Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, fordtruckin said:

Straight couples are not controversial. That's literally how humanity has populated the earth for thousands of years. All I'm saying is don't Dylan Mulvaney Lego. 

If your worldview is so fragile that it requires validation from others, especially businesses whose goal is to make money not coddle peoples preferences then perhaps you should reconsider your worldview. 

Why does sexual preference have to have any significance in Lego. Why couldn't the couple be close friends or siblings or coworkers on a business trip enjoying a night out on the company dime. 

The couple in the Parisian Restaurant literally has a ring to propose with. It's pretty textual that they're a couple.

And "don't Dylan Mulvaney Lego"? Grow up and join the 21st century. Gay people exist, and their mere existence isn't inappropriate for kids let alone adults. If that's "controversial" for some people then too bad for them. It sounds like you are the one whose worldview is fragile if you feel threatened by the existence of gay people in Lego (which, by the way, already exist—there is a gay couple in the Lego Friends theme).

[arnoldtblumberg]

Being gay is only controversial to bigots. Think about that before posting hate speech again.

[Follows Closely]

^ I hate the internet ^

[Aanchir]

22 hours ago, Lemerbrix said:

I personally wouldn't mind that, but it would be a bit obvious, and lego already came under fire this year just because lego friends got more diverse. Though a friends set last year did Include two characters (Trevor and Joshua) who are heavily implied to be gay.

I believe one of the LEGO Friends magazines this year eventually confirmed that Trevor and Joshua ARE a couple (and Maya's dads)!

Also, I wouldn't say it's really a big deal that LEGO "came under fire" for diversity in this year's Friends sets, since a lot of the media outlets attacking them for that are essentially "outrage mills" that find any excuse to present innocuous stuff as symptoms of a "culture war". Several of those same outlets later went on to attack LEGO Dreamzzz for the scandalous crime of… being designed to appeal to both boys and girls. Fringe sites/networks/publications of that sort are often not only nigh-impossible to truly satisfy, but also so far out of step with what actual LEGO buyers are likely to care about that their bellyaching can potentially bring plenty of positive attention to those products from people who see that sort of inane fearmongering for what it is. Basically free advertising!

15 hours ago, fordtruckin said:

No. Just no. Include some cool minifigures and let each fan tell their own story in their own setup. If you prefer LGBTQ stories you're free to make your own. If you want to make religious, political, even a Darwinian storyline, or any other personal interest go for it. But Lego should not dictate storyline issues that could be controversial. Part of the joy of Lego is how unique it is for each person. Make yours unique without asking Lego to choose a viewpoint and dictate it to the whole community. 

I mean, there are unfortunately a lot of people even within the AFOL community for whom even a detail as harmless/innocuous as a female scientist, knight, soldier, or construction worker minifig constitute "storyline issues that could be controversial". Same with sets that portray disabled characters, characters with unnatural hair colors, Chinese culture, wind turbines, or stay-at-home dads. Heck, there's an entire chain of toy stores in the UK that (last I heard) refuses to sell any toy with supernatural elements which the owners consider "occult". Do you honestly think LEGO should get rid of every product in their portfolio with fantasy elements to avoid "controversy"?

Needless to say, LEGO does not actually waste their time trying to satisfy people with these sorts of irrational hangups. And yes, they've even had a few sets at this point representing the LGBTQ+ community — including the "Everyone is Awesome" set, which is still available on LEGO.com to this day! As such, anybody who actually has enough fear, hate, or revulsion of gay people to actually boycott LEGO for taking an LGBTQ+ inclusive stance is already doing so. So why would LEGO have any reason to fear that sort of bigoted backlash which has already proven itself ineffectual?

If you're going to make posts like this, at least acknowledge the reality of what you're saying. You're not asking LEGO to remain neutral, you're asking them to prioritize your viewpoints over their own. And that isn't going to happen. Mind you, they can't and won't "dictate" their viewpoints "to the whole community", because they don't control the community. If AFOLs choose to be homophobic or transphobic, that's their own problem. If inclusive LEGO products then make those particular AFOLs unhappy, they brought that on themselves by choosing to be homophobic or transphobic (and unreasonably expecting LEGO to follow along). And frankly, that inevitable disappointment is the least such people deserve.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Aanchir

[BrickFit26]

10 hours ago, Lyichir said:

The couple in the Parisian Restaurant literally has a ring to propose with. It's pretty textual that they're a couple.

