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23 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I dunno… honestly, the fact that so many existing collectors are disappointed with it (as with the diner before it) leads me to believe it’s strengths might be best appreciated by those who HAVEN’T previously been enticed enough by the previous buildings to begin collecting.

Like, most of the criticisms here in one way or another boil down to “it doesn’t measure up to previous buildings”, but people who didn’t have that kind of love of previous buildings might be drawn to this one specifically because of the things that set it apart, like it having more “blue collar” vibes than a lot of the fancier Main Street/downtown style buildings, having a gas station and tow truck, being taller than usual, etc.

I certainly saw plenty of positive feedback to this set on LEGO’s Facebook page, which is heavily frequented by the sorts of more casual fans who aren’t dedicated to following all the news about particular sets or themes like we do in more AFOL-centered communities like this one.

Parisan Restaurant was the set that brought me back to Lego. True that, perhaps, we have seen too much, and has used older sets as the benchmark. In any case, there is no good one if there are no average ones. I hope to see a better set (compare to this) next year, else I got a feeling TLG will start to lose fans in this line.

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There seem to be two groups that might give TLG concern:  the unwilling and the unable.  You have people who clearly think CG is a turn in the wrong direction, whether it be design, price, or both.  Then you have the people who love it, but cannot afford the significant price increase.  Opinions on this set vary widely, much more than even DD last year.  Of course you will have the day 1 buyers out there ready to scoop it up.  In previous years, I have certainly been there :classic:.  Probably by later in the month there will be a better indication of how well received this really is.  Those who visit Lego fan sites represent a tiny fraction of buyers, so it will be interesting to see how everyone else views it.  Even if they like the design, are they willing to spend $200 on it?  For example, I really like the roller coaster, but there is no way I am going to give up some of my summer vacation money for it.  So I guess we will eventually find out how successful CG is compared to others.  

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5 hours ago, AFOLguy1970 said:

There seem to be two groups that might give TLG concern:  the unwilling and the unable.  You have people who clearly think CG is a turn in the wrong direction, whether it be design, price, or both.  Then you have the people who love it, but cannot afford the significant price increase.  Opinions on this set vary widely, much more than even DD last year.  Of course you will have the day 1 buyers out there ready to scoop it up.  In previous years, I have certainly been there :classic:.  Probably by later in the month there will be a better indication of how well received this really is.  Those who visit Lego fan sites represent a tiny fraction of buyers, so it will be interesting to see how everyone else views it.  Even if they like the design, are they willing to spend $200 on it?  For example, I really like the roller coaster, but there is no way I am going to give up some of my summer vacation money for it.  So I guess we will eventually find out how successful CG is compared to others.  

The price tag is certainly a bit hard to shallow, & I love the set. I’ve only spent that amount or more four times since getting back into LEGO 11 years ago. That was on the Republic Dropship with AT-OT Walker(twice), Town Hall, & Assembly Square. While I’ll have to wait until I get CG before I can make an accurate judgement, it doesn’t appear to have the same value. TH for example, towers over the other Modulars & AS’s length makes up for the price. I’m hoping my opinion changes once I build it, but that’s the biggest negative for me.

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Just now, RuffDraft said:

I'm going to go and pick this up on the 1st... does every store have plenty of them on NYD? Do any Day One buyers know?

Never been anything but disappointed going to the store on a release day. I recommend ordering it online. Others have had great success however.

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58 minutes ago, RuffDraft said:

I'm going to go and pick this up on the 1st... does every store have plenty of them on NYD? Do any Day One buyers know? 

 

If you get there before the store opens, you have a decent chance of picking it up.  Make sure you go straight to the item(s) you are after.  Usually, they offer to hold stuff at the counter for me if I want to look around a little bit more.  

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4 hours ago, koalayummies said:

Never been anything but disappointed going to the store on a release day. I recommend ordering it online. Others have had great success however.

Wow... that's surprising given that it's NYD! I wouldn't expect many to show up to buy it... If you order it online, surely you would only receive it on the 2nd, as NYD is a bank holiday? 

Such a shame... puts me off going to the store, which I think would be a really fun experience to celebrate a new product. Ah well, maybe I'll order it online instead and forgo being a day one buyer. Thanks! 

3 hours ago, AFOLguy1970 said:

If you get there before the store opens, you have a decent chance of picking it up.  Make sure you go straight to the item(s) you are after.  Usually, they offer to hold stuff at the counter for me if I want to look around a little bit more.  

Thanks! It's NYD, so I doubt I'll get there for the store opening time. I may be able to though. I may go into the store and ask them how many they're expecting to get and how busy it was last year etc. and see what happens... it's only a small Lego store by me, so I doubt they'd receive that many. 

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5 hours ago, RuffDraft said:

I'm going to go and pick this up on the 1st... does every store have plenty of them on NYD? Do any Day One buyers know? 

 

I’ve gone most years & haven’t had a problem, but I show up plenty early. Over the last few years, I’d say I see about 30 people finally piling up about 30 minutes before the store opens. 

