Faefrost

The cubes were great, provided you were lucky enough to be near a TRget that understood the promotion, and actually bothered to put them out. Which seems to be an issue with Target. They don't get the small stuff on the shelves well.

Didn't they try actually re-releasing some of the classic sets a few years back, and it bombed horribly? Just a complete sales failure? Yeah some AFOLs say they want this sort of thing. But the reality is not many are willing to fork over money for such when it comes down to it. They want a more refined modern product. Now with that said there are some good ideas in there. A Creator three in one Castle set would be cool.

Let's not forget the "wink wink nudge nudge" "Dance Studio!"... What? You mean its actually dance classes for kids?... and not... oh... Guys we're gonna need someplace else for the Bachelor Party!

I just realized this does rather add to the Wedding Story undercurrent that runs across a number of the sets. From the Proposal in PR, to the Wedding Dress and Tux in sale in GE to the Wedding Cake baker and Portrait Studio here, to the actual Wedding in TH. I fear the Lego designers are delightfully hopeless romantics.

The strange thing is that the most "European Looking" of the Modulars. The Parisian Restaurant. Is in truth based on a building in Jamie's New England home town.

Well that's just it. By and large they (particularly Jamie) have steered the focus to allow for fairly broad interpretations of the buildings. Yes the majority of the time period specific evidence would probably place them somewhere around 1935, at least from a North American perspective ( The Fire Truck and details in FB, almost everything about the PC except the box offices, the nature feel and story behind the DO, etc). But the evidence of period placement isn't so firm or absolute so as to limit the fans interpretations of the sets. They can be anything from the 1920's to the present. And yes much of the "period feel" for the sets likely comes from Jamie. I've long suspected that Jamie has, in addition to his LEGO passions, some history as a skilled and dedicated Model Railroader. It's hard to explain, but once you know it you can't help but see it. Skilled Model Railroader model not simply trains, but a time period. And once you know how they do this you can't unsee it in the Modulars. Some of the other designers, such as most notably Astrid, look at them through a different set of filters. She is an Architect by training, is she not, and is more focused on the broader structural nuances and the period architectural styles than she is the period specific cultural details. Neither approach is bad. Although sometimes you get some odd dissonances. The Palace Cinema has one of the more glaring of these (although to be fair the number of Lego fans who would spot it are minimal). Astrid was trying to recreate a nice Golden Age of Hollywood '30's style Theater. Complete with Shirley Temple homage. And she did a good job with it, except for the box offices. The ticket booths. Either through structural necessity of the build, or because she was working off photos of American theaters, without a lot of reference to how the older buildings evolved over time, she put the ticket booths on the side facing the sidewalk. Which is correct if you look at any of these classic buildings as they have existed for the past 30 years. But it's not how they were built. They would have either had the box office in the center of the entryway, or inside to the right of the doors. You did not stand the customers in the rain in order to pay you. It wasn't until the 1970's and the advent of the Summer Blockbusters, Particularly Jaws and Star Wars, that the ticket windows were moved outside in order to accommodate larger crowds, and not foul up the doors. It's a subtle dissonance, and one that most would never notice. But Hospitals have changed so much, so quickly, that there is nothing subtle about it. There is really no way to portray one broadly over time the way the Town Hall or Parisian Restaurant do. Honestly the only way to keep that broad flexible block of time would be to go for a more intimate setting. A Doctors Office and or Pharmacy. Which remain much more unchanged in basic layout and appearance of delivery over time.

So finally got the chance to sit down and build this one over a few nights. It's a nice fun good solid build and a gorgeous building. Certainly not the strongest inthe Modular line. But far from the weakest. It has a ton of nice little builds and techniques. Some really unusual small scale stuff. Especially in the interior furnishings. The teller windows and the Bank Presidents desk really stand out. The exterior is nicely textured, making some really interesting use of unusual parts for effect. Especially the ingots molded in light bl grey. It's also a delight to see some of the Friends/Elves new molds appearing in more useful colors. It's biggest negatives are it's somewhat uninspired color pallet which looks a little bland next to everything else, and the fact that it probably should not have been a corner. Everyone says it's too small. The reason for that is this should have been a full width front facing building. That would have resulted in better proportions and a nicer frontage. The Laundry feels un needed. A cute joke taken too far. This alongside the Grand Emporium is a building that really also cries out for an internal lighting system of some sort. Overall it remains a solid build with no major flaws (such as Palace Cinema's overly reduced second floor theater space, or Detective's Office's missing walls separating buildings.) Everything in the Brick Bank is present and does the job. My only other negative is it really needed one more minifig. Maybe a classic crook? Although the CMF Cat Burglar Lady goes well with this one. Overall a great set. If you are new to the Modulars, this would be my recommendation of what order to grab them, based on what is currently on store shelves. Pet Shop -> Parisian Restaurant -> Brick Bank -> Detective Office -> Palace Cinema.

