4954 Model Town House Discontinued by TLG. Why?

[Badsneaker]

4954 has been discontinued as you may know. I don't understand why LEGO does this with products such as this. This type of product doesn't go out of style the way other LEGO products do. A house will always be a house. I can understand lines like Harry Potter, Sponge Bob etc.

The 4956 House is still available, but most collectors can build that with parts from their own inventory. The 4954 has tons of tan bricks and black roof pieces which are expensive on eBay and Bricklink.

I cannot understand the thinking that goes on behind the decision as to when a certain product should be discontinued. The product has only been out since 2007.

If I had known I would have bought off SAH for 69.95 when they had them. Now the only thing left is the price jackers on eBay getting $140.00 for it.

[samthelegoman1]

Yeah, that pretty much sucks. Maybe, Lego hires re-sellers to make more money of the products?

[brickzone]

It is a very nice set. I've not used the tan bricks yet (waiting for switch to City MoCing - currently I'm on castle and Agents), but I've been making use of many of the other parts.

For anyone in Ireland, it's still available from Smyth's Toys for €54.99 (link to check local store).

[Minifig Lecturer]

That's a pity. It is a nice house (minus the car), particularly for the parts, but I don't have money free at the moment to get it. Hopefully some still left in Smyths next year although I remember last Christmas every LEGO set was sold out in 2 Dublin Smyths shops I know of.

Edited November 7, 2008 by Calvin

[legotrainfan]

I have neither of the two sets, but I find that set 4954 looks much nicer than 4956. So I have no idea why the letter can still be bought. Sometimes it's really hard to understand why TLC discontinues certain sets. They discontinued Santa Fe car 10022 much earlier than 10025. That was a strange decision too. Maybe they found out about the construction error of set 10022; the plates on the upside down construction touch the rails when the train goes through curves. They might have discontinued it for that reason.

As for 4554 it's a complete mystery for me. It looks fantastic and has - as has been said before - lots of tan bricks and black slopes. It's still not that expensive in Europe. You can still get it on ebay Germany, for instance, for a reasonable price. Most of the time it is offered for less than 60 euro (buy it now price).

[khalix]

It is totally different situation in Singapore. We can easily get 4954 but not 4956 in all Lego store.

[CP5670]

If it has only recently been discontinued, it should still be pretty common at stores. I got into that situation some months ago with the 8275 Technic bulldozer, but still got one off ebay for close to the MSRP.

I never understood the logic behind TLG's policies with set lifetimes though. I ran into quite a few situations as a kid where I wanted some big set, but by the time I had saved up enough to buy it, it was no longer in production. I have long since learned that if you want something from S@H, you better buy it right away, as it may be suddenly removed without notice at any time.

[Badsneaker]

I called all the LEGO stores nobody has it anymore. eBay seems to be the only place. I have a friend that sells LEGO on eBay she will sell me one for $90.00, cheapest I can find it. If you know where I can get one for $69.95 let me know.

[BillytheKid]

It's indeed a very nice set. Problem for me is, the house is too big when you look at the size used in the '80's which I collect. That's the reason why I sell mine now.

But again, it's a very nice set.