What's your favourite modular building?

[funkybrick]

Hi,

(I'm sorry if such a thread already exists, but I didn't find one with the search engine.)

So, what's your favourite building of the exclusive modular series and why?

10182 Café Corner

OR

10190 Market Street

OR

10185 Green Grocer

OR

10197 Fire Brigade

OR

10211 Grand Emporium

Tell me your opinions! Let's discuss!

I, for myself, really like all of them very much, but I think that my favourites are the Green Grocer (which I ordered yesterday as to finally enter the modular terrains) and the new Grand Emporium.

The Fire Brigade's got a sweet interior, though!

Anyway, I like the overall looks and the great amounts of details!

Cheers,

funkybrick

[fred67]

Market Street seems really weird... I wish I had one, but won't pay aftermarket prices for one.

I have all the others, and they are all fantastic. If I had to pick one, I'd say I really like the classic look of the Green Grocer.... the windows and the semi-circular part that sticks out (don't know the architectural term for it) really make it interesting.

Edited March 16, 2010 by fred67

[paul_delahaye]

I have them all, I like them all, the firestation although a good build is my least favorite.

I love the escape route on the back of GG

I think GE is the best IMO

Now all I need is a post office and a bank!

[Brick & Mortimer]

I believe there's already a thread (and poll) about this (albeit without GE).

I have all the modulars except FB and GE

I'm sure GE will be an amazing set (I'm buying 2 ), but my favorite modular will always be Café Corner.

Why CC?

It was the set that ended my dark age, I was amazed when building it, the details, the structure, the building techniques , after that the other modulars didn't quite amaze me "that" much.

Apart from that, it was the first set I built together with my girlfriend, so I have really fond memories of this set

[Praetorian]

My favourite is Green Grocer as I like the architectural style. Fire Brigade is my least favourite although I'm still planning to buy it! I don't know whether I'll ever get hold of a copy of Market Street as I only buy MISB sets and those are very expensive

[escortmad79]

Green Grocer for me, it's currently the only one I have & looks great

Would love Cafe Corner but not paying £200+ for the privilege of owning it.

May purchase Grand Emporium at some point, will see if I can get it cheaper than Lego UK are selling it!!

[prateek]

I believe there's already a thread (and poll) about this (albeit without GE).

I think so too.

1.Green Grocer

2.Grand Emporium

3.Cafe Corner

4.Fire Brigade

5.Market Street

[wooootles]

1. GG (overall awesome. Also poked me out of dark ages)

2. GE (too close to call, I'm leaning on GE to be number 2 after all the infatuation, but it may be number 1 when I get my paws on it)

3. CC (awesome too. Made me think about poking out of dark ages)

4. FB (dont like the old firetruck, but also overall awesome)

5. MS (awesome but limited... and I didn't get a chance to get one :( )

[WesternOutlaw]

There has been a few discussions about favorite modular, but since the Grand Emporium is the new set on the block, I'll go ahead and leave this topic.

I actually like the Fire Brigade. I like the classic style American architecture combined with the Classic Town garage door, plus the bell tower is awesome! The pool table and kitchen are big ++s for me, as well as the fire engine.

Should we add a poll?

[prateek]

Should we add a poll?

I think a poll is in order.

[ACCURATEin]

The Green Grocer is what initially drew my attention and started this entire ordeal in my living room. haha. So the GG stands as my favorite modular out of the collection.

[funkybrick]

Should we add a poll?

I would be very pleased if you added one!

funkybrick

[FinalFeature]

Green Grocer has so much sand green pieces. I also liked the fire escape on the back of it. So the Green Grocer is my faviroute.

[Rapseflaps]

1. Green Grocer

It has the best combination of raw size, added details and fun interiors. I love how there's so many things to discover about the finished model and building it is a great experience.

2. Café Corner

The lack of interior is made up by the designers going all-out on the exterior. It's fun, it's exciting, it's everything a LEGO building can be.

Tie: 3/4. Fire Brigade/Grand Emporium

I only finished Grand Emporium today and have hardly had time to wallow in its glory, so this ranking is subject to change.

The fire brigade has some great stuff on the interior and a car as added bonus. I love the interior of the upper floor. It's great for making little scenes with its complete kitchen, sofa and ping poing table. The façade is nowhere near as striking as the other buildings and constructing the front wall gets a little repetitive. The "1932" at the top is great though.

Grand Emporium again comes with nice details, but what I really liked about the interior of Fire Brigade is that minifigs can interact with it and live in it. This gallery of display cases... not so much living there. I adore the little fitting room with the guy in his underpants though. Probably my favorite "hidden" detail in the entire series. It also comes with no less than 7 complete minifigs, which is a plus (although 2 of them end up as manequins in the shop window). The window washer is a very nice touch as well. This set does get some negative points for having two nearly identical top floors. I completely understand it being the way it is, since many large department stores are made up of buildings with identical floors, but from a pure building point of view, it's rather repetitive, unlike any of the other three official modular buildings.