Sorry to reply to a months old post, but I can't believe nobody explained this one. The Brick Bank deliberately doesn't have an ATM or Cash Machine. All of the Modulars are designed to more or less mimic the styles and feels of the early to mid 20th Century. That period when the Main Streets were the principle centers of activity in the towns. While they are flexible, and you can view them as from any modern period, by and large they largely conform to what is known as the (Steam to Diesel) Transition Era, largely covering ~ 1920 to roughly 1960 or so. And yes there are a few anachronisms in the sets. Mostly in Astrid's Town Hall, but by and large the buildings mainly represent pre-information age settings. This is why that little build on the clerks desk is not a computer. It is an old school typewriter (you young 'uns may need to Google up what that is.) Jamie in particular seems to channel a lot of 1930's into his buildings. I rather suspect that he is or spent some time as a Model Railroader.

I think we are awhile off from a Hospital, in part because that would be hard to do on a 32x32 scale, and would create some time perd dissonance. The problem is hospitals from the broad "Main Street still Main Street" Steam to Diesel transition era largely depicted by the Modulars would look very very strange to modern audiences. It's one that would be hard to pull off well. I think we are overdue for a Police Station. A classic old school building with the blue lights flanking the entrance. A nice period squad car in front. A Post Office seems another good choice for a Modular that could act as a crossover set from the City crowd to more adult subjects. Maybe a touch of Victorian styling, and a nice old style postal delivery truck. A Pharmacy with a Doctors office above would make a nice stand in for a Hospital on a scale and setting that blends with the time period. A Toy shop would be a great focus for a Pet Shop style split building. An Auto Repair, with front facing garage doors and a period tow truck. An Art Deco Office Building. Because nothing adds play value quite like a building full of insurance adjusters. School building, complete with period yellow school bus.

Chima was likely profitable, at least on the toy lines. I was a good line that produced decent sales. But it certainly was not the cultural phenomenon that Ninjago was. It was a good solid 3 year line. Which is about where Lego typically leaves things. After their experiences with Bionacle in its original run they learned to limit the lines and not push them to the point where their profitability inverts. So most lines will have a clear planned EOL. Typically at inception they are planned for 1, 2 or 3 years/release cycles. This allows for the initial fans of the property to start to age out, while they hook new fans with the next line. The aberration to this was Ninjago, which was brought back from cancellation twice due to fan and parent outrage, and now stands as a vibrant wholly owned Lego internal pop culture IP. We may see a re-exploration of Chima's ideas and themes, much the same way we see with the Adventurers stuff, or Agents, or the various Diver or Dinosaur themes. But we will not see a direct continuation of Chima as we know it today. At best we may see some sort of periodically recurrent animal character theme. (Post Apocalyptic Fabuland for the win! Granted that's more or less what Chima was. Fabuland where the carnivores won and became drug addicts.)

I still suspect it is likely that there is a Gingerbread House that has been proposed and likely even prototyped as part of the Winter Village Development over the years. It's just too obvious a subject for that line for them to have not delved into it at some point. Especially with the Gingerbread Man figure available for awhile. Just because we have never seen it publicly does not mean that Lego does not have pre-existing design art that they consider as conflicting with an Ideas Project. and conflicts with such Pre-Existing design work will always be the weak spot or danger zone to Ideas. They are what feed the conspiracy theories (see Helicarrier, Tumbler, Lone Ranger Line, etc).

I would not rule out a re-released, slightly redesigned Cafe Corner as some sort of Anniversary type set at some point. It's extremely iconic, plus it has room for them to modernize somewhat, making a new one distinct. Remember the original used a few now obsolete parts, and had no interior. It's easy to imagine them revisiting that set at some point. Similarly I am sure they will in some way re-issue the Fire Brigade set eventually. I think it stands as the all time best selling Modular and was in many ways the centerpiece of the line. That which formed the crossover from the City crowd to the more adult product lines. As for the other two old school Modulars? Market Street was a crowd sourced design from a weird line and program. We will never see it's like again. Business complexities alone stemming from its design origins likely preclude it. Green Grocer just doesn't feel like a likely candidate for redo. It's a bit out of scale with the others, and really doesn't offer much that cannot be gotten from a newer building and design.

