The Jersey Brick Guy

Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

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Hi all.

I’ve a couple of hopefully relevant thoughts to add to the rambling speculation!

Firstly, I agree that if that is a snippet of an internal list used in the Lego store it’s VERY unlikely that it would have such a glaring spelling mistake in it.

  1. Last year Mike Psiaki, showed off/talked about how he originally wanted DD to be a kind of garage/car dealership and how they couldn’t quite get it to work. Knowing what we know about how tight Lego are with revealing information about work in progress, and future models it’s doubtful that he would have been allowed to reveal that this year or next they would be adding a garage/dealership/petrol station.
  2. Having said that (and presuming Mike is the designer) he has stated a love of cars before and has even built a garage previously which might give some hints as to building techniques he’d try to scale up in complexity pictured below. Though again, knowing what we know about how the team works, would they really opt to build another garage, by the same designer within a couple years?

I'm pretty sure that it's been said in various interviews over the last year that post-AS  the whole line has a refocus on going to ALL sorts of different architectural designs/eras. So IMO it’s likely the next set will be just as ‘jarring’ or dissimilar from previous aesthetic as DD was in order to achieve more eclecticism.

Personally, I hope someone else designs this years modular. If they really want to go in new directions each time, what better way than to have a different designer each year getting to stake their claim.

 

91jCBi+FEkL._SL1500_.jpg

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3 minutes ago, jonahtron said:

Hi all.

I’ve a couple of hopefully relevant thoughts to add to the rambling speculation!

Firstly, I agree that if that is a snippet of an internal list used in the Lego store it’s VERY unlikely that it would have such a glaring spelling mistake in it.

  1. Last year Mike Psiaki, showed off/talked about how he originally wanted DD to be a kind of garage/car dealership and how they couldn’t quite get it to work. Knowing what we know about how tight Lego are with revealing information about work in progress, and future models it’s doubtful that he would have been allowed to reveal that this year or next they would be adding a garage/dealership/petrol station.
  2. Having said that (and presuming Mike is the designer) he has stated a love of cars before and has even built a garage previously which might give some hints as to building techniques he’d try to scale up in complexity pictured below. Though again, knowing what we know about how the team works, would they really opt to build another garage, by the same designer within a couple years?

I'm pretty sure that it's been said in various interviews over the last year that post-AS  the whole line has a refocus on going to ALL sorts of different architectural designs/eras. So IMO it’s likely the next set will be just as ‘jarring’ or dissimilar from previous aesthetic as DD was in order to achieve more eclecticism.

Personally, I hope someone else designs this years modular. If they really want to go in new directions each time, what better way than to have a different designer each year getting to stake their claim.

Some very interesting and convincing thoughts. Thank you for sharing!

Edited by Bainter-ban

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44 minutes ago, jonahtron said:

Hi all.

I’ve a couple of hopefully relevant thoughts to add to the rambling speculation!

Firstly, I agree that if that is a snippet of an internal list used in the Lego store it’s VERY unlikely that it would have such a glaring spelling mistake in it.

  1. Last year Mike Psiaki, showed off/talked about how he originally wanted DD to be a kind of garage/car dealership and how they couldn’t quite get it to work. Knowing what we know about how tight Lego are with revealing information about work in progress, and future models it’s doubtful that he would have been allowed to reveal that this year or next they would be adding a garage/dealership/petrol station.
  2. Having said that (and presuming Mike is the designer) he has stated a love of cars before and has even built a garage previously which might give some hints as to building techniques he’d try to scale up in complexity pictured below. Though again, knowing what we know about how the team works, would they really opt to build another garage, by the same designer within a couple years?

I'm pretty sure that it's been said in various interviews over the last year that post-AS  the whole line has a refocus on going to ALL sorts of different architectural designs/eras. So IMO it’s likely the next set will be just as ‘jarring’ or dissimilar from previous aesthetic as DD was in order to achieve more eclecticism.

Personally, I hope someone else designs this years modular. If they really want to go in new directions each time, what better way than to have a different designer each year getting to stake their claim.

 

 

Usually internal documents not meant for public consumption DO indeed have spelling errors. I see it all the time working in retail. So you can't say they don't have spelling mistakes because internal documents don't necessarily need that "professional look". The public is who judges based on spelling errors, not employees...  do you work in retail?

