Overcold

Interiors are a necessity for modular buildings, in my opinion. I believe Jamie mentioned somewhere that the reason the Cafe Corner and Market Street were empty was due to higher ups having concerns that they would be too dollhouse like, and therefore not sell as well to the target male audience. Green Grocer was a compromise between the two, and after continued success the Fire Brigade was fully furnished and it has been that way since. I don't think we will ever see an empty shell again and I personally think that's a good thing. Exterior: Recent modular buildings starting with the Parisian Restaurant have had a noticeably reduced scale in favor of a far more complete interior. The scale for me is not a problem, in fact, I really like the diversity instead of everything being 32 studs wide (I even think that the width of Al's Barbershop looks great in my setup too, as long as they don't get thinner than that!). The variety of widths has allowed for multiple buildings in the Detectives office, Brick Bank, and Assembly Square, creating awesome compositions that were not possible before 2015. The heights of the buildings have not suffered much, only being slightly lower if not remaining about the same height as the Cafe Corner, Pet Shop, and Grand Emporium (I can't recall which specific building have what heights off the top of my head yet). The Detective's office portion of the set is two floors tall and the lowest building (other than maybe the covered market). I like that the office is short, for the sake of variety and the composition next to Al's is awesome for that. I'd be concerned and upset if all the buildings started to get that short, but the designs usually have a decent sense of verticality. The post-2013 buildings don't reach the same heights as the Green Grocer or Town Hall, the two largest structures. It would be nice to see something as tall as the grocer in the future, even if it was a 3/4 width building, as it would help my town have an extra touch of height variation. I love the direction Lego has taken, but although I shower the designers with well deserved praise, I would love future buildings to occasionally fit the entire base plate width like old times, perhaps every third or fourth building even. I am concerned that we will not see a newer style design as a full scale building. A newer full width building, even if the price had to take a 10-20 dollar hike for those particular models, would help my layout and the modular building lineup as a whole to feel more well rounded, plus newer post-2013 collectors might also appreciate the extra variety of width that an occasional 32 wide building would provide. Interior: It's no surprise that newer models have more refined interiors. Gone are the single rooms with clutter, as some of the more recent ones feel more like realistic blueprints (The town hall was the first building that I remember being excited about the interior walls and layout, which hadn't really been done since the bottom floor of the grocer). Having studied architecture myself for a period of time, I really appreciate the direction of the interiors. That isn't to say I don't appreciate the older ones, which are still great and mostly hold up over time. The interior details have always been well built, but the newer ones seem to work in harmony in a way that had not been done in the past. Interiors in the pre-2014 buildings often felt underdeveloped to me in a certain way, as if the furniture and props were simply tacked on after the building was finished rather than working together with the building itself. The Grand Emporium looks rather bare, as does the Palace Cinema. Neither of the interiors are bad (though they do have a fair share of flaws), but they don't take advantage of the space in the same way a newer one would. The Brick Bank has a superior interior, I can point at details and designs and talk about it for perhaps hours if there was nothing better to do, like the spare paper, candy, falcon statue, and so on. None of the details feel out of place, and they make the building and inhabitants feel so much more alive. I really enjoy the abundance of detail, plus it helps that I'm the kind of person who constantly looks at the insides and moves the figures around (what fun! ). Story: On a similar note, more details means more story! At first this was a part of my interior discussion, but I decided it would be better to break it up. As far as I have seen, there are two types of stories seen in the modular line: The more common one, which I will call ambient, and the other I would call linear. Pretty much most of the buildings feature an ambient story of some extent. Linear stories are far less common, but can be seen strongly in the Detective's Office. Linear stories for modular buildings have specific plot points and vague ways of how the characters will reach these points, it is LEGO after all, so the story building on the part of the audience is critical for an enjoyable product. In the Detectives office, the linear plot is the strongest showing of the entire line, with specific motives, villains, and a protagonist. Ace Brickman even has a love interest that may or may not be working for the bad guys (the promotional pictures indicate she's a villain), and leaves the specifics up to the audience. For example, Ace Brickman is wooed by the lady in red, she is a distraction and works for the smugglers. The officer could be a secret admirer of Ace, which is why she pities him and helps with the case when the rest of the police