Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[ReplicaOfLife]

Is that part of the reason why the older models are so expensive - because AFOLs consider them to be superior to the more recent models?

Part of it, maybe, but the fact that a lot of people who weren't around when they were available in retail want them now plays a role aswell. There were significantly fewer production runs for CC, MS and GG than for the later modulars, which explains the insane prices for those three. But even FB and GE, who were around for a looong time, are approaching the 300-350€/$ mark for MISB sets.

stop manipulating the part count

This is something that really buggers me about DO. The set just feels as if they were trying hard to get above the 2000 part mark, while not increasing the net weight of the set. There's way more 1x2, 1x3 and 1x4 bricks in there than necessary. Replace those with 1x6 and 1x8, and you could easily save a couple dozen bricks. And some part usages make absolutely no sense. Why, for examply, did they use 14 White Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Groove in the barber shop when the same job could've been done with any combination of larger white bricks. And why even use the bricks with groove when they achieve nothing and regular white 1x2 bricks were also used in the build?

Edited June 27, 2015 by RogerSmith

[tafkatb]

The older models are only more expensive because they're retired. There's no real cutoff point other than the division between retired sets and those that are still on the market; the incorporation of narrative elements and more detailed interiors has been a gradual shift.

[KristofBD]

Story I do not really mind, but clever Interior design is crucial for me - and man the last two sets really delivered on that front! PR and DO were excellent sets imo. Let's hope that trend continues!

[Off the wall]

I've done interiors in modulars. My own interiors. For me, it's a waste of parts for Lego to use part of the piece count on interiors. Especially when there are so many options for me to do on my own. As far as story line goes, well, if you need one.....use your imagination. Don't pay for someone else's vision of what's going on with the building. If the design is good, the buildings theme doesn't need an explanation. I remember when music videos were becoming popular. One artist said if you wrote a good song, you didn't need a video to explain it. Ditto for the designer videos when Jamie starts explaining things like cookie smugglers.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Off the wall

[BirdOPrey5]

I am also anti-story,anti-interiors here. Seems about evenly split.

[Razi]

For me, I love designing interiors when building my own modulars and set modulars. However, my set modulars's insides slowly dissolve as I need the pieces for my own modulars.

[Wodanis]

Personally I enjoy a good interior as well as the exterior, the more detailed the better. Really it is a non issue as one can just gut the building if one intends to make your own furniture. The benefits of Lego building!

This is something that really buggers me about DO. The set just feels as if they were trying hard to get above the 2000 part mark, while not increasing the net weight of the set. There's way more 1x2, 1x3 and 1x4 bricks in there than necessary. Replace those with 1x6 and 1x8, and you could easily save a couple dozen bricks. And some part usages make absolutely no sense. Why, for examply, did they use 14 White Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Groove in the barber shop when the same job could've been done with any combination of larger white bricks. And why even use the bricks with groove when they achieve nothing and regular white 1x2 bricks were also used in the build?

I need to get this set in order to find out. Most of the time it is just a cost saving measure. Usually when you come across a set that is reusing parts, for example using two 1x4 plates instead of a 1x8 plate, it is because using 1x8 would 'cost more' in terms of how the set goes down the assembly line. It is easier for the machines to dispense the 1x4 plates if you are already have them in the set (same colour) than re-calibrating it to dispense the other part. You will see this with smaller City sets where they use the same part instead of a separate one. Logically we ask ourselves why as it doesn't make sense build wise. The other instance I see this happening is where a designer uses specific parts so that a model is easier to take apart. (1x8 plate with two 1x4 plates on top of it.)

So no one has really heard any rumours to what the new modular will be? What do you want to bet they will have a Police station since I have one on Lego Ideas...would be just my luck

Edited June 27, 2015 by Wodanis

[ReplicaOfLife]

I need to get this set in order to find out. Most of the time it is just a cost saving measure. Usually when you come across a set that is reusing parts, for example using two 1x4 plates instead of a 1x8 plate, it is because using 1x8 would 'cost more' in terms of how the set goes down the assembly line. It is easier for the machines to dispense the 1x4 plates if you are already have them in the set (same colour) than re-calibrating it to dispense the other part. You will see this with smaller City sets where they use the same part instead of a separate one. Logically we ask ourselves why as it doesn't make sense build wise. The other instance I see this happening is where a designer uses specific parts so that a model is easier to take apart. (1x8 plate with two 1x4 plates on top of it.)

