Which set should I buy?

[Vindicare]

22 minutes ago, Lego-fire said:

@Vindicare what are you buying? If it's Star Wars there's double VIP at the start of September :) 

No SW in my future...the Batwing & Bus Station are on the menu. 

[temes]

I have few big sets on my shopping list and no hurry to buy them, but of course I'd like to buy them all when they're available from the Lego online store. What order should I buy them?

* Old Fishing Store
* Ninjago City
* Ninjago Destiny's Bounty
* Assembly Square
* Upcoming winter village set

... I guess Assembly Square is the most 'safe' set to buy later, because modulars are usually available for many years. Old Fishing Store is probably the most uncertain, some of those Ideas sets have retired quite fast. What do you think?

[Legochaek]

@temes

How much time are you spacing them out? Is it years, or weeks? 

I'm thinking:

*Old fishing store (if you're in Europe you could  go get a signed version) 

*Ninjago City (is going to sell out really quickly, mainly because it's awesome.) 

*Ninjago Destiny's bounty

*Assembly Square

*Upcoming winter village set (might not even come out!) 

:)

 

 

[brickmasterben11]

On 5/5/2017 at 8:28 PM, gundamz said:

Parisian restaurant is more widely acclaimed due to its unique design.  Detective office is fun too but its design is rather similar to pet shop and assembly square.

Temple of airjitzu or Assembly square?  Investing standpoint

I doubt you still haven't bought either, but I strongly recommend the Temple of Airjitzu. For a non-modulars set, it is very fun to build and could easily be modified to be connected to another modular. The Temple also has a fairly medium amount of space and the architecture is very pleasing. 

[Vindicare]

I'm a bit torn at the moment...trying to decide between the Thor Ragnarok sets or the Holdiay Train(IF they even have it)upon my visit next week. I collect mainly City(this includes Modular & WV stuff), & Superheroes, I do own every WV set but I'm not a huge train guy, having the three exclusives plus Hogwarts Express most recent offering. 

Stupid decisions...

[Khscarymovie4]

Nexo Knight fans, I am thinking about getting the Knighton Castle, I am a big Nexo Knights fan and love most of the sets. I think the Knighton Castle looks cool, but I'm not sure if I want to spend  $130 on it. If I get this set I likely won't get any of the new 2018 sets, For those that have the set do you think its worth the price.

[Aanchir]

16 hours ago, Khscarymovie4 said:

Nexo Knight fans, I am thinking about getting the Knighton Castle, I am a big Nexo Knights fan and love most of the sets. I think the Knighton Castle looks cool, but I'm not sure if I want to spend  $130 on it. If I get this set I likely won't get any of the new 2018 sets, For those that have the set do you think its worth the price.

I don't have it yet, but I think it's a good set. THAT SAID… if you're willing to wait you'll probably have the option of picking it up at a reduced price, much like last year's Volcano Lair set.

[Khscarymovie4]

12 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I don't have it yet, but I think it's a good set. THAT SAID… if you're willing to wait you'll probably have the option of picking it up at a reduced price, much like last year's Volcano Lair set.

Seeing how the Volcano Lair has gone down to $60 on amazon I think that might be the best option, I think I will wait tell its at least $100 somewhere. Thank you for you response.

[Darkdragon]

20 minutes ago, Khscarymovie4 said:

Seeing how the Volcano Lair has gone down to $60 on amazon I think that might be the best option, I think I will wait tell its at least $100 somewhere. Thank you for you response.

Volcano Lair is $129 on Amazon when I checked a moment ago, you had my hopes up.

[Vindicare]

Not really a "which set" but more of a "which promo." I've been eyeballing the Lloyd minfigure that is going to be available in  few days time for awhile now, plus there is the VIP points(which will put me over to another $5). Then there's the Bricktober Batman pack. I don't know if I want to wait & chance getting it after the whole deal is over, as in years past they had a large amount of leftovers-but nine have been Batman. 

[Megaflora]

I'm trying to decide what to buy once the October VIP promotion starts. The Ninjago City looks fantastic and is a great value for the fourth largest set ever but is still twice the price of the other two sets I'm considering: Destiny's Bounty and the Old Fishing Store.

The Saturn V looks great too, but there's no way it's going to available at the same time as the VIP bonus set.

 

 

[Vindicare]

On 9/19/2017 at 12:35 PM, Megaflora said:

I'm trying to decide what to buy once the October VIP promotion starts. The Ninjago City looks fantastic and is a great value for the fourth largest set ever but is still twice the price of the other two sets I'm considering: Destiny's Bounty and the Old Fishing Store.

