kiwiatlarge

Picked up in store in NZ today..

Called into my closest store of probably the largest Lego stockist in my country today, and that store is expecting 4 Star Destroyers in Jan, none of them currently reserved.. so I have pencilled a reserve at this stage. TBH I'd prefer it getting closer to Death Star prices, but I've got one held anyway.

Hmm yes true... I'm being way too conservative (but then I'm a farmer so have big lawns, lol), Well according to mr google an ISD is roughly 1600m long and the Falcon is roughly 35m long, so 45 times as long... But yeah, it would have to be a bloody big lawn for the Executor. It's about 17-20km long..

Hell, even Tantive IV would be massive compared to the Falcon... Imagine a Star Wars Lego universe that accurately scaled to the Falcon. You'd need a lawn to pose the Super Star Destroyer..

It's waitlisted in our part of the world... Was going to discuss it with the mrs because it was a long wait and big parcel for shipping when the Falcon was shipped. I'm possibly inclined to wait for this one to hit the shops..

Well, it's up for VIP pre-order now... decisions..

I also collect MCU themed Hot Toys. A standard figure (not Iron Man because they are in a different price category) has gone up $30-40US in the last four years I've been collecting on average. Years before I started collecting they were sub 200. It's not unusual for a standard figure now to price between 250 and 270.

Ha.. The Falcon is $1500 in NZ... what will crack the $2K barrier here I wonder?.... I seriously can't see it happening.. 10,000 piece set minimum I imagine.. Super Star Destroyer with internal detailing?

Yeah, I currently live in a small work supplied house, although my partner and I do own our own 4 bedroom house which we rent out. When I bought the Falcon I thought I'd have to wait until we finally move house to build it, but the Efferman Stand changed my mind to build it.. Maybe I'll buy this and store it, and build it one day in my retirement like the old chaps do with their miniature railroad displays, lol..

Yeah, the minifigs is a non-issue for me. Unless you are into collecting unique minifigs you can't display them with it. They're really just hood ornaments for the stand. At least the Falcon you can do something with them.. As for the Star Destroyer, I am a little mixed about it. I do really like it and I'm all over the remakes of the classic ships of the OT in UCS. But I just don't know where to display it, lol... and it is a lot of coin. That said, I felt I easily got 4 times the build pleasure and experience out of the Falcon over the smaller ships.

Yes. I only buy UCS OT pieces for display.. (with the exception of BB-8, because he looks good with UCS R2-D2) . As I started collecting with the new X-Wing, most of my sets have been done before. But if they were to remake Obiwans's Jedi StarFighter it would be an easy pass for me.

I'll be getting it purely because it fits the exact criteria of my collection.. UCS OT Rebel/Empire ships..

New Zealand

Talking to one retailer here, it sounds like the Y-Wing won't get here until August... Still, I'm not sure I want to penny up $80 to get it from Lego in the next few weeks..

Yep, it's now been live in New Zealand on the online Lego shop... BUT, as it is under $400 NZ ($349), it will cost $80 to ship it... lol.. What a joke. That's why even with VIP points, and freebie minifigs thrown in, I'll likely never used the Lego store again. Unless there is another UCS Star Destroyer or something, I can't justify a long shipping wait (the first batch of Falcons took a really long time to ship to Australia and New Zealand, even for the VIP pre-orders) and high shipping costs just to buy direct from Lego I'll go down and buy it from Toyworld or somewhere. Failing that Mighty Ape ship for free... I don't expect free shipping, but I've had bigger heavier boxes delivered from Popcultcha in Australia, or Hot Toys in Hong Kong than your typical UCS Lego fighter for much less...

Well, who would have thought it... not only did I get a package ordered via BrickOwl to build the stand today, I also got the VIP programme card. Considering I was one of the lucky ones who managed to order online when the initial pre-orders came out (for all of about an hour) last year, I certainly wound up way down the mailing list for the VIP card, lol.. Still waiting on another smaller postal service package to get the remainder of the stand parts.. Unfortunately no tracking available for it, and I expect the shipping to take longer..

I've had mine since the very first pre-orders started shipping, and thanks to the Efferman stand, and a display cabinet we can both agree on (assuming we can get one and it doesn't cost a fortune) ... I may have finally gotten permission to finally start building...

