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Pauolo

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Everything posted by Pauolo

  1. Pauolo
    This, and I wish we got similar sets from Ideas too. I'm very fond of the Old Fishing Store, Motorized Lighthouse, A-Frame Cabin, Botanical Garden and Italian Riviera sets, but they are not city buildings like the modulars and BDP's Art Factory and Sushi Restaurant.
  2. Pauolo
    Like Roebuck said, BDP is not an indicator of the broader market. At best, it's closer to Ideas, without Lego filtering the projects based on what they think would sell best. Also, there's a distinction to be made between sets that are inspired by modern Asian settings (BDP's Sushi restaurant) and sets that are inspired by festivals (the Lunar Year ones) or fantasy settings (Monkie Kid, which seems to be currently discontinued). They don't have the same appeal.
  3. Pauolo
    It all depends whether there is a market for it or not in the US/Europe. Also, the competition is selling that kind of set already both in the Asian market and outside of it, so Lego may not see it a worthy investment.
  4. Pauolo
    I wish Lego would make more retro vehicles like that. I'm less interested in modern-looking vehicles from the City theme. Even the recent 60407 Double-Decker Sightseeing Bus feels off to me. I'd rather try and make a MOC of a minifig-sized red London bus from the 50s with actual stairs inside to access the top deck. I also recently learnt of another exclusive and extremely rare set, 4000008 Villy Thomsen Truck. It's a reproduction of a truck the Lego company used for delivering their production across Europe in the 60s. Stickers aside, very few of the parts are rare, so I'm thinking of ordering parts on PAB to build it. I think it will look good next to GE.
  5. Pauolo
    Speaking of GWwp series, here's an upcoming minifig-sized one. It's a Japanese-themed food stand: https://www.lego.com/en-id/product/restaurants-of-the-world-japan-40906 It's also not a Ninjago set.
  6. Pauolo
    An Asian-themed modular would be nice, despite standing out from the main line.
  7. Pauolo
    You can actually access them from the Builder app: https://www.reddit.com/r/legomodular/comments/1pbvual/im_sharing_the_employee_gift_4002025_digital/ The link is down the comment section. No PDF though, only the 3D version.
  8. Pauolo
    Imho that really depends on the sets themselves. I can't imagine a large audience is missing out on most of exclusive sets when they are more related to Lego as a company, its activities and history than to a specific theme. Even the Friends' 10th anniversary set isn't that interesting compared to the creativity of the commercialized sets in that theme. The only exceptions I can see from these are 4002019: Christmas X-wing (which is currently sold on the 3rd party market at an indecent price because it's Star Wars), 4002021 (I guess? I'm not into Ninjago) and 4002025, as I mentioned previously. These 3 feel the most like they could have been commercialized to some success as seasonal sets. I'm also baffled Lego isn't even releasing the instructions for these sets, to let people buy the parts on PAB to build them.
  9. Pauolo
    I'm going to speak out of personal experience, having built MS, CC and GG from parts bought here and there. The main problem I have with PAB is the parts limit per amount, but most especially the limit per types (which isn't well communicated if you don't know where to look for that information). I tried to be smart about it when buying parts for both CC and GG at the same time, but it still took me months organizing myself and at least 2 seperate PAB orders + several orders through Bricklink of both current and older parts. Older parts aside, I would have not been able to get all the parts for either of them in a single order because of PAB's limits. That aside, you will find that most of the parts you need for older modulars are available through PAB, so it's a huge convenience, besides having to pick parts one by one on Lego's not-so-convenient-yet website. Rare parts can still be replaced, sometimes at the cost of remaking the instruction plans with cheaper parts. Now with Bricklink, I faced a similar "limit" to PAB's : chances are high you won't find a single seller from which to buy all the parts you need and in the quantities you want (both common, retired and rare/unique ones). Plus, you have to take into account that * There will be shipping fees, multiplied by how many sellers you have to go through. * You will probably have to order from sellers in different countries. So the shipping fees but also import taxes and fees may vary. * Some sellers actually sell parts at a higher price than on PAB. So consider spending more time on prices. You can parameter Bricklink to automatically find all the sellers you need based on your geographical preferences and budget on each part, but the outcome will most likely be expensive because of all those extra fees. So yeah, if you need to order 1000+ parts, chances are you won't save much money compared to using PAB, unless you spend a lot of time carefully picking up sellers. The actual cheapest way to get parts is probably through Lego stores' brick walls, but that's the lowest possible variety in parts and colors. Also, some stores manage to have more useful parts than others, it's up to whoever manages it. Another wayIto acquire parts for cheap I guess would be buy cheap sets you can part out for the bricks you need. You'll just have to deal with all the extra bricks however you want. ===== To sum up, if you want to save yourself a lot of time and effort, PAB is the better solution. But if you have all the time in the world, try a combination of all solutions to save the most money. You can also remake instructions to save money on rare parts, which I did for both CC, GG and MS. Still, be warned that it may take you months of preparations just for a 2000 parts set, and will still cost you more than the original set's market price.