department considers Ace to be a fraud and joke. Lots of possibilities there. So that's a 'linear' story. Meanwhile, an ambient story is less about a specific plot structure and more about the mood and interaction of elements. It's pretty much impossible to explain without an example, so here's one: The town hall has a powerful ambient story, in a time where a surplus little details to help the story weren't commonplace. It's a hot summer day, we know this because the boy has an ice lolly and the girl has a magnifying glass to roast ants on the pavement. The beige backyard also indicates heat. The boy is the embodiment of cold, he is wearing cool colors and has a frozen snack. The girl is a fiery redhead, with warm colored palette and the heat magnifying lens. It also could influence their personalities. The clock tower is symbolic of time, with young adults being wedded below. Middle aged and elderly people work in the town hall, resulting in mini-figures from all walks of life. Childhood, marriage, career, and inevitable death, as the bell can be both a wedding and a funeral bell. The Town hall, as a result, is a symbol for the lives of all the citizens in the town, which I find very impressive. There's no specific plot points, there's no villains or heroes, but there is a story. Most modular building have an ambient story to a certain extent, whether it's small ideas or themes that may or may not be explored in detail. The buildings with linear stories have both types, in fact. Brick Bank for example has the bank robbery, plot point and a villain, as well as money laundering. But at the same time the bank has a personality of it's own built through ambient storytelling. The falcon as a symbol of foreboding power, the luxurious windows and fancy black steel on the bench, clock, and windows show wealth. And the painting of the father shows that the bank manager (and by extension the bank) has motives of living up to his father's legacy, a reputation to uphold. A reputation that is jeopardized by the money laundering and robbery. It's a good blend of both story types discussed. I could talk about all those stories forever, such as the dentist above the bakery, but I'll try to keep if brief (not that this post is brief ) I think the point I was getting at is that more details means more opportunity for stories, but I got lost along the way. Oops. Vehicles: I haven't heard many people stand up for vehicles, but I know I do. I love the occasional inclusion of a vehicle, and there's only one that disappoints me: the limo that continues to get flak for seemingly rushed design. The fire station needs a fire truck! And the heavily foreshadowed inevitable police station (just release it already!) will likely have a cop car, which is great! Those are the %100 necessary vehicles, but I also support the limo and the pink car that Mike say isn't a Cadillac, but everyone including him knows it is :) . I said like the inclusion of the limo, but the design is shaky at best though. I wouldn't cut the limo from the set, just simply fix the design a bit. Someone mentioned City vehicles being a stand-in, and I disagree (feel free to do whatever you want with your layouts, I'm simply considering mine at the moment). I don't collect city, it doesn't appeal to me anymore, I grew out of it. Plus, City cars don't match my layout too well, they are modern vehicles whereas the buildings are pre-modern. The vehicles included in the sets match the buildings and layout well, and help imply and use a street space in front of the building. In the case with the Downtown Diner, the car helps with the defining of the era, as cars normally do. The Cadillac is also very well designed, and color balances with the pink neon of the diner. The civilian cars such as the limo and Cadillac also help the modular building lineup feel more lively, which is very useful for my setup. Vehicles are a very important part of the line, and I feel cutting them out for a handful of bricks is a waste. The diner profits far more for using those brick on the vehicle in my opinion, especially since the rest of the set uses the allotted parts in an excellent way. I can understand why some would not like release of a vehicle, but I personally enjoy them very much and would hate to see them go extinct. I do agree with the direction that LEGO designers have taken with the series for the most part. The variety of building forms is better than ever, and the details are simply amazing. The occasional vehicle every 4 years is very welcome for me, I wouldn't even mind if we got 2 sets in a row with vehicles. My only concern at this particular moment with the future of the line is the lack of 32 wide buildings, though it was incredibly enjoyable to see what the designers are capable of once they broke free of that convention. Maybe every 3 or 4 buildings we could see a full 32 wide, for reasons I mentioned in my first paragraph. Thanks for spending a considerable amount of time reading this wall of text about the best LEGO franchise! Summary: I enjoy the more detailed buildings at the expense of the size. The heights are usually on par with the Pet Shop and Cafe Corner, though it would be nice to see Green Grocer height ones once in a while. I would love to see 32 wide buildings cycled into the mix every so often for variety, the width variety of the buildings has been awesome recently. I also enjoy buildings having vehicles every so often, I really enjoy them. :) I also rambled about storytelling in the buildings if you want to read that.

