Jareth

If you make the bram style sphere, you could cover it with lego sails the way TLG did with the Grand Carousel

Considering how long lego has been around, I think the inflation issues are miniscule. Especially compared to Gasoline. Anyway, I've noticed lego sets have gone up in price by about 10% and I think that it is because of rising oil prices. My Evidence? Well, lots of the standard bricks and plates are lighter by using hollow rods and thinner walls. Making a piece more complex white reducing the mass means that the raw material is now more expensive than the labor. plus there's this set http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=6161&sku=3b850642-995d-4e47-bed8-d1fc825c6368 A basic brick box which used to be $15 in the US, and now it's $20. No new molds, exact same set, BUT it has a lot of 2xX bricks. The only things that can explain this price increase are devalued currency and higher plastic prices. Although either is possible, I think the plastic prices are a whole lot more likely.

The TRU in Madison WI is selling sets 8964 (Titanium Command Rig) and 7642 (Garage) for 69.99 each (used to be 100 each) but the sale only lasts until Monday the 14th. There are some other sales on SW but not spectacular

I recall reading a few years ago that developing new pieces (molds) was one of the most expensive things that TLG did. I don't think that that is the case anymore. Remember the Yellow Castle set? It is still one of the best sets for it's time because it had a lot of 1 x 1 and 1 x 3 pieces and those were extremely rare at the time. Now not only is TLG making lots of specialized parts for itself and for licensed sets, it's also making pieces specifically for the collectible minifig sets. The finla proof for me was when I bought some rock monster keychains to find that they had made a special mold for the body of the rock monster. There was a pillar inside the body to anchor the screw. If they are making a specialized mold just for a keychain that will only be in production for two years, it must be a lot cheaper to make a mold these days. Is this a problem? ... well, yes and no. I'm very happy to see the return of the pitchfork and the introduction of useful elements like tile 1x3, but on the other hand it can go too far the other way. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44443&st=180 look at the megablocks picture....it's true horror is not that it's megablocks, it's that this set is at least half useless, <insert that tiresome argument> pieces....and it makes BURPs look good. Anyway, my point is that if, God forbid, TLG continues making more and more new pieces, it will start to look more and more like this.

You've visited 4 lego stores in one day guilty

Has anyone seen how many pieces these new sets have? That would really help me make a decision about which ones to buy

I've been very interested in the Mill, Whitecap bay, London escape and the fountain of youth. Then I did a Little research here on this thread and was pleasantly surprised. Most of the sets have a pretty good price per part compared to other licensed lines. Captain's Cabin and Cannibal Escape are good enough for me to get interested in as parts packs/army builders. However the fountain of youth is only 95 pieces, 3 minfigs and 20$ (American) I think I'll be skipping the fountain unless the preliminary price list was way off.

Hi there, as you can see I'm going by Jareth these days, I'm currently living in Southern Wisconsin. (but no far south enough to make weekly trips to a chicago lego store) As a child I was very big into Lego Castle although I also had a soft spot for Blacktron I. Now I'm a fan of any system in clearance, but this years castle and POTC may change that. My other interests are cooking, nature and other forms of art. Anyway, Hello!