Lord of the Rings Ongoing Discussion

[Lordhelmet]

On 5/10/2023 at 8:16 PM, Eurolock said:

Winners finally announced on Lego Ideas. The builds chosen were all really great - but I’m definitely surprised by the choices. Not sure I would have put any of them into my top ten. All a matter of opinion of course.

I share your opinion.  Really good builds, (and creative),  but I thought there were some incredible ones out there (like that one Treebeard diorama with the owl nose, ridiculously good).  Congrats to those who won though. 

 

Who all is waiting for 2XVIP to buy a copy of Rivendell?  Is there still a sizable group waiting? 

 

Hopefully we start getting some Leaks this summer/early fall about new Lord of the Rings sets coming out.

 

[Trunkbass]

3 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

Who all is waiting for 2XVIP to buy a copy of Rivendell?  Is there still a sizable group waiting?

 

I’m still waiting for a 2xVIP but if it doesn’t happen anytime soon I’ll get it anyway this summer!

[Arjo]

Waiting for 2x VIP too... as well as a nice GWP... am thinking the majisto one or the celebration of copernicus. I highly doubt the stars will align but boy that would make me feel much better splashing on Rivendell (which would become my most expensive lego purchase ever). On the bright side, I have slowed down my lego purchases a fair bit since Rivendell as I am trying to save up for it.

[LegoAUT]

7 hours ago, Lordhelmet said:

Who all is waiting for 2XVIP to buy a copy of Rivendell?

I am! 

[RichardGoring]

Yes, another one in the waiting for double VIP or Disney GWP camp.

At the moment, I've not got the time to build it anyway, but I imagine the autumn or holidays will be good to have the films on and build it. Maybe try Rings if Power too.

[neithan]

Of course I`ll wait for a good GWP and double VIP.

And if it doesn`t come this year, then I`ll wait till next year, easy.

Really wanting that set, but in no universe I can justify the price without good side-deals.^^

[Arjo]

Bar a last minute change, the next 2x VIP is due 9-13June this side of the pond. No exciting gwp to report though (just a new vip polybag with Summer-related bits and pieces).

[LegoAUT]

Now the question is whether to wait for the next 2x VIP + better GWP or to get it in June. I am not sure whether we will get a good GWP + 2x VIP anytime soon.. 

[Seaber]

Is there a good place that keeps track of future GWPs/rumoured GWPs? 

[LegoAUT]

3 minutes ago, Seaber said:

Is there a good place that keeps track of future GWPs/rumoured GWPs? 

Promobricks is a good source in my opinion, they recently reported the current 2x VIP and various GWPs to come.

I am not an expert but I can‘t remember a really great GWP + 2x VIP. However, the summer polybag is really not worth considering as a GWP for Rivendell since you get this with every order above 50€ anyway. But the other GWPs currently confirmed are not great either. 
 

Still, there is no urgency as Rivendell will be around for a while and another double VIP event will surely come. I am just a bit mindful about any possible price increases 2024, although I believe that 500€ is already a pain point for most of us. 

[RichardGoring]

July usually has the Christmas GWPs again, which are often good. But late November and into December are when you get the double VIP combined with decent GWPs, usually. But as mentioned before, the Galileo one should be coming up at some point and might be good, and will likely have a high threshold.

[LegoAUT]

5 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

But late November and into December are when you get the double VIP combined with decent GWPs, usually.

This is good to know! Then I will probably wait for winter.. the „need“ to have Rivendell has anyway decreased in the last weeks and months for me.

[Alegrispa]

Sooo, Rivendell is now available on Amazon, sold by Amazon (at least in my region)?

Does that mean it's not an exclusive anymore? Will it be available through other retailers potentially offered at a discount? Boy, I hope so. Even at only 10% off I would actually consider buying it.

Edited June 1, 2023 by Alegrispa

[McMurder_them_softly]

1 hour ago, Alegrispa said:

Sooo, Rivendell is now available on Amazon, sold by Amazon (at least in my region)?

