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2016 Modular Building
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Comments
Red Five, standing by...
It's all compounded because the only new evidence actually states the opposite. Maybe that is a mistake, but it's a big coincidence that it just happens to be the one set about which there are, and always have been, different views. However it's a valid argument, and not stated as fact, so leaving the reader to make his or her own decision.
Fact: if you want a complete set of modulars then there are two widely-held but different views as to what that means. Which is what I said in the first place.
If we ever get the truth, I just hope that there aren't many Bothans that pay the ultimate price.
(ok ok, I'm finished trolling with Star Wars quotes)
To bring things full circle, does anyone know when the January modular will be announced? I know there are some events this month that are occasionally accompanied with product announcements.
The significance? The boxes show the current set and the previous two. That ought to mean the Fire Brigade box has Green Grocer and Market Street, with Cafe Corner dropped. But it doesn't - it has Cafe Corner but not Market Street. It doesn't even look good that way because you see the reverse of the "HOTEL" sign.
That implies Market Street is on the Green Grocer box just as a filler and only because they hadn't got anything else.
But seriously, trying to look more in depth than at the simple box's graphic or what was fairly clear at the time, I think I'm not in error if I retain that the great misleading here (an error in which AFOL community occurs too many times) is given by the difference between how the catalogue or the graphic content of the box may tag a particular set and what are the real features of that set. I think we can't dwell too much on the graphic content. In fact, we all now see modulars relabelled under creator theme since Palace Cinema, and this means that tomorrow they may rename the same tag Metropolis or Cyclopic - just for saying - what it would change? Nothing, if the buildings will keep their original features. And what importance do really have these tags, these graphic logos? Ridicolously big for a completionist, nothing at all for a normal fan with normal spirit of observation.
It's not a tag that defines something, but its contents, its features.
This worths for life in general and also for Market Street in which, despite of having a different box layout, we can find all the same prerogatives in terms of building that other modulars have too, and this is hardly a matter of points of view.
In any case, just for my curiosity, tough I don't have a blind faith in them, I had a look at Wikipedia and Lego Wiki and both report Market Street together with all the other modulars.
Cafe Corner was impressive. It's less impressive now we've seen techniques honed and advanced, but that's neither here nor there. It was also relatively expensive. It was also supposed to be the start of a series - I say "supposed to be" because that obviously depended on whether it was successful. As I didn't particular want a one-off building, I held off buying it.
Then along came Market Street. It was cheaper, but as @pharmjod has just said, it wasn't in the same league as Cafe Corner. It gave me the answer to whether I'd be buying Cafe Corner - no. I'm fortunate enough to be able to buy what I want, but that doesn't mean I'm not selective. Buying something like Cafe Corner once a year would've been fine; buying something like Market Street, even though it was cheaper, twice a year (which is how it seemed it was going to go) was not. I'd even have bought something like Cafe Corner twice a year.
When Green Grocer appeared and the future of the modulars became clearer, I reversed my decision and bought it, and Cafe Corner, at list price.
The point is that my immediate impression was that Market Street wasn't the same as Cafe Corner. It wasn't an opinion developed over time in the light of subsequent modulars. It wasn't down to catalogue labels or piece counts. Sure, the box is too prominent to simply ignore. However, the most important point seems to me to be that it was simply not the same sort of set - and you have yourself said it is that which is most important. It was a very powerful impression that, for a while at least, killed my interest in the new series stone dead. No subsequent modular made me feel that way, although I obviously think some are more impressive than others.
That's subjective, but Market Street was also demonstrably not the same as the other modulars. It's significantly smaller. It's less sophisticated with a lower age target. Simply, it's simpler.
