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Zarkan

Are lego prices really that bad today?

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Lego prices are probably lower today than they used to be 10-20 years ago if you account for inflation, except for a brief period around 2003-04 when the prices were unusually low across the board. They have gone up again in the last year or two, but not to the 80s/90s level. The higher prices back then were justified though since the quality standards were higher in a number of ways.

I only buy 3 or 4 sets a year these days, and all the big purchases are at Lego fan events where the local Lego stores offer some discount, so I rarely pay the full price. I can easily afford a lot more but my time for Lego is limited, and I spend more time with MOCs than sets. Bricklink orders are more efficient and give me better value for MOC parts. I also have a huge backlog of MISB sets in storage and try not to add more to it before opening some of those sets.

How come there are no rich people who buy hordes of collectibles/toys? Seems like all rich people just collect art and houses. It would be cool to see some rich guy who has a mansion filled with toys.

You don't have to be particularly rich to buy a lot of Lego. There are far more expensive hobbies out there than Lego. :tongue:

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Don't go near Hamleys in Oxford Street, it gets far worse. I went in on a trip to London two weeks ago - minifigs in there are £3, compared to £1.99 just about everywhere else I've been able to find them. Work that out for every other Lego set in there and it's about the same ratio, everything's marked up ridiculously.

That said I'm impressed with Lego prices these days - I just got back into it buying some of the new Kingdoms sets, and well, they seem value for money. (It seems if you want value you have to stay away from the licenses though, but that's just logic).

Lego prices of old, well. They were still expensive, though the only thing I have to say is I always used to dream of having £50 to buy the biggest sets. Now that I can finally do that, I can't afford anything x.x the new sets I would have thought of before as fifty quid sets are now like, £110 for Hogwarts and such. But that's just nostalgia, everything is cheaper as a kid. Inflation etc.

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Yeah, and also people have used it to describe when they "haven't built anything in a while", or "haven't been paying much attention to LEGO lately". I'm just being anal, really. I generally don't like seeing the term diluted, or else it won't mean anything anymore. Like, I dunno, if people started referring to models that they built from LEGO instructions as "MOCs", or if they called LDraw files "LDD" or something. It's also a problem with things like LEGO colors (thanks to the color change) and LEGO part numbers (thanks to LDraw and LEGO terminology).

Anyway, whenever I see people misusing the term, I feel like making sure that they know what the term was really intended to be used for, just in case they didn't already know, and were using it because they implied a definition. In this instance, it's possible that perhaps you read people describing their personal "dark ages" (which coincided with the 1997-2004 timeframe or something), and interpreted it to mean that that was "THE" dark ages for LEGO in general.

DaveE

I think you are making far too big a deal of something that is not really a problem. The fact of the matter is, I have seen many people directly refer to the 1997-2004 timeframe as "the dark ages of Lego," and I personally picked up the term years ago. If it bothers you that it is used this way, that's perfectly fine, but please don't accuse me of diluting or misusing it.

Anyway, I think its a good idea we get back to the actual subject of this thread, okay? I agree that looking at your stats, there doesn't seem to be a real trend in prices, but the old catalog prices seem to indicate that they were in fact significantly worse in at least a few of the "dark age" years than they are now.

Edited by Zarkan

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You don't have to be particularly rich to buy a lot of Lego. There are far more expensive hobbies out there than Lego. :tongue:

I mean ridiculous amounts of lego. I have a few hundred minifigures. Around 65 and soon to be 80 of lion knights and dragon knights. But it would be nice if I could have tens or hundreds of thousands of each lego faction! Probably impossible though except maybe for recent castle themes.

Edited by lego40k

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Another way to look at it is like this:

For what you paid for your lego versus how much has its depreciated....its a good investment.(forget the stock market :laugh: )

You can get at least 70% of your money back.....sometimes double.

Lego is the BEST thing ever....PERIOD!!(besides the f*ing coolness of it)

I spent $45 on a fisher price garage for my son......I cant even sell the thing for $10 now.

