TheMainBricker

Again everything here just proves that it is political. Lego has generally been about not upsetting people and being fairly neutral on everything. I've no doubt there will be negative press generated in some quarters with it, and it is a spat Lego could do without. There are people who have opposing opinions (you and I believe that they are wrong, that's fine, but it's irrelevant). I am personally surprised at Lego getting involved with anything where people have opposing opinions. I'm surprised that a brand risk manager allowed it. Easter and Christmas sets purposely don't have any religious iconography. Lego even had a debate over doing Star Wars because War is in the title. Lego steer clear of real history because they don't want to get wrapped up in real world issues. Again it's still the fact that people are debating this means that it's political and very much tied in with real world issues. The fact that we're worried what we can and can't discuss here is testament to it.

People are too wrapped up in Western ideas to think that this set isn't political. You can't just say recognition of civil rights and liberties is not political. The fact that this set won't be able to be sold in certain countries is enough to be classified as political, this is creating a debate around particular issues, therefore it is political. I don't recall other sets then raising question over charitable donations etc. Is this set purely for LGBT people? Are straight people allowed the set? How was Lego not inclusive before? Did LGBT feel that Lego was not for them? What has my sexual orientation got to do with Lego? Again the fact that we are now discussing these issues means that it's a political set. I don't want to come out on one side or the other, but again as there are two sides, it is a political issue. And there will be pressure for Lego to start doing other sorts of sets.

It's a nice colourful set, but the very fact that this set won't be allowed to be sold in a lot of countries means that it is a very political set, and one that I think breaks Lego's own rules about political statements. The fact that there will be debate around Lego doing this set means that it's political, I'm really surprised Lego want to go down this route.

I think calling this set D2C (which it technically may be) is misleading as it's not for AFOLs. If this was just announced as another set in the Disney Princess line no one would be bothered. The inclusion of mini-dolls is the biggest sign that this is not for AFOLs. The 14+ age rating is strange as this is a set targeted at young girls. Lego would be better off changing the age rating and putting it on general sale. As an AFOL I'm genuinely pleased that this D2C is not with AFOLs in mind and is an easy pass. Lego have simply released too many D2Cs during covid. Good to see that this is a Disney Princess set and not an AFOL minifigure set.

Yes I understand market research and the popularity of the product (Lego have done dolls before with Scala and Belville), it's disappointing to think that Lego don't think minifigures are suitable for girls, and technically they're making the gender divide bigger, basically saying minifigures are for boys, minidolls are for girls. But regardless of that debate, I wonder how popular a D2C minidolls set would be. They're missing out on the pester power by not being normal toy shops, and D2C are typically AFOL aimed sets. I would've thought that this would be better placed as a standard set for sale everywhere. I think Lego's marketing department can't do anything right at the moment, and perhaps they're getting a bit deluded over AFOL purchasing?

I remember when I was young and Lego did sets like Paradisa which was sort-of aimed at girls, but fitted wonderfully with the city line because they were all minifigure sets. But Lego seem to be of the opinion that you need Barbie-like figures to appeal to girls (which has been successful with Friends). There's no room for cross-over with mini-dolls. I doubt from a model POV the set won't be up to much as it will focus more on play factor then display factor. So it's strange doing an expensive D2C set aimed at children, when these sets need to be in as many toy shops as possible, not limited to Lego.com and Lego stores. Can't see it doing well.

No minifigures, no interest. I love the Disney Princesses that came with the CMF line, but always disappointed that Lego went down this route of minidolls to entice girls to Lego. Can see the AFOL interest in this set fall of a cliff now. Suspect sales of this set will be disappointing for Lego, as the high price for children will limit its appeal.

Birds of Paradise is roughly double RRP compared to the other sets.

Basically the era just before Disney bought Lucasfilm. That Disney logo on the packaging quickly added $10 to each set. The sets were good and we got new minifigures (Porkins, Jabba's Palace guests, Queen Amidala). The trouble with new films and the merchandise that goes with them is that the film-makers have greater control over what gets made (partly to avoid spoilers). TFA had a lot of vehicles that didn't make the cut that appeared in the first wave. What is interesting with Disney is that they tend to release a film, the merchandise with it and then discard the film and never really revisit it again. For SW the OT is king, we see some new stuff relating to the PT, but ST (or spin-offs) will be rare.