And "don't Dylan Mulvaney Lego"? Grow up and join the 21st century. Gay people exist, and their mere existence isn't inappropriate for kids let alone adults. If that's "controversial" for some people then too bad for them. It sounds like you are the one whose worldview is fragile if you feel threatened by the existence of gay people in Lego (which, by the way, already exist—there is a gay couple in the Lego Friends theme).

Perfectly said. 

[Peppermint_M]

Alright. The discussion can get back to modular buildings please.

Bigotry isn't welcome, you are entitled to an opinion on matters, but do not broadcast them here. A warning to all: Speak hateful things and you will be shown the door.

[RichardGoring]

One of my local LEGO stores (Boston South Shore Plaza) has a display cabinet for the modulars, but they modify the scene around them. Went in last night and was tickled by what they have done:

[Yperio_Bricks]

Very nice display! Hope that Legozilla does not create to much of a havoc in the streets

[Mopasali]

18 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Very nice display! Hope that Legozilla does not create to much of a havoc in the streets

James Bond is there to save the day!  

[RichardGoring]

Well, havoc has already been caused.

Iron Man is also peeking through the top floor window of the Police Station, so he and Bond may be able to stop things before it gets even further out of hand.

[hikouki]

9 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

One of my local LEGO stores (Boston South Shore Plaza) has a display cabinet for the modulars, but they modify the scene around them. Went in last night and was tickled by what they have done:

Funny how the Sanctum got included there... that Legozilla probably came out from one of the portals! LOL

[Vilhelm22]

Just building my police station now (been saving it for months since I bought it in a double VIP period) and it crossed my mind how many bags/stages there were.  

I recently rebuilt my Detective's Office, which has 4 stages, bags numbered 1 & 2 (pool hall and barber shop) (ground floor), 3 (first floor) and 4 (second floor and roof).  I actually quite like this, it feels more old style somehow and more professional or something - I'm not quite sure but I like it anyway.  Going back even further, I'm aware (even if I don't have it) that the Fire Brigade had just 2.

In contrast, in building the Police Station, this has 14 stages, divided 1-6 for the ground floor, 7-10 for the first floor, 11-13 for the second floor and 14 for the roof.  Quite a difference there, huh?

So a simple question - why is this?  The number of stages has increased drastically and it doesn't seem to make a huge amount of difference except add more small plastic bags rather than bigger ones, so I don't quite understand its purpose.

[Aanchir]

1 hour ago, Vilhelm22 said:

Just building my police station now (been saving it for months since I bought it in a double VIP period) and it crossed my mind how many bags/stages there were.  

I recently rebuilt my Detective's Office, which has 4 stages, bags numbered 1 & 2 (pool hall and barber shop) (ground floor), 3 (first floor) and 4 (second floor and roof).  I actually quite like this, it feels more old style somehow and more professional or something - I'm not quite sure but I like it anyway.  Going back even further, I'm aware (even if I don't have it) that the Fire Brigade had just 2. 

In contrast, in building the Police Station, this has 14 stages, divided 1-6 for the ground floor, 7-10 for the first floor, 11-13 for the second floor and 14 for the roof.  Quite a difference there, huh? 

So a simple question - why is this?  The number of stages has increased drastically and it doesn't seem to make a huge amount of difference except add more small plastic bags rather than bigger ones, so I don't quite understand its purpose. 

That really isn't too major an increase in the number of bags — Detective's Office originally included 18 bags of parts: four marked "1", four marked "2", five marked "3", and five marked "4" (and that was a set with a lot fewer pieces overall).

A few years ago, a lot of sets switched to having just one or two main bags per number, instead of a whole bunch of different "Bag 1"s, "Bag 2s", etc. My guess is that this is for quality assurance reasons, so that if a bag is found to be incorrect or missing (either by an employee on the packaging line or by the end user), the problem can be quickly identified without the added complication of each section of the build having several bags of parts with identical number markings, but entirely different contents.

