G'day guys.

For the last 10 or so years, I've been a die-hard Star Wars Lego collector. Collected one of every set released. This continued until 2008(?) When Lego first started with the Clone-wars sets. I them decided I would not buy Clone Wars sets unless I really liked or wanted them, Rather than buying them for the sake of it.

Since then, my buying habits have continued to change a bit. I've been getting into (And quite enjoying!) Doing some MOCing and the sorts. It definately give me a feeling building 'sets' cannot do. Along with MOCing, is Bricklink, and buying up cheap sets for parts - both of which I have been doing. And I'm now at the stage that I Look at the Latest Slave 1 And almost cry thinking how little lego I got in the set and how many parts I could have got with the money.

Some Star Wars sets just seem like tied up 'capital' that could go towards a pile of new parts.. That said, The Star Wars UCS sets are definately not in that place. They are beauitful masterpieces, and don't deserve any bad-mouthing what-so-ever

I guess It doesn't help that a lot of the Star Wars sets Lego is releasing seem un-neccesary (I really don't want ANOTHER Falcon - Sorry, but surely they could have at least changed the design a bit..) Don't get me wrong, there's still a few sets I love, just.. Not as many

Does anyone else feel this way? Star Wars might never have been your thing, but it could be in relation to anything (but lets keep it Lego related ae )

Edited April 16, 201113 yr by Legoman

I think for me it's been that way for at least four-five years, but like you, I really got into MOCing when the CW sets came out. Before I would only build something if I felt the LEGO set failed. After '08, I build basically everything I want in my collection, and buy for minifigs or if it's a good parts pack. That in turn makes my standards for a good model higher, so now I don't even keep my older sets together.

So yeah, for me, it's the same as you, but I started a little earlier.

Edited April 16, 201113 yr by Brickdoctor

I'm more into collecting the SW Figs. After hesitating somewhat I also started collecting the Clonewars figs. I missed out on a few sets , so it's far from complete.

SW sets are the only sets I buy at this moment, I build them, break them down and do my MOC's with the parts. I only find it irritating that nowadays you get a lot of Anakin's and ObiWan's , I think TLC can do better.

Models that stand out for me are on a shelf display, or stored away, to be used on a latter date.

USC models don't do it for me, I've only got a few, despite how nice they are, there to much money for me.

Yes you're right about the part-money ratio .. it's wayyyyyyy off .. here in the Netherlands it's even worse, no Legostore's and no chance of ever getting one here, so no loose bricks via pick-a-brick , unless you feel like a 200 km drive towards Germany ( Even worse for other people, better for some close to the border ) And no promo actions ! !

So Bricklinking is still the best option here in my humble opinion, I always start out with checking the SW-figs in a store, after that I check the rest for parts. I bought the promo darth Vader via Bricklink, at a ridiculous price, but hey, I wanted it .

G'day guys.

For the last 10 or so years, I've been a die-hard Star Wars Lego collector. Collected one of every set released. This continued until 2008(?) When Lego first started with the Clone-wars sets. I them decided I would not buy Clone Wars sets unless I really liked or wanted them, Rather than buying them for the sake of it.

Since then, my buying habits have continued to change a bit. I've been getting into (And quite enjoying!) Doing some MOCing and the sorts. It definately give me a feeling building 'sets' cannot do. Along with MOCing, is Bricklink, and buying up cheap sets for parts - both of which I have been doing. And I'm now at the stage that I Look at the Latest Slave 1 And almost cry thinking how little lego I got in the set and how many parts I could have got with the money.

Some Star Wars sets just seem like tied up 'capital' that could go towards a pile of new parts.. That said, The Star Wars UCS sets are definately not in that place. They are beauitful masterpieces, and don't deserve any bad-mouthing what-so-ever

I guess It doesn't help that a lot of the Star Wars sets Lego is releasing seem un-neccesary (I really don't want ANOTHER Falcon - Sorry, but surely they could have at least changed the design a bit..) Don't get me wrong, there's still a few sets I love, just.. Not as many

Does anyone else feel this way? Star Wars might never have been your thing, but it could be in relation to anything (but lets keep it Lego related ae )

Interesting observations...

I am personally more interested in MOCs like you, and I have no "collecting" interest at all, but I do fall for pretty sets often

My issue is that if I buy a really good-looking set, I won't have the heart of dismantling it to re-use its parts in MOCs, and I will be over-protective with the set in fear of losing some parts which are not easy to replace. This happened to me for instance with the Emerald Night. It's got a lot of fantastic parts for MOCing, but I can't tear it down... so it sits on a shelf for display, and that means its value for money in my case was actually less than the average set the content of which gets used over and over and over.

