MAB

Nice, the statue is great and I really like the relatively clean decoration on the walls. Also the double bladed axe. It is almost a warning for the future - this is what happens if Disney buys the rights to LOTR.

And the medium nougat is closer in colour to the giant deer than yellow is to Thranduil's skin! :-)

It was fun checking in every day to see who had won, and who had been given the advent window for the day. Plus it got everyone from different sub-forums building on the same theme.

I haven't seen anything about a Christmas raffle, so presumably it won't be happening again this year (lack of prizes from LEGO?). I got the impression that each year this created quite a buzz and helped make EB busier during November and December.

Sure, but then it comes to an issue of balance of size vs what they wanted to do with the set. This set would have looked even better (having a more realistic shape) using the same scale arches and columns if they had made it with twice the number of parts. It then becomes what is important - getting the columns to look right, getting the shape/scale to look right or making a displayable set for home use. I appears the designer went for detail in the columns over other aspects. Personally, I don't think they did a very good job on the Corinthian ones. They don't look very Corinthian, they look more Doric to me. Using a flower stud instead would have given them a much more ornate look even at this scale, more characteristic of the Corinthian style. If they can recolour a roller skate and make a big deal out of it, then why not do the same with a flower and get that column right too? They also got the width of the arches badly wrong - again this could have been correct by using a much larger scale arch, coming back to the balance again - what details do they care about and what don't they care about. Or they could have had the columns stand in front of two-wide instead of three-wide supports, using jumpers for the column placement. This would have given equal width arches and supports, which would be better but still not wider arches than supports. They have sacrificed some details to enhance others. Overall, I don't think they did a bad job of the model though, I think it looks nice and is the sort of thing that looks great in a store to show what can be built with LEGO. I don't think it is a "home" set though. Whereas one at a smaller scale (and less detail) would be received better for home display, even if not displaying two of the three column types well like this big version.

Given the product images, it is probably beyond speculation that new roads are coming. It would be odd if they run two incompatible systems though (that is speculation of course). But then the baseplate roads have never been part of the modular range. The cars sit off the build in modular images.

Black hat and grey hair would be nice.

Yes, that's right. They now count as normal items for VIP. I'm not sure when the change was made. Maybe with the new system. I'm hoping they do for GWP thresholds at some stage in the future, but they don't for now.

As is. I don't see any reason to change the baseplate footing.

Black is a fairly witchy colour. That one is nice. I'm not sure what the writing is meant to be on the first one, it almost looks like someone practicing their spellings. It looks like the same word written five times, then a longer one twice.

You can use the same argument for the back. Many people display modulars up against a wall, all in a row. So just do away with the backs, save bricks there. And if you place them in a row, you can do away with a lot of the side walls too. In some cases, they could just be a facade with a roof supported by a couple of stacks. No need for floors either if all you are doing is displaying them. Yes, but if you google "lego modular MOC" you'll also get many many ideas for whole buildings. Indeed, they are typically so small, that leaving them out of the set isn't really going to save significant money or give many parts to be used elsewhere. You just end up with empty builds. They could also leave out the minifigures, and any vehicles. They could be bought separately, so why include them. Take the Corner Garage. Does it really matter that there are play features such as the car elevator and the roll-up door which could be removed and replaced with a single glass panel, respectively. Remove everything from the vet section, so there is just a sticker saying it is a vet surgery, but just an empty room inside. If there is nothing inside, why even bother with the vet sign? Leave it up to the imagination of the builder. Similarly, remove the furniture and everything else (no need for stairs) from the upper floor too. Some of these items are built into the walls, so cannot just be added later without more significant modification. If all the details (exterior or interior) start getting removed, even if you choose not to look at them, I think the modulars become a bit boring.

I agree here. Half the length, width and height. It would still be recognizable for what it is meant to be. It wouldn't be an accurate scale model but then neither is this one. But it would be more displayable, more affordable. Just without the biggest ever tag.

In the distant past they did not count for VIP, then got 1x VIP when it was double VIP points.

If you want to do alt builds based on specific sets, then make sure those sets are reasonably cheap. I have often not bought MOC plans because the designer has used expensive parts and the design would not be the same without those parts. And if I had to redesign to get round them, then I'm not paying for the instructions. Not that I buy many MOC instructions these days. Too many people are churning them out for sale, and it seems often without actually building the set to test it, instead just doing it virtually without caring about strength.

But then instead of one set, they need a set for the building, then multiple smaller sets for extensions. Instead of one product, they then need to deal with 4-5. Then there are the complaints that someone bought up all the kitchen sets and they are out of stock so there is no point in buying the building, or the modular gets bought up and there are large stocks of the polybags that don't have instructions to fit in any other building. Also complaints that now you have to buy add-on sets to furnish a building, whereas in the past these were included in the price. For the sake of the equivalent of a couple of 80 small piece add-on sets, they might as well just include those parts in the set so that they know what the build experience will be for all builders.

Yes, definitely correct. B+P don't count towards GWP thresholds.

I'm also not that bothered about the colour as there are other much bigger problems with the set. The biggest one being the size. It is too big for me (and probably other people too) to have on display. It is not that I cannot display something that large, I just wouldn't want to. Sure it looks impressive to look at once, but everyday? No thanks. There is not that much to see and spot something different next time. Whereas other big display pieces have much more to see. Whereas if this was a smaller (and even worse accuracy) on a much smaller scale, I might have bought it for display alongside other world icons. @Itaria No Shintaku is definitely right about one thing - it is not a very accurate to scale model, even at this size. But then, I don't think people buying it will care. It sort of looks like it enough to pass for one so long as you don't care too much about the real structure, and that is enough for most. It's funny that sometimes you see the LEGO model first and then the real thing doesn't look right when you see it based on what you've already seen in the LEGO version. I often find that with movie sets.

In basic "bucket" style sets.

Location is a problem here. I'd prefer a brown bird with a dark orange breast, as we use (European) robins as our Christmas bird.

Yes, it's a photoshopping error.

I wonder whose job it is to go through all the dark tan wands and pull one off the sprue before packaging the sets!

Maybe they should have made it in white. Then in the instructions tell you that a kid has to play with the parts for a couple of years before you are allowed to build it. The eventual colours would have been perfect!

Probably not, at least not for this. I imagine many of the people that do decide to buy it will buy online. The designer does talk about this, which in reality probably means that the bits they have were the wrong size and to scale the building to make them the right size would make it much bigger than what it currently is. Remember sometimes uses words that are barely true (such as "playable piano"). "Every detail of the set has been meticulously crafted to stay true to the real-life Colosseum. ... To achieve that, the model is constructed using an effect of vertical exaggeration. The cross-section is therefore far steeper than on the real structure." Every detail is made to stay true to the real life one, except of course the details that don't.

The torso is not showing up under any of the normal torso parts numbers.