10246 Detective Agency

dougts

oldtodd33 said:

^ I have 1 corner slot left and I figure the next building is going to be a corner. After that I would have to do a lot of rearranging.

yeah, going by the pattern (sans MS), a corner is due up next

Jern92

I just keep coming up with new arrangements every time I run out of space. Makes it pretty interesting really. https://www.dropbox.com/sc/sq2gyajenbovqlv/AAAi0OZ1ytNNtggFWJjuh_awa

AdeelZubair

I've officially run out of room as well. I still plan to get Detective's Office, Birds, Helicarrier in 2015 and I also just ordered Santa's Workshop...

...Time to go Ikea...

brickupdate

Same here - I ordered DO, and when it is built, I will have to move Haunted Mansion (which I display with the modulars) to a different shelf. Eventually I may build a custom shelf that can display a looooooooooong line of modulars side by side.

odueck

dougts said:

Am I the only one disappointed by the continuous shrinking in size of the modulars over the past few years? Yes, we are getting a lot more detailing, particularly in the interior, but it's certainly coming at the expense of the sense of size and scale

I'm not sure continuous is the right word. The Palace Cinema is on par with the Fire Brigade and Grand Emporium and is noticeably larger than the Pet Shop. Town Hall is obviously huge. Parisian Restaurant is on par with the Pet Shop, just a bit narrower. Looking at my six modulars (FB through PR), the discrepancy in the sizes is typical of what you would expect from a streetscape.

AndyPol

Nearly done, but still a work in progress...

I think that whilst it is smaller than some modulars, the detail is excellent. The only question I have is the "open-plan" rooms on the ground floor. The pool and barbers rooms look complete floor to ceiling outside but inside the passageway, they are not? Not a major issue and I am certainly not dissappointed, but it intrigried me.

Poisso3

Just started the build and found that I am missing one of the 2X2 smooth dark gray tiles.

Anyone else have missing pieces with this set?

AndyPol

Yeah....finished, although the size shows next to the Fire Brigade! (no missing parts either)

oldtodd33

@AndyPol Is that AL'S Pet Shop now?

AndyPol

oldtodd33 said:

@AndyPol Is that AL'S Pet Shop now?

Good point, hadn't spotted that! I put it there because the pool club was probably a popular haunt for the Firefighters!

AdeelZubair

AndyPol said:

Yeah....finished, although the size shows next to the Fire Brigade! (no missing parts either)

@AndyPol Your Fire Brigade doesn't have the blue plates for the America flag.

Legogeek

Perhaps it's not an American flag? ;-)

madforLEGO

Found out at my local LEGO store that they will not stack promos anymore there. So I can get either the flower cart or friends set if I get 75 over (and friends purchase), but not both. I guess this has always been this way, but now they are finally enforcing it. Also they said they did not get a lot of the flower carts so who knows how long they will have them to give out.

What is a bit absurd to me though is that I found the friends animal packs are now all discounted (Macaw, Orangutan, and Bear) to 2.98 USD at the store, so I liked up a few and got the Friends promo. They would not stack it, but if I make a small Friends purchase in another transaction they let me have the promo.

But I did purchase the DO online and got it today, used by VIP points (30 bucks worth) to know the price down for it, and it arrived already today.. That was fast!

plasmodium

Adzbadboy said:

AndyPol said:

Yeah....finished, although the size shows next to the Fire Brigade! (no missing parts either)

@AndyPol Your Fire Brigade doesn't have the blue plates for the America flag.

I would guess it's a Polish flag, especially as his username ends in "Pol". ;-)

epyon396

Well, since everyone else is sharing :P
I have another shelf that will hold all of these, plus one more, but I'm too lazy to put it up.

AndyPol

plasmodium said:

Adzbadboy said:

AndyPol said:

Yeah....finished, although the size shows next to the Fire Brigade! (no missing parts either)

@AndyPol Your Fire Brigade doesn't have the blue plates for the America flag.

I would guess it's a Polish flag, especially as his username ends in "Pol". ;-)

Well spotted about the flag and congratulations for noticing my small conversion. It is the Polish flag!

canon03

What are those books doing on your LEGO shelves? : )

brickupdate

@epyon396 GUNDAM! Awesome. And I like your modular display, I eventually need a long continuous shelf like that to line mine up.

