A Walk Down Modular Building Lane

I’ve reviewed a bunch of the modular buildings since the start of my site in 2014 and I have most of the sets. Sadly, I do not have #10190-1: Market Street or #10185-1: Green Grocer. Maybe some day I will see if I can piece them together with my collection and BrickLink orders. I do have the rest and they are awesome sets!

If you’re a modular building geek like me or just want to learn more about them, Jamie Berard, who many folks know from the LEGO Masters USA TV show, did a 40 minute walk through of the history of the modular building line for LEGO on YouTube. Hopefully you can find that chunk of time to watch it or watch it over a few sittings like I did as it’s an interesting video where you learn about some of the insights that went into each design. You can check it out below.

So That's Why We Haven't Seen More Creator Expert Trains!

I wrote a post a while back complaining that it’s been a while since we had a Creator Expert style LEGO train. Well I think I may have found our answer.

I found an interview with LEGO Designer Jamie Berard by the show Assembled which is an interview done by Mike Psiaki. It’s about a 30 minute interview and I found it pretty interesting. They talk mainly about the new Roller Coaster set (#10261-1)., but they also talk a few more topics like set re-releases and to the point of this post, Creator Expert trains.

Mike asks why there aren’t more Creator Expert themed trains at the 27:50 mark or so. Without directly stating it, Jamie’s response is pretty much that LEGO doesn’t make the money they want to on Creator Expert themed trains. There is a subset of LEGO fans out there that love trains, they each buy one or two of the train sets and that’s it. So LEGO will release the standard LEGO CITY passenger and freight trains on a regular basis, but that’s mostly it.

Jamie also brings up some of the other ways they have tried to incorporate trains. The goal is to get a group that enjoys another theme and to add a train to that theme. He brings up #10254-1: Winter Holiday Train as an example. There is a larger group that enjoys the Winter Village theme. They may not be into a Creator Expert style train, but when a train fits in with the Winter Village theme then it is a buy for them.

After hearing that, you can tell LEGO has done that elsewhere. For example the Hogwarts Express (#75955-1) and the upcoming Hidden Side theme has a set titled Train (#70424-1). It will be interesting to see where else LEGO can add the train line into another theme in the future.

With that being said it leaves us LEGO Creator Expert train fans left out. As Mike mentions in the video interview, he likes the Winter Holiday Train, but it’s not on par with the Horizon Express (#10233-1). I don’t think the LEGO Ideas platform will work either based on Jamie’s interview response. If LEGO doesn’t think there is a market out there to sell advanced train sets, then even if a train set does get 10,000 supporters it might not go into production. Another way to get advanced train sets out there might be the Bricklink AFOL Designer Program. There are some design limitations that I’d have to look up and there are potentially some piece restrictions too, but it could be a possibility. If BrickLink sees this program as a way to increase profits in the future, then submitting train designs there might be the better way to go versus LEGO Ideas.

Dear LEGO,
I would still like to see more Creator Expert themed train sets. Thank you for your understanding!
-Bricks for Bricks