Does that mean it's not an exclusive anymore? Will it be available through other retailers potentially offered at a discount? Boy, I hope so. Even at only 10% off I would actually consider buying it.

After 3 months typically they stop being exclusive. Discounts are anyones guess though it could happen. 

[Alegrispa]

5 hours ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

After 3 months typically they stop being exclusive. Discounts are anyones guess though it could happen. 

My understanding was that Rivendell would be one of those sets that remain exclusive, like the Lion Knights Castle?

[hikouki]

Which lighting set would you guys recommend for this set?

Are lighting sets usually compatible with acrylic showcases like WickedBrick?

[QuiggoldsPegLeg]

6 hours ago, Alegrispa said:

My understanding was that Rivendell would be one of those sets that remain exclusive, like the Lion Knights Castle?

Other licensed D2C sets such as ones Star Wars have followed the same path of no longer being exclusive after 3 months. Maybe the Lion Knights Castle is different since it’s not licensed, and doesn’t really have any appeal to non-Lego fans? So in that way keeping it exclusive Lego loses out on almost no sales, and makes a lot more money off the sales they were already going to make. Whereas LOTR and Star Wars are much more likely to be appealing to a random person that just stumbled upon a set.

[LegoAUT]

6 hours ago, QuiggoldsPegLeg said:

Other licensed D2C sets such as ones Star Wars have followed the same path of no longer being exclusive after 3 months. Maybe the Lion Knights Castle is different since it’s not licensed, and doesn’t really have any appeal to non-Lego fans? So in that way keeping it exclusive Lego loses out on almost no sales, and makes a lot more money off the sales they were already going to make. Whereas LOTR and Star Wars are much more likely to be appealing to a random person that just stumbled upon a set.

I don‘t believe that the Rivendell set costing € 500 will appeal to any random person who happens to like LOTR but is no Legal fan..

[Arjo]

Amz also has the set where I live. However, I doubt it will go on sale… going by the example of the Razor Crest which was left at full retail when all the other SW sets received regular discounts. Half glass full: Sanctum Sanctorum often on deep sales so who knows, maybe we get lucky:) Otherwise best bet will still be 2x VIP with or without gwp.

[MAB]

Amazon have no incentive to discount it if they are the only other retailer. Their business model for discounting is usually to match other stores prices. If there are no other stores to match, they don't need to discount it.

You also need to be careful to check whether it is actually amazon selling it or a third party - for Rivendell it is amazon (at least, currently).

[McMurder_them_softly]

4 hours ago, LegoAUT said:

I don‘t believe that the Rivendell set costing € 500 will appeal to any random person who happens to like LOTR but is no Legal fan..

I will make it legal...

[LegoAUT]

5 minutes ago, McMurder_them_softly said:

I will make it legal...

Lol! I am a lawyer, seems I have used the world legal so many times I already confuse Lego with Legal :))

[krtwood]

In the US, you can get an Amazon Visa card (issued by Chase) that gives you 3% cashback on Amazon purchases and it goes up to 5% if you have Prime.  So if you align it with one of their free Prime trials you can get it for 5% off.

[LegoAUT]

3 hours ago, krtwood said:

In the US, you can get an Amazon Visa card (issued by Chase) that gives you 3% cashback on Amazon purchases and it goes up to 5% if you have Prime.  So if you align it with one of their free Prime trials you can get it for 5% off.

That‘s basically standard VIP on Lego (Lego „cashback“ vs Amazon cashback, I admit). 
 

I read in Promobricks that in Germany (and probably many other EU countries) Amazon is the exclusive retailer for this set and that there most likely won’t be any relevant discounts for the time being which is also in line with AMZ‘s policy re other exclusive sets. 

[RichardGoring]

At least it means that sites like Rakuten will give you full cashback, and not the much smaller amounts for Exclusive sets. They often have bonuses of 10% cashback on LEGO and recently it went up to 20%.