Faefrost

Probably not as on official Lego set in the Modular line (although you never know), but there are some great custom instructions out there for reasonable cost if you aren't afraid of Bricklink, and you do not want to MOC something that massive yourself. Something like Brick City Depots Architects Office might be what you are looking for? http://www.brickcitydepot.com/city-building-instructions.html

I like #3 and #1. #3 is very different from your typical buildings with some brickwork and the nice second floor balcony. #1 has that nice angled entrance that would work well. (and would also make a real nice ground floor for a modular MOC). Most of the other banks look kind of disturbingly like mausoleums.

Now that's not gonna get too confusing for the casual viewers, once they introduce the OTHER Agent Carter over in Captain America: The Winter Soldier?

I know it's a "rumors" thread, but how far can we go in speculating for the future? (If there is still a Modular Future or Wish List thread this might go better there?) Anyway, a lot of good points here. Especially Nesquiks great thoughts. Here's my take on where we go from here. The Modular line (Of the Creator Expert theme etc etc) just lost its "gateway drug" set. Its big cross theme, cross generational, newbie bait set. The Fire Brigade. There is a reason that set was kept in circulation for so long, and is probably the most widely purchased of the modulars. It is an almost perfect storm of AFOL details and architecture, and younger Lego fan playability. Between the moving doors, and fire truck and pole and firefighters it has a ton of stories for young folks to amuse themselves with. Plus it looks great. It looks like a real fire house. This is the building that sucked more people into this theme than anything else. And it will be hard for Lego to replace. Basically I think they are going to want something that has both architectural value, can feature a lot of detail, yet still has a good hook to grab the crowd who normally looks at City or Winter Village stuff. An included vehicle is almost a must. So what are the reasonable options? 1. Police Precinct House - Not a full blown Police Station or HQ, will all of the modern trappings, like they get in city. A classic street facing Police Precinct House, like we have seen in hundreds of cartoons and movies and TV shows over the years. We all know what it looks like. Stone building, steps leading up to a large arched door. colored lights or lanterns flanking the door. The key thing is how to do it in a modular without it looking grim and dull and like a fortress. well how about this. http://www.policeny.com/thehousemanhattannorth1.html The classic New York City 19th Precinct building. It looks almost perfectly tailor made for conversion into a Lego modular. Nice architectural details and bits that would make for interesting builds. Some nice pop of color with the windows and doors. Contrasting stonework colors. All it needs is a classic Black and White patrol car sitting out front and you have the perfect set. Details inside would be the traditional raised Sergeants Desk, some desks for report writing and such. The Captains Office, and a holding cell or two to keep the naughty in until they can be transferred "downtown". (seriously not joking about this. Just look at this building!) 2. Post Office - This one is a little tougher, but would provide some excellent play value. The trick is finding something distinctive, that doesn't look like a 1970's cinder block building, and is still well known and identifiable as a post office. There are some very nice Post Offices out there,a nd some truly ugly ones. So maybe something like this? http://www.vietnammotorbiketour.com/vietnam-information/images/Ho_Chi_Minh_City/Saigon-post_office.gif The Saigon or Ho Chi Min city Post Office. One of the best known such buildings in the world, with lots of interesting details in its central front section, such as the wonderful arch and the clock. Plus it adds something based on a Far Eastern subject to the modular line up. How long have we been looking for that? Combine it with a classic mail truck and we have ourselves a nice set. 3. Mechanic's Garage - Another one with lots of possibilities. Something along the lines of the Fire Brigade, with roll up doors and a auto service area inside. Maybe something like this if they want to go really crazy (although may be a bit too historical for modern kids) http://aurorabranch.blogspot.com/2009/07/odd-fellows-hall-part-5-auto-row.html Coats Hudson Dealer and Auto service. This cool building had a car elevator, so cars could be displayed and serviced on the upper floors. Maybe give the set a few classic cars in lieu of interior details? Say 2 new cars, 1 old one in for repair and a vintage tow truck? Ground floor sales offices, second floor showroom and third floor auto repair with the elevator running through the middle? I'm just speculating wildly. I just think its a neat old building. Besides Lego Hudson's 4. Hospital - No pictures for this one as I think it is the least likely option. A hospital would need to be as big as Town Hall, and preferably be a corner building. And it would still seen too small. Plus hospitals have evolved a bit too much to blend well with the more classic feel of the other modulars. If they were to do it, a main frontage. Ambulance entrance on the side. Small ER room, patient room or two, OR. A more vintage Ambulance servicing it. I think it would be hard to achieve a classic looking Lego hospital without evoking an Arkham Asylum / Hitchcock feel to the thing. The towns medical needs would probably be better served with a classic corner Pharmacy and Soda counter, with a medical or dental office above it. Anyway just my TLDR thoughts on where I think they might be looking for the future. (and yeah I know my pics are a little US centric. Sorry about that. If you want a classic Police building you are probably going to end up looking at either NYC or London, no matter how you slice it. And the blues on that one were too perfect.)

