nicknack116 Posted March 12 Posted March 12 (edited) 4 hours ago, TheDoctor said: It's worth noting that at $200 the PP ratio was $0.099/piece At $270, it's $0.133/piece This and the breakdown by theme is really interesting! Glad I saw it. Isn’t the Balrog Book Nook set coming out this Summer now rumored to be about 1200 pieces and $115? That puts it around $.09/piece. Which means the Shire set is even more out of sync at $270? Editing to add: just saw this in an article for whatever it’s worth: ”Christiansen also told the Financial Times Lego would not "overreact" to President Donald Trump's tariffs, with the company shipping most of its US inventory from Mexico, adding that the company had got through the Covid pandemic "by not overreacting, and it’s the same approach here." Edited March 13 by nicknack116 Quote
Roebuck Posted March 13 Posted March 13 7 hours ago, DonQuixote said: The €70 increase is caused by people saying: 1 ) Day one purchase for me! 2 ) Shut up and take my money! How many times I have seen these comments on social media. Well , the Lego company reads these comments and they think : maybe we can ask a little bit more. And if it sells ,they will add a little bit again.And so on... I do not think Lego care much about comments online for that. However you have a point with what actually people do, if a lot of people go out and buy the set at full retail price that might affect things. At least it seems like some sets that have not been so popular are on sale on Lego a short time after its release and that is not normal. Not impossible that it goes the other way as well however some sets may be bestsellers because they are reasonably priced compared to others so a price increase might backfire Quote
TheDoctor Posted March 13 Posted March 13 (edited) 11 hours ago, DonQuixote said: The €70 increase is caused by people saying: 1 ) Day one purchase for me! 2 ) Shut up and take my money! A small minority of people saying this on internet forums definitely does not influence LEGO's pricing policy. 11 hours ago, Lordhelmet said: I am interested in the tariff impact on Lego as well, I did see the article yesterday where Lego announced there were no current tariffs impacting them. So I am assuming the things that are shipped and imported before the Tariffs start wouldn’t have an impact (like the first wave of the shire), but then how do they affect sets after they start, does the base price increase by 25% on the shelf before sales tax is applied? Yeah, it's not retroactively applied to goods already in the country. HOWEVER! The US stock is mostly from the Mexico factory (as Christiansen say's in the post below) and the Mexico tariffs are already in effect as of March 4th. So, unless they got stock in the country before then, the tariff would be applied. 10 hours ago, nicknack116 said: This and the breakdown by theme is really interesting! Glad I saw it. Isn’t the Balrog Book Nook set coming out this Summer now rumored to be about 1200 pieces and $115? That puts it around $.09/piece. Which means the Shire set is even more out of sync at $270? Editing to add: just saw this in an article for whatever it’s worth: ”Christiansen also told the Financial Times Lego would not "overreact" to President Donald Trump's tariffs, with the company shipping most of its US inventory from Mexico, adding that the company had got through the Covid pandemic "by not overreacting, and it’s the same approach here." Hadn't considered the Book Nook, good catch. That US price came from converting the confirmed Danish Krone price, which is with the price per piece sounds about right. Really does point to tariffs being applied. As for LEGO's response, there's not really much they can do. Mexican imports are already having a 25% tariff applied. All they can do is maybe negotiate lower tariffs based on the fact they're building a facility in America, but chances are the factory would be built by the time legislation like that gets passed! ________________________________________________________________ Have any of the other sub-forums noticed pricing discrepancies? Lego may choose to absorb the tariffs themselves and see a loss in company profits, but I doubt it. That's a hard thing to sell to the board. They'll probably do what most companies do and split the difference. In basic terms, LEGO will take a 12.5% hit on their profits and increase prices by 12.5%, so the product will still sell. Edited March 13 by TheDoctor Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted March 13 Posted March 13 Well, whether the US price is a result of those moronic tariffs can easily be verified once we know the official worldwide prices $270 seems steep compared to the previous two sets, but also not completely out of the ballpark. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Quote
