It's good, but where is the Singapore Flyer?

That’s...really? They cut production of 21021 short because they found out it was a casino, but have no problem adding the same building to a Skyline set? Eh, I suppose even making 21038/21047 shows the same rules don’t apply equally to Skyline sets as they do to standalone Architecture sets.

@Zordboy said:
"Is that an attempt at the Merlion, down at the front?"
I wondered that too, it'd be weird not to see it

Do I spy a 4L version of 49307: Slope, curved 1x1 double? Or is there something else going on that I’m not thinking of…?

Maybe it’ll grow on me but this just isn’t very impressive. The skylines from the last 2 years had a lot of interesting microscale building techniques but everything here appears to be a very basic build.

Nah. Waiting for São Paulo.

Hey, that's cool. 2022 Modular reveal yet?

No Hougang Stadium, no buy.

@SideSwept said:
"Do I spy a 4L version of 49307: Slope, curved 1x1 double? Or is there something else going on that I’m not thinking of…?"

Promobricks has a better image of the set, And it does look like a 4L version of 49307.

@DrGenie:
Over a lifetime? Sure, probably multiple people have seen movies, TV episodes, and documentaries involving Singapore. The day before this set is announced? Again, sure, because there are a few regulars who log in from Singapore (all they have to do is catch a daily newscast to count). For anyone outside of Singapore to have just watched something about Singapore the day before this set is announced? There’s a whole lot of world to learn about, and Singapore is a tiny little island. I expect Vegas would have given it pretty long odds.

>> Additional smaller structures line the water's edge.

Those are the traditional shophouses.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shophouse

Marina Bay Sands looks too chunky to me. I will also echo the disappointing lack of Architecture sets over the last two odd years.

Looks pretty decent, but Ill stick to cities Ive been to or want to go to.

missed out on 21021 so this will be a day one buy for me

I love the Architecture line of sets but occasionally find a Skyline set just "off", something you can't quite put your finger on but it just doesn't feel "right" if that makes sense. This one is like that for me, just feels a little crowded perhaps? Can't say what it is, but when what appears to be dark hot pick wheel hub inserts have me more interested in the picture then the actual set as a whole, somethings definitely wrong, and I don't even MOC lol!

Another Skyline is nice, and this one looks well done, but can we return to the heady days of large scale landmark Architecture? The Statue Of Liberty and the Empire State Building were so good, but we've only had one comparable set announced in what feels like years, a Taj Mahal which I honestly did't like. Please Lego, get 2022 off to a good start.

Skylines is alive!

Love the pink wheel covers used in the Gardens. I’ll definitely pick this one up.

I know absolutely nothing about Singapore, so this is all new and interesting to me. I like the splashes of color. The buildings look neat. I likely won't buy it since I don't have an affinity for the buildings, but it looks neat overall..

And I think the move to push tab boxes wasn't a downgrade, I thought it was more for protective measures so people can't tamper with the tape? Maybe I'm wrong.

Either way, I don't keep the box, so they could all be simple brown unprinted cardboard and I'd still buy the set (but it won't wow the people looking on the shelf).

Cool Set! Hey, a different topic but last year during the US Thanksgiving weekend, Lego announced the next lego Modular set (the Police Station). I was hoping something would be announced this past weekend but alas nothing. Does anyone know what is going on with the next modular set announcement?

To make this set immersive they should charge $800 for it but you can get it down to $30 by applying for a government subsidy.

@Harmonious_Building said:
"To make this set immersive they should charge $800 for it but you can get it down to $30 by applying for a government subsidy. "

And don't even think of using illegal building techniques, you will get fined for that! ;-)

After all, it is a Fine set of a Fine city....

I'm glad to hear Skyline sets are coming back after a short hiatus. It's perhaps not quite as impressive as some of the others, but I think it still has its charm. I'm hopeful that other cities can still appear in future sets.

I used to like Architecture.

The Marina Bay Sands fails to capture the lack of symmetry in the real building.
The real thing has the horizontal part project over the edge far more at one end than the other.

Charming set!

Nice to see Skylines return. Not my fave, tho for me not much better nor worse a low-desirable city theme or architectural grouping than Vegas. Nor a big surprise given the Dubai Skyline gave a kind of price-friendly update to the Burj Khalifa stand-alone set -- and Paris the same for the Eiffel Tower stand-alone. But Singapore being in the catalog means an overall fun series now continues. Watch for a Seattle to emerge!