Sadly I really only have room to display the major sets. Typically the nice large Temples with a healthy assortment of figures. The vehicles I mess with a bit and then either repack or add to MOC's. The Temple of Airjitsu is likely the only Ninjago set to get a true permanent home as it will become an inside corner on the L shaped shelf of Modulars that hangs over my desk. (unfortunately this likely means that the Temple's interior will not be seen again until I repaint the room.) The minifigs, particularly the Ninja's are among the prominant denizens of the above desk city. Including "Young lloyd" shopping in my comic store.

I think it works out to the sale price $99, doubled VIP on that so almost 200 points. Which if you tally it all up makes the effective total price/savings somewhere around $80 for the thing. I remain more shocked (and hopeful) that this si the first time in years we have seen any D2C set have a sale/price reduction. This would be the first since the UCS B Wing. They had put in place a rule that D2C sets don't get price reductions, only VIP point bonuses after that. I'm thinking or at least hoping somebody finally saw through the stupidity of that policy. It would be nice to start seeing D2C sets on sale, or at reduced "damage box" prices again. From a retail perspective that was an idiotic policy. Yes a lot of people would hold off buying the big expensive sets until they went on sale. But by refusing to clearly and cleanly discount them, they burned off more profit by having them sit and take up shelf and warehouse space. I suspect that it is much like the Monster Hunters Haunted House. It had a planned and very definitive lifecycle of a year. Most Adventurers type stuff does. Add to that there is a rumored PotC D2C set looming to correspond with the new movie, and that is probably destined for the shelf slot that the Temple of Airjitsu sits. Because of the constantly evolving nature of the Ninjago story they do need to keep rotating stock at a minimum of a year. Most kids want the current new versions of the characters and settings.

My best guess for the Gingerbread House is they already have something in development. As a subject it has probably already been claimed by the Creator Expert Group for a seasonal set. This (speculatively) dances a bit around at least two other concepts that we rarely talk or think about. Pre-existing art it design work and how Ideas fits into corporate politics and design groups inside of LEGO. The first and often hardest for we out here in consumer land to understand is the concept of pre-existing work product, and how an Ideas set proposal may conflict with it. The most common misconception is that in order for an IP or design conflict to occur it must involve a released LEGO set. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If LEGO has begun any level of internal design work a potential conflict may occur. It need not be anything shown or sold to the public. If they have internal documentation of a potential project it may cause a conflict. So if they designed a Gingerbread House as a possible Winter Village set one year, but passed over it in favor of something else. The IP is still locked internally. Which brings us to the second part of the review/approval process that likely has to happen. Ideas is bottom of the pecking order internally at LEGO. In order to approve a project to become a set Ideas probably needs sign off from the various other design teams. In short the fully internal groups likely have, to varying degrees, veto power over Ideas sets. They can state a project is too close to something they have in development, and it's dead. We absolutely know this is the case with pre-existing licenses. Those are easy to spot. But there is probably some similar things going on with LEGO internal designs and IP. So an Ideas "Fire Truck" might be veto'd by the City design group if it is too close to a set they have in development. Just a reminder, this stuff is often far more complex than the typical outside observer may realize.

A heads up for anyone in the Orlando/Disney area. I don't know if this is a one day thing, or what the deal is, but the Disney Springs LEGO store (formerly "Downtown Disney") has the D2C set 70751 Temple of Airjitsu on deep sale for $99 today. (Down from its normal $199) My wife insisted I grab one at that price. So half price, plus double VIP points. That's what we call a win/win

It's not that they couldn't take legal action before. It's that they would lose or the legal system would protect the Chinese company over them so doing so from a foreign position would be fruitless. Simply pissing in the wind. By having a greater investment in China than the counterfeiter it gives them leverage to encourage the Chinese court to at least give them a fair hearing. Yes it is wickedly corrupt. Welcome to China. They are are further building their own factory in part because it minimizes the use of their own tooling by the counterfeiters. The common rule when contracting a Chinese factory is they will work hard Mibday to Friday making your product to the best of their ability. Then they will work even harder Saturday and Sunday using your tooling and designs to make product for themselves. The same fatories that are making the original product are often making the knock offs. Often using the IP holders own tooling. Owning and controlling the factory prevents that (somewhat).

