Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[koalayummies]

2 hours ago, badbob001 said:

In my order with a backordered item, LEGO cancelled my mindstorm GWP when they ran out of stock. So if the backorder takes too long (or forever like the gingerbread house), then you may not get the GWP.

Yes this is the more accurate reply.

The keywords in the fine print are 'while supplies last' and other items that also qualify for the same promotion that are in stock and shipped before someone else's backorder can result in them missing out.

[Maple]

3 hours ago, badbob001 said:

In my order with a backordered item, LEGO cancelled my mindstorm GWP when they ran out of stock. So if the backorder takes too long (or forever like the gingerbread house), then you may not get the GWP.

Always buy something that's in stock, even if only a keychain or an XTRA bag. LEGO once gave out two free keychains, two polybags and something else for a super low bar. I bought a TMNT keychain, got another keychain free, a throwback Shedder poly and all the other freebies from my full order in a box within a week.

[Myprecious]

Saw that the police station was live last night but didn’t pull the trigger.  Went to order this morning but it went into backorder while buying it.  Then 10 minutes later I got an email saying it’s out of stock.  Have no idea when I’ll get it now.

I just realized I got the out of stock email for my other sets that were on back order during the year but they still got shipped by back order date.

[jimim]

I just ordered causeI forgot this morning.  Backordered here.  no email but I see the order in my account.  I highly doubt I will end up getting the vintage car if this thing doesn't ship for 60 days like it says now.

 

oh well.  I'm more excited about jan 14th anyway for the ninjago set!

Happy new year everyone!

 

[koalayummies]

For those worried about missing out on the vintage car a bunch of the parts unique to that set/the new recolors have been added to B&P (can't order them yet though) but it's promising in case the backorders prevent one from getting the promotion to instead get the parts needed.

Bright Bluish Green (teal/"dark turquoise")

35789 MUDGUARD 2X4X2, NO. 1

11458 PLATE 1X2 W. HOR. HOLE Ø 4.8

3176 COUPLING PLATE 2X2

87544 WALL ELEMENT 1X2X3

45677 PLATE 4X4X2/3

[BrickFit26]

On 12/31/2020 at 5:02 PM, JintaiZ said:

To be honest, I'm not at all surprised that it's retiring soon since it's already 4 years old. In fact, I thought it'd retire before the diner...

I need to get it before its completely gone.

 

9 hours ago, Brick387 said:

This photo from the official Police Station description on S@H, suggests that the Diner has indeed been retired, as it is not pictured alongside the other recent Modulars. So it also looks like Assembly Square may be sticking around for another year.

thebrickfan announces that its on the retiring list.

[RichardGoring]

7 hours ago, Maple said:

Always buy something that's in stock, even if only a keychain or an XTRA bag. LEGO once gave out two free keychains, two polybags and something else for a super low bar. I bought a TMNT keychain, got another keychain free, a throwback Shedder poly and all the other freebies from my full order in a box within a week.

Excellent idea, thanks! I have done a new order with a polybag to get the GWP for sure.

11 hours ago, badbob001 said:

In my order with a backordered item, LEGO cancelled my mindstorm GWP when they ran out of stock. So if the backorder takes too long (or forever like the gingerbread house), then you may not get the GWP.

Good to know, thanks!

[Myprecious]

6 hours ago, jimim said:

I just ordered causeI forgot this morning.  Backordered here.  no email but I see the order in my account.  I highly doubt I will end up getting the vintage car if this thing doesn't ship for 60 days like it says now.

 

oh well.  I'm more excited about jan 14th anyway for the ninjago set!

Happy new year everyone!

 

Mine now shows as “in warehouse”.   Yahoo.  Excited for the 14th as well.  

[Chmashdehjare]

15 hours ago, badbob001 said:

In my order with a backordered item, LEGO cancelled my mindstorm GWP when they ran out of stock. So if the backorder takes too long (or forever like the gingerbread house), then you may not get the GWP.

Yes, happened to me too. Irritating as the only reason I’d bought the set at the time I did was to get the GWP.  Otherwise I would have waited for a sale.  Oh well.

Tried for an hour and half and managed to get the police station and car. Whatever the IT people did while having the site offline for half an hour or so worked like a charm. 
 

[Vilhelm22]

Only just noticed the 'Modular Buildings Collection' label on the box has the most recent 5 on it.  Do you think this will change and one will get knocked off every year?  And if so will it be the one which came out first or the one which was discontinued first (in this case AS or DD)?  Also, unless AS stays or another 48 wide modular comes out, this is going to look less good in the future as it looks good in my opinion with the 5 1/2 modulars width, and 6 would look better than 5 baseplates width above the text imo....