I'm lucky enough to own all of the modular buildings other than Cafe Corner and Market Street, which I plan on getting someday. I've ordered this list with my favorite on top and my least favorite on the bottom. I wouldn't say I dislike any of the buildings, even the ones at the lowest part of my list are fantastic. Assembly Square - After building Assembly Square earlier this month, I've decided that it is very much my favorite set in the series. Visually, I love the composition and visual balance of the buildings, and the colors are well placed and match the individual buildings while creating a beautiful palette when taken in all together. The buildings have great variety, and the narrative of the set is well thought out with both the setting and the minifigs that populate the square. And of course, the building experience is top notch. When I compare this to earlier sets, I quite like that building techniques have gotten more clever (in my opinion) and plentiful as the series built on. Easily the most fun I've ever had building a Lego set. Parisian Restaurant - Simply awesome. Lots of clever details and parts usage. I personally think the more vibrant green and dark blue work well with the atmosphere of the set, and the 3/4 scale of the building adds good variety to my skyline. The direction taken to focus on an ambient narrative and details was a good call, and the extra context adds more to the build, play, and visual display of my collection. Green Grocer - This was the first one I built, so nostalgia is likely playing a part here (I'm able to overlook some flaws like the inconsistent depth of the left quoin and the barren apartment.), nonetheless I still think it's awesome. The clever use of parts blew my mind as I started my modular collection. Detective's Office - There are some problems, such as the limited amount of space to appreciate the Barber Shop mirror. I also wasn't a fan of the story at first, but it grew on me quite a bit, despite its flaws. Ace Brickman is my favorite minifigure from the line, probably because I grew up as fan of detectives in games and shows. The composition of the buildings looks great, and I actually like that they are a bit smaller than usual (looks great in my setup, plus I like the variety). When I built this, the techniques used for the trim and water tower on top of the Detective's Office blew my mind, so clever! Very fun to build, and it looks stunning. Downtown Diner - I'm a sucker for art deco diners. Ever since Palace Cinema released, I realized how much I wanted a modular 1950's diner. I was both surprised and delighted that it happened, plus it had a pink Cadillac-style car, a childhood favorite of mine. Like the AS, the build was filled with so much cunning designs that were super fun to build, filled with lots of great details, from the coffee carafe to the nice touch of the pendant light in the studio (also pancakes and bacon, yes please!). At first I was worried about the proportions of the car, but after building it it looked awesome, my favorite vehicle from the line so far. Also printed faces finally. Not sure about the beige baseplate, If there's a design reason for it, it went over my head. Brick Bank - Although the laundromat looks slightly awkward from the exterior, the rest of the facade is well done. The colors and architecture make it instantly recognizable as a bank. The outer corner has a texture flaw, though like the quoin flaw I can deal with it, not that I'm an advocate of those designs. The interior, as usual starting with the PR, is stunning. I love the bank managers office in particular (did anyone else notice that the portrait foreshadowed face prints?). Speaking of prints, I'm proud of the designers for including the bottom floor window prints. Too bad the cinema didn't, though without that sticker blunder these bank prints probably wouldn't have been made. Fire Brigade - An overall solid building, visually and build-wise. The 1932 sign stood out as one of the most fun complex builds I've built, on par with the water tower in the DO (just as fun, despite being more complex). It's difficult to reach the bottom floor, but the interior detail is good. The fire truck is missing the hose it seems, but other than that it's a good recreation of a 1930's truck (nitpick being the headlights are slightly too low :P). Grand Emporium - As good as the fire brigade for me. My only gripe is that there's only one escalator, forcing minifigures to defenestrate themselves after being inevitably trapped in the toy department. Prototype work Jamie was doing seemed to indicate there was a staircase to go next to the escalator, it was likely cut due to spacing problems, which is too bad. Meanwhile, I love the colors and architecture. The repetitious build of the 2nd and 3rd floor is worth that grand facade in my opinion. Town Hall - At first I jumped on the bandwagon that the facade was too plain, but after building it, the design works quite well for me. My only complaint other than the auditorium feeling squished is that the elevator looks odd and dangerous, though the function works incredible well. There are some clever builds (like that skylight, and the front rooftop trim), but like some of the earlier models it wasn't quite as engaging as later models to build. The display, on the other hand, is impressive. It's not too large, so it doesn't look awkward, but it is larger than other buildings making it look awesome in my layouts. I also enjoy the loose narrative included in the set, pretty clever. Pet Shop - I like how it can be split, and each building looks good by itself or together. It's a decent building experience, with fun callbacks to all the modulars you collected, (or if you're like me you just missed the cafe corner by a couple of months). I wish the townhouse had a fireplace and kitchen sink, but other than that nothing seems to be missing. I like how Jamie captured a cozy neighborhood mood with a fun loose narrative. Cafe Corner - The hotel sign is mirrored when looked at from the wrong side, and as Jamie said: "When you open up the building, you can't help but smile when you look inside and you see that beautiful green carpet." Other than that, it looks great, with some clever parts usage. And I love the color scheme and architecture. I can't say much about the building experience, but it looks substantial. At the moment I'm waiting to see if Lego pull another Taj Mahal and Toy Shop stunt and re-release this, if not I'm probably going to have to be a big spender wherever I can get this. Market Street - As often as I find this set at the base of these kinds of lists, it is still great in my opinion, no hate from me. I quite like the colors, and the Amsterdam architecture with that nice crow stepped gable. The one thing really out of place for me is the flower pot on the sidewalk, which is easy to simply remove. This set also has clever parts usage, such as hair cabbage and those nifty curved railings and stairs. It lacks an interior. I don't have this, from what I've heard the building experience is okay, but not as remarkable as others (which is expected given the intentions of the set design). It's not as impressive as others, but I quite like it. Imma goona get this someday. Palace Cinema - I have some criticisms with this set that have been voiced by many before me: The limo wheel-wells and wheels seem off, the infamous use of stickers (though it did likely allow for new prints later on), and of course windows in the screening room. Other than that, I feel that Jordan and Astrid did an excellent job. The architectural style was something fresh and innovative for a modular building set, and I feel that it worked out just fine, given other entries such as Market Street's Amsterdam influence and Downtown Diner's 1950's Miami vibe. The build was on par with TH other than the stickers. Someday I'm going to try to figure out how to get those stickers permanent or as prints somehow to increase the longevity and durability of the set. This would be higher if it wasn't for the stickers (Which are the bane of me)! This list is kind of fluid, if you asked me next week the order would likely be slightly different.

