Flak Maniak

Anyone ever had a BrickLink seller ask for a phone number? Placed an order fairly recently and the seller sent a BrickLink message asking for my phone number in order to send the package. I thought it was a little weird, but I gave them my number because it's not THAT strange for online stores to ask for one. But it was the first time I'd been asked on BL. They're shipping from Poland -> USA, if it matters.

Predicting it now: The summer 2020 Ninjago armor piece will be a hit, and will be in fairly high demand a few years down the line. You may rake me over the coals in 2025 if this isn't true, or call me biased right now because I like the piece so much.

You will get an email saying it shipped, after which it should no longer say "in warehouse". At that point, expect to wait however many business days Lego says it will take in that email.

Was browsing Brickset earlier. Looked at a couple BrickHeadz' pages. Why is Sweet Mayhem's secondary-market price so weirdly high? Other BrickHeadz, older ones, with prestigious licenses, don't go for that much. What's the deal? Why's this 2019 set jumped up to $40 already?

Elves was not only underrated but look at the dearth of historical/fantasy products out now. Anything vaguely in that vein (especially designs as eye-catching as Elves) can easily surge for that reason, even if it doesn't have in-demand minifigs.

I love the look of it, and just how impractically large it is. Does it come apart in sections so you can move it around? Or did it just get built on one table, and now it lives there forever? Definitely an imposing build; I guess it's fitting that a gothic cathedral be too large for practicality. Also, any idea how many parts are in it? How many tens of thousands?

One thing I found was that if I put the gold parts in my cart, even if they were displayed as out of stock later, they were still in my cart. So I accumulated all the interestingly-priced ones into one cart over time. Didn't even order max quantity; not sure why.

My second order was made on June 20 and got here yesterday. So yeah, it can take a while. Honestly given the very low shipping cost I've got no problems with the slow shipping time. I'm patient about shipping in general; that's one thing I won't often complain about. 20+ days from order placed to parts received is more than fine with me, if everything is there. And so it was, so I'm very satisfied with my second order.

It really just looks like the dish causes Mario to physically move over the objects. Registering my prediction in agreement with those above who've posited this. It's no more complex than that.

My first order had significant missing pieces, so I resolved to carefully count each order as it arrives. It's just good practice, I think. The second order had zero missing pieces but actually some extras, leaving me pleasantly surprised. Honestly, even though it takes a while, carefully counting each order is kinda fun, and recaptures some of the excitement of buying those parts in the first place. I'd do a loot shot of my second order except without thinking I already started putting the parts in their places in the shelves. Maybe I'll photo the snake army (snarmy), newly large from this order.

My second order got here; finished counting it and yeah it's all there. (In fact they gave me four of one minifig head I ordered two of; everything else was exactly as many as I ordered.) Good stuff! Probably I should have ordered less; who knows when I'll use the extra set of summer 2019 spin energy effects. Hopefully I'll find good figure parts to pair with all the helmets that I ordered. We'll see! (And yeah you can call me impulsive for ordering more summer 2019 forbidden spinjitzu cowls; I'll cop to that. I see cool parts, even ones I have, and I order them!)

Combined with the stars from The Lego Movie 2, no doubt?

Alright, here's a question: How many of you are planning to buy a) At least one Super Mario set b) But NOT the starter set c) And NOT Bowser's Castle either ?

It's definitely possible that certain Ninjago parts are considered "licensed" in some way, for some arbitrary reason. But "Ninjago is licensed in general and thus always unavailable" is transparently false. I mean, even the haul shots in this thread disprove it! Lego's fragment of policy up there is clearly not accurate, given all the Ninjago minifig parts available on B&P right now. Regarding capes, you can actually find various ones listed on B&P as out of stock. (Haven't found one listed as in stock yet.) So, clearly they're theoretically available there. (And, again, the claim was that EVERY POSSIBLE cape is licensed, not just that the specific ones I asked for were. The person told me they couldn't sell me any sort of capes at all, because they're licensed.) "There are arbitrary rules and these particular parts aren't available because screw you that's why" is fine, but telling me "Ninjago parts can't be sold at all" (as the Lego employee claimed) is clearly false, even if they have a written policy that says or implies it. Again, I want to know what the actual rules and policies are, even if they're "this part is unavailable for unstated reasons". I just don't like being given reasons that are clearly not the real ones. Will try again tomorrow probably; guess it's down to Employee Roulette. At this point I suppose I'm driven as much by pride/frustration as anything else. Maybe I'll get the British guy again!