I think the new 100 in 60 day rule will largely be a good thing for Ideas. Clearly it's main purpose is to shift Ideas from being "hey everybody look at my MOC!" To the actual presentation forum it was intended to be. It's not an unreasonable goal, but does encourage you to fully develop and refine your proposal and give some thought to core support before you hit publish. Rather than simply pushing out an idea hastily cobbled together in LDD with the intent of developing as you go. It sweeps away huge swaths of the assorted little kid LDD offerings with minimal impact on well presented projects. Yeah most oat of us start off viewing the newest. But by culling the 10's of thousands of "little Billy's first LDD" cheesy default background nonsense, it actually makes searching or browsing via other headings viable. You can find the under appreciated gems if you don't have to wade through mountains of chaff. It may hurt the newest entries a little bit if they haven't fully prepped their presentation or thought about how to get to 100. But the counterpoint is it will likely be a huge boost for good stuff that gets forever lost in those 100-5000 vote doldrums that set in after about a week.

The biggest issue with Chinese manufacture is the plastics need to be sourced locally. And doing so does not have quite the same 100% matchup the way the directly sourced Bayer stuff they use in Europe does. As as for why they are doing it? Take a look at the civil case against Lepin. Lego is using Chinese factories in part to facilitate entry into the large and growing Chinese market, and in part to give themselves leverage in Chinese courts against IP counterfeiters. As a wholly foreign enterprise the Chinese courts will by and large ignore them and international copyright law. However with a Chinese pressense it becomes a question of who is worth more to China business wise. Lego or the Counterfeiter? In essence they are establishing a Lego owned Chinese factory in order to buy coverage under what passes for the local rule of law. And no no they are not switching to Chinese manufacture to squeeze margin in the West. If that was their main goal the new factory would be in Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia. Chinese labor costs are soaring.

The original Mini Modular set sold horribly. I don't think they have any plans to revisit the concept.

I think the theme was a mixed seller. Much like Alien Conquest, the more complete human themed vehicles sold well. The Alien focused sets were often shelf warmers. Some of the set and vehicle designs were superb. But honestly the 5 color Sentai's team designations were a horrible marketing and branding decision. It made the heroes and their ships feel incoherent. The more recent Nexo Knights seemingly learned from this and kept a consistency among the hero vehicles while maintaining the distinct colors for the heroes themselves. With Galaxy Squad they tried to inject some of the color/tribal language that worked with Ninjago and Chima into SF. It didn't work as "squads". The clear canopies for the humans were the result of that decision to use 4 different base colors for the vehicles. They needed something neutral to work with blue or green or red or orange. Honestly the Human focused sets are great. Especially the larger ones. The Vermin Vaporizer is fantastic. The Galactic Titan is a nice impressive tank and drop ship. The large Bug Obliterator Ship is an OK space capital ship. A bit chunky, but with some cool features. Whereas all of the Bug/Alien sets are fairly awful. No articulation, weird clunky awkward shapes. An over abundance of stickers. Of them only the Hive Crawler is anything above bad. If you like any of it, especially the Human team vehicles, I would strongly recommend you explore the sadly short lived Alien Conquest line. Especially the centerpiece ADF HQ set which is one of the finest space themed sets ever made, even though it's a ground vehicle.

Lifecycle for any of the D2C's can be hard to predict. They normally have a fixed or intended date of eol. That can come early if the product sells out before reaching the expected date, but they don't anticipate enough future sales to warrant another production run. But sometimes if a D2C set is selling much better than expected they will add on one or more production runs and keep it going. The Death Star was the king of that, lasting years longer than anyone expected, and now being resurrected in a new set. For Modulars the king was the Fire Brigade, which similarly lasted years longer than expected, was the top seller to the end, and went back to production at least twice. Pet Shop is probably the number 2 behind it. GE also may have gotten an extra production run. TH pretty much saw its natural lifecycle. I would expect the same for PC and DO. PR I think will or has gotten an extra production run.

Tiny is not necessarily a negative. I would not be surprised to see an Ideas based Polybag set at some point

Wow! Those graceful curves are amazing. I love it. And it is truly stunning when lit.

In a quick description. The Modular or Creator Expert buildings are advanced multi thousand piece full walled building sets that are each designed to occupy one standard baseplate, and snap together to form full city blocks. They range from 2-3 stories and are constructed in a Layer cake style as opposed to a dollhouse style. Where each floor is a layer that nests atop the last. Interiors are well detailed and the external architecture is often breathtaking. In addition to the "official" Modulars the more modern "Dollhouse" style Haunted House and Ghostbusters Firehouse are similar in overall scale and design and are often displayed with the Modulars.