MSY-MSP

I found 2 of the snow trooper battle packs and the Hoth AT-ST on the shelves of a local toy store this weekend. So was able to buy them 20 days before the official release date.

Funny thing happened to me this weekend. I happened to be at a local toy store (will not name) and they happened to have the entire January wave of Lego sets out and for sale. I was able to grab 2 of the snowtrooper battle packs and the AT-ST. And with the snow we got I am hoping that I can build a little outdoor Hoth.

I know that he is very busy at the moment with year end stuff at his regular job, so things are running slowly on his end. He will get back to all of us who haven't heard anything in a while. We just need to be patient and it will come.

Mine is arriving today. Are you saying that the shipping box is just the regular box that you would get if you bought the set from the store, and not the plain brown box that Lego normally uses for shipping. If it comes in a box saying what it is, I am really worried as FedEx will leave it at my door and the world will know what is there. And with my luck a porch pirate will take it.

Totally understand. I was just making sure my lovely filters on my email system didn't eat it.

@StarBricks Hi Mirko, I got the email from you on the 10th indicating that you were going through your backlog of emails and replying in order. However, I haven't heard anything else since and it has been around 9 days. Not to be pushy, but I was just wondering how big the backlog is? I hope I am not too far behind the rest of the folks that I will be looking for the scraps left on Bricklink. Regardless, looking forward to building this thing.

I am wondering if it might be cheaper for the folks in the UK to simply have someone in the US pick one up for them and then mail it over to them and pay the 18%VAT on it. Buy it in a state with no sales tax, say Oregon, for $800, say shipping costs of $50, and for a total of $850 which is 626.5 pounds and with VAT comes out to 739.72 pounds.

Wow, I did not expect the set to be completely sold out by the time I woke up this morning. Had to put kids to bed after Halloween (which meant that I had to stay in bed with them until their hopped up on sugar bodies went to sleep.) That has to be one of the fastest sold outs ever. The only other one that I can think of that may have sold out that fast was the UCS Falcon.

I am not sure that it actually is retiring soon. I ran the same search on the Lego site and it came back with over 500 sets including some sets that just came out this year. So I am not sure of the accuracy of using that as a guide. If you go by the list it shows 3 UCS sets, which I cannot see them retiring 3 UCS sets all at once. The only one that is listed as "retiring soon" is the A-wing. My best guess is that the sets listed in this group of sets are sets that are likely to retire in later parts of 2022, which makes sense as Assembly Square is in this list and it is rumored to be retiring in 2022.

. Well interestingly enough, it could have the White Star Line logo in there and not need to be a licensed set, at least in the US. Carnival recently had to reapply for the Trademark for White Star Line. The old trademark that they had covered "IC 028. US 022 023 038 050. G & S: Games and playthings, namely, parlor games, board games, dolls, construction toys, mechanical action toys, inflatable toys, infant toys, toy figures and accessories therefor, toys figures, toy figures and cases therefor, toy vehicles, toy vehicles and accessories therefor, toys vehicles and cases therefor, pet toys, stuffed toys, water toys, bath toys, memory games, manipulative games, educational card games, dart games, chess games, card games, building games, arcade games, action target games, action skill games, party games, puzzle games, role playing games, table top games; Gymnastic and sporting articles, namely, stationary exercise bicycles, exercise machines, exercise weights, manually operated exercise equipment, personal exercise mats, exercise balls, balls for sports; Decorations for Christmas trees; scale model ships, Christmas tree ornaments, playing cards, golf club head covers, golf bags, sports bags specially adapted for tennis equipment, puzzles; gaming equipment, namely, poker chips; toy musical instruments, namely, horns, drums and maracas; toy dolls; toy boats; model toy ships; inflatable toy dolls and ring buoys for recreational use; inflatable toy cruise ships; plush toys; replacement parts and fittings for the aforementioned goods" However, the new trademark doesn't include anything in IC 028. So there is no claim to the trademark for construction toys and the like. The new trademark was filed in October of 2019. I am guessing that seeing this change, Lego decided that they could go ahead and make the set now as they didn't need to go to Carnival to get a license. And there is no trademark on the name Titanic in international class 28. So Lego is completely in the clear doing this set and the need to license any of the logos from Carnival.

To answer your question, or at least pose an attempt at it, here are a few thoughts on what I think about the Obi-Wan polybag. I think that polybag was an attempt to test the waters by Lego to see just how far they could push "building set" language before Hasbro stepped in and said you cannot do that. That is why this was an exclusive to the stores. If Hasbro raised a big stink about it, it would be very easy to pull the product while the lawyers dealt with the issues. Also as the Hasbro/Disney contract was renewed in early 2020 it is also possible that Lego knew what the new terms were going to be, (i.e. that minifigure size action figures were not going to be covered by the new contract), as the contract negotiations between Disney and Hasbro likely started in late 2018 or early 2019. And knowing this decided to go ahead and release a set that pushed the boundaries of the license as a one off. Another reason they may have done it this way was they didn't have a set to put the Obi-Wan figure in (Basically they had more figures than sets) and this was the way to get it out. I also think Lego prefers doing the standard CMF style figures that these super small sets. Testing the boundaries of a license is a somewhat common occurrence in business. I work in Patent Law and we see it a lot. Companies will try to get as close to a patent as they can without infringing it. They do it in calculated ways so that if they do infringe or the other party thinks they infringe the damage is as limited as possible. It is a calculated risk. How far can I push before the other party pushes back.