  10. Pauolo
    Like Roebuck said, a lot of employees worldwide resell their sets. Some Bricklink resellers (from where I got mine) take advantage of that and obtain a lot of them to resell them in specific regions, but you also find some on eBay and other marketpkaces. In the end, with the initial price, the shipping fees, the rate conversion of US dollars to Euros, the import taxes and fees, it cost me around the same as the Tudor Corner at market price. If I didn't get a better deal, I would have bought the parts separately to build it instead. The set doesn't contain any exclusive parts besides its sticker sheet. Btw, the texts on the boxes and instruction booklets were translated in 10 different languages. The set itself however isn't actually named besides its reference number. I think someone at Brickset or Bricklink came up with the name "Toy Store" / "Toys Store" instead.
  11. Pauolo
    On a different subject, I just got and built 2025's Lego employee exclusive set, the Toys Store (4002025) which is modular compatible. The designs of the custom box and instructions booklets aside, I'm surprised that this set was not commercialized instead. Its design brims with originality, from the mirrored buildings on two 16x32 baseplates to the story told throughout the set. It also has a different building technique for the spiral staircase, angled windows and angled roofs than other modulars. Looking up past Lego employee exclusive sets on Brickset, 4002025 looks more like a cancelled modular set for the Winter Village collection, like 80107 is for the Chinese Traditional Festival theme. Also, the stickered tiles making references to Lego sets from the 60s-70s and the old Lego Systems logo would be a perfect fit for GE's last floor, if you stick to a past time era style for your modular city.
  12. Pauolo
    As far as I remember, Pet Shop (top floor of brown house), Brick Bank, Assembly Square (top back of the flower shop) and the Jazz Club have what amount to brick-built stained-glass window. I'd love to see more brick-built windows like that, or more printed windows lile Brick Bank's.
  13. Pauolo
    Some GWP have unique printed elements, with the last I know of being the display plate on the Goonies' GWP. I'm just saying, expecting 9 new printed tiles for a GWP, Ideas or otherwise, is unrealistic. Except maybe if those tiles are reused in other sets, like City for example.
  14. Pauolo
    I don't expect so many printed tiles just for a single Ideas GWP. But with hope, they'll find use to such parts in City sets. What I hope more though is that they play on the art style so it looks like portraits the designer themselves drew, rather than computer-assisted art.
  15. Pauolo
    The winner for the Ideas City Life Creations challenge was just announced: https://beta.ideas.lego.com/blog/97465d76-154e-4366-a164-246867670351 I'm glad this one was selected. I think it'll make for an original addition to modular cities, especially paired with the Corner Kiosk and Fountain past GWP.
  16. Pauolo
    If the designers ever do again a multi-buildings modular on a 1.5 baseplate, I wish they could integrate some kind of park in it instead of a square with a fountain. And while having flowers on façades is nice, I wish for more tree builds like in BS, BH and NHM.
  17. Pauolo
    That would be bold, but I feel a double-baseplate modular would be a space problem for those collecting them. I sure hope they make a detailled hospital one day though, and a single baseplate won't be enough. A circular shape is certainly tricky, especially if you take into account how to design the floors with plates and how to add anything inside without getting too much negative space. I'm all for it if they can actual pull large circular shapes though. And yeah, that would make for one lovely library.
  18. Pauolo
    The story of the chair being thrown out because no one would buy it was mentioned by the main designer in an interview. It's probably in the instructions book too, but I'm not yet at this part. I don't necessarily see it as depressing. I'm guessing the designers set themselves a challenge to not use the chair element even once in this build. Then the main designer still added one, but not for sitting on it. It's also a way to show designers are now aiming to have a lot of brick-built elements rather than relying on specialized parts. I could see with the past modulars and the Botanical Garden that they're having fun with these mini builds. I'm guessing Mike worked a bit on TC, or consulted on it. Anywhere where triangles are involved, I would expect his input. I honestly don't know what to expect for the 20th anniversary. 5th (TH) was the tallest, 10th was the largest (AS, by then), 15th had the most impressive shape (BH, by then). 20th could be a combination of a corner and a straight building (with NHM set for retirement at the end of this year, Lego won't mind having another large modular next year). Something novel could be a double-sided straight modulars, like the Lego employee exclusive Toy's Shop or Bricky_Brick's Music and Jewelry Ideas proposition that unfortunately didn't get approved. The problem though is that having a well-detailled back serves no purpose if most buyers only expose one side of it on a shelf. They could also try another skyscraper. I wish for an art deco tower, but I'm guessing that's what the super hero themes' designers are going for if they ever do a modular Daily Planet for this year or the next. As for the 20th anniversary modular's theme, again, anything goes. I wish for more public service buildings rather than another restaurant or place of entertainment.