Paperballpark

I have two 1.2m shelves side-by-side, which currently hold 7 modulars (GG, FB, GE, PS, TH, PC, PR) and my Haunted House. Once I get the DO, probably in February, the HH will get dismantled and the DO will go up there in its place. 2016's modular will also fit on the shelf, and after that I'll simply buy another shelf and it'll be fine until 2021 rolls around!

LegobrandonCP

Getting pretty jealous of all these modular street pictures! I'll share mine once I acquire the Parisian Restaurant, Palace Cinema, and Detectives office.

I'm just afraid of the dust if I display it out in the open. The IKEA Galant shown in Huw's Detectives Office review works perfectly, but certain taller modulars don't fit.

glendo

dougts said:

Am I the only one disappointed by the continuous shrinking in size of the modulars over the past few years? Yes, we are getting a lot more detailing, particularly in the interior, but it's certainly coming at the expense of the sense of size and scale

I have been loudly crying foul on other forums about the exact same thoughts and opinions my friend. the detailing bonus is a trick:

Part counts are a sham, so let's not even focus on them. Let's look at the weight of the box of each particular set. the PR weighs an awful lot less than a CC, GG or TH for example, and I'm sure the DO will also be lighter in comparison.

they are tricking us all. add 300 grams of plastic detail in the insides, remove 600 grams of walls, roof, and floor space. They know what they are doing, they will 'shave' the building size down from the back, to maintain the facade street-side.

I've started to take note of how many studs are visible on the back alley of each modular (baseplate studs). the newer ones leave a lot to be desired. I personally dont care what's inside the building, i display them on a bookshelf and it's the outside that gets seen everyday.

CCC

If people start using weight as a measure of value, then you'll probably find an increase of large pieces with thicker walls in future.

Craigster10

Is it just me or weren't people complaining about the lack of interior detail before PR?

CCC

It's always going to be a trade off.

Nice exterior and size, no interior.
Nice exterior and interior. Same price point, so smaller.
Nice exterior and interior. Same size, so higher price point.

Whatever they do, many people will be pleased, but some will be put off.

mathew

I wouldn't care so much but they jacked the price up so you are getting less for your money. The buildings do look too skinny from the sides as well.

Poisso3

Craigster10 said:

Is it just me or weren't people complaining about the lack of interior detail before PR?

I haven't been here very long and I even recall that. I see LEGO desiging the sets with a balance of detail and play value, and as a dad who just got back into building, I like how the last few sets have been since I have kids who love playing with the finished sets.

klatu003

Detective Office under construction. The minidolls are consulting about the Blue Bib Gang taking their hair. "We couldn't stop them, our wrists don't rotate." "We can't run after them, our legs don't move." The Blue Bib Gange did leave them caps.

The problem is not finding space for a few modulars. Its finding space for TRAINS.

Paperballpark

There's really no pleasing some people. I distinctly remember people seriously moaning about the 'lack of detail' in the Palace Cinema. So TLG increase the detail (yes, at the cost of size), and people moan about the smaller size.

What about if they kept the same size but put more detail in? Then the price would have to increase, obviously, because there'd be more pieces. One problem there - when they did increase the pieces, in Town Hall, everybody moaned about the increased price.

Indeed, people are still moaning about the price having been 'jacked up', despite the fact they've been the same price for three years now, and actually fell in price from the year before:

2015: £132.99
2014: £132.99
2013: £132.99
2012: £149.99

Not only that, people are complaining despite inflation meaning that - in real terms - the price of modulars has actually decreased over the last three years.

Sometimes I despair, I really do.

mathew

^ The Parisian Restaurant and Cafe Corner go really well together. Time for a re-release ; )

dougts

Paperballpark said:

There's really no pleasing some people. I distinctly remember people seriously moaning about the 'lack of detail' in the Palace Cinema. So TLG increase the detail (yes, at the cost of size), and people moan about the smaller size.

Different people moaning about different things. Those who wanted more detail got their way and are now happy and moan free. Recent moanings are from the crowd that was happy with the balance in FB, GE, and PS

Paperballpark said:

What about if they kept the same size but put more detail in? Then the price would have to increase, obviously, because there'd be more pieces. One problem there - when they did increase the pieces, in Town Hall, everybody moaned about the increased price

Not everyone. Its a one set per year theme. I'd rather pay $200 for a set that feels both substantial and detailed instead of $160 for one that only hits one of those marks

It's like the WV series. The move back to $70 was a major downgrade for the theme, and we got a set that looks and felt like a city set with extra details

zipsforbananas

The complaining around the empty Palace Cinema would make an interesting read next to this complaining about lack of size. Surely a good modular row needs variety? Maybe a set could be strong on both, but I appreciate the price remaining constant, and since the Grand Emporium the benchmark seems to have been set at £133 with £15 either way for bigger/smaller sets so I'm not sure what anyone's on about with price increases!

