Where is the love for exo-suit?

[TakeaBrick]

The news of its "mission debrief" was striking to me when it came out. I thought it would stay for at least a year or two but it turned out to be one of the most short-lived LEGO ideas sets. In my opinion, I think this set is worth every dollar. Great displayability and minifigs though the playability is not so. Amazing details to savour. How come it has come to such a tragic end? I still remember quite a lot of AFOLS were hyped when the set was officially released despite the barrel forearm.

Or is it the other way round? LEGO intended it be a limited release as some said it so. Since it was popular, the inventory got quickly emptied and thus the early retirement. Does anyone happen to know why?

I just wish LEGO didn't think sets like this are not popular and banned the following similar sets.

[Q3671]

I like the set, every time i see the set in a Lego store i will have one. Wijnegem BE, Birningham LA and Atlanta GA they sold me a set.

[zux]

I thought it would stay for at least a year or two but it turned out to be one of the most short-lived LEGO ideas sets.

Well, it isn't very true. There was an additional production due to high demand. Don't remember this happening to any other Cuusoo/Ideas sets. So it was available for a bit longer than other sets.

[dr_spock]

Well, it isn't very true. There was an additional production due to high demand. Don't remember this happening to any other Cuusoo/Ideas sets. So it was available for a bit longer than other sets.

I think the Cuusoo Minecraft had additional run too.

[Blondie-Wan]

The news of its "mission debrief" was striking to me when it came out. I thought it would stay for at least a year or two but it turned out to be one of the most short-lived LEGO ideas sets. In my opinion, I think this set is worth every dollar. Great displayability and minifigs though the playability is not so. Amazing details to savour. How come it has come to such a tragic end? I still remember quite a lot of AFOLS were hyped when the set was officially released despite the barrel forearm.

Or is it the other way round? LEGO intended it be a limited release as some said it so. Since it was popular, the inventory got quickly emptied and thus the early retirement. Does anyone happen to know why?

I just wish LEGO didn't think sets like this are not popular and banned the following similar sets.

There's a ton of love for the Exo-suit; a bunch of it can be found all over here.

CUUSOO / Ideas sets in general, at least the non-licensed ones, always have more limited production runs. Note the Shinkai 6500, the MSL Curiosity Rover, and the Research Institute all had much more limited availability than this one. The Hayabusa is, I think, the only non-licensed CUUSOO / Ideas set that was available longer, and I suspect the reason for that is that it simply took a lot longer to sell through its run. The Exo-suit, though, sold through its initial run in a day and got rewarded with substantial additional production. The Research Institute, by comparison, was released the same day as the Exo-suit, but though it, too, sold out the first day and got an additional run, it hasn't been made available nearly as much as the Exo-suit - it's been readily available really only a couple times totaling less than a week, while the Exo-suit has had a good few months of constant availability, after an initial period of being sold out, backordered, etc. The only Ideas sets that have been more available, for the most part, are those based on massively popular and beloved pop-culture licenses.

Note also that Ideas sets - non-licensed ones, anyway - are largely dependent upon allowances in production capacity that are made for them if it doesn't interfere with production of their much more important main retail lines, and in some cases are even dependent upon possibilities created by those much bigger retail lines. With the Exo-suit, the reason they were able to include Classic Space-style minifigures in an entirely new color, green, is because they were already producing solid green torso assemblies (green torso, green arms, green hands) for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles line, and they merely needed to divert some of those torso assemblies from the TMNT lines after they were assembled but before they were printed, and print them with Classic Space emblems instead. Now that TMNT is being discontinued, they're no longer producing those torso assemblies in that color for a major retail line, and they apparently aren't able to justify keeping them in production just for an Ideas set, so the Ideas set that uses them is being retired, too, along with the TMNT line. It's one thing to use an Ideas set to introduce a single-piece part in a new color, or with a new print, but it's another thing to produce more complex elements (like minifigure torsos, which require pre-assembly as well as printing) using specific combinations of torso, arms (left and right both, since they're different molds) and hands in specific colors and then do a custom print on top of that. Doing it just for an Ideas set probably takes away too much from their mainline production capacity for major retail sets and themes.

