Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Faefrost]

On 1/16/2019 at 10:17 AM, paupadros said:

Set 10266 is being listed on Pricevortex (www.pricevortex.com) as "10266 # LEGO Creator Expert Discovery (D2C). The first thing that came to mind was a space shuttle similar to 10231 or 10213, any ideas anyone? 

Either a new Space Shuttle, or maybe a new "Pirate Ship". Perhaps a nice Bluecoat explorer ship? 

[Digger of Bricks]

On 12/23/2018 at 1:06 AM, Faefrost said:

On 12/22/2018 at 9:07 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Oooooh, which incarnation would you be speaking of? One from the comics or perhaps from Nolan's Batman Begins? 

In their Lego Neighborhood Book 2, The Lyles brothers have pictures of a near perfect building for Wayne Industries. An Art Deco office tower with a nice Bat symbol on the front. Not to far from your second picture.

Alright, I just picked up a copy of that book and took a look. Ya know, while you could say that's a bat being portrayed there, I'm pretty sure they were rather evoking the sculpture ornamenting the front of the Niagara Mohawk Building:

 

[Faefrost]

On 1/25/2019 at 12:45 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Alright, I just picked up a copy of that book and took a look. Ya know, while you could say that's a bat being portrayed there, I'm pretty sure they were rather evoking the sculpture ornamenting the front of the Niagara Mohawk Building:

 

It may be. But I just saw it and immediately thought Wayne Enterprises. 

[Hemlock Falls]

On 1/25/2019 at 12:45 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

 I'mpretty sure they were rather evoking the sculpture ornamenting the front of the Niagara Mohawk Building:

 

I actually live a few blocks away from that Niagara Mohawk building, in Syracuse, NY.  I always thought if I ever did try to create an MOC modular based on anything local, there’s no question that would be the first building I try.

[jimmynick]

On 1/25/2019 at 12:45 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Alright, I just picked up a copy of that book and took a look. Ya know, while you could say that's a bat being portrayed there, I'm pretty sure they were rather evoking the sculpture ornamenting the front of the Niagara Mohawk Building

 

Meanwhile, I thought the building was the Chicago Board of Trade:

[SFmuscle73]

Am I the only one that thinks that the days of a single purpose building are a thing of the past?  I guess we’ll never see a hospital, police station, court house or museum.  I for one could use a break of the multi purpose trend. LEGO do you hear me?

Edited January 31, 2019 by SFmuscle73

[Digger of Bricks]

11 hours ago, jamesn said:

Meanwhile, I thought the building was the Chicago Board of Trade:

Both the Wayne Enterprises building from Batman Begins and the build in question featured in the book are definitely based upon the Chicago Board of Trade; but, it is the brick-built ornamentation gracing the latter that I see as taking after the Niagara Mohawk Building's architectural sculpture.

[jimmynick]

Ah, I see, the W thing. Sorry I didn't get it at first.

[Agent 86]

20 hours ago, SFmuscle73 said:

Am I the only one that thinks that the days of a single purpose building are a thing of the past?

I hope not! But, the current "trend" does appear to be to combine multiple purposes to highlight the potential "story" and "playability" with the Modulars (although I would strongly argue that there are plenty of "story" possibilities with a police station, hospital, school, museum, court house, library, etc).

[paupadros]

10265 has leaked and indeed, the 1471-piece set will be a Mustang! I think the numbering's right, although Brickset is listing another vehicle D2C as 10269, yet "vehicle" could mean so many different things! The car looks great, but for some odd reason I'm getting the vibe that it's not as major of a release as previous in the series. Plus, if leaked so early, it may be coming to shelves soon!

[tafkatb]

10 hours ago, paupadros said:

I think the numbering's right, although Brickset is listing another vehicle D2C as 10269, yet "vehicle" could mean so many different things!

There have never been two Creator Expert vehicles in one year before, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

[Bricked1980]

On 2/1/2019 at 7:06 PM, paupadros said:

10265 has leaked and indeed, the 1471-piece set will be a Mustang!

