monkles

One could also just bricklink the middle section of each one a few times. Don't know if that will save money but it's preferable to having 6 of the same minifigures I guess.

Global village sounds good. Cities do look the same to an extent (police cars, helicopters, firetrucks and utilities look the same everywhere) but buildings and street scenes can look very different. I feel there is room for generic cultural buildings and scenes without the addition of licensed minifigs. The love for the modular range is in a large part because they look like distinct styles of building (PR = Parisian, PS = East Coast row houses, DO = Midwestern main street, GG = Victorian era). I feel there is room for a kind of global modular that can also augment other sets; Middle Eastern building fits in Egyptian theme, East Asian with Ninjago, Pacific Island with pirates etc. The other benefit is it opens a broader market because a child in China may want a distinctly Chinese style of build, a child in Brazil may want a Latin American style etc.; Lego also accommodated this specificity with the research lab for girls who wanted a scientific set targeted at them.

Lego city themes are usually very American in appearance, which is increasingly out of place in the global market. I suggest that Lego should have a general global city range with maybe 6-8 different cultures represented. The modular sets already took a step in this direction with the Parisian Restaurant. Each culture would get a a typical street scene vignette with 2/3 mini-figures and a small/medium modular building set. Essentially you'd end up with one decent sized minifig-scale building of that culture and a small vignette of their street scene. Middle East - eg. a Moroccan setting with camels, spices, souks and courtyards East Asia - eg. Chinese or Japanese temples, shrines, lanterns and the kind of parades and night markets during the lunar new year India - eg. Hindu style temples and women in saris Africa - eg. Big game, mud huts, women in colorful dress carrying things on their heads Latin America - eg. Fiesta or maybe a Mardi Gras parade with the kind of colorful Latin-American colonial buildings Pacific Islands - eg. Impressive wooden houses with boat-shaped roofs, people in grass skirts and on outrigger canoes in tropical splendor Then you have European countries worthy of their own style of building and scene - Italy, Russia, Spain, Denmark itself... maybe that can be the next iteration of these sets. I'm a little annoyed that the only recent representations of Asian ambiance, for example, are with the Ninjago set. So too the Middle East and Egypt or licensed sets. If Lego can accommodate seasonal sets then I can't see why this isn't possible.

A "Global City" theme with maybe 6-8 different cultures represented. Each culture would get a a typical street scene vignette with 2/3 mini-figures, a medium set, and a small/medium modular building set. Essentially you'd end up with one decent sized minifig-scale building of that culture, a small vignette of their street scene and then something unique to fill the gap between the small and large sets. Middle East - eg. a Moroccan setting with camels, spices, souks and courtyards East Asia - eg. Chinese or Japanese temples, shrines, lanterns and the kind of parades and night markets during the lunar new year India - eg. Hindu style temples and women in saris Africa - eg. Big game, mud huts, women in colorful dress carrying things on their heads Latin America - eg. Fiesta or maybe a Mardi Gras parade with the kind of colorful Latin-American colonial buildings Pacific Islands - eg. Impressive wooden houses with boat-shaped roofs, people in grass skirts and on outrigger canoes in tropical splendor Then you have European countries worthy of their own style of building and scene - Italy, Russia, Spain, Denmark itself... maybe that can be the next iteration of these sets. That way you can get a range of regular representations of countries rather than just having a pseudo-American city you get with the typical city sets. The modular sets already took a step in this direction with the Parisian Restaurant.

The torso of a tribesman from set 6292. Not to mention the instructions for lots of sets that just entered the big pile of old bricks from when I was a child.

This is very true. There is one generic copy of the Green Grocer selling for $150 on eBay. The actual Lego GG is well over $1000 for an unopened set. I realize the difficulty in re-releasing sets, but in cases like that they probably should.

Lego is replaceable but, looking at the prices for most retired sets, it will cost you. The Green Grocer added another zero on the end of its retail value and most of the seasonal and gift sets run pretty high for things that were once $10 or simply free. My advice would be; if you have the time, check the price of your sets if you were ever to replace them - many will be extortionate if you've bought modulars, various licensed sets or other rare sets with lots of minifig-scale parts that MOC makers love. One good thing about Lego is that most open sets hold their value unless you literally start breaking pieces. As someone who likes photography, I can say seeing a camera you bought for $2000 five years ago being $3-400 now is disheartening. Sets like 21110-1 Research Lab have gained, not lost, 4x the value over a similar period. If the Lego isn't broken, you're going to earn most of those thousands back with a little research and time. I'd weigh up the price of storage vs. the value of your sets.

The only one I really regret not buying is the Green Grocer. That's a truly spectacular building and the most impressive size. Unfortunately it's also impressively expensive now.

I was thinking if one were to buy something like this Creative Builder Box (10703) then they would have a decent selection of more muted colors and windows for a decent price. https://shop.lego.com/en-AU/Creative-Builder-Box-10703 Simply intersperse the brighter colors with the more muted ones or keep them limited to smaller areas that you might expect to be painted in bright colors. Grand buildings of a certain function like the GE and PC are more ambitious than I could do just starting out in the modular game, I don't suppose a Pet Shop or similar row house would look too out of place in yellow or red if the flourishes are still grey or natural colors though.

I'm weighing up buying this or a Pet Shop. The Pet shop is about 20% lower in price but is still about a 50% premium on when it was still produced. Is it better to bite the bullet and just forget all the retired modulars from a value POV, or should I buy the Pet Shop now and the AS in 2019 or whenever it appears to be on the chopping block?

When you get missing parts does Lego send replacements for free?

They probably could sell it for $1000 but I expect once you're getting that large you need an internal elevator-shaft-like structure like a real high rise, which means even more money. Assembly square proves that Lego is open to a larger modular.

I'm guessing it's still cheaper to just buy Pet Shop rather than looking for the pieces alone?

I'm a new user retuning to Lego with decades of hand-me-downs recovered from the attic. I recently bought both the Parisian Restaurant and the Brick Bank on sale, which jump started this return to Lego, but I'm unsure where to go now because almost all my legacy Lego is in the bright primary colors (bright red, bright yellow, bright blue) or the regular grey and black from a few 90s/early 00s castles. Lots of Red Red... Not much Pastel Sand... I'd like to start building a MOC city around the modulars but my collection is kind of 1980s creator sets + castle grey and black + about 30 years worth of vehicles for males in the family when they were growing up. Has anyone on the forum built an attractive modular city with a similar collection that is mostly bright creator parts from 15 or more years ago?