I suspect it's probably the same reason why the chemist in the Research Institute could have a new torso print, but not use a different color combination of torso parts to represent her wearing gloves, even though the scientist (also a female chemist) from Minifigures Series 11 did get "gloved" hands. At the time they were making the Research Institute, they were probably also making torso assemblies for some other theme that had white torsos and arms that could be used to represent a lab coat, but only ones with yellow hands.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[Vorkosigan]

Exo suit is still available despite that banner. I half hope they will discount it.

[MAB]

It's a nice set, but they made too many of them. They seemed to get bought up by resellers initially, more were produced and then there was no market for them. It was meant to be "decomissioned" in February, but is still available. Doing double VIP points on it also didn't help shift remaining stock last year.

[Blondie-Wan]

Oh, I don't think they'll have any problem selling them all. Just because it didn't sell out completely immediately after production ended doesn't mean it's doing poorly, and I'm confident there are plenty of people who'd love to have as many as they can get. With production over, I'm sure they'll all be gone soon.

And I'm not sure I get how there could even be "too many" from our point of view. Shouldn't we want there to be enough to go around?

[Risgrynsgrot]

I find it ugly. It's grey and messy, and and it can't stand up to play either. The best part about the set is the Green Classic Space torsos.

The reason for the hype was partly due to peoples love for CS, but mostly due to certain youtubers that kept saying that it was gonna retire, BUY NOW, etc.

[dr_spock]

Exo suit is still available despite that banner. I half hope they will discount it.

A deep discount like in the back in the old days would move remaining stock and make space for new incoming sets in the warehouses and stores.

[robyanhuz]

I like the set, every time i see the set in a Lego store i will have one.

[Blondie-Wan]

I don't think they discount Ideas sets. Someone here suggested a while back that sales would violate the agreements LEGO signs with the creators. I don't know if that's the case, but Hayabusa was around an awfully long time, much longer than the Exo-suit has been, and it was never discounted.

I think the Exo-suit is selling well, though, and won't be around all that much lomger. I believe they're just selling through the existing stock, and they just have a lot of stock simply because they anticipated a lot of people would want this set, many of whom would want multiples (I have two copies myself, and I'd like more, though I don't know yet whether I'll get any).

[MAB]

Hayabusa is completely different, being earlier before the surge in Lego buying and knowledge of cuusoo / ideas. Other ideas sets have been discounted - Research Institute was through Lego.com, GB and BTTF were too at other retailers but maybe not at Lego store.

They've tried to shift it with the decommissioning campaign and as that hasn't worked, they'll probably just leave it online until it goes.

I think it would have sold better if they reissued more classic space men in other colours. They've done blue and white recently, then green. If they did yellow, red and black then people would be more inclined to get colour sets of minifigs, buying the space sets for them. Including exo-suit.

[HawkLord]

I think it's a great set with no home. It might fit into star wars alittle, but without a really dedicated and future based space line, people will pass on it. I agree that a Classic Space resurgence could have helped it's sales alittle, but given the material in the set (not being overly new), it was a success for Lego.

They also probably need the space for the Ideas Doctor Who set and Dimensions.

[Blondie-Wan]

Hayabusa is completely different, being earlier before the surge in Lego buying and knowledge of cuusoo / ideas. Other ideas sets have been discounted - Research Institute was through Lego.com, GB and BTTF were too at other retailers but maybe not at Lego store.

They've tried to shift it with the decommissioning campaign and as that hasn't worked, they'll probably just leave it online until it goes.

I think it would have sold better if they reissued more classic space men in other colours. They've done blue and white recently, then green. If they did yellow, red and black then people would be more inclined to get colour sets of minifigs, buying the space sets for them. Including exo-suit.

When was the Research Institute ever discounted?! It was only available a few times, and always briefly; it was never around long enough to be discounted. And for that matter, when and where have you ever seen any of the others discounted?

