Andyroo

Interesting I think it might be the language barrier but like Star Wars I think LOTR and the Hobbit don't do as well as they do in western countries here (Korea). 90% of the time when I see someone buying Lego here it is Ninjago or friends.

I have always found it complimentary and that is probably because Star Wars is the only licensed theme I like and I don't even buy much (or any anymore) of that. Normally the reason I am interested in the figures is similar to why I would like the set as a whole. I like the Soldiers from the pirate theme and so I I am interested in any set where they appear and so like the idea of Forts, Docks etc....

I wonder who makes most of the strategy decisions for the Asian markets. Is it Lego or is their distributor. I see a lot of space that lego is given in department stores here (Korea) taken up by themes that aren't very popular here (Star Wars and LOTR) and there always seems only a small section for Ninjago. Ninjago isn't my thing but I see people buying it all the time. There seems a lot of room for improvement in the way they do business here.

A great story. I like how the club are so enthusiastic about it too.

I see fake Ninjago quite often in Korea but not in chain/franchise stores. It is always ma and pop general stores and such. Lego is very expensive here and Ninjago and Friends seem to be the two most popular lines based on what I see in peoples shopping trollys. I have even bought some of it because my son loves the Ninja Go TV series but he is a bit young for intricate lego (glueing real lego together would feel wrong). The quality can be good..... but not consistently. One of them has the eyes printed too high on the forehead, different colour than what is on the box etc etc. Huge drop off in quality from lego but at about 1/5 of the price it has a market. I don't think they take away many sales from lego here because it's a different market they are servicing in those shops (very price conscious) whereas Lego is a premium brand in Korea. I should take some photos. They don't just copy minifigs but also some of the vehicle sets. There is also a brand called Enlighten from china that seems to copy old lego sets (like old pirates stuff) with poor colours and cheaper plastic but decent molds.

For countries where gum ball machines are only used for really cheap items perhaps they could sell the mini figures in 3 parts. You could get 1) A head and accessories 2) A torso 3) Legs and a 4 x 4 vase plate A bit of a let down as a once off purchase but I think it would be really addictive and in effect a little like the mini figures I phone App where you get a random figure. Put each type in 3 separate machines (i.e. one machine is all pants, one machine all Torsos etc) would be for the best as kids would have a better idea of what they are getting into.

Frodo is the main character of the movie though so it's likely the figure they want. The target market for poly bags aren't likely to be aware of rarity or such and are more likely to think Lord of the Rings = Frodo, Legolas and Gandalf. This forum isn't representative of regular kids. We are all hard core fans here but their is a big consumer market of people that will buy something cheap on impulse (some people just aren't savers) if it's appealing to them. This week they may buy Frodo, next week a water pistol and after that a police car from the City range. 2 army builders aren't likely to be of much use to someone who isn't going to buy another LOTR set.

The Korean prices feel very similar to the Australian prices for mine. Normally something like Lego I would expect to be cheaper in Korea but perhaps there is a sizeable import tarriff on Lego since their is a domestic competitor.

I don't think I will bother chasing down the back catalog but that said if I see it in store or wherever I will buy it considering it all seems great value. Military wouldn't be my first pick of a theme but I think the quality has won me over. And while in Korea it seems silly to just buy the western brand when the local brand is just as good, cheaper, unique and not available elsewhere.

Cheers for all the reviews. I had bought a couple of very cheap Chinese clone sets which were awful quality but so cheap $1-3 it didn't matter and we had fun with them. Earlier this week I bought a small set from Enlightens Corsair (Pirates range) and it was a huge improvement in quality and I started doing some research which led to your reviews. All the information about Oxford is really interesting. The new tanks look different to the one in NCM72000/0872 and I like the look of the older ones with their more solid brickier look. So I should pick that up now as I am pretty sure that set was at my local homeplus. Edit: From their website looks like http://oxfordtoy.co.kr/pro/detailox.asp?m_code=12581&p_code=10 should be coming soon as well.