[PRESS RELEASE] 10260 - Downtown Diner

[LegoModularFan]

I’m pretty disappointed with the designer video for which I was waiting for a month... As many of you have already said, they are not presenting the DD. This is indeed presenting the “designers” and not the “design”  I still hope that they release a “real” designer video.

Again, many people have already mentioned that the CC had a giant hotel sign. What a shame he doesn’t remember it, perhaps he was speaking about an hotel with an interior or a full hotel... But in that case he should have made it clear. 

Anyway that’s not so bad, maybe they will make an hotel next year. So we already have an idea of the next years modular! That would be nice to have an hotel with interior, at least for me 

As @RogerSmith (thanks!) reminded me (in the Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion topic), Mike says in an interview by Zusammengebaut “I know how much the people love the Modular Buildings but I don’t know why” and a little bit later he says “it’s hard to say I can’t figure out exactly what it is that people love about the Modular Buildings and maybe it was the classic smiley-faces which I just took out... forever” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV50AQA8PcA

It’s just so sad to hear that. I don’t understand how they gave permission to a designer with this mindset to design a modular... Anyway, DD is a very nice piece and this is not to criticize this modular which I love .

Happy New Year everyone 

Edited January 1, 2018 by LegoModularFan

[brickbuilder711]

Happy New Year to everyone first of all!

I want to hazard getting this in person at the LEGO store tomorrow, do you all think it'll fly off the shelves? I just don't feel like ordering it online haha.

Edited January 1, 2018 by brickbuilder711

[SwissBrick]

1 hour ago, brickbuilder711 said:

Happy New Year to everyone first of all!

I want to hazard getting this in person at the LEGO store tomorrow, do you all think it'll fly off the shelves? I just don't feel like ordering it online haha.

Don't have the choice, ordered :-)

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

4 hours ago, brickbuilder711 said:

Happy New Year to everyone first of all!

I want to hazard getting this in person at the LEGO store tomorrow, do you all think it'll fly off the shelves? I just don't feel like ordering it online haha.

You never really know. At my local Lego Store, there is always 10-15 people waiting to get the new modular. Luckily the store stocks enough of them for all of us Day 1 buyers.

[brickbuilder711]

1 hour ago, The Jersey Brick Guy said:

You never really know. At my local Lego Store, there is always 10-15 people waiting to get the new modular. Luckily the store stocks enough of them for all of us Day 1 buyers.

Right on.

I have a good feeling I will walk out happy anyway, seeing how demand is overall a little bit lower for this one plus TLG probably has learned from the past in stocking enough for Day 1 demand and so forth. Mind you this isn't a Millennium Falcon. I won't take much of a chance though, will sneak out when I wake up!

Edited January 1, 2018 by brickbuilder711

[ReplicaOfLife]

Just ordered mine.

It's odd, but I find myself looking forward to getting this a lot more than I did with the last three modulars - really looking forward to building it.

[-zenn]

I'm diggin' the curvyness design!

But I don't get the boxing ring, that's more prohibition era to me... I'd rather see a small podium for gigs or something or something like a garage where they can work on hotrods.
Though imagine having 2 of these; one build in mirror to the other would make a nice big curvy diner.

Edited January 1, 2018 by -zenn

[Tron Of Black]

1 hour ago, -zenn said:

Though imagine having 2 of these; one build in mirror to the other would make a nice big curvy diner.

Oh yes, that’s what I’m planning to do, the mockups for a double-wide building I’ve seen in this thread look great.

[DeanLearner]

What sort of mods are people considering?

I’ve been looking through the pictures and thinking that one of the reason why the colour scheme doesn’t quite work for me is the brown railings below the upper windows, giving the appearance of wood (or rusted metal). Wood just doesn’t fit with the rest of the style, so I was thinking of replacing these parts with dark grey (though I’m not sure what the bracket pieces are they are attached to).

In addition, I’m considering swapping out some of the “Hollywood Star” tiles on the diner walls with something else fitting with the theme, eg the Golden Gate Bridge picture tile, or some of the spare licence plate tiles from the VE Beetle set.

[cimddwc]

I'm considering to make the tan part more streamlined with a rounded corner and without the arches and fences. And maybe add another floor where I’ll try how the round corner shop section of Ninjago City will look at the top - though probably not with its original blue walls and floor.

(And I’ll build it mirrored since I'll put it at the right end of a row of houses.)

[brickbuilder711]

I am right now building it!