The Saturn V looks great too, but there's no way it's going to available at the same time as the VIP bonus set.

 

 

I went through this earlier this month, between a couple of Marvel sets or the Winter Village Train. I ended up getting the train namely because it'll be easier to save up the $50 or so for the Marvel sets, even though I ended up buying less sets. 

So, I would recommend Ninjago City, unless you'll have that money again in short order. Then again, I don't k own what kind of shelf life the Old Fishing Store will have, being an Ideas set? If the Old Fishing Store does have a shorter span, I'd go with that & Destiny's Bounty. 

[Vindicare]

Never mind...

Edited December 29, 2017 by Vindicare
Reading dates help...

[Xfing]

Back at it after a long break! Making money again, so I can afford some extravagance, namely buying one set every month. I've been unable to find a 954 Sky Copter in Europe, and one seller in America is unwilling to ship (I'll try to convince him otherwise next month), so the first new old Technic set that arrived in this new wave was the 8044 Universal Pneumatic Set. I'm really liking the functionality and considerably well-developed fully studded technique compared to the earliest sets. The 1979 and 1980 sets rely to an extreme degree on regular bricks without even stud holes, here the balance has shifted significantly in favor of bricks with holes. The nicely integrated pneumatic functionality is also nice to have. The next set I've already bought and am waiting for the arrival of is 1981's 8844 Helicopter. That oughta be fun :D

Edited February 16, 2018 by Xfing

[Chmashdehjare]

This is a really interesting task you've set for yourself, to trace the evolution of Lego and Technic through the years.

Would you be interested in writing up your observations as you get sets from the various years?  I'm really only familiar with fairly recent piece architecture and would be interesting in knowing how things have changed.

 

[Vectormatic]

From 96 i would recomend 8408 instead, that was probably one of my favorite sets in my youth, and the first "large" technic car i had, compared to the smallish single cylinder dune buggies and karts, this felt more serious

[Xfing]

On 15.02.2018 at 6:18 AM, Chmashdehjare said:

This is a really interesting task you've set for yourself, to trace the evolution of Lego and Technic through the years.

Would you be interested in writing up your observations as you get sets from the various years?  I'm really only familiar with fairly recent piece architecture and would be interesting in knowing how things have changed.

I might do a writeup and analyze every set in-depth, but I'll leave it for after I've got all of them :P

14 hours ago, vectormatic said:

From 96 i would recomend 8408 instead, that was probably one of my favorite sets in my youth, and the first "large" technic car i had, compared to the smallish single cylinder dune buggies and karts, this felt more serious

Noted. And I actually agree, this set you're recommending does look much better than the one I chose. I like yellow too, it's very pleasing to the eyes. I'll even update my list right away :D

[offroadcreations]

What are you doing for '97? I have the 8437 and it's a nice set, with steering + working steering wheel, rear suspension, and V4 engine. I got it new and sealed about 2 years ago for a pretty good price, but I don't know if you can still get it sealed cheap. I'd say it's a good representation of that year.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Offroadcreat1ons

[Xfing]

11 hours ago, Offroadcreat1ons said:

What are you doing for '97? I have the 8437 and it's a nice set, with steering + working steering wheel, rear suspension, and V4 engine. I got it new and sealed about 2 years ago for a pretty good price, but I don't know if you can still get it sealed cheap. I'd say it's a good representation of that year.

8414. The sets I already own are crossed out on the list, so I can keep track. I got that set because it looked pretty damn spiffy at first glance, and it wasn't extremely large to the point of being inflated in price. 8437 is probably a much more interesting set, but it was a little big for this purpose. I might get it someday anyway, but not necessarily for this project here.

[NevynPA]

I'd recommend picking up a copy of 8417/8430 Mag Wheel Master to compare/contrast with 8838 Shock Cycle. Also definitely get something with a Technic Figure.

Now that I've gone through your whole list, looks like you've got those both covered!

 

I'd have to push you on getting the 8068. It's a really nice machine. New and studless, yet everything is still manually mechanically driven - something I really like (sets that work via gears and hand power, instead of just batteries).

 

'97 seems to be a hot topic year. I was going to recommend 8229 for it's varied use of studded/studless and inexpensive price, but you've got a good pick with 8414 too.

Edited February 19, 2018 by NevynPA

[Xfing]

My 8844 1981 helicopter just arrived, beautifully packaged in its original box and all - I'm starting to assemble it as I write this post. Wish I had the 954 Sky Copter from two years earlier to compare it to. There is one dude on Bricklink selling it for a mere 50 dollars, but he says he doesn't ship to the EU. I wonder if I can convince him to do that :P

[Xfing]

As for 8844, I've got quite a lot to say actually!



