brick-fu

I really don't think that $400 is too much for a Lego set. The Ghostbusters firehouse is $350, and it seems to be doing well. Let's say Lego did a Disney haunted mansion for instance....and did it really well. I'm talking 5,000 pieces, and super detailed with 20-30 mini figures. How much do you think folks would pay for that? I'm betting $400-500 wouldn't be a stretch. It all hinges on how well the set designs are executed. If Lego gives us more Ghostbusters firehouses and less Assault on Hoth, I think the price ceiling has not yet been reached. One thing is for sure, with this being Lego's largest ever Disney set there are going to be A LOT of people anticipating this. Lego has a chance to make a huge statement with this set. Let's just hope they have sense enough to realize that.....but I'm betting they do.

I like the look of the new ecto 1, and I will probably pick it up. I'll have to wait and see this new chinese restaurant facade before I make a decision. If its a very detailed facade with maybe a little bit on the backside I would probably consider it just to pose the car in front of. As for the movie, it looks like it might actually be funny. I'm willing to give it a shot.

Is there any precedent for Lego moving up the release date of other sets in order to recoup the losses of an under-performing set? In other words would they release the upcoming Cinderella castle or Death Star sooner to try and control the damage? It just seems that this thing is a total bomb....like nuclear blast scale. I bet Lego was really counting on this to carry them through the summer, at least for the star wars fans.

I certainly wouldn't mind a Disney parade set, but please oh please don't make it part of this castle set. I also wouldn't mind some of the buildings from Main St USA, but again different set. I would rather see every possible brick go towards making the castle as large as possible. Put me in the camp that's hoping for it to come in around $400 and be somewhere north of 4000 pieces.

I think maybe it's because a lot of us really want this set to be something special, and we don't want Lego to drop the ball ala assault on hoth. As I said, I'm cautiously optimistic that this set will live up to the hype.

I can say that I don't own any of the previous Hoth sets, but I still can't bring myself to buy this thing. It would be nice if Lego would offer up some expansion packs for this set. Perhaps a "hangar interior" set, or an expanded imperial assault force. But, alas I think they will want to distance themselves from this bomb as soon as possible. You will probably see it discounted sooner rather than later in hopes of boosting sales. I'm sure this has caused quite a few marketing/ design team meetings at Lego. I generally have a lot of faith in lego's designers. They have given us some awesome sets over the years. I almost wonder if what we ended up with was not the original set the designers submitted? Perhaps an originally awesome, tied together set was whittled down by bean counters to meet a certain price point? At any rate, I have faith that Lego will redeem themselves in the future. They are too good of a company not to. If you like this set, great. If like me you hate it, just chalk it up as a loss and wait for the Death Star.

Not to mention how unfinished the backside of the hangar and the ion canon are......they just look awful. I would be much happier if Lego would have provided a molded base with the set, perhaps one where the trench is a few inches lower than the hangar, and where everything would have a spot to snap into. Also, there isn't even a floor in the hangar. How hard would it be to have included a large white or gray tile for the floor? There is basically no play value inside the hangar......if this is going to be the ultimate hoth set where is the bacta tank at least? A friend of mine actually bought the set, and I went over and looked at it after he got it together........just horrible. I think he's gonna try to moc something out of it.

You are probably right. Lego fans are loyal, and we will part with our hard earned money......but we are not fools! Awful execution of what could have been an epic set.

Judging by the fact that the purchase limit has been increased to 5 already, and the rating is an abysmal 2.8....I think Lego is already learning their lesson here. I hope if they have any similar sets on the drawing board, they delay them until they can be redesigned or improved upon. It really is mind boggling that the same company that gave us the ghostbusters firehouse, temple of airjitzu, helicarrier, ewok village, sandcrawler and Death Star, even let this piece past the concept phase. How can anyone look at this and say "yeah, that'll sell like hot cakes!"

Yes, I believe it will appeal to kids for sure, but I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't think that a high retail price is going to hurt the sales of such an iconic set. Having said that, I'm a little concerned by the pictures in the link above. I really hope they haven't downsized the castle to accommodate those parade floats for the mini figures. If they want to make a separate disney parade set, then great! If we are indeed going to get a $350-400, 4,000 piece castle, then make those 4,000 pieces count!

As far as kids being able to afford it.....I'm probably gonna get blasted for this, but I don't think kids are the target audience for this set. There, I said it, lol. I think there has been a seismic shift in the way Lego develops products in the last few years. One of the most spectacular sets we've seen in recent memory is the ghostbusters firehouse. Since most kids are too young to remember the original movies, adults were clearly the target for that piece. Granted there is a new movie coming out this year, but it is not connected to the originals. Also, I seriously doubt that most of the sales for sets such as the helicarrier, sandcrawler and 66 batman were for children. I think if there was a way to track the numbers, the vast majority of those sets are being sold to adults. Now, back to the castle. While there is no doubt that some lucky kids will get the castle for Christmas, I don't believe many parents will be buying it for the kids on a whim. There is a legion of adult Disney fans that will snatch up this castle set along with the minifigures. For many of them, this might be their introduction to the world of Lego, and think Lego stands to gain many new customers with this castle set. Lego has a strong presence in the world of kids toys. They have Nexo Knights, ninjago, friends, all of the various city sets, and many more that are really targeted at kids. I think we are starting to see Lego testing the waters to see just how far they can go with the AFOL market. I don't know where the limit is personally. Would I pay $600-700 for a Lego set? Probably, so as long as it was a cool pop culture theme and really awesomely detailed. We are living in a golden age of Lego right now. I can't wait to see what the next few years have in store as Lego continues to expand and grow.