Also significant, was that it had a totally different purpose. It wasn't just a set to be sold and make money. It was supposed to be an example of what could be achieved using LDD and LEGO Factory. Erik Brok himself said in a BrickJournal interview that it was to showcase the concept. We all see MOCs that we like - and it's certainly true of modular buildings. TLGs idea was that people would design buildings, upload them, and other people buy them. It was different from the rest of LEGO Factory because of the modular standard, so you could buy several different buildings and they'd all coexist quite happily. Market Street was supposed to kick-start the idea.
To say it was fan-designed is misleading. Erik Brok was a LEGO Ambassador, not just any old fan, and he worked with Jamie Berard in designing the set. So it wasn't just something that somebody had created using LDD and to which TLG took a liking - which is what I think they wanted us to believe. There are conflicting stories about whether it was actually designed with LDD, but it was supposed to have been possible.
All of that goes to explain why it is sometimes considered part of the series and sometimes not. It is a building that follows the modular standard. It is part of TLG's total offering for the now-dead concept. But whether it one of the series is something that, obviously, will continue to be debated.
** cough **
Green 'Green Lantern' Lantern White Rangefinder Red Five Standing By Sausage!
Please tip your server, g'night!
Was that before or after the reveal of the Hoth set? I'm not holding my breath...
As for people who don't consider Market Street a modular, most of them didn't consider it modular when it was still on the shelves. That's how the debates started - they didn't want to buy it and were looking for a good excuse!
And it's expensive.
Thus, collecting.
Mannnnnn I hope there's an announcement soon, so we can argue over something new and exciting.
But surely the answer for any collector is to own it. Then if it turns out to be a modular you are still complete and if not, ah well. Having said that, I have no intention of even looking how much it's changing hands for.
On topic, I'm hoping for a corner bank, steps, columns and a nice vault. That'd be a reason to start collecting modulars.
http://brickset.com/sets/theme-Factory
Anyway, it was a joke as everyone seems to be getting all serious about MS. Are people assuming the 2016 modular will be a 'proper' modular? ;)
Any time I look up that theme, the Space Skulls set makes me laugh. Who thought that was a good idea? To quote Vitruvius:
"That idea is just the worst."
(Ironically, the Double Decker Couch set is 100 better. Space Skulls?!?!?)
The Space Skulls set was not only fan-created (like most Factory sets), but blatantly based on "3vil", an fan-created space theme (as discussed in this interview).
Don't ask me how I even know this. I wasn't even very involved in the AFOL community at that point. Maybe it's something I stumbled on on Brickshelf (search 3vil there and you'll find quite a few skull-shaped spacecraft from many different builders to this day).
Some people dismiss mash-up themes like Ninjago or Nexo-Knights as weird and childish, but AFOLs were creating wacky themes like that way before LEGO even started!
For instance, if someone made a Lego Pizza or a Lego Meatloaf - that would also be a bad idea. Anything I can envision Morgan Freeman saying: "That idea is just the worst" is probably a bad idea.
I really want Vitruvius to say "Galidor" in the next sequel...
I must lack taste, as I actually like Market Street. Granted it's not on the same level as most of the other Modulars but to say it is horrible or ugly I think is being a bit harsh.
On the subject of whether it is a modular or not, I think clearly it is modular as it has friction pins on the side. Now you can argue all you want about what theme it belongs to (factory obviously) but it is still a modular.
Does that make every Technic SW set an unofficial Ultimate Collector's Series entry?
I have a Destroyer Droid with shredded rubberbands that may need some attention, if it's a UCS!
lol,
Ok ok, my point obviously was that MS has pins (in the right place) that allow it to join up to the other Modulars.
I can confirm that my head & tailless Lego tyrannosaurus is a Modular!
Lego staff - trolling AFOL's since 2007
I doubt they are called modular because they can be joined together. I can put 2 sets next to each other without using any pin and it's basically the same.
I think it's about the way they are built, with floors that can be removed, sometimes swapped, also if you have several of the same set, you can stack multiple intermediaire floors to gain more height.
A definition of "Module" is:
The independent units (being each floor of the building), is what settles it for me.