Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[AFOLguy1970]

Glendo, you might be right, and your picture with the parts is exactly a visual of what I mean when folks as if Lego is priced right, I would guess folks would say the parts on the left are worth more than the right.

I didn't realize there were 5 still for sale, bet they will wait til 2 more are retired, I would...so the ones out there are what, Grand Emporium, Fire Brigade, Town Hall, Paris Restaurant and ? Which one am I missing?

The available sets from earliest release to the present:

Grand Emporium

Pet Shop

Town Hall

Palace Cinema

Parisian Restaurant

Funny thing is I would not mind if the latest and greatest was not released right on Jan 1. It would give my budget a chance to recover from the holidays and focus on other things. Might even get that MOC closer to being presentable.

[ItsaBRICKS]

Kind of a new modular topic while we wait for news about the next modular.

Which modular have you guys found is the most useful general purpose parts pack. I'm almost caught up with all of the modulars finally and I am looking to add some pieces to my collection for MOCing. At this point, I am leaning towards the Pet Shop because it comes with two rare colors, a large variety of windows, and two 16 x 32 baseplates.

Thoughts?

[alois]

Regarding his sig picture. Lego doesn't really price by number of parts. They actually have a rather complex structure where each individual part type has an associated price or cost that is added to the overall set price or budget. At the heart of it is really price per gram of plastic. The 10 cents per part thing is one part a rough buyers way of eyeballing value in an overly simple way and 2 parts myth. Remember Lego doesn't really market "part count". It is only prominent on North American boxes because it is required to be there. Euro boxes don't have it. AFOL focused sets will have overall higher piece counts, and lots of little parts, not because Lego is padding numbers, but because that is the type of build experience most AFOLs seem to prefer. More small detail parts. Fewer big "<insert that tiresome argument>" ones. Lots of texture and fidly bits and greebling. But at the end of the day the price reflects the production cost and margin for each individual piece in the box. Which ultimately goes mostly by weight, barring certain production complexities.

We should always take care not to let observational bias rule our judgement and perceptions. Someone did a rather nice study of the sets a year or so ago, and found that once you factored in certain fixed minimum costs for packaging the price by weight curve was a much much better predictor, and seemed to slay many AFOL myths including elevated costs of licensed sets, and the infamous price per piece formula.

Don't forget the price of moulds. They are very costly, and their price has to be counted in, especially when a certain new part is used. This isn't the case with modulars, so this makes them cheaper. Also compare the price of large sets of basic bricks like 6177, which gives you 650 bricks for €22,99, which is a lot of plastic for this price, but all standard moulds.

[Herky]

Faefrost and Alois

That might be the best way to put it ever...so then in your opinions, are we paying the right amount or do you feel we are paying an inflated price?

And thanks to all for correcting me on the 5 for sale, I can't believe I forgot the Cinema.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Herky

[ritzcrackerman]

Now I'm all anxious. I hope they don't delay releasing the next modular on account of there already being so many available for purchase...

[Faefrost]

Faefrost and Alois

That might be the best way to put it ever...so then in your opinions, are we paying the right amount or do you feel we are paying an inflated price?

And thanks to all for correcting me on the 5 for sale, I can't believe I forgot the Cinema.

I think for most lines the pricing is about where we would expect (if not want) and for the most part the Modulars have a fantastic price per weight. ( people complain about the PR's price relative to size, but by weight it is inline with all the others. It just has less airspace inside the finished build, unlike the PC or TH.)

Kind of a new modular topic while we wait for news about the next modular.

Which modular have you guys found is the most useful general purpose parts pack. I'm almost caught up with all of the modulars finally and I am looking to add some pieces to my collection for MOCing. At this point, I am leaning towards the Pet Shop because it comes with two rare colors, a large variety of windows, and two 16 x 32 baseplates.

Thoughts?

That will depend mainly on what color you are looking for? Town Hall might be the best just for the shear volume of reddish orange parts it contains including some unique to the set. But they all offer a good supply of very desired parts.

[syaorankung]

Is it possible that TLG might extend a lifetime of each Modular Building? as you can see that Grand Emporium still available at online store.

Maybe the next modular building might comes after 1 from 5 available building change to "retired", I think.

[Roger_Smith]

I guess we'll see the next modular in late winter/early spring. Way more than enough time for the remaining GE-stock to dwindle, just as Fire Brigade slowly was phased out when the release of PR was confirmed.

On a side-note, seems like Haunted House has run its course, it's been out of stock on lego.com for quite some time now. While it isn't a modular, it was very popular among the modular fans, so I think it's worth a mention here.

[rollermonkey]

^HH was also the last of the Monster Fighter sets and lasted looooong after all the others were gone.

[Colossus]

I love my Haunted House! The only reason I look forward to Fall is to break out all the Monster Fighter sets for Halloween. Good times...good times.

I wish more modulars had the dollhouse design. I think it makes it easier to get at things compared to removing each level to access it.

[BrickCurve]

I love modular buildings, I'm only missing 3 or so.

I also never new the monster fighters house fitted with the modulars.