Practicality or functionality? In Architecture? What are you some sort of radical weirdo? Buildings are supposed to flow and sweep and inspire deep feelings in viewers... Like confusion, as they wonder where the architect hid the toilets this time. You should not be troubling yourself with such pedantic concerns as the roof not leaking or the windows not taking flight in a moderate breeze. Pay no attention to the exploding cars in the parking lot! It's ART!

The Dolphin Cruiser was featured in several newspaper and news stories as one of the top "must have" toys for this Christmas. So that drove aftermarket prices insane.

Those three buildings are more known specifically for there impact on Architecture, than they are known as famous landmarks. They are specifically known for who designed them and how they were designed. Falling Water and Robie House are THE famous Frank Lloyd Wright buildings that are extensively taught to architects. So they are really the heart and soul of Lego's Architecture line (created by architects for architects and those interested in architecture). More so than the more "famous landmark" type buildings. An example from the extreme end of the Landmark side would be the UN. A famous building that is generally viewed as an architectural abomination, and scores high on the "how not to do it list". Right next to that British building that melts cars.

Well outside of Ninjago? Which I think goes well past hard core and into the realms of riotous. They demanded Lego give them back their theme...NOW! And they won... Well played crazy Ninja Moms (sadly I don't think the strategy of all the 40 something LotR fans getting their moms to call TLG will leave quite the same impression? ) Other than the Ninja's Action Themes seem to have an up and down collection of fans. But in the end almost always leave us wanting just a little more. But I confess a deep love for all incarnations of the Super Agents type themes. Alpha Team and Agents. I am kind of hoping that the clashing colors are more related to the villains this go round. From the titles it sounds like Inferno may be one of several villains, each with their own theme and scheme. Which could be really cool. James Bond? Hmmm? Rampant heavily armed mysoginistic alcoholic sex maniac on whom the fate of the world rests. On the upside it would probably result in some of the most "educational" play sets Lego has ever released. On the downside, they'd be some of the most "educational" play sets Lego has ever made.

Somewhere I have a couple of teeny tiny edge lit signs for neon in model railroad layouts. They look fantastic. I've kind of wished Lego would play a little bit with the simple tech involved. It would certainly give new life to oft maligned panels.

I would swear I have seen some similar signs in stores in the US. It's obviously not of Lego manufacture, but it might be something commissioned by a regional marketing group as part of their provided store displays. I doubt if the store or store chain would have something like that made on their own. That sort of thing is almost always paid for by the vendor. The fact that it is an edge lit LED sign means its of fairly recent vintage.