Considering how tight LEGO security usually is, I was pretty shocked to see the Creator Mustang accidentally getting leaked early on LEGO's own website. It does look like a tremendous model though.

Anyway back to Modulars...  I am wondering (hoping) whether Jamie Berrard could be back as the designer for next years set. Unless I'm mistaken he designed the first 4 modular sets before taking a 2 year break whilst Astrid designed Town Hall and Palace Cinema. He then came back and designed the next 4 sets before taking a break again. So now that Jamie has had another 2 year break, maybe that could mean he'll be back on board for next year's set. I'm pretty sure I've read interviews where he mentioned he'd like to return to designing modulars at some point in the future.

[Digger of Bricks]

On 2/1/2019 at 1:06 PM, paupadros said:

Plus, if leaked so early, it may be coming to shelves soon!

According to @SheldonF, it's rumored to have a March release:

 

[paupadros]

1 hour ago, Bricked1980 said:

Considering how tight LEGO security usually is, I was pretty shocked to see the Creator Mustang accidentally getting leaked early on LEGO's own website. It does look like a tremendous model though.

Anyway back to Modulars...  I am wondering (hoping) whether Jamie Berrard could be back as the designer for next years set. Unless I'm mistaken he designed the first 4 modular sets before taking a 2 year break whilst Astrid designed Town Hall and Palace Cinema. He then came back and designed the next 4 sets before taking a break again. So now that Jamie has had another 2 year break, maybe that could mean he'll be back on board for next year's set. I'm pretty sure I've read interviews where he mentioned he'd like to return to designing modulars at some point in the future.

It looks like a great model. Maybe Jamie will do next year's modular. Because he created the line, his models always look cosier, warmer, less in-your-face. I would love to se hom come back. Just out or curiosity, out of non-Jamie modulars, which is your favourite? (Question for everyone). None of the four are stellar models if you ask me, but Downtown Diner is probably the best.

[Bricked1980]

4 minutes ago, paupadros said:

Just out or curiosity, out of non-Jamie modulars, which is your favourite?

I might be in the minority here, but I think out of the 4 modulars Jamie hasn't designed. My favourite is actually Town Hall.

[Vindicare]

It would have to be Palace Cinema(sans car) for me. I’m fond of it because of where it represents. I love the area in Hollywood where the inspiration for the building is. 

[Rick]

I'd love for Jamie to return to designing modular buildings. His designs are indeed more reminiscent of the simple Classic Town days. Out of the non-Jamie modular, the Town Hall and the most recent Corner Garage probably come closest, followed by the Downtown Diner. Palace Cinema probably remains my least favourite modular building.

[ReplicaOfLife]

On 2/5/2019 at 3:13 PM, paupadros said:

It looks like a great model. Maybe Jamie will do next year's modular. Because he created the line, his models always look cosier, warmer, less in-your-face. I would love to se hom come back. Just out or curiosity, out of non-Jamie modulars, which is your favourite? (Question for everyone). None of the four are stellar models if you ask me, but Downtown Diner is probably the best.

Downtown Diner hands down. It's actually one of the best of the entire series (top 5 for me), and propably was the most fun building experience of all. I just loved how all the Lego geometry worked out, especially one the ground floor.

Edited February 6, 2019 by RogerSmith

[Aanchir]

On 1/30/2019 at 9:30 PM, SFmuscle73 said:

Am I the only one that thinks that the days of a single purpose building are a thing of the past?  I guess we’ll never see a hospital, police station, court house or museum.  I for one could use a break of the multi purpose trend. LEGO do you hear me?

Single purpose buildings were never really the norm to begin with. Cafe Corner was a cafe+hotel, Market Street was an outdoor market+bakery+apartment, Green Grocer was grocery store+apartment, etc. The Modular Building sets were mostly single-use from 2009 to 2013, but even that span was neatly split in half by 2011's Pet Shop (vacant apartment+pet shop+loft apartment).

16 hours ago, Rick said:

I'd love for Jamie to return to designing modular buildings. His designs are indeed more reminiscent of the simple Classic Town days. Out of the non-Jamie modular, the Town Hall and the most recent Corner Garage probably come closest, followed by the Downtown Diner. Palace Cinema probably remains my least favourite modular building.

