LarryBoy

Like I said, criticizing a public figure and how they conduct themselves in relation to their work if fine and acceptable (I'd say encouraged within a healthy society), but when those criticisms go beyond the merit of that person's work and instead focus on ad-hominem attacks against his character, his intelligence, his maturity, his temperament, his personal self, than it's no longer justifiable to rationalize comments like "Mandr might be an idiot and the definition of a petty child" as being fair and appropriate criticism of a public figure - or A PERSON. Because, ultimately, that's what Ryan is - a person. And this incessant bullying and name calling should be completely unacceptable within the scope of any rational, civil, and earnest discussion about something as trivial as LEGO. Criticize the way he conducts himself, the controversies he sews, and the discord he creates within the community, all you want, but we both know that this forum goes well beyond that time and time again. And my point is that this is NOT an isolated incident. It happens for pages at a time, from multiple commenters, recurs every few months, and over multiple forum topics. And it's beyond my comprehension as to why the mods haven't taken decisive action against what quite literally amounts to cyberbullying against an individual on this forum.

I guess I'm not able to send private messages on here (need to be a higher rank I imagine), so this isn't the best way to go about doing this. Otherwise I wouldn't make this a public comment. But can the mods please do a better job of keeping this discussion on topic and away from the frequent personal attacks against Ryan? I don't understand why these constant posts ragging on the guy aren't just deleted, because it's getting to the point of bullying. Constantly insulting someone in a public forum in which they're known to visit and read, seems pretty unacceptable - especially when we're supposed to be talking about LEGO sets. I've got a lot of issues with how Ryan conducts himself and with his public feud with TLG, but blasting the guy personally again and again should be out of line. It's the same things being said about him every time, and it happens on a regular basis here. Even when the discussion is somewhat relevant to the topic of LEGO sets, it shouldn't be allowed to devolve into personal attacks against another person and member of this forum. Criticizing a public figure or how they conduct themselves in relation to their work is one thing - How multiple members of this forum regularly treat Ryan goes way beyond that. Passive moderation and reminders not to harass Ryan or "to stay on target" shouldn't be the answer when this is an issue that continues to pop up.

LEGO only charges you for a product once it has shipped. You'll receive the regular after-purchase email detailing the costs, and then another email saying that the product won't be shipping for a while. That's what you mean when you say the charges showed up, right? Because they certainly shouldn't have shown up on your credit card or method of payment yet. That would be really weird, but it shouldn't be an issue if they're not on your credit card statement. And I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a more accurate representation of Boba's new look in future sets. It'll all depend on how well Book of Boba Fett does with audiences and what kind of demand there is for sets featuring him, but LEGO has already shown a willingness to redesign their minifigures to be more accurate to The Mandalorian characters when the need arises. Personally, I don't have any issue with Boba's current helmet, since I think it looks just fine. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Beskar Mando's helmet, I can live with another slightly less than screen accurate helmet for him too. I'm fairly confident we'll see this Boba Fett appear in more sets down the line, since The Mandalorian cinematic universe is going to be LEGO's bread and butter over the next couple of years when it comes to new and marketable LEGO sets. (Until we get a new movie trilogy again, anyways)

