Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[RichardGoring]

44 minutes ago, jus1973 said:

On a separate note, I’ve unpacked mine, and managed to get the entire contents of the large box, into the smaller internal box.  I do wish TLG would look at their box sizes.  It’s got to be financially cheaper to ship them in smaller boxes, and less polluting too.  

For storage of backlogs it would be great if they did this too! 

I've always thought they did it for the experience of spending a lot of money on something large, rather than being put off spending loads on a relatively small, and therefore immediately less impressive box. Shelf presence can have a decent impact on purchasing.

[jus1973]

3 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

For storage of backlogs it would be great if they did this too! 

I've always thought they did it for the experience of spending a lot of money on something large, rather than being put off spending loads on a relatively small, and therefore immediately less impressive box. Shelf presence can have a decent impact on purchasing.

True, but how much is sold through bricks and mortar stores these days.  For me it’s only the discounts in supermarkets that I buy in person.  In the UK we have a catalogue store called Argos, which usually has decent discounts from time to time too.  You don’t see the box until you’ve bought it.  

[RichardGoring]

6 hours ago, jus1973 said:

True, but how much is sold through bricks and mortar stores these days.  For me it’s only the discounts in supermarkets that I buy in person.  In the UK we have a catalogue store called Argos, which usually has decent discounts from time to time too.  You don’t see the box until you’ve bought it.  

I'm from the UK originally, so very, very familiar with Argos! 

Agreed that many sets are now likely sold online/distant, and yet I still think has something to do with it. Although they did reduce some of the box sizes a few years ago, didn't they? And there are plenty of companies that actively try to reduce package sizing to save on shipping and storage costs. But I suspect there is a balance for product perception still.

[Lion King]

To anyone who already got Natural History Museum, are you planning to build it right away? If so, I’ll like to hear your opinion on this set. 

[OccamsRazor]

Lego boxes have always been unnecessarily big - if anyone has, ahem, bought alternate brands, you'd be shocked at how compact the boxes can be if you go to the other extreme of compressing it as much as possible. It's all to do with perceived value. I'm sure Lego ships using sea freight, so the extra cost due to larger boxes is negligible. Even if you shop online and get it delivered, there's still perceived value in seeing an enormous box arrive at your doorstep in exchange for the $300 you paid.

I'm surprised there's so much controversy over the color - I personally loved it. In fact I was slightly miffed at the color choice, because I'm building an olive green apartment complex with white, dark green, dark tan and tan accents myself. Olive green hasn't been used in a while - now my building will be less refreshing when it's done :(

A 48-wide museum kind of makes sense - most museums are huge, but realistically all Lego modular buildings are compressed anyway. Relative to the Town Hall and Emporium it's about right. I think I would have preferred it to be a standalone building on 2 baseplates, with 8 studs empty on both sides for some landscaping, to make it look bigger. That way, it can be displayed as a standalone building, but can also be displayed in a row alongside other modulars - I don't see a problem with having a gap.

My problem with it is that due to the size of the building vs the budget constraints the designer had, it looks like a relatively simple build. A lot of the build ends up being stacking of bricks, and that plain back wall sticks out. Even though the back isn't always visible, I would have preferred more detailing. Maybe a balcony or space viewing area?

I still haven't bought the Jazz Club (base price point is a tad high and sale wasn't good enough where I am, I'm not a completionist), but I'll probably get the Museum. If I don't like it in the end it'll be a good olive parts pack.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by OccamsRazor

[Lyichir]

35 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

Lego boxes have always been unnecessarily big - if anyone has, ahem, bought alternate brands, you'd be shocked at how compact the boxes can be if you go to the other extreme of compressing it as much as possible. It's all to do with perceived value. I'm sure Lego ships using sea freight, so the extra cost due to larger boxes is negligible. Even if you shop online and get it delivered, there's still perceived value in seeing an enormous box arrive at your doorstep in exchange for the $300 you paid.

Perceived value is definitely a factor—I've heard that one aspect that is very important to Lego is to have the picture on the front of the box be close to actual size when possible (which is part of why when Lego started dialing back some of their box sizes a few years ago, some boxes for smaller sets got thinner instead of having their front dimensions reduced).

But there's also definitely some benefit to giving certain parts some "breathing room", since more flexible parts like foliage pieces could potentially be damaged if the box were packed as tightly as possible. In those cases it's sort of similar to how bags of chips are packed with air to prevent them from turning to crumbs during shipment.

