fyrmedhatt

I missed a window pane from my Grand Emporium, but nothing else as far as I can remember. I guess the reason for missing at least the window pane is that the window pane is too light for the quality control weights to register the error, same reason why we always get extra single stud plates, tiles and technic pins. Interestingly they never give you extra window panes. I have to say though, this is the only set where I've missed a window pane, and the only other set where I've missed a part was in 7747 where it was missing a part that should be loose in the box, so all in I'm pleased with their quality control. Getting replacements is as easy as filling out a form online or calling them. Edit: Weird double posting going on, an accidental copy paste or something... Thanks Splatman!

The set that got me out of my Dark ages? It would have to be the 10179 Millennium Falcon. Ever since i saw it on some web sites I was completely fascinated by it, and thought it was just the greatest thing, yet I couldn't bring myself to pay 500 dollars on what I considered a children's toy. And it certainly didn't occur to me that smaller Lego sets would be interesting, so I went without for the longest time, occasionally dreaming about it and adding it to my Amazon shopping cart several times. It really made me think of Lego as something I could be interested in as an adult. Fast forward to June 2010, I was visiting home after several weeks working out of state, where I had spent time lurking on Eurobricks and decided it was time to try Lego. Sadly, the set of my dreams was gone the month before, and I regretted greatly not getting it, so I went to the Lego store with my wife where she bought me the 6212 X-Wing, and a little over a week later, she ordered me the 10188 Death Star for my birthday. Honestly, I was totally ignited as an AFOL then, and we've spent a lot more since then. Now one of these days I'll get the UCS Millennium Falcon, maybe I'll buy myself one for finishing my Master's degree? It's just such a difficult expense to justify, so it will have to be for some time in the future.

I see this when I'm looking on ebay as well, it seems to be very predatory, with people just trying to see how much profit they can eek out of unsuspecting customers who don't check the sets prices on shop at home and other retailers. I see the same thing from third party sellers on Amazon, for example I have never seen the Landspeeder below $36, $10 above retail. I know part of that is that it's an exclusive, but still it's rip off. Any time Amazon is out of stock, it appears the vultures come in to use the credibility of Amazon to sell their grossly overpriced, but still currently in production sets. Some of the prices I see on ebay are just ridiculous as well, it seems a lot of people are trying to sell incomplete sets for the same high prices as the highest priced complete used ones. I see a lot of Star Wars vehicles without figures being sold for the same price as complete display only used ones on Bricklink. I guess their mindset is that there's only a few pieces missing, even if the pieces missing are by far the most valuable. In some of the worst cases the relevant information of figures missing is only mentioned within a huge chunk of text and they use a standard box image for the product. Values on ebay seem in general to be overpriced, just because immaculate rare used sets go for a pretty penny does not mean your kids eclectic chewed up and dusty collection with lots of Megabloks is going to make you rich. I'm sure some lots are a treasure trove, but considering the work involved in sorting and cleaning the Lego bought, as well as the risk of the bricks being damaged/in poor condition make me extremely wary of being most of the lots on Ebay.

Sometimes I do feel a little awkward at their generosity, as when they gave me a bunch of pieces for free that I was intending to pay for, but then I remember what Lego is and what they stand for as a company. Lego is a top of the line toy brand, and they charge for it. They know their customers pay extra for quality and a great experience. Anyone who has dealt with kids or has been one themselves know the disappointment when pieces are damaged or missing, and it's important the parents feel that these issues can be easily resolved when these things occur. The bottom line is that I love Lego Customer service treats me, and I really wouldn't want it any other way. The only way I'd really have second thoughts about it was if I felt like they were losing lots of money on it, but they are not losing money on having great service. Every time they help a customer the customer will be more likely to return, it's cheap and incredibly effective marketing in the end.

It is true Lego was a lot more expensive 15-20 years ago than it is now, but i think there are many reasons for that. First, as people have already commented on, the sets had fewer, but larger pieces. Nowadays many sets have large amounts of tiny pieces, one such set is the 10193 MMV, which has a ridiculous amount of single and two stud pieces (mind you, it's still an amazing value). Going 20 years back, Lego was immensely popular and they could charge a lot for their sets and Lego Maniacs (and their parents) would still buy it. Pieces had better quality control in general, with less color consistency issues, as well as prints being much more abundant than today. Engineering new pieces was probably more expensive, as options for accurately machining casts and using computers to design the pieces took longer than it does today. Lastly, the experience of opening a set from those days was very different than today, with beautiful box designs, the flip open covers for the boxes, and the nicely sorted pieces in plastic trays as well as the minifigures displayed in their own pockets on the front of the box. All of these factors probably add to the prices back then compared to now, and prices are again on the rise after an all-time low around 2006, when Lego was on the brink of destruction and certainly had a reason to have extremely low prices. Anyways, as anyone from outside the US knows, buying Lego here is awesome, we have the best value on pretty much all sets. I grew up in the most expensive country in Europe, so the change from back then has been radical to say the least.