@PurpleDave said:
"When Attack on Weathertop retired, I picked up five extra copies on significant discount to get a full set of Ringwraiths. I opened four copies and took out the bits I was after and set the rest of the parts aside in case I need them someday. Number five had been pilfered. The Ringwraith bag wasn’t even there, and all the other bags had been opened to remove the minifigs and accessories. I checked the tape, and both were original and intact. Someone figured out that there are other ways to get inside the box while leaving the tape in pristine condition, and they probably went around buying stuff, stealing things out of the boxes, and returning the “unopened” product for a full refund. The same trick will work on pretty much any official LEGO packaging except polybags."
I’m sorry that happened to you. Did you take the sets back to the store and explain what happened? They may have had CCTV of whoever stole the minifigures and returned the sets.

I have a feeling that kind of theft is more common in the US than the UK. Still, wherever I am, I always check the edges of boxes extremely carefully for any sign that they may have been tampered with. The only time I didn’t check the box was a Ninjago set I bought in Japan because there’s no need to there.

@Zander:
I was able to get most of the missing stuff, including the most important missing stuff, replaced for free by calling LEGO customer service. After realizing the contents had been tampered with, I thoruoughly inspected the box. The original tape seals had been left clean and intact. The only evidence of how they got in was only visible from inside the box. I bought them from at least three different stores, and have no idea how long the returned set sat on the shelf after being returned. By the time I discovered the theft, it’s likely that no security footage existed of the product return, and the only proof that it had been purchased and returned would be financial transaction records for a cash purchase and cash return, so you couldn’t even use the credit/debit card info to determine who might have done it.

Every time I see a new skyline set release, I keep wondering why they never release Hong Kong, which is arguably one of the best skylines in the world. Just a decade or two ago, it was the tallest skyline in the world as well...thinking maybe the buildings are too difficult to capture in this nano scale. Some of the skylines they picked are not even in the top 10 skylines imo. Weird.

Still waiting for a Boston skyline set.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Sethro3:
Architecture has been packed in the premium boxes that can be reclosed for storage, and which are made from more heavy-duty cardboard. Pushtab boxes tend to be thin to medium cardboard, so right there they’re made of less expensive cardboard, and have a far less premium feel.

And tape seals don’t mean anything. When Attack on Weathertop retired, I picked up five extra copies on significant discount to get a full set of Ringwraiths. I opened four copies and took out the bits I was after and set the rest of the parts aside in case I need them someday. Number five had been pilfered. The Ringwraith bag wasn’t even there, and all the other bags had been opened to remove the minifigs and accessories. I checked the tape, and both were original and intact. Someone figured out that there are other ways to get inside the box while leaving the tape in pristine condition, and they probably went around buying stuff, stealing things out of the boxes, and returning the “unopened” product for a full refund. The same trick will work on pretty much any official LEGO packaging except polybags."

RIP your Attack on Weathertop set. Id be very upset.

I guess all the 2022 box art renderings are gonna look terrible, huh...

Shame there is no airport in the model.

Any word on the GWP yet? I hope it’s a pack of gum!

I feel like the Architecture theme is so underutilized by LEGO. The theme has so much potential if LEGO gave a big team the theme, but it seems LEGO is slowly fading away from this theme recently. Don't believe me? I can think of so many iconic landmarks and buildings LEGO has yet to do with the theme, including:

Normal sets: The Alamo, Gateway Arch, Machu Picchu, Rockefeller Center remake, The Colleseum (different scale), etc.

Skyline Sets: Seattle WA, Dallas TX, Rome, Osaka, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Toronto, Moscow, Mexico City, etc.

If LEGO did not exclude religious sets, I could think of even more sets, such as The Notre Dame de Paris, Hagia Sophia, and St. Basil's Cathedral. My point is I think LEGO should really make more sets for the theme and reach it's potential.

@PurpleDave said:
"And tape seals don’t mean anything. When Attack on Weathertop retired, I picked up five extra copies on significant discount to get a full set of Ringwraiths. I opened four copies and took out the bits I was after and set the rest of the parts aside in case I need them someday. Number five had been pilfered. The Ringwraith bag wasn’t even there, and all the other bags had been opened to remove the minifigs and accessories. I checked the tape, and both were original and intact. Someone figured out that there are other ways to get inside the box while leaving the tape in pristine condition, and they probably went around buying stuff, stealing things out of the boxes, and returning the “unopened” product for a full refund. The same trick will work on pretty much any official LEGO packaging except polybags."