I'm all for variety among the modulars to an extent, the extent is lenient relative to other opinions I have seen regarding certain architectural choices and colors (not that there's anything wrong with preference of course). I'm one of the people that loves this set. Ever since the Palace Cinema, a 1950's diner in this style was on my mental wish-list of future buildings, and I'm pleasantly surprised they went for it. Ever since the Parisian Restaurant released, I feel that the amount of detail put into the buildings have been nothing less of excellent. This set continues what I feel was a positive development to the series, the set is glowing with detail and style (I love those circular windows at the side of the recording studio, never seen that done before!). My only complaint is that the pink Cadillac (pink Cadillac's were my favorite vehicle when I was a little kid) is a little too short/ out of proportion somehow, those cars irl are like boats (maybe I'm thinking of the wrong model)! I still love that car and will still display it as is, nonetheless. The colors are off in the pictures as mentioned, the actual colors look better and do not bother me at all. I love pink when used right, and I feel it is more than justified in this set, given the architecture, era, etc. I love the pancakes and bacon, the interior of this set reminds me of a diner I used to frequent when I was younger (It was a themed place, I'm not actually old enough to remember the 50's ). There's so much more to talk about, but it would likely be more of the same (me rambling about what I like for 15 more paragraphs). I'm optimistic about modulars in general, especially the recent ones, maybe it's some bias I have towards the newer design choices. What's important to me is that I can honestly say that I am excited to add this to my collection. Great job to whoever designed this set! @ukblock, I agree! Now you're getting me excited to rearrange my table. :)

For me it read as being in the 30s-50s. The art deco seems to be inspired from around then and the carhop minifigure (that skater waitress) seems to be in that era as well. Grand Emporium also seemed to be post 30s, in paticular the outfit the kid with the sideways cap wears.

The lamp to the left is from Assembly Square (probably).