So far the only thing I did was build it on a slightly elevated standard to fit with my GFLUG buildings. We have a city block standard with overhanging stud. I made a tiny boo boo and a piece of white plate is exposed at the back door, but I'm doing minor Florida style sand spur grass overgrowth at the back.

I might experiment with making levels 2 and 3 entirely white.

[Lyichir]

For people criticizing Mike Psiaki's direction for this new modular, it's important to keep in mind that the design was done with the guidance of the rest of the Lego Creator Expert design team—including but not limited to Jamie Berard. Mike did not singlehandedly make an executive decision to do away with the classic smileys, or to focus on a later architectural style—those sorts of decisions would be made with the input and approval of the team as a whole. In the presentation posted a few pages ago Mike made no effort to hide the fact that Jamie played a significant role critiquing each new iteration of the set design.

I really don't want to end up seeing people blaming all the things they don't like about this modular on the mere fact that Jamie wasn't the lead designer this time around. I've already seen too much of that crap from people trying to delegitimize Astrid's models (Town Hall and Palace Cinema). While it's true that each designer will have their own sensibilties that will be reflected in their models, they aren't designing in a vacuum.

P.S.: Regarding the bit where he describes vehicles in modulars as popular, I would not be entirely surprised if that is the case for the modulars' wider audience. Jamie himself has mentioned that despite the Fire Brigade being mercilessly criticized online for various aspects including the more American design, small fire engine, and two-floor construction, it sold better than any of the previous modulars. It's easy to forget that the online fan community often represents a small minority of even adult Lego buyers, many of whom may never engage with the wider community. And their opinions and preferences don't always align with the ones you see on sites like Eurobricks or Brickset.

[DeanLearner]

9 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

For people criticizing Mike Psiaki's direction for this new modular, it's important to keep in mind that the design was done with the guidance of the rest of the Lego Creator Expert design team

Fair point, and I agree that it’s unfair to single out Mike Psiaki for perceived flaws in the new set.

That being said, I think that Lego have also contributed to a bit of a PR mis-step. The new style of video, while being more unscripted and naturalistic, does shift the focus from the set itself to the designer, and consequently puts the designer in the cross hairs for any slight instance of mis-speaking (e.g. the comment about there being no modular hotel, or a comment elsewhere about not knowing why people like modulars).

The bottom line is that the designers aren’t politicians: they’re not there for their slick media presences, and I’d prefer to judge them on the work itself.

(That being said, while I do quite like the new pink car, most of the modular vehicles have been woefully inferior to the quality of the buildings they accompany, and in the case of the limo from PC, inferior to even Lego City equivalents.

I still think this latest vehicle requires modding to avoid the uncanny valley it is in at present, and I believe that if they couldn’t get it quite right then they should have omitted it entirely.)

Edited January 1, 2018 by DeanLearner
Grammar

[AFOLguy1970]

Just got back from the Lego Store.  It is about a 30 mile drive for me.  Went in about noon with the full intention of purchasing Detective's Office and saving the Diner for a later in the year purchase.  Of course, this is the one time I did not call ahead, and they had every modular except the DO   Then, I spotted two Diners sitting on the shelf and grabbed one.  Guess it ended up being a Day 1 purchase after all.  Usually, they run out of the new modular before lunchtime, so it was quite unexpected.  They did not have a display model in the front, so still have yet to see it in person.  The store manager felt like they had enough to get through the day.  There were a ton of Brick Banks as well....

6 minutes ago, DeanLearner said:

Fair point, and I agree that it’s unfair to single out Mike Psiaki for perceived flaws in the new set.

That being said, I think that Lego have also contributed to a bit of a PR mis-step. The new style of video, while being more unscripted and naturalistic, does shift the focus from the set itself to the designer, and consequently puts the designer in the cross hairs for any slight instance of mis-speaking (e.g. the comment about there being no modular hotel, or a comment elsewhere about not knowing why people like modulars).

The bottom line is that the designers aren’t politicians: they’re not there for their slick media presences, and I’d prefer to judge them on the work itself.

(That being said, while I do quite like the new pink car, most of the modular vehicles have been woefully inferior to the quality of the buildings they accompany, and in the case of the limo from PC, inferior to even Lego City equivalents.

I still think this latest vehicle requires modding to avoid the uncanny valley it is in at present, and I believe that if they couldn’t get it quite right then they should have omitted it entirely.)

The things I miss from the prior designer videos are (1) the presentation of new parts available in the set, and (2) the designer's motivations behind why they designed the set in the way that they did.  I was wondering if the designer was an Elvis fan, or if they grew up near a diner they were fond of, if Miami Beach was a favorite travel destination, and how they chose the name "Jim".  It is nice to learn about the designers themselves, but I would like to know how they personalized their build.  We tend to get that more in previous videos.  

