fyrmedhatt

Handoyo - I'd say if it is worth that to you, go for it. It certainly is a unique set, and with 6000 pieces, the price per piece at $800 is actually not worse than most Star Wars sets. legoCrazy81 - I think your plan is good, I do second getting the Shuttle Expedition if you do not have it already though, it's an incredible set.

DaveE - Incredibly well written post there, I don't think I have much to add apart from personal anecdotes. As someone who grew up with Lego in the 90's, i saw the decline of the toy, even if as a kid one is not necessarily aware of specifics and often not able to pinpoint what is going on. I do remember being greatly enthralled by the Town sets of the early nineties, like the two harbors of the Nautica sub-theme, the Metroliner, the Airport Shuttle and the Sail n' Fly marina, while by the time mentioned by the OP we had Town Jr., a sad theme that was nothing but juniorization, where cars no longer had roofs or doors, and buildings consisted of a window and three panels. In comparison, todays sets rival the complexity and detail of the sets of the eighties and early nineties, just look at the complexity of an average Star Wars ship today. City is still for kids, but vehicles no longer look like they were pieced together by five year olds using brick buckets, which seemed to be the case in the 97-04 time span. I do respect the Op's opinion, and I know sentimentality is a strong feeling and a big reason for many AFOLs to be in the hobby. Personally I remember being a huge fan of the Time Twisters theme as a kid, and even though I now see the silliness of their designs (they look like the designers chucked together the Lego's leftover parts), I'd still like to own some of the sets some day.

You are in the same predicament as other non-US fans, lego is much more expensive around the world. I'm not sure with US Amazon.com, but I know several European Amazon sites ship worldwide, so you might be able to save that way. Beware of customs charges though, what you are saving might easily be eaten up but taxes when you import the product. From what I've understood, Lego in Asia is most reasonably priced in Korea, so you might be able to order from there for less. Personally, if I move from the US I'll make sure visit a few times a year to purchase Lego. Customs is generally far more lenient with what you bring into a country in your luggage than in your mail.

I sincerely doubt the blue bicycle in the picture above is a fake or custom piece, as LegoWorld appears to be closely choreographed by Lego itself and they would probably not appreciate having non-brand pieces prominently displayed. Most likely it's a one of those rare non-production pieces as mentioned earlier in the thread, and I don't see why it could not be part of one of the summer sets, Lego loves throwing bones at us crazy fans at this particular event. I would therefore hold off on buying the blue bike for 60+ dollars on Bricklink, as it might be in production soon. As for these kind of rare pieces being knock-offs, I wouldn't be too worried, as most are sold by highly respected and experienced AFOLs in Europe, who would either spot a fake or be chastised by the community for making them. The pieces I'd be most concerned about being fake are some of the ultra-rare printed pieces that are worth a fortune, and could much more easily be counterfeited than what creating new pieces would be. Why would someone spend a huge effort to create fake Lego pieces in weird colors with an extremely limited market when there are so many easier ways in the world to make a quick buck.

Here you go: Bricklink The reason you didn't find dark gray cheese slopes are that they don't exist, lego changed their gray colors in 2003-2004 from the old dark gray to the new dark bluish gray, and the cheese slope was introduced after this color change.

The first image is sweet, I'm impressed with how realistic the image is. I have to say I like the use of the planets sets, who knew those giant bulbs could be so useful. For the second picture, are you using the background from the movie or is it a random desert image? Great job!

There are plenty of people buying bulk lots and putting sets together, buying the instruction manuals to complete the sets. Also, for extremely popular sets with outrageous prices like the Cafe Corner, Market Street and UCS MF lots of people have bought all the parts and would love to finish it off with an instruction manual for completeness. These manuals go for several hundred dollars, more than the whole set cost originally in some cases. For those of us who are set collectors, the feeling of having a complete set is important, and that often includes the instruction manuals and even boxes. Personally I prefer building from instruction manuals, even if I have digital tools available, the feeling is just not the same. Not that I'd ever pay hundreds of dollars for an instruction manual.