I also don't know what you mean when you say the decommissioning "campaign" "hasn't worked". What makes you think so? How would you know? It's not like LEGO tells us how many it sells of everything.

The fact is, it sold out quickly, they had at least one additional production run and now there are enough copies available to meet current demand. That is all well-known; anything else is speculation. They do have the "decommissioning" banner, but I think it just had to do with this set having particular interest to a lot of AFOLs (the same reason this set, and this set alone ouf of all the Ideas sets, got special promotional videos before it was even released). I think they just didn't want a situation where they didn't make anywhere nearly as many as needed before discontinuing it (as appears to be the case with the Curiosity Rover), and thus risk disappointing people while also missing out on sales.

If it had been a flop, as you suggest, they never would have done another production run; most of the CUUSOO / Ideas sets (at least the licensed ones) don't get additional runs. The fact this was one of the rare ones that did illustrates that it's ond of thd bigger sellers - in fact, I suspect it's the top-selling non-licensed CUUSOO / Ideas set.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[MAB]

When was the Research Institute ever discounted?! It was only available a few times, and always briefly; it was never around long enough to be discounted. And for that matter, when and where have you ever seen any of the others discounted?

In Febrauary, it was £11.19 although OOS on lego.com. They kept that price for a day when it came back in stock. I know, as I bought five.

As for the others, GhostBusters and the BTTF set have both been heavily discounted though tesco and asda in the UK.

I also don't know what you mean when you say the decommissioning "campaign" "hasn't worked". What makes you think so? How would you know? It's not like LEGO tells us how many it sells of everything.

Decommissioned means withdraw from service. Lego stated that the set was going to be decommissioned in February. Yet it is still for sale. In my view, they tried to get people to buy this by making them think it was about to go out of stock. That has failed, since they didn't sell them all.

The fact is, it sold out quickly, they had at least one additional production run and now there are enough copies available to meet current demand. That is all well-known; anything else is speculation. They do have the "decommissioning" banner, but I think it just had to do with this set having particular interest to a lot of AFOLs (the same reason this set, and this set alone ouf of all the Ideas sets, got special promotional videos before it was even released). I think they just didn't want a situation where they didn't make anywhere nearly as many as needed before discontinuing it (as appears to be the case with the Curiosity Rover), and thus risk disappointing people while also missing out on sales.

If it had been a flop, as you suggest, they never would have done another production run; most of the CUUSOO / Ideas sets (at least the licensed ones) don't get additional runs. The fact this was one of the rare ones that did illustrates that it's ond of thd bigger sellers - in fact, I suspect it's the top-selling non-licensed CUUSOO / Ideas set.

I haven't suggested it was a flop - those are YOUR words. I suggested too many were made. The initial demand was high, I think mainly due to reselling. Many hundreds of these were on ebay changing hands at 1.5-2.5x RRP soon after initial release. The initial release did sell very fast. I am fairly sure people thought this was going to be another Mars Rover, both the resellers and the buyers on ebay. Then the additional run came in and has been in continual stock ever since, despite LEGO offering 2x VIP points on them (and only them), and despite them doing the decommissioning campaign. Sure, I don't know sales figures. What I do know is that they are trying to advertise this set in a different way to just about all other sets (especially informing people it is going to be decommissioned), and they still have stock.

And in my view, Research Institute sold better than Exo-Suit. That flew off the shelves in store where it is easy to see how fast items sell, and sold very quickly online too although sales rate is harder to judge online.

Edited May 20, 2015 by MAB

[Blondie-Wan]

In Febrauary, it was £11.19 although OOS on lego.com. They kept that price for a day when it came back in stock. I know, as I bought five.

As for the others, GhostBusters and the BTTF set have both been heavily discounted though tesco and asda in the UK.

Thanks for the info. That is certainly a very different situation from here in the US.

