Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[Toastie]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

I sold someone a Black Pearl, and he was very happy to get hold of a set he didn't have in his teens but can now afford. And of course I have profitted very nicely from it.

And nothing is wrong with that when people want to do that!

The big difference to what was raised here - as far as I understand - is: You simply did it without bragging and calling others out for not getting the real thing. Plus: Someone else is happy! That's a very big difference to me.

See, I wanted the Black Pearl for many, many years - looked at the price and said: Nope, better invested in something else, got a rip-off from somewhere else, changed/added/removed) this and that on the ship with "real" LEGOs - worked on the sails - they look like the Pearl being in quite some windy waters - and now I have my Black Pearl, and I am very, very happy. And I believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with that either. Reported it here and no one was calling me - well - whatever I should be named. But did not tell people that paying a lot of money for her is preposterous. For me, >that< is the big difference here on EB vs other places (I have hardly visited at all).

Win-win-win.

Best
Thorsten

 

1 hour ago, Ondra said:

Maybe one day I post photo, it was fun for me and my family to look at it.

You definitely should do that, when you feel comfortable to do so. Don't worry about "the others" - just do what you want to do!

Best
Thorsten

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Toastie said:

And nothing is wrong with that when people want to do that!

The big difference to what was raised here - as far as I understand - is: You simply did it without bragging and calling others out for not getting the real thing. Plus: Someone else is happy! That's a very big difference to me.

Often people will jump in and complain people are buying for investment and talking about it.  Not so much here, as EB is not great any more for discussing good investments. Possibly because resellers have moved elsewhere if they are made to feel unwelcome. There have also been threads about bricklink sellers (or other marketplaces) complaining about prices charged there.

2 hours ago, Toastie said:

See, I wanted the Black Pearl for many, many years - looked at the price and said: Nope, better invested in something else, got a rip-off from somewhere else, changed/added/removed) this and that on the ship with "real" LEGOs - worked on the sails - they look like the Pearl being in quite some windy waters - and now I have my Black Pearl, and I am very, very happy. And I believe there is absolutely nothing wrong with that either. Reported it here and no one was calling me - well - whatever I should be named. But did not tell people that paying a lot of money for her is preposterous. For me, >that< is the big difference here on EB vs other places (I have hardly visited at all).

Personally, I don't care what people buy and whether it is genuine. Especially if I am going to cut and paint minifig parts, for example, I think nothing of buying a fake of that minifig. But if people are happy with buying fakes of retired sets to beat reseller prices and discussing it here, then I see little difference between that and buying fakes of current sets to beat LEGO's prices or even buying copies of MOCs where the design has been appropriated by a knock off company. But then I imagine most people won't care about fakes harming resellers' sales, but that it is a worse offence to buy fakes of current sets and even worse still for MOCs. 

[Ondra]

Maybe unpopular, but Lego technic is taking really bad turn.

So many sets without functions, other with so many functions at once that barely work as intended.

 

My biggest reasons to see technic fail are these app controlled sets. I never spend too much for sets only working with app that will be forgotten in few years and making these sets non functional. This happen for sure and people will be really angry...

Anyways I never found RC technic set to be actually something good, so I always skipped them.

 

 Also I had few technics sets, guess what all my broken lego pieces are from technic doing actually nothing. So this driven me of this theme really quickly.

 

[metalgeekzy]

7 minutes ago, Ondra said:

Maybe unpopular, but Lego technic is taking really bad turn.

So many sets without functions, other with so many functions at once that barely work as intended.

 

My biggest reasons to see technic fail are these app controlled sets. I never spend too much for sets only working with app that will be forgotten in few years and making these sets non functional. This happen for sure and people will be really angry...

Anyways I never found RC technic set to be actually something good, so I always skipped them.

 

 Also I had few technics sets, guess what all my broken lego pieces are from technic doing actually nothing. So this driven me of this theme really quickly.

 

HUGE Technic fan here. And i actually agree. Technic is supposed to be about functionality. And a heck of a lot of sets out there do not function. I ended up having to go to amazon to buy bulk gear sets or whatever to to be able to add gears or other function to my builds. Because Lego Technic sets fail to add functionality to there sets. 

[koalayummies]

51 minutes ago, MAB said:

Not so much here, as EB is not great any more for discussing good investments.