2006 and 2007 were both great years from what I see with some notable sets, the 62xx line of 2006 is especially great, but 2007 had the UCS Falcon plus a good all-around selection of sets. If one thinks about the single greatest year to buy Lego Star Wars it would have been 2008, everything converged on that year, where arguably the three best Star Wars sets were available; 10030, 10179 and 10188!, plus all the sets from 2006-2008, maybe even the 10144 Sandcrawler and 10143 Death Star II. 2000 was also a good year, with the advent of the UCS series, as well as the first Falcon. I have a feeling that 2012 will also be considered a great year for Star Wars, with the incredible winter line-up already released, plus all the great summer sets with Jabba's Palace, the Skiff and Gungan sub, hopefully the UCS sets will also be memorable. I'll be voting for this year, if only to make me feel better about all those years I've missed....

1. Male 2. 24 3. 2.5 years old or so, and I believe this could have been the set: 6675 4. My favorite theme right now is probably Star Wars, although as a kid I was really into castle. 5. I simply love the creative nature of the hobby and I have a blast putting the sets together.

That's it, it seems Lego is putting it in every big set this year, I have a feeling I'm going to have more of these than I'd ever need very soon....

I don't think I've ever seen a true BOGO from any of them, some sets go to 50% off on clearance and maybe Black Friday, but not all sets at once. TRU and occasionally Target have Buy on get one half off, these happen with great regularity, probably around once a month or so, however in the case of TRU sets are already overpriced so it's not such a great deal. A better deal is when there is a buy two get one deal, giving 33% off effectively. I think K-Mart has done true BOGO sales in the past, but I don't know details about that. The last, and most underrated deals are from Barnes and Noble, that has most sets at MSRP and usually has coupons of 20 and 30%, sometimes even at 40 and 50%, equaling a BOGO sale.

I voted for the new sandtrooper, although I really like Ceremonial Leia, the R5 droids and the Death Star Troopers as well. I'm really excited to collect these, I have 2 sets down, the rest yet to go... The summer wave has the best minifigs ever! So many new, awesome guys to get, I'm seriously going to be in financial trouble... I voted for Darth malgus, a truly amazing figure as the FBTB photos show, it really makes me see the potential for a new Darth Vader figure. It was a tight match, with the Amidala figure almost as great, not to mention Leia Boussh and the Boba Fett redesign. I'm in minifig heaven right now!

I doubt they are ditching him, it appears it was more of a case where the figure isn't display ready yet, as it's a complex new mold. And it would be smart of Lego to at least one card close to their chest for the eventual announcement, so we have yet another reason to be excited. For those of you (like me) who want a Slave Leia to go with the set, that figure can be had for $3-5 on Bricklink. I'm definitely going to get one to go with the rest of the figures. Jabba's Palace is amazing, the building looks good, and this is the ultimate set ever when it comes to new figures, pretty much every character but Chewie haven't been seen before. Now I'm a little worried about the price tag, as it seems the set could be $140, or almost 20c/piece!

There are also these clikits figures: Here Along the line of the Duplo figs there are the Primo figs: Here And this town plan set came with a police figure: Here and Here These horrific sets came with the one-piece minifigure head stands: Here Anyways, awesome comparison picture!

Congrats! Enjoy that Death Star, you'll have a blast building and displaying that set. Over the last few days I've picked up a swamp speeder and a 9489 Endor Battle Pack from S@H (with that awesome poster), as well as a 9492 Tie Fighter from Amazon.