The USD is the global standard of currency regardless of product or industry, with few exceptions. There will be things that affect the price from one market to another, though. Australia, for instance, has much more complicated distribution requirements than other parts of the world; and that will drive the price up. (I suspect some of those specific discrepancies in price are more to do with how many sets can be packaged per container and the physical space their box takes up, as opposed to the usual metric of parts determining price. Are all the helmet boxes the same size, and is the shuttle bigger? Because that would be evidence in favour of that). When you look at CAD vs. USD when it comes to LEGO, you see a fairly clean scaling of LEGO prices based on the value of the currencies. (Canadian prices are pretty much in line with the exchange rate between the two currencies). And that's because Canada and the US are essentially the same market and rely on the same production and distribution network, so you can get a much simpler breakdown of what goes into pricing LEGO on a global scale. In Europe, pricing for sets can be all over the board because of any number of reasons: taxation, population, and distribution requirements, etc. Despite the LEGO manufacturing in Europe being more robust and spread out than the single North American plant in Mexico, there's no telling what a set will cost from one country to the next, even when they use the same currency there. And I think the complexity of the European market as a whole really muddles the waters when it comes to determining which price is the defining one that LEGO uses. But it's pretty rare that you see sets that are undervalued in foreign markets compared to what you can get them for in the US from LEGO; at least when you factor in the exchange rate. That's all an assumption on my part, but I feel like it's in line with how the rest of the global economy uses the USD as its base standard of currency. And if LEGO does design sets according to a pre-determined price point, then I suspect they do so with the USD in mind. Any changes in price after the fact are going to be made with specific requirements or additional costs that each market requires. But bringing it back to the Meditation Chamber - I definitely don't think that price is worth the value of the set. Buying something for the purpose of display, should not entail the vast majority of the cost to be put into the stand that's displaying said item. LEGO's part allocation for this set is just weird - especially for a set catering to adults. The chamber itself lacks the presence, excitement, or inherent value of something that I want to put up on a shelf and show off to my friends or myself. I had my reservations about it when it first leaked, but I'm pretty disappointed with the actual set itself. Especially for a $100 CAD price tag! (There's that 30% difference in the value between the CAD and USD, btw. Which is the conversion that LEGO has been using for a number of years since the CAD dropped to 0.70 to the USD a while back. And no, they very rarely adjust it if the CAD rises, since they set their pricing months in advance and can't predict valuation changes.) That's just absurd.

LEGO responds to rumours over Star Wars minifigure licensing rights (brickfanatics.com) This interview just released this week and the design manager of LEGO Star Wars clearly explained the many nuances and intricacies of the contract TLG has with Disney and LucasFilm. LEGO has made it very clear what they can and can't do under their current contract. That's why it's being discussed right now, since it's been making waves again with (false) rumours, and TLG actually responded to them. LEGO cannot release Star Wars action figures (minifigures as standalone items). They can only release promotional material, merchandise (ie pens) or minifigures that come with the bare minimum of contractually-obligated number of bricks in order to qualify as a "construction toy" (For the other commenter who said they need to have bricks to be considered a toy, that's not true. Construction is the key criteria that LEGO is required to meet) LEGO's contract with Lucasfilm (and now Disney) has only been around since the late 1990's. But Hasbro has had exclusive commercial rights for Star Wars action figures since well before that. Hasbro's targeted market is the exact same as LEGO's - and relatively recently, LEGO surpassed Hasbro as the most valuable toy company in the world. The reason other small companies are able to produce collectible series figures that resemble action figures, is because they have negotiated those contracts specifically with Hasbro as an additional part of the licensing agreement with Lucasfilm/Disney. And the vast majority of that collectible market is solely for adults and not for kids who want to play. But there's no way on Earth that Hasbro would allow their biggest competitor to sell toys that directly compete with their brand and further eat up their own market share. It makes zero sense for them to allow that as the current contracts exist. That's why any Star Wars CMF - minifigures marketed and sold exclusively as standalone play figures - cannot happen until those contracts are renegotiated and Hasbro loses the exclusivity they have on the license. (the 20th anniversary figure had bricks and was also considered a promotional item. They're limited by how far they can go with promotional content, which is probably a combination of having to do things in partnership with LucasFilm/Disney, and not risking legal action from Hasbro for skirting the rules of the contract) LEGO's negotiators aren't bad, but these contracts have been in place since well before LEGO was even considering releasing CMF's for any of their lines. They're literally not in a position to negotiate until the contracts expire in 2022. (Is that a confirmed date, btw? Or just the one that everyone throws around?)

No, it's just people's wishlists for what an Episode 1 wave should include or sets that we haven't seen from LEGO before. There's no rumours or news about a possible Phantom Menace wave.

The global pandemic is affecting multi-billion dollar corporations and your typical mom & pop shop alike. In fact, an international company like LEGO is far more dependent on a myriad of factors complicated by a global supply chain and distribution network which is under unprecedented stress due to the current crisis - something your small and local business is far less affected by. Being sympathetic to their situation doesn't mean to excuse them of any wrongdoing or not suggest that they could have done better, but rather it means to be understanding of the increased complexities that they are under as a company and how those challenges ultimately affect us as the consumer. Making money is the reason they decided to sell what sets they had in a limited release which was the only window available to them at the time, rather than an unforeseen and unplanned global launch of a product in an already strained supply chain. You're exactly right, demand is the main issue here. LEGO just does not have the means to meet the demand - at least not right now. 2021 may represent a change in direction for them as to how they handle future launches like this. LEGO certainly don't want to use up the good faith they've generated by alienating a huge percentage of their fanbase with regional exclusives and mismanaged product launches. Like I said already, SDCC and Star Wars Celebration 2021 will be the big indicator in regards to LEGO's policy moving forward. Until then, we just need to wait and see.