Decommissioned means withdraw from service. Lego stated that the set was going to be decommissioned in February. Yet it is still for sale. In my view, they tried to get people to buy this by making them think it was about to go out of stock. That has failed, since they didn't sell them all.

I'm aware of what "decommissioned" means. It is not a term they use for all retired sets, and I'm sure they chose it here as a cute way of referring to its discontinuation in terms of the sort of vehicle it is.

I do think it's premature to say they've "failed" in getting people to buy it, since the end of February was not even three months ago, and that was simply when the last units were produced at the factory, when they still had yet to be distributed through the sales channels. You sound as though people have completely stopped buying it. If it's still around in a year, we can talk about how they "failed" to get people to buy it, but I don't think at present that enough time has passed to warrant using that term.

I haven't suggested it was a flop - those are YOUR words. I suggested too many were made. The initial demand was high, I think mainly due to reselling. Many hundreds of these were on ebay changing hands at 1.5-2.5x RRP soon after initial release. The initial release did sell very fast. I am fairly sure people thought this was going to be another Mars Rover, both the resellers and the buyers on ebay. Then the additional run came in and has been in continual stock ever since, despite LEGO offering 2x VIP points on them (and only them), and despite them doing the decommissioning campaign. Sure, I don't know sales figures. What I do know is that they are trying to advertise this set in a different way to just about all other sets (especially informing people it is going to be decommissioned), and they still have stock.

And in my view, Research Institute sold better than Exo-Suit. That flew off the shelves in store where it is easy to see how fast items sell, and sold very quickly online too although sales rate is harder to judge online.

Try telling the people in the Sci-Fi forum that there are "too many" of this (or any other set featuring CS minifigures). I do think TLG gave this particular set a production boost over what they gave things like the Curiosity Rover or the Research Institute because they anticipated being able to ultimately sell more of it than them, but that doesn't mean they expected to sell all of it at once. I think they just produced enough for a greater demand, but now they're no longer producing it, and they're simply letting us know. They have garnered complaints before when sets have been retired and disappeared from retail with little warning before, and I think they're just trying to stave off that sort of disappointment by giving people - potential buyers of this set, who are likely disproportionately made up of a particular section of adult LEGO fandom - plenty of warning, by letting them know not simply moments before it was about to sell out (information that would be pretty useless), but rather when it was about to go out of production, so buyers had more time to prepare - and, likely, to get an idea of whether to throttle production up or down a bit at the end of the run, based on purchase rates at that time. The "decommissioning" notice also mirrors the special attention given this particular set before it went on sale, with the specially-produced promo videos it received. Note the decommissioning notices went up well ahead of the actual decommissioning.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Blondie-Wan

[MAB]

I'm aware of what "decommissioned" means. It is not a term they use for all retired sets, and I'm sure they chose it here as a cute way of referring to its discontinuation in terms of the sort of vehicle it is.

I do think it's premature to say they've "failed" in getting people to buy it, since the end of February was not even three months ago, and that was simply when the last units were produced at the factory, when they still had yet to be distributed through the sales channels. You sound as though people have completely stopped buying it. If it's still around in a year, we can talk about how they "failed" to get people to buy it, but I don't think at present that enough time has passed to warrant using that term.

I've still got the orginal email:

Subject: Last chance to buy the LEGO® Ideas Exo Suit!

Date: Fri, February 27, 2015 10:03 am

The Exo Suit will retire soon, get yours now!

The hugely popular LEGO^® Ideas Exo Suit will be retiring soon! Get your hands on one before it's too late!

It is now three months on. Giving someone a "last chance" to buy something then having it in stock three months later looks like failure to me. Last chance / soon / get yours now / before it's too late / retiring soon / decommissioning suggest not waiting 3/6/12 months to get rid of stock. Just about every sentence was promoting timing and that buyers should buy now.

Given what happened with the first release of the exo-suit, the Mars Rover and the Research Institute it is fairly clear they were aiming to get people to buy it in anticipation that it was not going to be around very long. But customers (and mainly resellers) know it is not a good seller. People that want them have got them, and there are way too many of them to be of any interest to resellers.