jjr_2009 Posted March 13 Posted March 13 Not going to comment much on the price, because I don't think there's much more to be said. Anything over $100 is just out of my price range anyways, and I have made peace with that fact. I think a big part of why these new LOTR sets have sold well--while their previous attempt at the theme was more of a struggle--is that these newer sets are produced for and marketed almost exclusively to adults. The sets from 2012-2015 were marketed towards children, for the most part (the only exception was Orthanc). And while I would love to see smaller, more affordable LOTR sets, I think many adult consumers are stuck in the mindset that only large and expensive sets are valid as collector's items (which I think is kind of silly, tbh). My thoughts on this new set: I really like it, for the most part! I agree that the party tree looks rough, and that $270 seems to be on the steep side. But overall I think it's lovely. I love the fact that they included "spikey" grey hair pieces for Merry and Pippin after they set off the dragon firework--it's a great detail. I also just love the fact that we're finally getting more hobbits! I still have 9469 Gandalf Arrives from the line's original launch, and I recently acquired 79003 An Unexpected Gathering (without the minifigures). Those sets still look great, IMO and they fit better on my desk than this new one will. I'll probably just pick up a few of the figures and then maybe some of the printed/stickered pieces from this new release to "enhance" the one I already have. And to address the folks on here wishing that this came with the dwarves from The Hobbit: I agree that it would have been cool, but The Hobbit films weren't as well received as the LOTR films were, and--so far--I don't think there is a ton of nostalgia for them. I highly doubt we'll see those characters included in sets anytime soon. Quote
MAB Posted March 13 Posted March 13 13 hours ago, Roebuck said: I do not think Lego care much about comments online for that. However you have a point with what actually people do, if a lot of people go out and buy the set at full retail price that might affect things. At least it seems like some sets that have not been so popular are on sale on Lego a short time after its release and that is not normal. Not impossible that it goes the other way as well however some sets may be bestsellers because they are reasonably priced compared to others so a price increase might backfire They probably don't care too much about comments but they will look at sales data as a function of time. They know full well that GWP help drive very early sales, and sales create a buzz about the set. Especially if they can get stores selling out in the first few days, they can rely on FOMO to drive more sales for the next few weeks when they restock in a couple of days. Quote
ForgedInLego Posted March 13 Posted March 13 Has the US price leaked? If I recall correctly, someone posted a link to maxbauxte's instagram post which was 270€ Quote
Artanis I Posted March 14 Posted March 14 9 hours ago, ForgedInLego said: Has the US price leaked? If I recall correctly, someone posted a link to maxbauxte's instagram post which was 270€ That's what I thought. I don't know where this $270 came from Quote
TheDoctor Posted March 14 Posted March 14 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Artanis I said: That's what I thought. I don't know where this $270 came from From this Instagram post... Edited March 14 by TheDoctor Quote
ForgedInLego Posted March 14 Posted March 14 2 hours ago, TheDoctor said: From this Instagram post... Thanks! I don't have an IG account so looking at posts that aren't directly linked is almost impossible Quote
TheDoctor Posted March 14 Posted March 14 4 minutes ago, ForgedInLego said: Thanks! I don't have an IG account so looking at posts that aren't directly linked is almost impossible No problem. Can't believe we're nearly two weeks away and there's no teaser, reveal or confirmed price yet. Quote
Arjo Posted March 14 Posted March 14 (edited) Disney tax not supposed to come cheap… and not sure lotr’s would trump it, but if one compares bag end to beauty&beast castle then one wonders where all that money is going to… it won’t be tariffs in any case so let’s hope it’s a storm in a tea cup and actual prices are closer to initial expectations. Edited March 14 by Arjo Quote
Lordhelmet Posted March 14 Posted March 14 Waiting on this official reveal feels like it is taking forever, aren't we less than three weeks out today? Quote
BrickBob Studpants Posted March 14 Posted March 14 1 hour ago, Lordhelmet said: Waiting on this official reveal feels like it is taking forever, aren't we less than three weeks out today? Some D2C sets have only been revealed two weeks before their launch, and if I’m not mistaken, there has been at least one set that finally got revealed on the same day it got released I need to see pics of the interior, so fingers crossed for a reveal early next week! Quote
MKJoshA Posted March 15 Posted March 15 On 3/14/2025 at 10:13 AM, TheDoctor said: From this Instagram post... <snip> Thank you for removing the leaked photo part of that post before sharing. Quote
RichardGoring Posted March 15 Posted March 15 2 hours ago, MKJoshA said: Thank you for removing the leaked photo part of that post before sharing. I understand that leaked photos can't be published here, but this photo was published on the LEGO UK website. It's since been removed. So I understand, is it considered a 'leaked image' because it hasn't been officially announced, or because LEGO have since removed the page? Or something else? Thanks! Quote