When we talk about new parts and new molds, we often discuss the costs of them. What we often forget is that it isn't simply a matter of cost, it is also one of finance. And because of this not every line or part is the same. It isn't a flat across the boards cost for new parts. As you notice Licenses seem to get a ton more new parts. There is a reason for this. Finance. When TLG goes to create new tooling, they generally will not be simply paying for those costs out of pocket. Tooling is a production investment. In most cases that means tooling is financed via the bank. Each mold set is bought with a mortgage if you will. And each block of tooling loans is evaluated and structured differently. Not all lines are the same. We can probably make some educated guesses and break them down into a few categories. (Note I have no knowledge of actual TLG practices. Just a good knowledge of some common manufacturing ones, and the safe bet is TLG doesn't deviate too far from them.) 1. Replacement tooling for core parts - just the normal replacement life cycle of the molds for common system parts. Say new tooling for a 2x4 brick. This is probably an almost automatic level of financing from the bank. TLG knows everything about how many of x part they use over y years. It's almost like a car lease. These are very safe loans for the bank. Just the normal ongoing costs of doing business. It's also why some parts may get retired. If the normal production use is not sufficient to justify the costs or loans. (Monorail parts is the big classic example). 2. Parts for Evergreen Themes - say a new Helmet for Castle. Or a new hairpiece for City. They may not have enough immediate mapped out use for it short term. But it is something that they know will be guaranteed to come up and be used over a longer period of time. They may not be able to do a lot of parts in this heading, but they can probably go for longer loan terms and better interest rates. Something that they know will be used over 5 - 10 years. This of course is a careful calculation on TLG's part. The bank will happily finance such tooling, but TLG would not want to be paying long term for something they do not use. (Probably a big part of how they hit troubles in 2003.) so they will be very careful in part decisions like this. 3. Licenses - it is easier to get financing for a licensed line. The license contract itself is typically viewed as an element of value which the bank will take into consideration. So a license will have a deeper pool of finance to draw upon. The more valuable the license, the deeper the pool. (Ie LotR probably nets more funding than PoP or LR). The downside is that for most licenses the loan periods will probably by needs be shorter, no more than the length of the license, so costs must be fully built into the pricing of the planned sets. The tooling needs to pay for itself in a shorter time frame. We often talk about licensed sets costing more. While that may or may not be 100% true, any cost increases may not simply be costs for the license. They may also be immediate operating costs incurred by the license in this way. (Star Wars and Batman probably function more as hybrid "Evergreen Licensed" themes. The banks may also somewhat view certain Lego owned IP's similarly to licensed lines, such as Ninjago and Chima. In those cases the Cartoon Network contract would be viewed similarly to a license contract for value.) 4. Regular Retail products - Stuff that may be for new themes, or returning themes, or totally new system parts. They don't carry a license as a value add. And they don't have years of constant use from an evergreen theme. So they can be a little more of a gamble. Wherever possible TLG will probably try and spread the costs over multiple lines or themes. 5. Special Exclusive items, D2C, CuuSoo etc - most likely typically do not have large enough production runs to allow for financing of new tooling. And this is probably the huge veto of new parts for CuuSoo. Because of the size of production run they can't get a loan for such projects. 6. Other - Unusual things that carry their own specific business case sufficient to permit financing. Things like CMF's This is most likely part of the reason why some themes or lines feel very compartmentalized. That common cry of "Ninjago makes tons of money why can't they use that to make a Zelda headpiece?!?" Or similar discussion misses some key realities. While loans for this sort of thing are paid back out of a companies general earnings, they are typically issued based on the business case for the specific product or product line, because the tooling being financed is so specific. And the tooling is the security for the loan. Does any of this make any sense?

Direct contracted buyers most likely. The secret or invite only displays are typically for licensed stuff that has some rigid NDA's attached. Such as for an upcoming movie, or for a totally unannounced license or product line that is still in development. For Bolg, if we see him at all, it will probably be a recolor of the Azog head piece with a lot of printing to indicate the plates and such in his head. I doubt if we will see a new head for him at this point. Like the other toy companies, any that TLG would have designed would have most likely been of the red bearded version. We might simply see that one as an "Orc Officer" of some sort and no actual named Bolg.

Not necessarily. The making of cloth parts is fairly cheap and easy regardless of where they do it. There probably isn't much benefit to specifically producing the cloth stuff in China. I would guess they have a few sites setup to do cloth the printing and die cutting, and use whichever one is convenient for the produced item. So CMF capes may be made in China, but Ninjago sails may be from elsewhere. Etc.

