Damned Café Corner!

[Vee]

So I already know that I will not have Café Corner, that is ok, I have assimilated this fact.

But then I decided to collect all houses Lego has created so far that use a 32x32 area. They are not too many, not expensive and I already have two of the most expensive ones. And I love houses!

I am missing at the moment only two of them, the 5771 and the 4956. The 5771 can be bought new for around $95, no problem, but the 4956 is VERY expensive, considering what it is and its original retail value. So I decided to bricklink it (all others are from new sets) after all it is very similar to the 4886 (white house with red roof) and I would not care not have it from a new set, considering the current price.

The estimate I have to bricklink it is around $110, not bad. But then, upon looking at its parts, just the two doors it uses are gonna cost me around $40 out of the total of $110! And do you know why? Because these damned doors are the ones used in Café Corner! Damn you Café Corner!

I will have to use another color... no way I am paying $40 for two plastic miniature doors!

I wonder if Lego is ever going to re-release CC, GG and MS... I am going to add them, as a "serious prank", to Cuusoo, and then see if I can get 10,000 supporters and make Lego consider re-releasing them. Well, I guess Lego will remove my entry and ban me from the site before my entry gets to the 2nd supporter... :classic:

[gazumpty]

Viva la revolución!!!

[SweetiePie88]

Just do color substitutions. That's what a lot of people have done. Like if it's light Bluish gray, try light old gray.

[Vee]

Yes, I will try that, but I needed to vent my frustration over the phenomenon called CC (and GG and MS and ... what's next )

[Legogal]

Hahaha! Agree with you totally!

Yes, the current price to the tan house 4956 is outrageous considering what you get…no interior, etc.

My daughter in law saw it in a store in her university town in China and picked it up for me not knowing I was trying to find it in the US at a reasonable price…this was about five years ago. She joined us in Korea where we were visiting our other son in the USAF, and gave it to me as a gift. I almost fainted because she had no idea it was the set I really wanted the most at the time. Talk about luck!

BL is the only way to do this house, and I would not worry about subbing the door color with those prices.

Good luck with your suburb building…sounds like fun!

[TheLegoDr]

I saw somewhere an unofficial official statement from a designer that they will never re-release those sets. They will continue to make new sets for everyone. They may re-release certain parts (similar to the dark blue arch in the Winter Village set) for fans, but they won't re-release a full set ever again.

However, those doors in Cafe Corner are of the 1x4x5 and all doors were switched to the 6 stud height that is the standard now, so those will never be re-released. So either color substitute or pony up the cash...unfortunately.

I bricklinked a fair chunk of Cafe Corner, but I changed the doors to be the 6 stud height so they match the rest of the sets. I've made a lot of other changes as most sets brand new aren't "perfect" for how I see them, so I need to modify everything.

[Vee]

I don't have plans to bricklink CC or GG or MS. I did make some simulations with two of them in Bricklink some time ago but there are so many "rare" and, as such, expensive parts that they use that I decided to forget about it. Merchants are smarter than me, they know exactly how to price parts for these sets so that, in the end, you will pay near or more than if you buy the set at ebay unless you do the color substitutions but they were so many, so not worthy in my POV.

I do want to bricklink house 4956 but I am not paying for those doors. I will stay away from the CC/GG/MS Lego fever. I chose other more-reasonably-priced Lego fevers...

@Legogal: house 4956 is not tan, it is white, red roof, like house 4886. You may be talking about house 4954 that _is_ tan and also expensive, no interior, etc. But the 4954 I already had it before I decided to collect all 32x32 houses; I bought it back in 2007 for my daughters, when it was released, and it is 100% complete!

I had doubts about spending time and money on 4956 because it is similar to 4886, but then I thought, what the heck, I will have it too, for completeness sake (= Lego fever! )

[eurotrash]

I'm currently BL'ing CC and what strikes me most is the thing looks very dated in comparison to the more recent Modulars - it looks 'clunky' and with ugly, ugly glassless window frames. I have no problem whatsoever modifying it and bringing it up to date. And the corollary to that means free reign substitution for rare parts!

