Modular Building Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[Off the wall]

The new Restaurant has white on the front and it barely works. For some reason that color doesn't lend itself well to most modulars that I've seen.

I totally agree. The modulars need a more gritty, city look to them including more muted, but not boring, colors.

I would like to see a bank or a school. I'll give Lego a mulligan on the PR as I've really enjoyed all of the other modulars.

[Sam892]

Finally got around to picking up my first modular. I've been meaning to pick it up for about a year and a half and finally bit the bullet. I got the Fire Brigade and after building it, I'm disapointed in myself for not picking this up earlier. It's great and most likely the best Set I currently own. I'm so glad I grabbed it before it is discontinued.

I'm hoping the next modular is a police Starion or maybe a Newspaper company.

[AFOLguy1970]

A bank, school, or newspaper would all be nice. The challenge with the school would seem to be making it not look too much like the Fire Brigade. The first thing I think of as a classical town school house is the bell tower and red brick structure. With both Town Hall and Fire Brigade having bell towers, it might be hard to imagine a third so soon. So far, the modulars have been carefully done not to resemble each other closely. A newspaper would be great, especially if you somehow established a printing press in the interior. Perhaps, moving parts could be used to make an assembly line.

With the way modulars have been done, almost anything would be appealing to me as long as the buildings retained older architecture styles. I do not care for modern architecture, the presence of such would probably be the only thing that would keep me from buying a modular.

[kermit]

I am hoping it would be a hospital next year.

[SwissBrick]

For me the ultimate modular would be a video tape rental shop + dentist or something else upstairs...

[lightningtiger]

Since when has a rumors topic become a wish list.......hmm, sounds like a great new topic heading "Modular Buildings - Wish List" ?

[SwissBrick]

This thread has been Off Topic since quite a while, isn't there already a topic for modular "wish list" kind of discussion, if not LT, you're right, someone sure has to create one!

Now we'll have to wait a while before hearing about the 2015 modular... Unless we get a "haunted house" alike set again in 2014 that can be compared in scale and level of details, amount of pieces, etc... to a modular.

Personnally, since it is mostly unlikely that we get 2 modulars/year, I wouldn't mind such additions, like a hybrid train station that would be appealing to both train and modular fans...

Edited December 1, 2013 by SwissBrick

[Faefrost]

Some speculation on my part, but I think we can guess a few things that it is less likely to be.

All of the Modulars released thus far have a very mid 20th century style and feel to them. Say roughly 1930 to maybe 1970 type buildings. With most sitting right around what is commonly thought of as the Steam to Diesel transition era. Late 30's to maybe 1955ish. If you don't know what I am talking about, sit and watch "A Christmas Story" as it enters perpetual holiday rotation this month. It nails the time period in question pretty well. I don't think that we will see much in the way of more modern structures or businesses in this line. I think the most modern thing in the sets so far is a computer in the town hall. And it feels a little out of place. So probably not any modern glass fronted buildings or very modern subjects such as an Apple store. Figure elements of life from your Grandparents era.

I don't think we will see a modular Police Station in the near future. The modular Lego city seems to be a much more crime free place than Lego City (which keeps bringing to mind Chicago or Detroit with all the crime and police drama). We may see some signs of Police in a modular set. Maybe a patrolling officer, a Police Call Box as a sidewalk accessories etc, but I am not sure on a full blown station. I think there are a few other more civic type buildings we might see first. And I don't think that they want to be adding "criminal" Minifigs to this line?

So just going by what seems to be the broad time period, here are a few things that I think we might see at some point. Businesses or buildings common to that age and style of life.

Civic type buildings;

- A Public Library, Bank or Museum. I mention these all at once because they are typically envisioned in a similar way. Large front facing stone building with some ornate work. Prominent entrance etc. I actually give a little more weight to a Library as it lets them pull a bit from the classic New York Public library with the lions on the steps.

- Post office. Just a fun civic building with lots going on. The only downside is the broad variations in worldwide colors and markings designating the mail service.

Commercial buildings;

- Auto Mechanic, a nice small garage front auto service with an apartment over it. It might work well as a half set on a 16x32 plate, ala Pet Shop. Throw in another classic style car or two.

