legend

[snefroe]

i was wondering what is going on with the Legend program. The current legend would be the airport, and sure, you can still find it on the lego website but it's not even promoted as "a legend", it's just a "city essential". the other legends of the past are gone, so it seems, except for the hot rod. Then there is the yellow truck, but i think that was just a rerelease, not a legend.

So what's going on? Has lego dropped the legend program? And when do we get a new legend? After all, the airport has been around for quite some time now... How does the selection procedure look like? i remember the fans used to have a say in this, but i'm not sure if that was the case the last time...

Perhaps one of the Ambassadors can figure out what is going on?

[xwingyoda]

Yep its a good question !!!

Legends are a great way to get old sets (and thus harming the parallel market such as ebay, BL...) for not a great deal of money: TLC does not need to manufacture any new parts for those Legends !!!

I wish we could have several Legends each year !! That would be great !!

Any news would be appreciated !!

Yoda

[5150 Lego]

I agree. So many sets i'd like to see re-released. It has been a while since we've seen a new one.

[Hobbes]

Comment from Jan Beyer, German AFOL Community Liasion:

"To my knowledge currently there are no new releases planned but that doesn't mean there won't be Legends anymore."

Original message on 1000steine.com

[snefroe]

Comment from Jan Beyer, German AFOL Community Liasion:

"To my knowledge currently there are no new releases planned but that doesn't mean there won't be Legends anymore."

Original message on 1000steine.com

thanks... even tho it's bad news... :ohmy:

[Skinny Boy]

That pizza place set was great. I know it was already a legend, but i never got to get it :(

[snot_fan]

Main Street was an unbelievable Legend set. With so many of the classic 80s and 90s Town sets being mostly simpler bricks and plates and with all the AFOLs coming out of the woodwork at every thread concerning Legends, it makes no sense why at least A FEW Legend sets aren't available.

But then in another sense, I guess it does make sense. Lego was down financially a few years ago, laid off a lot of workers, which reduced their manufacturing capacity.

Now in the least year or two, Lego has done better, but supply isn't meeting demand (and now seeing backordered sets on SAH is a regular occurance). Hopefully Lego can get back on it's feet into growth, then maybe we'll see more and more sets.

Notice the sets they're releasing are the ones that sell BIG (and not just to AFOLs).

[snefroe]

well it would have been nice to have a combo set of smaller town sets of the passed... but...

[Mister Phes]

Legends are a great way to get old sets (and thus harming the parallel market such as ebay, BL...) for not a great deal of money: TLC does not need to manufacture any new parts for those Legends !!!

Master Yoda, what do you mean by harming parallel markets such as eBay and BrickLink? I acquired all my Legends and re-releases off eBay much cheaper than I would have buying them from LEGO Direct. It seems Legends give more products for sellers to offer on these parellel markets, providing they know to sell them in such a way that makes them profit, which is usually what the sellers I buy from fail miserably at :-D

[WesternOutlaw]

Legends are a great way to get old sets (and thus harming the parallel market such as ebay, BL...) for not a great deal of money: TLC does not need to manufacture any new parts for those Legends !!!

Master Yoda, what do you mean by harming parallel markets such as eBay and BrickLink? I acquired all my Legends and re-releases off eBay much cheaper than I would have buying them from LEGO Direct. It seems Legends give more products for sellers to offer on these parellel markets, providing they know to sell them in such a way that makes them profit, which is usually what the sellers I buy from fail miserably at :-D

Usually one pays a lot more for sets on Ebay.

I was wondering what happened to the Legend program as well. I particularly liked Black Falcon's Fortress, the Guarded Inn, and one of my favorite City sets, Main Street. I may still buy the airport, but this isn't high on my list.

I'd love to see Lego re-release some of the great 80s sets.

[Starwars4J]

Legends are a great way to get old sets (and thus harming the parallel market such as ebay, BL...) for not a great deal of money: TLC does not need to manufacture any new parts for those Legends !!!

Master Yoda, what do you mean by harming parallel markets such as eBay and BrickLink? I acquired all my Legends and re-releases off eBay much cheaper than I would have buying them from LEGO Direct. It seems Legends give more products for sellers to offer on these parellel markets, providing they know to sell them in such a way that makes them profit, which is usually what the sellers I buy from fail miserably at :-D

That's quite true! However the people on e-bay are now selling a Legend for maybe a fifth of what the original old set went for! Those on e-bay selling the older sets are effectively between a rock and a hard place, their set lost most of its value!

[Norro]

Personaly a bley legend (like the airport) just isn't a legend... So I don't mind the absence of the line. Though some early space sets or other non-grey re-releases would still be welcome ; )

God Bless,

Nathan

[SuvieD]

I like bley. It doesn't fade or yellow looks nice and in the case of the lighter bley it is nearly identical in color. I say bring on the Legends in bley. Of course most of the sets I would want as a Legend have almost no bley in them.

I hope we see a legend or two and maybe a new fan made set also. It would be nice. Steve or Jan if you read this set us up. Or even better get working on those castle accessory packs!

[Norro]

I like bley. It doesn't fade or yellow looks nice and in the case of the lighter bley it is nearly identical in color. I say bring on the Legends in bley. Of course most of the sets I would want as a Legend have almost no bley in them.

It hasn't really been around long enough to see if it yellows... (ultra bley critic ; )

And while it may be nearly identical in color, the colour of lt bley is so different from that of lt grey that they really don't go together at all...

Seriously, I'll just have to be the stubborn holdout on this...; )

God Bless,

Nathan

[tiberian]

TLG simply has not been able to understand the adult collector market.