As for the car, it is not too bad.  The only real critique I have is that it seems like they could have done better with the windshield.  

Of course, now that I think about it, it is kind of cruel to have the city's only parking meter exactly in the spot where you would have to wait to have your food brought out to your car.  

 

 

[koalayummies]

29 minutes ago, AFOLguy1970 said:

Just got back from the Lego Store.  It is about a 30 mile drive for me.  Went in about noon with the full intention of purchasing Detective's Office and saving the Diner for a later in the year purchase.  Of course, this is the one time I did not call ahead, and they had every modular except the DO   Then, I spotted two Diners sitting on the shelf and grabbed one.  Guess it ended up being a Day 1 purchase after all.  Usually, they run out of the new modular before lunchtime, so it was quite unexpected. 

Haha, what a lucky AFOLguy! Thats a pretty awesome consolation modular. I think here in California all new sets sell out at 10:01am. 

[DeanLearner]

35 minutes ago, AFOLguy1970 said:

As for the car, it is not too bad.  The only real critique I have is that it seems like they could have done better with the windshield.

Yeah I’m going to look into fitting in a 2x6x2 angled windscreeen piece (though I suspect I’ll end up needing to lengthen the chassis, and potentially the wheelbase, a little).

[brickbuilder711]

Shameless plug of my 41093 MOD (& MADO MOC for those that have been to Turkey).... But anyway 

Edited January 2, 2018 by brickbuilder711

[Vindicare]

Just got through building it. I feel bad for those anal folks who needs those 1x1’s perfectly straight.  The diner is really fanstastic, I love the napkin holder & mustard/ketchup details. The grey detailing on the roof is pretty clever as well. 

 

I’m in the camp of not liking the face change(it’s not a huge bummer or anything though), but getting the rocker in hand is really helping me cope with the change. He’s great. 

[Fraden]

I bought it yesterday at my local lego store (they had 3 left :P) 

Currently part way through building it, I kept getting distracted. The faces don't bother me, I usually swap them out anyway, so this has saved me some time. 

Now the place I put my modulars is full, I need to try and make room :P

[ReplicaOfLife]

23 hours ago, RogerSmith said:

Just ordered mine.

It's odd, but I find myself looking forward to getting this a lot more than I did with the last three modulars - really looking forward to building it.

...aaand I just got a mail that it's backordered...

 

And again I really wish there was a Lego store somewhere closer to me than a 200+ km drive

[LegoModularFan]

Here are two reviews I found about the DD. I hope to see a review from Jangbricks soon too...

 

[brickbuilder711]

Granted I may not be an expert at reviews, but I dropped my $0.02, and the back story for my image post earlier :))

 

 

[bobbybats]

Jang's review is up! 

 

[LegoModularFan]

21 hours ago, AFOLguy1970 said:

Just got back from the Lego Store.  It is about a 30 mile drive for me.  Went in about noon with the full intention of purchasing Detective's Office and saving the Diner for a later in the year purchase.  Of course, this is the one time I did not call ahead, and they had every modular except the DO   Then, I spotted two Diners sitting on the shelf and grabbed one.  Guess it ended up being a Day 1 purchase after all.  Usually, they run out of the new modular before lunchtime, so it was quite unexpected.  They did not have a display model in the front, so still have yet to see it in person.  The store manager felt like they had enough to get through the day.  There were a ton of Brick Banks as well....

Wow, exactly the same thing happened to me! I normally was planning to buy the DO as a Christmas gift for myself  But I could not have time to go and get one until the new year. Yesterday the Lego Store here at Paris was unfortunately closed  So I went back today but on the shelves, there were only DD (and the Old Fishing Store which is similar but not a modular). I ended up buying the DD! 

[Vindicare]

11 hours ago, Fraden said:

I bought it yesterday at my local lego store (they had 3 left :P) 

Currently part way through building it, I kept getting distracted. The faces don't bother me, I usually swap them out anyway, so this has saved me some time. 

Now the place I put my modulars is full, I need to try and make room :P

This is me right now...figuring out where it’s going to go.

 

The real question is....whose camera was left in the Diner?!  Clue to next years... Just to add also, the “DINER” sign was a pretty neat build. The connection to the diner was interesting(to a non MOCer like myself). 

And, after finishing the diner portion, I was thinking what a great small Modular this would’ve made on its own. With so many people wishing for a smaller, cheaper Modular...I thought this would’ve been a great one.