- Apothecary, I think a hospital would be too big and complicated to do in a modular, but a traditional Apothecary (Pharmacy) covers the medical needs well. Maybe with a Doctor or Dentists office above it. To really set the time period give it a classic soda counter as well.

- Bakery, it's kind of an obvious one. But they have so many baked goods specialty parts.

- Factory / machine shop. A common city business of the time. Typically a brick building. A more open floor plan with lots of machinery details. Some nice skylights. Tall thin windows and a nice brick smokestack. The Minifigs gotta earn a paycheck in order to pay for all the firemen, police and crooked mayors they already have.

- Rooming House. Apartments or rooms to rent. An old school wooden Boarding house with the open stairs and front porches. Adds a slightly more Western or Colonial feel.

Just my 2c on what we might see and why. Pure speculation. My only real driving thought is these are all very recognizable common element of life structures that could be found in some form in just about any small, mid sized or large city around the mid 20th century, regardless of country or continent.

Edit, fair point on the wish list. If someone creates on please move this there :)

Edited December 1, 2013 by Faefrost

[Paperballpark]

^ I think your post is very fair comment for a thread entitled 'rumours and discussion'!

For what it's worth I think you're pretty spot on - the line seems to be set between the mid 30's and mid 50's, so modern buildings are thankfully out.

In terms of future speculation, I think the next one will be a civic building - as you say, a bank, library, museum, post office or something similar. I'd prefer a bank, personally.

[Off the wall]

If you go back to the OPs first post, I think his intent was for this thread to be wide open as far as modular building discussions are concerned. With that in mind, as long as a comment has something to do with modular buildings, I think it would be very difficult to be 'off topic'. Just sayin'...... :-)

[Wodanis]

You know Faefrost, I really liked your thoughts in your last post. I was thinking that the apothecary idea has merit. I could see Lego making a pharmacy on the first floor and a dentists office on the second floor. The Museum idea also is quite feasible. You are correct it could be like a mini version of the New York Library with lion heads.

Edited December 1, 2013 by Wodanis

[AFOLguy1970]

A pharmacy does sound interesting. In Europe, I know they are identified by a green cross sign to the outside. That could be easily designed as the identifying feature of the business and you do not have to spell it out either. There sure were lots of those in the Madrid city center. I guess the American cousin to those would be something like the old Rexall drugstores which also doubled as soda fountains. Either way, this would certainly make a nice modular. I like the idea of combining businesses like the dentist, etc. Either that or additional residential space would be nice. The modulars do seem to highlight both European and American styles. The variety has been great, and I suspect this will be a successful line for quite some time.

Also agree with the possibility that the next one could be civic. Everything mentioned in the above posts would be a welcome addition.

[Faefrost]

A pharmacy does sound interesting. In Europe, I know they are identified by a green cross sign to the outside. That could be easily designed as the identifying feature of the business and you do not have to spell it out either. There sure were lots of those in the Madrid city center. I guess the American cousin to those would be something like the old Rexall drugstores which also doubled as soda fountains. Either way, this would certainly make a nice modular. I like the idea of combining businesses like the dentist, etc. Either that or additional residential space would be nice. The modulars do seem to highlight both European and American styles. The variety has been great, and I suspect this will be a successful line for quite some time.

Also agree with the possibility that the next one could be civic. Everything mentioned in the above posts would be a welcome addition.

A common symbol for Apothecary or Pharmacist in the US is a Mortar and Pestle. Which probably would work well for signage. All of this is getting the MOC bug to bite me and get me thinking on another addition to my Modular city

[Only Sinner]

I totally agree with the pharmacy, especially if it has a soda counter. Why not a 1950s style soda shop, or hamburger stand? White Castle sounds like MOC territory, but that would sell like crazy if it were made into a set.

A big bank with a vault in which we could have safe deposit boxes and stacks of gold and money. I'd also like to see a mercantile exchange with a busy trading floor.

We probably will get a civic building like was mentioned before, I'm thinking a library with several rows of bookshelves.