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9 hours ago, RuffDraft said:

I'm going to go and pick this up on the 1st... does every store have plenty of them on NYD? Do any Day One buyers know? 

 

I always get them on day 1. Get there a short while before the store opens and you shouldn't have any trouble. 

One year I arrived at the shopping centre just before opening, stopped to have breakfast and got to the store about 10 minutes after opening and the shelves were nearly empty (they had a few more out the back, but not loads). I definitely recommend arriving before they actually open. 

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On 12/16/2018 at 10:19 AM, AFOLguy1970 said:

There seem to be two groups that might give TLG concern:  the unwilling and the unable.  You have people who clearly think CG is a turn in the wrong direction, whether it be design, price, or both.  Then you have the people who love it, but cannot afford the significant price increase.  Opinions on this set vary widely, much more than even DD last year.  Of course you will have the day 1 buyers out there ready to scoop it up.  In previous years, I have certainly been there :classic:.  Probably by later in the month there will be a better indication of how well received this really is.  Those who visit Lego fan sites represent a tiny fraction of buyers, so it will be interesting to see how everyone else views it.  Even if they like the design, are they willing to spend $200 on it?  For example, I really like the roller coaster, but there is no way I am going to give up some of my summer vacation money for it.  So I guess we will eventually find out how successful CG is compared to others.  

Of those two, the Higher Price point is likely the only real point of concern. But not as much as we might think. The uld $150-$160 sweet spot for Adult consumer spending now sits at $199, That;s just how it is right now, and not unique to Lego. The same in most Adult collectible markets these days. And I hate to point this out to everybody. But we here, the uber fans, say about how a building will sell seems to rarely if ever line up with reality. Just to remind all the Palace Cinema is the #2 building behind the FB I believe. (Gee! I wonder why DD and CG have cars?) My point being, while we here are the most discriminating of Lego's consumer base. We are not good indicators of the buying behavior of the broader consumer base. Plus our opinions of these sets tend to soften and move towards positive pretty quickly once we get them in hand. At this time last year commentary on the DD was savage. Now it almost falls in the category of "beloved". 

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16 hours ago, RuffDraft said:

Wow... that's surprising given that it's NYD! I wouldn't expect many to show up to buy it... If you order it online, surely you would only receive it on the 2nd, as NYD is a bank holiday? 

Such a shame... puts me off going to the store, which I think would be a really fun experience to celebrate a new product. Ah well, maybe I'll order it online instead and forgo being a day one buyer. Thanks!

I'm not saying it won't be a successful trip I'm just saying I don't go on release days anymore after past experiences (and also reading others experiences). Your experience may differ entirely!

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15 hours ago, Vindicare said:

I’ve gone most years & haven’t had a problem, but I show up plenty early. Over the last few years, I’d say I see about 30 people finally piling up about 30 minutes before the store opens. 

Thanks a lot for this insight. Before store opens sounds like a wise move. I'll see how much I drink on NYE, and if I drink too much, then I'll just order it instead. If it's a light NYE, then I'll get up and go for store opening! Cheers! 

12 hours ago, nikhkin said:

I always get them on day 1. Get there a short while before the store opens and you shouldn't have any trouble. 

One year I arrived at the shopping centre just before opening, stopped to have breakfast and got to the store about 10 minutes after opening and the shelves were nearly empty (they had a few more out the back, but not loads). I definitely recommend arriving before they actually open. 

That's great to hear. Thanks for your input too! 

23 minutes ago, koalayummies said:

I'm not saying it won't be a successful trip I'm just saying I don't go on release days anymore after past experiences (and also reading others experiences). Your experience may differ entirely!

OK - thanks. Sorry to hear about your lacklustre experiences. Sucks when they don't stock enough products. 

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I generally like what they are doing with this set.

Like many here, the main thing that turns me off is the huge gap in the walls of the 2nd and 3rd floors that make the building look like a Creator 3 in 1 building instead of a Creator Expert. As I've read through this thread the thought that came to me was to add a vertical piece covered with dark orange tiles in a pattern to match the walls in a manner that was used on the Saturn V rocket. basically a 1 by x section held on with clips. The clips would probably need to be connected to the angular wall and not the front wall I am thinking. What do you experienced MOC'ers think? Would this work?

I think the Jo's Garage sign needs to be turned 90 degrees, which would necessitate purchasing a second printed sign from Bricklink. This would help make the Vet Clinic window more visible, plus make the sign more visible to passing motorists, and look more realistic. Even more realistic would be if it were an Octan sign, and the Jo's Garage sign was above the garage door.

If I get this set the baseplate will get replaced with light bley and the interior possibly tiled, and a brick built door in sand blue will replace the door on the front of the building at the stairs. The Vet would get replaced with an auto parts store, and the apartment on the 3rd floor would become racks of auto parts inventory. And add more clutter to the garage, along with a coke machine and gumball machine. Every garage I was in back in the day had those. Maybe change it into a Texaco station since the colors are right, and add a 30's style gas pump.

Not sure what I'd do about the car lift since it really doesn't resemble the ones from that era, those were always center post designs that telescoped out of the floor. Plus I suspect the play lever will get blocked when another building covers it (depending upon what it goes next to).

