LEGO Star Wars Pricing Discussion Thread

[CaptainBermuda]

Also, starting with the force awakens sets, I've noticed a sudden increase in the detail of the sets. I would even go as far as to say that these sets are like mini USC sets in terms of detail so it makes sense that they are so expensive. That being said, I'm not sure if I necessarily want such heavy detail in every single set if it means sacrficing the ability to buy every last one of them, or even more than one of certain sets (like the first order transport, tie fighter, snowspeeder or resistance x-wing)

[HawkLord]

The detail will always have to go up. Same with minifigures. Lego has reached that spot as a collectible where it's hard for them to really entice certain purchases because they've done so much already. Hasbro action figures had seen the same climb, where after awhile they ran out of ways to make people excited for Darth Vader or Luke figures because everyone already had gobs of the previous versions.

To sustain interest, Lego needs to make more detailed sets and minifigures. Fortunately, the new trilogy and subsequent movies provide new material to work off of, but without those the Star Wars license would have become stagnant. I look at my own collection which demonstartes this - I have so much material and minifigures, I'm at a lost for the new stuff because I just don't need it.

[RetroInferno]

TFA came up with some surpriningly bland designs ( vehicle wise ), kind of harsh for toy makers to innovate as they were almost all based on existing stuff or barely had any screen time ( Lolsnowspeeder) And with it came some pretty steep prices. Rogue One has more new designs going for it than a movie set 30 years after ROTJ, which is ironically very funny, and I'm more confident for it to get better sets.

[tuggernuts]

TFA came up with some surpriningly bland designs ( vehicle wise ), kind of harsh for toy makers to innovate as they were almost all based on existing stuff or barely had any screen time ( Lolsnowspeeder) And with it came some pretty steep prices. Rogue One has more new designs going for it than a movie set 30 years after ROTJ, which is ironically very funny, and I'm more confident for it to get better sets.

Well we already know what's coming in the first wave of Rogue One sets...

[Forresto]

Ahh the Rebel Frigate, the set that keeps on giving questions for Lego Pricing.

I could buy the set being a little underwhelming for the price point jf the minifigures werent as lackluster as they are. No dual molding, no correct skin tone for Ezra, and still the wrong uniform for Kallus. Sato is way too simplistic to be that interesting. Besides Ashoka its a poor showing.

[RetroInferno]

Ahh the Rebel Frigate, the set that keeps on giving questions for Lego Pricing.

I could buy the set being a little underwhelming for the price point jf the minifigures werent as lackluster as they are. No dual molding, no correct skin tone for Ezra, and still the wrong uniform for Kallus. Sato is way too simplistic to be that interesting. Besides Ashoka its a poor showing.

Sato being just a meh character, Ezra lacking any improvement, Kalus' strange inclusion, Ashoka ( the most demanded figure from rebels ) included in a 150 CAN set lacks the polish of a CMF figure ( even a marvel or ninjago level of detail ).

What anhilate that set is the price tag ( you can get a naboo starfighter, a flashspeeder and a droid transporter for the same price ). Completly ruins the set.

[HawkLord]

Am I the only onde happy here?

I'm happy if the scalpers lose out on this one. I know there was a lot of talk of people buying up 10188s to flip after the new one would come out hoping to make huge profit and the news of the new DS destroys that chance. Personally, even before the announcement of the new DS, I would not have bought 10188s to flip - they had been out so long that they wouldn't be considered really collectible. Hopefully this puts flippers and scalpers in a position where they're thinking twice about future "investments".

[Jedi-Bendu]

I'm happy if the scalpers lose out on this one. I know there was a lot of talk of people buying up 10188s to flip after the new one would come out hoping to make huge profit and the news of the new DS destroys that chance. Personally, even before the announcement of the new DS, I would not have bought 10188s to flip - they had been out so long that they wouldn't be considered really collectible. Hopefully this puts flippers and scalpers in a position where they're thinking twice about future "investments".

Exactly my thoughts.

LEGO is a toy. A collectible for AFOLs. Stuff like this (and other toys) shouldn't be treated as good investments.