Oh no! Anyway.jpg

[MAB]

3 hours ago, Ondra said:

That why I think, investment in lego nowadays in nonsense thats my another unpopular opinion.

Why, lego can do release out of nowhere. There are so many knockoff brands, so mostly people try in this terms rather than pay huge amount for specific set.

It is actually quite amazing how reselling has changed over the past ten years. It used to be that you could buy just about any set as late as possible and sell it after two years or so and make a little profit. If you picked well, you could double or treble the price. Rarely did you lose out. LEGO didn't seem to mind it, as many resellers only stocked up at the end of shelf life, when LEGO had done selling those sets anyway and often put them on clearance.

Now that is much less common. If you buy at full price and hold, chances are you will not make much at all after all fees and postage is accounted for. Often barely break even. It is probably partly re-releases or remakes, and partly just the number of sets produced now that there is always something else new to buy. Another big factor is the apparently low volume of sets LEGO produce at the start of the sales run which means there is an earlydemand/supply problem. I don't think fakes are that big an issue. People wanting to pay a low price for a fake are unlikely to buy a retired set even for a modest markup any way, and there are people willing to pay for the real thing.

So this has made resellers change their behaviour. Instead of buying near retirement and holding, the alternative is to buy early (in quantity) and quick flip instead. A lot of popular sets are targetted and go out of stock on release and, with LEGO's current popularity, enough people are willing to pay above RRP to get them quickly. It doesn't matter that many people will wait, there are still enough that want it now. Of course much of the early demand is from people wanting to build the set, but you only need to read reseller forums to know that it is also down to reseller demand. There are discussions (on certain website forums, not here) about which sets to target, and likely resale prices, as this only works if sets go out of stock and remain that way for weeks / months so some cooperation is necessary. Buying on day 1 for resale used to be a stupid idea, as you had to hold for a long time to be able to sell it for profit, and miss out on any future discounted sale prices, aside from one or two very popular sets before Christmas. Now, it is very different. The "good" or at least "not so bad" practice of waiting until retirement (when many people that want the set will have already got it) then holding for a few years has been replaced by the "bad" practice of getting in first in as large a quantity as possible and quick flipping to those that missed out and want it now. It was about 10 years ago when LEGO tried to stop the hoard and quick flip reselling after the Green Ninja fiasco when there were lots of parents' complaints about the prices being charged on ebay (and elsewhere) in the run up to Christmas and no stock availability at LEGO. What LEGO tried to stop by trying to identify quick flip resellers is now probably the most profitable form of reselling, because of the way they have changed the long term market with remakes at the same time as creating high demand but low supply at release for new sets. Many reseller discussions used to be about what retiring sets to buy. Now it is more about what soon to be released sets to buy, as that is where the real money is.

Edited January 4, 2022 by MAB

[Toastie]

10 minutes ago, MAB said:

as that is where the real money is

Very nice write up, and I really appreciate the time you took to compose it! I never thought about any of this.

I work with SOE (in Germany) at a public joint, which translates to "never even think about making money outside the allowance from the government, or you'll burn in hell" ;).

So this entire world of "where the real money is" is somewhat distant from >me<. I see LEGO as one means of getting away from concerns about - running a research group, which is 95% operated on extramural funding - so much about "making" money ;) but not for me, for the joint. Well, not true; with SOE: For the folks doing their work within the joint.

Thanks again.

All the best,
Thorsten

 

 

 

[Lyichir]

34 minutes ago, Ondra said:

Maybe unpopular, but Lego technic is taking really bad turn.

So many sets without functions, other with so many functions at once that barely work as intended.

 

My biggest reasons to see technic fail are these app controlled sets. I never spend too much for sets only working with app that will be forgotten in few years and making these sets non functional. This happen for sure and people will be really angry...

Anyways I never found RC technic set to be actually something good, so I always skipped them.

 

 Also I had few technics sets, guess what all my broken lego pieces are from technic doing actually nothing. So this driven me of this theme really quickly.

 

To be honest, I feel like fears of the app controlled sets becoming obsolete are overblown.