If there was a popular set that lego said last chance, then remaining stocks would sell very fast. The fact is that this one hasn't despite the warnings / advertising from lego.

The other thing that lego really shot themselves in the foot with this set was selling the minifigures without the set. They dumped huge numbers of them onto the secondary market.

[Blondie-Wan]

I've still got the orginal email:

Subject: Last chance to buy the LEGO® Ideas Exo Suit!

Date: Fri, February 27, 2015 10:03 am

The Exo Suit will retire soon, get yours now!

The hugely popular LEGO^® Ideas Exo Suit will be retiring soon! Get your hands on one before it's too late!

It is now three months on. Giving someone a "last chance" to buy something then having it in stock three months later looks like failure to me. Last chance / soon / get yours now / before it's too late / retiring soon / decommissioning suggest not waiting 3/6/12 months to get rid of stock. Just about every sentence was promoting timing and that buyers should buy now.

Given what happened with the first release of the exo-suit, the Mars Rover and the Research Institute it is fairly clear they were aiming to get people to buy it in anticipation that it was not going to be around very long. But customers (and mainly resellers) know it is not a good seller. People that want them have got them, and there are way too many of them to be of any interest to resellers.

If there was a popular set that lego said last chance, then remaining stocks would sell very fast. The fact is that this one hasn't despite the warnings / advertising from lego.

The other thing that lego really shot themselves in the foot with this set was selling the minifigures without the set. They dumped huge numbers of them onto the secondary market.

It's not quite three months yet, and even if it were three months is not a long time, especially since we're talking about (less than) three months since the last units were produced in the factories, not (less than) three months since those units reached the market.

Many people that want them have them, but I unconditionally guarantee you not everyone who wants one has one, and not everyone who has one (or more) has as many as they want.

I'm aware thanks to a post in the Sci-Fi forum that some fortunate individuals were able to purchase huge numbers of the minifigures by themselves directly from LEGO, but that's something different from a regular release. It's not as though anyone can just walk into a toy shop anywhere and buy a boatload of them.

I don't know about everywhere else in the world, but here in the US orders are currently limited to one per person (it was originally two at the set's launch, but within a few hours it was changed to one and has remained there). I very much doubt that would be the case if they were desperately trying to unload slow-moving inventory. If the number allowed per order is increased or it gets clearance pricing, I'll then think differently, but until that happens I see no reason to think it's selling poorly (right now, they aren't even running that decommissioning banner, at least in the US store). If you're aware of some public statement they made at any time indicating they expected to be sold out by now, that's one thing, but I don't think the fact they merely let us know when the set had its last production run is the same thing. And I certainly don't expect to be able to pick one up for MSRP for all that much longer, or to ever be able to get it for anything below MSRP unless one counts using VIP points towards it (though obviously things are different for you in the UK given discounts you've seen on Ideas sets).

I would personally like for it to remain available until at least the end of June, when I think I'd like to pick up one or two more depending upon how much I spend on other sets around that time, but it's not clear it will remain available that long.

[MAB]

It's not quite three months yet, and even if it were three months is not a long time, especially since we're talking about (less than) three months since the last units were produced in the factories, not (less than) three months since those units reached the market.

How do you know that? Just like I don't know sales volumes, how do you know production dates?

It seems we are using different definitions of decommissioned. I assume it means no longer being sold. You assume it means no longer being produced.

The limit is 5 in the UK, and has been for months.

As for minifig availability, ebay and bricklink. It's been easy to buy them singlely since the release of the set.

[shaggysanchez]

When was the Research Institute ever discounted?! It was only available a few times, and always briefly; it was never around long enough to be discounted. And for that matter, when and where have you ever seen any of the others discounted?

I picked up a second BTTF set on Amazon in the US when it went on sale there. I think I got it for $27 which isn't a huge sale but it was a sale. I have also seen Ghostbusters and the Birds sets on sale at my local TRU, again not huge sales or anything but like 10% off which is better than nothing. I also think Ghostbusters might have dropped a few dollars on amazon at one point.