Other 80s toys are also being rereleased. When the first "Legends" were released, they came in black and white boxes, with poorly printed instrutions, and erroneous or missing pieces. Although later Legends came with colored boxes, they also came newer, uglier colors (bley, pink brown) and finally with altered pieces which were uniformly inferior to the originals (like just about every change in 6597). Compare for example, to the Takara Transformers rereleases, which come in beautiful custom boxes which open open up to reveal display trays and come with thoughtfully designed booklets and new collectible pieces, in addition to the old ones.

As a busy working guy I don't have much time for making MOCs, so Lego collecting is the biggest part of my hobby. But TLG just hasn't wanted my money bad enough. Although they released a few of the truly great sets (6085), which I gobbled up, they then released others which I could care less about (USS Constitution anyone? aka floating parts pack). Instead of buying the blandly boxed, bleyful 6597 with its sprinkling of inferior substituted pieces, I have just purchased an unopened 6396 which looks so nice in its Classic Packaging that I will take pleasure just looking at it before finally sitting down to build it.

[snefroe]

the legend products are also not a very good representation of the golden decade. for instance, we never got a classic space set. in fact, i don't think there ever was an option for the fans to vote for a space set.

i was also very disappointed a few years back, when they were supposed to celebrate the 25th birtday of the MF. i was sort of hoping for a rerelease of several sets of the last 25 years, but i didn't see much...

[Mithrandir]

Personally I don't get all this hate about the new gray ("bley"? What the heck does that even mean anyways, blah-grey?). It's just a different color, and the Lego company is NOT going back to the old gray no matter what, so you're either going to have to go on and megablocks about it for the rest of your life, or realise that it's beyond your control and embrace the new gray.

[Hobbes]

Personally I don't get all this hate about the new gray ("bley"? What the heck does that even mean anyways, blah-grey?).

Blue-grey, since it has a blue-ish "touch" to it.

It's just a different color, and the Lego company is NOT going back to the old gray no matter what, so you're either going to have to go on and megablocks about it for the rest of your life, or realise that it's beyond your control and embrace the new gray.

Jan Beyer confirmed it today on 1000steine.com:

"As of 01.01.2006 LEGO does not produce old color bricks anymore. What's left will be used up as best as possible, so it might happen that there are old colors in new sets."

Original statement

[WesternOutlaw]

I recently wrote Lego SAH (US) a message asking about future Legends; if Lego has stopped this program. This was the response I received:

Our Company is constantly working to broaden the appeal of our products, thus we appreciate your feedback. If you check our web site (www.lego.com), you will see that we currently offer hundreds of items! There's something for everyone! You are right the last LEGEND was the City Airport, a set that had many requests to come back in the line. We never know what will be introduced or re-introduced until it is here. Just keep your eye on the Shop at Home Catalog and the LEGO Website for all the new and up to date information on new sets.

We are constantly evaluating comments from valued consumers about our products, so I will be sure to pass a copy of your comments on to the appropriate department for their information.

Typical vague Lego response not promising or confirming anything.

Personally I don't get all this hate about the new gray ("bley"? What the heck does that even mean anyways, blah-grey?). It's just a different color, and the Lego company is NOT going back to the old gray no matter what, so you're either going to have to go on and megablocks about it for the rest of your life, or realise that it's beyond your control and embrace the new gray.

Not to complain, but I don't mind the color, it's the fact that I have 100+ train tracks in the old gray that don't match the new color. It's the consistency/matching issue more than anything. But you are correct in regard to moving forward. But people need to let Lego know that they don't like the practice. It will help prevent Lego from doing it again.

[Mister Phes]

Usually one pays a lot more for sets on Ebay.

They do? I've never bought a Legend or re-release off eBay (when in production) for more than what is worth at S@H. In fact everything I've bought has at about 60%-75% of its original value. Of course now they're no longer in production their prices have sky rocketed. E.g. I got a 10040 Black Sea Barracuda MISB for about US$80 a few years ago, now I wouldn't expect to find one for less than US$200 MISB.

It all comes down to timing and seller incompetence on eBay.

[tiberian]

Mithrandir wrote: "Personally I don't get all this hate about the new gray ("bley"? What the heck does that even mean anyways, blah-grey?). It's just a different color, and the Lego company is NOT going back to the old gray no matter what, so you're either going to have to go on and megablocks about it for the rest of your life, or realise that it's beyond your control and embrace the new gray."

Well Mithrandir, you know by now that "bley" is an abbreviation of "blue grey." The old grey had a yellowish tint to it (not the same as the yellowing which occurs with age). Of course one big problem with this change is color compatibility with the old sets, but it's not just that. The old texture of grey was a much more convincing representation of stone and concrete, and worked for metal as well. The new grey works OK for shiny metallic objects, like spaceships or trains, but no so well for most anything else.

Just as an example, as far as Legends are concerned, one of the sets I was looking forward to most before the color change was 6080 King's Castle, built almost entirely of light grey. It is also one that would be adversely affected with the color change, so TLG were to rerelease it today, I probably would not buy it. Of course there are other sets I would love, such as 498 Galaxy Explorer, which would not look worse with the new colors, and I would have no problem in buying that as long as I was intending to keep it for display and not for dismantling and adding to my spare pieces, in which case compatibility would be a factor.

Although I am well aware that TLC's decisions are beyond my control, that doesn't mean I just keep quiet and like it. No bad decisions would ever be changed if people just did that ;-) .