Why is the Cloud City set so expensive?

[KDog]

It's no secret the value of LEGO sets from popular licenses jump greatly in value once they're off retail shelves.

But what's the deal with the Cloud City set? It's going for crazy prices! Was it hard to find even when it came out? I can't be the only person kicking myself that I didn't buy it back then.

[OneSnowTrooper]

I think it's a combination of things.

1) it's 7 years old and it's a (first ?)modular build.

2) it's a play set aimed at an younger croud so I guess sold out fast.

3) it contains Boba Fett with printed body.

4) it contains Lando.

Both figures cost a lot of money on BL.

Edited August 19, 2010 by OneSnowTrooper

[prateek]

It was also a 10000 series set, which means it was either an Exclusive or Limited Edition.

[Inconspicuous]

It's basically what OneSnowTrooper and prateek have already mentioned. It was a rare concept at its time and most likely sold out fast. Nowadays, people desperately want the minifigs, half of which are exclusive to the set! It's very playable and uses some interesting and ingenious mechanisms, and is just an appealing set, at least for me. I've tried to analyze what it is about the set that makes it so popular in my review, which I believe many of you have seen, and this is all I can conclude.

[shameless plug]I just listed a used complete copy on Bricklink for $399.95 yesterday![/shameless plug]

[Big Cam]

Well this was my first mafia game in which I survived the first day. All I told was that last night I tried to cast Petrificus Totalus on you, but he was nowhere to be found, so I failed.

I think it's a combination of things.

1) it's 7 years old and it's a (first ?)modular build.

2) it's a play set aimed at an younger croud so I guess sold out fast.

3) it contains Boba Fett with printed body.

4) it contains Lando.

Both figures cost a lot of money on BL.

It was also a 10000 series set, which means it was either an Exclusive or Limited Edition.

They are both so right. The age of the set, combined with the extremely rare Boba fig, and the fact that is was I think $100 new all add up to one hard to find set.

[Destroydacre]

Did the set really sell out fast? I seem to recall the set being particularly unpopular when it was available for retail (the dining room is not connected to the carbon freezing chamber and there's no ships to put on the landing pad being two of the primary complaints). I always thought it was so popular now because very few people bought it back then and now regret it because the set had limited production which drove the price up significantly.

[Ritz Brick]

It might have just been a set exclusive to S@H, so not many people got it.

[Walter Kovacs]

I have always assumed that the price was so high due to the Boba, and to a lesser extent Lando. Many BL stores parted out this set to sell the minifigs separately, which dwindled an already small pool of sets.

[shameless plug]I just listed a used complete copy on Bricklink for $399.95 yesterday![/shameless plug]

And I would buy it at that price. If I had that kind of money lying around. Which I don't.

[Skipper 24]

It might have just been a set exclusive to S@H, so not many people got it.

Perhaps so. If it was I don't think Shop@Home was too popular back then, let alone any internet shopping. Did S@H even exist back then?

[prateek]

Perhaps so. If it was I don't think Shop@Home was too popular back then, let alone any internet shopping. Did S@H even exist back then?

It existed, but they put a lot more effort into the catalogue than they do now

[ThatGuyWithTheBricks]

I'm not even kidding the figs themselves cost about $200 with shipping.

[Mos_Eisley]

Did the set really sell out fast? I seem to recall the set being particularly unpopular when it was available for retail (the dining room is not connected to the carbon freezing chamber and there's no ships to put on the landing pad being two of the primary complaints). I always thought it was so popular now because very few people bought it back then and now regret it because the set had limited production which drove the price up significantly.

I think the set is worth so much now because it didn't sell very well. As mentioned above, most people at the time didn't like the set very much at all. It was a S@H exclusive that sold so poorly that TLG ended up dumping many of these to Tuesday Morning stores in the U.S. Cloud City sets could be purchased for $50 from Tuesday Morning in '05 or '06. Not selling well most likely meant only one small production run of the set.

Short production + unique minifigures = big increase in value

[drdavewatford]

Rarity is theoretically a driver for high prices BUT I'm not sure if any of us really know how many of each set were sold. We might think that because sets were sold off cheap at the end of a run its because they weren't popular, but there could be a few reasons for a cut-price sale, and in fact cheap prices probably end up decreasing the rarity of sets because more people buy them than otherwise would have done..... Some sets seem to be perpetually discounted (e.g. the new TIE defender on Amazon) while others seem almost never to be, and it's hard to know why this is.