My local lego store has been stocked with Exo Suits for a while now though which is amusing since I tried to buy 3 the day they came out as both my kids wanted them as well as me. Now that I can buy more of them my kids are no longer interested as every time they tried to play with the one I bought it fell apart.

[Blondie-Wan]

How do you know that? Just like I don't know sales volumes, how do you know production dates?

It seems we are using different definitions of decommissioned. I assume it means no longer being sold. You assume it means no longer being produced.

The limit is 5 in the UK, and has been for months.

As for minifig availability, ebay and bricklink. It's been easy to buy them singlely since the release of the set.

I know only what they tell me. When I made my earlier post I was remembering (or possibly misrembering, I freely admit) information sources from earlier this year announcing the set being discontinued (specifically, going out of production), but now that I've gone looking for it to back it up to respond to your post, I admit I can't find it. My apologies. That said, I do think it makes much more sense to assume they're speaking of the end of production rather than the end of sales, since they obviously have total control over when they choose to stop making it, but they have no control over when consumers might elect to purchase the last units to hit shelves.

The one thing I would be sure of, though, is that they never meant "we'll sell this until a specific date, and any unsold units at the end of that time will be returned to the factory or discarded, rather than being kept until they sell" (and yes, I fully realize is not what you said). I just honestly don't understand how their statements could be taken to mean something other than what I'm taking them to mean, and I similarly don't understand your interpretation of them, or your perception of a gulf between their expectations and the reality of sales. Given what information we do have on hand, such as the minimal text in the banner in the OP's post, it appears to me they simply meant "we're going to cease production on this date, so if you want one be sure to order sooner rather than later, since the first time it sells out after this date, it'll be gone for good". They're not predicting when it will sell out; they're just saying that, unlike the situation when it first temporarily sold out on day 1, there won't be more runs after this.

Given the differences in sales and availability between our two sets of experiences (wildly different limits, discounts vs. no discounts, etc.), it also appears possible to me the situations are just very different between our two countries, and maybe the UK received a much greater allotment per capita than the US did (or a proportionally greater number relative to consumer interest), which itself may skew our different perceptions of the set's overall success.

[nerdsforprez]

That is too bad

Looks like my little sci-fi sctory isn't going to play out the way I wanted after all.......

"It's the year 2028 and two years since the first release of an Exosuit. Orders for these babies have provided a flood of money for the world's Tech industries, providing a second "dot.com" revolution. Some have even termed the "Exosuit Boom" as the second internet of the modern world, flooding the Tech industry's pockets with more money than they can handle. With more money comes more Research and Design opportunities, and the Tech industry all around is flourishing. With the flourishing Tech industry has come many adaptations and versions of the original Exosuit. Here is the Exosuit MG (Military Grade) 2.0. The Exosuit MG 2.0 is roughly twice the size of the original suit, with all military applications. Large cannons on the shoulders, rockets embedded on the ribcage, additional armor and plating throughout. Built to withstand nearly anything that invading enemies can throw at it. Other adaptations to the Exosuit 2.0 exist, such as Exosuit EG (engineering grade) 2.0, to be released later this month.........."

see http://mocpages.com/moc.php/396276 for more details

[Deathleech]

I picked up a second BTTF set on Amazon in the US when it went on sale there. I think I got it for $27 which isn't a huge sale but it was a sale.

When did you get it on sale? Checking Brickset's buyer guide, I don't see when it ever went on sale. You can click the little graph icon next to the set being sold at Amazon and it will list any sales it has had. Of course the info might be wrong but I don't really recall any Ideas sets going on sale myself. In fact if you look at the graphs they are pretty much dead even with the set staying the exact same price (or within a few cents) per it's entire run.

[shaggysanchez]

It was on sale for $27 around Christmas of 2013. I picked one up for my son as a Christmas present. If you look on brickset you can see the min price it got to was $27. It doesn't look like the graph goes back far enough.