I think Lego is doing just fine, there are plenty of offerings of both the licensed and normal kind. I don't really see Lego producing licensed themes as a problem, it's just another avenue of sales for them, and it has helped them increase sales as it's more acceptable for older kids and adults to buy those. Lego can barely produce enough sets as it is right now, just look at how desolate the isles were at the retailers this christmas, and that was at inflated prices, so I doubt there is any kind of oversaturation of the market. I see how the limited shelf life of certain sets can become a problem if the sets are advertised, but never show up in stores. That would breed frustration and dissatisfaction with TLG, however, even the most short-lived sets are out for 5-6 months, so people should be able to pick them up if they really want them. Quick turnover of sets is not a bad thing, it means that there are always fresh sets out there to grab people's fancy. Yes it can get expensive for those of us who are completionists, but among lego's core group, the kids, most would not have the opportunity to own them all anyways. As for the CMFs, they seem to be doing fine with a lifespan of 3-4 months where they are widely available before they disappear, and with an average rice of ~$50 per series the price is not awful either. In all honesty no one says you have to collect them all, I think plenty of kids are happy getting some of their favorites to play with.

Wow! This really looks like the car it is based on, super impressive! I'm assuming this is a 7-wide vehicle? In any case it really does fit minifigures well...

The hard to find sets on shop at home are either previous shop at home exclusives ( like Tower Bridge or the Pet Store) or limited edition sets that are retailer limited, meaning that they are available only through a single retailer in a country as well as S@H/ Lego stores.

Amazon has the new 9492 Tie fighter at 25% off right now. This gives the set a price of $41 or so, which is pretty much at the hallowed 10c/piece ratio. A great chance to pick up this overpriced but apparently great set.

I'm trying to be a completionist in recreating these sets, but I have completely given up on the instructions, the new listings showing up are up to $200 (!) for each of the sets. That is a hideous price for these instruction leaflets that honestly aren't that rare, and I'm surprised that more people (non-collectors especially) aren't selling their copies given that it could pay for several modular buildings.

It seems that Lego has raised the bar for what they want to run for more than one wave. They appear to want something like Ninjago, with virulent popularity before they give the go ahead for a second round. I think all themes have a chance to get more than one wave, but only a few get the green light. And it really makes sense, if at first you don't succeed, try again. This way they have more chances at getting a super-popular theme. For us as AFOLs it's great as we are getting exposure to many more themes, and hopefully it means Lego will be more adventurous with their themes than they would if they were stuck doing the same old thing.

Why are you buying the set? Are you buying to later sell it, or are you buying it to build it yourself? If it's the latter, I'd say go for it, because it will increase in price. However, if you're buying to sell I'd rethink it, as there are normally priced sets with a higher earnings potential than this set that has already appreciated significantly in price. If a lot of people are buying aftermarket sets at amounts that are a lot higher than MSRP, it could lead to a bubble in prices.

Provided I have neither of the sets, so I cannot really comment on the building experience, but I would say the funhouse based on both parts, value and especially the minifigures. It's a set that has so many of the Batman characters, it's really quite a unique value, and the price per parts ratio is also great for a licensed set.

If I remember the lore correctly, goblins and orcs are quite similar, but orcs have a master, in this case Sauron/Saruman, while goblins are essentially without masters and are normally found in caves (Mines of Moria, the Hobbit). The Uruk-Hai were orc-elf hybrids, bred long before Sauron's first reign, it's not like in the movies where they appear to only be bred from the beginning of Saruman going bad. So keeping the orcs and goblins similar makes sense, but hopefully the Uruks are distinct.

Honestly, I don't seen the controversy here, toys have been marketed separately for boys and girls as long as toys have been marketed, and I doubt that will change anytime soon. These feminists that are stirring things up because Lego is marketing separately to girls should really study up, as it has happened for the past forty years, and I find it ironic that the outcry comes now that lego has finally introduced a girls line that provides a building experience on the same playing field as the usual boy themes. My wife finally got the inventor's lab today, and she enjoyed the set tremendously. She likes Lego, although she doesn't build very often, and it takes something special for her to really enjoy it. I really think that these sets provide a good introduction to Lego for girls that would otherwise not like this kind of toy, and no one is telling girls that they have to only play with Friends Lego if they want to play with other themes.