[OccamsRazor]

8 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

I've heard that one aspect that is very important to Lego is to have the picture on the front of the box be close to actual size when possible (which is part of why when Lego started dialing back some of their box sizes a few years ago, some boxes for smaller sets got thinner instead of having their front dimensions reduced).

But there's also definitely some benefit to giving certain parts some "breathing room", since more flexible parts like foliage pieces could potentially be damaged if the box were packed as tightly as possible. In those cases it's sort of similar to how bags of chips are packed with air to prevent them from turning to crumbs during shipment.

Having the picture be representative makes sense.

 

And you're right, having the contents burst out isn't an ideal experience and may risk bending/scratching parts - I wasn't suggesting that extreme. In my experience most Lego boxes contain between 33-50% air. If they weren't interested in perceived value and just wanted to minimise shipping cost, they could reduce the size (or thickness) of the box by a quarter and still leave room for the parts to wiggle around comfortably.

[RichardGoring]

Being in separate bags also doesn't help with efficient packing and takes up a lot of space. I think this will be even more so when paper bags get fully rolled out, but I've only had a couple of small paper bags from smaller sets, so don't know what they're like with larger collections of parts.

[PK82]

I've finished bag 6 and I have a dark tan 1x1 brick left and it drives me nuts as I can't figure out where it's missing. Or is surplus? Don't recall ever having a surplus brick in a set.

Edited November 29, 2023 by PK82

[jus1973]

2 hours ago, PK82 said:

I've finished bag 6 and I have a dark tan 1x1 brick left and it drives me nuts as I can't figure out where it's missing. Or is surplus? Don't recall ever having a surplus brick in a set.

I have finished bags 1-7 and don’t have a spare brick, so perhaps check through bag 6s steps and double check.  That being said, I have had a spare 1x1, or 1x2  brick in at least 2 of my modulars.  Can’t remember which but i think the more recent ones.  I only have from the Cinema onwards.  I usually expect spare 1x1 tiles, plates, and other small odd parts, from each one of the internal bags.  Bricks, however are rarer.  I always do a double check of each step if I have one.

[Lyichir]

My copy arrived yesterday and my sister and I finished the ground floor today!

Somebody was mentioning the way the box is packed not being the most efficient use of the space (mentioning that all the bags could've fit in the internal box alone), but having started building the set I can understand why it was packed the way it is. The internal box includes the baseplates, cardboard-packed instructions, and all the bags needed for the large ground floor. The baseplates and instructions necessitate a minimum depth of the internal box (so that they can be packed flat against one of the sides), and the separation of the ground floor bags from those of the upper floor and roof prevents you from having to sort through all 30 bags at a time. So while that packing method does leave extra space in the box, it MASSIVELY streamlines the building experience and keeps the very start of the build process from feeling like a chore.

Speaking of which, this isn't a new thing for large sets but I have to mention what a huge boon it is to have each bag numbered separately instead of having all the bags for each floor share a number like on the oldest modulars. Not only does this ensure you never have to wonder if you've missed a bag with the number you need next, but on an extra-wide modular like this especially it prevents you from being overwhelmed by such a huge selection of parts at once.

[RichardGoring]

9 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

Speaking of which, this isn't a new thing for large sets but I have to mention what a huge boon it is to have each bag numbered separately instead of having all the bags for each floor share a number like on the oldest modulars. Not only does this ensure you never have to wonder if you've missed a bag with the number you need next, but on an extra-wide modular like this especially it prevents you from being overwhelmed by such a huge selection of parts at once.

I built Bolt Build's alt-build of Hogwarts into a 32x48 University, and started by dumping all the pieces into a playmat bag. It made me realize that my old school technique of rummaging through the parts bin didn't really work, so I did a combination of rummaging and sorting as I went. If memory serves, it uses over 5000 pieces from the set, so a lot to get through. Looks great at the end though.

But yes, you really appreciate new sets with small numbers of parts in numbered bags!

[Lion King]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

Speaking which, this isn't a new thing for large sets but I have to mention what a huge boon it is to have each bag numbered separately instead of having all the bags for each floor share a number like on the oldest modulars. Not only does this ensure you never have to wonder if you've missed a bag with the number you need next, but on an extra-wide modular like this especially it prevents you from being overwhelmed by such a huge selection of parts at once.

 

54 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

But yes, you really appreciate new sets with small numbers of parts in numbered bags!

As a deafblind AFOL here, I do agree. I truly appreciate that there are small numbered bags. I built Police Station, Boutique Hotel, Jazz Club, Bookshop and Ddowntown Diner (all. In order that I built) this year. 

