Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[BrickJagger]

The Pet Shop has been added to the retiring soon page on Shop @ Home, according to Brickset. 

[BrickFit26]

15 hours ago, Rick said:

I wouldn't mind if they do another 48 wide modular. It gives a lot more possibilities for adding open spaces like little squares, parks and alleyways, which add a lot more variation to a modular street. It would also offer more possibilities to offer modulars connected by a story line (of which I'm surprised there isn't more in the current modular).

I would love it if the 2018 modular is also 48 wide. But id like to see it into thirds. 3 16X32 plates.

[badbob001]

23 hours ago, BrickFit26 said:

I would love it if the 2018 modular is also 48 wide. But id like to see it into thirds. 3 16X32 plates.

The Ghostbusters HQ is 32x32+16x32. Just put it on a corner with the long side facing you.

[nikhkin]

3 hours ago, badbob001 said:

The Ghostbusters HQ is 32x32+16x32. Just put it on a corner with the long side facing you.

The problem there is that it doesn't look particularly good next to the proper modulars.

[jus1973]

6 hours ago, nikhkin said:

The problem there is that it doesn't look particularly good next to the proper modulars.

I've not seen it in the brick, as it were, but can it not be modded to look a bit more in keeping, whilst still keeping the essential exfirehouse nature of it?

[nikhkin]

Just now, jus1973 said:

I've not seen it in the brick, as it were, but can it not be modded to look a bit more in keeping, whilst still keeping the essential exfirehouse nature of it?

It could be, but the scale seems off to me when compared to the others. It's a big job to mod it on such an expensive set.

[just_one]

I hope the next modular will go back to around 2400/2500 pieces.

 

Assembly Square was suppose to be something special not a new norm.

 

Said that here is what im hoping for :

Museum
Hospital
Police Station
Library

[Rick]

1 hour ago, just_one said:

I hope the next modular will go back to around 2400/2500 pieces.

I definitely think the 2018 modular building won't have 4,000 pieces again, but another 48-wide set in a non-traditional configuration with some open space (a park, for example) could be feasible with 2,500 - 3,000 pieces.

[AFOLguy1970]

Prior to 2017, the pattern has been corner, non corner, non corner......  Assembly Square could be considered a really big non corner given the side connections and limited options for rearranging it, so I wonder how they will handle the next one or two.  If they pick another noncorner, it will make a longer block than usual, and if they go back to a corner, then it is a shorter block than usual.    It will be interesting to see how they handle the block proportions many people are accustomed to.  

[Lego Conductor]

With this post going on the assumption that the main bldg of the Market Square is 16 studs wide on a 32x32 base plate.  So that said:

16 wide MS

Corner CC

GG

FB

Corner GE

PS

TH

Corner PC

PR

DO

Corner BB

To connect back to the MS, you know to say assemble a square, you would need a 32x48 modular.  So as long as you can make the MS into a 16 wide modular you have a complete city block!

[sebitsena]

I agree with Rick: the next modular should be a 48x32 with less pieces.

Don't forget 32 + 32 + 32 = 96 and ... 48 + 48 = 96 too.

So i think the next modular will be a 48x32 including a corner ;)

Edited October 24, 2016 by sebitsena

[Flippi01]

I  

Edited October 24, 2016 by Flippi01

[Vindicare]

6 hours ago, AFOLguy1970 said:

Prior to 2017, the pattern has been corner, non corner, non corner......  Assembly Square could be considered a really big non corner given the side connections and limited options for rearranging it, so I wonder how they will handle the next one or two.  If they pick another noncorner, it will make a longer block than usual, and if they go back to a corner, then it is a shorter block than usual.    It will be interesting to see how they handle the block proportions many people are accustomed to.  

That's a good question. I wonder if the line has been put on hold for this special set, & will continue next year or does this count. I tend to think this will be of the former. This set, assuming you can cleanly swap, can be a corner as well. By taking the coffee shop & putting it next to the bakery. 

[SoloSlim]

After this special, more expensive set maybe for 2018 they go for a cheaper and smaller 16x32.. With this the numbers will also be correct again.