Now, bring on a new USC Falcon so scalpers can't charge 2000+ anymore! :P

[pittpenguin123]

Maybe this will decrease those "Legos are worth more then gold! Your children's old toys are a gold mine"(cringe "legos")

[HawkLord]

It's funny because when I used to collect action figures, I would occasionally have people, including soccer moms, ask me if what I was buying was going to be valuable. I'd always have the same reaction - no way, in fact now that I'm buying it, it's worth even less than retail. The only reason why Star Wars action figures were ever a thing was because of the vintage stuff, back when people didn't keep things mint-on-card or in box. But now everything is so common, there's no point. It still didn't stop those soccer moms from snatching up Darth Vader figures and telling me they'd put their kids through college with it.

Granted some stuff is still hot, but it's really hard to gauge and becomes a full time flipper job.

Lego is even more so tricky as a collectible. Sure there's some value to the older stuff, but as Lego makes more and more material, you can eventually find the right pieces to make adequate replacements. Hence all the people custom-building UCS Falcons, which uses some of the same bricks and is much cheaper than paying scalper prices. Not a lot of other toy products have this ability.

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

I dunno, I don't get the mindset of scalpers and - flippers are they called, why does this make me think of friendly dolphins...? If you look at a creative toy and think "whoa, invest in it, put it into storage and sell it for more later", there must be something wrong with your mind and/or personality in my opinion.

[Brickweiser]

I dunno, I don't get the mindset of scalpers and - flippers are they called, why does this make me think of friendly dolphins...? If you look at a creative toy and think "whoa, invest in it, put it into storage and sell it for more later", there must be something wrong with your mind and/or personality in my opinion.

Many people use it to fund their own Lego habits. There are tons of these people across Bricklink, eBay, even Amazon sells Lego as whole sets, or piece meal. I'm not sure suggesting these people have a mental deficiency is the wisest choice of words.

[BrickJagger]

I'm happy if the scalpers lose out on this one. I know there was a lot of talk of people buying up 10188s to flip after the new one would come out hoping to make huge profit and the news of the new DS destroys that chance. Personally, even before the announcement of the new DS, I would not have bought 10188s to flip - they had been out so long that they wouldn't be considered really collectible. Hopefully this puts flippers and scalpers in a position where they're thinking twice about future "investments".

I completely agree. Scalpers ruin the hobby for everyone else by driving up prices and putting many desirable sets out of reach price wise.

Hopefully this teaches them a lesson.

Edited August 27, 2016 by BrickJagger

[jdm44]

How do scalpers drive up the prices? The opposite is actually true. When a set is in production there is essentially an unlimited supply available at retail price. Once a set retires, supply and demand dictate the price. More scalpers = higher supply = lower prices.

[BrickJagger]

Please can I remind everyone that this thread is for 2016 Pictures and Rumours. There's a dedicated thread for discussions about pricing, so please use that for this type of post

And to clarify, a 'scalper' is defined as 'a person trading in the equities or options and futures market who holds a position for a very short period of time' so in relation to the LEGO 'market' they will acquire productions that are only available for limited periods (e.g. Comic-Con exclusives or set 41999) and then sell them at an inflated price. So, the term isn't relevant to someone purchasing a set that was available for 8 years, unless I'm missing something.....

Got mixed up a little there. Sorry about that.

[Forresto]

So what do people think of scalpers?

[firefox]

How do scalpers drive up the prices? The opposite is actually true. When a set is in production there is essentially an unlimited supply available at retail price. Once a set retires, supply and demand dictate the price. More scalpers = higher supply = lower prices.

There is no such thing as unlimited supply, A company produces an estimate (and might do a rerun),

Lego in in that regard one of the better companies, most other collection/toy companies do one run and that's it, demand or no demand, they are allready of doing the next wave or line.

Biggest exeption is for example gundam model building who do reruns for years.

Big sets are always more limited in numbers then smaller sets.

Even lego sets only stay on the market for a limited period.

So when the last batch is made you start picking them up and availabilty goes down very fast.

Also another reason lies with the fans, who always wait to get it. For some reason everybody always wants the set after it's production run.