After doing a decent amount of research, instead of my day job, I think I have some answers on the various licenses that are out there for the Star Wars franchise and most likely for Marvel as well. Hasbro has the license to make playsets and action figures up to 12" in height (i.e. 1/6 scale). Hot Toys and Sideshow have the license to make their figures through a sublicense from Hasbro for their 1/6 figures (starting in 2004). The 1/4 scale figures are direct licensed from Disney/Lucasfilm as best I can tell. This is based on the agreement that Hasbro and Disney signed in 2013 right after the purchase of Lucasfilm. It seems that in the 2020 agreement, Hasbro only got the exclusivity for figures from 2" to 12". This leaves the door open for Lego to release figure only sets, and they have done that for Marvel already. I don't buy any argument that says Lego isn't releasing figure only sets, because they hate the fans, and want us all to buy really expensive sets to get specific figures. From a business perspective this doesn't make sense. The profit margin on a small minifigure sold for $4.99 is way higher than the profit margin on a larger set. A minifigure costs probably at most $1.50 for Lego to make. Giving a 333% markup for a CMF. For lets say the light cruiser, which costs $159 comes with 5 minifigures (plus grogu) and 1336 pieces plus an instruction book, stickers, and cardboard packaging, the breakdown is as follows. 5 minifigures at $1.50 each, for a total of $7.50, take away 30 pieces for the minfigures leaves us with 1306 pieces, which i will round down to 1300 pieces. I will assume that on average a average Lego part costs $0.04 to make (smaller ones are less bigger ones are much more), the total cost of the parts in this set is $52. For the packaging and printing I am going to allocate $1.50 for. Putting this all together and the set costs about $61.00 for Lego to produce. Which results in a 260% markup on the set as a whole. While there may be more gross profit from the set vs the CMF, the economies of scale will make the CMF a bigger profit source than a set. You are going to sell way more CMF's than sets. For example. assuming a set of 12 CMF's (and assuming no duplicate buys) costs Lego $18.00 to make and returns to the supply chain almost $60 and generates a profit of $42 over the cost to make. A complete box of 36 CMF's costs $54 and returns to the supply chain $179 generates a profit of $125 over the cost to make. and if it were 31 figures (the closest to the cost of the cruiser without going over) would cost $ 46.50 to make and return $154.69 to the supply chain and generate a profit of $108.19. in contrast the cruiser costs $61.00 to make returns $159 to the supply chain and generates $98 in profit of the cost to make. So it nets less profit over the minifigure and also will have much lower sales volumes. So from a business perspective if Lego could sell a CMF series (and they know it would sell like hotcakes) for the Star Wars line, they would.

As far as I seem to be able to locate the Hasbro license with Disney as it relates to Star Wars and Marvel was renewed in 2020. It seems that Hasbro has the "master" license for these franchises. Now in the terms of IP law, generally the master license gives Hasbro complete control of the particular product line. This leads me to initially think that Lego has to license these franchises from Hasbro and not from Disney directly. However, it more likely that Disney gave Hasbro the master license with a caveat that they had to license to Lego building toys (as this is a segment that Hasbro has no presence in), or the master license is limited only for the areas that Hasbro is in. It all depends on the terms. Now if the license says Hasbro get "action figures" that would be the reason that we haven't seen a CMF from the Star Wars theme, as a minifigure could be considered an action figure. But then that falls apart as we get figures in sets. However sets are building toys and are labeled as that, but so are the CMF's. I think that is the reason we were able to get the Marvel CMF. Disney/Lego legal decided that an action figure was not a building toy and that a minifigure was a building toy. after a convoluted analysis above. What likely changed in the 2020 agreement with Hasbro was separating action figures from building toys, and now we can get CMF's and other products that were previously blocked by the Hasbro license.

I am only planning on order 1 of the sleighs. What I did today when I ordered Santa's Visit is I also ordered 4 reindeer from bricks and pieces. They were only $5.86 each which is significantly cheaper than $37 for a second santa's sleigh.