Edited August 17, 2014 by BrickCurve

[VintageLegoEra]

I love modular buildings, I'm only missing 3 or so.

I also never new the monster fighters house fitted with the modulars.

The Haunted House is not a series of the city modular and does not have the connector to connect to rest of the Modular, BUT....you can put it side to side :)

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

I love modular buildings, I'm only missing 3 or so.

I also never new the monster fighters house fitted with the modulars.

While it is a Modular building, it's not an official part of the Modular Series. Most of us Modular Builders do consider it enough of a modular to include in our cities however.

[Sammael]

The Haunted House is not a modular building. It doesn't adhere to the modular building standards, cannot be easily connected to another modular building without modifications, and doesn't have modular floors. It's a very nice set and certainly can be displayed alongside modulars, but let's not pretend it's something that it's not.

[Off the wall]

Right. It isn't a modular. But, it's easy to make it fit in. I've bought two of them and converted both so they fit in with the modular theme. I start building and keep a pile of extra parts near by. I lose the hinges, create modular style floors and lose the distressed look associated with the windows. But, as issued, it certainly isn't a modular. But it certainly is easy to modify.

[Herky]

I think to be a modular, it has to be the 3 floor take off type, vs the dollhouse open from the side type, so the Simpsons House and HH which I have with my "block" really don't fit other than they look cool. OTW showed me his HH MOD, very good job in making it fit in, really liked it.

I have to wonder too, if GE's life is extended every time someone buys a new one, TLG might figure that well it is in demand, so we will just hold off on the next modular as long as orders are a certain point.

[Off the wall]

^

Thanks.

I did one where I used the 32 wide plate and build two 16 wide three story victorian style (loosely) houses on it. The second one is where I took the HH, started building it and modified it to modular standards as I went along.

One day I'll get motivated and establish an account where I can post photos. But as of now, hey, just not worth the effort. As little as it might take.

Btw, Herky, any toy stores looted down the road? Is there Lego in the streets? :-)

[Bamos]

I was at one of the local LEGO stores Saturday and the manager said that once his stock of pet shops is sold out he won’t be receiving anymore. Also he has not received and grand emporiums for several months.

[Off the wall]

I was at one of the local LEGO stores Saturday and the manager said that once his stock of pet shops is sold out he won’t be receiving anymore. Also he has not received and grand emporiums for several months.

Maybe so. But, and I'm not speaking in absolutes, this website is cluttered with information from store managers, employees etc that proved to be totally inaccurate. As far as GE goes, there must be a shipping container or warehouse full of them somewhere.....at least judging by Lego.com and the late September availability. Maybe game over for these sets at the store, but not at Lego.com.

One of my fun games now is to trade misinformation with the local lego store employees and management. Like, when is the 6000 piece Peterbilt tractor trailer set going to be available?

Edited August 18, 2014 by Off the wall

[gratefulnat]

One of my fun games now is to trade misinformation with the local lego store employees and management. Like, when is the 6000 piece Peterbilt tractor trailer set going to be available?

Made me laugh out loud while in my office (a good thing too since I've had my first day at work after two weeks of vacation)

Certainly off topic ( ), but what kind of answers do you receive?

[Off the wall]

Made me laugh out loud while in my office (a good thing too since I've had my first day at work after two weeks of vacation)

Certainly off topic ( ), but what kind of answers do you receive?

Well, mostly blank stares. But some good answers like....

'......well, sir, it's coming out right after we release the 8000 piece sagrada familia with its 93 minifigs.'

I suppose I deserve more answers like that one.....

[eurotrash]

'......well, sir, it's coming out right after we release the 8000 piece sagrada familia with its 93 minifigs.'

Now that just sounds Gaudy.

But back on topic - They unveiled the Parisian Restaurant during Brickcon in Seattle and I notice that for this years' Brickcon Jamie Berard is attending...... /maybe for the unveiling of the next one?/

[gratefulnat]

'......well, sir, it's coming out right after we release the 8000 piece sagrada familia with its 93 minifigs.'

I suppose I deserve more answers like that one.....

Just great!

But back on topic - They unveiled the Parisian Restaurant during Brickcon in Seattle and I notice that for this years' Brickcon Jamie Berard is attending...... /maybe for the unveiling of the next one?/

I certainly hope so!

[tonif430]

I'm astonished at what crazy things you do here!!!

[Herky]

I do have to say that living in St Louis has been interesting the last couple of weeks, nothing like a few riots and looting in your town to keep things lively...that said, no, have not heard of any Lego looting. Just gas stations and convenience stores, but there does seem to be some copycat looting going on in other places in the city. Lego Store is in a well patrolled mall in the burbs here. We only rate one store in this city of 3 million metro population.

Folks seem to sell Lego a lot in garage sales, one of my friends actually got a FB in a sale...$100 no box but directions included, building it now so we shall see if all the pieces are there.

Since I know the store manager, I can't get away with the questions, but I may have to feed you some, just ask if the next modular is a florist with greenhouse out back, a new type of modular that is 5500 pieces considering the greenhouse has tons of clear panels and plants.