That horrendous City style "umbrella" would get replaced with a brick built umbrella, with a 45 degree angle piece in the middle of the pole to make it not so straight, and maybe add a barbecue, table and rooftop AC unit up there.

All in all, what I am going on about seem like a bunch of minor things that add up, but can easily be changed to suit the owner's desires. I know many here are purists, and want that out of the box experience, but all in all this is a fairly solid design even if it isn't the most classic or detailed one out there.

That garage door is genus, and I will copy it elsewhere!

edit - Oh, and replace the tree with a fire hydrant. The tree is ok, but only just.

Edited by Silverhurst

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This set is just too expensive... 210 euros/250 dollars in Norway. Can you believe that? I can get assembly square right now for only 180 euros.

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22 hours ago, Silverhurst said:

I think the Jo's Garage sign needs to be turned 90 degrees, which would necessitate purchasing a second printed sign from Bricklink. This would help make the Vet Clinic window more visible, plus make the sign more visible to passing motorists, and look more realistic. Even more realistic would be if it were an Octan sign, and the Jo's Garage sign was above the garage door.

I think the Vet sign could make the CG better if it was brick built and place one one of those 2 gaps in tje buolding to cover it up. Brick bill and placed like the 'Pool' sign in the DO. That would solve the sign slightly veing covered by 'Jo's Garage' sign and it would help cover up the gaps in the building. Maybe someone will modify the CG like that.

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This looks like a fantastic set, and although it's beyond my budget I'd still love to own it.

If I could make one change though (I think some of you have already alluded to this yourselves), it would be to add a partition that seals off the stairwell from the garage.

Absolutely love this modular though, this and the Diner modular (another set I'd love to own), has filled me with inspiration to build my own modular style MOC (using LDD).  Have just completed a car to go with my MOC that I'm fairly pleased with, but am unable to share a pic of it yet as I'm still a new member. Anyone who likes 50's era cars please be sure to check it out, when I get around to posting it.

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17 hours ago, Bainter-ban said:

This set is just too expensive... 210 euros/250 dollars in Norway. Can you believe that? I can get assembly square right now for only 180 euros.

You cannot compare official prices with discounted prices. You don't know what the price of this set will be after a couple of years. You can only compare the price of this set with the official price of AS when it came out. It's still more expensive than AS but less than the picture you are painting.

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This is expensive but I like it and it is different to the other modular which is nice.  I will probably lose the petrol pump from the front to remove some clutter and will add to the interior and roof but I do really like it.  Probably like DD and AS more but that doesn’t detract from this one.

Since I started collecting the modular buildings I have started putting £10 a month to one side.  This makes the modular “seem” very cheap by the time they come round each year.

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21 hours ago, mcbbvb said:

You cannot compare official prices with discounted prices. You don't know what the price of this set will be after a couple of years. You can only compare the price of this set with the official price of AS when it came out. It's still more expensive than AS but less than the picture you are painting.

I think what was meant was just that, from a consumer perspective, faced with the choice of buying one or the other at this moment (provided you don't own AS yet), it would be very difficult to decide in favor of CG as opposed to AS, the latter offering much greater value, especially with the discounts going on.

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Do you think that this garage would look good with a red floor instead of the tan floor?

I ask that because I'm planning to put it in my city where the Palace Cinema was. As I had a spare red baseplate, I already moved the Cinema to its new location, on the other red plate.

And now I'm wondering if I should replace the red plate by the tan one provided with the set. I think that red may work for a garage, as sometimes these have some reddish cement ground (though that it is more like a sand-red than a bright red).

An alternative would be a 16x32 DBG + a 16x32 green ; most of the garage would be on the DBG but a 7-stud green strip would remain on the left, where the stairs are... it may look strange (this offset is due to the fact I build my modulars on the sidewalk of old road plates). On the other hand, the interior is not very visible :)

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On 12/21/2018 at 8:38 AM, Brick Dangerous said:

I think what was meant was just that, from a consumer perspective, faced with the choice of buying one or the other at this moment (provided you don't own AS yet), it would be very difficult to decide in favor of CG as opposed to AS, the latter offering much greater value, especially with the discounts going on.

I agree that AS offers a better value than CG, but of course I already own AS but don't own CG.

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On 12/20/2018 at 4:49 PM, mcbbvb said:

You cannot compare official prices with discounted prices. You don't know what the price of this set will be after a couple of years. You can only compare the price of this set with the official price of AS when it came out. It's still more expensive than AS but less than the picture you are painting.

Why not? I cannot compare... hmm... Show’s how overpriced it is. And it’s not discounted, it’s a normal retail price? I can now choose between AS and CG, and the first mentioned is cheaper and a whole lot more detailed.

Edited by Bainter-ban

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2 hours ago, Bainter-ban said:

Why not? I cannot compare... hmm... Show’s how overpriced it is. And it’s not discounted, it’s a normal retail price? I can now choose between AS and CG, and the first mentioned is cheaper and a whole lot more detailed.

Normal price of AS seems to be 240 euros.

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