What I really can't understand is the complaints only coming now. Isn't this set the same size as the Parisian Restaurant if not bigger? PR was 8 studs narrower for the top two floors and roof; this is half width on the top floor - that's proportionally exactly the same amount missing. PR gets nothing but praise for looking fantastic and being full of detail; this is pretty much the same and gets slated?

Give it a while to become an established set that more and more people have and I think this fuss will all dissipate. I can't wait till next Winter to see which detail we all get up in arms about on the next one! :P

Purploros

Paperballpark said:

Indeed, people are still moaning about the price having been 'jacked up', despite the fact they've been the same price for three years now, and actually fell in price from the year before:

2015: £132.99
2014: £132.99
2013: £132.99
2012: £149.99

Not only that, people are complaining despite inflation meaning that - in real terms - the price of modulars has actually decreased over the last three years.

That may be true over in the UK, but here in the US, prices have in fact increased.

2015: $159.99
2014: $159.99
2013: $149.99
2012: $199.99

mathew

Paperballpark said:

Not only that, people are complaining despite inflation meaning that - in real terms - the price of modulars has actually decreased over the last three years.

Sometimes I despair, I really do.

I haven't received a pay raise in three years either. I don't complain about that here because it's a Lego forum. But it does have something to do with how I perceive the value of something that I'm going to spend my hard-earned money on.

But go ahead and keep on the good fight of defending a multi-billion dollar company for increasing prices and reducing value.

CircleK

I'm firmly in the camp that prefers the newer, slightly scaled down yet more detailed modulars over the older ones. Maybe it's b/c I have zero desire to build a street and display them that way. I would prefer to just have one or two that have an excellent stand alone display value. To me, the PR and DO deliver on that much better than their predecessors.

dougts

zipsforbananas said:

What I really can't understand is the complaints only coming now. Isn't this set the same size as the Parisian Restaurant if not bigger? PR was 8 studs narrower for the top two floors and roof; this is half width on the top floor - that's proportionally exactly the same amount missing. PR gets nothing but praise for looking fantastic and being full of detail; this is pretty much the same and gets slated?
P

There was plenty of complaining about the reduced size of PR when it was released as well. Probably more so than with DO even

zipsforbananas

Sir_Gareth said:

....That may be true over in the UK, but here in the US, prices have in fact increased.

2015: $159.99
2014: $159.99
2013: $149.99
2012: $199.99

Haven't the prices been $149.99 on all modulars (except the TH) since GG?
So it's gone up a whopping $10, once, in 7 years? Or you could say, $20 in the total 7 year lifespan of the series, with one exception to the standard price in either direction. Seriously? They have in fact increased, but by hardly anything at all in the scheme of things, no?

Sorry, but the price-is-going-up complaint still seems a bit insubstantial to me.

binaryeye

dougts said:

What I really can't understand is the complaints only coming now. Isn't this set the same size as the Parisian Restaurant if not bigger? PR was 8 studs narrower for the top two floors and roof; this is half width on the top floor - that's proportionally exactly the same amount missing. PR gets nothing but praise for looking fantastic and being full of detail; this is pretty much the same and gets slated?

This is of course subjective, but PR appears more thoroughly detailed than DO. The only area that isn't detailed on PR is the half of the artist's studio behind the door. The DO has an eight-stud-wide area on all three floors that is essentially empty space, and the bathroom and kitchen areas are relatively sparse in detail.

In terms of size, not including stairways, it looks like DO has about 15 square studs more than PR. However, PR has about 130 square studs in the patio areas.

Bumblepants

I built the Flower Cart freebie today and found it has a bonus barrel for smuggling sweets hidden underneath. Really excellent feature to tie it in with the DO and to allow the smuggling operations to expand.

oldtodd33

Actually, I remember a thread that included a very small, very vocal group of people that were the ones complaining about the lack of detail on the interiors of the sets. When someone would pop up and mention that they would rather have the larger exterior they were shouted down by the small vocal group of people who said " this is lego, go MOC it yourself. Well, now we have smaller sets with lots of detail and the other less vocal group is now voicing their desire for larger foot print sets with less detail.

