LEGO Modular suggestions?

[Unknown]

Ditto natelite. I can understand the excitement for the new sets but if your smart, you should get the older sets first. No one likes to pay after market prices. You will probably have to pay double the price when its discontinued. Look at Cafe Corner. ;)

[vynsane]

While these types of topics are just about as useful and objective (read: not much) as "What should I have for dinner tonight?", I can understand the appeal of having other's opinions. That said, we really need only one topic for "What LEGO Should I Buy?" types of queries.

[tired]

What would be nice is if they released some sort of urban city park. something that they can squeeze between Cafe Corner and Green Grocer.

It could have:

-2 giant green base plates (to compensate for the lack of multi-story flooring)
-city kiosk (about 20 x 15 studs wide and attic-seque 2nd level for storage)
-8 to 10 minifigs (4 children, a hot dog vendor, a mother with stroller, a couple walking a dog, kiosk attendant and tourist)
-flower-beds
-mini grove of trees and complenting park lights (something on the calliber of those lights from the Winter Toy store.
-parking meters
-hot-dog cart
-a playground with slide and sandbox
-3 trash cans
-4 street lights
-picnic area with bench and table
-telephone booth
-portapotty or a washroom structure.
-urban vegetable garden (maybe) with garden shed (inside the coveted pitchfork)
-bus stop

Price wouldn't be same as the other sets. However, it could easily stand alone by itself. $150 if built well.

[atmail35]

Just a bit of background. Back in Dec 2009 when my daughter was 4, I started getting her into Legos. She really loves them and b/c of that I've developed somewhat of an additiction.

So as a treat to myself on Black Friday 2010, I bought the Green Grocer. I just started building it this week and I'm hooked on the modular buildings! The detail is amazing and overall I think they are great.....BUT I'm so disappointed that I didn't "know" about these "in time" to get the Cafe Corner and Market Street! Of course I foolishly looked on Ebay, out of curiosity and wow, do those really sell for $600+?

So I guess I just have to move forward and get the Grand Emporium next, I was planning on doing so anyway, before I realized how great the sets are. And maybe the Fire Brigade, although that one isn't as exciting for me.

I suppose I just need to accept the fact that I won't have the City Corner and Market Street (which I had never heard of until I opened the Green Grocer booklet)....anyone else want to commisserate w/ me on my "mourning" of the older sets?

[ncbarrett]

Just a bit of background. Back in Dec 2009 when my daughter was 4, I started getting her into Legos. She really loves them and b/c of that I've developed somewhat of an additiction.

So as a treat to myself on Black Friday 2010, I bought the Green Grocer. I just started building it this week and I'm hooked on the modular buildings! The detail is amazing and overall I think they are great.....BUT I'm so disappointed that I didn't "know" about these "in time" to get the Cafe Corner and Market Street! Of course I foolishly looked on Ebay, out of curiosity and wow, do those really sell for $600+?

So I guess I just have to move forward and get the Grand Emporium next, I was planning on doing so anyway, before I realized how great the sets are. And maybe the Fire Brigade, although that one isn't as exciting for me.

I suppose I just need to accept the fact that I won't have the City Corner and Market Street (which I had never heard of until I opened the Green Grocer booklet)....anyone else want to commisserate w/ me on my "mourning" of the older sets?

Fire BRigade will disappear first

[slacker]

like ncbarrett said. Fire Brigade is next on the chopping block so I would get that one first. Also Cafe corner is alittle bit cheaper on Bricklink. I also missed out on Cafe corner. I'm thinking of buying the parts from BL myself.

[atmail35]

I figured the Fire Brigade would go first. Is there ever any "advance" notice when things get discontinued or do they just disappear.

To be honest, I'm having a hard time justifying $150 a pop....I feel I have to have the GE so I'll go for that first b/c I would feel remorse if I didn't. I don't feel the same way about the FB.

Also Cafe corner is alittle bit cheaper on Bricklink. I also missed out on Cafe corner. I'm thinking of buying the parts from BL myself.

Good to know about Bricklink, but I honestly can't imagine (myself) paying much over MSRP. I'm a bargain hunter in reality. How hard do you think it is to collect all the pieces for the set and how much would it cost I wonder? I did download the instructions and need to look at the list. We don't have a very extensive "random bricks" collection and the PAB list on-line seems so pricey. I'll have to investigate!

