For collectors of the Creator Modular Series from Lego, they certainly won’t miss the chance of owning this very special set, the LEGO Exclusive Set #10230 Mini Modulars released early this year.  It was supposed to be only available via Shop@Lego and only for VIP members.  However, VIP or not, it was brought in by quite a number of Lego speciality shops here in Singapore, and in large quantities.  Hence, I’m also not sure where the exclusivity comes in 🙂

For this set, the box wasn’t very big compared to the usual size of that of a modular house.  Maybe because it’s a Mini-Modular, so the box is also mini sized. :-p There are 2 instruction booklets with 5 packages inside the box.  Without looking at the instruction booklets, anyone also can guess that it should be one mini building per package.

Based on the details on the box, the whole mini street would be around 32cm or 13 inches in length.  Also, there are 1356 pieces of lego parts in this set, which usually means for S$165, it should be quite a good deal.  However, for this case, all the parts are also minis so they are mainly small 1×1 plate or bricks.  The good news is that there are still some special parts here and there in order to create the same effect and design of the original modulars.

The assembly took me around an hour to finish up, including spending some time here and there to compare and admire the details of the Minis with their bigger brothers. In this Mini release, there 5 Modulars includes are Grand Emporium, Fire Brigade, Green Grocer, Market Street and Cafe Corner.  Each and every one of them were carefully designed so that the key characteristics are capture in the Mini Modulars.  For instance, the “HOTEL” signature, the entrance of the Cafe Corner and the unique design above the gate of the Market Street and the golden bell of the Fire Brigade.  Something I like very much is the fire escape staircase at the back of the Green Grocer.  Very creative usage of the parts to react the same effect as the original set.

The designer of the Mini Modulars did all the Minis on 8×8 plates and they also included the usual 2 technics pins by the side so as to allow you to join together and separate the Minis just like the actual Modulars.  For this review, I took them apart and zoom into the details of each of the Minis.

Starting with the Café Corner.   See the details on the “HOTEL” signature, the yellow and white canopy covering the walkway and even 2 yellow 1×1 stubs to represent the 2 outdoor tables of the original Modular.

The Market Street was the first set of the Modular series released as part of the Lego Factory.  For this Mini, the details that caught my eyes were the white railing and white and blue canopy over the door of building.

The next in line is the Green Grocer.  This Modular has been EOL and its prices are going up hill since the news were out.  What I like about the Mini is fire escape staircase behind the building and also little details of the grocer shop at the ground floor of the building.

The Fire Brigade is the tallest Mini of the 5 buildings in the set.  This is because of the bell tower which even have a golden bell in it.  The flag was replaced by 3 simple 1×1 plates, cute but representative.

The final Mini is the Grand Emporium .  The details of this set would be in the replication of the green windows, the gondola and the ice-cream cart, all classic characteristics of the Modular set.

Overall, I would give this set a 8 out of 10.  Ups due to the small details of the Mini and the history of the Modular sets and the Downs for the price and only including 5 sets for now.  But any AFOLs, who are collectors of the Modulars, will still want to get this Mini Modular set for the completeness sake. 🙂