This set is so archaic that it predates such Technic mainstays as friction pins and dented 2L axles. It also uses the nowadays outdated 3651 connector extensively, something the earliest Technic sets were well known for. This set however steals the show with two things: its ubiquitous and varied use of older parts with teeth as well as nice examples of joining Technic elements with "Technic-ized" System bricks (or at least System bricks with Technic functionality not usually brought to the forefront). The rear propeller for example is entirely System, and it's mounted on an axle via two 4032s - it's a simple and frankly unthinkable solution for today's standards, but it's also so.. obvious! It makes you go "well duh, of course you can do that!". The most amazing thing in this set though has got to be the elaborate cockpit built from a series of 4273s, locked together at differing angles. It took quite a lot of time to assemble this and frankly it was quite difficult, as it required more precision than later years' Technic sets (of this size at least) usually did. This set also creates a setup where the toothed half bushes lock with ends of 4262s for extra sturdiness and stability. In terms of these, tooth connections probably couldn't be beat, though I imagine they could break quite easily under heavy torque - the system has also been largely superseded by elastic parts etc. The chain for working the landing gear mechanism is a nice touch, as are the multiple instances of using Technic parts in their System-friendly roles, such as the three bushes embedded in the 2x4 plate with holes in the rotor mechanism. Later helicopter sets didn't have rotors this elaborate if memory serves. 

This beautiful set also necessarily has its disadvantages though - first and foremost it feels quite flimsy, mostly due to its reliance on non-friction pins for holding it together. The rear wheel also has to bear the brunt of the model's weight, but it's supported only by a mere 6L axle, putting it under considerable strain. Not to mention issues with proper gear contact, axles with uncapped, protruding ends (unelegant), and parts that should stay more or less in one place flying around due to no friction on the pins they're on, like what's supposed to be the steering handles of the copter. All of these issues can be easily remedied by non-purists equipped with newer and more functional pins and connectors. 3L friction pins here and there would also be quite a boon for this set, improving rigidity considerably, while the rear wheel leg would be much sturdier if made with several 2L axles joined with two-way connectors.

Too bad the seller included the newer hinges rather than the old ones without mentioning it. I'm really anal about this sort of stuff and I'll probably try to replace these hinges with proper ones, which are bound to be wildly overpriced I'm sure.

Still, I'm really happy with this set, it looks great on a shelf and contains a wealth of generally useful parts for other purposes. Overall what I'd recommend this set for is intricate use of the toothed connectors and bushes, fully realizing the potential of these pieces, as well as designs merging modified System plates with bushes and other Technic pieces. Once again, I'm really hoping to get a 954 to compare the two and see the progress made between the designs in just 2 short years.

EDIT: Oops! I only just realized that the 1979 Sky Copter is just a re-release of a 1978 set. I wonder whether to buy it anyway simply because I like it... I don't think the other 1978 sets offer any palpable improvement over the1977 ones, and the similarities between them make me think they probably all come from a single designing session anyway.
 

Edited February 27, 2018 by Xfing

[Milan]

Merged with main topic.

[Vindicare]

So I’ve been battling with myself on buying 60233 Donut Shop Opening. I do like the majority of the set & feel it’s worth the $90 price tag..but just can’t seem to talk myself into buying it. I really want it for the donut store, coffee cart, & tv van/crew. I know there’s buying separately that I could do, I just prefer buying full sets. 

[TeriXeri]

22 hours ago, Vindicare said:

So I’ve been battling with myself on buying 60233 Donut Shop Opening. I do like the majority of the set & feel it’s worth the $90 price tag..but just can’t seem to talk myself into buying it. I really want it for the donut store, coffee cart, & tv van/crew. I know there’s buying separately that I could do, I just prefer buying full sets. 

Same here with buying full sets, I ended up not buying the Donut Shop,as the Creator Townhouse Cafe/Petshop was just way more appealing to me as it's main goal of getting a building, and now the 2020 3-in-1 Toyshop is also so much nicer. (I don't collect Modulars so the 3-in-1 scale is my main goal)

I love the buildings in the Monkie Kid sets but I certainly won't get the sets just for those.

That said, I did get the Hidden Side Shrimp Shack recently, on a big discount, even while I wasn't planning to collect Hidden Side, it's still a nice building with a non-possesed option.

I tend to wait with buying sets, for non-exclusive sets, I'd rather wait and get sets 20-40% off compared to day 1.

Even for exclusives on LEGO.com, VIP points aren't enough incentive, so a Gift With Purchase is usually a deciding factor.

Edited June 17, 2020 by TeriXeri