There are two ways of dealing with this problem: either buy multiple copies of the best sets (so you can build one and keep it "MINT" and use the parts from the others for MOCing) which is of course quite expensive, or simply avoid them.

This is more or less the reason why I have never bought modular buildings: they all look absolutely fantastic AND they are made of excellent parts for MOCing, but with their high prices* I feel uneasy on buying them for parts. I don't own any Star Wars sets but I think they are also good for parts but have exactly the same issue.

*consider that I almost never buy a set at full retail price, I always wait for significant discounts, so for me Exclusive sets bought from S&H (therefore with higher-than-average retail prices AND shipping) easily cost twice my average

Edited April 17, 201113 yr by Legoist

I think for most of us we basically begin as set buyers/collectors, until we feel the urge to improve the standard sets and then we eventually (and unintentionally) become MOCers. Of course some remain to be collectors, which is perfectly alright too, but for those who aren't completely satisfied with what they're getting in official sets (like me), that's where the change of behavior - the 'turning of the tides' so to speak - starts.

Personally, I've completely transformed from a set buyer/collector into a dedicated MOCer who now rarely buys official sets and just redirects my limited resources to Bricklink purchases to create builds of my own liking. I think it has something to do with lack of 'appealing sets' for me, I only buy sets that I really really like, but if I think can do a better job on the official one, I'd just rather make my own.

And I'm also experiencing some slight shift in interest this year, with the relatively unappealing 2011 SW line-up and the great new licensed PoTC theme, I'd rather get the QAR over another MF.

I've always been a MOCer but when The Clone Wars sets, movie etc. came out I continued to MOC but there were quite a few more ships to build. Last year when I started trading I turned into a Mocer/Collector. Mostly just The Clone Wars figs because I'm happy with them. I'll always like Star Wars sets but I may not get them when I turn to other themes like Alien Conquest.

I've also become more of a photographer over the last year to so the more figs Lego releases the better for the shots!

Edited April 17, 201113 yr by Masked Builder

I guess that when we were younger, or at least new to LEGO, there's always that compulsive urge to collect every set in a particular theme as a way to build up a fledgling collection. I was that way with Bionicle, but later on I found myself buying less and less sets and spent more time MOCing with what I had. I also started to branch out to other themes apart from Bionicle, and my collection only grew exponentially from there. Now I the only sets I buy are the occasional large set that interests me, or an impulse 10 dollar purchase.

When I was a child, I was more into the castle theme than into anything else. Maybe this is also due to the fact that I knew that the trains of the 12V line were quite expensive (even back then when they were available). So I didn't think I'd ever get a 12V train set even if I put it on my Christmas wishlist. But my interest has changed since my childhood. Now I'm mainly into trains/town/city. The castle sets that are available nowadays don't appeal to me anyway.

You don't want another millennium falcon. But I assure you that there is plenty of people that didn't get the old one and would gladly get the 2011 version.

I am not very interested in MoCs to be honest and I don't really buy sets with that primary objective. I buy sets for display. But I avoid SW sets because they are often too expensive in comparison to other sets. I am not really a SW fan. I think I liked SW because it had space ships and light sabers but any space theme would give me the same level of fun.

Edited April 17, 201113 yr by vexorian

What I don't understand is why are they flogging SW to death ? The last film came out ages ago and yet they still bring out more SW sets at overpriced prices. Surely Lego's other titles like Indiana Jones or Harry Potter could do with a lot more sets to there names. Even now with the new 1st part of Deathly Hallows out all Lego have done that I have noticed is the Diagon Alley set which is too big for a lot of younger people and some older (like me) people to aquire. Lego have even done numerous remakes of the same vehicle like the MF I think 4 times this one has come out. I'm not suprised that you have changed your view on buying more of the same old thing.

What I don't understand is why are they flogging SW to death ?

Because the kids will buy it.

What I don't understand is why are they flogging SW to death ? The last film came out ages ago and yet they still bring out more SW sets at overpriced prices...

The Clone Wars series are still going on, 20 or so episodes a year. Season 3 just finished. There will be a lot more "flogging", I say 3-5 years more.

Edited April 19, 201113 yr by Follows Closely

...I don't really do much MOC-ing but I do like Star Wars. Unfortunately as most of you have observed, these SW sets are a bit more expensive than other themed sets. It would've been easier to accept if only TLC would release new sets that has not yet been released before than having old (and popular ones) rehashed/re-released...

