The One That Got Away

[Kit Figsto]

So, apologies to any moderators/admins if this is the wrong place for this thread, I didn't think it exactly belonged in with the selling forums since, well, I'm not selling anything.  

Earlier today I was thinking about some sets throughout the years that were great finds that I had either just barely missed out on, or never bought for whatever reason (and now are way too expensive for my budget!).  

The first came to mind back in 2007, I remember the year distinctly because of what was available.  At the time, it was before Lego stores were as widespread as they are now, it seems like you had to be in a very large city to find one, at least here in the US.  Consequently, when I was growing up, if we ever took a trip to a city that had one, it was a big deal for me, we'd usually go at least twice on our trip, do the build-a-minifig (this was back when their minifigure part stash was pretty incredible, they had a lot of old Star Wars/NBA pieces, all sorts of stuff), PAB (again, with the craziest stuff...train tracks, I remember distinctly finding

 

 

this thing in a yellow and chrome color, no idea what set that was from, but I digress), and of course, I would've been saving money for a long while before a trip to the store, knowing that if I wanted any sets, I was going to have to pay for it.  So, I saved up $50 and had my mind set on one of two Star Wars sets - either the 2006 Slave I, or 2006 Jabba's Sail Barge.  I wasn't 100% sure which one I would get yet, but I knew it would be one of the two.  

Well, come to find out, unbeknownst to me, at this point, the sets had already retired and there were none to be found anywhere in the store.  I remember being quite disappointed in this, and ended up choosing between the Rogue Shadow and Jedi Starfighter with Hyperdrive Booster Ring.  I recall that I wasn't all that particularly interested in either one, but I felt like I "had" to buy a $50 Star Wars set, since that's what I came for.  I ended up with the Starfighter, and here 13 years later, I still have it and am happy I bought it, but I still have been on the lookout for both of those sets since.

The other one (this one might make some people groan) was roughly 7 years ago.  I was looking on eBay and happened upon a guy who must've been selling off an inventory of old sets, I think I remember the descriptions being that they belonged to someone else and he came into possession of them, but I can't recall for sure.  Anyway, this guy had the motherlode of sealed, perfect box, perfect condition Model Team stuff.  He didn't have the big semi trucks, but I remember he had the Rally Van, Magic Flash, and Bigfoot 4x4 (the latter two of which are some of favorite sets that I don't own of all time).  For whatever reason I never bid, but I remember that the Bigfoot truck ended up selling for like $110 or something, the Magic Flash like $80-90 or something crazy.  From a pure financial standpoint, that one hurts, because even at the time they were worth probably 3x that easily, and looking at them now, you can't get a sealed version of either for under $400-500, but had I bought them, no chance I would've resold them, they'd probably be on display in my house somewhere right now.  Someday!   

Anyway, does anyone else have similar stories?  (again sorry if this is the wrong place for this topic, just thought it was an interesting question).

[howitzer]

I sort of have similar feelings about 8480 Space Shuttle. I remember admiring it in a catalog as a kid, and wishing for the possibility of getting it, but somehow it seemed to be too expensive to buy with my own pocket money and at the time I was getting old enough that I felt that my parents wouldn't approve of me spending my money on Lego anyway. Also other things (computer games etc.) started to really catch my interest, but somehow over the years this set got stuck in my mind and today it would look super-cool in the shelf along with the likes of 21309 Saturn V and 21321 ISS. It's also one of the all-time best Technic sets, which would sit well with 8868 Airtech Claw Rig, another great set from my childhood sitting in my shelf. I value the first-time building experience above everything else when it comes to official sets, so it's far too expensive and difficult to get, considering the MISB sets are highly valued collector's items today. An used set just wouldn't have the same feeling, even if they are more affordable (though by no means cheap if in good condition).

[jimmynick]

I have similar feelings about 3 sets, all of which were around when I was slowly getting back into LEGO: the 4504 Millennium Falcon, the 10123 Cloud City, and the 10020 Santa Fe Super Chief. That era of trains was amazing, where locos and cars were available separately. Wish I’d put together a set of them at the time, but that was when I was a bit busy playing with my dad’s old OO trains.

[TeriXeri]

Back in 1998 I bought the 5600 Radio Control Racer instead of 6977 Arachnoid Starbase , both were 1998 sets of the same price.

While the RC car looks outdated to current standards, the Starbase is timeless and somewhat unique still.

Oh well.

 

The RC car still wasn't a bad set and has some nice parts for the time as it's a 5-in-1 build, but technological the remote control and many batteries feels a bit clunky to current standards.

Also I didn't use it outdoors , because of fear of LEGO parts falling off and getting lost.

I did enjoy the set very much ,but from a current perspective, I'd rather have the Insectoids set.

At least I still have 6907: Sonic Stinger , and the Light&Sound part still works now, so that's good.

Edited September 28, 2020 by TeriXeri

[Peppermint_M]

Ultra Agents, the second wave was not released in the UK. It was S@H or Lego Store only. But when I had the spare funds, the sets were sold out.

The same with a number of the Elves sets, they were not in retailers I visited regularly, so I had to wait. Missed some.

[JintaiZ]

4 hours ago, jimmynick said:

I have similar feelings about 3 sets, all of which were around when I was slowly getting back into LEGO: the 4504 Millennium Falcon, the 10123 Cloud City, and the 10020 Santa Fe Super Chief. That era of trains was amazing, where locos and cars were available separately. Wish I’d put together a set of them at the time, but that was when I was a bit busy playing with my dad’s old OO trains.

And trains are still amazing now ;)

[ShaydDeGrai]

8 hours ago, howitzer said:

I sort of have similar feelings about 8480 Space Shuttle. (...snip...)

This set is near and dear to my heart - I can certainly understand why someone who missed it back in the day would want one.  This was the set that brought me out of my dark age and I've kept it fully assembled for the past quarter century.  While a pricey set when it was readily available, it probably wasn't pricey enough - which is why I would never expect to see a set quite like this again.  It was a by-product of the era when TLG wasn't paying appropriate attention to their costs and nearly bankrupted the company with excessive new molds and parts that cost more to produce than they sold for.  In the case of the space shuttle, this kit had micro-motors, fiber optics, rubber belt drives and a ton of great parts that made for an awesome set that probably had a very slim profit margin (if profitable at all).  Today MISB this set is ridiculously priced, but for the reasons mentioned above, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a re-release.  I think this one is right up there with the Monorail for kits TLG would like to see in their rear view mirror (despite how awesome it was).

And speaking of the space monorail (6990 and related kits), that would certainly be one of my picks for the one that got away.  It's heyday came right in the middle of my Dark Age and by the time I really because aware of its existence it was already a collector's item.  I'd love to have such a key part of Lego history in my collection, but I'm not going to enter into bidding wars with monorail fanatics to do so.

My other "Regret Set" would have to be the 8880 Super Car.  Unlike the monorail set, this one was still on shelves when I was coming out of my dark age.  I actually had one in my hand while standing in the Lego aisle at TRU at one point (but I didn't realize it was their last copy and the set had been discontinued at that point).  I decided to wait, and when I went back specifically to buy, it was gone.   Tried calling Lego Shop at home ( because in those days people actually ordered things over the phone...) and they said they were all out but it might still be on store shelves but the warehouse was bare.  

I've got a pretty robust collection of Technic Supercars at this point, and to compare something like the 8880 with this year's 42115 Lambo Sian is just two different worlds (I could probably just build the 8880 with spare parts I already have on hand at this point), but still, the 8880 is the one that got away and I'll always remember that.