Fatteh

A mint 8002 Destroyer Droid with full complement of spare rubber bands. What a ridiculously impressive piece of design. The first time I rolled it and it sprung open, my partner's jaw actually dropped. Apparently that was because she couldn't believe I was biffing my precious lego around the room though. Very, very cool set.

For the technic heads, Sariel's Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide is just $31 at the US Book Depository at the moment with free international shipping. Also, Farmers had the new ninjago sets at 25% off if you can find them, and apparently the Lego NZ distributor still has a bunch of the second 2012 ninjago wave which may appear once the 2013 stuff has cleared out.

Ha. I'd rather pay $100 for that version than the new one though. Still have a new Bag End set if anyone wants to trade.

Heya Jingo. PM me here: binklebonk@hotmail.com

$400 I think.

Err, I've got a spare one.

I picked up an extra one for some reason. PM me if you're interested in it, or if anyone just happens to have a 9449 ultrasonic raider they'd like to trade for it.

Cheers for the info on An Unexpected Gathering. Didn't think I'd be picking it up, but 'tis a very nice little set for $70.

Warehouse has shunted more sets to clearance. They're gone from the website, but if you can find 'em Helm's Deep is going for $120, Mill village raid $60 and Gungan sub $50. Amongst others.

No worries. Did you manage to get one? My finder's fee of $182 is payable by the end of the month. It's your fault that I went to the iqtoys site and saw Helm's Deep on special. Their website is a bit funky sometimes. I once put a few items in my cart that were nicely discounted, but didn't purchase them. Months later I put one of those items back in my cart and was charged the original discounted price even though it was no longer on special. Sweet.

Here you go: http://www.iqtoys.co.nz/product/12738687/lego-creator---volkswagen-t1-camper-van-10220/

Cheers Callum. Found one of the small sets at a local store. Phew.

Should've thought to check in the stores before telling one of my wee girls that I'd get them some Friends Lego for Xmas. Local TW owner reckons the world has sold out of it. Whoops.

Australia is considering lowering their GST exemption ceiling on imports from $1,000 to $30. Given that NZ often follows Ausy in such legislation and that our retailers have been lobbying for a similar reduction, the days of sweet deals from offshore sellers may be numbered. Pretty much every package would be hit with the 5% toys and models duty on the value of the contents; then 15% GST on the total of the value of the contents + the freight charge + the 5% duty (yes, you pay GST on the freight and all duty charges); and finally topped off with the blanket $38 Import Entry Transaction Fee. So a $50 package from BL with $15 postage, may soon incur $2.50 duty + $10.13 GST + $38 IETF for a not so nice total of $115.63. Ugh.

Recently bought the Logging Truck as my first technic set and was amazed at the ingenious construction and functions. 8043 is sitting under my desk right now, patiently waiting for xmas. This book looks like just the thing for getting into some building. Technic for teh win!

Heads up for anyone into Hero Factory: the Warehouse has included the large HF sets in their two for $25 deal. I just picked up Stormer XL and Speeda Demon for a ridiculous 72% off RRP.

Sure: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=525788336 Passed in on a $100 reserve and was offered for $75. There's a droid or two missing, but came with an extra clone and all are in top notch condition - presumably from a build and display owner - so I'm not complaining.

Saw that AT-TE going begging. Pretty surprised that it passed in and went to an offer. Good luck with the gunship. I've picked up a few goodies lately. Mint, complete Republic Attack Shuttle for $50; New Heroica Fortaan for $20 and a collection of 6 of the older SW battle packs plus a Hailfire Droid set for $75 (34 minfigs! Imagine how much certain TM traders couldn't sell those for!). Haven't seen any out of the ordinary sales at the retailers, but I did notice quite a lot of the previous SW wave reappearing on local warehouse shelves and still at clearance prices though not marked as such. I could be a starter for a few of the bigger LOTR sets. Probably not till the new year though.

Yaar. Be interesting to see where it ends up. Does anyone remember the NZ RRP for the 8019 Republic Attack Shuttle?

So they did. One of the other retailers had it for $70, so I'd assumed that was RRP. Guess shop.lego.com/en-NZ has its uses after all.

For the LotR army builders out there, 9471 Uruk-Hai Army is a very reasonable 40% off at the Warehouse until the 9th.

The current 20% promotion at the Warehouse applies to all the clearance sets as well, making for a lot of very cheap Lego. Like the Technic Logging Truck for $150, down from $250.

In case anyone is interested yet unaware, teh Warewhare has dumped a lot of stuff to clearance lately: any HP,PotC and Alien Conquest left floating around; lots of Ninjago (the Fire Temple is half price again); and also practically all the SW not from the most recent wave: Battle of Naboo, Geonosian Cannon and Droid Escape are $35; latest BPs are $20; Ewok Attack is an almost reasonable $40. Spotted a few manager's specials on top of these. Plenty of solid bargains out there at the moment. Also, I noticed today that the enormous 9396 Technic helicopter - which has a RRP of US$120 - is coming out in NZ for about $150 local clams. Whut? Is this a TLG ploy to lure NZers into splurging on still more product lines?

Did you get yours from a retailer, BL or somewhere else? I've been thinking about picking up more LotR sets and should probably shop around for the best deals.

Nice, but in the context of a number of collections shown in this thread it's probably more of a good start.