I found that Police Station, Boutique Hotel, Jazz Club and Bookshop such easier for me and my relatives who volunteer to assist me in building) and I did notice that Downtown Diner was unite overwhelming for my relatives as they had to look for certain pieces in a large amount of pieces in each bag. I would understand how inexperience that older Modular sets’ large numbered bags threw them off and get them overwhelmed. I do have unopened Parisian Restaurant and Corner Garage sets next year so we will deal with the large-bag challenges again. 

My relatives do agree that mall numbered bags are better!

 

[BrickFit26]

I'm a little surprised Assembly Square is still available. Since it's supposed to be retired and a new modular of the same size is out and AS being the 10th anniversary modular that it would have sold out first, but Police Station sold out faster. Interesting.

[RichardGoring]

I could imagine then selling out of the Police station first as other retailers had it in a 25% off sale recently, but only LEGO discounted Assembly Square. They may have stocked accordingly?

[BrickFit26]

They probably did. I would have thought they kept a certain amount of stock for Insiders weekend and then another amount of stock for the actual black Friday weekend. But I guess not.

[cosmic]

I'm so glad we have a general modular buildings thread because I love going back and giving commentary on retired builds. And the timing is perfect because the builds I'm commenting on are retiring this year but not yet retired. 

For the Bookshop, I love most of the set but I'm rewatching review videos and see how the shelves all use brick pieces and tiles to represent books. The only physical Lego book we get is Moby Brick. I wish we got more of this proper book piece with other Legofied takes on classic literature. If even on 1 shelf, I wish we got actual book pieces stacked side by side, even if other "books" on that shelf were brick built, I wish we had more than just Moby Brick in this set.

When rewatching a review of the assembly square I am appalled by that "music shop"? There are literally only 2 guitars and so much empty walking space and space on the walls.It's easy to modify which I enjoy and I do plan on fixing it, but that store has the room and the need for some shelves or racks to carry more merchandise. Floor plan is also boring could see myself adding a carpet to that floor.

So only a few did bits but basically horrified by the music shop and let down by the actual book shop. The funny thing about the Book Shop is, I love Lego apartments and the bulk of that set goes to living space. So it's easier to enjoy those apartment and ignore the fact that the actual Book Shop itself, the supposed appeal of the product, is the worst part of the build lol.

[PK82]

I'm a bit mystified by the two 1x4 plates with 2 studs behind the ad banners. They don't connect to the roof and I had to tripple check if I had made a mistake.

[DonQuixote]

I have watched several reviews on YouTube from independent reviewers. Mostly German. Mostly they say it's an ok set with a boring build proces with ratings around 7/10. And I agree. Members of LAN s reviews are not as criticising as independent reviewers. Reviews of LAN are actually commercials. 

[Lyichir]

1 hour ago, DonQuixote said:

I have watched several reviews on YouTube from independent reviewers. Mostly German. Mostly they say it's an ok set with a boring build proces with ratings around 7/10. And I agree. Members of LAN s reviews are not as criticising as independent reviewers. Reviews of LAN are actually commercials. 

Or people just have different opinions? I built it with my sister recently, didn't find it boring at all.

[TeriXeri]

On 12/2/2023 at 1:29 AM, BrickFit26 said:

I'm a little surprised Assembly Square is still available. Since it's supposed to be retired and a new modular of the same size is out and AS being the 10th anniversary modular that it would have sold out first, but Police Station sold out faster. Interesting.

Assembly Square official retire date is January 1st 2024 

LAUNCH/EXIT

01 Jan 17 - 31 Dec 23

Edited December 7, 2023 by TeriXeri

[Lion King]

5 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Assembly Square official retire date is January 1st 2024 

LAUNCH/EXIT

01 Jan 17 - 31 Dec 23

And Bookshop?

[The Island Chronicles]

5 hours ago, TeriXeri said:

Assembly Square official retire date is January 1st 2024 

LAUNCH/EXIT

01 Jan 17 - 31 Dec 23

May that set rest in pieces! 

Lame pun intended. 

[Lion King]

41 minutes ago, The Brick Boss said:

May that set rest in pieces! 

Lame pun intended. 

Well, polices from Police Staiton finally put pieces together and the crimes case is closed. Now Police Station is retired, it seems. 

[The Island Chronicles]

3 hours ago, Lion King said:

Well, polices from Police Staiton finally put pieces together and the crimes case is closed. Now Police Station is retired, it seems.