TheDoctor Posted March 16 Posted March 16 So price increased confirmed for the US now... Not sure what that means for Bag End and if the price has already been increased to $270 or will increase further. Quote
RichardGoring Posted March 16 Posted March 16 As we've said before, they have been charging a lot for some of the adult focused sets. I wonder if tarrifs give them a chance to see how far they push prices higher and so don't market research. Of course the US economy might drop and so the market opportunity falls too. Or it might push them towards smaller adult sets at a lower price point, because even more people will struggle with $500+ sets. Or, if it keeps going with all the politics, it may be cheaper to fly to Billund, visit the LEGO House and buy things there. Quote
TheDoctor Posted March 16 Posted March 16 30 minutes ago, RichardGoring said: As we've said before, they have been charging a lot for some of the adult focused sets. I wonder if tarrifs give them a chance to see how far they push prices higher and so don't market research. Of course the US economy might drop and so the market opportunity falls too. Or it might push them towards smaller adult sets at a lower price point, because even more people will struggle with $500+ sets. Or, if it keeps going with all the politics, it may be cheaper to fly to Billund, visit the LEGO House and buy things there. At the risk of me derailing the topic (again) I really don't think LEGO has been pushing up the price of adult or ICONS sets, they all still hover around the holy $0.10 per piece or lower in LotR's case (I don't think that's the best metric myself). It's just that the adult sets are mostly much more detailed, so have a denser use of parts in a smaller build area, affecting perceived value. I don't think this will herald smaller adult sets at lower price points because only the American market affected by these recent affairs. It's a key market; yes, but it will all be back to normal by 2027 when the Virginia factory opens. We know ICONS is one of LEGO's top performers. Quote
RichardGoring Posted March 17 Posted March 17 3 hours ago, TheDoctor said: I don't think this will herald smaller adult sets at lower price points because only the American market affected by these recent affairs. It's a key market; yes, but it will all be back to normal by 2027 when the Virginia factory opens. Very good point. If it lasts for that long, it will be a medium-term blip at best, hopefully. And yes, I suppose the increase in complexity of models is the major contributor to the price increases, and inflation being so high also makes it feel that things have increased a lot. But it could still make for an interesting natural experiment for them. I do hope Bad End doesn't increase in price further. I fear it would really dent sales and so put future sets at risk. Quote
BenA Posted March 17 Posted March 17 15 hours ago, RichardGoring said: Very good point. If it lasts for that long, it will be a medium-term blip at best, hopefully. And yes, I suppose the increase in complexity of models is the major contributor to the price increases, and inflation being so high also makes it feel that things have increased a lot. But it could still make for an interesting natural experiment for them. I do hope Bad End doesn't increase in price further. I fear it would really dent sales and so put future sets at risk. I know it was a typo, but "Bad End" made me smile - especially in the context of what you were saying! Quote
Khargeust Posted March 17 Posted March 17 (edited) I cant' believe we still have no official announcement for the set and the GWP. Edited March 17 by Khargeust Quote
RichardGoring Posted March 17 Posted March 17 9 minutes ago, BenA said: I know it was a typo, but "Bad End" made me smile - especially in the context of what you were saying! Ha ha! Oops. Classic Freudian slip... Quote
hikouki Posted March 17 Posted March 17 22 hours ago, RichardGoring said: ... Or, if it keeps going with all the politics, it may be cheaper to fly to Billund, visit the LEGO House and buy things there. If Lego has a LOTR exhibit at Billund, then I will book that trip in a heartbeat! Quote
TheDoctor Posted March 18 Posted March 18 (edited) 14 hours ago, Khargeust said: I cant' believe we still have no official announcement for the set and the GWP. Yeah, it's a little strange at this point, less than 2 weeks away. I'm really beginning to think it's to do with the pricing and how that's handled at launch. Icons sets, especially of popular IPs tend to get a lot of attention and even a press release. The previous two Lord of the Rings sets were covered by large non-lego internet news outlets because they generate a lot of attention and clicks. Given this would be the first big release (potentially) affected by the tariffs, they might be thinking how to stop the new price overshadowing the product reveal. (The new JP prices have flown under the radar so far, even in other sub-forums) Edited March 18 by TheDoctor Quote
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