Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Ghostcat]

5 hours ago, Goldenmasamune said:

I personally prefer one large building over multiple smaller ones. you get a more detailed large building and you don't get weird things like people having to walk through a bakery and a dentist office to get to their tiny apartment.

I just saw it as the family owning the building and the girl has her own apartment due to being a new mum!

[Redhead1982]

To add my share to this debate. I like all of the modulars released so far, some of them more and some less. I have multiple copies of many, and I got them for the parts. In this respect,  I have bought two Brickbanks. 

In addition, modulars with more than one building/unit add more detail to "a street" as well as give you more versatile parts to collect and use. Buildings with different widths are realistic. But that's just my opinion.

With that said, I'm looking forward to hear the news on the newest modular building. I'm pretty sure I'll like it either for design or parts used.

[Chilis]

I have all the modulars, multiple of many of them. But the brick bank I have 10 copies of. -Building a gigant-o-bank in the future. And the laundries can be built into one big modular on its own with a huge laundromat in the first floor and apartments in the 2nd and 3rd floor.

 

Hope the 2018 modular will be  a oldstyle police station with jail and garage (smiliar to the FB) or a hospital with ambulance and garage. Or a hardware store

[Carefree_Dude]

Just now, Chilis said:

I have all the modulars, multiple of many of them. But the brick bank I have 10 copies of. -Building a gigant-o-bank in the future. And the laundries can be built into one big modular on its own with a huge laundromat in the first floor and apartments in the 2nd and 3rd floor.

 

Hope the 2018 modular will be  a oldstyle police station with jail and garage (smiliar to the FB) or a hospital with ambulance and garage. Or a hardware store

But if you spend all your money on brick banks, what are you going to keep in your brick banks?

11 hours ago, Ghostcat said:

I just saw it as the family owning the building and the girl has her own apartment due to being a new mum!

 

Even then, the dentist and photography customers also have to walk through a different business to get to their destination.

[ElectroDiva]

3 hours ago, Chilis said:

I have all the modulars, multiple of many of them. But the brick bank I have 10 copies of. -Building a gigant-o-bank in the future. And the laundries can be built into one big modular on its own with a huge laundromat in the first floor and apartments in the 2nd and 3rd floor.

Jeeeez - how big is the rest of your city?

 

Got any pics of any other gigant-o scale builds you've attempted?

[celeb]

Did anyone notice the new photos of CC and GG in high resolution? Could this mean something? It looks like official photos.

[Axylius]

31 minutes ago, celeb said:

Did anyone notice the new photos of CC and GG in high resolution? Could this mean something? It looks like official photos.

where, where ??

kindly, do share a link... 

[jdubbs]

brickset. I took it to mean that they had sourced better images, as they are trying to migrate all images to high res. But a re-release would be great. 

[Kinakina89]

Saw a comment at brickset 

"One of the Lego store staff told me, NOT re-released module. :)"

[just_one]

4 hours ago, Kinakina89 said:

Saw a comment at brickset 

"One of the Lego store staff told me, NOT re-released module. :)"

thats good now announce it already!!

[Brickolta]

18 hours ago, Chilis said:

I have all the modulars, multiple of many of them. But the brick bank I have 10 copies of. -Building a gigant-o-bank in the future. And the laundries can be built into one big modular on its own with a huge laundromat in the first floor and apartments in the 2nd and 3rd floor.

 

Hope the 2018 modular will be  a oldstyle police station with jail and garage (smiliar to the FB) or a hospital with ambulance and garage. Or a hardware store

OMG, 10 brick banks.. That's not even around what I spent last year on Lego and I already thought it was much what I bought 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Brickolta

[Brick Dangerous]

On 6.11.2017 at 4:33 PM, BrickyBoy said:

November 24th, it's Brickmania : the biggest Lego event in Belgium... Would be great if TLG reveals the new modular there. *Dreaming*

 

It's also Brick Friday. 

[kovacs]

13 hours ago, celeb said:

Did anyone notice the new photos of CC and GG in high resolution? Could this mean something? It looks like official photos.

Yes. I found those high-res images yesterday and since I am a Modular Building collector, I sent them to the Brickset staff, because I knew they had only those bad quality images for those models. It seems like they uploaded those. That means nothing. :)

[Herky]

I agree with kovacs, likely means nothing.  I think we get an all new modular, hopefully 1 January and be it a police station, flower shop, hardware store, steakhouse, apartment building, etc I believe any announcement will be held back at least until Nov 24 (Brick Friday) or later due to our ripoff friends in China.  Like it or not, this is going to be the normal process from now on due to that company.  Now I have seen a set in person from that company, it was spot on.  They have also stolen MOC's and re-engineered them, those sets seem to be lacking in quality is my understanding but if it is an official TLG set, then it will get ripped off and sold for way cheaper.  I believe TLG has to protect themselves since any lawsuits will never get resolved.  Sucks for us as AFOL's on building excitement.  We will have to change our mindset to more what we want to see, which we discussed a bit on BB and there are definitely two sides, but I think we all agree we want to see something new for 2018.

