2019 Modular Rumours

Astrobricks

Bricked1980 said:

Looks as if Detectives Office might be the next modular to get the chop. In the new Lego store Christmas catalogue it is listed on the page with sets retiring soon.

On the next page, they have Betrayal at Cloud City in the spread with ULTIMATE COLLECTOR’S SERIES at the top and we all know the story there. A few pages later, Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter is on the page with the heading SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY SETS. So I wouldn’t read too much into those headings.

Paperballpark

Personally I would say that the positioning of DO in the catalogue is a strong indicator that it'll be going soon. They might as well have put it with the rest if it wasn't.

Odd that Brick Bank doesn't appear anywhere on its own though.

As for which retires when, I really just think it's down to how well they sell, nothing else. I can really see DO not selling as well as PR.

BrickByBrick

For the record, someone on Reddit commented that they had trouble getting a replacement instruction booklet for the Detective's office because they were out of print

https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/9q7pf3/ordered_21310_from_barnes_and_noble_and_this_was/e88iwkd/?context=3

madforLEGO

Out of print or out of stock? This can be solved with a call to CS tomorrow.

blokey9

does it matter that the only set listed on the Lego website as retiring soon is the UCS Snowspeeder?

560Heliport

"Retiring soon" doesn't really mean much. How soon?

SumoLego

Right about the same time the Exo-Suit gets de-commissioned...

Paperballpark

560Heliport said:

"Retiring soon" doesn't really mean much. How soon?

End of the year. Basically, once the stock that shops have got sells out, that's it.

Bricked1980

Paperballpark said:

Personally I would say that the positioning of DO in the catalogue is a strong indicator that it'll be going soon. They might as well have put it with the rest if it wasn't.

Odd that Brick Bank doesn't appear anywhere on its own though.

As for which retires when, I really just think it's down to how well they sell, nothing else. I can really see DO not selling as well as PR.

I think it's safe to assume that one of the modulars will be retired within the next few months and I suppose DO and PR are the strongest contenders as they've been around for the longest. I think the fact the DO is on the catalogue page I posted yesterday though is a very strong indicator that DO will be the next one to go, otherwise surely they'd have put PR on the page instead.

That's a good point about Brick Bank though, it's pretty odd that BB is excluded from the catalogue completely.

jnscoelho

To be precise, the DO isn't on the page saying "Many retiring soon!", it's on the page which states "Great sets for your wish list", which includes recent sets such as #41152 and #75205 that I doubt will retire by the end of the year...
But I'm going to trust the next to go will be the DO, and that's ok because it's one I'm not interested in having.

msanders

I can appreciate that compared to the PR the DO may not be as good a seller, although, that doesn`t necessarily mean that the DO is a bad set. The DO for me was a really enjoyable build and I think it looks great on display. Much more enjoyable than building the early versions of modulars and DO has a much more interesting look to it. 

Some tough decisions ahead on which modulars to take down from the shelves to make space for incoming modulars (I`m running out of room....!). Most likely it will be an older modular making way......

Looking forward to seeing the next modular when it is eventually revealed!

wardm

I'd somehow expect the PR lasting longer than both DO and BB. 

Also looking forward to the reveal for the next modular, and I'm curious what architectural style it'd be in... Will it continue the new style like the Diner, will it be a more classic like the older ones or will it be a more modern one? Anyhow, I'm excited to add it to the collection, no matter how it'll turn uit. 

Brainslugged

I just hope the new one doesn't include a vehicle. 

Boardshorts85

Brainslugged said:

I just hope the new one doesn't include a vehicle. 

The Limo from PC was crap, but the Fire Truck from FB and the Caddy from DD are both pretty solid compliments to their building.

MrJackson

Agreed about not wanting the vehicle.  Though I haven't yet built my diner, and do like the Caddy, I prefer my modular buildings to be buildings.  I guess I get the point of PC's Limo, but the Caddy from the diner is rather superfluous. FB needed a vehicle (fire truck), but the other two didn't.  Besides, don't we have a zillion cars to populate our Lego cities with at this point? I can tell you that based on the Porsches, Ferraris, McLarens, and other luxury vehicles from Speed Champions alone that clutter the streets of Brickadelphia, my Lego citizens are rather well off - heck, they pay for everything in $100 bills. 

PapaBear

Don't worry you can scrap them all with the 2019 Auto Salvage Yard Modular (complete with real working magnetic crane).

sihylands

There are so many things I would love to see.  A post office would be great but it could be part of something much bigger like in Assembly Square.