I just had to vote for 6394. It was released when I was only a year old, so I never got the chance to own it, but I did have some old catalogues as a child that I used to read and dream of the sets within them, where the 6394 Service tower and the 6991 Airport shuttle were probably the two sets I wanted more than any others. With the gas station and the parking garage it is truly an epic set, completely unique and will probably remain so forever. 6378 and 6397 receive honorable mentions, they both are very well designed service stations that look very close to their real-world counterparts. I really like 6378, it just looks like the Shell stations from when I was a kid, I have to say it's a shame Lego no longer uses licenses for their gas stations, as the Shell and Exxon licenses were so well integrated with the town theme. 6397 was the gas station of my childhood, I ever did own it, but I really wanted it, and so it will get points from a nostalgia standpoint, as well as being a well designed station with a car wash.

This set is one of those that I really like, but I cannot bear to pay full price for it. I will pick it up on sale for sure, and just like the Toy Story Pizza Truck I'm sure it will be great despite its very poor price to parts ratio. The minifigs are what I love the most about the set, but the flying saucer is very classic as well. The farmer is such a detailed civilian minifig, and would be great in a town setting, he beats all the underwhelming and outright boring city minifigs we get served year in and year out with the same ten torsos repeating themselves. The other two are also great, with the ADU guys being awesome army builders useful for so many sci-fi MOCs, and the aliens look pretty cool. All in all a great review of a decent set that I suspect I will find a positive surprise when I finally purchase it.

I mistakenly blew this ship off as yet another Clone Wars ship for the longest time, I have no idea why. It really is an excellent set with some pretty cool minifigures (3 unique ones!), and I'm now convinced at last that I just must have this set before it's gone. It's not the prettiest of birds, but it works ok for what it is supposed to be, I'm just going to make sure I display it on a lower shelf so that I won't see the undercarriage or the back of it, from the side as it is displayed on the box it doesn't look too bad. Excellent review as well, I love these extremely detailed and well written reviews, they provide plenty of entertainment even though they are of sets I might never be interested in.

I do not agree with you that a Legends line does not have a market, as there are plenty of AFOLs out there who are very sentimental about their hobby and would love nothing more than to open the sets from our childhoods that we could never afford, or even the ones released before we were into lego (as a child of the early nineties I looked longingly at the cool sets that older neighbors had, as well as what I saw in old Lego catalogs). I mean, collectors pay hundreds of dollars for older pirate ships, castles and town sets on bricklink, and many of them do it to relive their childhood. Whether the market is profitable for Lego is another question, The AFOL community appears to be larger than it was at the time of the Legends line, so they could probably have more sales, but then again the sets are better now. Also the molds are ten years older than they were then, and many will probably require significant work in order to be restored, and of course the color change throws things off significantly. That the line was ok for Lego 10 years ago I have no doubts about, they released the sets for about four years, but that was a Lego in crisis, grasping at straws, the profitability would probably not be satisfactory today. Another thing is whether people would accept old sets to take the place of the gloriously well designed AFOL-oriented sets we see on the market today, as the total amount of such sets would probably remain the same. The one way I see the Legends line reincarnated is through the release of sets made in the ten last years, and then especially the AFOL-oriented ones. Who wouldn't want to see a re-release of the UCS Star Wars sets, the Cafe Corner, Market Street or the Santa Fe train sets. Doing so would probably require much less investment from Lego with regards to remanufacturing of molds as the sets are young so most parts are still in production. These sets have also reached very high prices on the second hand market, so TLC could be pretty confident there is a high demand for the sets, so they would sell well. The one problem with such rereleases are the collectors, as the bottom would fall out of the collectors market, probably resulting mass outrage from them. Lego has done so before for the 10152-10155 Maersk ship, so they could do it again. As for the Grey-Bley problem, it is not like Lego hasn't released sets in both colors before, the 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer was released in both types of grey, without it really doing much to the demand for the set, a new copy will set you back at least $1000 today.