Honestly I don't get much of a "simple Classic Town days" vibe from ANY of the modular buildings. Maybe Market Street, if only for its relatively simple peaked roof construction using basic slopes. But in general I feel like the defining characteristics of the Modular Buildings are their highly detailed textures and color schemes, huge size, complex building level, and extremely varied architectural motifs and part usage even within each building individually… none of which I'd associate with Classic Town.

[Brick Dangerous]

13 hours ago, RogerSmith said:

Downtown Diner hands down. It's actually one of the best of the entire series (top 5 for me), and propably was the most fun building experience of all. I just loved how all the Lego geometry worked out, especially one the ground floor.

Yup, DD all the way. Best building experience of all the modulars so far IMHO. Highly recommended.

[RuffDraft]

3 hours ago, Brick Dangerous said:

Yup, DD all the way. Best building experience of all the modulars so far IMHO. Highly recommended.

This set gets pretty bashed on in the Facebook groups as well – I own it, but like most of my modulars, I haven't had the time to build it yet. Looking forward to it, as I did think it looks great in the store! 

[Herky]

I think DD gets the bad rap and rep is due to the odd use of the floors.  A boxing ring on top of a diner?  Makes no sense.  Corner Garage is a little weird too, a garage with a vet above it.  Not exactly something you find, well pretty much anywhere.  I like the idea of multiple use, but Brick Bank was another example of "play".  Instead of making a full bank, they put a laundry in it.  I am not sure you will ever see that combination in the real world.  It would be good if they did it all somewhat realistic vs just cramming multiple things together for the sake of creating a multi use building.

[adwind]

1 hour ago, Herky said:

I think DD gets the bad rap and rep is due to the odd use of the floors.  A boxing ring on top of a diner?  Makes no sense.  Corner Garage is a little weird too, a garage with a vet above it.  Not exactly something you find, well pretty much anywhere.  I like the idea of multiple use, but Brick Bank was another example of "play".  Instead of making a full bank, they put a laundry in it.  I am not sure you will ever see that combination in the real world.  It would be good if they did it all somewhat realistic vs just cramming multiple things together for the sake of creating a multi use building.

Agree with strange combination of things, however I can't even imagine what can fit a gas station? )) Bank + laundry - possible in my country though :) 

Regarding DD color scheme - it's just a matter of taste. To me - those colors are great.

Edited February 7, 2019 by adwind

[ReplicaOfLife]

On 2/7/2019 at 7:18 PM, Herky said:

I think DD gets the bad rap and rep is due to the odd use of the floors.  A boxing ring on top of a diner?  Makes no sense.  Corner Garage is a little weird too, a garage with a vet above it.  Not exactly something you find, well pretty much anywhere.  I like the idea of multiple use, but Brick Bank was another example of "play".  Instead of making a full bank, they put a laundry in it.  I am not sure you will ever see that combination in the real world.  It would be good if they did it all somewhat realistic vs just cramming multiple things together for the sake of creating a multi use building.

Yeah, some of the combinations they do are a bit weird.

But to be honest: I think they mainly do it to avoid repetition. Just looking at the exterior of many modulars, you'd expect the upper floors to be taken up by apartments or offices (regular or doctor's). But just imagine what it would be like if they actually did that - having one or several apartments in every modular would be extremely repetitive. Adding in a business of any kind makes it much more interesting, and who cares if the arrangements aren't realistic?

I quite like the route they've taken with the last three. Finally, we get three full floors again, and the buildings mostly make sense in the way they are laid out (unlike DO & BB, which don't).

Now just get someone on board again for the next one who likes to do interior detailing, and we're all set .

 

[Herky]

Roger, I looked at your medieval townhouse, great job, supported.  You did one thing I would love to see in a modular in the future which is a slanted roof.  The closest thing we have is the Parisian Restaurant, but yours is more accurate as a real roof looks in many places.  It would be interesting to see if there is ever a roof like that in the next few builds.