Whats going on with the 75192 Falcon availability??

[mattaddiction]

Hi Builders,

I had been looking to get the new UCS Millennium Falcon set when it was released, tried to order it on the day it was released but like many it was already out of stock... so rather disappointed...  And seems to have been since*... which is what is more disappointing and more so with Lego themselves, are they really that inept that they can't produce enough plastic bricks to satisfy demand (I struggle to believe there is *that much* demand for such an expensive set, that they don't have the manufacturing capacity.. or that Lego has got it's estimation of demand THAT wrong..)?  Or are they trying to create demand by limiting supply? Or is there something else afoot? 

* Gather there is stock pop up now and again over the last few months but it's not 'in stock' properly by any stretch?!

So what is the real story with the availability of this one?

 

Really don't want to go to the dark side on this one..!

 

Cheers,

matt

 

 

[KevinYoung]

Do you have a local lego store near you.Be persistent and keep calling them up to see if they  can hold one for you.Thats what i  did and eventually they had them in stock and gave me 24 hours to buy it.  

[mattaddiction]

Thanks for the reply Kevin,  TBH at this point i'm over it and can wait, sense has returned and the idea of spending £650 on plastic bricks is less appealing at this point (as well as figureing out where to putit/what to do with the old one).  And more so the idea of having to do that much leg work to spend said money..

I'm more interested now in whats actually going on at Lego towers with this set and it's (lack of) availability.

m 

[TypoCorrecto]

They Nintindo'd the release.

Set up alerts on nowinstock. I was alerted of stock yesterday on Amazon and was able to finally make the purchase.

[Jerry McGlade]

I think they are getting sued over the plans for the ship by stealing it from another builder. I know that the creator of the Ghostbuster HQ got really annoyed by what happened to his set which lego pretty much copied exactly. 

[RogueRecon]

2 hours ago, Jerry McGlade said:

I think they are getting sued over the plans for the ship by stealing it from another builder. I know that the creator of the Ghostbuster HQ got really annoyed by what happened to his set which lego pretty much copied exactly. 

The Falcon is their own design though. It's a matter of it being understocked due to LEGO not knowing the demand 

[Robianco]

...and that's why Lego have stropped licensed sets going onto Ideas. They can have something in planning for years but if someone submit something they'll get stuff like this happen. I know the GBHQ happened but I got bored of Ghostbusters sets being submitted after Ecto-1 was released. Same as the plethora of BTTF sets after the Delorean. So then... which designer is suing them over the Falcon pray tell? I require proof of this.

[mattaddiction]

5 hours ago, Jerry McGlade said:

I think they are getting sued over the plans for the ship by stealing it from another builder. I know that the creator of the Ghostbuster HQ got really annoyed by what happened to his set which lego pretty much copied exactly. 

Or maybe the plans were stolen and and somewhere in a droid in a Star Destroyer.... somewhere in a galaxy far far away....  (sorry, not trying to answer my own question, but I couldn't resist..).

Bu seriously:  I can't believe they underestimated demand that much.. We are now nearly 6 months on and their production hadn't caught up?? Seriously..?!

What does 'They Nintindo'd the release' mean?

 

If they are holding up supply, to create demand.. they are certainly annoying some potential customers.

 

m

 

 

 

[Wonderpants]

1 hour ago, mattaddiction said:

Or maybe the plans were stolen and and somewhere in a droid in a Star Destroyer.... somewhere in a galaxy far far away....  (sorry, not trying to answer my own question, but I couldn't resist..).

Bu seriously:  I can't believe they underestimated demand that much.. We are now nearly 6 months on and their production hadn't caught up?? Seriously..?!

What does 'They Nintindo'd the release' mean?

 

If they are holding up supply, to create demand.. they are certainly annoying some potential customers.

Couple of possibilities: they’re not making too many in case they end up shelf warming. £650 A’s a lot of money and there may well not be a huge market at that price range. In addition, a lot of people may be buying to sell for a quick profit on eBay or stockpiling them because they think it’s going to be worth as much as 10179 at its peak after it gets retired.

 

or maybe Lego really are short supplying it to create hype..... ?

 

[That Orange Thing]

I'm 100% certain that this set is being stockpiled by investors, most of which will be the johnny come lately types who read all the headlines about Lego being a better investment than gold. Even though I believe that gravy boat has long sailed.

it's just really bad timing for real fans that want this set as we are seeing a new influx of investors plus the rise and ease in scalping on the internet. Those two factors have then contributed to fans buying up the scraps from Lego as they believe they will never be in stock, which then encourages scalpers to turn over more units as demand is there. The result being the lack of falcons being on the shelves.

 

[cyberrage]

I have been waiting that long too and really surprised it has not been back in stock for online purchase.

My suspicion is they underestimated the storage and shipping costs and are now keeping it off online purchase to use retail channels and save money.

[jdubbs]

The set is due to be sold by stores like Target, TRU, etc. soon, so production has probably shifted to filling their orders rather than replenishing LEGO Stores. 

[Magmafrost]

I think it has something do with with Lego's factories being set up in a way where they cant easily increase production of one set.

3 hours ago, mattaddiction said:

What does 'They Nintindo'd the release' mean?