You don't want another millennium falcon. But I assure you that there is plenty of people that didn't get the old one and would gladly get the 2011 version.

... and that it. That's TLG's modus operandi; if a theme is selling well, and therefore continued, they will keep releasing new sets and will, eventually, have to resort to not "re" releasing sets, but making updated versions of the sets.

How many castles have their been? How many police stations? Star Wars is just another popular, ongoing LEGO theme... you can argue there's been too many Falcons, but if you categorize them by scale, this is only the second (considering 4504 in "original" and "trillogy" editions being the same).

People come and go... the rereleases are for people who weren't into the hobby at the time of the previous releases. I AM glad they do this... I don't need another MF (although I may get it anyway), but while I've been a LEGO fan for the last decade, I haven't always bought LEGO SW (or Harry Potter), so these past couple of years have been great for me, as we see sets I missed before expanding into other themes. I finally got a Slave 1! It doesn't matter to me that it's not the first one (or possibly the last).

I also don't need every set they release - I like the OT, and I just want one of each. I'm still missing a few because of how late I got into it... and I'm hoping they do make new ones.... cloud city and sand crawler to name a couple. Moreover, sometimes they DO make it better, like going from blue accents on the TIE fighters to gray ones. Now they need a plain old TIE done with gray accents to go with the TIE advanced... and they might as well do another TIE interceptor and bomber while they're at it.

There will be a lot more "flogging", I say 3-5 years more.

I'm pretty sure with the license extension we're set for ten more years of SW.

The Clone Wars series are still going one, 20 or so episodes a year. Season 3 just finished. There will be a lot more "flogging", I say 3-5 years more.

There has also been buzz about a live action Star Wars TV series. Sounds like they haven't REALLY done any work on it or even started writing scripts. So that would be 2 or more years into the future, if it happens. But when it does, you can expect Lego to go crazy.

I think for me it's been that way for at least four-five years, but like you, I really got into MOCing when the CW sets came out. Before I would only build something if I felt the LEGO set failed. After '08, I build basically everything I want in my collection, and buy for minifigs or if it's a good parts pack. That in turn makes my standards for a good model higher, so now I don't even keep my older sets together.

So yeah, for me, it's the same as you, but I started a little earlier.

Nice to hear mate

*consider that I almost never buy a set at full retail price, I always wait for significant discounts...

Do people actully pay RRP

Same here, I generally Try to get my stuff 20% of minimum, But usually I can find better than that unless it's an exclusive..

I think for most of us we basically begin as set buyers/collectors, until we feel the urge to improve the standard sets and then we eventually (and unintentionally) become MOCers. Of course some remain to be collectors, which is perfectly alright too, but for those who aren't completely satisfied with what they're getting in official sets (like me), that's where the change of behavior - the 'turning of the tides' so to speak - starts.

Intresting observation KDM, Thanks for the heads up. Good to know

You don't want another millennium falcon. But I assure you that there is plenty of people that didn't get the old one and would gladly get the 2011 version.

Indeed I don't. And your point is true, but none the less, so is mine

How many castles have their been? How many police stations? Star Wars is just another popular, ongoing LEGO theme... you can argue there's been too many Falcons, but if you categorize them by scale, this is only the second (considering 4504 in "original" and "trillogy" editions being the same).

Thats a good point.. I'd hate to think how many Police stations some of you guys who have been collecting since 1960 must have

It's actully the 3rd Falcon, Let's not forget the good old 7190

I used to get only SW sets but started getting other themes a few years ago. I decided that the sets weren't colorful enough for me. Usually now I only get SW sets for the parts (Though not all the time, some of them I actually got because I liked the design.) With the CW sets especially, I don't think the sets are particularly good, but LEGO certainly puts in some good parts (For the stuff I do at least). As far as going from strictly collecting to MOCing, I never really went through that. All of my early SW sets got broken down for parts usually within a few weeks/months of being finished, mostly because the fighters were good inspiration for me to start building my own stuff (Though my earliest stuff was absolutely terrible)

Edited April 19, 201113 yr by brickmack

While I collect Star Wars Lego I never try to MOC it. I like to MOC modular buildings and town. I think its because I find SW more of a fun thing for me. I dont really care if its to small or a wrong colour is being used as long as it looks right. The modulars I feel have to have this kind of critiquing. The colours really make a difference and so does the size. If it doesnt look right in these areas I dont think its a good modular MOC. I've never posted a MOC on EB before though, its more of a skill building exercise for me before I go all out and build a modular town (which should be soon).

So for me its not really a turn of the tides, its a different ocean entirely.