In many respects VIP is fairer because it requires previous spend, but can be unfair if you don't have the points (or recently redeemed them). Scalpers have spent the money, the problem is the people who go on eBay and buy from them, as it's only encouraging it. Lego could kill off the problem by producing more of the set. Lego could announce a new production run, it will upset those who've paid $150 on eBay, but it would also teach them a lesson not to buy from scalpers.

OK, I'm not the greatest at Photoshop, but I mocked up what the set may look like with a sticker on the bottom tile.

The Vader helmet looks a bit hamster-like.

John Lewis have currently got 15%-20% off a few sets at the moment, bought Old Trafford (20% off last week), the Fiat had 15% off, Star Destroyer has 15% off. I think sets were on offer for half-term, last time it was around Black Friday. So roughly they have offers every 3 months.

For stuff like the Xmas sale etc the offers go live at 12am local time, unfortunately for the UK this means that countries that are ahead can get the deals before UK residents have any chance. I'm sure with the Cantina it was 12am local. Personally I'm not fused at the actual free gift, but what frustrates me is that it is a promotion to get you to buy the set and they have such low amounts made. And recently it seems Lego keep doing this (so limited it goes within 30mins?). I have a Vintage Car that is on back-order and I have not heard anything else on that. I'm growing rather tired of these deliberately limited offers. You pay a premium to buy sets direct from Lego, and for this set I'd rather wait till John Lewis put a 20% discount on.

Yes, perhaps my naivety was that sets are listed as being in the basket, but stuff like this is different, particularly as recently there's been a lot of bugs on their site (particularly around GWP). I had no problem with getting Yoda's Lightsaber. But at the end of the day, I'll be sending the set back to Lego. To have something like this sell out within 15 mins, which is 45 mins before UK shoppers are normally able to get the stuff is particularly off. I don't see why Lego are being defended for their worsening business operations.

Because this release was a complete mess. They released this CET, which caught a lot of people out. I'm on CET-1, looked at the site at 00:30 CET and saw that the Porsche was available but no GWP was being added, decided to leave it to 01:00 CET which would be 00:00 GMT and the GWP still was not adding to the basket, so concluded that they were doing this one differently as it couldn't have sold out that quickly. Previously I've always got the GWP at 00:00 GMT. I wish I never ordered the set, so will look at returning it. A few days earlier you would've got the Ox free, and next month there'll probably be another GWP, so there's absolutely no benefit for VIP ordering. Not even double points. Other retailers will probably get this set in and they routinely do 20% off.

Received the order today, no Owner's Pack, no Ice Rink. Will be returned for a refund. (Still waiting for the Vintage Car to be honoured on a previous order).

Oh well, that set's being returned for a refund then.

Was there a separate item for the GWP in your basket when you ordered it?

This is annoying, I thought that this wouldn't be listed as a separate item, so I've ordered the set without the VIP pack! And it's showing in the warehouse. I wish I could cancel the order, not much point buying the set at full RRP for no reason. These sets normally are sold elsewhere cheaper.

The X-Wing and TIE have been clearly designed for a younger market (due to being less detailed), so less enticement for collectors, BUT Lego have deliberately put in rare/new minifigures to get collectors to buy the sets.

Amazon actually put an age restriction on the Voltron set, which then requires the driver to ask for age/ID before handing over the product. They don't stand out against each other though.

The 18+ age rating is odd. I don't like it that some retailers will take the age rating on Lego to mean the same as other age restricted items such as knives, pornography etc. Apart from the small parts for young children Lego is suitable for everyone, just that it may be a bit complicated. But I'm really starting to dislike this black packaging. The sets don't stand out any more. A nice urban street background would make the Sesame Street stand out. The sand of Tatooine would've been better for the Cantina.

Not really keen on the 18+ age rating for Sesame Street.

That lightsaber disappeared quick. Fortunately I was checking Lego.com on the hour, every hour for the cantina to go on sale. Bought it around 9:00am. Very similar to the Batmobile which sold out in hours. Strangely enough they had plenty of the Batmobile GWP in the London Leicester Square when I went up there that weekend. So always worth checking the stores (but this year London is definitely out for me due to the pandemic). Just had an email to say that the Cantina and Lightsaber have been dispatched.