Called earlier today, to try to add to an order placed last night. The order, when clicked on, said "in process" for most parts and "backorder" for some. The person on the phone said it couldn't be added to because it was "partial shipped" (which to be fair, on the orders page it does say "partial shipped", but I assure you nothing in that order is even "in warehouse", when you click on the order, let alone shipped). Okay fine, sure, I say I'm willing to place a second order, even though it probably is possible to add to this one, even if the person on the phone won't do so. Whatever; it's $3 shipping. So I asked about Barracuda Bay boat hulls, and they said those aren't available due to supply issues; that's fine. I forget whether I asked about the sails. When I provided element IDs for the boat hulls and got a no, I thought, sure, supply issues, fair enough, whatever. Then I asked for 6117766, the standard cape in the modern spongy material, in black. Surely, I thought, having an element ID, this will be easy. Then the person said no, that part is licensed(!), and is "just for Star Wars and superheroes", whatever that means. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but "licensed parts that can't be sold on B&P" are things tied to a particular license, right? It's not like there's a part that goes with multiple DIFFERENT licenses and can't be sold on B&P due to that, right? I asked about 6106296, the old-style starched fabric cape in black, and got a similar answer; I don't recall the details. Something about how it's not allowed to be sold, I think something about licensing too. Ok, I'll ask something easy, I thought. Yeah, these aren't listed on B&P (or I'd have just ordered them on the website), but let's try the Ninjago orcs. (For these, the boat hulls, and the capes, I used the secret technique of "look up their element IDs in instructions"; just had to find sets with the right capes!) Instead of giving me some "supply issues" excuse, or some generic "selling that is against policy for unknown reasons", this person said... That Ninjago orcs are licensed! I was like, wait, Ninjago is a Lego original IP; it's definitely not licensed. The person doubled down and said that Ninjago-specific parts cannot be sold on B&P because it's a license(!), which is the wildest thing I've heard. And it's blatantly false; we've all been buying piles of Ninjago-specific parts on B&P, some of you no doubt for years. So I pressed, telling them, look up part 50663 (the spin energy effect for last summer's wave), for that is a Ninjago-specific part that I bought on B&P just the other day. So the person looked it up... And then said, oh, just because it's in a Ninjago set, doesn't mean it's Ninjago-specific. And I'm here thinking, if you looked at this for 2 seconds rather than 0, and had even a passing familiarity with the subject matter, you would see that this part is ONLY in Ninjago sets, and so CLEARLY what you are telling me about Ninjago being licensed is blatantly false (as we all know it to be). But ok, I gave up on that, because what'm I gonna do, chew out some clueless low-level drone on the phone? No, I'm going to quietly stew and give up and call back later and hope to get ahold of the British guy who resolved my first B&P order's issues so well and smoothly. So as a final shot, I asked, well, how about ANY cape pieces that can be sold? And this person claimed to my face that ALL cape parts are licensed(!), so apparently I'm to believe the very concept of capes only goes with licensed sets!, despite them appearing for years in various non-licensed ones, in all sorts of forms. Utterly defeated, I gave up. I will call in again later, but I do not have high hopes. I am regretting immensely not just asking the guy from the first call for Ninjago orc parts; I reckon he'd have hooked me up right quick. After this call, I know it's truly gambling, and I could get someone great or someone who knows almost nothing and asks me to believe things anyone working for Lego should know are false. Suffice to say, I am not happy. (Also I made the idiot mistake of hanging up instead of waiting for the post-call survey. Oh well.)

Well, I guess that makes me feel less bad about it. But still... What if I had called in? What would they have said on the phone? Order #2 still has not arrived, 20-ish days after it was placed. But, it's only been 7 days since they said "expect it in 7-10 business days", so I'm not worried; I'll be a good boy and be patient. I seem to have placed an order containing all the interestingly-priced metallic gold parts; we'll see how long that one is in backorder!

Boat hull pieces. Why are the boat hull front pieces, 64651, so much cheaper/more plentiful on BL than the related parts, like the boat hull middle 95227, or the boat hull front riser 64645? Kept seeing 64651 in stores for cheap, less than $2, and thinking, well, I should buy some, and surely someone else will have the other hull parts. But... Perhaps not? What's with the supply discrepancy? Are the middle parts and front-risers in much higher demand for some specific reason? I mean I get that they might be used in larger numbers in larger boats alongside just one 64651, but...

I'm kicking myself for not discovering B&P sooner. Even a year and a half ago, probably I could have gotten a bunch of the Nexo Knights visors on the cheap. Now that would be a haul! I still have at least one visor in each color, I reckon, from having got many of the sets when they came out, and a few figs on BrickLink. But more Lance and Macy visors! The knights those would make! In fact, I think I might like Macy's visor more than the classic one that BrickLink calls 2594. I guess it makes sense hers in flat silver is just about the most expensive of the bunch; those durned historical/fantasy knight enthusiasts want them for a reason, myself included! When Lego rolled out those parts, I thought, great, these are super useful and hopefully we'll see them all over the place. Honestly it's surprising they haven't seen real use since. I can dream, I suppose! As for what's currently available, at least Aaron/Axl/Clay's helmet piece is still being made, albeit in dark blue only. Not a bad part, if not quite as nice as those Galaxy Squad helmets... Also, to be accurate, it should be called Brick Hoarders Pseudonymous.