[jimim]

Mine says waiting for new stock so I’m deff not getting it anytime soon but my vintage car says backordered now. 

[Brickham]

Hello everyone, so I got my first modular at Christmas, the Diner and the Bookshop. I was wondering does anyone have good ideas for vehicles I could get to populate the street? Any recommendations?

[Brick387]

The Diner looks really good with classic cars like 40448 and 40409. Those could probably be bought from a reseller for about 20$ each. The Bookshop would probably look nice with some smaller vehicles like bicycles or motor scooters.

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Brick387

[Simonfog123]

Hey guys, I'm new to LEGO so bear with me. How much do you think the Diner will increase in price this year. I want it really bad, but I don't have the room for it right now and I've heard the modulars tend to increase in price when they're out of production. So I don't know if I should get it now or wait... Thanks in advance!

[Brick387]

After a full year of retirement, Modulars usually double in price. Your best bet is to get it soon after it retires, while there are still many copies available. I'd say to buy it sooner than later, so then you won't have to pay extra money for it when you have the room.

[CopperTablet]

There is no guarantee the Diner will increase in price, but a lot of Lego sets and more specifically, Modular buildings, do.

[jus1973]

5 hours ago, Simonfog123 said:

Hey guys, I'm new to LEGO so bear with me. How much do you think the Diner will increase in price this year. I want it really bad, but I don't have the room for it right now and I've heard the modulars tend to increase in price when they're out of production. So I don't know if I should get it now or wait... Thanks in advance!

I would always buy them with a couple of years of release.  Boxed examples often go for silly money not long after they are officially retired and out of stock.  I missed the Petshop, by not realising that it was retired, and concentrated on others that were on shelf in local shops. 

[RichardGoring]

5 hours ago, Simonfog123 said:

Hey guys, I'm new to LEGO so bear with me. How much do you think the Diner will increase in price this year. I want it really bad, but I don't have the room for it right now and I've heard the modulars tend to increase in price when they're out of production. So I don't know if I should get it now or wait... Thanks in advance!

I'm also new to the more serious part of LEGO this year and I've noticed that there are two options for collecting older sets, especially modulars.

1. Go through Bricklink, eBay, Amazon and pay often crazy prices for sets - used (lots) or new (mortgage required). It's a market with lots of collectors there, and buyers know it, so prices are higher. The advantage is that you can find what you want immediately, get the sets very quickly, you know they're complete, and it's all very easy. 

2. Use local things like Craiglist, Facebook Marketplace, Offerup etc (or whatever equivalents there are in your area). Here you'll find (in amongst the overpriced sets and scams) people that are just selling their LEGO that they collected with mild interest, but now are done with it. You can't guarantee that it's all there, or even clean. Finding it can be a problem, as people tend not to list the set numbers or even the set names, so you need to view pictures carefully. And you have to wait for stuff to come up. But if you're in a densely populated area, then lots of things will likely come up, and because it's not a market full of collectors, things can often be much cheaper. I've bought Parisian Restaurant, Palace Cinema, Pet Shop, Detective's Office, and Brick Bank (plus four winter village sets) over the last six months and none of them have been over RRP. In fact, most were probably half of RRP. But it's taken a while, they need cleaning, and there are often a few missing pieces.

So depends on which route you want to take. But if it's #1, then definitely get it sooner rather than later.

[koalayummies]

On 1/1/2021 at 1:33 PM, jimim said:

 I highly doubt I will end up getting the vintage car if this thing doesn't ship for 60 days like it says now.

 

On 1/1/2021 at 10:48 PM, Chmashdehjare said:

Yes, happened to me too. Irritating as the only reason I’d bought the set at the time I did was to get the GWP.

 

On 1/2/2021 at 5:49 AM, jimim said:

Mine says waiting for new stock so I’m deff not getting it anytime soon but my vintage car says backordered now. 

Its disappointing isn't it, you qualify for the promotion. And the fine print even says:

Quote

Free Exclusive LEGO® Vintage Car (40448) with purchases of $85 or more: Offer valid 01/01/21 – 01/31/21 in LEGO Stores and LEGO.com. Offer is available while supplies last only. Offer is only valid on purchases totaling $85 or more. Item 40448. One free item per customer.

But then there's members sharing links in their bios with "haul" pictures from release day displaying several of them stacked up when everyone here just wants one. Maybe your store is closed because of local restrictions or you don't have any time to go because of work or don't want to take any risks or you just want to do your part to help prevent any further loss so you order online and stay home.