Its even a better investment than your "new" car that you drive off the lot.

10 years from now when you sell your car....youd only make about 10% back what you paid for it.

Theres no ways that a lego set from 10 years ago(that cost $100) is now selling for $10(800pcs for $10)

Back then it was 12 cents a piece,and today it stil holds close to that value.(the current price per brick keeps your old sets retain value)

Edited by bricklayer

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Another awesome thing about lego is the fact that you can use bricks from 1970's sets in your sets released this year.

Especially now days where you have to buy a new copy of windows/office every year.

Or a new computer/laptop with the latest cpu or more ram.

You could go on and on with examples.

but

Your simple beautiful lego from 1970 will still work today!!! They are always in style too!!!

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For what you paid for your lego versus how much has its depreciated....its a good investment.(forget the stock market :laugh: )

You can get at least 70% of your money back.....sometimes double.

....

Its even a better investment than your "new" car that you drive off the lot.

10 years from now when you sell your car....youd only make about 10% back what you paid for it.

This is only true for Lego purchased at US RRP.

Lets accept your 30% depreciation figure for the purpose of discussion and assume you could get 70% on the 2nd hand market, which is effectively globalised. The trouble is local RRPs are set by a cartel of greedy local retailers in cooperation with Lego.

So lets say you buy a modular Fire Station for the US RRP of $150. If we accept your valuation, that could be resold for $US105.

I have to pay $300 Australian or $319 US dollars for the same set but if I tried to sell it's still only worth about $US105 dollars on the second hand market. I've bought exactly the same set as you but mine is worth only a third of what I paid for it because I was overcharged $US169 on my original purchase (ie, well in excess of double what American consumers have to pay).

This is not just a problem for Australians, I understand Norway is also screwed on Lego pricing to the same degree. Something has got to be done about this offensive price gouging. Go to Shop@Home, switch between US and Australian pricing and see for yourself. It's an absolute disgrace.

:classic: :classic:

Edited by AussieJimbo

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I have to pay $300 Australian or $319 US dollars for the same set but if I tried to sell it's still only worth about $US105 dollars on the second hand market. I've bought exactly the same set as you but mine is worth only a third of what I paid for it because I was overcharged $US169 on my original purchase (ie, well in excess of double what American consumers have to pay).

This is not just a problem for Australians, I understand Norway is also screwed on Lego pricing to the same degree. Something has got to be done about this offensive price gouging. Go to Shop@Home, switch between US and Australian pricing and see for yourself. It's an absolute disgrace.

So maybe this is a dumb question, but if that is the case, why would our Australian friends not locate an American they can trust (yes I know how hard that could be) and have them buy it and send it to them? I am sure the shipment of that set to Australia is less than $169 USD.

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That's why many of us are deserting the local retailers and buying online. The general rule is never buy Lego locally unless it's on sale.

I don't have an American contact for deliveries but a number of retailers will ship to Australia. I saved hundreds with a Barnes & Noble order a while back and of course there is Bricklink and Ebay.

Thing is, I would prefer to buy from a local shop but I'm just tired of being ripped off.

:classic: :classic:

Edited by AussieJimbo

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That's why many of us are deserting the local retailers and buying online. The general rule is never buy Lego locally unless it's on sale.

I don't have an American contact for deliveries but a number of retailers will ship to Australia. I saved hundreds with a Barnes & Noble order a while back and of course there is Bricklink and Ebay.

Thing is, I would prefer to buy from a local shop but I'm just tired of being ripped off.

:classic: :classic:

I live in the US and I don't even buy locally. Maybe just my local stores have low business, but all toys not just lego have a price markup of around 15-30%. It's quite appalling. But I imagine probably amazon and oher online stores are killing local stores. Even online TRU has much better prices than my local TRU. Same with online Target vs local Target.

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I don't really buy from stores near me(as in within a half hour drive) anymore either. The closest walmart hasn't changed up the stock in at least 3 months and the one just a little further has changed up maybe 25% of the inventory in the last couple months.