The first set I remember getting with this new approach to bag numbering was 70618 Destiny's Bounty from 2017, but the change wasn't rolled out for all sets and themes right away — the Police Station was the first set in Modular Buildings Collection to adopt it.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Aanchir

[jus1973]

13 hours ago, Aanchir said:

That really isn't too major an increase in the number of bags — Detective's Office originally included 18 bags of parts: four marked "1", four marked "2", five marked "3", and five marked "4" (and that was a set with a lot fewer pieces overall).

I recall that some more recent modulars have had an interior box, with seemingly randomly numbered bags inside.  This did strike me as rather wasteful, but one assumes had some internal Lego reason, such as shipping parts of a set from one country to another?  Perhaps thats why we’ve had more numbered bags, rather than more bags of the same number.  

I wonder if this will change with the reduction of plastic bags in favour of paper.  I also think that using standard sized boxes, so that correspondingly sized interior boxes may be used instead of bags.  

[Aanchir]

6 hours ago, jus1973 said:

I recall that some more recent modulars have had an interior box, with seemingly randomly numbered bags inside.  This did strike me as rather wasteful, but one assumes had some internal Lego reason, such as shipping parts of a set from one country to another?  Perhaps thats why we’ve had more numbered bags, rather than more bags of the same number.

I think it's for having a third stage of weight checks (i.e. per-bag, per-inner box, and per-outer box) to minimize the chance of missing parts in sets with extremely high piece counts? But that's mostly speculation on my part. I don't remember if I've ever read anything specific about the reason for some sets having inner boxes like that.

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

I think it's for having a third stage of weight checks (i.e. per-bag, per-inner box, and per-outer box) to minimize the chance of missing parts in sets with extremely high piece counts? But that's mostly speculation on my part. I don't remember if I've ever read anything specific about the reason for some sets having inner boxes like that.

Could it also be for packing stability? Many of these larger sets are not nearly full, and so you could end up with all the parts on one side, destabilizing the box and being susceptible to box collapse when stacked or shipped?

[Mellish]

So I have been following this thread for years now and love the excitement and speculation of the next modular. I like hearing people's views on the realesed modular and see how people change and modify them and peoples views on what they would like to see. So I thought I might at last chip in my thoughts. 

First a little bit about my modular street to give context to my thoughts. My take on my modular collection is it is a street and not part of a city, think sleepy English Town street, narrow road and a few small shops. I have moded the builds to fit better with what I think works more like a real life street. I will try to get a good picture but as way of a description from the left... we have the local garage (CG) with the bookshop next door (but just the book shop part), these have a narrow ally with the bank and laundrette opposite (mirror build) Next to this is the police station (just the main building) then comes the market square (AS but with the blue house from BS and the donut shop from PS added in the middle - I feel moving these small builds off the sides of the bigger building and putting together makes more sense architechturally, it also makes a bigger market square) then it the restaurant (PR) and the the hotel (BH). 

Work still to do to my build is mirror the CG to fit better and mod the BH to be square and join better to PR, loosing the art gallery (I love the angle on this build but just can't imagine it ever being built like that in real life so will keep the angle in the corner entrance only). 

If I get the Jazz club I would move the pizza place in to my square and then I think the club might go between the PS and AS or between AS and PR or between PR and BH. Will have to play but the colour is too bright for my street so a change might be needed. 

It seems an uncommon view but the BS is my favourite, I like the sizing as it fits my imaginary street and I think it inspired where I got to, it's autumn on the street, minifigs wearing scarfs, and the trees down the street are in autumn colour (these are a number of the BS tree repeating down the street with the fountain in the square replace by a four branch bigger version centre piece) 

I will share a pic as sure it will make more sense. 

So what's my street missing and the next modular should be, well I would like to see two equal size buildings like BS, made up on one half ground floor a hard ware store / handy man's repair work shop. some where for minifigs to buy paint (cant remember which modualar had a room being painted), to get their instruments fixed or tuned (JC and AS) or to repair furniture (delivered by the GWP moving van) the sort of shop on the street you go to get the things you cant get anywhere else. And above a jewelery shop (some where for the PR couple to buy a ring or a burglary to happen). Next door I would like a green grocers and apartment above. Yes know we had a green grocers but this now seems to big compared to the more recent modular. A lot to fit in but could have a common central out side staircase. The businesses only need a single room with counters and wall displays. I imagine the green groces slightly set back to have a shop front display. I can even see the GWP being the handy man's truck like the lego ideas 'big earls delivery truck'. 