[legogod]

Lego's pick-a-brick is a bit pricey for what you want and their selection might not include all of the pieces you need. That's why bricklink is good too. You might be able to find new sorted bricks for half the PAB price. Although it is sometimes hard to find one seller with all of your needs, it's also rewarding when your hunt is complete.

I enjoy the price breakdown per piece that Bricklink has. You can see how much a set or piece has sold for in the past and if the trend is going up or down. You can also set up your wish list so that when something becomes available at a good price it will email you. You said you're a bargain hunter and these tools are integral to the Lego hunt.

Jared

[possum]

I have the Fire Brigade & Green Grocer. The Grocer is great outside the building, but the Brigade has lots of really cool micro-scale things inside the building. Both are worth the $150 IMO.

[legitimatealex]

All the modulars are worth the price that LEGO puts on them. They're probably some of the best sets that LEGO has ever done.

[atmail35]

All the modulars are worth the price that LEGO puts on them. They're probably some of the best sets that LEGO has ever done.

I have the Fire Brigade & Green Grocer. The Grocer is great outside the building, but the Brigade has lots of really cool micro-scale things inside the building. Both are worth the $150 IMO.

Enablers!

[meyerc13]

I think your best bet is to move forward. I don't have any of the modular buildings yet, because LEGO in our house is all about the kids so the buildings in our LEGO City are the old style, open-backed. However, these are great looking sets and you get a lot of parts for the money.

I don't understand the high prices people pay for discontinued LEGO sets. The sets are still made of LEGO bricks, and you can conceivably assemble the same set in most cases by buying the individual bricks (although not at cheaply as the original set, and not if the set had unique parts).

I love the look of a row of modular buildings, but I've seen plenty of MOCs that look just as good as the modular sets, so for my money I'd buy the sets that are current, and add to them with MOCs and new buildings as they come out. If LEGO isn't producing an older set you want, make your own. That's what I did to add a hospital and a gas station to my kids' LEGO City, and to be honest I like my version better than the ones that LEGO produced.

[cbaker1974]

There's a lot of good feedback here. I, like you, got addicted to the modular buildings and I agree that I felt the Fire Brigade was the least appealing to me, however that totally changed once I started assembling it, and now I love it. As posted before, the interior detail is great and that is something they carried forward to Grand Emporium. The line continues to get better and better; I was lucky enough to snag a used Cafe Corner recently for around $300 (I think this is similar to what it would cost to assemble from Bricklink if you were to factor in some of your labor in contacting all of the sellers, etc...I've seen some people do some studies of this set and that price is usually where it tops out.).

While the Cafe Corner was interesting, had a great looking exterior, and was the more "rare and collectible" set, I found that it was a far simpler build and a lot less satisfying...it really has no interior to speak of. I haven't looked at Market Street's interiors but its exterior doesn't match well with the other modular buildings so I decided I'm not going to pursue it.

If you consider yourself more a bargain hunter than a collector, I'd suggest as others have and go ahead and purchase the Fire Brigade first...it will probably be retired late this year if you follow the patterns of the other modular buildings. Then you have plenty of lead time until Grand Emporium is retired, hopefully sometime in 2012. There are some threads on how to save money on these sets in this forum by using special promos (like Target card, coupons, cashback rebate sites) that can help defray the cost, but trust me you will kick yourself if you don't get the Fire Brigade as it is a wonderful set!

Also, instead of spending big bucks to get the Cafe Corner piece by piece, you might also choose to buy some bulk random brick lots by the pound on eBay or craigslist or at a yardsale, then you can use the techniques you learned in the modular buildings to make a nice MOC thats even better than Cafe Corner.

[natelite]

Lego sets prices are more a function of availability than irrational behavior. Once it is unavailable in the us it may still be available elsewhere like aus for eg. But the price to buy and ship from aus to us is equiv to around $300 hence you pay for $300 from bl sellers. As for ebay... well, let's just say some auctions are rigged. Either some clowns playing with an auction, raising the price with no intention to settle (for eg, angry over losing the orig bid) or an associate of the seller intentionally jacking up the bid as high as possible and probably splitting the profit.

[possum]

I have the Fire Brigade & Green Grocer. The Grocer is great outside the building, but the Brigade has lots of really cool micro-scale things inside the building. Both are worth the $150 IMO.

Enablers!

Be glad you didn't know me in college. Ten years ago it wasn't harmless stuff like Lego. ;)