ReplicaOfLife

I can just repeat what everyone else already said, but this masterpiece deserves all the praise it can get. This is one of the most mind-blowing, amazineg buildings I've ever seen. The scale alone is grand, but it's the attention to every last detail that makes this jaw-dropping.

I'm wondering if they stopped doing them...

Amazing stuff here. Will have to look at it more closely when I have more time, but two things that immediately sprung to mind: 1) really nice work on the roads and layout 'basement', and topped off with some amazing MOCs 2) Easily the best Town Hall MOD ever! Looks so much better than just oversizing it. Seeing this, I might have to revise my idea of keeping mine MISB.

Stunning build as usual. Would love to see some more detail shots of this. Nice work with rare colors - I would love to build something in sand red, too, but the BL prices for useful parts are beyond ridiculous. And am I right to assume that the yellow building is cool yellow/bright light yello? Love that color, think it works magnificient on buildings. For some reason I really like that ceiling height for the middle floor of the yellow building appears lower than for the one above or below.

Looks really good in this configuration, like the idea with the additional column. Interior's looking nice aswell, will you 'finish' it (e.g. touching up the left half of the first floor)?

The above version really looks a lot better than the original. This shows how even a few small changes can improve greatly on a build. Still, this building will always be the MOC that became a set. And even with part limitations at the time of its release, there's just too much that doesn't make sense and seems random. There are some nice details, e.g. the stairs leading up to the entrance, but if I ever attepmted a building in this style, I'd propably just start from scratch.

Great building, love pretty much every detail. Nice texture on the facade with the tiles, and nice design overall. Interiors are great too, very spacious feel throughout! The only thing that would make this even more perfect in my books would be dormer windows in the roof instead of the skylights. I'd guess you aimed for the top floor to look retrofitted, and you did a nice job on that, but I guess I just prefer purer designs. Still, this is easily one of the best modular MOCs I've seen lately, very clean and neat build, nothing really stands out negatively or clashes.

Nice renders, Xon67, thanks a lot for posting. I really like the dark grey/dark red color scheme. Dark nougat with masonry bricks looks great, too. While I don't think I'll ever bricklink a color variation of Green Grocer (having it in sand blue is enough for me), I may do a MOC someday of a building in similar style to accompany it.

Since I sold my spare Fire Brigade, I now have this inventory: 1 Fire Brigade 2 Grand Emporium (MISB) 1 Town Hall 3 Pet Shop (a fourth one is on its way) 2 Palace Cinema 2 Parisian Restaurant 2 Detective's Office I also own bricklinked, modified versions of Cafe Corner and Green Grocer (done in sand blue)

Regarding the modulars there's lots of critique on this issue in the general discussion thread and the threads about Brick Bank and Detective's Office. Can't really comment on the general trend, since I don't buy all that many sets (and if I do, it's mostly large sets like the Simpsons stuff), but recently I eyed some sets purely as parts packs, and was put off by the price... e.g. the Minecraft Nether Fortress is 90€ at 571 pieces, most of which are simple bricks and plates. Seems widely overpriced to me, even for a licensed set.

Holy crap. I wasn't very excited by the news of this set, mainly because of the price. But this looks amazing, and the PPP-ratio is actually on the ok side, with the set having over 4600 parts. I'll have to rethink this, maybe I'll get it after all.

Brilliant work again. Both wagons look very realistic, I especially love the second one with the breakman's cabin. Looks reminiscient to old Länderbahn passenger cars with individual compartments on the exterior.

Really, really amazing. Keep on the good work!

Another copy of Pet Shop, since it was back in stock at lego.com Germany. Figured it's propably the last chance to get another one. This makes 4 copies I have of that set. One is assembled, one (which I bought used) is parted out, and now I'll have two MISB. Definitely will keep one MISB, but I'll have to think about what to do with the other one. It's a great parts pack, but I already have two sand blue buildings (original Pet Shop and a sand blue Green Grocer).

