars up to 2014. The only down side is a town hall would be better as a stand alone building with side details like the Haunted House (which is more like a haunted mansion scale wise)

8. Fire Brigade - When I first saw the picture of this one I thought "public school". Switch the garage door in the front to a main entrance and it would work well as a school. One of these days I will likely MOD the FB down to a 24 wide building. I think that will make it not look so "wrong" and "fat".

9. Green Grocer - This buidling more than any other is completely out of scale. The residental architectural style of this building should be at most 24 wide like PR. If CC is a hotel and GE is a department store then GG is Wayne Manor coverted to a store front. This is the one I intentionally did not buy and bought Town Plan instead. (If I could have afforded to get both at the time I would have but I do not regret my choice at all.) I have studied the instructions extensively on this one too. Eventually I will build a faux 24 wide Grocer probably in a different color.

So that brings us to the new Detective's Office. If it isn't obvious by now I use the modular buildings as part of my town layout. In that context I love the looks of the DO. This is the first full sized straight modular that I will likely rank highly. Of course that owes largley to the illusion that it isn't only one building. At this point I think this might be the first straight modular I rank higher than any corner modular. Right now based on the extensive picture coverage I would put DO at number 3 and push PC and the rest down one. :wink:

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It's a very good idea to see how people rate the modulars - I can see that there are quite a few people that have very differing opinions from my own, which I find surprising, I thought there was a general consensus on most of them! But that probably just goes to show that taste is individual, and I'm all for that :)

I've got all the modulars on a shelf right above my computer, so I'm looking at them as I type this - here are my thoughts:

1) Parisian Restaurant. There's nothing that I don't love about it - the colour is nice, the amount of detail is astonishing, and the interior is, as far as I'm concerned the best in the modular series so far. It's also a very enjoyable build.

2) Green Grocer. My favourite until the PR came out - and it's only coming second because its upper floors are rather empty. The exterior is pretty much perfect. It's a classic.

3) Café Corner. Quite a lot of nostalgia connected to that choice, as it's the one set that more than any other is responsible for bringing me out of my Dark Ages. It has its flaws - like the missing interior - but it does look great on my shelf.

4) Pet Shop. I like the idea of two different buildings, and it's got some very nice details - like the painter :) I also like the architecture.

5) Market Street. Another nostalgic decision, but there's just something right about it that I can't put my finger on. And it is, essentially, a 16-wide modular building, which I wish LEGO would do more of.

6) Grand Emporium. A nice, big building, with some lovely colour combinations (tan/dark green!) and a good-looking sign on the roof. But it's very empty inside, and has one-way escalators... :)

7) Town Hall. A behemoth of a modular, but its major selling point is probably its size. It certainly looks imposing, and that entrance is majestic, but it's still a bit bland.

8) Fire Brigade. My first real disappointment of the modular series, which probably is mainly because it has only two floors. It's just never been a favourite of mine.

9) Palace Cinema. I don't feel it fits with the rest of the buildings, it has major design flaws, and don't get me started on that hideous car. I know a bit about the design process of this one, which was everything but smooth sailing, but that can't save it in my book. Worst one!

I'm excited about the Detective Office - I think the colour choices could have been better, and I'm not entirely sure about the architecture, but I love the attention to detail. Will be getting it in a month or so, and until then I'm deliberately avoiding detailed reviews. Don't want to know all the surprises :)

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Parisian Restaurant - Really like the colors and the building techniques. the interior was fun to build as well

Palace Cinema - First modular I build. Really like the building and with lights build in it's great. (bought the GE and FB before this one though)

Town Hall - Huge and really like the building, also has an elevator.

Pet Shop - Not sure why, but I really do not like this one better than the others.

Grand Emporium - boring repetitive build, interior is empty. Only part I liked is the window cleaner

Still in the box is the Fire Brigade and on order is the Detective Office.

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