So no one has really heard any rumours to what the new modular will be? What do you want to bet they will have a Police station since I have one on Lego Ideas...would be just my luck

I'm aware of the production limitations. Which makes me even more baffled as to why they included the bricks with groove, and two more without groove.

[Off the wall]

As far as the next modular goes, I'd like a single theme corner building. Hospital ,police station, bank. As far as residential buildings go, buy the PS while it's still available. It's a provides a great basis for residential buildings.

[Still Raindrop]

I'm cool with disagreement, of course--and I can see why people wouldn't like interiors (although I have my own reasons for really loving them), and why the size variations might be frustrating for some. It's when current modulars are called "childish" (or some variety thereof) that I roll my eyes--it reminds me of people who use the word "<insert that tiresome argument>" to refer to any set they don't like, despite its having a pretty agreed-upon meaning. But then, I probably shouldn't care--after all, Lego is a toy. To each his own.

I remember when music videos were becoming popular. One artist said if you wrote a good song, you didn't need a video to explain it.

And then Peter Gabriel came along and proved that music videos could be works of art!

Anyway, I agree that a single-theme corner building would be best for the next one. I liked the Detective's Office, but I don't think every modular should be like that. A post office could be great, or a bank. I have my doubts that a hospital could work on a modular scale; most hospitals would have to be much larger, and I think any modular attempt would be disappointing. A doctor's office, or perhaps a dentist's, is something I think could be done well, though.

[Off the wall]

Works for me...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Lego-Modular-Building-Instructions-003-Hospital-/271281318189

[antp]

And some part usages make absolutely no sense. Why, for examply, did they use 14 White Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Groove in the barber shop when the same job could've been done with any combination of larger white bricks. And why even use the bricks with groove when they achieve nothing and regular white 1x2 bricks were also used in the build?

They're used to create a kind of wall texture. That does not look bad, but being not very visible I'd agree that it is not so useful.

[TheLegoDr]

I'd like to see a hospital for sure. I don't know if they could justify it size wise with enough detail. There is definitely a story to go along there. Maybe a good time to introduce a baby sized figure (outside of Maggie) or possibly re-use the Maggie dress or use pieces in a clever way to simulate a new baby (like the head in the upside down turban).

Whatever it may be, I will most likely pick it up. I just hope for interesting designs and piece usage with an interesting color scheme.

[talos]

Having a building with a particular use attached, kind of makes it necessary to have a theme, and that begets an interior to define it. A building really is just a shell and your imagination defines it.

[Off the wall]

I'm imposing another 90 day suspension on myself. For my own state of mind. Enjoy.

[Mestari]

When I saw what started happening with the DO, I started designing my own :)

So far only two (I have still to publish the second one), but it's really fun and I can do it my way. I know I'm not as good as others, but I don't have to. When I started thinking about modulars with this approach, I really care far less about what TLG will bring us or what they will mess up. My buildings don't have any out-of-the-blue coloured bricks in the walls ;)

[alenvprekrsku]

Friends based modular building please!

[Colossus]

Friends based modular building please!

I thought that's what the DO was.

[Dan-147]

When I saw what started happening with the DO, I started designing my own :)

So far only two (I have still to publish the second one), but it's really fun and I can do it my way. I know I'm not as good as others, but I don't have to. When I started thinking about modulars with this approach, I really care far less about what TLG will bring us or what they will mess up. My buildings don't have any out-of-the-blue coloured bricks in the walls ;)

Funny, I had the same reaction with LEGO trains. I started making my own and I've been a happier person for it. So far, I'm still OKay with LEGO's modulars but I have to take my hat off to all those cool fan-built modulars!

Dan-147

Edited June 27, 2015 by Dan-147

[Jern92]

I personally love interiors because I do not have the budget or skills to make my own at the moment, and to have a whole row of empty buildings wouldn't be as much fun. Plus I do kinda like the play feature that interiors bring, even though I personally felt the DO storyline was bordering on ridiculousness. Which I guess works in a way since at the end of the day, it is a kid's toy and is supposed to be based on a kid's imagination.