Don't get me wrong, Lego has a bad history of abandoning old apps and software, most of which have been designed more for short-term promotion or hype than for long-term viability as games or services. But the direction they've taken with the Powered Up and Control+ apps gives me more hope than some of those other apps and games, because it seems to be designed with longevity and future compatibility in mind. By bundling "app-controlled" sets together into one suite of apps, the likelihood of that compatibility being brought forward into future iterations of the app (instead of being left in the past like more resource-intensive/internet dependent standalone "game apps" like Nexo Knights or Hidden Side) goes up considerably. And unlike some of the more pessimistic Technic fans I've seen, I don't see any reason to believe that the broader Bluetooth wireless standard that makes that compatibility possible (as well as compatibility with third-party or fan-created software and hardware) will be going away in the foreseeable future. So even in the event that Lego outright abandons those older products instead of making them compatible with future apps and programs, the fan community and fan-designed programs seem more than ready to step up to fill that need.

This isn't to negate your broader concerns about electronic or remote controlled versus physical mechanical functionality in Technic sets, which are a totally valid position to take as far as the overall design direction of the Technic theme is concerned. But I feel like the transition from physically or IR-connected motors to ones controlled by a computer or phone program is a natural step in the evolution of Lego's electronic offerings, and one that shouldn't form the crux of your concerns about the theme's future.

[Ondra]

39 minutes ago, Lyichir said:

To be honest, I feel like fears of the app controlled sets becoming obsolete are overblown.

Don't get me wrong, Lego has a bad history of abandoning old apps and software, most of which have been designed more for short-term promotion or hype than for long-term viability as games or services. But the direction they've taken with the Powered Up and Control+ apps gives me more hope than some of those other apps and games, because it seems to be designed with longevity and future compatibility in mind. By bundling "app-controlled" sets together into one suite of apps, the likelihood of that compatibility being brought forward into future iterations of the app (instead of being left in the past like more resource-intensive/internet dependent standalone "game apps" like Nexo Knights or Hidden Side) goes up considerably. And unlike some of the more pessimistic Technic fans I've seen, I don't see any reason to believe that the broader Bluetooth wireless standard that makes that compatibility possible (as well as compatibility with third-party or fan-created software and hardware) will be going away in the foreseeable future. So even in the event that Lego outright abandons those older products instead of making them compatible with future apps and programs, the fan community and fan-designed programs seem more than ready to step up to fill that need.

This isn't to negate your broader concerns about electronic or remote controlled versus physical mechanical functionality in Technic sets, which are a totally valid position to take as far as the overall design direction of the Technic theme is concerned. But I feel like the transition from physically or IR-connected motors to ones controlled by a computer or phone program is a natural step in the evolution of Lego's electronic offerings, and one that shouldn't form the crux of your concerns about the theme's future.

Well history proved that app controlled, products sets died very quickly thanks to software. All these Lego software controlled sets from early 2000 are there for nothing, because computers evolved and they dont work anymore. Why this is different case? Except coding will be given to fans to give them endless possibility.

There will be many android, ios versions for years to come. Will be there enough resources from Lego after ten years to make it works for excavator from 2019 Even lego can change mind and do another system...

 

These app controlled coffee machines, washing machines, toys are useless for very same reason and thats app gimmick. It bumps price, yet give you headache for long term. I know what Im talking...Its not like app is enhancing set, yet that set is completely fine without it. But app being crucial to any product is bad move.

 

So yeah sell sets with app control, but give me option to make it future proof by selling gamepad whatever like lego did with PF days.

 

Also Its hard to say but lego electric functions in sets are just bad. Back in days I do not even purchase horizon express, because price of making it motorized with original parts and rechargeable battery box was of my limit. So I even skipped whole horizon express purchase. I had RC trains from 2006, guess what they are now sitting retired. They drain battery very quickly and it was chore to change them like every half hour. So all my lego plastic tracks are just in hidden in boxes.

With 9V system, that will never happen for me for sure.

 

I check prices of lego hub components with rechargeable battery, and these are off limits for me.

Afols offer better third party solutions, and Im sad that fans do better job than big corporates with so many resources. This is everywhere even worse in gaming industry and makes you really think about it.

 

[Maple]

I've been muted by Huw at Brickset for calling him out on allowing homophobic comments. It's stunning to me just how childish and close minded one 40-something year old can be.

It's why you might not see me for months around here. I just stop all social media. I'm down to here and Instagram (for food and MOCs) and that's it. You want to disagree, fine, but not with racist, homophobic, sexist garbage or with people who don't want to hear facts.