Thanks for updating this thread! That's awesome news about the size of the set. I am cautiously optimistic that this is going to be an awesome Lego set!

Yes, I agree. The target audience is not just kids nowadays. Take me for example. The Lego movie is largely responsible for re-igniting my interest in Legos....and I'm 36 years old! I think that lots of adults have always had a passion for Legos, however nowadays it's more mainstream. I also believe that Lego is starting to realize this. I think going forward we will see more and larger sets across the board. Also something to consider is the broad appeal of batman....that will factor in to the success of the Lego Batman movie.

I think there is 75-80% chance of a batman movie CMF series. It's no doubt going to be a blockbuster movie, and Lego will want to capitalize on that. The other way that we might get a lot of different bat suits is a large bat cave/ Wayne manor set with a bunch of minifigures....similar to the ewok village set.

I think Lego will go all in for this movie. Johnny Depp is reportedly not interested in doing anymore pirates movies anytime soon. Take that with a grain of salt, but I think this will be the last one for awhile. According to the POTC wiki, the black pearl, queen Anne's revenge and possibly the Flying Dutchman will return for this movie. As well as a couple of new ships. I feel like the black pearl is a must do, as well as the Dutchman since Lego has never done one. If the queen Anne's revenge does appear, you can probably bet on a re-issue of that set as well. I believe there will be plenty of pirate ships on shelves come next spring. Who knows, maybe the Dutchman will be a D2C Lego exclusive, as it is probably the largest ship in the movies, potentially a bigger set than the queen Anne's revenge.

I just wish that the designers weren't handicapped by bean counters. It would be nice to see at least one or two sets per year like the ghostbusters firehouse or the helicarrier. I honestly believe that collectors would pay $500 for a set if they really got their money's worth. Take the classic bat cave for instance. I am a fan of the series, so it was a day one purchase for me. However I'm willing to admit that it probably needed a little more rock work on the area around the poles, and maybe another room or two upstairs to make the set a little more symmetrical. I think most true collectors would rather pay a little more and grumble under their breath at the cash register, than end up with sets they are ultimately disappointed in. The assault on hoth is another example of this. With just a little more included to tie everything together it would be such a nicer set. In the end, I'm still a fan, and I will continue to buy and enjoy what Lego puts out. We all have our opinions though!

I would personally rather see more sets like the ghostbusters firehouse that are large and detailed. If they cost $300 or $350 then so be it. The way I see it, there will only be a few such sets every year. I can pass on some of the smaller, less impressive sets in order to save for the big sets. Nothing good ever comes from designing a set to meet a price point. Of course I'm just one person, and I'm sure there are people who will disagree.

This exactly the kind of set I wish Disney would pursue as a follow up to the cinderella castle set. They could actually do a small set like this for every classic disney film. Lego could stretch that out for 10 years, and i can almost guarantee they would sell like hotcakes......especially if they were to sell them in disney parks.

CM4Sci, thank you for all the information you have provided! Are you saying that the four main rotundas at the front of the castle are 8 wide each, and some of the upper spires of the castle are 4 wide? If so that would still be a fairly impressive piece!

I would love to see a Muppets theatre set. That is one property that is absolutely perfect for Lego. The muppets are owned by Disney now, so the licensing shouldn't be much of an issue. While they're at it, I would also like to see some Masters of the Universe Legos. There have been some awesome Moc's done over the years, and He-Man is making a come back of sorts here lately. Also, I just voted for the Addam's family house over at the Lego Ideas website, as that's a license I've wanted Lego to pick up for quite some time. It would also be great to see a few Flintstones or Jetsons sets, but I think those are a long shot. Finally, it would be great to see some sets based on other classic tv shows such as Gilligans Island, The Andy Griffith show, Full House, Family Matters, maybe even Married with Children. Oh, and I almost forgot....we need the house from Home Alone complete with all the booby traps!

I whole heartedly agree. If Lego makes this anything less than a $300-400 set, prepare to be underwhelmed. I want this to be a centerpiece of my collection. disney has a HUGE fan base, that have proven to be willing to spend big bucks on merchandise. I really don't want to see Lego play conservative on this one.

Any idea when we might hear some rumblings about new POTC sets? I know the official announcement probably won't be until toy fair next year.

I wish we could get some info from someone who has seen it. Although it may have only been seen within the Lego company at this point. I'm still cautiously optimistic about this set.

Not that Lego is hurting financially, but I think it will be a huge missed opportunity if they don't market some potter themed sets to go along with the release of the fantastic beasts movie. But again, I'm not a marketing guy.

Just because there is only a facade, doesn't mean there can't be a detailed interior. Just look at the tower of orthanc set or bilbo's house from the hobbit line. I think that would really be the ideal situation, a detailed large facade with some interior details on the back.