Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Maple]

17 minutes ago, antp said:

Same for me. With the dark red it reminds me too much the Fire Brigade. And it does not work so well with the Azure.

Exactly! It looks like the fire brigade and the bottom blue looks awful. If it were dark blue the light blue would have matched better and blue and yellows look great next to each other.

I hope someone with CAD skills can build the set in dark blue.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Maple

[Giacinto Consiglio]

Quite disappointing design. The back is completely bare and the roof greenhouse clearly lacks a proper top (amongst many more meh things). It's architecturally unintelligible why the friends-like pillars on the pizzeria are yellow, just like the rest of the walls, and not white: from Renaissance and on, if you use a colour or a material for the wall, then columns, lesenas, cornices and so on are always of a different (frequently lighter) color, to enhance the "readability" of the façade; then suddenly the wall behind the facade turns !medium nougat! as if it was somehow linked to the chimney of the pizzeria wood oven...disappointed also by the excessive price, it will be the first time I don't buy it at day one and the first time I'll modify several elements, at least in the facades.

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Giacinto Consiglio

[Maple]

10 minutes ago, 24nolf said:

I think folks not familiar with PR might be a little confused here. 

Reading an interview can be like dating. 

Don't try to explaining your insanity to us thinking we are dumber than you. We aren't, get off your high horse. There have been LEGO interviews were you can tell things were off. This isn't one of them. Watch the interview where he talks about designing the set. It sounds like every set design process ever. 

You must be a nightmare to date.

[MJLJ]

I suppose I’d better get the salt and pepper out….. It’s not that the jazz club looked bad. It’s just some of the Mocs out there these days look amazing! 

[badbob001]

@24nolf I can understand why the foosball set needs an explanation since it's very different from the design voted for. But what makes you think LEGO themselves thinks the Jazz Club is a failure and needs explaining? Just based on the existence of the interview and its PR-filtered content? Were there other interviews in the past that were different because of LEGO's own opinion on the set? Now if there is an embargo on reviews until AFTER the set is released, then I would be suspicious. And they better not slash the price down by 30% a few weeks later like some other set. That would be just awesome horrible.

[Jdrewg]

30 minutes ago, badbob001 said:

I'm curious about what you're talking about? Is it this?

 

 

 

Is there a "fixed" version? I see this on the US Lego site.

I'm more curious about what is on the second floor of the pizzeria and what those four axels are for.

That's it!

[jonwil]

Its very cool that they were able to take the double bass part originally intended Vidiyo and use it in this set.

 

[lomis]

32 minutes ago, badbob001 said:

I'm more curious about what is on the second floor of the pizzeria and what those four axels are for.

I believe their holding rolls of different color “fabric” for the tailor. 

[BrickFit26]

4 hours ago, chezzymann said:

My headcanon is that this is inspired by new orelans so the primary colors arent too out of place actually with that logic 

 

This! Bright primary colors are the norm in houses and buildings all over the world too. You see it all over Latin America, so the colors don't bother me. It adds a pop to the others.

And the JC look so much better next to the BH. As always the actual reveal pictures make it look so much better. 

[Maple]

32 minutes ago, badbob001 said:

@24nolf And they better not slash the price down by 30% a few weeks later like some other set. That would be just awesome horrible.

It will be $200 within 6 months. LEGO increased the prices just so companies to stick them 'on sale' for the old price. The Hotel is still $200 everywhere, besides Target where it's $201. There hasn't been a modular on sale since the fall of 2018. Even corner garage never went on sale. (And that one is the only one I don't own besides the first 4.)

[BrickFit26]

2 hours ago, hoppa said:

None of this is said like that and you do a gross misrepresentation of the text.

I just finished reading the interview and 100% agree with you. It was a very fun normal interview with the designer letting us in on the process that it takes to complete a modular. And they basically see all our critiques from lack of detail, color, and having more than one business in one modular. I love how he says thay a single business will make a comeback but they have to had a good use for it.

But I did disagree with him on the JC not being the whole building because it wouldn't work. The first floor could have been the band stage and some chair up close with room for dancing. Second floor could have been the eating bar area looking down and enjoying the Jazz and the third could have been the office where all the nefarious deals happen. 

[Ginger Ninja]

1 hour ago, MJLJ said:

I suppose I’d better get the salt and pepper out….. It’s not that the jazz club looked bad. It’s just some of the Mocs out there these days look amazing! 