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For all those who say Police Station, there are others who hope it isn't ..namely those who have done MOC's. I can think of quite a few but Bricky Brick is one with his lovely interpretation 

45202548355_b3a739e905_c.jpgpolice station by Chris Dodsworth, on Flickr

and then ours that we did last year ( or was it the year before, I can't remember :) )

I know that Lego would do a far better job than us but we don't need two on our street ! So here's hoping its a garage/recording studio/apartment

 

34012281421_a531204de2_c.jpgIMG_0312 by Chris Dodsworth, on Flickr

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4 minutes ago, swisstony said:

For all those who say Police Station, there are others who hope it isn't ..namely those who have done MOC's. I can think of quite a few but Bricky Brick is one with his lovely interpretation 

and then ours that we did last year ( or was it the year before, I can't remember :) )

I know that Lego would do a far better job than us but we don't need two on our street ! So here's hoping its a garage/recording studio/apartment

The main reason we don't want a Police Station is because they make one every 2 years, same goes for the Fire Station... the Modular line is what little we AFOL's can appreciate design techniques and real architectural designs from. I'd rather see a unique building rather than an already used theme...  I'm sure alot of people feel the same about people wanting Lego to bring back the Green Grocer or Cafe Corner too so no one wins, unique building is what everyone can agree on atleast...
The only way I can see a Police Station working is if its like the Town Hall, but the problem with having it as a modular is, where do the Police Cars park? where are the cell blocks? the only police stations that are still like this, especially in America, are in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles as far as I know.

example below:

stock-photo-old-police-station-in-downto

Edited by ncx

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26 minutes ago, ncx said:

do you work in retail?

In a past life... I worked as the European head of visual marketing in a large fashion brand. Almost all of our internal documents were branded, screened and copy checked at multiple points. It's only a small mistake, but It would be rare for documents to have typos. 

Anyway, what I was getting at was that we've seen quite a few garages, and even one by Mike himself in the past year or so. They'd definitely be breaking their usual protocol to have told everyone about it last year during The Lego House event launching the DD.

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5 minutes ago, jonahtron said:

In a past life... I worked as the European head of visual marketing in a large fashion brand. Almost all of our internal documents were branded, screened and copy checked at multiple points. It's only a small mistake, but It would be rare for documents to have typos. 

Anyway, what I was getting at was that we've seen quite a few garages, and even one by Mike himself in the past year or so. They'd definitely be breaking their usual protocol to have told everyone about it last year during The Lego House event launching the DD.

They didn't explicitly tell "everyone about it last year during The Lego House event launching the DD"

The designer vid only said the Diner started out as a car dealership and that he liked cars from that era. He also said he was obsessed with angles and math as well as Art Deco styling that he used on his Diner design.

There was absolutely no mention of garages at all. He also said "We don't have a Hotel yet, do we? Ooops" (Cafe Corner was technically just a Cafe with a Hotel sign, but it was not a hotel)

Also, the internal document I still find credible because of the spelling error. Placeholder documents that are not final tend to have these grammatical errors. I've seen it in my 10+ years working in retail.

 

Edited by ncx

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The "police sound" could mean that there will be a police vehicle being repaired in the rumored service station.

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11 hours ago, The_Nev said:

I think that the Twitter response from Lego could, as I've said before, mean anything or nothing. There's so much that it could possibly be hinting at that I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't hinting at anything at all. As for the Garage "leak", it's obviously either real or fake. But for now, we have no way of knowing. So all up, nothing is certain, and we aren't likely to know anything for sure until the official release on the other side of this weekend.

And to throw another spanner in the works, someone on Facebook said that they spoke to a person at the Lego Store, who knew the name of the next modular, didn't reveal, but said that judging by the name a lot of people will love it and a lot of people won't like it. But I think we knew that much already, as that criteria matches every potential design ever discussed...

Honestly, I'm expecting Lego to unveil a building that isn't a garage or a Police station or a record store. I think we're going to be completely surprised by whatever it is.

 

In my opinion it just means that if he revealed you what it is, he would have been arrested

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While I don't think the 2019 modular is a hotel, I have to wonder if Cafe Corner is a hotel.    Mike said that the line didn't have a hotel, but that could just be a result of CC coming out before he was working at Lego.

 

It's a bit small to be a hotel.   The signage makes no sense if it isn't, however.

 

At any rate, the foundation of Lego is visuospatial creativity and expecting some kind of canonical storyline for Modular is against this.   I think there's a very large tendency for Modular fans* to be uncreative and hesitant to expand upon the structures, treating them almost like they were a line of collectible plastic statuettes like Funko Pops.    The reason why we pay a large premium for Lego vs. other toys is that it's not immutable and we can build and expand on our system in a reusable, effortless manner.  Cafe Corner can be a hotel if you want it to be   Build some hotel rooms in it and a front desk.   Build some more floors.   Make it 64x32 instead of 32x32.

 

(*Of course, that doesn't apply to the amazing MOCers we have here on Eurobricks.)

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8 minutes ago, CopperTablet said:

While I don't think the 2019 modular is a hotel, I have to wonder if Cafe Corner is a hotel.    Mike said that the line didn't have a hotel, but that could just be a result of CC coming out before he was working at Lego.

 

It's a bit small to be a hotel.   The signage makes no sense if it isn't, however.

 

At any rate, the foundation of Lego is visuospatial creativity and expecting some kind of canonical storyline for Modular is against this.   I think there's a very large tendency for Modular fans* to be uncreative and hesitant to expand upon the structures, treating them almost like they were a line of collectible plastic statuettes like Funko Pops.    The reason why we pay a large premium for Lego vs. other toys is that it's not immutable and we can build and expand on our system in a reusable, effortless manner.  Cafe Corner can be a hotel if you want it to be   Build some hotel rooms in it and a front desk.   Build some more floors.   Make it 64x32 instead of 32x32.

