Robert8 Posted May 22, 2015 Posted May 22, 2015 (edited) acchhhh... I hate to beat a dead horse, but it's not just price per piece - when they give you big molded pieces, the price per piece is going to be more, but the built 10231 is 18 inches tall vs. the new one's around 10inches (with boosters). If they're going to cut back the number of pieces to give you big, bulky molded pieces, and charge more, it should at least be as big. It just feels like so much less for so much more money. No... I really, really can't get over what a rip off it is. Agree. And the casual buyers don't know about new moulds and the price per piece thing They just look at the size of what they are getting and the price..... and $120 for that doesn't look like a good deal to me Edited May 22, 2015 by Robert8 Quote
legobear Posted May 22, 2015 Posted May 22, 2015 (edited) What's the deal with the City Square. It's ridiculous at $189.00 (plus tax is $204) for 1683 pieces. That comes out to be around 12 cents per piece. The problem here is that the overpriced parts are multiplied by 1 6 8 3 pieces! If you calculate that price per piece over 10 cents per piece, you are losing $33.00 or gaining a 16% HIKE in prices. That's a true rip off when you compare that to the Ferris Wheel. Ferris wheel being at 2464 pieces totaling $215 with tax included. That is only 8 cents per piece. You get more than 700 pieces for the same price. Lego knows it will sell because markets have shown that Germany and the U.S buy out city sets the most. However, all the city sets are priced at a ridiculous rate for Summer. I think they are testing the U.S market and seeing if Americans will bite. If Americans bite into it, I forecast European-like prices to follow. This is good for Lego but bad for consumers, as well as those who like to sell on the secondary market like bricklink because now you must sell at a higher price point for fewer pieces which means you must sell more sets than you use to in order to make money or break even. Edited May 22, 2015 by legobear Quote
fred67 Posted May 22, 2015 Posted May 22, 2015 Well... again, price per piece is only a ballpark figure that ignores a lot of things.... a 1x1 tile isn't a 2x10 brick. Better is the weight of the set (an actual indication of the amount of plastic used), but the new set is too new and doesn't have weights available online to compare. But even then it's not comparable. A minifigure is worth more than it's weight in 2x4s, so are large plates. Very often it's easy to argue that price comparisons are simply not fair for those reasons.... But in THIS case, the comparison is quite easy - it's practically the same thing, only now it's WAY smaller (the older set is an 80% bigger model), with many fewer pieces (making it less interesting to build) AND it costs more... saying it's incredibly expensive compared to the older set is quite an objective statement, even given 4 years of inflation. Quote
lightningtiger Posted May 22, 2015 Posted May 22, 2015 Gee, $204 USD is better than $250 AUD.......my suggestion wait for a sale at your favourite Lego store ! Quote
legobear Posted May 22, 2015 Posted May 22, 2015 (edited) Well... again, price per piece is only a ballpark figure that ignores a lot of things.... a 1x1 tile isn't a 2x10 brick. Better is the weight of the set (an actual indication of the amount of plastic used), but the new set is too new and doesn't have weights available online to compare. But even then it's not comparable. A minifigure is worth more than it's weight in 2x4s, so are large plates. Very often it's easy to argue that price comparisons are simply not fair for those reasons.... But in THIS case, the comparison is quite easy - it's practically the same thing, only now it's WAY smaller (the older set is an 80% bigger model), with many fewer pieces (making it less interesting to build) AND it costs more... saying it's incredibly expensive compared to the older set is quite an objective statement, even given 4 years of inflation. Of course pieces are priced differently but ..... 700 pieces less is substantial. I don't think anyone would agree that this Summer is 1.) cheaper 2.) priced similar to 2015 price patterns. If inflation is the main point here, then it's some interesting inflation from Spring to Summer. Don't get me wrong. I'm a loyal fan but I smell a price hike when I see one. If you NEED this set then, definitely get it. Otherwise, you're much better off with Kwik E Mart, Ferris Wheel, Mixer, Detective's Office and on and on it goes. I honestly wouldn't be surprise if they did this because of limited time/shipping. They KNOW only X amount of people will buy it and that's fine because they can't make enough of it anyways without back log and going out of order. They can only supply to the top 25% so they probably just focus on that main market of people. So, why not just hike it as high as it's almost palatable for those willing enough to shell out - leaving the rest to buy the "cheaper" (barely any of the city sets are cheaper in summer) sets for higher prices. When you're left to compare a large yatch to a lambourghini, all of a sudden the lambo looks awfully "cheap" I call that Lego genius. Edited May 22, 2015 by legobear Quote