 

[Kjellevirus]

@Herky

You are totaly right. It's a pain for us that leaks are harder to get but it's a good thing for the LEGO company. I'm very glad that their security got better. 

 

I'm sure we'll get a new modular in 2018. And like a lot of people I already want to know what it is and what it look like. Be patient and you will see it will be less hard to wait. The sooner the better. I really would like some more shops and nice mini builds inside.

 

[Carisma]

My bet is that Lego would reveal the official news of the next Modular of 2018 by Nov 25th. 

[Wesley D]

15 hours ago, Herky said:

... I believe any announcement will be held back at least until Nov 24 (Brick Friday) or later due to our ripoff friends in China.  Like it or not, this is going to be the normal process from now on due to that company.  Now I have seen a set in person from that company, it was spot on.  They have also stolen MOC's and re-engineered them, those sets seem to be lacking in quality is my understanding but if it is an official TLG set, then it will get ripped off and sold for way cheaper.  I believe TLG has to protect themselves since any lawsuits will never get resolved.  Sucks for us as AFOL's on building excitement.  We will have to change our mindset to more what we want to see, which we discussed a bit on BB and there are definitely two sides, but I think we all agree we want to see something new for 2018.

I've read here several times that LEGO announces new sets ever closer to their release due to copying companies.

I do not quite understand this.

Do these companies offer sets that are based on the exterior of newly announced sets? I guess it isn't possible to reverse engineer a whole set just based on some preliminary pictures. Or do they use espionage when they know of a new upcomming release?

Could it harm LEGO to spread some rumours of a new long-awaited set, like the annualy modular, to get us hyped or calm us down? It would interest me a lot to learn the size, the name, the color or the type of building or buildings we are going to get.

[lifeinplastic]

On ‎03‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 5:57 PM, Roebuck said:

No
Should of course be "Patience is a virtue"

I have to some degree symptoms of a reading disorder, so can sometimes result in a few (funny) errors 

No worries, Roebuck - it would have been a great subtle clue! I'd quite like a doctor's surgery as lots of opportunities for reusing the crutches, bandaged headpiece and wheelchair. Also a printed optician's chart would also be nice.

Either way I am sure there will be lots of great parts like the new tiles in AS or newly coloured pieces. I'm not too worried about what type of building as Lego usually do a great job with these and I prefer to use the great parts for MOCs rather than just recreate the building on the box.

5 hours ago, Wesley D said:

I've read here several times that LEGO announces new sets ever closer to their release due to copying companies.

I do not quite understand this.

Do these companies offer sets that are based on the exterior of newly announced sets? I guess it isn't possible to reverse engineer a whole set just based on some preliminary pictures. Or do they use espionage when they know of a new upcomming release?

Could it harm LEGO to spread some rumours of a new long-awaited set, like the annualy modular, to get us hyped or calm us down? It would interest me a lot to learn the size, the name, the color or the type of building or buildings we are going to get.

I wonder whether releasing something soon after it is announced results in more sales possibly? Perhaps customers are still enthusiastic about the product rather than growing disinterested as time goes on. I know with modulars I always want the newest one, even where there are other big sets I still haven't purchased like the Ferris Wheel and Winter sets. I also remember in the earlier Star Wars days (before I had home Internet), I went out and bought the new sets on seeing them in the shops immediately rather than having months to look at pictures beforehand. Still, I understand your point that they could announce there will be a modular building without giving too much away...

Edited November 9, 2017 by lifeinplastic

[AFOLguy1970]

6 hours ago, Wesley D said:

I've read here several times that LEGO announces new sets ever closer to their release due to copying companies.

I do not quite understand this.

Do these companies offer sets that are based on the exterior of newly announced sets? I guess it isn't possible to reverse engineer a whole set just based on some preliminary pictures. Or do they use espionage when they know of a new upcomming release?

Could it harm LEGO to spread some rumours of a new long-awaited set, like the annualy modular, to get us hyped or calm us down? It would interest me a lot to learn the size, the name, the color or the type of building or buildings we are going to get.

I have wondered the same thing.  There is no way you could figure out the exact instructions with only some photos to go on.  In order for a clone job to be done, someone is going to have to get some inside information.  I doubt any of the bootleggers would want to make a guess at it only to have to completely change their whole line of production when they do get the real instructions.  Besides, who would want to buy a copy based on a guess of what the real instructions are for the set?

