Friday 28 October 2011

Our seventh Lego project - 10190 Market Street

  • Model: 10190 Market Street
  • 1248 Pieces
  • Released in 2007
  • Retail price: $89.99 USD

Front view of the Market Street - comes in two parts: the Market Place (left) and the Building (right)

Back view of the Market Street - the simplest Lego Modular building produced

Side views of the Market Street

Previously mentioned in our What's in the Post entry, we purchased this previously opened set secondhand from an online seller. The second set produced by Lego after the 10182 Cafe Corner, the 10190 Market Street was created by a Lego fan. Similar to the 10218 Pet Shop, the Market Street comes in two independent parts - the Market Place and the Building.

Given that this Lego set was designed by a fan, its design is significantly simpler than its predecessor and the sets after it in the Modular Building series: 10185 Green Grocer, 10197 Fire Brigade, 10211 Grand Emporium and 10218 Pet Shop. At 1248 pieces, the Market Street is about half as large as the other Modular Buildings, as evidenced by the relatively bare Market Place.

The Market Street comes with 3 minifigs - way too few to play on its own. The interior of the Building is as bare as the Market Place (do check out the pictures by clicking "Read more" below). In terms of design, the building is aesthetically ordinary while the building experience was short and easy; the reason why we took so long to post this entry after receiving the set in the post was because we had to buy replacement parts for several missing pieces.

Overall, we feel that the Market Street is a sincere effort by a fan to design a Modular Building, but it would be fair to say that we have definitely seen more elaborate and jaw-dropping MOCs. The Market Street definitely cannot be played as a standalone Modular Building, so we recommend that collectors display it with the other buildings in the series - may we suggest the more colourful ones like the 10197 Fire Brigade and 10218 Pet Shop to add more vibrancy to the Modular Town. Not one of the more exciting builds, but one that is no less important to a Modular Building series collection.

Well, we'll stop here for the summary of this set. For more commentary and pictures on the individual parts - Market Place and the Building - do read the full post. Otherwise, do stay tuned while we post prepare our next entry - adding the 10190 Market Street to our growing Modular Town! :)

Related posts:
Our Growing Lego Modular Town - Seven and Counting

Like the 10218 Pet Shop, the 10190 Market Street comes in two parts - the Market Place and the Building. Accordingly, we shall write this entry by introducing our readers to each part in greater detail, followed by piecing them together.

Market Place

Similar to the 10185 Green Grocer and 10218 Pet Shop, the 10190 Market Street is made up of a business side and a living quarters. The Market Place, which is the business and is located on the left side, will be where we will start writing on.

The Market Place without the roof; a one-floor structure without walls

Top-down view of the Market Place without the roof - plain and simple

Front view with the roof!

Open for business!

Side view of the Market Place - room for more goods?

View from the other side

Back view of the Market Place

The Market Place is the reason why the 10190 Market Street is smaller (and cheaper) than the other Modular Buildings released by Lego. Consisting of several pillars, two fences and two gates, we feel that more effort could have been put in to spruce up the area. Practically speaking, what is the point of having the gates when there is a gaping adjacent entrance at the front? And why are there no doors, fences or gates at the back? The design could use some detail here.

We are far from conspiracy theorists, but does anyone find it strange that right after releasing the Market Street, which ostensibly features a fruits business, Lego's next Modular Building was the Green Grocer, which also ostensibly features a fruits business? Our guess is as good as yours; food for thought everyone!

Building

The building is the twin of the Market Place. A parallel design to the Pet Shop's Apartment (do check out our post Our sixth Lego project: 10218 Pet Shop), it comes with a basement and three floors.

Front view of the basement. The windows at the front are for the minifigs to crawl out???

Back view of the basement - very plain

Top view of the basement - empty inside

Front view of the first floor - is that a croissant on the left? :)

Top view of the first floor - again, empty inside

First floor with basement - building starting to take shape!

Back view of the first floor and basement

Top view of the first floor and basement

Second floor - more lightly coloured, comes with a balcony!

Close-up from the front!

What's with the two squares on every floor?

Front view of the first two floors with basement. Looks like three blocks stacked vertically on top of one another

Get what we mean by the two squares?

Top view of the first two floors and basement. Yet another furnitureless floor

Third floor - another balcony!

Without the roof!

Looks like the back's been patched up - this comment probably applies to the other floors as well

View from the left!

View from the right - at least there's an area to chill out!

View from the top - hollow on the inside!

Third floor with the roof and chimney

Back view - looks prettier with the chimney!

From the left - could do with a few solar panels, no? :)

From the right - the plant is unique!

Considering the other Modular Buildings which Lego has produced, we have strong reason to believe that the Building serves as an apartment. However, where is the furniture? Why is there a basement with two front windows serving as the entrance? We do not see a mailbox either.

To be fair, we feel that the Market Street was probably the precursor to the Pet Shop's design - no other predecessor had a basement, even though we still wonder what is the point of having one when it is shorter than the average minifig. The spiral and straight staircases are also common features in both Modular sets.

Displaywise, as mentioned in the picture above, it looks like three blocks stacked on one another. Additionally, the structure just feels like it has some random different coloured bricks for the sake of having something different - could someone enlighten us on the need for two squares on the first and second floors, or the two grey bricks on the third? Overall, we are of the opinion that this is an overly simplistic structure, with efforts to create a better building experience going into the wrong places i.e. adding random colours and omitting furniture.

10190 Market Street

As mentioned earlier, the Market Street's two parts can be connected on either side, creating the pairs of mirror images below.

Front view - which do you prefer? :)

Back view - nothing much to look at

From the left - the Building pretty much obscures the Market Place

From the right - this structure needs a sprinkling of red, don't you think?

We at Little Yellow Brick believe in sharing our Lego building projects with viewers around the world; this belief also extends to writing about our less enjoyable experiences. Well, to this end, let's just say that we were probably more enthusiastic at receiving the set in the post than building it.

This is probably the least flattering post on our Little Yellow Brick collection so far; let's hope that building the 10182 Cafe Corner, our next Lego project, will be better. :) As always, stay tuned!

Related posts:
Our Growing Lego Modular Town - Seven and Counting


10224 Town Hall posts:
Little Yellow Brick News #1 - 10224 Town Hall
Little Yellow Brick Investigates #1: 10224 Town Hall
Little Yellow Brick Investigates #2: 10224 Town Hall
Little Yellow Brick News #2: 10224 Town Hall Official Release
Sneak Peek: 10224 Town Hall 

5 comments:

  1. Nice review, The croissant tells this is a bread shop. I spend around 20 usd buying extra figures, boxes, fruits, vegetables, mugs and other stuff intending to make this look more like a market place. I have an initial picture posted on my blog. Will post more shortly. This set is just too plain, Lego gives the impression that they are always very stingy when it comes to giving more pieces to let collectors enjoy more.

    Good work once again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks!
      Look out for our posts on our completed modular town!

      Delete
  2. Hello. I believe the yellow squares on the back of the building are intended to model how buildings have windows bricked-in when a building is converted from one purpose to another. For example, from a shop into a restaurant or similar. They also look like they are at the same height as the windows in the front.

    ReplyDelete
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