5. Market Street

The stepchild of the series comes in last, but is still a fun set on its own. I really like the narrower building, because it mixes things up a bit. The bladdering paint job is a nice job and helps break the color a bit. The alley mostly falls by the wayside in street assemblies though. It just feels so insignificant between all the other tall buildings. It usually ends up at the very end of the street. Not a must-have, but a nice little variation in size and difficulty from the other sets.

[lightningtiger]

Green Grocer - number one - followed by the GE and FB !

Best brickbuilt dairycase ever and rooms to add too - SWEET !

I'm a conformist! everyone !

[GRogall]

I for myself never considered Market Street as part of the series.

It's a nice building but lacks something, not sure what it is but there is something missing.

as for the other buildings I'm very fond of them all...

1 Cafè Corner it showed what Lego could do if they put their minds to it and will always be my favorite.

2 Green Grocer it just has so much hidden detail like the mouse hole and such.

3 Grand Emporium although I haven't build it yet looks like just another hit. (Now Build, and is a great set)!

4 Fire Brigade the stile is a little square but its still well designed and has some cool things going for it.

and I just hope that we will get more of these for many years to come!

Edited March 17, 2010 by grogall

[Svelte]

Tricky topic!

I think you can draw a distinction between standalone models and modular buildings with stacked middle floors, as this makes a significant difference.

For standalone models I'd rank them.

1. Green Grocer - still the best for useful parts, overall design, and details. A true classic.

2. Grand Emporium - great parts and design, I just like the detailing on Green Grocer a little more

3. Cafe Corner - still a favourite, but it does suffer in comparison with its newer siblings. The ground floor interior looks especially dark. However this is a revolutionary model, so even if I have to rank it below the others it will always be Number 1 in my heart

4. Fire Brigade - the giant lower floor and medium size upper floor feel too large. The facade looks bigger overall than the other more moderately sized ground floors too. And way too much bley! Easily me least favourite of the bigger buildings. Still, overall in the streetscape it does look better than number 5...

5. Market Street - not bad at all, but the blue is kind of odd looking and the short market section (a) looks out of place (b) is very delicate compared to the other solid buildings. Amazing for parts, however.

In terms of stacked models with multiple floors:

1. Grand Emporium. This just looks better the more you add to it! I've built 3 now. Probably 2 ground floors with 4 upper floors is optimum. The tan and dark green mean it doesn't look too dark and intimidating.

2. Fire Brigade - actually looks a lot better with 1 ground floor and 2 upper floors, it seems to lessen the proportions problem and the extra red gives it a bit more kick.

3. Green Grocer - I've only added 2 middle floors to two ground floors but there's a lot going on with the facade, maybe too much when you have too many upper floors.

4. Cafe Corner - really does look different these days to the original 'wow' factor it had on release when there was nothing else like it on the market. The lack of window pieces at the time means that the white 1x2x3 panels used look a bit funny. The red-brown also gets kind of dark if you have too much of it. Probably 2 side by side with 2 middle floors is just right.

5. Market Street. This is really the only true modular building in that the floors are stackable in any configuration. Lose the side market and put two of the taller buildings side by side with staggered height for better effect. Much better!

[Carbohydrates]

1. Green Grocer. It has a lot going for it - the asymmetrical build is brilliant and the layout makes a ton of sense. The archway area with stairs leading the the apartments and mailboxes for the residents makes this the most 'believable' building to me. The detailing is fantastic, especially the fully tiled floor of the store and the room furniture. The second story curtains look fantastic. Every time I started questioning "now why are they doing this..." while I was building it, it always turned into an "oh, I get it, that's amazing" moment. Also, the colors are amazing.

2. Fire Brigade. I loved this one from the moment I saw it. The large banks of windows on the second floor are lovely and the garage door is a very welcome and appropriate addition. I also like the brick texture on the second floor. On the other hand, the first floor is simply too tall and the band of gray it leaves around the gold helmet decor is visually uninteresting, so it's not perfect. I do like the truck everyone else seems to hate so much, though I think the set would have been better without it because it 'dates' the building too much.

3. Grand Emporium. The first floor is spectacular and I feel like they did everything right. The columns are interesting, the windows are great, and I love the mannequins. I also like how they did the escalators. Aside from that, I don't care for it all that much. The second and third floors are practically identical, which is appropriate for a building of this type, but boring both in build and in final form to me. I also don't like the billboard. I love how it's made, but I don't like that it's there for the same reason I don't like FB's fire truck's presence: it dates the building. Without the truck or the billboard, any of these buildings could be used to represent almost any decade in the 1900s. It also completely lacks detail in the rear, while both FB and GG did a great job there.