Ever since the Palace Cinema was released I've been looking forward to see some art deco, and this does not disappoint. If this is real (it likely is), I will be getting it as soon as I catch up on the ones I've missed (I'm going to try to get AS and BB this upcoming Christmas season). The architecture is designed well and the colors look awesome! The experimental design was made with good taste and will add more great variety to my display. I'm very excited to get my hands on this one, I can barely stay in my seat (as usual when I see a new modular). Great job to whoever designed this! Hopefully they include the classic : ) faces as an option. If not I'll just get some myself from brick-link.

Based on what I can see on the pictures... The beach and the bus station look pretty great. The beach sort of lacks something that the park had, probably has to do with the mood of the set I'm guessing, but it's still a neat set. The jungle looks okay as well. Like the volcano, diving, and the arctic series, I would probably appreciate them more if they were an exploration subtheme instead of being shoehorned into city. I understand why Lego does that, but it would be nice to free up some room in City for hospital and other city related themes. I've always been a fan of the coast guard theme. This one seems on par with the 2008 one, which I unfortunately never ended up getting despite really liking it. So I'll probably get these ones once I get the chance. In general, I don't see anything very wrong with the sets other than the category error that the exploration sets tend to have, and the coast guard is really nice in my opinion.

FB and GE were also a Jamie design, (that's also why FB has a #3 on the driveway because it was Jamies 3rd design :P) I like the idea of both the greenhouse and arcade modulars, I for one hope it isn't tan, or brown, or a neutral color for the main visage color like the other 3 corners so far.

I really like ingenuitive and highly detailed designs such as this MOC that you've presented. The apparent amount of effort and thought obviously put into this creates excellent eye-candy. :)

I don't consider myself a fan of Ninjago, (the only set that looked tempting to me tbh was that fire temple). This set however took me by surprise, certainly my favorite of the ninjago line, (enough so that I actually made a post to this forum theme 0_o). Great techniques, fantastic detail, and an awesome idea. Based on the pictures, it seems that it will have a nice build too.

I'm not sure this has been mentioned... While watching the video, I noticed that the designer mentioned that the mirror in the barber-shop was a "true reflection mirror." And next to the lamp post part on the side of the box that lists the pieces, there seems to be a non-sticker mirror piece, which is brilliant. I quite like this modular, I'd be dissapointed if I couldn't afford it.

Perhaps "retro" isn't referring to the architecture? Maybe it suggests we won't be getting the classic minifigure heads or something? (Just my initial thought about this)

I really like city displays such as the square you've created; the tiling and the fountain are spot on. I also like the amount of trees, and the newspaper stand is a wonderful detail.

I'd assume mid to late summer, such as with the PR.

The overall shape was done wonderfully and there is a good amount of clever details and techniques crammed into that nice green vehicle. Looks like fun to build! The picnic acessories are a nice touch, it's a fun detail that goes well with the Mini Cooper.

Even though the image doesn't give too much detail, some of the items I noticed (like the white train) look good from a distance. I'm confident I'll end up buying something from one of these 2014 lines.

I really like the idea, the way the building is set up (interrior and exterrior), parts usage, and the colors! It's a nice small building you'd be proud to have in your town.

Very nice! I like the simple yet fantastic design of these buildings. An idea I did have was a haberdashery (aka hat shop). I look forward to see this project progress further

I love all the winter village sets. My favorite is the cottage, because of the good assortment of parts, it was very fun to build with my family, and it seems to capture the holiday spirit better than the other sets do. My least faavorite (which wasn't an easy decision to make) is the Market. It is not the worst by far, but it does seem a little out of place with the usual sets, despite that it looks great as a display near the center of the village. It does lack a function, such as a light brick or sound brick. The carousel function was great but it didn't give the shine that light bricks do (pun intended).

Simply amazing. Everything from the size and scale to the architectural stlye make my heartbeat slow down when I see this impressive building.

Nice! That zombie defense package looks very useful and so does that M2HB Machine Gun!

Amazing review dj2005. This set in my opinion is one of my favorites, exactly what my city needed for quite some time. I love all those pieces, thanks for the pictures! I might buy three of these, one for building, another for the parts, and a third as a gift.

This is really cool, I'm excited to see how this turns out!

Congratulations to the winners! There were lots of great entries!

Those look nice! I like that red canoe