TheLegoDr

These look great! I was already getting the series before I saw them, but these look awesome. I don't love the price, but that is how it is. It is interesting they have a new tail piece for this theme, yet for Chima they are using the neck tail piece. I thought that was their big theme. Either way I'm in for some new tails.

I ended up finding the train windows for really cheap so I bought them even though my first intention was to not use them. I originally tried putting them on and I didn't like the outcome, so I switched back to the regular 1x2x3 windows anyway. I think those look better and fit in better with the other modulars. I like consistency. I've seen medium blue before on there. It looks okay for the awnings, but the regular blue stands out a lot more. The color pops better I think. I've also considered dark red or dark green or maybe dark blue. rollermonkey - no substitutions would probably run a lot higher. Although if it is 100% exact, you could always resell it later at an inflated price I'm sure. Although LEGO name bright blue (regular blue) is the color for the awning. Medium blue is lighter. I assume you meant the regular Bright blue.

Nicely done. I think it is very fitting in terms of sitting next to the PR. The front facade is neat. I like the rounded segments at the bottom of the top floor/top of the middle floor. What were those pieces used? Right above the light bley 2x8 modified plates with door rail. I like the interior details. The first floor cafe is very fitting. I like the stove area and the display glass for treats. The middle floor fireplace and bear are very clever. I hadn't thought to use a bear as a stuffed bear. I still need to pick one of those up sometime!! The attic apartment area is really neat actually. The roof may be low, but I like how things are arranged. Good thing you didn't have any brown studs to put up there... Keep up the great work!! I will check back for inspiration for sure.

Very nicely done! I've been wanting to do some LOTR scenes justice and I think this fits well. I never put together the official set yet, but I may have to now having seen this. I like the rock work overall. The only change I would do for my own MOC would be to make it higher, which I may do in the future. I like that you tried capturing multiple scenes within one scene. Very clever. I like the arrival of Gandalf. Very well done with the incline. I will bookmark this and check back for inspiration if I ever get around to building one for myself.

And this has no bearing on anything, but most stores around me had had very little Hobbit or LOTR from day one. Forget about wave 2 of each. If I wouldn't have ordered from shop @ home, I probably wouldn't own the sets. This is coming from a town with 3 targets and 4 Wal-Mart's. Surprising that the availability has been that sparse. I think that shows more how little some stores ordered of the theme instead of it selling well. Keep in mind this is my favorite theme outside the modular buildings.

I like variety. I've never seen Bart wear a blue shirt I don't think.

^I was originally building an inverted (L shaped corner) Cafe Corner, but tore it apart because it didn't fit on my shelf properly. But it was looking really neat!

I've been considering cleaning my old sails too. I've seen posts on it before, but have never actually followed through. I don't know where to pick up oxyclean since I don't shop at most big box stores, but I will assume it can be found at one of those.

^Exactly.. If you want an exact replica, it may save you some money to bricklink it, but a lot of that will vary per store plus whatever you may have in your collection already. Shipping eats up a lot of the cost, so if you can find local stores that allow pick-up, that could work in your favor. Although odds are slim on that one. I didn't go for a straight copy, so it doesn't bother me. I tallied up the approximate cost of my sand blue grocer. I spent under $50 total for the pieces that weren't in my collection already. Now this involved subsituting smaller pieces when one longer/larger piece would have sufficed. That can make or break a set. I did buy lots of sets to be able to have all of those extra pieces, so it does add up, but I have no way in tallying up the exact cost of just the pieces in those sets other than just using a bricklink price, which isn't going to be accurate. And since I'm modifying CC also, the total cost will come into play. I have about the main floor done and the front facade/flooring of the upper floors put together from pieces from my collection other than the windows and dark red roof slopes. So again, if you have the pieces in your own collection, it will cut down on what you have to order. But I'm not interested in buying all of the exact figures or 5 high doors. I prefer everything to stay in system with the current set-up. I think a lot of the desire is to have the thrill of piecing something together. Most people are saying how cheap they built it or how much they saved, but I'd assume no one is buying the instructions or box, which is a huge part of the asking price anyway. So without those you already are saving a bundle...

You are exactly right. The Legends line was the hope to bring back retired sets for nostalgic purposes. The odd thing is it wasn't very successful. I'd love to be able to buy some of those older sets new! I do have the original BSB and have it built on display. It definitely looks its age, but still nice to have.

It's great to see interiors. I love the floor plan of the main cafe. Is that dark red or red on the 1x1s? I like the reception area for the hotel. I don't love the floor on the top, but I just didn't care for medium blue, especially to that extent. But the fixture and details work well.

My sand blue grocer is almost complete. I have one last order coming from PnB. It was over a month since I placed the order and called them up. For whatever reason they cancelled my order right away (even though they told me payment went through and it was marked as shipped). So I've been waiting and waiting to no avail. They alerted me since the mistake was on their end they would send it right out free of charge! It mostly just had some sand blue bricks and some unrelated minifigure parts, but still free is free. That makes me a happy camper. I've been in the camp that their customer service wasn't good because of all of the problems I've had with them, but after this I am definitely more positive about them. I guess I will wait and see if they actually arrive this time. I'll post pictures as soon as I'm done. I also have an interior in progress.