I'm getting much more of a thrill from BL. PS: Special thanks to the people that helped me answer my Q's about BL. I have done 2 orders(one here, one in route) and i'm planning on using the site to find series 5 figures I want.

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Zarkan, thanks for posting those old prices, I'm one who thinks prices are getting out of control, but maybe we don't have it so bad.

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Zarkan, thanks for posting those old prices, I'm one who thinks prices are getting out of control, but maybe we don't have it so bad.

Yea, prices were kinda high back them also, but the stuff is WAY better then a lot of todays stuff. Plus a lot of the older stuff piece counts contained way more bigger pieces then today. All I see in countless of the bigger sets now are lots and lots of little bits that just jack up the price but just cause a headache when building.

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How come there are no rich people who buy hordes of collectibles/toys? Seems like all rich people just collect art and houses. It would be cool to see some rich guy who has a mansion filled with toys.

Rod Stewart has a huge HO scale train layout and builds models while touring on the road. His set up is actually very impressive. I've heard his fans throw train cars and other model railroading items on stage during his shows. It's not Lego but still pretty cool.

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Yea, prices were kinda high back them also, but the stuff is WAY better then a lot of todays stuff. Plus a lot of the older stuff piece counts contained way more bigger pieces then today. All I see in countless of the bigger sets now are lots and lots of little bits that just jack up the price but just cause a headache when building.

That's highly subjective. Personally, I think that today's sets are much higher in quality than some of the sets from 1998. And one of the main reasons is because that stuff contained way bigger pieces than today's sets. The idea of "juniorization"-- using big pieces when small pieces will do-- is frowned upon by many AFOLs, and 1998's sets on the whole were soaking in it.

The Insectoids theme had various parts I'd consider <insert that tiresome argument>, such as those near-impossible-to-use insect wings, the giant quarter-circle windscreens, and that unforgettably-annoying "Light and Sound" stinger brick. Aquanauts shared a number of <insert that tiresome argument> bits with Insectoids, some of which have never been seen outside that year's sets.

Adventurers, while a creative idea for a theme and much-beloved by AFOLs, isn't much more complex than today's City sets, with a lot of big pieces and temples that feel like wireframes (admittedly, this is a touch of realism in this type of theme). And I won't even try and compare Scala and Znap to today's offerings, and in fact had far more "<insert that tiresome argument>" parts than most of today's Pharaoh's Quest sets. The Ninja theme was OK, but still used massive doors, slopes, wall panels, and mountain bricks, not to mention massive base bricks.

1998 was the year of Town Jr, a period when huge building bricks and windows, ugly printed grilles and headlights on vehicles, chunky chassis bricks, and misshapen vehicles were the norm. Res Q was more advanced and streamlined, but not especially realistic for a Town theme. X-Treme Team pushed the limits of reality even further.

I want everyone to take this post with a grain of salt. These are all just things that one could criticize about sets from 1998. Personally, I loved most of these themes while they were current, and today can admire many aspects of their design. At the same time, many of the things people criticize about today's sets were far more evident in sets from 1998. While nostalgia might be present for fans like me who were children at the time of these themes, for others sets from 1998 are an enduring symbol of a company in the height of desperation, struggling desperately to modernize and, in the opinion of some fans, losing touch with the values of complexity and creativity that had been important to the brand.

I am not an AFOL who takes the idea of "juniorization" all that seriously. Bulky parts have their uses, after all-- I'd hate to go back to 4-wide as the standard for street vehicles and jet aircraft. But with others, 1998's sets have an awful reputation, and I can at least agree with them that we've made many huge advances in set design since then.

Edited by Aanchir

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1998 was the year of Town Jr

Just to clarify-- 1997 is when Town Jr started. The rumor (I'm not sure if it was ever confirmed publicly by LEGO?) was that LEGO wanted to fill the gap between DUPLO and System, and so very consciously produced very <insert that tiresome argument> sets in the town theme, reducing the age range. I expect it was part of their strategy to become the "top brand with families by 2005", which was already a public policy by 1999 (not sure when the initiative started internally).