I was thinking, we all seem to be thinking that this will be a corner modular based on past history. However, the spring lantern festival set is technically a corner set. Would it be possible that Lego decides that it doesn't need a corner set and then comes out with a modular that fits next to that park. We haven't had a set with food as the main theme in a while, and many of us are thinking that this year will have a food theme. What if the modular was a Chinese restaurant or a Sushi restaurant to go next to the festival set. (they have the parts/prints to make the needed food already in inventory). Also with last year being a police station, I think any public/municipal building won't happen this year. They have never done two of the same type of buildings in a row. So I would say the odds are slim to none on a Post Office, Hospital, School, Museum or any other "public" building.

Just picked up 2 of the advent calendars at Costco for $29.99 each.

I just built this set yesterday, and I agree the figures are definitely well worth it. I really like the vault as well and made sure that I had that sticker perfectly aligned so that you can see Maul's eyes clearly. I may try to use this and create a MOC of the scene when they were handing Maul off to Asoka and the clones.

Well I ran into both Slave1 and BB shuttle at Costco here in the US. slave 1 was $39.99 and BB was $86.99. So there is some discounting go on already.

It might just be like the Barbican. Have you seen the crime rate in Lego City lately? Since they introduced a Police Station it might be a hint that they are going to do something that will need a police presence for. Though in all seriousness, I am thinking that next modular is going to have a food or drink theme to it. Granted the Police Station had a donut shop in it, but it seems that about every 4 years they do something with a food theme to it as the major theme. (not that it really can be counted on as a real guide). Also as of right now there is no building with a food theme since PR and DD both have retired. I also tend to agree that it will be a corner building. (I think that it might have to do with you can get four modulars on an Ikea Lack shelf). So with a food and drink theme in mind and a corner building, what comes to mind. The first thing I can think of is a corner bakery. The second thing I can think of is a coffee shop. A third idea might be a convenience store. One other idea I could think of is a corner bar. Now I know what you all are thinking, Lego won't do anything that promotes drinking in a modern setting. However, I am wondering with the rebranding to 18+ they might consider a break from this hard and fast rule. Bars/Pubs are found all over the world and are a common site in cities. So having one wouldn't be out of place in this line. It is considered socially acceptable for adults to go to a pub for a drink and/or eat (within moderation). Most civilized countries have a drinking age of right around 18 (the US aside, and I won't comment on the issues with that) so the subject matter would be age appropriate. If it were a pub, maybe include a taxi as vehicle. Just an out there thought.

I gave up on my S@H order ever getting shipped in good time, and picked up the shuttle at the local toy store. I built it and did get an extra Wrecker armor piece. However, I ended up with two parts that are not even on the parts list and was down one of the 4 back fins. Really like the build and now am trying to figure out where to display it in my office. I guess I was one of the lucky few.

Thanks for the information on this. I probably have it sitting in my basement as I got the bomber well over a year after it was released when it went on sale at Target

Ok someone explain this to me. The Finch Dallow figure is going for $500+. Yet at the same time I can buy 75188 sealed for less that $200, which includes Finch. That makes no sense to me.

The order was completed at lego.com. You couldn't order the sets directly on lego.com, you had to come through the link on bricklink to get to add it to your cart at lego.com. This tells me that inventory control was held at bricklink, but processing was done by lego.com. To the normal consumer they would think that it was all handled at lego.com, but it wasn't. Interesting as it was showing sold out in the midwest at 10:11 CDT. When I ordered at 10:08 the bar was showing that it was already almost to 5K orders, and when I came back to order the fishing boat at 10:11 it was then showing sold out. I did each as its own transaction as I figured it was so dynamic that it wasn't worth the risk of trying to put all that I wanted in the basket at once. This might be the actual glitch that they are talking about.

I am guessing the glitch was that the system got too many orders at one time and couldn't correctly manage the inventory (given that it sold out in under 10 minutes). When Bricklink's servers started to bog down the delays between their server and the Lego.com sales platform allowed more orders to get through than should have. My guess is that inventory was handled at Bricklink and the sales were done at lego.com without a second level of verification that inventory was available. When a person clicked to buy the castle Bricklink's servers were querying the inventory and sending the person to Lego with a token saying there was inventory, based on a read command to the backend DB. But due to the sluggish server response times the actual available inventory wasn't updating at the same rate (or at all), as the server may have delayed the write commands to handle all the reads on the database. So that when a person completed the transaction at lego.com the completed sale was not getting back to Bricklink's server and database to update the inventory to reflect the completed sale. So Bricklink thought there was inventory and was sending more people to lego.com and Lego was operating under the premise that if an order came in there was inventory for it. Classic case of poor integration between different platforms.

Well it got to 3000. So at least 2 of the sets are going to get made. I am glad I was able to get both the Castle and the Fishing Boat, but due to the glitchiness of the site I had to do both of them in separate orders. I did the Castle first when I saw that within 10 minutes after launch it was already at over 3K orders. My only fear is that more than 5000 were actually ordered and Lego decides that some of us who put in orders got in too late and hence don't get one. Though I am sort of surprised that the particle accelerator is not getting much love. I thought it was a really great idea with great playability.