The VIP card doesn't hold any more value to me than a Certificate of Authenticity that comes with a Gaming Heads statue or the like... Nice to have, but no $ value..

I despise Day 1 scalping. I know the buy and sell of products is a contentious issue regarding long term profit and investment of all limited edition hobbies, but this Day 1 ebay business only serves to deprive genuine owners of something they have set their heart on. I especially despise it with sporting events and concerts. You can't even use the argument of "investment" or "I got six months of joy out of it, and now it's time to move on"... and then to throw up comments like "its a buyers market", "something is only worth what the buyer is prepared to pay".. that's a cop out. The number of times I've heard of fans trying to get tickets for an event which has sold out in minutes, and they can't get through because of website traffic, only to see tickets online on auction sites for triple the price within an hour. It's greed.

Well about time..

How about a 12000 piece Anakin head with removable Vader helmet with a chip in it that goes Noooooooooo!!!!! when you take the helmet off it..

Sorry... $400.... NZ$, (about $288US). The RRP of the X-Wing, Snowspeeder etc is usually $399, so you'd be lucky if any of the smaller UCS ships will qualify.

And the price I paid doesn't include extra shipping. I "considered" (emphasise considered) adding speed freight, not so much for the time factor, but if it gets lost or stolen I'd like to hope I'd have more bargaining ability, than using the free postal system. At least it was still trackable. God knows it can be nerve wracking buying things from overseas when there is neither tracking or a 'signature required' option. But their added freight cost was really expensive, and my experience with drivers signing for deliveries is not flash. The very reason I would never buy a statue direct from Gaming Heads is their shipping costs. I'd rather just support Popcultcha in Australia. But on the driving for hours.. yep, as I previously posted, if an official Lego store ever came to New Zealand, it would surely be in Auckland which would result in 100s of dollars extra expense to go camp outside the locked doors of the store. You'd either have to fly up, or drive for two days, taking the ferry to and sleeping overnight at Wellington. There isn't much between Sideshow and buying Popcultcha in Australia. PC are fantastic because their freight is cheaper and bubble wrapped, but their release dates can be variable. NZ sellers are way more expensive. Even adding all those things into it, it still costs quite a bit more to buy something from an NZ seller. This will probably be not only the first, but last purchase I make from Lego. Even with the VIP rewards, I see no benefit. 10 days to get here, free freight only applies over $500, so unless I start buying Death Stars and Star Destroyers, it'll always cost extra. All the X-Wing style models it just makes sense to go down to Toyworld who are still into their industry enough that they'll get into the hype for midnight openings for May the 4th and all of that, and if you wait long enough a special will come.. The one advantage with the Lego Store is they tend to have stock available longer than local brick and mortar.

Correctomundo... The aussie boys were saying theirs is 12-1300?, ours is 1499, which even taking the differences in the dollar, ours is still a wee bit more expensive in real terms, but most things are I'm afraid.. Even when I was 10 years old holidaying in Queensland and New South Wales in 1986, the old G1 Transformers were cheaper than buying at home... What this cost me is the equivalent of $1080US, or 915 euro (out of curiousity) going by today's exchange rate. Fortunately because I guess it was bought using the NZ region setting and charged to me using NZ$ there were no additional taxes once it crossed the border. I haven't been so lucky buying other expensive Hot Toy or Sideshow items. By the time they convert currencies and then you get customs charges it can cost a hell of a lot more than if I lived in the US.. You do a quick currency conversion using a calculator when you purchase, but more often than not you end up spending more money by the time you get it in your hand. And if the name or the avatar don't give it away (probably not that obvious to anyone outside of Australasia or maybe the UK), I'm in New Zealand..

Mine is at home, after only a few thousand miles of travel... .. First mission I think will be to split all the bags into ziplocks, copy the parts list and check it all off, seeing as it could be some time before I build it.. I can report that not only was the picture box in perfect nick, but so was the outer box... and the outer box was packed into a two sectioned box with air-bag packaging and handles... so kudo to Lego, although I was a bit concerned not having signature required on on a $1500 item. I was starting to worry and think I should have paid an extra couple of hundred at checkout for the express freight which I imagine would have been sig... but the buggers often ignore that and self sign anyway..