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jdubbs

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Everything posted by jdubbs

  1. jdubbs
    In one of the promotional stills for TLJ, Rey is standing on a cliff on Ach-To overlooking the ocean, where you can see Luke's X-WIng submerged under the water.
  2. jdubbs
    They're both pretty boring. The builds are the best they could be, I suppose, but the choice of these two characters for the first official general-release Star Wars Brickheadz seems kind of uninspired. Such a contrast to the NYCC Boba and Han Carbonite, which I think would have sold much better at retail than these two will... both because they're much cooler builds and because they're more popular/iconic characters.
  3. jdubbs
    And Han in Carbonite, which will never happen. <sigh>
  4. jdubbs
    I for one would love them to shift the modular releases until, say, March to separate them from the glut of new stuff that inevitably gets released toward the end of the year. Aside from the fact that I am trying to catch up with the existing modulars (having started collecting these late) there are sooo many other high-priced sets released in the last few months that are vying for attention. Looking back at the year, 7 D2C sets were released in the second half of 2017 (totalling $2040 US) versus 3 in the first half (totalling $680)... and there's still a chance another set could be released before year's end! It would be nice if these scale of sets were more evenly distributed throughout the year.... While of course a 2+ year lifecycle means you can delay purchases on the new stuff, each new set displaces something else (older modulars and big-ticket sets like the Classic Batcave, GB Firehouse, etc.) that suddenly has to be purchased before it's retired.
  5. jdubbs
    From the leaked photo, it looks like there are printed tiles for at minimum the belt and possibly the T-visor in the helmet... though I think that is brick-built. I think our only hope is that the convention exclusive is, say, the RotJ variant and an ESB variant comes as a general release later. In general I have a lot of respect for how TLG handles exclusives. It's soooo much better than how Hasbro does things (for Force Friday alone, Hasbro released 2-3 exclusives each for almost a dozen retailers, which was maddening). Hopefully this isn't a rehash of the UCS Falcon where they don't make enough, resort to lottery distribution, and aftermarket prices are 10x retail.
  6. jdubbs
    Absolutely unbelievable that they would make Boba Fett a convention exclusive. That really pisses me off... it only makes me NOT want to collect Brickheadz. It's one thing to take a handful of products each year and make them retailer exclusives, but the convention exclusives are next to impossible to obtain without paying through the nose, even if you are able to go to the convention. TLG seriously should know better than this.
  7. jdubbs
    I am frankly surprised we are getting this wave. In the US at least, the major retailers have had almost every TLBM set on 20-30% markdown since they were released. It doesn't seem that any of it sold very well. The only sets I haven't found heavily discounted are the Penguin limo and the Ultimate Batmobile. Definitely agree that I don't want to see any more of it, and I'm sure I'm not the only collector suffering from LEGO Movie fatigue. I'm curious to see if the Ninjago Movie sets fare any better; they look like far superior designs at better price points, but the movie got pretty poor reviews and seems to be flopping at the box office.
  8. jdubbs
    At this point I wouldn't expect it to just show up as in-stock on the website without prior notice. They've already warned that it will remain out of stock through the Oct 1 general release date... Given that they've got a notice up on the product page about the problem, I expect we will see another update advising when more stock will be available, before anything shows up for sale.
  9. jdubbs
    It's highly unlikely any non-current movie would get a full wave unto itself. But given that LEGO is still putting out Clone Wars sets years after it went off the air, I think it's safe to assume we will get another Rogue One set or two mixed in with upcoming 2018 and 2019 waves. My hope is that a cargo shuttle will come next fall, since there won't be a December 2018 movie, and since both Kylo's and Krennick's shuttles should be long-retired by then. And then maybe the following year we might get an AT-ACT, once the ridiculous Gorilla Walker is off shelves.
  10. jdubbs
    I wasn't collecting modulars the last time one was retired... did the LEGO Store discount it once it was listed as "Retiring Soon"? I don't have the Palace Cinema yet, and even though it is currently listed as out of stock in the US, I'm guessing it will come back in stock at some point, since a) it was never even listed as Retiring Soon on the website and b) the Batcave has been going in and out of stock (and backordering) ever since it was listed as Retiring Soon.
  11. jdubbs
    I assumed the nose bits were related to Unkar Plutt's ill-advised modifications to the Falcon... there might be something about this in the Incredible Cross Sections book? The radar dish was replaced after the original was knocked off inside the second Death Star.
  12. jdubbs
    Pictures not showing up.
  13. jdubbs
    I have the original Y-Wing and it was super-annoying to display... the nacelles kept falling off. But it was also surprisingly true to the original prop, so I'm not sure there's a lot they can do to improve it.... versus the Rebel Blockade Runner or Star Destroyer which to me at least look more dated. Another playset is also a possibility, perhaps an Endor bunker assault or a hybrid playset like Jabba's Sail Barge. Especially if the Assault on Hoth playset retires in the next six months, which seems likely given it was discounted for the Force Friday sale. But my money is on the A-Wing. It can be done to scale with other starfighters for ~$150, it hasn't been done before (addressing complaints that so many recent UCS sets have been rehashes of previous sets), it's the last of the classic trilogy starfighters to receive the UCS treatment, AND it appears in Episode VIII.