[koalayummies]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

So this has made resellers change their behaviour. Instead of buying near retirement and holding, the alternative is to buy early (in quantity) and quick flip instead. A lot of popular sets are targetted and go out of stock on release and, with LEGO's current popularity, enough people are willing to pay above RRP to get them quickly... There are discussions (on certain website forums, not here) about which sets to target, and likely resale prices, as this only works if sets go out of stock and remain that way for weeks / months so some cooperation is necessary.

This is screwing regular builders out of exclusive/limited availability items that they qualified for as part of their purchase now as well. A number of Eurobricks members here were posting about how they missed out because of behavior just like this. The release-day gobble, scalping set and GWP twofer. Flooding the Shop@Home site at set-release to the point of inaccessibility and or having the free time to go around and hit Lego Stores multiple times in the same day and multiple different stores in their area knowing others cannot do the same. Doing this (and also clearly using e-commerce bots based on social media posts) to get around the maximum purchase restrictions per-set and also to get dozens of the same gift-with-purchase which then turn up on Bricklink in the weeks that follow charging $30+ for something they got for free in order to scalp all those that missed out because they didn't have the time to go to the store (or multiple stores like some of the scalpers), they couldn't access the website due to bot traffic or their order placed just a few hours after the frenzy finally died down resulted in their items being backordered so they don't ship out until after the GWP supplies have ran out despite qualifying.

A few examples:

On 1/1/2021 at 1:38 AM, TypoCorrecto said:

What a cluster****...

Tried placing an order at 11pm CST and madness ensued so I went to sleep. I just woke up and was able to get the police station and Tuk Tuk. Hopefully the vintage car doesn't get cancelled on me...

Gaming consoles, Funko, LEGO...they never have their s*** together on major releases...

Back to sleep

 

On 1/1/2021 at 7:28 AM, badbob001 said:

In my order with a backordered item, LEGO cancelled my mindstorm GWP when they ran out of stock. So if the backorder takes too long (or forever like the gingerbread house), then you may not get the GWP.

 

On 1/1/2021 at 1:33 PM, jimim said:

I just ordered causeI forgot this morning.  Backordered here.  no email but I see the order in my account.  I highly doubt I will end up getting the vintage car if this thing doesn't ship for 60 days like it says now.

 

oh well.  I'm more excited about jan 14th anyway for the ninjago set!

Happy new year everyone!

 

 

On 12/16/2021 at 3:24 PM, Maple said:

Because it happened last year with the awesome teal car. Everything was OOS when it came out, and then it still sold out really quick. I regret not getting it.

 

And of course there was that notorious release day scalper horror story.

[Toastie]

17 hours ago, Lyichir said:

And unlike some of the more pessimistic Technic fans I've seen, I don't see any reason to believe that the broader Bluetooth wireless standard that makes that compatibility possible (as well as compatibility with third-party or fan-created software and hardware) will be going away in the foreseeable future.

Well, I have a different view on that. I am in no way pessimistic, as I simply try to make my own stuff, to have "old" LEGO hardware keep going. Here is one example - it works quite nicely https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/188584-mulpi-a-multiple-lego-remote-protocol-interface/  

I believe that it is not the hardware going away (and/or a protocol, such as 2.4 GHz/BT/BLE): IR is not only still there, but very prominently used all over the place. Nevertheless, TLG phased PF/IR out. There was quite the line-up of PF motors, still all working perfectly fine. And before PF, the 9V line of electronics including the RCX programmable bricks had everything from diverse motors, actuators, sensors, and most importantly were fully compatible with the entire LEGO world of bricks and pieces: Train, Technic, City ...      

No, I believe, TLG does that on purpose. With the event of the NXT, the plug/socket geometry for the electronics changed in a way that nothing other than TLG's proprietary >new< stuff worked. Sure, all of a sudden the polarity issue called for that, the additional signal lines made that necessary and so on. My point is: TLG wanted it that way - and made everything else (electronically) incompatible. Yes, there were conversion cables, but this is ages ago - and these compatibility efforts have completely come to an end since years. The NXT uses BT - gone. The EV3 as well ... 