I like that Technic axle diagram. I think that would be useful for many people. I don't build with those pieces so I don't think I'd use it, but it looks awesome. Almost could hang it up and use it as some artwork in your LEGO room. I've always done by color with a few separate boxes for more specialized pieces I may use a lot. My reasoning for that is for how I build. I tend to need a lot of one color at any given moment. This allows me to do a sweep of all the pieces I may need in that color. It actually gives me some creative license because I sometimes will find a piece I didn't originally think of and use that in my build. But I never would have come across it had I kept everything super organized by part type. Or sometimes it allows you to use 2 pieces where 1 would suffice (if I'm out of the 1 piece).

I picked up a half cup full of the light bley 2x2 in Chicago last summer. But I ultimately wanted 2x2 dark bley for sidewalks and whatnot since that is what the official Modular line uses. I have limited use for the light bley.

^Exactly. People were unaware of the draw back in 2007/2008 when these first came on the market. After the success of the line, many people are buying extras to hope to sell them for a big profit. Now there will probably always be a market for Modulars, but probably not to the extent of the CC/GG/MS only because they were the beginning and not everyone got one. FB/GE had lots of time available so I think many people bought the extras for those. They will be able to sell them for more than MSRP (obviously, people are paying $250 for them) But that isn't a huge profit compared to what they'd expect. Hopefully it will remain <$300 and that will be the future trend for new AFOLs. I fortunately asked for FB for Christmas 2011 and that was the beginning for me. I have since done my own GG, and currently working on my own CC, which I prefer to the originals.

I personally prefer the printing of the belly on the torso. It worked well for the Sumo wrestler and it looks good on the Homer figure. The molded heads will take some getting used to, but I like the current torso prints as it stands.

I think the main problem is that Batman and Spider-man are what is popular right now. If this license lasts a long time (which you'd assume it would) they won't be popular forever, OR they very well will remain popular and continue to make sets for them. The big thing is I love Batman. I always have. So to have multiple rogues and Batman variants in LEGO form is awesome! So I buy pretty much all Batman sets, especially since I missed out on the earlier 2008 wave. No, I don't need the same black Batman multiple times, but they have given us a handful of other suit variants. Now only if they could do the same with Spider-man (not that I really care about him). But the point I am getting at, even people who don't want a lot of Batmen, still purchase the Batman sets. Meaning, they will continue to sell well so they will probably continue to make them until it is no longer profitable. With upcoming DC movies that will probably still include Batman, I don't see them stopping anytime soon. Does anyone know how well Man of Steel sold since it wasn't "Batman?" I liked those figures and that movie, but the sets were pretty lackluster.

I think more than likely the 2 16x32 baseplates were used because that was what was available at that time. One 32x32 is easier and sturdier, so I'd opt for that as well. Plus, they are $5 as an add-on from amazon if you ever make any purchases from there. I have a stack that are still unopened/untouched so I don't know why I have so many. It is commendable to the lot of you for actually rebuilding the entire set, including the animals and specific figures. I had no interest in that so it will save me some money, but with my changes I've made, probably won't save too much in the long run.

Well, I'm a builder. I prefer to modify existing sets to make them better in my view. As in, I am definitely modifying the GG and CC instead of having an original set. I am not worrying about the resale value. I don't plan on selling any LEGO anyway, so it works out. A lot of the budget depends. I haven't kept track of how much I've spent on my modified versions, but I know it is significantly less than the official aftermarket prices.

Those were all awesome.

^Well, I have pieces on backorder from last November that still haven't shipped. I contacted them recently (few weeks ago) and they still didn't have a date for them to be shipped. My other BnP order hasn't arrived yet either, going on 3+ weeks now. It just takes time and patience it seems. If it doesn't arrive soon, I will contact them again about it.

Exactly. You need a LUG near you to be able to participate in a LUGbulk. And not all LUGs qualify for it. There are a lot of semantics involved. I was trying to find a list so you can see if there is one near you, but I couldn't find it. Possibly asking a local LEGO store to see if they know of any LUGs in the area may be a good idea.

I like the idea of a garage. The roof structure above the garage and the townhouse look good. I don't mind the Dutch architecture of the original, but I really didn't care for it that much either, especially compared to the other modulars. This fits in a lot more smoothly. I don't love the medium blue building with the medium blue awnings above the upper windows. But then again, I just don't really care for medium blue for some reason. I'd consider having a rear entrance behind the bakery for access to the garage and since all the other modulars (minus CC have a rear exit). The car is superb, although how long is that? It looks great though.

I knew they existed and have friends who have purchased them in the past. I guess that is a no go now. I think the price was good depending on which box you actually were able to purchase. I guess LUG bulk is the way to go now for large amount of bricks. Although that seems to be in question also for the future.

Very well done. I like the blast doors. The wall effect is well done too. I can easily picture this in a larger scale build. Keep up the great work!