Monday 26 December 2011

#725 of Year 2 Lego 10211 Modular Grand Emporium

Happy 30th anniversary to my Lego collection.  Yes, it's been 30 years.  And to cap it off in celebration, here's the Grand Emporium from the modular houses theme.


The box is the standard size for the modular houses, which means it's huge.  The building almost fits into the front of the box.  The back shows some of its features incluindg the chandelier, and how it could be used to cap off the modular houses.


The box contains a tan baseplate, three instruction books, and numerous baggies of bricks.  I can seriously say I've never seen this many baggies inside a box before.  Not even the previous Modular houses seem to have had this many.


There are 9 baggies numbered 1.  I mixed them all together as it builds 6 minifigs as well as the ground floor of the Emporium.


The interior is interesting and includes a changing area, complete with curtain, some rather scary looking pants on the wall, a table of knick knacks...


... a table with hats, stairs to the next floor and a cashier area.  There is even a back door area complete with lamp.


The front entrance area is elaborately tiled, and the 'SHOP' logo over the working revolving door is ingenious.  Still, I couldn't help but add a few pieces from my own collection onto the 'SHOP' logo.


There's a red mailbox and icecream cart outside the emporium as well.  It is a nice little build.


There are seven baggies numbered 2 and they build the middle storey.


It's a rather bland level with just two platters and glasses sitting on tables.  It does have a stairway leading up to the next level as well.  The only interesting part of this build was the almost floor to ceiling windows.  They look a bit grand while building, but got covered up by more bricks to complete the floor.


There are twelve baggies numbered 3, which is a lot.  It builds the top level and the roof.  There's a nice chandelier on this level.  There's also tables filled with toys and a box of balls.


The windows are the same as the level below which gives it the same look, but makes it look bland.  The roof is also elaborate and has a lot of little pieces.  There's also a skylight and a billboard complete with spotlights.


There's a nice window washer, and the box seems interesting.  The billboard seems a bit bland, but it does work.  It also has the nice giftwrap box jutting out to give it a 3D look, which makes it less bland than it would have been.


The toys on the table includes a house and a skateboard.  I think the design of the skateboard is interesting, as it uses existing available Lego pieces.  The chandelier uses clear Lego bricks, and desipte of and thanks to its simple construction, looks very glamourous.


The building slots in nicely with the rest of the modular buildings, but unlike the other buildings, the colour choice seems a bit bland - there's no maroon or light blue or pastel green on it.  The beige and dark green works, but probably not as well as the maroon and beige with yellow of the Cafe Corner.  Still, it's nice to have another "corner" to the streetscape.

2 comments:

  1. I love that these sets have all the details built in now; I was really disappointed when the Cafe Corner came out but didn't have an interior so it is really cool to see Lego putting a lot of time into the interiors as well as the exteriors.

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  2. I think it was the hue and cry from the collectors who forced Lego to rethink. Also the guy who designed these was apparently part of the fan community before Lego hired him.

    ReplyDelete

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