Has Lego actually changed prices on these parts post-order, pre-shipping? If the price is still listed the same on the website, I doubt they've actually charged people more. Regardless, it's definitely not "cheating" to buy things at the listed price. Lego has every ability and opportunity to set the listed price. If things stay up at an "incorrect" price for a long time, that's Lego's fault, not ours. If they want to change the listed price, or cancel people's orders, or charge them more (with the option to skip those parts), then that's fine. They have plenty of recourse here. But if they're actually selling those parts at that price, then so be it; so much the better for us.

Wait, has Lego made an error in pricing the golden bananas? 2 cents each; surely that's off by 10x at least. But, if that's the price... Guess I'm buying a lot. Element ID 6294545. I checked on Brickset; pretty sure that's the painted gold ones. All the other parts listed in that color on nostalgic-wilson have normal prices for painted metallic gold parts. You know I'm tempted to order exactly 201 of them, and can no doubt figure out why. Probably will order significantly fewer than that, though.

It's true that you can solve it by banning the scalpers... Well, you can try. But you really can solve it by just manufacturing more. These people can only buy up so much of a given part. (I guess the problem for Lego is predicting which parts will be bought up this way, will have unusually high demand.) Anyone know how to find the Fright Knight's armor element ID? Finding element IDs for CMF pieces seems really hard. (And yes I realize they mostly won't be B&P-available even if I CAN find them, but at least I have to try.)

What's that gold armor piece? Whatever it is I probably saw it in my searching, but now I'm thinking "Why did I leave any armor pieces un-ordered?" Regarding B&P resellers, I wouldn't worry too much about it; as long as Lego manufactures to meet the demand, the BrickLink prices should stabilize, or you can just buy on B&P. Also, if the resellers have bought more than people want, they'll have to lower their prices eventually, whether or not Lego manufactures way more of that part. (In other words, the only way this can go wrong is if Lego manufactures way too few.) At some point soon I'm gonna call and ask for the Ninjago orc parts. These are the element IDs for them, which I looked up in the instruction PDFs of new Ninjago sets on Lego's website: 6303207 is the orc head. 6303240 is the orc torso. 6303280 is the orc legs. They're not listed on the B&P website, and they're not listed on Brickset, but maybe if I call I can get them... Wish me luck! How many orcs should I get? A dozen? I'm not some army-builder who wants to set up 200 figs on a baseplate; just enough to arm a bustling fortress should do. (Inb4 I get tempted to get some Fantasy Era trolls on BL; dreading what the price on those will be.) Guess I'll try to order a set of Barracuda Bay sails, too; last I checked on B&P those seemed to be listed but out of stock. Who knows if calling can let me place a backorder on them. Kicking myself for not ordering cheap sails from that one BrickLink seller ~5 years ago.

Hmm yes, the builders' guide does sound good. I just sent that one over myself, and relayed your set recommendations to my cousin's family.

I have a cousin who's 12, and is looking to get into Technic. Not being a Technic expert myself, I don't know which sets would be good. Whatever it is, it should have a lot of parts, with a focus on lots of functional parts, such that you can build various mechanisms with it. (Yes, that's the point of Technic, you'll say.) A proper "add lots of Technic to your collection" set. Not something really small; I'm assuming it has to be a pretty big set. (Perhaps not as big as that Liebherr excavator, but.) Is "wait for the new Mindstorms" a good answer? Surely it has to be in the discussion, expensive though Mindstorms is. Hmm. Maybe I've got to box up some of the Technic etc. parts of my childhood and ship them down there... That might be an important part of the process.

Yep, seems about right; all of us getting the big Hidden Side villain. That stand piece for him sure is cool! One wonders if it'll appear in other colors eventually. (And if it's not going to appear again, boy is it extravagant to make it at all.) When mine arrived I was surprised at how dark/clouded the trans-light blue sections were, but well, I guess I can't expect the crystalline brightness seen in the rendered product images. (On a similar note, I wonder if ANYONE'S summer 2019 Ninjago naginatas were as dark-and-cloudy as mine; on some you could barely tell it was translucent plastic marbled in.) Hmm, those printed pentagonal tiles... Maybe I'll have to get some of those next time I order.... And let's be real, though I got a 3x each color of the new Ninjago armor piece, I probably will end up buying way more later. Can easily be a fantasy armor piece for various knights. Just gotta find the right torsos and helmets to pair it with...