AdeelZubair

Jaime Beard started and designed all the mouldar buildings up to the Pet Shop which were cool but they had a repetitive footprint of the simple shaped buildings and mid detailed interior's. Then Astrid was given the task to design the Town Hall and Palace Cinema which in my opinion are boring compared with the previous ones. Dull and repetitive exteriors for both and mid detailed interior for the Town Hall. Jaime came back with a new vison and completely changed the level of details on the exteriors and the interiors with the Parisian Restaurant and the new Detective's Office. I'm happy with the new format, I cannot wait to see Jaime's attempt on the new style of a corner building which should be next years modular.

glendo

zipsforbananas said:

What I really can't understand is the complaints only coming now. Isn't this set the same size as the Parisian Restaurant if not bigger? PR was 8 studs narrower for the top two floors and roof; this is half width on the top floor - that's proportionally exactly the same amount missing. PR gets nothing but praise for looking fantastic and being full of detail; this is pretty much the same and gets slated?

you will get no praise about the PR from me. I find it the least appealing of the modular range to date. I was one in the audience that raised his hand up and said 'it's looks a lot smaller than the others'. I remember watching the official release video where JB comments that size was sacrificed 'this time' for interior and furnishings detail.

I actually dont buy into this hype. comparing to the interiors of the other modulars, i dont find the PR to be exceptionally more furnished/detailed.

I held my breath and got on with my life.

Then the DO was released, and it's clear that they have made these changes as permanent new direction. Upon reflection, the direction change happened from PC onwards, hence my naming the modulars from PC onwards 'second generation' vice CC-TH being 'first generation'.

the 2nd gen modulars will be leaner, smaller, and will have interiors, storylines and playability.... just like the city range.

Dougout

How can any company think they can raise prices slightly while not giving tons more in value? Others don't do this, do they?

glendo

i'd rather pay more for same... instead of paying same for less

TheLoneTensor

Dougout said:

How can any company think they can raise prices slightly while not giving tons more in value? Others don't do this, do they?

This is sarcasm right? This defines every company on the planet. It's called inflation.

Dougout

^Yes, it was. Will some smart programmer please invent a symbol or an italic font like someone did with @ for sarcasm. Or should we just stick with a :wink: ?

Dougout

Inflation hits right before pay raises, right? So this is just Lego's way of saying we are all getting raises soon :wink:

mathew

Dougout said:

How can any company think they can raise prices slightly while not giving tons more in value? Others don't do this, do they?

Considering that Lego is moving production to cheaper parts of the world and using plastics that are not as durable then yes we're losing more value than is actually perceived. Listen, ten bucks isn't much, but as a wise consumer it's going to reflect on my overall interest or desire to purchase a set. And let's not forget that as an exclusive, the modular series receives no discounts. I still think they offer a lot of value compared to say a UCS model, but less than it was a year or two ago. And I'm not so sure it's because of inflation or the fact that Lego is more popular than ever and the collectable/reseller factor.

Poisso3

Honest question guys! Is anyone else discovering missing bricks with this set? So far with just bags 1 and 2 I amight missing a dark gray 1X2 flat tile and two dark blue 1X2 bricks...though it did come with an extra dark blue 1x4 brick. Hope there are no more of these missing bricks in the next two bags.

zipsforbananas

mathew said:

Listen, ten bucks isn't much, but as a wise consumer it's going to reflect on my overall interest or desire to purchase a set.

For what it's worth my take on that is yeah, everybody who is still buying products consistently from a company is saying exactly that about what they offer. And if you decide to move to some other company and product that seems better value (speaking hypothetically here, please no-one lynch me! :P), give it a couple of years and you'll have the same feeling again.
Ten bucks really isn't much, shouldn't we actually be pretty happy that prices have risen so little when price rises are inevitable and normal and TLG has no real obligation not to raise them more?

I suppose you're talking specifically across the themes so I don't know if that all hits the mark, but as a Lego Star Wars collector I've been resenting far more aggressive price increases for quite a while now, it's just one of those things and with the Modulars I reckon we've actually got a pretty good thing going.

Paperballpark

mathew said:

But go ahead and keep on the good fight of defending a multi-billion dollar company for increasing prices and reducing value.

As I've clearly shown, with the modulars they haven't increased prices. As for reducing value, that's subjective, but I'd contend that PR and DO are better value than PC was.

My main gripe is that, quite frankly, I'm getting seriously fed up of people moaning all the time.