I have a few Elves sets and some of the pieces are very unique, probably not found in any other themes. I bought a good number of them when they were on the shelves for my future kids (at the time I had no children yet); luckily I have a daughter now so maybe she'll get to play with them once she's older. I think people (collectors?) are going for the dragons. Any set with a dragon that is not the Evil Dragon from 41183 are fetching good money on secondary market like Mercari or eBay. Sets without dragons are worth significantly less relative to their MSRP. Overall I really like the theme and I never disregarded it. I hope one day something similar will carry on its legacy.