Luckily I do have a couple of 1x4x5 from an old Metro Station hanging around in my inventory, but if I didn't then I'd have no qualms about building for a 1x4x6's.

My advice is by all means build a CC, but update the design and don't pay up for rare pieces.

[Vee]

Honestly, before building CC, I would build GG and MS, in this order. I find GG the most beautiful set of the three, followed by MS. So, I am not BL'ing any of them but if one day I decide to do it, I will start with GG.

I even bought the Haunted House and one of the reasons was that it is GREEN, beautiful green!

[Off the wall]

So, how many houses are in this series? Should I turn my OCD/completist disorder loose on it?

[Brandon Miller]

Just out of curiosity where are you getting 2 of those doors from to cost you $40+? I found several of those doors on Bricklink in black for around $5-6 each. Are you figuring in shipping on those 2 doors also?

[Cara]

The left door, that isn't used in Café Corner is a mere $5-$6 dollars cheapest . But the right door... that's $20+

[Vee]

@ Off the wall: according to my searches, there are 7 house sets since 2004 that use a 32x32 area. I don't know about older sets. I am starting in 2004 because the first house I bought was from 2004. And please, no, you should not turn your OCD/Completist disorder loose on it. Wait until I have them all _then_ you can turn. I don't like competition, drives prices higher. :classic:

@Brandon Miller: I used Brickficiency and it found many "solutions" for 3 vendors and the prices I mentioned are the ones from these solutions. I later saw that the doors can be bought cheaper but then we need to consider the added cost of more vendors due to S&H; but, since they are expensive, even with S&H, it may be better to buy them alone or with a few other needed parts. I am still studying what is the best approach and if I really need to replace color to keep costs down. For 4 vendors, Brickficiency takes too long, I did not wait.

Also, for some reason, one of the doors is substantially less expensive than the other (Café Corner again, certainly). And I should buy both of the same color. If one is too expensive, I will not buy the other too, even if more affordable.

The left door, that isn't used in Café Corner is a mere $5-$6 dollars cheapest . But the right door... that's $20+

Exactly!

[Off the wall]

Thanks, Vee....maybe I'll start with 4956 and work forward from that. I'm so totally disappointed with the PR offering that I need a distraction until the next modular building is announced. I am looking forward to the Maersk container ship and the long awaited, not yet confirmed, Mini Cooper. Appreciate you getting me interested in the 32 x 32 houses.

Edited December 20, 2013 by Off the wall

[Lyichir]

The Cuusoo idea won't work. Do you know what'll happen when one person submits something that is blatantly against the rules (as set rereleases are) to Cuusoo? It doesn't even go public, and all you've accomplished is showing them that one person wants the set back, and didn't read the rules properly.

But if the left door is significantly cheaper than the right door the Café Corner actually uses, why not just use the left one instead? It won't be totally accurate, but it'll fit just fine.

[Vee]

For the time being, I gave up on bricklink'ing 4956. My simulations showed me that I would be able to buy all pieces, including the two original doors, mostly new parts, for around $100, not less. With a little patience, and I have plenty, I should be able to buy the set from ebay for around the same value, all new parts, sealed set, without the hassle of multiple purchases from BL.

[Legogal]

@Vee,

Tan house #4954 was the one I was referring to. The inside is empty and a total disappointment. I don't buy anything with a red roof if I can avoid it because all LEGO seemed to offer for about 30 years was red roofs, and I detest that color of roof! So I only collect houses with non-red roofs, but would consider changing the color of a roof to something besides red if the rest of the house is exceptional. Is that quirky enough/!!!

Not being a completist, I only purchase the sets that really strike me as outstanding. In any line.

If I were BrickLinking one of the modulars, it would be easy for me to accept different parts for those that are too expensive. Especially if there is a better brick available. (But it is easy for me to say this because I have multiples of the ones I like, and can expand them any time using original parts.)

It is cool seeing modulars built in colors different from the original ones. And with changes in the exterior and interior. And we all have favorite colors of bricks that could look better than what LEGO used.