In terms of looks, I have no preference between GE and PC. They're both ok, but nowhere near my favorite. PS is listed as out of stock in Germany. I was hoping to get another one during double VIP points.

Out of the two you mentioned, I'd have to side with general opinion and say, get PR! I felt that the Cinema overall had the least interesting build out of all the modulars, except for Grand Emporium, obviously. But I'll also chime in and say, get Pet Shop if you can still find it somewhere! It's a great build, and most of all, you feels like building actual buildings as opposed to facades and interiors.

Stunning creation! Love the coloring on the blue house, so effective! Also nice greebling around the door to that building. The tan building is great, too, nice work on the tower.

Definitely not Lego. There's a clone brand that makes stud-inverter pieces similar to this. It was mentioned in this thread several times, but I'm no expert on clones and forgot its name.

Very cool MOC, and thanks for sharing the design process with us. That was an interesting read, and I always like it if people post a little background instead of just the pictures of their MOCs. Out of the two first design stages, I liked the dark red one better - did you ever think about changing things round and changing the pillar structure on the first floor instead of on the upper floors? You could have used two 1x4x6 windows beneath the wide dark red area, then continue the one stud white pillar down to the ground, and close the gap towards the corner window with a transparent 1x2x5 brick without supports and a transclear 1x2 to get it to the same height. I completely understand why you wanted to build that curved tower, it always is a striking design choice. Incidently, I built a building with a curved tower aswell, though it's not completely made out of glass - see the pic & link in my signature

One might build rear houses inside that courtyard. However, I don't think a full block is feasible for display for most of us - most display their buildings on shelves or in cabinets.

Guess if I should win the lottery and can and want to afford 3-4 copies of this set, this will be a nice starting point Looks really impressive that way, even though the architecture now somehow reminds me of a large US railway station.

Wow, nice, so we'll get a new modular in January after all. Good news! Initial impression is MUCH better then the DO, but several pros and cons come to mind: PRO: - Really like the exterior design of the entire set, especially the bank. Looks even better with an additional floor. - I think having the laundromat in a (visually) separate building is a nice change as it breaks up the previous scheme of corner buildings which had more or less mirrored facades (there's a downside to this, though). - some nice parts (especially the sand green windows, yum!) and excellent part usages/building techiques throughout CON: - several building features are only there to serve the storyline - top floor of the laundromat 'building' is incoroprated into the bank. While things like that are done in real life at times, I just don't like this new practice of having visually separate buildings on the outside that are treated as one on the inside. DO suffered from the same flaw (and it was even worse for that one, hence I created my MOD/MOC)... Right now, I'm still on the fence here, but I think I'll just get it and build it as per instructions at first, maybe add an additional floor. I'm itching to mitigate the faux facade flaw, but doing so would mean to extend the bank to take up the entire 32x32 baseplate and creating a separate laundromat MOC... but I really like the 'two buildings' look on the outside. Edit: It's also cool to see the return of the frog! Nice throwback to the early modulars, which almost all included one.

Some pretty useful pieces in the panda assembly. Too bad Lego apparently intentionally avoids opening a store even remotely near me... the nearest ones are in Munich and Nuremberg, both at least a 2 hour drive...so unless I mix in a weekend trip to those cities, it's not feasibly to go there. Is there anything like PAB at Legoland Germany?

It would also be nice to get a corner building that does NOT use the 1x2x4 arch in tan...

Nice! I love the interiors, especially for the tailor and the sewing level. Neat little design on the work lamps in the second level! The bed in the upstairs apartment seems a bit short, though ;) The exteriors have some nice details aswell, especially the reddish brown shop front is great! I also like the window design. The olive green roof looks really good, may have to do that sometime. However, I also think it clashes slightly with the medium dark flesh facade. Also not really sure how I feel about the black trim lines in the facade. Feels a bit harsh next to the medium dark flesh. Dark Grey might have worked better here. But anyway, great work!