[Ryzomc]

Hi does anyone think that lego moving the modular release date to January, might mean we will be getting 2 a year not just 1

[Paperballpark]

No. From what I heard they've moved a few sets forward so that they don't clash with the Lego Movie sets coming out in Feb/March.

[Ray Oliver]

I'd like to see more residential buildings. I think it would be neat to have a mansion, for example, or an apartment building.

[Off the wall]

I see where Fire Brigade is now listed as sold out on Lego.com

[AFOLguy1970]

I see where Fire Brigade is now listed as sold out on Lego.com

Sure glad I changed my mind to get that first before going after the Pet Shop. It might not be the best modular, but it is one where one would not want to be without it either in a collection. Opening the City Advent calendar on Day 3 and getting the dalmation was satisfying, because it went right to the FB.

This also indicates that the "retiring soon" label is not applied to every product on the website, therefore waiting for such would be a risky move.

[TheLegoDr]

FB was my first Modular a few years ago, so I was safe there. However, that is interesting that retiring soon isn't applied to everything that is indeed retiring soon. What was the point of that feature then I wonder??

I've emailed customer service before regarding expected end of life of certain sets, and they would basically say they can't divulge that information...so I guess I'll just have to risk not getting everything I want.

[Faefrost]

I think "retiring soon" is a reflection of a planned end of shelf life date. But a sets last production run will occur long before that end of shelf life date. And it is possible for the set to sell out before it gets close to the planned retirement, thus retiring it early.

As an example they knew when the Harry Potter sets had to be retired. The day the contract ended they all had to leave the store. Whereas the shorter run Monster Fighters Zombies set was sold out very quickly with no plans for either retirement or an additional production run.

[Professor Brick]

I'd like to see more residential buildings. I think it would be neat to have a mansion, for example, or an apartment building.

Totally second this. I think a nice big Victorian house would be a great addition to the Modulars. I don't think we'll see an apartment building, but that would be a lot of fun too.

[TheLegoDr]

Faefrost - good point. I hadn't thought of it like that. Does anyone know if LEGO does a specific planned number of production runs, no matter what? Taking the Zombies set for example. That was available for about 2 months and then never seen again. But other sets may have multiple production runs. I wonder what factors they consider to determine how many production runs they initially want. I understand you could do one, see how it sells, then plan for another one. But on the reverse, like you said, there are obviously some they didn't plan on having a second production run and they may/may not have made a lot of money by doing it. It seems like people are still clamoring for the Zombies set, but maybe that is partically because it didn't last that long..

[ronenson]

For me , it doesn't have to be completely new. Since I missed cafe corner (and many of you too), a revamped version of a cafe corner (or grocery store) would be perfectly good for me.

[Faefrost]

Faefrost - good point. I hadn't thought of it like that. Does anyone know if LEGO does a specific planned number of production runs, no matter what? Taking the Zombies set for example. That was available for about 2 months and then never seen again. But other sets may have multiple production runs. I wonder what factors they consider to determine how many production runs they initially want. I understand you could do one, see how it sells, then plan for another one. But on the reverse, like you said, there are obviously some they didn't plan on having a second production run and they may/may not have made a lot of money by doing it. It seems like people are still clamoring for the Zombies set, but maybe that is partically because it didn't last that long..

The Zombies set was an exclusive limited edition set. I think for Target in the US. So a safe assumption is any of the Limited Edition Store exclusives are probably planned for a single production run. The Ninjago Dragon sets were similar in the one run and gone planned limited editions.The decision whether to do additional production runs on other sets seem to vary, probably based on business data. How quickly did it sell out? Is there still a perceived market for it? Is there an appropriate replacement in the pipeline? What production resources would be needed to make more? is there parts inventory in the warehouse or would they need additional factory time? Is there a crazy group claiming the set offends them and stirring controversy? etc. Fire Brigade and The Death Star have gone back for more production runs than anyone ever expected. Largely because they were so iconic. (I think if you were to do a poll you would find that the FB was probably the entry point modular for the vast majority of modular collectors. The first one they bought and built. The intersection between parents and kids.) Whereas we know Lego promised not to do another run of Jabba's Palace because... crazy people being artificially offended, so they will let it sell out naturally and allow the Sail Barge to replace it.