AFOLguy1970

Judging by the comments, if this is not the next modular, this building will be a tough act to follow for the "real" one. The top seems Tudor, but the rest of it is harder to pinpoint with the type of style. I would imagine Staple Inn in London provided inspiration for the top. It is definitely a nice looking modular. Too bad they did not repeat what they did last year and make it available before Christmas.

Sad to see the modular is reverting back to January 1. This would either mean staying up and risking an overloaded website on New Year's Eve or being there two hours early to the Lego Store the next day. I did not really miss that experience last year. Hopefully they at least retain the preorder option.

An Unexpected Gathering is definitely my favorite Lego set of all, even edging out the Galaxy Explorers. With that said, I kind of wish they had gone the route of Gondor. It seems like the best way to do Hobbiton or "The Shire" would be to make it in microscale like they did with the big Hogwarts Castle. You could still have some minifigs in front of the display with some exclusive ones such as Rosie and others. I am not sure I would pay hundreds for an updated minifig scale Bag End with maybe a tent and party tree. I also fear they might create a Bag End with a couple of other watered down structures such as the tree, Bagshot Row, the bridge, the Green Dragon, etc. separately in the same fashion they did the big Star Wars Assault on Hoth set that disappointed many. A microscale with all of these things together on one build could work aesthetically, but again, you could only really have a few token minifigs to display with that. Of course I will withhold judgment until I see it, but this will really depend on what the approach is.

My local stores also tend not to display models that they do not have in stock. I guess the reasoning is that they do not want to lure people in only for them to be disappointed when they cannot find it.

Having the Natural History Museum come out Dec 1 was much appreciated. It allowed me to build it on Christmas and I get to avoid standing in line with a bunch of other people at the Lego Store on January 1. I am also glad to see that they finally allowed a modular to be pre ordered. The museum itself works well for me. I am not as put off by the olive green as I thought I might be. Also, it is nice to get back to a building that has a single function. Multi-function structures are fine, but I do not think they all have to be done this way. Guess we are getting a corner building next time as this has been the pattern.

I think I am going to save my usage of this service for something really major such as a missing bag or a very noticeable misprint on a printed piece. I wonder if they simply measure the number of times someone uses this and cuts them off after a certain number? Problem is if you buy a lot of sets, you will have a much greater chance of running into a problem, especially with today's quality control.

April 1 happened to correspond with the LUG meeting in the same mall where the Lego Store was. When we got downstairs from the meeting, there was already about 20-25 people in line. Maybe the first 10 people got the UP houses and the Indiana Jones sets. They had them on a rack that was shorter than I was with 3 shelves. It was not even 6 feet long, so there could not have been much to begin with, and that was a limit of 1 per person. My son was disappointed, but I told him to wait a couple of months.

That brick built sax really seems like a missed opportunity. The only thing I can think of is maybe it had something to do with the parts budget. The pizza sign is also nice. Simple, but nice.

Some of you are probably aware of this, but for many (especially the OCD type), this will be a heads up. I was converting my Brick Bank to MILS and then had some parts left over to also convert half of the Pet Shop. I noticed that the bank had the white lamp post on top of a plate on top of the baseplate, while the Pet Shop had the lamp post directly on top of the baseplate. A quick inspection of all modulars revealed that Palace Cinema and every modular before it had the lamp post on the baseplate. Everything after that has a plate between the lamp post and the baseplate. So if you were unaware of this as I was and you insist on your street having lamp posts of the same height, you need to gather some 2x2 plates. I definitely agree with this design change as the lamp post appears much better this way.

I concur that the quality of the 3D printed brick just wont be acceptable for the vast majority of us. Likely, the technology will at some point allow for a compatible brick with superior quality. This is probably something that keeps the higher ups at TLG up at night. I also looked into it due to the difficulty in getting certain parts, but after watching several videos of what was produced, I will wait for technology to improve.

Instead of paying Katy Perry, I wish they hired more people at the warehouses to clear those backlogs. Especially the Billund online PAB. It says it will take up to 28 days to get my order. I can only wish that were true.