 

(*Of course, that doesn't apply to the amazing MOCers we have here on Eurobricks.)

Man, that's condescending. 

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Just now, just_one said:

January´s Calender leaked and not even a mention of the new modular... 

 

Oh no!!  :def_shrug:

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On 11/28/2018 at 4:08 PM, RogerSmith said:

Only possible negative point to take away from that rumor is the high possibility of another build with a car. And I gotta say... "Hey, Lego!!! We're buying these things because we love BUILDINGS! If we want cars, we'll buy them! No need to waste parts on them in the modular line!". Although, in all fairness, it would make a lot more sense to include one in a garage then sticking that pointless pínk thing in with the Diner,

I understand that a lot of people think vehicles in the Modular Buildings sets are a waste, even if I largely disagree, but I'm glad you recognize how a garage sort of changes the context! For a garage, a vehicle isn't just something that goes with the building, it's something that the set would feel incomplete without. It would be like if the Palace Cinema didn't have a movie screen, if the Pet Shop didn't have any animals, etc. The Fire Brigade is a similar case — imagine how downright boring the big, empty lower floor of that building would be if it didn't have a truck to help give that space some detail, visual interest, and purpose.

That said, I am generally in favor of vehicles coming with modular buildings on occasion, because even if other themes have vehicles, they don't really have the level of realism, visual identity, or standard of detail that is associated with the modular buildings. While the limo in Palace Cinema fell short of my own expectations, the truck in Fire Brigade and ESPECIALLY the car in Downtown Diner both far surpassed the vehicles we see in City, due to having side by side driver and passenger seats in both cases, as well as a back seat and side doors in the latter case. These are the sorts of personal expectations I've tried to meet in my own MOCs of both real-life and fictional cars since I was a teenager.

The car that comes with the Diner also employs many rather advanced and creative building techniques, such as a chassis construction that neither uses a specialized plate nor even a 2x12/2x14/2x16 plate as the base of the build. The wheel arches don't even leave any unsightly gaps in the corners as so many in themes like City or Friends tend to do, and the wheels are adequately scaled to the vehicle as a whole rather than sticking out from the sides of the wheel arches. The only other big things I could really wish for would be an opening trunk/boot and a slightly more angled windscreen.

21 hours ago, marv said:

Jokes aside ... I think a garage is an interesting opportunity. An old tow truck would be the perfect fit

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQjXlrMYnmF29cD9RMrdoH

That'd be really neat to see, especially at a 16+ level of detail! And there's enough nice curved pieces nowadays that I wouldn't be surprised if LEGO could pull it off.

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14 minutes ago, just_one said:

January´s Calender leaked and not even a mention of the new modular... 

But when Brick Bank was released it wasn't on the calendar because of Ghostbusters HQ.  Don't think we should panic just yet :)

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It would be interesting to see a inverted corner garage. because of the need for space to turn around in the garage I suggest a it to be on a 48x32 or 64x32 baseplate. (or 2 32x32 to be correct)

I visualize it as one 32x32 actual garage in the corner, no need for fancy walls, maybe some windows on the backside (or open gaps, to reduce the number of pieces). And on the other 32x32 baseplate there is an entrance carport, staircase and maybe something else.

I am not yet a MOC:er, som I have no building to complete a whole block because of the 48-wide AS. So I wish for a completing sized modular.:P

 

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They either intentionally didn't put it on the calendar to avoid leaks or they cancelled the modular line. With 2 sets being retired this year the line ending seems more and more likely. Although I hope I'm wrong. 

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It's very unlikely that TLG decided to cancel one of its most beloved lines. The modular is probably missing because TLG knows that calendars usually show sets that haven't yet been revealed.

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Who knows... maybe TLG decided to release the new modulair on the 31st of December. :-) that would offer an explanation as to why it isn’t on the January calendar...

We’ll know more on monday!

Edited by astra

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48 minutes ago, chezzymann said:

They either intentionally didn't put it on the calendar to avoid leaks or they cancelled the modular line. With 2 sets being retired this year the line ending seems more and more likely. Although I hope I'm wrong. 

They most likely left it out on purpose. Some always have a tendency to think that LEGO will cancel the modular line. They won't. In recent interviews theyve mentioned they have ideas for modulars for uears to come. And they are already probably making some chnages to the 2020 modular since they work in advance.

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2 minutes ago, BrickFit26 said:

They most likely left it out on purpose. Some always have a tendency to think that LEGO will cancel the modular line. They won't. In recent interviews theyve mentioned they have ideas for modulars for uears to come. And they are already probably making some chnages to the 2020 modular since they work in advance.

Yeah, this move would line up with lego increasingly trying to keep knockoffs from releasing stuff before lego can even get the original on shelves. 

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