Now they have chosen BLE technology. Changed again (more wires = necessary) the plug/socket geometries, made everything before PUp incompatible to their entire line-up of electronics they ever made. And again, we do get even more powerful control hard/software, and yes, TLG seems to sweep that technology all over their themes. Well, as they have done before with 9V. The problem though is: 9V was comparably cheap to add to a "medium-sized" model. TLG made PUp so expensive that adding it to a model mostly determines the price. Not good for using it across multiple themes, I believe.

What leads to your assessment that PUp/BLE will not go away from TLG's portfolio in the foreseeable future? I believe they did exactly that so many times - simply because they need and want to sell new stuff. Third party companies ... well no, I do not believe they really care about that much. Yes, going to new technology is a must, also for a toy company of this size and with their high own expectations. But third parties ... they may endorse them, but that's it. Endorsing in terms of not suing them and maybe give them a little more insight into the works. This is no problem, as the next change for the better is already scheduled.

And lastly: When I (chemist, not electronics freak, with a hang of keeping old stuff alive) can make a $10 microcontroller board + fairly outdated IR pieces for about $5) make all these abandoned TLG electronics alive again, why can't they? As simple as that: Because they don't want to. As in: It does economically make no sense at all.

So my "conclusion" (what do I know) is: The very moment, a group of people at TLG believes the time has come (simply by looking at sales) for a change towards "new exciting technology, that allows unprecedented performance never seen before" - they'll do it. As I would, when running a company of that size.

Best,
Thorsten   

Edited January 5, 2022 by Toastie

[williejm]

9 hours ago, Maple said:

I've been muted by Huw at Brickset for calling him out on allowing homophobic comments. It's stunning to me just how childish and close minded one 40-something year old can be.

It's why you might not see me for months around here. I just stop all social media. I'm down to here and Instagram (for food and MOCs) and that's it. You want to disagree, fine, but not with racist, homophobic, sexist garbage or with people who don't want to hear facts.

Let’s be honest, that’s also a problem in this forum, although offenders often take a more ‘polite’ route to get their bigotry across. That used to be the case discussing gender representation in figures and sets, but more recently has been the case with ‘discussion’ around the #EveryoneIsAwesome set and #QueerEye. There are also some very unhelpful and outdated sexist, and ableist tropes trotted out frequently. In my experience this hasn’t always been moderated well, or indeed quickly enough - and I know of several members here who have stepped back from forums in the way you mention. 
 

One of the biggest problems in my humble, but absolutely non-apologetic, LGBTQ+ opinion is the silence from many, leaving it to a key few to counter if they have the energy, and the ‘both sidesing’ of issues or deeming things (namely human rights, and, y’know, actual existence and representation) as ‘political’, or just irreconcilable differences of opinion. That just screams privilege, and a deliberate misunderstanding of concerns. 

 

[Peppermint_M]

Last time I mentioned something about LEGO fans and not LEGO products, numerous others said that this was not the subject/ topic of discussion.

Please therefore keep with the topic of Unpopular Opinions About LEGO, not about the fans, fan sites and other unrelated issues.

Thanks.

[dr_spock]

16 hours ago, Lyichir said:

To be honest, I feel like fears of the app controlled sets becoming obsolete are overblown.

My fears have come true. I am now obsoleted. 

 

[Alexandrina]

Here's one that might ruffle a few feathers: the original Star Wars Phase II clone helmet mould - used in sets from 2005 to 2008 - was the only good representation of Phase II clones, and it would have been better all round if they'd kept producing those clones when sets required, rather than refreshing the mould every few years

[Toastie]

13 minutes ago, dr_spock said:

My fears have come true. I am now obsoleted.

Welcome to the club . Just curious: What was the time-to-termination for your device in DLDC units? Mine was 0.9.

Spoiler

 

DLDC = Disruptive LEGO Development Cycles. 

There is a >very simple< TLG-style solution: Get a new mobile device. Win-win. Well, you lost, but that is not the point here.

Here is another good one: Hub firmware update without >any< notice other than the disco light on the hub when pairing it with your up-to-date mobile device. Who the hell knows what that does. Man, even Microsoft, the apparently worstest (yes: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/worstest) company in the world tells you that an upgrade to Win11 may cause trouble on your existing system - and you may want to consider not doing that. TLG tells you: Get some up-to date electronic stuff or play with pull-back motors. Well, or with PF-clone stuff. Or whatever.

 

Sometimes feel like I am lost in space ... disconnected ...  ... No I'm not. Or ...  