I don't think you realize the amount of work that goes into the global production and distribution of a LEGO set. It typically takes months for LEGO to bring a set to market after they've finalized it, licensed sets having more complications that make this period even longer. If SDCC or Star Wars Celebration were to be cancelled any other year, it would be challenging enough for LEGO to switch to a global distribution model for the event exclusive, but to do so in the midst of a worldwide pandemic creates a situation where it's not feasible for LEGO to do so. They've already shown with the latest wave over the summer just how difficult it is to release their standard lineup; with multiple theme's waves being delayed by more than a month in North America because of the stresses their supply chain is under. All of this - and a lot more - is why I suggested people should be more sympathetic towards LEGO's CURRENT situation and that they're doing the best they can under the extremely strenuous and unprecedented circumstances. If this was any other year, I'd say that people would have more justification in being upset with LEGO. Going forward, 2021 could be a different story as to how LEGO decides to handle an event exclusive for something like SDCC or Star Wars Celebration. It takes months for them to plan a set even for a limited event like that, but now with the recent experience and fan backlash from this summer's cancelled event exclusives I wonder how this will factor into LEGO's approach moving forward. It might be that they won't design sets for the events to begin with or that they'll be prepared for a global product launch from the get-go.

Nearly every major retailer or business entity with a presence at San Diego Comic-Con offers some form of exclusive merchandise for those in attendance - this is the norm for nearly every major convention, universal or fandom-exclusive. Holding LEGO solely responsible for their decision to participate in this practice and create exclusive items is a sentiment that seems to be echoed on these forums a lot, when it's the standard practice for these companies to do so. It creates a sense of importance and generates extra hype and engagement for people that attend these events, and shouldn't be seen as anti-consumer when it's there to actually engage with the community and give people attending these conventions something more to get excited about. The fact that LEGO is releasing sets like the Nebulon-B and Bespin Duel for a limited run on the wider market is something that should be celebrated, because it makes it far easier for more people to have access to these sets than they otherwise would have. They don't have the inventory, the production, or the distribution set up for a global release of a product like this when unforeseen events forced them to come up with an alternative release, and it's unfair to pressure them to do so for what was supposed to be a much more limited product anyways. Regional exclusives are unfair - I won't argue that - but people need to be more understanding of the situation caused by the current pandemic and that LEGO is doing the best it can reasonably be expected to do when it comes to releasing sets like these. It takes an inordinate amount of time, planning, resources, and coordination for the global release of any LEGO set; and that's not something that LEGO can just pull out of thin air when plans fall through for a convention exclusive. And besides, the idea of a convention exclusive is, as the name suggests, something that is meant to be unique to the event and provide fans and collectors with a prized piece of merchandise that you can't find anywhere else - they shouldn't be things being remade for a wider audience in the years after because that defeats their purpose.

Yeah, I’ve got one of the Obi-Wan polybags from that promo. I just didn’t remember LEGO selling any Star Wars minifigures on their own, promo or otherwise. They were always packaged as a GWP or an exclusive for Star Wars Celebration or some other event. That was my thinking anyways, but it’s interesting to know that they’ve sold these polybags on their own in the past. I did have that Hasbro agreement and CMF wishlist/rumour in mind when I asked about this too. Because I had assumed this kind of thing would be in violation of Hasbro’s exclusivity on Star Wars “action figures” but I know there was a lot of talk about whether that exclusivity deal had expired recently and not been renewed. So fingers crossed we see more of this kind of thing in the future, if LEGO is able to do so. And at least it’s an easy and cheap way for anyone still looking to complete their 20th anniversary collection.

Long time lurker here, so first of all hello everyone. About that Obi-Wan 20th Anniversary figure on sale; is this the first time TLG has ever had a Star Wars minifigure on sale and not as part of a special event or exclusive? Because on TLG's own website, they specifically say that they're unable to sell licensed minifigures as standalone products outside of a set - with Star Wars listed as an example. Yet, the listing for the Obi-Wan figure is titled "Obi-Wan Kenobi™ minifigure" So am I missing something here or has LEGO officially started selling Star Wars minifigures now?