This is a particulary expensive set, not everybody can afford it at the moment it is in stores or never in some cases.

Want does NOT equal buy.

Edited August 27, 2016 by firefox

[Markalus]

I don't really have a problem with scalpers, flippers, resellers or whatever you want to call them. It means retired sets are still available. Its up to the individual to decide if the asking price is worth it to them. The cost associated with storing them is not insignificant. The only time I take issue with scalpers is when sets go on sale and they clean the shelves of all the desirable stock, leaving none for regular shoppers. This is a problem with stores not setting strict purchase limits, at least in my part of the world.

[Darth Dino]

Hi

outing myself as an investor. Of course im an AFOL too, play with my set and the ones of my kids. Lego investing became a hobby when i realized that Lego is expensive (breaking news!) but its easy to finance your hobby. As usual, if your spend time for something and you are curious, your get better and become insider info. I dont see a problem buying the DS 10188 when close to EOL and selling it right before the next one is to arrive. Made that way 45%on rop of my investment, so basically one DS for free for a ourchase of 3. And thats exactly what i did, sold two, kept one for me and my kids.

I sold for example the Gungan Sub to Malaysia, a hard to get set over there.The purcaser was pretty happy to get it from me.

I simply want all Lego Star Wars set (only movie sets) but cang afford them (all). Buying the right things at the right time and selling part of it makes that happens for me.

Dino

[LegoFjotten]

Almost all LEGO sets are easy to get hold of in their lifespan, so for practical purposes the supply can be considered unlimited even if a finite number will be produced. If you weren't an AFOL at the time or didn't have the money to buy a specific set when it was available it doesn't really make sense to blame resellers for it IMO.

There are a few exceptions of course, some Ideas sets, 41999 which was a limited run, the DFB series... These often have purchase limits on S@H which helps a bit.

Personally, the few times I come across a clearance sale with 50% off I may buy something with the intent of either parting them out to my own collection or sell them sometime later at regular retail price. I also buy full boxes of CMF's and sell off complete sets to help offset my own cost for the series.

Not really a fan of people buying a new D2C using the S@H early VIP offer, and then immediately trying to flip them with a 35-50% markup - trying to take advantage of people that may not yet know what the retail price is.

[Forresto]

So 2017 prices, are people salty or what? is it justified? Has Lego over inflated prices or are the complaints simply whinging?

[Flandy]

Hard to say without having the sets in hand, but it does seem like they could knock 20% off the prices and they'd still seem pretty steep for what you're getting.

Edited December 6, 2016 by Flandy

[VaderFan2187]

Lol, y'all are complaining about prices and I'm like

"Where I live LEGO sets are twice the price in US... or more "

Not trying to be rude or anything, just something that cracks me up every time 

[makoy]

I thought it was just a joke when someone mentioned there is a thread just for complaining about the price of Star Wars sets... 

For as long as I remember LEGO sets had always been labeled as overpriced plastic toy and the only time it is called cheap is when there is clearance sales. Maybe Star Wars is just more visible because it is becoming more mainstream again.

[khatmorg]

So prices,Euro's are worth about 1.04 USD atm, in the Netherlands (probably the same for the rest of europe):

 

75165 - Imperial Battle Pack 4 figs 111pcs €18

75164 - Rebel Battle Pack 4 figs 120pcs €18

75173 - Luke's Landspeeder 4 figs 149pcs €30

75168 - Yoda's Starfighter 2 figs 262pcs €35

75169 - Dual on Naboo 3 figs 208pcs €35

75174 - Desert Skiff 4 figs 277pcs €45

75170 - The Phantom 3 figs 269pcs €45

75175 - A-Wing 3 figs 358pcs €55

75171- Battle on Scarif 4 figs 419pcs €70

75172 - Y-Wing 5 figs 691pcs €80

So everything except the Y-wing is redonkulously priced this wave. I don't even know where to start with the complaints. Not sure if I've ever seen anything overpriced this badly here, aside from that €140 Ahsoka fig that came with a baguette. 

I suppose I'll just have to wait until the rest goes on sale/clearance, oh wait that never happens here... 

Edited January 4, 2017 by khatmorg