wooootles Posted May 22, 2015 Posted May 22, 2015 It's really not unusual for a CITY set to be hovering around $0.12 USD / piece. Here are some of the bigger summer sets that hovered around that mark (all before US sales tax): 60026 Town Square, 2013-2014, $119.99 / 914 pcs = $0.131 USD / pc 4207 CITY Garage, 2012-2014, $119.99 / 933 pcs = $0.128 USD / pc 8404 Public Transport, 2010-2011, $99.99 / 864 pcs = $0.116 USD / pc 7641 City Corner, 2009-2011, $59.99 / 483 pcs = $0.124 USD / pc Also, much of the numerous Fire/Police sets in the past few years have hovered around $0.12 USD / pc. Marvel/DC/other licensed sets can get away with around $0.15 USD / pc in some cases while CREATOR sets always tend to have lower price / piece on average. And since I restarted this hobby in 2009 I think the price/piece ratios have been rather stable. TL;DR: $0.112 USD / piece (before taxes) isn't bad and is a CITY set norm. Quote
legobear Posted May 22, 2015 Posted May 22, 2015 (edited) I own a couple of those sets. The 4207 was notorious for being priced ridiculously. All the sets mentioned were also well below 1,600 pieces too. There's a huge difference between comparing sub 1,000 piece set to City Square. I know it isn't popular to voice about price per piece. Cheers and happy buying. Edited May 22, 2015 by legobear Quote
LAKAbricks Posted May 22, 2015 Posted May 22, 2015 Have you already seen the new polybag "Garbage Truck"? (Set 30313) A very cool small set with a a lot of interesting bricks. This little set is available with the Danish magazine Anders And & Co. (Donald Duck) for a week. Last chance, I think, is next Wednesday. Quote
legoman19892 Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 (edited) Found City Square at TRU on my lunchbreak today. Can't wait to break into it. ...break into TRU or build the set? Edited May 23, 2015 by legoman19892 Quote
Mutant Orc Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 Great! I've been looking for stop motion reviews of these recently, thanks for posting! Quote
Artifex Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 ...break into TRU or build the set? I think he means posting pics and breaking the internet! :laugh: Quote
Rick Posted May 23, 2015 Author Posted May 23, 2015 ... We do not allow off-site reviews in separate topics, so I've merged this with the 2015 City discussion thread. Quote
Robert8 Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 Wow! Thanks for review! I think that's the onnly set I'm going to get from the Space/Divers theme Quote
just2good Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 Here's a look at the LEGO City Space Utility Shuttle! (The figures are the same space fellows from the other sets in terms of torso prints, and the face is the regular smiley one with eyebrows and the smiling girl one with lipstick. Nothing interesting.) This set is good for the kids, but at a little over 150 pieces for $25 and the lack of wheels and elevons, not one of my favs. I do like the interior, however. Quote
Robert8 Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 Good review Like you, I think this set is missing something I'm going to pass on this one. Quote
jfbat Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 The proportions just aren't right. Nose too long, body too short, resulting in an awkwardly stumpy looking mongrel. It would have looked better with another section of those doors. But then again it would most likely go over the pricepoint they were going for. Quote
just2good Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the feedback you guys, I agree. It feels pretty off. Not one of my favs. Edited May 23, 2015 by just2good Quote
lightningtiger Posted May 23, 2015 Posted May 23, 2015 The only thing good about that shuttle set is it's perfect to recreate the opening scenes of Buck Rodgers In The 25th Century (1981)......a NASA deep space probe. Quote
tafkatb Posted May 24, 2015 Posted May 24, 2015 I ...actually quite like the Utility Shuttle now that I've seen more pictures. May be my second favorite behind the Starter Set. I'd have preferred if it had a mechanical arm like its 2011 counterpart, but then again that set only had seating for one astronaut. Quote
Boettner Builds Posted May 24, 2015 Posted May 24, 2015 Just finished building : http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Deep-Sea-Submarine-60092?fromListing=listing Pretty killer sub. It SCREAMS James Cameron's "The Abyss". The price is a little steep for the parts count but it's not going to stop me from picking up another one! Plus the sub pilot minifig is petty damn cool. Quote
Vorkosigan Posted May 24, 2015 Posted May 24, 2015 (edited) Picked up the diving starter pack and compared the new and old divers: I like that the new figure is an evolution of the 90s divers, with a similar color scheme. One thing that is weird is that the new flippers are significantly thicker than old ones. EDIT: I see that there is a note about this on BL and it happened in 2013. Edited May 24, 2015 by Vorkosigan Quote
dr_spock Posted May 24, 2015 Posted May 24, 2015 (edited) Here's a look at the LEGO City Space Utility Shuttle! This set is good for the kids, but at a little over 150 pieces for $25 and the lack of wheels and elevons, not one of my favs. I do like the interior, however. Thanks for the review.. The Utility Shuttle looks like it might have been based off the U.S. Air Force X-37B Edited May 24, 2015 by dr_spock Quote
Tombacus Posted May 25, 2015 Posted May 25, 2015 I stopped by the local Lego store here in Houston, TX and look what I found! I didn't think this set was released to the general public yet, but there it was. They also had a number of Ferris Wheel sets on the shelves. ... not sure how to show images here... The build was fun. You can see more images here. https://www.flickr.com/photos/10305044@N05/sets/72157653360391376 Quote
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