kamigawa

Thanks for your help!

Does anyone know the box's dimensions? The question may sound absurd, but the fact is I've had the boxes of my other UCSs around the place for a long time, and I'm wondering if they would fit in 10221's one.

Maybe they read about the biggest complaints and thought it deserved a minor overhaul...? From the pics that appeared every time the page was reuploaded to shop.lego there didn't seem to be any changes, apart from some bugged stats (price not showing, available to "(Null)", etc).

Well, at least you had those random reappearances of the page, from time to time. The european's Lego.shop didn't even have those. I got really close to sending two or three e-mails to TLG when I was a bit too frustrated. I fear the release date won't be the 1st of September anymore, seeing how the Lambda SHuttle's page had been up and running, last year, since July.

Aw, didn't know that. Thanks for the link!

So, is it confirmed that there won't be an announcement regarding another UCS for this year, or there's still hope?

It would probably be better to sell it under the Legend logo as previously suggested. People would be going to BL the different parts anyway, so it would be easier to just sell the original with a different number. Also, the Legend seal would inspire customers to buy it since it meant it was so popular it had to be sold again (something the TLG would surely repeat at least 9 times on its description).

Well, people are probably bitching about the price because TLG discountinued a set that was still flying off the shelves. One point is being disgruntled because you have to dish out unbeliavable sums of money just because you decided, years later, that you suddenly liked a set long discountinued after its sales trickled to an end. Another point is having to pay just because TLG discountinued without any sense a set with still consistent revenues, thus creating an enormous black market. I had to pay a lot for my Blockade Runner, but I was glad to since it had been discontinued for years. I would have probably sent a bomb to TLG's headquarters if they had killed its page at shop.lego without reason while it was still flying off the shelves.

However, you must take into account that many UCSs are bought with the precise intention of reselling them at a higher price in the future. Re-releasing the MF would scare away that kind of buyers. Unfortunately, losing a fixed percentage of sales on every UCS is something TLG would probably never be too keen to do...

It was probably sent in a black trash bag, with the box covered in snot and ketchup.

Well, another option is: someone managed to sell it for an absurd price, and all the others are merely following. There doesn't need to be a demand for that UCS at such a price, it was probably a lucky folk somewhere that managed to squeeze 1500+ dollars out of it, and all the others believed it was the right thing to do. I constantly monitor the Italian sites for rare LEGO, and all of them have it for at least 1000 euros. The funny part? They haven't sold one in ages. Their greediness is confounding them. Instead of thinking "hey, there isn't a single soul that would buy it at this price, let's take away a couple hundred euros and see how it goes" they keep it unchanged, sure that someday they'll find the simpleton who will dish out all that money. And they get greedier and greedier. Those hoping to sell the 10179 at those prices are just fools that believe a few lucky sales are representative of the entire market. I must admit I hope TLG will re-release it just to metaphorically kick them in the butt. I do understand inflating the price of a UCS to a certain extent (after all, they ARE rare, and 50-60% more is an understandable request), but this is beyond ridiculous. If they had charged 780-850 dollars for it I would have supported such choice.

If memory serves me well, they had it on sale for quite a long time. I don't really believe they will ever sell it again.

It must be said, though, that the PT has way more smaller ships that could be turned into UCS. Nearly everything from the OT has been sold either as a playset or an UCS: I don't see what else could they use, unless they start going for the most obscure, convolute or useless ships. For a moment I thought they could be sitting on a UCS Landspeeder, but the next thought was "And who the hell would want one?".

A Venator would be too expensive for the end of the year. People's wallets will already be crying after the SSD's coming. Also, at the moment Europe's financial situation is literally horrible. I don't believe they'll risk selling a product with a high price that will scare away a big percentage of the potential european buyers just because it's too expensive. Maybe they'll even consider that this year has already been covered by the SSD, and people wouldn't be willing to dish out at least 100+ $/€ for another UCS.

Arrrrrrr... My dreams! Stop killing them! Stop now! NOW!!! (**imagine a pirate on his knees pointing his hook to the clouds moving over the sun**)

Could anyone check the SSD's page on shop.lego? Up to a few days ago it was still available to my country (Italy) as an item to be added to the wishlist, but now the item is "Unavailable to your country". WTF? Is it available for pre-order for the other countries? Or maybe it's just a mistake? I've also noticed the item has been removed from my wishlist

I just noticed your reply. So, at least you can confirm that there will be another set of the 10xxx series before the end of 2011? Could you tell us if you are talking about SW or just, for example, one of those exclusive sets with shops, or it goes beyond your NDA?

It wasn't even a rumor, just the offspring of regular wishful thinking that somehow managed to strenghten up by running from mouth to mouth. It' s as probable as a UCS Venator or a Nebulon-B or a Munificent-class Cruiser. They could have easily become the same kind of rumor in a similar situation, it's just the turn of Jabba's Palace.

As Ki-Adi said, the situation is well balanced. You get to buy the sets later, while we have to pay absurd prices for all of them. XX dollars mean, here in Europe, oooops!, XX euros. This makes even less sense than normal, since the items are sent from Billund, WITHOUT any customs fee (which would rightfully level the price if the items came from the USA).

The point is, a Jabba's place revamped would need: - tons of bricks (= expensive) - tons of minifigs, many of them with new molds (= even more expensive, since many of them would be made uniquely for this set just to inflate its price) In the end, I'm sure noone would ever be really satisfied with the result, since those longing for a new Jabba's palace all have a personal "dream version" of it. No matter what TLG will come up with, it will never be on par with the buyer's expectations. Also, the set people want would surely be in the 500-600€ range, and that would scare off too many potential buyers. I wouldn't want to be the poor soul who gets chosed, one day, for rebuilding that set.

You are right, they haven't yet sold an Ultimate Tie Fighter or Bomber, yet. Hmm, now speculating becomes a lot tougher, because either an "all Empire" year with Executor + Tie Fighter or a "Empire vs Rebels" with Executor vs A-Wing still seem legitimate.

Well, an A- or B-Wing does make sense. Obi Wan's Starfighter was released after the Clone Wars's success. The A- and B- Wing's main appearances are in the Battle of Endor and against the Executor, so they would probably be the best UCSs to release after it. I'm skeptical about the B-Wing (it's a huge ship), but the A-Wing is small enough yet iconic, if we're speaking of the Executor. I don't really know which other ship could be sold, taken from the movies, which is small enough to justify a 100-120€ UCS. Even the ARC170 would probably be released as one of the bigger UCS sets just to be in the same league of the famous 7191.

If you want so much to see its flat bottom every time you raise your head...

Take away the useless minifigs (and the small bridge, which is there just to justify their presence) and, bam, there you have a 100€ discount. I have NO doubts they are there only to inflate the price of this ship. They tested the trick with the Lambda and saw that it actually worked, so now they are going for the big shot. I must admit I'm more disgusted about this feature rather than the flat-bottom.

Hmm, I'll probably still have to buy an Executor anyway... I'm 100% positive this will be once again one of those sets that, once out of production, instantly receive a 300% boost of their price. EDIT: just saw its true price on the other thread. My God, TLG is getting greedier and greedier by the minute. Suddenly Obi Wan's Starfighter's price doesn't seem a joke anymore.