[Faefrost]

I think we are awhile off from a Hospital, in part because that would be hard to do on a 32x32 scale, and would create some time perd dissonance. The problem is hospitals from the broad "Main Street still Main Street" Steam to Diesel transition era largely depicted by the Modulars would look very very strange to modern audiences. It's one that would be hard to pull off well.

I think we are overdue for a Police Station. A classic old school building with the blue lights flanking the entrance. A nice period squad car in front. 

A Post Office seems another good choice for a Modular that could act as a crossover set from the City crowd to more adult subjects. Maybe a touch of Victorian styling, and a nice old style postal delivery truck. 

A Pharmacy with a Doctors office above would make a nice stand in for a Hospital on a scale and setting that blends with the time period. 

A Toy shop would be a great focus for a Pet Shop style split building. 

An Auto Repair, with front facing garage doors and a period tow truck. 

An Art Deco Office Building. Because nothing adds play value quite like a building full of insurance adjusters. 

School building, complete with period yellow school bus. 

Edited November 19, 2016 by Faefrost

[ronenson]

I think it's briliant from marketing point-of-view. What would those people who want a full block think after it has finished? They would have an excuse to stop collecting modulars. At least now with a 48-wide modular in between, you would leave out one half of the pet-shop, and you automatically start with an unfinished new block, so you'll have to continue collecting. Well thought out Lego! 

[Dazz]

12 hours ago, Faefrost said:

I think we are awhile off from a Hospital, in part because that would be hard to do on a 32x32 scale, and would create some time perd dissonance. The problem is hospitals from the broad "Main Street still Main Street" Steam to Diesel transition era largely depicted by the Modulars would look very very strange to modern audiences. It's one that would be hard to pull off well.

LEGO could take inspiration from Barcelona's Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau for an architectural style similar to their other modulars. Or they could design a nice modern hospital building as the modular series is set in this day and age.

[nikhkin]

49 minutes ago, Dazz said:

Or they could design a nice modern hospital building as the modular series is set in this day and age.

They aren't. Or Jamie's aren't, at least. Look at Palace Cinema and Fire Brigade; they both have mid-20th century vehicles with them. Brick Bank doesn't have a cash machine since they were not around in the mid-20th century and there is a typewriter instead of a computer. The building has a fireplace instead of electric or gas heating. The style of pram with both Green Grocer and Assembly Square are traditional, which could be used in the modern day but seem to link to an earlier setting. 

The only real tie to the modern day are a computer in Town Hall, which was designed by Astrid instead. 

[Dazz]

13 minutes ago, nikhkin said:

They aren't. Or Jamie's aren't, at least. Look at Palace Cinema and Fire Brigade; they both have mid-20th century vehicles with them. Brick Bank doesn't have a cash machine since they were not around in the mid-20th century and there is a typewriter instead of a computer. The building has a fireplace instead of electric or gas heating. The style of pram with both Green Grocer and Assembly Square are traditional, which could be used in the modern day but seem to link to an earlier setting. 

The only real tie to the modern day are a computer in Town Hall, which was designed by Astrid instead. 

How do you explain the presence of modern LEGO sets in the Assembly Square set then?

[sebitsena]

32 minutes ago, Dazz said:

How do you explain the presence of modern LEGO sets in the Assembly Square set then?

Which LEGO sets are you talking about?

[nikhkin]

12 minutes ago, sebitsena said:

Which LEGO sets are you talking about?

As an easter egg the new set has printed tiles of the boxes for some Lego sets. 

Hardly evidence of the sets being in the modern day, simply a reference to Lego in an anniversary set.

[Gongoro73]

Pet shop has modern refrigerators... And, if recall it right, radiator heating system...

[Cooper Boyd]

I wish they would make some type of school building

[nikhkin]

2 hours ago, Gongoro73 said:

Pet shop has modern refrigerators... And, if recall it right, radiator heating system...

It has neither of those. Plus both fridges and radiators have existed for some time.

[Rick]

Green Grocer has a radiator, but - as has been pointed out - that doesn't mean the modulars are set in anything close to the present day. The only  'mistake' so far seems to have been the computer in the Town Hall.

Things like the 1932 reference in the Fire Brigade (reference to the foundation of LEGO) and the probation references (albeit with cookies) in the Detective's Office, make me think they're set in the 1930s.

Not that any of this matters, because they can be used in any 20th or 21st century setting.