 

Sorry became a long post

Edited September 2, 2023 by Mellish

[Lion King]

On 8/27/2023 at 10:28 PM, fordtruckin said:

No. Just no. Include some cool minifigures and let each fan tell their own story in their own setup. If you prefer LGBTQ stories you're free to make your own. If you want to make religious, political, even a Darwinian storyline, or any other personal interest go for it. But Lego should not dictate storyline issues that could be controversial. Part of the joy of Lego is how unique it is for each person. Make yours unique without asking Lego to choose a viewpoint and dictate it to the whole community. 

No. Just no. I don’t agree with you. But per Peppermint’s warning, I say no more! :)

1 hour ago, Mellish said:

So I have been following this thread for years now and love the excitement and speculation of the next modular. I like hearing people's views on the realesed modular and see how people change and modify them and peoples views on what they would like to see. So I thought I might at last chip in my thoughts. 

First a little bit about my modular street to give context to my thoughts. My take on my modular collection is it is a street and not part of a city, think sleepy English Town street, narrow road and a few small shops. I have moded the builds to fit better with what I think works more like a real life street. I will try to get a good picture but as way of a description from the left... we have the local garage (CG) with the bookshop next door (but just the book shop part), these have a narrow ally with the bank and laundrette opposite (mirror build) Next to this is the police station (just the main building) then comes the market square (AS but with the blue house from BS and the donut shop from PS added in the middle - I feel moving these small builds off the sides of the bigger building and putting together makes more sense architechturally, it also makes a bigger market square) then it the restaurant (PR) and the the hotel (BH). 

Work still to do to my build is mirror the CG to fit better and mod the BH to be square and join better to PR, loosing the art gallery (I love the angle on this build but just can't imagine it ever being built like that in real life so will keep the angle in the corner entrance only). 

If I get the Jazz club I would move the pizza place in to my square and then I think the club might go between the PS and AS or between AS and PR or between PR and BH. Will have to play but the colour is too bright for my street so a change might be needed. 

It seems an uncommon view but the BS is my favourite, I like the sizing as it fits my imaginary street and I think it inspired where I got to, it's autumn on the street, minifigs wearing scarfs, and the trees down the street are in autumn colour (these are a number of the BS tree repeating down the street with the fountain in the square replace by a four branch bigger version centre piece) 

I will share a pic as sure it will make more sense. 

So what's my street missing and the next modular should be, well I would like to see two equal size buildings like BS, made up on one half ground floor a hard ware store / handy man's repair work shop. some where for minifigs to buy paint (cant remember which modualar had a room being painted), to get their instruments fixed or tuned (JC and AS) or to repair furniture (delivered by the GWP moving van) the sort of shop on the street you go to get the things you cant get anywhere else. And above a jewelery shop (some where for the PR couple to buy a ring or a burglary to happen). Next door I would like a green grocers and apartment above. Yes know we had a green grocers but this now seems to big compared to the more recent modular. A lot to fit in but could have a common central out side staircase. The businesses only need a single room with counters and wall displays. I imagine the green groces slightly set back to have a shop front display. I can even see the GWP being the handy man's truck like the lego ideas 'big earls delivery truck'. 

 

Sorry became a long post

Welcome to Eurobricks! And no need to apologize for a long post. :)

[RichardGoring]

3 hours ago, Mellish said:

I will share a pic as sure it will make more sense. 

Would love to see it.

I agree that the Bookshop exterior is lovely, and it's the best modular tree (there need to be more of them), but the lack of books is such a shame. It should be stacked full of them for me to consider it a top modular. I also like the townhouse, and, one day, would love to colour swap a few of them to have a row of San Francisco/Bristol houses. But as a standalone I find it hard to place it with the other business-focused modulars. I can see, and appreciate your love for it. The story elevates it further.

