cesium_salami

Just finished the whole build, and I have to say it is very satisfying. The Pet Shop half of the set has a ton of neat details. Skylight roof, loft style attic, bed, and nice detailing on the outside of the building. It uses a lot of elements we've seen on previous sets: the first floor like GC, the roof a little like Cafe Corner, a smaller skylight like Grand Emporium.....but still a very fun set. It is a nice change from what we've seen in the past, but it is a shame these sets only pop up once a year. A couple of finished images:

You are correct on that, I was getting my colors confused. So many blues. Here's a pic comparing the sand blue on the Pet Shop to the light/medium blue on the top of the Market Street house. Yes, the Pet Shop has the fireplace on the second level, and a chimney. The townhouse has only a chimney. Not a big deal really, as I can always remove the chimney or put in a fireplace. Here's a pic of the front of the Pet Shop. To me, it looks very much like the Green Grocer bottom level.

OK, so I'm 3/4 of the way through the build now. A few comments: I'm not a fan of the way the levels of this modular stack together. Instead of having the plates on the underside of the floor that lock in the next level, these rely on 3-4 studs around the edges of the bottom floor. It uses the same method the smaller creator sets do, but doesn't feel right. The bottom front floor of the Pet Shop building is a lot like the Green Grocer first floor. A LOT. This may make it blend in seamlessly next to the GG, but as far as variety goes, there is little. The inside isn't as populated as I thought it would be either: a dog, a cat, an aquarium, a shelf and a register are about all there are. The positives though: The Pet shop staircase is hinged on some technic pins, so you can move it out of the way to get to the dog pen. The colors are really nice, the Maersk blue gives some nice variety to the buildings. The townhouse has a lot of cool features: bathroom, phone, trap door, spiral staircase, rooftop garden. I really like the railings on the front door too. There is a lot of reddish brown though, and the roof itself is kind of plain: just a few tiles and a chimney (where's the fireplace?). Overall, as a few others have said, it would have been awesome if this were two separate sets. I don't feel like I'm building something really big, and a lot of build is just building up walls with normal bricks. Still, an above average modular building would be an outstanding normal City set.

These two houses are a little bit shorter than the rest. I think, when mixed in all together with the others, it will add some nice variety to a town layout. Side-by-side they kind of run together. I'm working on completing a Cafe Corner right now too, only two of the dark red slopes are included in the set, but at least the part is not discontinued. For those interested, I made some scans of the parts list from the manual, and uploaded them to my photobucket account. Images are page 1 page 2 and page 3

Hey guys, I've been lurking for a while, and finally decided to post. I was passing through Oklahoma City today and stopped at the Lego store there too, I walked in and couldn't believe my eyes! I've been super excited for pics, I didn't expect to walk out with one today. Don't know if OKC leaked this early or what. I'll be opening it up tonight and can post pics if no one else has yet.