I'm sure next year will be another great year for ego, they have a lot of really good lines to build on right now. I collect Kingdoms, Star Wars, Harry Potter, as well as City plus all the exclusives, so I think those themes are the ones I enjoy speculating about the most. Kingdoms - I really hope it continues, although I'm not certain, another wave would be good, hopefully with a Dragon Knights fortress of some kind and maybe another civilian set. I've read rumours of a shop at home exclusive joust set, which would be something I could get very excited about. Star Wars - I'm just hoping for more OT and PT sets, it has been so long since they have done a significant number of Tatooine sets so those are the ones I want to see, such as a Jabbas Palace, a Mos Eisley Cantina or Lars' Homestead. A new big set rerelease like the Sail Barge or sandcrawler would excite me as I missed them earlier. Anything different from Hoth would be great really. As for the UCS sets I'm not sure what could be made, I guess a UCS AT-AT or a Harry Potter - Let's see how sales are for this latest wave, it certainly seems to be on the chopping block as a theme. My wife suggested the Leaky Cauldron as a set, and along the same lines the Hog's Head might be an option as it will be featured in the last film. Grimmauld's place with a new Sirius and Kreacher is a giant wish for my sake, the same can be said for a Tonks minifig of some kind. City -A new fire station is a given, but hopefully it will be accompanied by a hospital and a medical transport plane. A transport line could be interesting as well, with a logistics center for trucks and trains. Modular Houses - I dont know what the next house will be but this will be the fifth anniversary of the line, but I'm sure it will be great. It could be a hospital, a bank, a restaurant, the possibilities are truly endless!

In that regard they have improved greatly, when I compare last years 50 dollar sets (Escape from the Dragon Tower) to this years Hogwarts, the packaging takes up far less volume. Many sets seem to have shrunk, especially depthwise, which is an ingenious way of still getting display real estate. As long as these packaging changes doesn't compromise the safety of the product inside (which it shouldn't), I'm all for it.

Along the lines of last years Harry Potter sets being on clearance at Target, I just found the Freeing Dobby set there at 50% off at a Super Target in Houston. Mind you, it seems Target is always very discrepant in prices as well as what is on sale so YMMV.

I'm certainly no expert (though I know there are probably some here), but I would have to say that you are sitting on a treasure. Your best choice of places to sell would be ebay or Bricklink, although using an auction house that is doing a toy auction might also be a possibility due to the rarity of the item. As mentioned above, just the inherent value of the gold would be significant, but the value is greatly enhanced due to the rarity of the item, which I don't think has ever been sold on the second hand market. Given that the 10,000 unit gold chrome plated C3PO go for $150+ (see here at the Bricklink price history), I think you are probably looking at several thousand dollars for the1 in 5 C3PO. You will have to show authenticity of the item as well, so make sure you show lots of pictures as well as proof of authenticity from the Lego Company when you are listing it for sale, as you are bound to get LOTS of questions about it.

Lego S@H has 75 bonus VIP points with the purchase of the 10217 Diagon Alley set, which combined with free shipping and the Kingdoms Target Practice should be a pretty good deal. Also, I don't know if it has been mentioned that the physical Lego Stores have a 10% off coupon available through the summer catalogue.

I'd go with Battle of Endor for sure, in the US the set is listed as sold out from Shop At Home and ToysR'US online, and it is also marked up from amazon 3rd party sellers, so it is most likely out of production and European resellers are simply selling their inventory. I would guess it will be gone for good very soon and it will get very expensive second hand based on the selection of minifigures and the design of the set.

Thanks for the responses! Star Wars was really only the start, now I have sets from many different themes, I have bought most of the bigger OT Star Wars sets available since then, but I have to say any of the large 10000 series store exclusives are awesome! I particularly like the modular houses (now who doesn't?), I just finished ordering the parts for the cafe corner from various sources, it took a lot of time, but it has been totally worth it, I'm just about ready to start building it. The real problem I have right now is just the great variety of sets out there, there's so many to collect. I have to say that the sets today are at least as good as when I was a KFOL in the mid 90's, they are so detailed and fun to build, and now I can afford all those big sets I only dreamt about as a kid.

I'm Fyrmedhatt and I'm a Norwegian currently living in the US (gotta love American prices). I returned from my dark ages just about a year ago with the purchase of the 6212 X-Wing, and it's just compounded ever since then. I've mainly focused on sets so long, but I'm starting to play with LDD and will hopefully start some MOC's soon. Ha en god dag, og leg godt!

I've been wanting this set as an addition to my town ever since the first pictures leaked last summer, but I thought I was too late to get it. Then, yesterday, I was fortunate enough to find a few copies sitting on the shelves of my local Target (Super Target on Eldridge and Westheimer in Houston). It seems they either got a new shipment or found a few stray boxes in the storeroom, as I had checked the location earlier, so there is still hope to find this set if you check your local Target. Anyways, I'm excited to start building this set! Great review!