I am slowly converting my modulars to MILS as well. For the PC, I am getting 3 bright red 8x8 plates, 3 bright red 8x16 plates, 3 medium stone grey 8x16s, and 2 medium stone grey 4x8's. The bright red plates go over the area where the actual building is, and the grey ones line the sidewalks. Above the baseplate, I use grey corners and completely fill the boundaries with grey technic bricks and grey bricks. I do not use the technic bricks on the side that will face a street. This makes it look like a raised curb (the roads on my shelf display are only two plates thick), and since the modulars have the lighter grey tiles on the edge, it blends in well. The interior 2x2 bricks for support can obviously be any color as they will never be seen. As I go through the other modulars, I can decide what color plates to have on top of the MILS that will both preserve the intended look and keep the outside grey.

Sure there will always be criticism. Even my favorites have flaws as nothing is perfect. I do remember the PR and knew that would be a Day 1 purchase. It was however much shorter than its predecessors as it had a lot of interior and exterior detail. This one remains my favorite to this day. I skipped DO. I just was not wowed after seeing the likes of the PR. DOs biggest criticism is likely the "storyline" and parts usage requiring passages and a Prohibition cookie kitchen. BB was really short, although I like it a lot. Also, a lot of us thought the laundromat should not have taken space from it, which I felt was a valid point. DD was like black licorice--you either loved it or you hated it. I like the colors, the pink car, the fact it could be a "de facto" corner building, and a lot of the build techniques. My only criticism would probably be using the brittle brown parts on the boxing ring, but the issue has since been fixed. Assembly Square was really nice. Only thing is I wish was that the buildings were separable ala Pet Shop. CG was another skip for me. It was $200 at the time and I just was not into it for some reason. The Bookshop is also a favorite. The fall foliage was a bold move, although I the complaint that there is only one book piece seems valid. I do like the Dutch gable of the bookstore and the San Francisco vibe of the other building. Police Station was a Day 1 buy as well. Similar to DD, there was definitely some division on it. I ultimately forgave them for the unfinished wall--I mean why would the donut thief need a trap door if you could just climb over the wall? I like the Hotel almost as much as the PR. My only real critique is that the floors get progressively shorter, especially that upper level. I think raising the top floor one brick height will help--just havent gotten around to it yet. That brings us to the present one. Again, I do not hate it. I think my main problem is inflation. I am looking at this as a $230 plus tax purchase. It does not feel like a $230 building to me. My gut tells me to get Sanctum Sanctorum first. At a glance, I am not really seeing a lot of new build techniques. I do like the colors though. As long as I do not become a statistic of the economy, I will probably end up purchasing it sometime later this year. It is not a bad modular, it simply is not my favorite. Honestly, some people seem to be flabbergasted that others would dare to critique a modular. I think all opinions here are valid, even those I may not necessarily share.

Two of the hotel minifigs are there. The photographer woman is in front of the bookshop and the accountant nearly gets cut off at the far right. Also interesting to note is that the forum discussion on Brickset suddenly vanished completely after there were warnings not to post any leaks or links to them. I am mildly amused that the leak would come literally one day after the big letdown over the whole "Andy Sax" poster. Also funny is that neither of the two musicians depicted are the much anticipated Andy. That would certainly explain why Andy did not appear yesterday since he might not even be in the set! One musician plays the string bass and the other is shown to be a drummer. That is presumably the magician chasing after the bunny. Then you have a singer, the tailor, the pizza chef, and the delivery person. Since it is fun to speculate, I will guess that there is some type of play feature inside that can make people and animals seemingly disappear for the magic act. I also expect a drum set inside and perhaps minifig torsos and pants in the tailor shop.

Look at the back of the brown building. There are 4 1x1 transparent bricks used to make the fairly simple design. They are right next to the small balcony. I would also consider the bottom level of the Brick Bank to also have somewhat of a stained glass effect using transparent green.