Exactly. What we have to remember is that Lego designers not only have to make something that looks good, but they have to it make stable and buildable. MOCers have no such limitations, and can make things as flimsy and as complicated as they like for the sake of detail.

I think the designer of the jazz club did a great job.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Ginger Ninja

[hoppa]

6 minutes ago, Ginger Ninja said:

Exactly. What we have to remember is that Lego designers not only have to make something that looks good, but they have to it make stable and buildable. MOCers have no such limitations, and can make things as flimsy and as complicated as they like for the sake of detail.

And price is no issue too. For Lego the retail price for sure is a consideration. They want a profit and a price point that still sells. I once built a 16 wide modular sizes building with details on a level that was surpassing the modulars. The bricks for that basically half-a-modular cost me 250e, more than the price of a full modular.

Edited December 14, 2022 by hoppa

[The Stud]

1 hour ago, 24nolf said:

I believe we are supposed to see some other VIDIYO elements in BAM.

I think folks not familiar with PR might be a little confused here. The point of giving Brickset an interview was so the designer could provide explanation. The interview is released the moment the set is revealed to mitigate backlash. This PR approach is a common and by no means unique to TLG.  The designer gives you detail in some cases without being asked. I believe the designer addresses all the big questions fans had. The interview asks the right questions in a nice way and a few the designer preemptively addresses. For example the interviewer didn't have to ask about size of the set because the designer previously addresses the budget constraints.

Reading an interview can be like dating. Questions and answers are not always direct which can of course lead to different interpretations. The more experience you have the better you become at reading the tea leaves. The Foosball table interview is much more blunt than this one for folks looking for a recent comparison. I also recommend the roller coaster video interview where Jamie addresses the state of trains. He couldn't be more clear but his answers are in PR speak. That interview is a perfect learning tool because it was done several years ago so you get to see Jamie tell you in PR speak exactly where trains are going years before it happens. I hope this helps folks because TLG has been doing a lot more of these and we should expect that to continue. 

Oh, I think people have a decent grasp what PR is; everyone is just confused with this narrative you're pushing. I read the actual article after your previous post and have no idea how you reached some of the conclusions you reached. You seem to think this interview is damage control and that Lego was expecting some sort of backlash to this set, as if we don't get these sorts of interviews almost every time a D2C is unveiled and being promoted. We get it, you don't like the set. You don't need to quantify it by performing mental gymnastics.

 

I think the set looks decent. My interest has waned the more I've looked at it over the last few days though. It's a good set and I personally like the colors; unless it needs to be accurate to something like Star Wars, I generally like my Lego to be bright and colorful. The set just doesn't blow me away like a lot of the previous Modular Buildings. I'm also a bit bored with the style of Modular Buildings where it's two smaller buildings versus one large building though. The figures are nice, though I feel like I'm missing the classic smiley faces more and more with each of these annual Modular Buildings. I do kinda wish we got something a bit more impressive for a Pizzeria-related Modular Building though. I've wanted one forever but this one feels a bit like an afterthought and not really what I was imagining. Fortunately, a city can have more than one pizza place and this one especially reminds me of the kind of hole-in-the-wall type places you'd see in NYC. Despite some of my gripes, I do like the set and plan to get it eventually. After all, I have almost every one of the Modular Buildings since the Palace Cinema, except for the Brick Bank, Book Shop and Police Station; which the latter two are still readily available so no stress there. This set is pretty low on my D2C wishlist though as I still have those two other current Modulars I'm missing, the Sanctum Sanctorum and a few Star Wars UCS sets I want to get first.

Edited December 14, 2022 by The Stud

[Undi3sss]

I kinda feel like it would've looked better without the Pizzeria side; just making the Jazz Club side bigger. Had this same thought last year with the Art Gallery. 

Is the Tailor the same guy from the Bookstore (minus different pants); does ge go and buy "Sewing for Dummies" books to keep his business a float!? 😂

 

Also kinda sad I didn't get around to finishing my first moc modular before this got revealed, since it has a pizzeria that looks very similar on the inside (at least this one doesnt also have a butcher shop and mafia office 😂). 

 

[Shiva]

Maybe the bookstore guy is the tailors apprentice? Atleast the possibility is there, if reading the brickset article.

I wonder, how can an interview from september, be "damage control" ? + I do agree with hoppa

The football table, the interviews regarding it, were in my opinion, quite good on explaining why LEGO had to downsize it.