Do they go back into the same store donning a different disguise multiple times or hit several different stores in the same day like they just made off with someone else's credit cards?

[paupadros]

If anyone is interested, I wrote an article for Brickset on how Lego achieves good compositions on their modulars and examples of how I use composition for my own models:

https://brickset.com/article/57168/the-composition-of-modular-buildings

Btw, (late) happy new year everyone!

Edited January 5, 2021 by paupadros

[Vilhelm22]

On 1/5/2021 at 2:56 AM, koalayummies said:

But then there's members sharing links in their bios with "haul" pictures from release day displaying several of them stacked up when everyone here just wants one. Maybe your store is closed because of local restrictions or you don't have any time to go because of work or don't want to take any risks or you just want to do your part to help prevent any further loss so you order online and stay home.

Do they go back into the same store donning a different disguise multiple times or hit several different stores in the same day like they just made off with someone else's credit cards?

If you take the YouTuber Bricksie, for example, I'm pretty sure he goes around the same store twice, and his wife does it at least once.  There are many ways to do it.  Others include going to the same store on different days.  There are too many people going in out of the stores for them to remember if they've been once or not I guess.  Usually there are big queues and they want to get people through as fast as possible.

[koalayummies]

6 hours ago, Vilhelm22 said:

If you take the YouTuber Bricksie, for example, I'm pretty sure he goes around the same store twice, and his wife does it at least once.  There are many ways to do it.  Others include going to the same store on different days.  There are too many people going in out of the stores for them to remember if they've been once or not I guess.  Usually there are big queues and they want to get people through as fast as possible.

Damn that's gluttonous. I mean seeing a bunch of other Lego fans here that just want one and might to miss out because their items are backordered while other people run back for seconds and thirds.

Reminds me of the time a EB member witnessed intemperance like this in a Lego store who made a child cry on his birthday.

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

On 1/4/2021 at 9:56 PM, koalayummies said:

Its disappointing isn't it, you qualify for the promotion. And the fine print even says:

But then there's members sharing links in their bios with "haul" pictures from release day displaying several of them stacked up when everyone here just wants one. Maybe your store is closed because of local restrictions or you don't have any time to go because of work or don't want to take any risks or you just want to do your part to help prevent any further loss so you order online and stay home.

Do they go back into the same store donning a different disguise multiple times or hit several different stores in the same day like they just made off with someone else's credit cards?

I assume you are refering to me again. I told the cashier I was doing three seperate orders, I paid for my items and received my promos accordingly. I have been on the short end of the stick with ordering online and getting the promos, so if there is something I want, I make a plan to get there early enough. 

[Lyichir]

On 1/5/2021 at 12:08 PM, paupadros said:

If anyone is interested, I wrote an article for Brickset on how Lego achieves good compositions on their modulars and examples of how I use composition for my own models:

https://brickset.com/article/57168/the-composition-of-modular-buildings

Btw, (late) happy new year everyone!

Thank you for this. I really enjoyed your article, and feel it did a good job in both explaining what makes many of the "official" modular designs so effective and showing how that can be applied in other creative ways.

[Aanchir]

On 1/5/2021 at 12:08 PM, paupadros said:

If anyone is interested, I wrote an article for Brickset on how Lego achieves good compositions on their modulars and examples of how I use composition for my own models:

https://brickset.com/article/57168/the-composition-of-modular-buildings

Btw, (late) happy new year everyone!

Lovely article! I suspect that being able to understand the individual strengths of the official Modular Building sets on such a detailed level has had a big impact on how you've been able to create such amazingly distinctive and appealing Modular Building designs of your own!

Regrettably, I have not yet been able to bring any modular building designs of my own to completion, and I think a big part of that is that even if I have a lot of separate ideas for architectural styles, compositions, or particular sorts of homes or businesses that I want to try designing modular buildings around, I often have a harder time synthesizing those design elements into one complete design that feels really unique and compelling on ALL of those levels.

Hopefully after reading this article I'll be at least a little better equipped to overcome some of those stumbling blocks. But I also hope you consider writing more "building tip" articles like this in the future, because you clearly have a lot of insights to share, and also a great talent for communicating those insights! That said, I don't mean to take your time and effort for granted, so even if you don't plan on writing any other articles like this in the immediate future, I will try to set aside some time on my own to read some of the other articles you've written for sites and publications like Brickset and Hispabrick that I'd previously missed out on. I know I'll definitely have a lot to learn from them!