Best
Thorsten

 

[Ondra]

21 minutes ago, Toastie said:

Welcome to the club . Just curious: What was the time-to-termination for your device in DLDC units? Mine was 0.9.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

DLDC = Disruptive LEGO Development Cycles. 

There is a >very simple< TLG-style solution: Get a new mobile device. Win-win. Well, you lost, but that is not the point here.

Here is another good one: Hub firmware update without >any< notice other than the disco light on the hub when pairing it with your up-to-date mobile device. Who the hell knows what that does. Man, even Microsoft, the apparently worstest (yes: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/worstest) company in the world tells you that an upgrade to Win11 may cause trouble on your existing system - and you may want to consider not doing that. TLG tells you: Get some up-to date electronic stuff or play with pull-back motors. Well, or with PF-clone stuff. Or whatever.

 

Sometimes feel like I am lost in space ... disconnected ...  ... No I'm not. Or ...  

Best
Thorsten

 

Tell to people before purchase and they pull back from purchase these set immediately.

This proved all my points day after. Well done they outdone themselves...

Edited January 5, 2022 by Ondra

[dr_spock]

3 hours ago, Toastie said:

Welcome to the club . Just curious: What was the time-to-termination for your device in DLDC units? Mine was 0.9.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

DLDC = Disruptive LEGO Development Cycles. 

There is a >very simple< TLG-style solution: Get a new mobile device. Win-win. Well, you lost, but that is not the point here.

Here is another good one: Hub firmware update without >any< notice other than the disco light on the hub when pairing it with your up-to-date mobile device. Who the hell knows what that does. Man, even Microsoft, the apparently worstest (yes: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/worstest) company in the world tells you that an upgrade to Win11 may cause trouble on your existing system - and you may want to consider not doing that. TLG tells you: Get some up-to date electronic stuff or play with pull-back motors. Well, or with PF-clone stuff. Or whatever.

 

Sometimes feel like I am lost in space ... disconnected ...  ... No I'm not. Or ...  

Best
Thorsten

 

Is to that the Older Than Dirt Club? 

I am forever at PU version 3.6.0 on my tablet.  I had problems before where the update version would not maintain a stable Bluetooth to hub connection on my tablet.  Not so good as I had to do a virtual event demo.  Then with the next release update, the app Bluetooth connect was rock solid again.

I don't have to use PF clones.  Cheaper to pull the GBC fried can motors out of the PF casing and put in new can motors.  The hard part will be removing and pressing in the 11T 0.4M pinion gears. 

Lost in Space?  Danger, danger, Will Robinson.  You'll need a new Robot to work with this app. 

ATH0

[BrickG]

The LEGO video games have basically not changed in any meaningful way since their conception and are therefore bad, and have been bad for a lot of years now. At least to people who have played more than a few of them.

[jimmynick]

19 hours ago, Alexandrina said:

Here's one that might ruffle a few feathers: the original Star Wars Phase II clone helmet mould - used in sets from 2005 to 2008 - was the only good representation of Phase II clones, and it would have been better all round if they'd kept producing those clones when sets required, rather than refreshing the mould every few years

not an unpopular opinion in my book at all. As far as I'm concerned, Star Wars figures were at their peak in that period: the right balance between chunky and realistic. Give me old Boba Fett / Dark Vader / Stormtroopers over the new versions any day of the week.

[MAB]

On 1/4/2022 at 11:07 PM, Toastie said:

Very nice write up, and I really appreciate the time you took to compose it! I never thought about any of this.

 

On 1/5/2022 at 3:48 AM, koalayummies said:

This is screwing regular builders out of exclusive/limited availability items that they qualified for as part of their purchase now as well. A number of Eurobricks members here were posting about how they missed out because of behavior just like this. The release-day gobble, scalping set and GWP twofer.

This is pretty much why I wrote it. It is useful to know about reselling practices even if you don't resell. I do a bit of set reselling but it is more at a level of funding the hobby than making an income. But I also do it by parting out sets / minifigures to get parts I want for builds. It is very useful to know what sets are being quick flipped or stored longer term. I find some sets (such as HP and SW) are good castle parts packs and have very good return on the figures within so are worth picking up as almost free parts packs once the figures are sold on, whereas other similar looking sets with similar parts in are not so good as parts packs because the minifigures don't sell as well and the parts are far from free. Similarly, knowing to avoid picking sets with minifigures in that are repeated in many sets that are being stored is handy to know, if I am going to store those minifigures away for future sale once the line has ended.

