turk187

I'm almost done building my NC Gardens, and there are definitely some odd building choices. There is a building where one wall uses two 2x3 tan bricks and one the other side it uses 4 2x3 tan plates and 6 1x2 tan plates to build two 2x3 tan bricks. Just weird. It has been discussed here and the idea that it is about raising the piece count, or creating a "textured" look. The textured look doesn't fly when the parts are hidden. And, I'm not sure about piece count being that big a deal. I do usually calculate the price-per-piece, but I don't think its that big a deal. So, now I'm thinking it might be a manufacturing issue. If you need X number of parts, but you only have Y number of molds and you need to produce Z number of sets, you either have to create more molds to keep up with production demands, or you substitute another piece. I think this is the most likely explanation.

Is that a reference to something? Did it happen in the show?

On the NC Gardens, does anyone know why there is a hole in the wall behind the Mega Monster park poster??

They might actually do that to increase part count. But, I'm sure they have SOME reason. Even if it doesn't make sense to us.

Lego only makes so many parts in so many colors. So, when they use 2 bricks were one could do it is often, but not always, because the larger brick is not made in that color. But, when building a batmobile I had the same issue with two black parts where one would do, and they had the single brick in the set somewhere else. Not sure why they did that.

So, yesterday some friends and I drove into Houston to visit a gaming store that had finished an expansion. (Goldmine, Richmond TX. AMAZING store, check it out if you are ever in the area) Then we drove into Houston proper and went to the Galleria. I, of course, wanted to go to the Lego store. First, there was a line to get in. They had to limit the number of people allowed in at the same time. It wasn't a long line, but it was a line. Then, I was given hand sanitizer. The pick-a-brick wall was EMPTY as was the minifigure bin. Covid sucks. But, they had several items in stock that are currently backordered at Lego.com I got my Ninjago Gardens, the Pirate Bay, Mos Eisly Cantina, the Elf Clubhouse, 2 Hidden Side sets that were on sale, two Chinese sets, and a couple of smaller items. Spent about 1300$ US. Could have spent another $1000, if I had it to spend. They didn't have the Razorcrest, or the Monkie Kid sets I really want. I still need 2 modulars, the Haunted Mansion, and Sesame Street. Still, quite a haul, and I am spending today building my Ninjago City Gardens.

Just to the UK, or for everybody? And, is it because of Covid, or something else? I never thought of NC as dull, until NCG came out. And, the reception seems mostly positive. There are some nitpicky issues, but overall people seem to really like the gardens.

Does it come closer if you can recoup $80? Because that is what Master Wu is selling for on eBay.

On at least two occasions, I have actually gotten a Lego shipment before I go the shipping notice. I am NOT complaining. Just saying...

It doesn't look all that complicated. Its 2 docks, one slightly modded and the Temple of Airjitzu with water tiles added.

I bought 2 NC sets and made one as a mirror of the first. I was already thinking of doing something like that with the Gardens. Right now the Master Wu figure is SELLING for $80 on eBay (not offered, actually selling for that) and the rest of the figures as a set are going for 100-150$ I don't have enough water tiles for another NC section and this set has about $80 worth. IF I can get 200$ for master Wu and the other minis then another NC Gardens is a great deal for parts. I tried building a middle section and it just looked boring to me. This one is better than mine, but I still like the corner set better. I'm working on an inside corner piece right now to join the two sets at an angle. I look at eBay prices and wonder this stuff myself. I see in-production sets being offered for 2x MSRP and wonder what the hell is going on.

Mine has a delivery date of 1/23 which is this Saturday, and I will be out of town all day. I'm going to Houston. I'll visit the Galleria Lego Store while I'm there, which means the NC Gardens I build on Sunday will be the 2nd on I buy.

I agree with you, we should drop this. Its a great set with a few little issues. We should move on. I was just pointing out that the original NC set had issues too, and its no big deal.

Among all of this talk of inaccessibility, remember there was no way to get to the elevator from the bottom floor of the original NC.

Mine now says "shipped"

Are the Ninja hide-outs the only ones that can't be accessed? If so, that makes sense to me. They are areas that were not meant to be accessible to the public and the Ninjas just took them over.

When this first started, I was thinking the same as Bilis, but I went back and looked and every section of NC and NCD is accessible by ladder, stair or walkway.

Thank God, somebody calm and collected. The discussion of the inaccessibility of the tower is getting really intense.

LOL.

I've been thinking about and addition to NC using Garmadon's volcano lair as the basis. Now I'm thinking of an add-on that references a bunch of Ninjago villain's. Now, I just have to figure out who they are as I've only ever seen the movie.

You'd be surprised how much you can get for figures. Right now the Wu figure is going for $80 (I'm not seeing any sold at that price yet, but i will keep an eye on it.) The ninjas won't go for much, but the regular people are actually likely to go for more than 5$ especially if they are exclusive to this set. I won't sell them right away, I'll most likely hang on to them for awhile. I've found that you can easily get half the set price for just the figures.

I'm thinking I might end up buying 2 more NC gardens. I want to build more extensions and buying these sets seems more economical than buying all the bits I need off of Bricklink. If I sell the minifigs on eBay I should recoup around $100 per set (20 minifigs at $5 each, the Gold Wu might end up a $15-$20 mini by itself) and it looks like they use around 500 trans-blue 1x2 tiles, that's around $80 dollars on Bricklink just for those.

So, after watching several videos and looking at the pictures and information we have, these are my overall thoughts: The Gardens is a worthy follow-up to Ninjago City and NC Docks. it looks wonderful, and i can't wait until it is here and i can build it. NC has more features - rotating Sushi resteraunt, the elevator, ATM, crab oven, etc. Gardens is more colorful, more interesting in architecture terms. NC was 4777 bricks at $300, about 6 cents a piece. Gardens is 5685 bricks at $300, about 5 cents a piece. I usually think that around 7 cents a piece is a good price. This is a subjective measure since bricks vary from the single stud size up to baseplates and really big pieces. But, price per piece is a good estimate. Both sets have 19 minifigures plus 3 figures as part of the buildings - NC had 2 maniquins and Lloyds suit. Gardens has a blue ninja suit, Zane statue and a figure used as part of a sign) The Gardens is more open Than NC, and I would be willing to bet that the Gardens is lighter than NC. Bricklink has the weight of NC at 6200grams. We don't have a weight for the gardens, but I'm betting it will be lower than that. So, a "bigger" set with more pieces made from less plastic. If the Gardens had the same mass (the amount of plastic) I'd guess it would be $350-$375. I'm betting that there is a big push at Lego to do more with less. Recent sets are getting more creative, but smaller.

Lucky you. I'm green with envy. Can you look at the inventory and tell me how many trans-blue 1x2 tiles are in this one? I'm trying to calculate something.

I didn't know about Brickeconomy, but there prices are way lower than Bricklink or ebay. I wonder what they are basing them on?