  19. Pauolo
    There are more to be found of these "adults welcomed" blog posts, including on other modulars. I don't feel like they get communicated at all (unless through email subscriptions perhaps), and this one isn't an exception. I even found once on the website the press kits influencers use to write articles on new sets, including images that are not posted on the store page. Also, thank you for sharing your thoughts. That was a good read ! I just received the set today and will probably finish building it by the weekend. I wish I could have checked it out fully built in my Lego store instead of the Stranger Things set that didn't even need the exposition to be sold out on the first day of the year... I like that the alleyway is a bit hidden, but I get what you mean by giving it more exposition. The final design could have used some visual flair to draw the eye to it. I feel the bridging floor above it doesn't help in that regard. It looks more like a gate to a hidden courtyard, but the back is just too barren. I'll try to mod the back so that at least something is visible at the end of the alley (like another fountain or a statue?). In general though, I feel the last 3 modulars have pretty boring backyards. That Jugendstil style is pretty interesting. It makes me wish we got more North European architecture in the series (does Cafe Corner counts?). And that conical tower roof would have looked better imho. The final shape feels weirdly stubby in comparison. I'm surprised Copenhagen was referenced mainly as the inspiration source, because I swear both buildings do not look out of place in France. The façade of the music shop looks like your average art nouveau building in busy downtown/shopping district (not exactly what I would qualify as "old town" like in the interview). The furniture shop's style, I'm not sure what to call it, but it wouldn't feel out of place in actual old town districts of French cities (I feel I spied such style in Périgueux and Montpellier). Please do share your mods. Especially if you have a way to fix the interior stairs in BH that don't align well with the first floor. Nice catch. Like Market Street, they sure have an awkward way of naming a set with an alleyway...
  20. Pauolo
    My point was about how naive Dang's approach on the French Café was. I didn't think that about the PS because that façade looks like a building that could actually exist in Paris, minus the green olive color and the scale.
  21. Pauolo
    From what I understand in the interview, Jamie used to work alone on the first modulars. Then, Lego put design teams on each modular, and he would work with at least one designer for each to bring new ideas. And they're not alone either. He also mentioned that both Đặng Hoàng and Mike (Psiaki I'm guessing) helped bring SS's triangle shapes. Then there's also an artist for designing minifigs and printed parts, etc... Checking the instruction for SS on the mobile app, I'm disappointed all these details are not even mentioned there, nor the designers credited. I'm a nerd for creative processes in general, and I feel it would also ease a bit all the harsh criticism Lego sets are getting regularly these days by giving out those details.
  22. Pauolo
    Here's a fun video of the set's designers explaining their approach to its design: https://www.lego.com/en-us/adults-welcome/secrets-of-our-sets/lego-icons-shopping-street
  23. Pauolo
    I ordered it on the 1st and it's still not shipped. Which happens a lot when Lego releases so many sets at once on the same day... I would have bought it directly in store if not for Lego gift cards I had to use and which are not accepted in franchised store, only on the official website and in stores directly managed by Lego. Someone mentioned new parts are added to PAB around 4 months after a set's release, but I guess it's not always true. I too want to get some marching band uniforms to complete the fanfare for my modular city.
  24. Pauolo
    Đặng Hoàng also designed 10362 French Café and, tbh, I have a hard time identifying what he attempted there as art nouveau. Even the color palette choice feels questionable to me. But I'm probably harsh on it because I'm tired with the dumb romantic clichés of Paris... On the other hand, I feel he nailed the aspect of the music shop in the new modular. That's the kind of building and style you actually can see a lot in Paris and other big French cities. Even the furniture shop looks like small buildings I've seen in French cities. The color palette though is still more colorful than the real buildings (or else there would be a lot more of tan, sand yellow and dirty white), but that's to be expected from modulars. Replace PR's olive bricks with tan ones and you'd get a somewhat more realist yet boring building.
  25. Pauolo
    From what I know, the main negative criticism about DD was that its style clashes with the rest of the series, regardless of its awesome shapes and building techniques. Meanwhile, the Sanctum Sanctorum gets a lot of praise for how it integrates with other modulars, despite it not having the same scale as the rest of the series to the point of looking squashed next to BH. Just saying, there's a lot of double standards in the AFOL community...
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