 

[Jdrewg]

4 hours ago, badbob001 said:

Is there a "fixed" version? I see this on the US Lego site.

The error IS up on the US Lego site. In fact, they show the BOX printed with it.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/jazz-club-10312

[Lyichir]

11 minutes ago, Shiva said:

Maybe the bookstore guy is the tailors apprentice? Atleast the possibility is there, if reading the brickset article.

I wonder, how can an interview from september, be "damage control" ? + I do agree with hoppa

The football table, the interviews regarding it, were in my opinion, quite good on explaining why LEGO had to downsize it.

 

Well said. More often than not, what the designers say in interviews tends to be fairly straightforward explanations of how they came to the end result. And I find that kind of insight into concrete design challenges and how they're resolved far more enlightening overall than trying to wring out some sort of secret subtext that happens to reinforce your preconceived notions about why a set is supposedly "bad".

[Silverhurst]

Anyone able use the modular lineup shot to photoshop the Jazz Club with the Police station on the right (so the pizzeria is next to the donut shop) and AS on the left? I'd do it myself, but won't be near my computer until after Christmas. Thanks 

[bright22]

I haven't said some "wow" modular sets for a while.. finally I can say it for this set.. 

I don't like the Police station. The 3-block buildings looks so ugly

The Hotel looks good individually, however it's looks bad when it's join to other modular, never make sense

This one.. it's kind of "back to normal". 

The buildings looks good, it can join to other easily.. there are so many + in there 

However as the Lego sets are so expensive now.. I won't buy it until they will have discount in department stores

 

 

 

 

[Yperio_Bricks]

58 minutes ago, Silverhurst said:

Anyone able use the modular lineup shot to photoshop the Jazz Club with the Police station on the right (so the pizzeria is next to the donut shop) and AS on the left? I'd do it myself, but won't be near my computer until after Christmas. Thanks 

Here you go:

[Silverhurst]

10 minutes ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Here you go:

Thank you so much. Nice crop job too. I thought the yellow might look good next to the purple, but it feels a bit clashy. Also, placed like that the difference in floor heights between JC and both the others becomes more noticeable. 

[Vindicare]

On 12/13/2022 at 12:20 PM, Ginger Ninja said:

I definitely understand people not loving the blue. Although I do think it makes it ‘pop’ in a way that makes sense for this kind of establishment. I think I’ll have to see it in person to know for sure whether or not I like the colour.

After seeing pictures of the real thing & not the render, the blue doesn’t look as bad. It’s a shame, per the interview, that dark red was originally dark blue. It would’ve paired better with the bottom floor blue & wouldn't make it stick out so much. 

[jonahtron]

Question:

Noticing that this set is coming out on the 4th January, is a bit of a shame- my usual New Year’s Day plans scuppered there- has this happened before?

I’m hoping if it’s just that some stores have inventory issues and they could have it in on the 1st after all…

[jonahtron]

4 hours ago, Vindicare said:

After seeing pictures of the real thing & not the render, the blue doesn’t look as bad. It’s a shame, per the interview, that dark red was originally dark blue. It would’ve paired better with the bottom floor blue & wouldn't make it stick out so much. 

I like it a LOT more in the videos and official images. It’s absolutely not as interesting a building as some previous recent ones, but has lots of potential.

I think I will be modding mine HEAVILY in this way as it is still a little… flat looking. I love getting 2 business’s, however I always feel it compromises both so the main excitement for me is modding them all.

1-I’ll probably try out black in the ground floor as my first choice (2nd choice dark green) as it’s quite Common for jazz clubs to have a black exterior. And add some more gold or perhaps try to make some more neon signage.

2-I will definitely be splitting the pizza place and bulking it up from 10 wide into a 16 wide on a separate plate, though I’m not sure how I’d bulk up the jazz club section to fill 32 yet… perhaps centring the main build on the plate and recessing 5 studs worth either side- might give it a bit more visual interest and make it less flat. One thing for sure- I don’t need another pizza place. Not sure what it could be though, anyone have thoughts on what style of Business would suit the yellow pizzeria?

3- I HAVE to have a full band with trumpet player, baby grand piano perhaps blue’s electric guitar player also. It’s criminal that there’s no piano player here!

4- looking forward to thanking some very enterprising nerd laboriously building this is Stud.io for everyone so we can play around with the colours etc… have they done it yet???? 

5-would it be totally insane to use the jazz quartet as a kind of rooftop advertisement?

Edited December 15, 2022 by jonahtron