I think that in reality the common theme with many of the particularly expensive retired sets is the inclusion of exclusive minifigs, coupled with the explosion in popularity of minifig collecting. Thinking of 'overpriced sets' Cloud City (Boba with printed legs and Lando) comes to mind, as does Imperial Inspection (stormies with printed legs). Same goes for otherwise pretty ordinary sets like Jabba's Palace, Mos Eisley Cantina (with Greedo) and others.

It's not the whole answer, however - some old sets with 'exclusive' minifigs can still be bought for a pittance e.g. Twin-Pod Cloud Car (with Lobot).

So I guess the moral is : try to buy before the set gets retired !

Dr. D.

[Mr. Elijah Timms]

I have one... it's used, stored in tupperware. Box is gone, but booklet is complete. Won't lie-- my favorite thing about the set is the figs-- actually Lando, not Boba Fett. There's just something so cool about each of the three Lando figs, they're among my favorites of the line.

EDIT: Fixed the post-- sorry That Guy.

Edited August 23, 2010 by Mr. Elijah Timms

[ThatGuyWithTheBricks]

I have one... it's used, stored in tupperware. Box is gone, but booklet is complete. I'm mildly entertaining offers, if anyone's interested.

This is not a B/S/T topic. I don't want to minimod, but please at least comment on the OT if you're going to do that.

[afosl]

I got mine (complete with box and manual) and I ain't selling! I bought it as soon as it became available on UK Shop@Home because it had the first Lando figure and that was the figure I really wanted. I know the printed Boba takes precedence with collectors, but Lando holds just as much value with me. This was the first time Lego ventured into fleshies with their Star Wars sets, even though all the other cloud city figures were yellow. What a fuss on the forums, even though black people were being depicted in Lego style, before Cloud City's release, with the NBA series of sets. I nearly bought one of those so I could make my own Lando, but I remember thinking at the time, if Lego were now releasing minifigures in anything but yellow (the first I'd seen in 25 years), I hoped that an authentic Lando would be released, and it was. Finally a Lego Lando. Since then he has appeared a couple more times, but only ever in pricier sets. As such I think that any Lando figure will be a bit rare when compared to the abundance of other regular figures, and any after market sales of kits with Lando will be expensive. And of course that goes double for a complete Cloud City with both Lando and the printed Boba Fett. How long the prices will remain high is a different matter. The bottom has to fall out of the market one day. Star Wars Lego will not always be as popular or in demand as it is now. Will it? Maybe those who are kicking themselves now will get lucky in the future if the prices plummet due to a potential dwindling value of Star Wars Lego.

Edited August 23, 2010 by afosl

[YouKnowMe]

I got mine (complete with box and manual) and I ain't selling! I bought it as soon as it became available on UK Shop@Home because it had the first Lando figure and that was the figure I really wanted. I know the printed Boba takes precedence with collectors, but Lando holds just as much value with me. This was the first time Lego ventured into fleshies with their Star Wars sets, even though all the other cloud city figures were yellow. What a fuss on the forums, even though black people were being depicted in Lego style, before Cloud City's release, with the NBA series of sets. I nearly bought one of those so I could make my own Lando, but I remember thinking at the time, if Lego were now releasing minifigures in anything but yellow (the first I'd seen in 25 years), I hoped that an authentic Lando would be released, and it was. Finally a Lego Lando. Since then he has appeared a couple more times, but only ever in pricier sets. As such I think that any Lando figure will be a bit rare when compared to the abundance of other regular figures, and any after market sales of kits with Lando will be expensive. And of course that goes double for a complete Cloud City with both Lando and the printed Boba Fett. How long the prices will remain high is a different matter. The bottom has to fall out of the market one day. Star Wars Lego will not always be as popular or in demand as it is now. Will it? Maybe those who are kicking themselves now will get lucky in the future if the prices plummet due to a potential dwindling value of Star Wars Lego.

You have a good point there, afosl, though I think we would have to wait a pretty long time before we see a drop in interest for lego star wars.