4. Cafe Corner. Yeah, it was revolutionary. Yeah, it gave way for all the other great sets. The fact remains that it was still an experiment when it dropped and they couldn't afford to be too risky with it, so it really lacks in detailing. No interiors, no rear decor. The middle floor looks odd and slightly out of place. On the bright side, the roof is very nicely done and the hotel sign is absolutely phenomenal - one of my favorite details in any of the modulars. The layout, like GG's, is nice and logical, too. I feel that it just really doesn't stand up to the others once you stop looking at it as "great for its time". Its innovation is still profound and I could easily see it reissued 10 or 20 years down the road, and I expect it'll be very valuable (read: expensive as hell if you missed out on it) very quickly.

5. Market Street. Sucks. A lot. Boring construction except for exactly two parts (front stairs and third floor windows). I like the idea of the paint wear, but in practice, it looks silly. The attached alley/market thing is just terrible. It's completely barren and the arched gate detail looks out of place and hokey. No interiors, of course. I understand it's not really in the same league as the others, but as long as it's gonna be put in a poll with them, I'm going to compare them directly and say that it pales by a severely wide margin. As a Creator/Factory set, it's great. As a modular, it's best ignored and we can all pretend it didn't happen.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Carbohydrates

[Teddy]

hmmm, I am too biased to rationally choose.

But since one cannot argue over taste her I go:

nr1. Cafe Corner: Got it from my girlfriend for my birthday after we moved in together.

nr2. Market Street: I have a soft spot for Eric Brok. His website and MOCs got me back into the hobby: Lego on my mind (started way back in 1996!)What he did back then was revolutionary! He is missed in the community.

nr3. Green Grocer: Best of the rest in my humble opinion.

nr4. Fire Brigade: Uhh, table tennis, hello. How cool is that.

nr5. Grand Emporium: Has an escalator to the skies.

[Rick]

For standalone models I'd rank them.

Green Grocer and Grand Emporium are the undisputed numbers 1 and 2 for me as well. And I too like the the more varied, diverse detailing on Green Grocer more than on Grand Emporium, so (1) GG and (2) GE. I really find it hard to rank the other three buildings. Now that some of you mention it, indeed one of the weaker point of FB is the gray 'band' in between the first and second floor. Other than that the color scheme is great. The interior is nicely detailed, but I don't like that it's just one big room on both floors. A little more interior variation, like in GG, would have been good. CC still has that first-moment-jaw-breaking feeling. MS is great for what it is, a factory set, but in terms of detail doesn't really compare to the rest. But it has actually grown on me and I guess it will always carry a special place in some people's hearts because of the typical Dutch/Flemish architecture. In the end, I think I'd most likely end up with the same ranking as Svelte. Although for me they're most accurately ranked in only two groups: (GG and GE) and (CC, FB, and MS).

In terms of stacked models with multiple floors:

I don't buy multiples, but I can see your (different) reasoning here.

[L@go]

As it says to the left: I'm new! But hopefully still entitled to an opinion

Café Corner was more or less what brought me out of my dark ages. Sure, I had bought a little Lego set now and then just to get that good building feeling back, but it felt like a giant leap when I ordered CC - and I was instantly hooked.

For me, though, I have to say that Green Grocer is still the favourite - for several reasons, but mainly the rich detailing: The furnished ground floor, the bay windows, the fire escape, the curtains, the clock, the radiator... the list goes on.

Market Street I like for the colour. I must say that Fire Brigade disappointed me slightly, but I really can't put my finger on why. Grand Emporium arrived last Friday, and I've had to restrain myself to rip it open and start building, but I just don't have the time - and I know that if I start, I won't be able to stop. Know the feeling?

Hopefully, I'll be able to add a modular MOC or two to my street sooner or later.

[WesternOutlaw]

I'm really enjoying the pros and cons that many of you have been sharing in regard to each set. It's interesting to read the various comments. I ended up voting for the Fire Brigade for the reasons mentioned above. Cafe Corner would be my 2nd (because of the overall charm and hotel sign), followed by the GG, then the Grand Emporium. To no surprise, Market Street, seems to be at the bottom, but it is in a class of its own.

EDIT:

But they do look fantastic next to one another. Let's just hope we see a few more.

[CP5670]

Grand Emporium. It's the only one that I think looks fairly modern, and would fit in reasonably well alongside standard City sets. The interior is also quite nice.

[Danpb]

I only own Green Grocer and I bought it mainly out of panic after someone saying it is close to being discontinued. I had a blast building it and I'm really impressed by the detail and use of bricks.

The other sets look just as awesome, and for my next one I'm between GE and FB. FB is in the lead at this point.

I'm not surprised GG is winning the poll, but I was surprised by the margin :).

[WesternOutlaw]

I'm not surprised GG is winning the poll, but I was surprised by the margin :).

Me too - I would think that Cafe Corner would get more votes as well.