The Parisian Restaurant is my all-time favorite because of both its interior and exterior details. I like my buildings big, but I also like them well-designed with nice interiors, so I guess it is sometimes a compromise. I enjoy the ingenious building techniques that allows us to build architectural elements and little pieces of furniture. Hard to have the best of both worlds though. We're not all Hannah Montana

[pugmom]

My pipe dream would be a corner store, but with modern styling with big floor to ceiling windows to see more of a detailed interior. Thinking like the little free with purchase lego store they are doing at the grand openings this year, but on a modular scale. I enjoy the interiors from a building perspective, but it seems like such a waste when I am almost always just looking at the lovely outsides.

Or a corner bank with great architectural details.

[notaromantic]

And then Peter Gabriel came along and proved that music videos could be works of art!

Yea, its too bad that by then, when his videos were works of art, his music wasn't. Supper's Ready was art. The Cinema Show was art. Neither needed video, and actually, they would've suffered should they have had it. Sledgehammer - it absolutely needed a video...

But I digress, this isn't about Genesis. And perhaps, it never was.

The modular line should be organic - in the sense that, whatever benefits it at the moment should be the consideration. If it is a building that is heavy with architectural detail, then, that is where the design and parts distribution should be steered, and having the interior play second fiddle should be expected because of it. And - vice versa: If we have a modular that is story-oriented, or clamored with interior detail, then we should expect that the exterior may not the focus, or that its overall size is a smaller. Regardless, nobody here wants a modular to be unaffordable; and the only way to accomplish this, it seems, is to allow each release its own merit and flaw, so long as the design is best served and nothing is too left out.

Its our own folly to expect that we've reached a certain threshhold where we can predict what will happen with each successive release, because that is what happened with the last, or because we've ascertained some pattern, or some trend in "want" itself. LEGO trying to accommodate all that "want" is what will force it to collapse in on itself. This feels like the thing that happened to the comic book world in the late 80's/ early '90s, when it, too, imploded under similar circumstances. Everything just became simply ridiculous, before someone doing something really serious again is what brought it back around for a brief while.

But, as others have mentioned elsewhere, at least LEGO is a "breathable" medium - if one doesn't like what is there, one can alter it. And it truly remains an issue for those, for whatever reason, afraid or unwilling to... But for others, that is precisely where the fun lay.

Regardless of the argument for or against each release, they've each been great 'seeds' for the LEGO community. Exactly what they should have been and still are.

Oh - except for Market Street. I still don't know how to talk about that, and have yet to find something redeemable about it. But maybe, there's a new personal goal: Revisit Market Street for ideas. -? We'll see where that goes.

Edited June 28, 2015 by notaromantic

[ReplicaOfLife]

I don't want modulars without interiors.

I think there wouldn't be that many complaints if the current buildings still had the volume of CC or GG while also having an interior. It's the downsizing that buggers people, e.g. - with the DO - the ridiculous size & interior of the blue/brown side of the building. It has gotten too small to put in a reasonable interior (and I can easily live with them omitting bathrooms or kitchens from residential buildings).

If this trend continues, I'll propably resort to building my own modulars, maybe using the official sets as a starting point if I like some architectural details.

As for DO, I finally collected all the bricks I need for my MOD/MOC based around it. It will use two sets plus another 1500 or so pieces, clocking in at almost 5000 bricks in total.

[Tariq j]

I like interiors, there are some like the TH and PC which have excellent ones done to precision and detail.

As for stories, I mean, its alot more enjoyable using your own imagination and elements to great a scene as oppose to a set one.

[kermit]

Regarding this debate I have a solution. Why not make modular buildings devoid of interiors for the second and third floor except for the first floor which I think should have some interior since it focuses on what the building is about. for example the pet shop with the first floor having a pet store interior and the green grocer having a first floor with fridges and food items. Leaving the other two floor bare will save on pieces that can be used for the exterior.

Then what about interior furniture you ask?......I think releasing a separate set together with the particular modular building will solve this problem. For example, look at the easter painting and valentine seasonal set for this year. I bought 10 of the easter sets to use as furniture in my own buildings and with a price range of just $9.99 its cheaper than going through bricklink.

I even used the valentine set to furnish the first floor of my cafe corner.

Therefore I think creating separate sets in the $9.99 price range together with a modular would be beneficial to lego because people will be willing to buy these small sets to complete their interiors.

I was hoping for a summer seasonal set with maybe focus on outdoor furniture like lawn chairs and a pool to add to my buuildings or maybe a bedroom scene with a bed and draws etc. but i'll just have to keep hoping.