Had the same happen to me twice. From a Space Police set and a DC superhero set. Minifigs missing. Both boxes in pristine condition.
I don't know how they did it. And they returned it to Target. Maybe hairdryer to loosen the tape and apply a small dab of some kind of clear tacky substance to reseal carefully?
This was years back though so hasn't happened to me since. Except for a random small part, here and there. Also once, not a small part but an antennae and tile was missing which is uber rare to happen.

@TheEpicLuke:
Until sometime during the pandemic, Hagia Sophia was a deconsecrated museum, and would have been fair game for the Architecture theme. Now it’s a mosque again, and off-limits.

@legoDad42:
It’s not the tape. Pretty much anything you do to try to cleanly remove the tape is likely to damage the box in the process. And once that tape is peeled off, it’s unlikely to ever look the same when reapplied. Some years ago, they did a trio of Space/Castle/Pirates GWPs that consisted of a minifig, small model, and a tiny history book. One of mine showed up with the tape dots so off-center that they’d popped loose on the short side. I’ve never been able to get them to stick, or look freshly applied. This is tamper-resistant tape. The black mark in the center is supposed to make it more obvious if someone cut the seals and reapplied clear tape directly over the old tape. The tape looks different after being peeled off the backing, vs being peeled off a printed cardboard box.

If you were to show me the boxes in person, I might be able to point out what they did, but I’m not going to make this a tutorial for other would-be thieves.

@PurpleDave, Very wise not to reveal online how it was done. If you can’t tell from the outside, there’s no point anyway and, as you say, would only help thieves.

Glad LEGO customer service was able to help. Did you explain to CS how it was done? If they get sufficient reports of it, it may prompt them to add more/better security features.

In the UK, stores will usually offer store credit for returns of cash purchases (except when the product is faulty - you get your cash back), or require ID or a credit/debit card swipe for a cash refund. That’s particularly true for mid and large ticket items.

@Zander:
I think I explained to them how it was done, but short of shrink-wrapping the entire box in plastic covered in official LEGO logos, I don’t see many viable options to prevent repeats. It’s not something simple like doing away with the old boxes with the “features parts and minifigs” tray because even a toddler would have no trouble ripping open the cellophane window to grab the choice bits.

In the US, returns policy varies from store to store, and probably by state and local jurisdictions (as necessary to comply with applicable laws). Practical experience can vary by individual store, as some guest services employees may be more willing to believe you got scammed, while others may suspect you of trying to scam the store. After all, if you bring back the box of an expensive game console and explain that it was filled with rocks, they weren’t there when you opened it at home, and have no way of the rocks were there when you bought it, or if you took the console out and replaced it with rocks just to try to get your money back.

What are those green/purple things supposed to be?

@Spike730 said:
"What are those green/purple things supposed to be?"

The Supertree Grove of Gardens by the Bay, vertical garden "trees" up to 50 meters tall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_by_the_Bay
(you might wanna Google for some better pictures, these are truly spectacular!)

I think in itself a couple of those Supertrees would make an amazing Architecture set...

@DonnaxNL said:
"It's kinda sad this theme took a backseat since the introduction of "18+", while this being the first real adult focused theme (with black background). Hope to see more of it.

@Altair1970 said:
"Looks quite bad compared to the other skylines..."

I wouldn't say bad, but just crowded."

Crowded is what I like about it. I'm a Chicago fan at heart and the skyline for that city felt way too open to capture the hustle and bustle of that town.

@Zordboy said:
"Is that an attempt at the Merlion, down at the front?

I like it, but we have four continents easily covered with these guys. Surely there's a city in South America or Africa that they could showcase, you know?"

Asmara would be so great if done well. Thoughbit would hit the vibe of real archtecture audience, not the "been there" tourists, so it's unlikely to happen.

An African modernism collection would be nice too, though not exactly a skyline of one city.

Whenever I see the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, I think of the Krikit Gate from Hitchhiker's Guie To The Galaxy. You know, the three pillars and the two bails? Yeah.