Rebrick’s Massive Mini Building Madness with Mega  Modular Prizes

The 10th anniversary celebrations for the LEGO® Creator Modular Buildings continues. LEGOrebrick have just announced an opportunity to win EVERY MODULAR BUILDING SET EVER( released at time of contest)!
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LEGO Rebrick: Contests with Real Prizes

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Have you visited the LEGO Rebrick recently? Previously designed as a MOC sharing site, the website was relaunched a few months ago primarily as a competition platform for TFOLS and AFOLs alike.

There have been contests for NXT, Bionicle, Porsche and Creator building. Current contests include Classic (Microscale Building – closes November 4, 2016) and LEGO Friends (closes November 21,2016).  Have a closer look at these contest pages to check out the prizes on offer.  The standard of competition is reflected by the value of the prizes.

This week, one of the most exiting competitions to date was announced: To celebrate the release of the new 10255 Assembly Square, build a room for one of the existing Modular Buildings. The full details can be found here.  Click on the link to read all about it. Make sure you read the rules properly!

The Grand Prize for this competition consists of:

  • 10218 Pet Shop
  • 10243 Parisian Restaurant
  • 10246 Detective’s Office
  • 10232 Palace Cinema
  • 10251 Brick Bank
  • 10255 10th Anniversary Modular Building: the Assembly Square.
  • If you were to purchase these separately from shopLEGO.com, they would cost over $AU1300 (Prize value varies according to your geographic region).

The competition closes on 30th November 2016 at 02:00 am AEST.  Visit the competition page through the link above to confirm the closing date and time for YOUR PART OF THE WORLD.

This competition is not visible through the LEGO Rebrick home page, but through emails sent out from LEGOShop.com, as well as links shared on LEGO Fan Media websites. Enjoy.

Play well.

10255: 10 years of Modular Building

In 2007, a new breed of LEGO set was released: the modular building.  The first offering, the Cafe Corner (10182) was revolutionary: the subject matter of Lego City, perhaps set in an older, simpler time, but with a scale that was appealing to AFOLS.  The design standard – specifying the placement of the technic bricks to bind adjacent models together, as well as defining the size of the footpath and alleyway at the back of the building – has inspired the theme as well as countless MOCs and LEGO cityscapes around the world.

That Very First Modular- the Cafe Corner had very little in the way of internal detail, but set a standard this has changed as the series has developed with detailed interiors for shops, homes and other miscellaneous  businesses one of the highlights of the series. In those early days, the LEGO Factory site referenced design ideas for interior design .

For me, seeing these sets at a public show is what dragged me out of my Dark Ages. I remember constructing the Green Grocer, a year or two later, and discovering new (to me) parts usage as well as special secrets that only the set’s builders would know about such as….(but that would be telling!)

As a now annual New Year’s treat, there has been a steady roll of buildings to add to the collection: Market street (10190), Green Grocer (10185), the Fire Brigade (10197), the Grand Emporium (10211), the Pet Shop (10218), the Town Hall (10224), Palace Cinema (10232), the Parisian restaurant (10243), the  Detective’s Office (10264) and the Brick Bank (10251).  The majority of these sets have been designed by Jamie Berard, who has taken on the task of assembling an homage to the entire range in this year’s 10th Anniversary Spectacular: Assembly Square (10255).

LEGO Designer Jamie Berard, pictured with all of the Modular buildings, including the newly announced 10255: Assembly Square.
Set up as three floors of shops/professional consulting suites, the businesses include: a bakery, florist and café; music store, photo studio and dental surgery and an upper level dance studio and an apartment featuring a rooftop terrace. Even at first glance, you can see some design cues taken from the older modular sets:

There are eight adult Minifigures and a baby included in this set. Like all Minifigures in the modular line, these feature the classic ‘smiley’ face. All of the mini figures have great characterisation, and there are lots of new elements to be found.  One of my favourite figures would have to be the musician, with his receding ‘Peter Venckman’ hair line.

There are also some terrific new elements to be seen in the designer video including :a

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Another exciting variation on the 1×1 brick: 2 studs on adjacent sides.
Minifigure scale printed Cafe Corner box; 1×1 quarter circle tiles (black, tan and waffle);  2×2 and 4×4 quarter circle radii tiles in light bley; a mirror (4 x 6); 2 x 2 corner tiles, with the corner cut off in white, dark blue, light and dark bley; a 4×8 , diagonal door frame in black; and an exciting element with huge potential in MOCS, and in generating confusion when placing brick link orders: a 1×1 brick with 2 studs on adjacent sides.

Recolours include a 1×1 tile in nougat; a silver 2×2 radar dish; a curved window arch with spokes in black; and a new window for the dentist’s office: “Prevent yellowing.”  Sound advice for those of you without ageing, sun damaged LEGO Bricks.

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As you can see, this babysitter is a serious LEGO Fan: she has got a boxed copy of 10182: Cafe Corner to put together. It must be super micro scale!
It is shaping up to be a huge set, measuring 35cm (13″, approximately 40 bricks) tall, 38cm (14″, 48 studs) wide and 25 cm (9″, 32 studs) deep.  The additional 16 studs of width is reflected in its piece count, and the price tag. There are 4002 pieces: that’s 1200 more pieces than the largest previous modular (The Town hall xat 2766 pieces). Priced at $US279.99/ UK£169.99 this is a significantly greater investment than previous modulars (for example: Brick bank (10251) is priced at $US169/UK£119), but you also get so much more.   It will be available at shop.lego.com on January 1 2017, and is recommended for ages 16 and up.  Unfortunately, there will not be an opportunity for LEGO VIP members to order early.

 

Read on to see the details from the Official LEGO Press Release, see some more images and read about some of the easter eggs that designer Jamie Berard has tucked away in this set for us to enjoy: Continue reading