With regards to what will retire, has anyone checked sales?  Is there a way to do this?  I think the worst seller will be the set that is axed - possible Brick Bank?  It's the least appealing to me.

I would LOVE to see a primary/elementary school as one of the buildings, complete with classrooms, principal's office, toilets, locker rooms, staff room etc.

Museum sounds amazing, a decent hotel or at least a re-release of Cafe Corner with interior would be fantastic.

madejp86

PapaBear said:

Don't worry you can scrap them all with the 2019 Auto Salvage Yard Modular (complete with real working magnetic crane).

That would go well with my modular body shop

LegoPegasister2015

Looks like Detective’s Office is out of stock on Shop@Home US (alongside Ferris Wheel which is probably retiring soon). Wonder if it’s doing “the dance” approaching retirement?

Astrobricks

LegoPegasister2015 said:

Looks like Detective’s Office is out of stock on Shop@Home US (alongside Ferris Wheel which is probably retiring soon). Wonder if it’s doing “the dance” approaching retirement?

Maybe their plot to goose sales by putting it on the page opposite MANY RETIRING SOON is working.

Paperballpark

Or maybe it's retiring soon...

shikadi

So tomorrow is Nov 1. Are we getting an announcement?

iwakurakaitou

shikadi said:

So tomorrow is Nov 1. Are we getting an announcement?

How could anyone possibly know the answer to that question?

SumoLego

iwakurakaitou said:

shikadi said:

So tomorrow is Nov 1. Are we getting an announcement?

How could anyone possibly know the answer to that question?

The LEGO marketing department does.

CCC

PapaBear said:

Don't worry you can scrap them all with the 2019 Auto Salvage Yard Modular (complete with real working magnetic crane).

The downside is the non-ferrous materials used in lego cars.

iwakurakaitou said:

shikadi said:

So tomorrow is Nov 1. Are we getting an announcement?

How could anyone possibly know the answer to that question?

I will. Tomorrow.

Aanchir

I think the argument “we don’t need vehicles because City has vehicles” makes about as much sense as “we don’t need buildings because City has buildings”. Ideally, as in the case of Downtown Diner, the vehicles in Modular Buildings sets should have a higher standard of detail, authenticity, complexity, and completeness than their City counterparts, which rarely have working doors and almost never have more than one front seat! Never mind how many people seem super strict about their modular streets being set in a specific time and place where City’s highly modern and often generic “great vehicles” would probably seem even more out of place than a computer or an American style Art Deco diner.

And besides, if an argument can be made that Fire Brigade’s Fire Truck was needed by virtue of it being a fire station, the same could just as easily be said of some of the modular building ideas most frequently thrown around within the fan community like post office, gas station, or
police station. Maybe even an old timey transportation center with a bus and waiting room?

On that note, I also don’t think it’s really fair to say that including a vehicle requires considerably less size or attention to detail for the buildings themselves, seeing as the size and level of detail of the modular buildings has been highly flexible with or without vehicles, and it seems as though the designers would be more than capable of finding ways to making certain parts of a building more sparsely furnished in a way that makes sense contextually, like Pet Shop’s vacant apartment, Fire Brigade’s garage, or Brick Bank’s second story, about half of which is taken up by the fairly empty upper part of the foyer. There are plenty of ways like this that a part of a modular building set can have as much complexity or detail as we expect it to without actually needing as many parts as another sort of context might require to fill the same amount of space.

Baby_Yoda

I can confirm that there will be no announcements on November First, since Australia is one day ahead and all.

Brickchap

@ Aanchir

Very well said. I will continue those points if I may.

"Ban vehicles from modulars" is s the same line of argument as the anti-interior crackpots. People like that demand no vehicles, no interiors and nothing old, that is, they want boring straight modern 'skyscrapers' with just glass and 'concrete' and only a fasade. We must remember, interiors detract from the model....

As a huge fan of old cars it annoys me that the only way to get an old car (even if it was 'City' complexity) is in the modular buildings or Winter Village. Both do a great job and old vehicles and buildings. While we all despise the PC limo, the build for the 'nose' was very well done.

Feel free to disagree but I personally think that building modern vehicles is easy. Sure, Speed Champions has proved that they can be somewhat complex builds, but it takes real thought and skill to pull off the sweeping fenders and curves of old cars (specifically 1920s-40s but also trying to get all the little bits in the front of 50s cars too)

Creator old cars (I will say old cars since the 3 in 1 ones are not the best) are probably the best built cars in Lego. (I will put the Simpsons and TLBM police cars plus Simpson family car under that banner too). They look good, predominately can seat 3-4 minifigures and are simple enough to enjoy building but are still complex enough for the AFOL audience.