As for announcing new sets close to the release date, one possible downside would be that those of us who are more financially challenged need time in order to save up to purchase the set if we do decide we want to own one.  If there are not enough paydays between announcement and release, the new sets could sit on the shelves longer while we are trying to save up for it.  I am very thankful we knew about the Saturn V long before its actual release.  That allowed me to bank the VIP points and patiently await its release.  Had it only been a month or so, I might still be trying to find one.  

[Willworkfortoys]

I do think the sets can be reverse engineered pretty easily dependent on the number of photos and detail provided.  I also think that the cloners do it piecemeal so the earlier they can get to work on their copy the sooner they'll have it out to the market and the sooner TLG will have to compete.  Even if all they know is the majority of the build is light blue 1x2 bricks they can start manufacturing those before they even see the build and already be ahead of the game in getting their copy released.  In addition even if TLG did take people saving money into account (which I really doubt they do) the sets are on shelves for years giving people plenty of time to eventually buy one.   The real trick is offsetting your personal timeline.  I used to buy video games and systems right when released; then I realized if I take a year off and make what I have last another year I'd be two years out from new releases and get them 'new to me' at half the cost and not be stuck in a waiting/saving/pre-order cycle. 

[badbob001]

In regards to the fear of a clone maker releasing a set based purely on pre-release info, has that even happened in the past? They can probably reverse engineer smaller sets based just on just photos, but a modular building would be pretty hard. Of course, I'm not counting the inside-job possibility, where the clone maker can obtain parts or even the instruction booklets from manufacturing.

41 minutes ago, Willworkfortoys said:

The real trick is offsetting your personal timeline.  I used to buy video games and systems right when released; then I realized if I take a year off and make what I have last another year I'd be two years out from new releases and get them 'new to me' at half the cost and not be stuck in a waiting/saving/pre-order cycle. 

Too bad the price of modular buildings don't usually go down over time. At most you would time your purchase to coincide with other promotions like double points and promotional sets.

Edited November 9, 2017 by badbob001
typo

[jdubbs]

Just now, badbob001 said:

In regards to the fear of a clone maker releasing a set based purely on pre-release info, has that even happened in the past?

I forget the specifics, but I believe last year the clonemaker-who-shall-not-be-named managed to release a high-profile set that LEGO had previewed (and I assume, released building instructions for?) faster than LEGO could get it out for sale it themselves. i.e., in the window between LEGO announcing and selling it, the clone maker managed to knock it off and sell it first. 

[Willworkfortoys]

Just now, badbob001 said:

In regards to the fear of a clone maker releasing a set based purely on pre-release info, has that even happened in the past? They can problem reverse engineer smaller sets based just on just photos, but a modular building would be pretty hard. Of course, I'm not counting the inside-job possibility, where the clone maker can obtain parts or even the instruction booklets from manufacturing.

Too bad the price of modular buildings don't usually go down over time. At most you would time your purchase to coincide with other promotions like double points and promotional sets.

I don't know if it has been done before but just looking at the Assembly Square images on Brickset, of which there are 35, they include axonometrics of each floor in addition to detail shops of nearly every room.  I'm not even a particularly skilled builder and I think I could reverse engineer from the photos alone (I may even try it when I have a spare 8 hours). 

As for the price part, I just took his comment to mean that the earlier news is released the better chance you have of saving for a day 1 purchase.  I was just noting you don't need to purchase on day 1 as you'll have a couple years of shelf life to eventually afford it.  But yeah, modulars don't go down.  Fortunately city and other non-exclusives do at least helping save somewhere in a Lego budget.

[badbob001]

Just now, Willworkfortoys said:

But yeah, modulars don't go down.  Fortunately city and other non-exclusives do at least helping save somewhere in a Lego budget.

Not sure if this is a good strategy, but I usually buy full-price items like the modulars on VIP 2x days and use the points later for other sets when they are discounted. But sometimes LEGO may force my hand like with the detective's office, where they offered the companion flower cart set and the holidays already drained me of any non-modular sets to buy.

I think that this is the only time LEGO has released a companion set to a modular building before.

 

Didn't we at one point tried to use this set to forecast an upcoming building? Didn't work. :)

[Willworkfortoys]

Just now, badbob001 said:

Not sure if this is a good strategy, but I usually buy full-price items like the modulars on VIP 2x days and use the points later for other sets when they are discounted. But sometimes LEGO may force my hand like with the detective's office, where they offered the companion flower cart set and the holidays already drained me of any non-modular sets to buy.

I think that this is the only time LEGO has released a companion set to a modular building before.

 

Didn't we at one point tried to use this set to forecast an upcoming building? Didn't work. :)

Yeah, I do the same thing for Lego shop purchases/exclusives.  Basically save up for when there are 2X VIP and and a good freebie.  I stocked up during the VIP set exclusive and 2X VIP.  We also had the balloon cart with the Fairground mixer which was expert creator but not modular.