Nintendo has the same problem all the time. They massively underproduce a product in high demand, to the point where they pretty much have to be doing it on purpose (either that, or they're inexplicably inept). See the Switch, The NES Mini, and the SNES Mini, and many early Amiibos, for example.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Magmafrost

[dkorr]

I saw on Amazon temporarily at MSRP on the weekend.  Basically you have to be at your computer 24/7 refreshing screen to get it.

[mattaddiction]

I get that some of the people who originally managed to place an order ordered probably ordered a couple (Which won't have helped supply), but I don't see how it makes that much sense for investors because of the time needed to sit there and wait until stock is available.  Lego really should have limited to 1 per customer from the start imo, why on earth would 99% of genuine lego builders need 2+ sets of that size, event if you've 2 kids both wanting one, where would average Joe put two Falcons ??!!     

All just doesn't seem to add up to me... 

Especially with all the new films having come/coming out, I just find it hard to believe Lego have underestimated demand *That* much and then not sorted out extra production when they have seen it?! 

If there really are that many people stockpiling the set for investments, then hopefully they are shooting themselves in the foot... making too much future supply.

 

Still miffed!

m

 

 

On 26/02/2018 at 12:27 AM, Magmafrost said:

I think it has something do with with Lego's factories being set up in a way where they cant easily increase production of one set.

Nintendo has the same problem all the time. They massively underproduce a product in high demand, to the point where they pretty much have to be doing it on purpose (either that, or they're inexplicably inept). See the Switch, The NES Mini, and the SNES Mini, and many early Amiibos, for example.

How are Lego's factories set up (i'm curious).  Where is there manufacturing done, the far east?

 

m 

[Robianco]

This set has repeatedly been in stock in the Liverpool Lego store from the beginning of this year. It's also sold in the UK at other sellers such as John lewis, although it's now sold out there at least online (I've not checked a physical store to see if it's in there).

They're obviously able to distribute them to stores but maybe their plan is to get them out to stores to stop scalpers just buying up any online stock. At least that was someone has to walk into a store to buy it. Doesn't help those that need to shop online due to not being close to a bricks and mortar store but they're definitely still circulating them.

[TypoCorrecto]

On 2/26/2018 at 6:39 PM, dkorr said:

I saw on Amazon temporarily at MSRP on the weekend.  Basically you have to be at your computer 24/7 refreshing screen to get it.

Or you can set up a "nowinstock" alert. I did that and made the purchase a few seconds later.

[mattaddiction]

They were actually in stock on the UK Lego site this morning until about 10am....  a$$.....

[stormtroopercaptain]

My guess is that they did underestimate the first wave of demand. And now they are trickling out of the factory which results in them selling out quickly. This creates a perception that there are none. making the collectors/scalpers buy more which feeds the out of stock.  It’s a cycle it will even out eventually just gives me more time to save the money and find a place to display it.  

[mattaddiction]

6 hours ago, stormtroopercaptain said:

My guess is that they did underestimate the first wave of demand. And now they are trickling out of the factory which results in them selling out quickly. This creates a perception that there are none. making the collectors/scalpers buy more which feeds the out of stock.  It’s a cycle it will even out eventually just gives me more time to save the money and find a place to display it.  

But it's been the best part of 6 months now?!  And they are still tricking out and not readily available, which is what I find kinda odd.   This is the only Lego set I've tried to get on the release day and then followed so I've not idea if that's standard practice for Lego these days with a popular set but I am assuming with them been a Global market leader its not normal..

They definitely must have underestimated initial demand, having limited people to only 5 sets per customer..... 

Must be some demand though!  They went from ins-tock yesterday morning, to pre-order back to out of stock over less than 12 hours...

m

 

 

 

 

 

[azzer86]

For those in the UK you may find this useful?

https://www.stockinformer.co.uk/checker-lego-millennium-falcon-75192

It aligns with what others here have posted regarding UK availability.

I'm fortunate I got a back-order placed on release day. I wonder if they'll learn their lesson for the rumoured UCS cloud city set and the potential popularity that will have.

 

[Jollygrnreefer]

Lego has the pdf instructions available for download on their website. Why don't builders just buy the pieces online and build this Falcon the cost effective way? Would avoid the hassle for the availability dilema.

[That Orange Thing]

49 minutes ago, Jollygrnreefer said:

Lego has the pdf instructions available for download on their website. Why don't builders just buy the pieces online and build this Falcon the cost effective way? Would avoid the hassle for the availability dilema.

It sounds like a good idea until you have to buy that many parts. The logistics and time involved is just immense, not forgetting that there are some rare parts in the new falcon that cost an arm and a leg. Gathering that many parts from multiple sources soon becomes just as expensive.

[icm]

The problem with Bricklinking a build is that, while often any individual part may be found for well under the golden ten cents, shipping and handling expenses for buying many lots from many sellers can push the total expenses up to an average of twenty, thirty, fifty cents or more per part.  It quickly becomes more cost effective to just buy a used copy of the set that's missing only a relatively small number of parts, if the set is retired, or to buy it new when you can (on sale if possible).

[TypoCorrecto]

Looks like its availability is spreading, at least in the US. Target, Amazon...