So yeah, it is useful sometimes to know about what people are storing away, or are going to target, even if you are a collector and not planning on reselling. And to do that, you need to read about reselling. If all the resellers go elsewhere because they get abused / snarky remarks / constantly told they are bad people and bad for the hobby, then that information goes away.

It all comes back to the same thing - if people gang up on someone else because they do something different, those people tend to go elsewhere. Whether it is people that collect sealed sets and never build, or resellers (of which there are many, many different types), or people that like kid themes instead of adult ones, or people that like Bionicle, or digital rather than physical builders, or people that like fleshies instead of yellow skins (or vice versa) and so on. They are all part of the LEGO community, whether people like it or not. Hate on one group enough that that group go away, and they still influence what happens, you just know less about it.

There are so many different types of reselling practices. Some are bad, but some are good for collectors. People buying on day 1 purposely to gouge on day 2 is often seen as bad (but only bad by the seller, not the buyer). People buying sets to sell off the minifigures and keep the bricks is good for them, and good for minifigure collectors. But bad if someone else wants the whole set and it goes out of stock. I have a lot of 10+ year old sets that I bought on clearance at the end of shelf life. Those sets could have gone to kids, been opened and used, enjoyed for a while, then parts lost, mixed into bins, instructions lost and torn and finally sold off by the parents as bulk boxes. Occasionally, those bulk boxes may be bought by a collector that can slowly piece together an old set again although often stickers are missing or parts are dirty and damaged and an important minifigure has a chewed head. Instead they went to me and collectors today can buy a new boxed set, with a perfect set of bricks and instructions inside and the joy of just building it without having to sort it all out first. I see that as a good thing for the collector. Of course, it is good for me too. I don't do it as an altruistic service. I bought them for profit. If I did do it altruistically, and sold them at RRP or even what I originally paid, chances are the person buying it would then sell it on. I've seen it happen, I've passed on decent deals to someone else at cost price or RRP as a favour only to see them sell at the real market value. And in that case, I'm the mug for selling below the current market value - even if I made a profit too. I think that is what people often forget when they complain about reseller prices (whether "good" or "bad" reselling) - sales only take place when both the buyer and seller agree on a price. If buyers don't buy, sellers cannot sell. The complaints of "you are price gouging" may be true, but the seller is only selling at what someone else is willing to pay at that time or they are not selling at all. Who is to blame there, the seller or the buyer? Especially on the quick flip price gouging behaviour, if buyers were willing to wait for sometimes just a few weeks for items to return to stock at RRP instead of paying above RRP as they must have it now, the whole practice of buying early to quick flip fails and would not occur. The market only exists because of the need-it-now buyer. Yet some of those people will be admired by other LEGO fans as they are the builders, even though they are partly responsible for the market behaviour. Yet only one side gets the abuse. That is why I often think people hitting out at people selling LEGO for profit are often missing the real problem and only blaming one side. And the big thing that is also missing comes back to LEGO and not the people - the lack of stock at release time.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by MAB

[CP5670]

I agree that the whole PU/C+ system sucks. I have enough of an investment in PF and 9V now, but the new system is just very expensive and doesn't add anything to Technic. There have been many cases of old android/ios apps that stop working after the developer stops updating them.

I don't have any problem with resellers/investors and often buy/sell vintage sets myself, although I sell stuff to make room for new things, it's not worth the effort for me to buy sets specifically for reselling (much better ways to make money than this). The day-one scalpers are annoying, but I would blame TLG and retailers for not managing their stock more than scalpers. Scalping has become a big problem with many other things these days, like the PS5/XSX/GPUs.

Edited January 11, 2022 by CP5670

[The Brick Boss]

Older City sets are better than newer ones. 

[MAB]

5 hours ago, CP5670 said:

I agree that the whole PU/C+ system sucks. I have enough of an investment in PF and 9V now, but the new system is just very expensive and doesn't add anything to Technic.

That is one of the most annoying things about the change, it doesn't really add much. It is a shame that they could not work with existing PF connectors, at least for motors. It does mean all the current motors, sensors, etc work with the the same plug so can be used in any hub port, but annoying there is no adapter to run old PF motors from the new hubs.