Before 1997, I think there was a lot more consistency in the level of juniorization between Town, Trains, Space, Pirates, Castle, and Aquazone-- I believe they were all supposed to hit the same age range of kids. But in 1997 and after, LEGO started diversifying the level of juniorization to more directly target specific age ranges of kids, depending on the content of the theme. The target age range of the "Star Wars" theme (for instance) may have been different than the target age range of "Knight's Kingdom", etc. IE, they started paying attention to age range within their target demographics.

Additionally, AFOLs of the time (1997) noticed an increase in the level of conflict play within LEGO themes. The "evil" factions started becoming "more evil", and *particular* characters started becoming more commonplace (Timmy & Professor Cyber, Willa the Witch & the Bat Lord, etc), eventually with subthemes having ALL their minifigs be "named" (Adventurers, Rock Raiders, Knight's Kingdom, Alpha Team, etc). This began taking the "generic minifig" flavor out of SYSTEM sets.

So, yeah, pretty much starting in 1997, it seems LEGO made some very conscious changes to their lineup, which hobbyists were mostly critical of, until more recently (maybe 2005-2007 ballpark?) when hobbyists have started to become increasingly happy with the set design of LEGO (although now more quality issues abound that weren't as much of a problem before). Go figure that the pretty much the first* loss in the history of the company was in 1998, and that trend of losses started taking hold until about 2006!

DaveE

* I remember at the time that LEGO said it was the first loss since 19xx, but I don't remember exactly when it was-- it was very early, though, possibly even 1932, when the company went under and was later revived thanks to Ole's family that lent him money.

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I want to add that despite having a high overall price, I think the upcoming Robie House has possibly the most honest price for an architecture set so far. In my personal opinion, the earliest sets' prices were highway robbery, although I can see reasons why the price might be as high as it is. The Robie House, on the other hand, is $200 for 2,276 pieces, meaning less than 9 cents per piece.

No doubt... it's the most "worth it" set by an objective measure... but on top of everything else I buy, $20 is easily do-able, $100 is pushing my limit; $200 is just "no." It's not like getting a modular building that fits in with the other modular buildings (the architecture series are not anywhere near scale with each other), and sets that can be used in conjunction with other sets in vignettes and train layouts and so forth.

It's really just a very nice conversation piece.

So maybe this is a dumb question, but if that is the case, why would our Australian friends not locate an American they can trust (yes I know how hard that could be) and have them buy it and send it to them? I am sure the shipment of that set to Australia is less than $169 USD.

I just sold a Green Grocer to someone in Australia... shipping was like $75, but if the box was a few inches bigger it would have been a LOT more... enough to kill the deal. In fact, the guy at the post office told me the box (marginally larger than the set box... really couldn't be any smaller) was too big, but I could take the chance and it'd probably go through. If you re-box, an Ausie would do well to have a U.S. contact.

For the record - parcel post, FedEx, USPS... all over $400 shipping. I just barely made priority international for about $75. If there was also tariffs, that could be a factor, too, but I don't know if there was or not.

Edited by fred67

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Wow, if I lived there I wuld be like: Forget the box, if the instructions are available as PDF forget them too. pop a hole in the bags to let the air out an dpack them in as small a box as you can. *huh*

Sad they have to deal with this. :cry_sad:

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That's why many of us are deserting the local retailers and buying online. The general rule is never buy Lego locally unless it's on sale.

I don't have an American contact for deliveries but a number of retailers will ship to Australia. I saved hundreds with a Barnes & Noble order a while back and of course there is Bricklink and Ebay.

Thing is, I would prefer to buy from a local shop but I'm just tired of being ripped off.

:classic: :classic:

I checked http://www.justbricks.com.au/ and there prices are cheaper than here in canada.

everything is cheaper in the states.

Without starting a rant.....gas is 1.35 a liter.....just 1 hour south(to the states..by car) gas is like 90cents.

Edited by bricklayer

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