Vehicles don't take away from any set, they add to it (yes there are those vehicle-based sets such as Nexo Knights which aren't good). But seriously, if one took the parts from the Cadillac in DD, well I cant think of anywhere in the building they would be used since the model is fine how it is. The car in PC, if its pieces were used, would not be enough to make the cinema any better either.

I personally find it an extra challenge (which is enjoyable) trying to make a modular with the least amount of pieces possible that still meets the 'DO, PR' standard I set myself and has pieces left over for a vehicle. Post office, garage, police station are great examples of where a vehicle is quite necessary and I would love to see more 'regular cars' (including the cars in Winter Village we only have two actual regular, civilian cars) included with 'non job specific modulars as in a 30s roadster outside Assembly Square or an 1950s milk van outside the apartment of Pet Shop (this would be when the parts count/price is still reasonably low, obviously a vehicle with AS is/was out of the question).

The transport hub is an interesting idea. I would have either a 1924 Austin low loader taxi or  1947 Austin FX 4? (the direct predecessor of the famous 'black cab') with a 1930s medium sized bus (like Bertie from Thomas the Tank engine) or a double decker or a Edwardian era open top omnibus. Or a 1950s bus (with the slanted forward windows, that would be an interesting build) and a 50s/60s 'checker cab'.

Astrobricks

^ Actually I had the distinct impression that modulars looking old was part of the dogma. I found the complaints about DD being too modern a little sad.

Boardshorts85

Brickchap said:

@ Aanchir

 a 50s/60s 'checker cab'. 

I've been searching for a good checker cab build ever since I built the GBHQ.  The Zombie Cabbie needs a ride!

HugeYellowBrick

I have the bus from Winter Railway Station. It looks great on its own, but too big in front of my modulars. Maybe the scale problem will always make vehicles troublesome.

LegoPegasister2015

Paperballpark said:

Personally I would say that the positioning of DO in the catalogue is a strong indicator that it'll be going soon. They might as well have put it with the rest if it wasn't.

Odd that Brick Bank doesn't appear anywhere on its own though.

As for which retires when, I really just think it's down to how well they sell, nothing else. I can really see DO not selling as well as PR.

Detective’s Office isn’t anywhere to be found in the new US Winter 2018 Catalog so seems like a strong indicatior that it’s next on the chopping block. 

Boomstick

Off subject but should I keep all my creator building boxes if I ever resale or is it ok to toss them? Not that i will resale them but was curious if they have value. Went and bought all the available sets at the lego store last weekend. 

madforLEGO

LegoPegasister2015 said:

Paperballpark said:

Personally I would say that the positioning of DO in the catalogue is a strong indicator that it'll be going soon. They might as well have put it with the rest if it wasn't.

Odd that Brick Bank doesn't appear anywhere on its own though.

As for which retires when, I really just think it's down to how well they sell, nothing else. I can really see DO not selling as well as PR.

Detective’s Office isn’t anywhere to be found in the new US Winter 2018 Catalog so seems like a strong indicatior that it’s next on the chopping block. 

The catalogs are not good indicators of what is staying and what is going.

SumoLego

Is the Tower Bridge in the catalog...

piratemania7

I don’t think it matters the motions in which they retire something is anything but scientific

arathemis

^ I do think the retire process has science behind it,  it's just that we dont have the data to pull the correct conclusion (mainly how well a certain set sells) 

SumoLego

(Or how many they produced... or the profit margin on a set... or how many are sitting in a warehouse...)

Baby_Yoda

...or what's planned to replace it. Legend has it that was the original topic of this thread, during a time well before our own.

Paperballpark

SumoLego said:

Is the Tower Bridge in the catalog...

No. I don't think sets not being in the catalog necessarily means they're retiring though. Tower Bridge seems to be a consistently good seller, which is why it's still available over 8 years after release.

At some point though, Lego will surely do a 'death star' on it and re-release it with updated pricing to allow for inflation in the intervening 8 years.

SumoLego

(My point was that the catalog is not always indicitive of retirements or the like.)

CCC

Boomstick said:

Off subject but should I keep all my creator building boxes if I ever resale or is it ok to toss them? Not that i will resale them but was curious if they have value. Went and bought all the available sets at the lego store last weekend. 