[Vee]

@Vee,

Tan house #4954 was the one I was referring to. The inside is empty and a total disappointment. I don't buy anything with a red roof if I can avoid it because all LEGO seemed to offer for about 30 years was red roofs, and I detest that color of roof! So I only collect houses with non-red roofs, but would consider changing the color of a roof to something besides red if the rest of the house is exceptional. Is that quirky enough/!!!

I have a different opinion. I care more about the exterior than interior. That is what I like about Café Corner, detailed and varied exterior, no time and money and bricks spent on the interior. My daughter just finished assembling Pet Shop, it has a wonderful interior, she and I were having fun looking at it, even showing it to my wife, all the nice ideas they put there, etc., but ultimately, I am buying and building the modulars for exposition, to become ornaments in my office, I am not going to play like a kid with it, so I will basically be looking at their exterior only, not interior, that is why I don't mind empty interiors as long as the exterior is nice.

And about red roofs, in my country most roof _are_ red, not the bright red used by Legos but anyway red so when I look at a house with red roof I don't see any problem, I relate to the houses I know very easily.

About replacing colors, last time I looked at what possibilities there was for replacing the roof of Café Corner (that uses new dark red in a part impossible to find) and the options were limited and I liked none, so I soon gave up about BL'ing it as much as I gave up BL's GG and MS. They lack too many parts and the options for replacement are few and I am tired of black, white, med. stone and dark stone grey.

Thanks, Vee....maybe I'll start with 4956 and work forward from that. I'm so totally disappointed with the PR offering that I need a distraction until the next modular building is announced. I am looking forward to the Maersk container ship and the long awaited, not yet confirmed, Mini Cooper. Appreciate you getting me interested in the 32 x 32 houses.

Nooooooooooooooo! :classic: Just kidding...

I liked a lot the picture of Parisian Restaurant. It has a unique exterior, I like the colors (I am biased towards greens) and it is PARISIAN!

[finnbricker]

I bought the 4956 complete and assembled, with six pieces missing and substituted with other colours (no rare ones), for 35€ shipping included on an Ebay style site here in Finland. A real bargain! I had to take it apart to wash the pieces, some of which were dusty, but I would have wanted to build it myself anyway, so not the slightest problem! Sometimes, one gets really lucky!

[Vee]

I have high hope that, with patience (weeks, months...), I will eventually buy it NEW for a reasonable price, like $100 or less. This period, Christmas, is the worst ever to try and win ebay auctions.

I decided now to dedicate my time, energy and money to bricklink Ole Kirk's House, even if it is not a 32x32 baseplate house but it looks as big or bigger than the usual house on 32x32 baseplate. But I will not use red for the house AND roof, only for the roof. For the house I will use reddish brown since all the colors that I would rather use instead of reddish brown don't have all bricks available (or existent!). I really wanted DARK orange but that is beyond dreaming. I expect to bricklink mostly new parts and not to go over budget (US$140).

Edited December 21, 2013 by Vee

[Mooch]

I was lucky, I got Cafe Corner while it was still in production, and I was able to eBay Market Street (NIB) from a seller in Singapore for a reasonable price (~$300). I definitely wouldn't pay what they are going for now!

Edited December 21, 2013 by Mooch

[Vee]

I'd say you are VERY lucky, just look at your member number that you supposedly got unwittingly.

[Mooch]

I'd say you are VERY lucky, just look at your member number that you supposedly got unwittingly.

Actually I just noticed it the other day, haha!

[Vee]

And I believe in Santa Claus! :classic:

[shaggysanchez]

I own 4956 and while it has been a long time since I had it out and built it I can't for the life of me think of anything in it that should make it an expensive set to bricklink other than those 2 doors. It is a great set and if you can get it at a reasonable price you should but I would not worry about the doors if you are really against paying the price. It would be very easy to substitute the doors out with another door or even just buy two of the cheaper door and not worry about the more expensive one. The last time I built it I used a door from fire brigade as the front door anyway as it looks much nicer in my opinion you just has to modify the house a bit for the added height but it is not difficult and again looks pretty good in my opinion.