MAH4546

The set has not been discontinued and will be widely available again next fall.

1) Prices in the United States do not include tax, prices in Europe does. So, depending where you live in the U.S., you add between 0% (in Oregon) and 11% to the price. 2) The United States has cheaper distribution costs. I don't get why people can't get this through their skull. When distribution costs are low, the product can be sold at a lower price. It's really that simple. If Europe had cheaper distribution costs, then prices would be lower in Europe. But Europe doesn't have cheap distrubiton costs. It is expensive to distribute things in Europe! It doesn't have the mass economics of scale, and it has a larger number of outlets to distribute to, whereareas in the United States a total of five companies - Target, Wal Mart, K-Mart, Toys "R" Us and Amazon - account for over 90% of LEGO distribution! This makes it insanely cheap to distribute the product.

Passenger train will be $119.99; cargo $149.99.

My collection is mostly kept in a dimly lit, always-air conditioned room, and sets that I've had for 10+ years are still white as new.

Depends on the parents. LEGO is seen as a high-quality, long lasting gift by parents, which explains its recent sales surge in this economy, despite the price. All I can say is that my local Toys "R" Us was stock full of train sets in early December, and wiped out a few weeks later. Parents are buying them.

Since when? Children have parents. In the early 1990s the Metroliner cost $150 without a speed regulator, compared to $90 for the current passenger train. I remember buying Airport Shuttle new one year - and that cost $180. The cargo train in 1992 cost $120. The cargo train in 1998 cost $150, the same as today's cargo train. And you still had to buy a speed regulator to go with it! Today's trains are cheaper. Can children not afford Xbox, Wii and Playstations?

I have over 600 sets that retail for $14,146, largely Town sets from 1987 to 1996. I have a few doubles of sets, one opened and one sealed. My pride and joy is a sealed 6394 (Metro Park & Service Tower), but I obviously have an open one alongside it.

Stop reading into these images. Wait until February. The fact that the trucks are already in other sets kind of gives away what didn't win.

The TRU exclusive will be unveiled at the New York Toy Fair in February, so I don't really get why people are trying to read into the leaked train images.

"March release" means December in the U.S. The fuel truck, airplane and airport should be arriving at Toys R Us in time for gift-card shoppers after Christmas.

Some TRU stores are selling it for $12.99. Toys R Us pricing varies by store - they discriminate based on income of the surroundings. Hence in Los Angeles I can go to the Toys R Us in La Cienega that serves Beverly Hills and the LEGO City construction set site is $119.99, but a Toys R Us in East Los Angeles has it for $99.99.

Toys R Us recieved shipments of 3179 - Repair Truck this weekend. Retails for $14.99, but since it is 25% today through December 24th, so $11.24.

This set is now available at U.S. Shop at Home but only with a purchase of $50 or more by using code "USTR" at check-out. It cannot be purchased seperately Expires December 31st.

$4.99/4,99€

The LEGO store in Los Angeles (Glendale Galleria) has plenty Cafe Corners.

They are not TRU exclusives. The LEGO store prices will be $3.49 and $4.99. The seaplane is $9.99, the utility truck is $12.99. I'm guessing here, but the limo/copter will probably be $29.99; the new green tractor $34.99; the jet $39.99; the new airport $89.99.

Toys "R" Us did receive the Traveller and City Car sets this week at $3.49 and $4.99, respectively, but the prices will go up within a month to $4.99 and $6.99. Toys R Us tends to sell new releases at a discount price before jacking up the price past retail. The airport sets should be arriving at TRU next week in time for the Christmas rush.

Certainly not the far superior minifig scale I grew up with, where you didn't need a master-size bedroom to make a decent town layout. The sets are great, but the jumbo scale of the new sets is just annoying. There's Playmobil for that. Though LEGO is far more creative now then they have been since the early 1990's. Finally no more race cars, and a fire truck set stays on the market for a long period of time because, well, we don't need a new fire truck every three years. And we city buses, limos, farms, etc. A lot more variety, thankfully.

It's all a matter of personal opinion. LEGO is not real life. I miss the old days of "minifig scale." Planes were four-wide, but, so what? It was actually easy to make a compact city layout. Everything doesn't have to be a huge like it is nowadays. I like the new City sets for what they are and I do collect them, but I miss "minifig scale" classic Town.

It is pretty clear from the wording of the statement by LEGO that the set will be available once again for the holiday's next year.

Greece is a small market. LEGO is not even that popular in Greece - one of few countries where Playmobil has a greater marketshare. They have to make up for the small size of the market somehow. I know it sucks, but larger markets have lower fixed costs and will see lower prices. It's a fact of life.

Blury, but better than nothing: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=358870 The bus looks great!!!! So does the camper! And the garage is huge!

Indeed, it looks like when LEGO was taking into account the pricing of sets for 2009, they priced them more accordingly with the weak dollar. Kind of funny now that the dollar is the strongest it has been in years. However, it also looks like LEGO had some change of hear later on, because the retail prices for many sets are lower than LEGO's prices, at least so far. This set is actually $99.99 at LEGO.com, but is only $89.99 in stores. Similarly, the Pirate ship is $99.99 from LEGO, but only $84.99 in stores. The pricing this year makes little sense! It is possible that given the recent weakness of the Euro, LEGO re-evaluated their pricing to retail stores, but kept it inline for their own retail operations. This is possible because LEGO probably structures their own pricing before they structure the suggested pricing for retail stores, and by the time the retail price suggestions were being formulated, the dollar had become stronger. As for tax, it totally depends where you live. It can be as high as 10.75% (Chicago, Illinois), but it can also be as low as 0% (Portland, Oregon).

The Construction Site is $10 cheaper ($89.99) at TRU.

Stores do not price match BOGO sales. I find it odd that people are paying so much on eBay for the Target Star Wars set. The Targets I have been too are still stock full of them. I'll probably pick one up after Christmas when Target knocks them down to 75% like they did last year with all the leftover airport sets.