It will probably be something like the balista's along the side rails of the Pirate Ship, just with the new spring shooter brick replacing the Flick Fire and technic hole brick.

I hope its designed to dock with the Ghost set.

The finances of the molds can get a little esoteric I think. They made the new dragon mold for the Castle line, which is a long running evergreen theme. That mold is planned as a long term return. They will probably use it for 10+ years in Castle sets. It's like swords crowns and horses. They know it will be used in the continuing theme. Whereas a new Smaug mold falls into an entirely different set of equations. It's a shorter term mold more askin to the SW Rancor. It will be priced as the core element of the set and financed with an assumption of one or two uses. So the Castle Dragon and Smaug is really an apples and oranges discussion to TLG. And weirdly the costs of the molds vs the returns may not be quite the same for the larger maxi figs as it is for a typical piece or even a hairpiece or helmet. Something like a dragon require a lot less precision than a brick, having very limited connection options. Plus I think the larger maxi figs typically use plastics other than straight up ABS. They often feel a bit more like a styrene to me. The main issue there is probably less tooling costs than it is production costs per figure.

The Official Evergreen status of the Super Heroes line is amazing. Just think of how long it has taken us to get to this point. One company actually has managed to untie Marvel and DC under a long term cooperative banner for the betterment of all on the toy shelves. That's just mind blowing considering how antagonistic their marketing and merchandising used to be. I think the last time anyone was able to legitimately produce fully play compatible Batman and Spider-Man toys was Mego in the 70's. Maybe the new corporate overlords have figured out that their core products are better served by synergistically garnering a greater pool of fans, then their longstanding nerd death match of pettiness.

There are so many variables. Lego has been constantly tweaking and adjusting clutch power of parts over the years. So different aged parts may behave differently for reasons beyond age. As a general rule bricks will not lose "clutch power" unless subject to undo stress such as lots of use in play or similar wear and tear. etc. now bricks on a display model may occasionally loosen. That's more a result of environmental factors such as temperature changes. Re attaching the brick firms up the connection. And the bricks haven't actually lost clutch.

Both 2014 waves are Hobbit. No LotR on the schedule.

Let's see how I do 1. Star Wars Hoth Rebel with Pirate Sword 2. Star Wars Naboo Pilot Torso. Mix and match for the rest. Castle type crossbow 3. Mummy fig from Pharoahs Quest wearing headpiece from Atlantis manta villain. Trident from Atlantis. 4. Ninjago, Kai the red Ninja, original version. Missing ninja cowl. 5. Star Wars Emperor Palpatine wielding Blacbeards sword from PotC. 6. Mac Macloud from Pharoahs Quest. Missing goggles. 7. Dino Attack Digger torso, mix n match head and hair. 8. Ninjago villain Fangdam with Pharoahs Quest staff. 9. Star Wars Imperial Guard wielding mix n match sword with clip. 10. Ninjago Rattla, 11. Ninjago Zane, the white ninja, DX version. Missing white ninja hood. 12. Pharoahs Quest Mummy Guard. With correct headpiece and weapon. 13. Ninjago Bonezai, with helm from Castle. It looks like some of the needed pieces such as Zane's ninja hood are in the pile behind Bonezai.

A picture leaked out recently of what looked suspiciously similar to StarLords sentient ship "Ship" from the comics. Blue and Yellow also means it might be a Nova Cruiser from the concept art. ( Glen Close does play the leader of the Nova Corps so we may get one.) Either way I will be thrilled. Comics + Space Opera + Lego = Nerd Heaven. I still want a minifig of a telepathic Russian dog in a spacesuit.

Prancing Pony. A nice civilian building and setting.

Just one rule. No new parts exclusive to the exclusive, if you get what I mean.

It would not be the first time they included some interconnecting lore in the themes. Such as Atlantis and Alien Conquest, so you never know?

Strange red parts are typically test parts. Such as for mold testing etc. they often get out of the factories either legitimately or otherwise.