[Perolav]

I see on the  lego site that all of the lego modulars are labeled "Hard to find" Jazz club,police station, Boutiqe hotel, Assembly square and bookshop. Doess this mean that lego is retiring all of the modulars?

[Mellish]

Hopefully picture shared - not the best lighting. 

Needs a tidy following kids playing with figs. 

Hopefully you can now see what my street is heading towards. 
- mirror CG to make garage accessible 

- connect the BH to PR by squaring and loosing art gallery. I might even shrink this to a two window width rather than three. 

There is a couple of mods I am proud of, giving the CG a curb rather than colour change through forecourt took some work. All the pavement is 2x1 plates in herring bone pattern. My aim was to blend the sets together so to the unknowning it all just flows as one model. Feel the trees help with this and the pavement pattern.

The height of the police station to bank niggles me, only solution in mind currently is to give the bank the step up and remove the step on the police station. That should get them 2 bricks closure. Think I might be able to get a brick height out of the second and third floor of police station without loosing the look. And a lower profile roof is possible and might all just bring it closer to the hight of AS.

The Jazz club red colour is too bright for my street I think but will try, thinking more earth tones - maybe the green of the PR? 

The interiors lacking space and items I can cope with as not seen as much. But do love the details. Walls made of books in BS might be something I explore one day. As you don't see the side in the position this is probably possible and quite fun to do. 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Mellish

[Kallego]

38 minutes ago, Perolav said:

I see on the  lego site that all of the lego modulars are labeled "Hard to find" Jazz club,police station, Boutiqe hotel, Assembly square and bookshop. Doess this mean that lego is retiring all of the modulars?

No, that's just marketing and means that only specific shops sell them. 

[Dufflefan]

On 8/22/2023 at 5:59 AM, OccamsRazor said:

I'm seeing a significantly wider range of colors and pieces in lego's inventory than ever. I appreciate the detail that the new pieces bring, but again I can't help but feel it goes against the philosophy of reusable, modular pieces. Sure, set designers will come up with a few clever ways to use certain parts, but it's significantly more restrictive than tiles, snot pieces, etc.

I don't wish to steer this thread away from its focus on modular building sets, but I think this is very important for two reasons.

First, I have thought similarly about how an increase in new elements might reduce the modularity of the Lego system. There are advantages of course, as you've noted, but some of the challenge and reward of the experience of Lego obviously comes from developing the uses of elements relative to other elements, rather than the variety of elements. There will always be a need for new elements, but there is - as you say - a clear need to control the rate and direction of the design and production of new elements, particularly those which are elaborate and/or contain limited points of connection. I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable as some Lego enthusiasts but I know this conversation has been happening for a while. To what degree the development and marketing of adult-focused sets has had upon this issue (and vice-versa), I couldn't say, but I would think it something of a notable factor in some way.

Second, while the financial health of the Lego Group is certainly much better than it was twenty years ago, my understanding is that the troubles two decades ago were caused, in some part, by over production of new elements (in both form and colour). My knowledge is limited, and others will know a great deal more, but such a trend, I would think, requires very careful management to avoid that same road. I'm sure the management and economics of the design teams are much improved from the mid-2000s, but that isn't to say it couldn't happen again.

Overall, I think Lego are doing a great job with certain sets (particularly animals as I mentioned before), but I think a watchfulness is needed to avoid pitfalls and stagnation which could prove costly. This is probably outside the discussion of this thread, but confusion over certain sets fitting (or not) within certain themes, the growing sizes and prices of sets, and even colour-matching between and across certain elements all need attention. In isolation, each of these issues could no doubt be managed competently but, should they combine in some unfortunate way, then Lego will need to take very assured and well-calculated steps to avoid the same problems as it generated two decades ago.

[Lion King]

17 hours ago, Perolav said:

I see on the  lego site that all of the lego modulars are labeled "Hard to find" Jazz club,police station, Boutiqe hotel, Assembly square and bookshop. Doess this mean that lego is retiring all of the modulars?

No. Just Bookshop, Police Station and Assembly Square, that’s it. 

[Perolav]

2 hours ago, Lion King said:

No. Just Bookshop, Police Station and Assembly Square, that’s it. 

Where do lego inform their plans to retire  lego sets? Or how do we know what sets are to be retired?