  14. jdubbs
    Bear in mind that the Falcon was not the next UCS set after the Death Star Redux. The Snowspeeder was. So if you choose to believe this silhouette is a tease for a new UCS Star Destroyer, it could just as easily (and more likely) be coming a year from now rather than in the winter/spring. My guess is that the next UCS set will be on the smaller size ($200 or less) to offset the extreme price of the Falcon, which makes an A-Wing or Poe's X-Wing the most logical choices. A TIE Bomber would be great, but that ship is dense, so I would expect a Bomber in scale with the UCS TIE Fighter to be more like $300.
  15. jdubbs
    You're going to be dealing with a lot of mud and sediment. I'm actually from Austin and our house was flooded Memorial Day 1981... I still have childhood books that survived the flood, as did some of my dad's McIntosh stereo equipment, believe it or not. So there is hope... JangBricks' YouTube channel has a video detailing how he cleans the sets he buys used... basically immerse bricks in hydrogen peroxide and set them in direct sunlight for an hour or two (make sure they're fully immersed... I've done it myself and it worked best if I used two glass bowls, one larger than the other, and sandwiched the bricks in between them). With that many bricks you're going to have a lot to clean... on Amazon you can find large jugs of hydrogen peroxide for much cheaper than you'll find at Walgreens. And a salad spinner works well to dry them. Jang's instructions cover how to clean (semi-)permanently discolored bricks, by the way... in theory short-term contact with mud wouldn't require this level of cleaning. But given all else that you're dealing with and the size of your collection, it may be a while before you can devote cleanup time to your bricks, which is why I suggested using his technique.
  16. jdubbs
    Really happy the inner areas of the six exhaust vents are brick-built rather than stickers.
  17. jdubbs
    It has an underside! (more or less.)
  18. jdubbs
    I can't wait for the 5-10 pages of mind-numbing debate about whether this constitutes a "real" UCS set because they opted for block lettering over the stupid seal.
  19. jdubbs
    If you're looking at it on an iPad you may only see the zoomed-in photo... at least, this is what happened to me. If you read the comments and search for the twitter account of the user who originally posted the image, you'll find the second image with the four minifigs. Or switch to a laptop or desktop computer.
  20. jdubbs
    The online LEGO Store shows different availability in different regions. In the U.S., the Train and the Toy Shop have been either in stock or available for backorder consistently since their introduction. In the UK and other parts of the world, not so much.
  21. jdubbs
    I love the LotR sets (until the last wave, which was totally phoned-in) but it's not gonna happen. Christopher Tolkien retains the rights to that book and by most accounts he wasn't a fan of what was done with The Hobbit and LotR... so the likelihood he sells the film rights for any other books are slim-to-none. Still, the LotR sets are a cautionary tale for HP. LEGO clearly hoped they had the makings of a long-running line of sets, but it seems the sales just weren't there. I gather they are struggling to find another evergreen line of the likes of SW, Ninjago, and City. I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to do a rotating lineup of smaller licenses, each of which gets attention for a year before going on hiatus to make way for another license. This is basically the approach Playmobil takes... one year they do Knights, the next they do Pirates, then History, and back to Knights. It seems like this approach would allow LEGO to do HP one year, then cycle through a few waves dedicated to another of their licenses like Goonies, Ghostbusters, Pirates of the Caribbean, E.T., and even LotR. This would relieve the pressure on any one license to become evergreen and allow them to tie into movie releases and anniversaries as they come and go.
  22. jdubbs
    I am a bit surprised that the first wave of Rogue One sets are retiring so quickly... just a year or so on the market. The first wave of TFA is (for the most part) still available... and those sets are a year older than the Rogue One equivalents. They could be keeping sets like the Falcon, Poe's X-Wing, First Order TIE, and Kylo's Shuttle around because they'll be featured in TLJ. But I hope it doesn't mean the Rogue One sets didn't sell well... I still have fingers crossed that we'll see a Rogue One Cargo Shuttle once Kylo's and/or Krennic's shuttles are off the market. I think it's highly unlikely another UCS set would be announced alongside the UCS Falcon... it would be totally eclipsed by the attention paid to the Falcon, and no one would have the budget for two UCS sets at once. The next UCS set will likely come in the first few months of 2018, around the time the Snowspeeder was announced.... but the way I read his comments, the "big" set he's referring to is another system-scale set that he worked on, since those are the sets he warns are retiring.
  23. jdubbs
    No, they do a big day-of reveal across all brands. Hasbro's stuff hasn't been officially revealed yet either.
  24. jdubbs
    Since they don't increase prices on sets after they've been released, LEGO prices their sets for the (entire) expected lifespan of the set. You can see this at work in sets like the current UCS Death Star, which has a higher price-per-piece than other UCS sets, at least partly because that set will be on the market for years and years (the previous version was sold for 7 years, versus ~3 for most UCS sets). The Winter Village Station won't be sold for that long, but in the US at least, it should be on the market for 2-3 years. It's possible the set was mis-priced for the UK. But it's also likely that LEGO is hedging their bets — with Brexit looming and the uncertainty it has created for the long-term value of the pound (not to mention import/export agreements that will inevitably change against the UK's favor) — they're better off pricing sets higher for the UK as a defense against devaluation down the line.
  25. jdubbs
    The train is still available at the LEGO Store, as is the re-released Winter Village Toy Shop from two years ago.
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