The boxes don't have much value but they add to the value of a used set, as do instructions. It gives the impression that the set is looked after.

oldtodd33

@Boomstick I heartily agree with CCC. Keeping the box and instructions does make the set look like it was well taken care of. Almost every used set I have bought with box and instructions was in excellent to mint condition. 

piratemania7

But. Are you willing to pay for the shipping for the box? I believe the extra cost for the instructions is nominal but shipping the box really changes it. I would say it’s great if the box is an option but would forego it if it meant cheaper shipping. I agree of course it shows the set was well taken care of but I would just tell the seller to keep it if I were to buy that.

Boomstick

Thanks Guys. I don't intend on selling them and love these sets. I never knew how fun they were to build. I keep all my UCS boxes but wasn't sure about these. I keep all instructions in totes and if it's special I keep boxes, usually toss normal set boxes. But wanted to find out about these.

Aanchir

Beginning to think all the Asian-inspired minifig leaks lately that aren't recognizable from the Ninjago movie might be from the next modular building. It's too soon for another Ninjago City expansion (plus, there's not a whole lot of unique civilian designs in those that haven't shown up in either the movie or TV show) and they don't seem to correspond to any of the upcoming Ninjago Legacy sets.

My first thought when those started leaking was that maybe they might be tied to promotional items for one of the flagship stores in China, like Lester is for the flagship store in London. But the Shanghai exclusive grand opening keychain had a different outfit than any of them, and by now there have been too many unique figure leaks for me to believe it's from a single promo set. So at this point I'm thinking Creator Expert, and realistically the next modular building is probably the most likely to be coming out soon enough that we'd be seeing leaks for it right now.

Wouldn't be surprised if next year's Bright Bluish Green (Dark Turquoise/Teal) brick separator recently shown off at the LEGO House also makes its debut in next year's modular building.

BiggiSnibbiBigg

Aanchir said:

Beginning to think all the Asian-inspired minifig leaks lately that aren't recognizable from the Ninjago movie might be from the next modular building. It's too soon for another Ninjago City expansion (plus, there's not a whole lot of unique civilian designs in those that haven't shown up in either the movie or TV show) and they don't seem to correspond to any of the upcoming Ninjago Legacy sets.

My first thought when those started leaking was that maybe they might be tied to promotional items for one of the flagship stores in China, like Lester is for the flagship store in London. But the Shanghai exclusive grand opening keychain had a different outfit than any of them, and by now there have been too many unique figure leaks for me to believe it's from a single promo set. So at this point I'm thinking Creator Expert, and realistically the next modular building is probably the most likely to be coming out soon enough that we'd be seeing leaks for it right now.

Wouldn't be surprised if next year's Bright Bluish Green (Dark Turquoise/Teal) brick separator recently shown off at the LEGO House also makes its debut in next year's modular building.

Where can one see those asian minifigs?

Brickchap

@Aanchir

While your theory with the minifgs is well thought out and argued, I have to disagree. After all, everyone thought the next modular would be a police station due to the Classic Policeman CMF and that didn't happen.

However my main argument against your theory is that the only real 'Asian' building that would make sense would be a restaurant of some kind (possibly incorporating a martial arts studio of some sort upstairs) and since we had a 'food related modular' this year (Downtown Diner) and there definitely is some sort of a pattern with what 'theme' the modular is based around each year, another restaurant is extremely unlikely.

Sure, there are Asian style houses, libraries, museums or even police stations, but again, that seems practically impossible. Plus, having Streamline Moderne in 1950s era, then an Oriental building is also extremely unlikely.

I thought the introduction of the hotel porter print in Capital City was good proof of the next modular being a hotel. (I doubt they would create a whole new print for one city set). It will be interesting to see which of us is right, if not in 2019 but with later modulars. I'm still waiting for an Italian restaurant myself. (for the 'food' category)

The teal brick separator sounds cool but I've always found orange to be fine as a colour (easy to find and orange works with the whole 'construction/demolition' idea)

WhiteDove

Some other keen eyed fans have pointed out that those leaked minifigures are wearing traditional Chinese clothing, not Japanese. This is even more reason to think they won’t be Ninjago related. If they are from the next modular, what could it be, apart from a Chinese restaurant? I can’t imagine two eating establishments being released one after the other. 

SumoLego

If they're sufficiently different - I don't think anyone cares if there are three restaurants in a row...