RichardGoring

It was in the middle of November, and didn't last very long, as I recall. Part of the lead up to Black Friday deals they were doing. Looking at CamelCamelCamel it appears to have gone within a day or two, and then the price jumped dramatically, so they must have sold their remaining stock and it was left to resellers.

It's not just the licensing costs that could increase the price, but also market potential. There are lots of D&D players out there who would likely be fine buying something premium at this price point, so they test the market by having a much higher price. See also a load of the Marvel sets that are ludicrously priced. They can discount it later if they need to. MTS likely won't have that, as the buyers for that are most likely a bit more LEGO savvy and know how to get bricks at a better value and understand the power of Rebrickable to get most of what they want.

I reckon that to the LEGO group, three is probably an army...

It is extremely rare that I buy anything day one, and the only reason would be there is sufficient incentive to do so, with a GWP I really like, and, ideally combined with some other offer or cash back. But in the US, the modulars rarely seem to see a discount, even through third party sellers. Amazon did a discount off the Police Station just recently, but otherwise, nothing. Cash back sites can be very good though, and I'm generally fine buying things used too. But even so $450 for a modular... Eesh! But it will happen at some point.

And $600? Because you know they'll do it..

Something else about Rivendell is just how large the box is compared to the contents. I sorted out all the bags, and I typically put them back into the box in reverse order, so I can find them easily during the build. It turns out that you can fit all of the bags into the smaller inner box, so more than half of the packaging is air. I laid all of the flat, but didn't push them down, although I realize that even this is impossible on a production line. I also know that they like to have boxes of a certain size to make it feel better when buying something for that much money, but I was still surprised by just how compact it would be while still in bags.

Agreed. Some kind of combined market would be lovely, and have plenty of opportunity for the little details that modulars do so well.

At least I don't feel compelled to rush out and try to get any of these. The pirate printed kegs are nice, but I'll only get one. The Lion Knights torso is the one used for the Queen, so not even that great for army building. Maybe that's why they chose it, to stop the stocking up frenzy from the silver falcons last year?

I built Santa's Visit over the holidays, and thought it was excellent. Slightly disappointed that I was missing two 1x1 bricks, in different bags, and had two random parts instead, one of which want even in the set. Just started building Rivendell this evening, and in bag 2, I'm down one piece, with another random part in it's place. I know it's getting more common, and I know they will replace it, but it's still kind of frustrating. Fortunately, it's not a structurally critical piece.

It appears to be a LEGO exclusive and not at any other retailers, so maybe not for a while, if ever. I got it over the November Insiders weekend for double points and two GWPs, thinking it was likely the best deal I'd get on it.

That would be awesome to see. The Crocodile doesn't fit the aesthetic for me, but a properly designed locomotive that is intended to be motorized would be great. Also, more trains is just better anyway.

I think it looks lovely, and looking forward to getting one next week. More six-wide early- or mid-century vehicles please!

It will sort of fit, but you have to move some of the interior elements, and the doors won't close once it's inside, so you have to 'drive' it in from the open side. There's still plenty we don't know about the summer release schedule, but it does seem pretty unlikely that we'll be getting anything, as good as it would be.

I recently found the firehouse HQ, with the Ideas Ecto-1, plus the Creator Expert Big Ben, and the Ideas Yellow Submarine, all for $100. Needless to say, I was thrilled. Had to wash and sort everything, but in building the firehouse, I was surprised at what went into it, with double thick walls to change the interior and exterior color. I suppose that's a requirement to make it movie accurate, but it does add to the piece count considerably. Would they do that kind of thing again now, I wonder? Or would they do a facade or vignettes from it instead?

I wonder where the joy comes from of owning one of these stupidly rare, incredibly expensive figures? You clearly wouldn't play with them. Would you even display them? What about the risk of UV exposure for discolouration or cracking? About even having them assembled and cracking. Do they tucked away in a box, in pieces, and you just know they are there? The whole ToD set fiasco is just so frustrating. Why they couldn't have decided earlier on that they didn't want it, I do not know. Such a waste of a potential set, or a set slot for something else.

Good news! I'm hoping mine is in the same shipment. If so, it will indeed be a happy New Year!

I rarely buy over MSRP for retired sets, as, with patience, I've been able to find things I'd like locally, sold at either sensible amounts, or staggeringly cheap. But the Fire Brigade is the one I went high for. I finally caved and bought it for $400, because I love the look of it, the dark red really standing out, and it's a neat thing to have in the line up. (Of course, about three months later, one came up locally for a decent amount, but it's always the way). I still think the Fire Brigade would be something they could revisit and get a lot of interest in. But then, we're still missing a post office, hospital, and school/college/university, which are pretty fundamental. And another department store would be really neat, with the level of detail they can go into now - Grand Emporium was implemented before it's time, I think). Over the holidays I built 10293 Santa's Visit by Chris McVeigh, and OMG, it's so good. Even after bag 1, which is just the base, I was left pretty awestruck as to how he'd constructed something so complex from LEGO. And throughout it was brilliantly clever, looks amazing, and has some awesome play features. It's made me really excited to build his modulars now - Police Station and Natural History Museum - hoping he brings those qualities into the sets.

I really hope they don't reboot Indiana Jones. They've done some great movies, but leave them there and come up with something original, rather than a movie that will always be compared to nostalgic excellence. But for LEGO, nostalgia can be great, and they could easily do one off sets in the future, especially if the adults branding continues for the next few years. They've done Back to the Future and Lord of the Rings sets with no new movies (RoP notwithstanding). Plenty of other licensed one offs that they are happy to do to speak to that audience. Play sets may be trickier to come by though.

They've addressed this before in interviews, and said it won't happen. Partly it's 'taking a slot from something else', which I don't entirely buy, as they could do a release limited to lego.com, but maybe they aren't set up for that. But it is a more limited market to rerelease an old set (as a lot of buyers already have it) compared to a brand new set (that no one has). Then there is the parts issue, with some elements no longer made, so do they have to recreate them, or tweak the design to incorporate modern parts? If they do that, is it is the same, or an updated version? If it's an updated version, why not take it further and do more updates. But now is that what people want and LEGO gets panned for doing a slight update? See Forestmen's hideout GWP vs Majisto's workshop for two sets that tried to do exactly that, and one got a huge amount of praise and the other got all the hate. Yes, fairly decent reasons for the difference, but something they face the prospect of. And then there are the designers, who would likely want to create something new and exciting, rather than being so constrained by the terrifying combination of an old set and the nostalgia of the fan community. Plus, there would likely be a decent number of people in the community who have the old ones, enjoy them being rare and expensive, and would be miffed if LEGO rereleased them, reducing the value of their collection. I hope this would be a small number, but they could be very vocal, and a whole orchestra of tiny violins would be needed. On a personal level, I wouldn't want them to. I am missing Cafe Corner, Market Street, Green Grocer, and Town Hall and don't really have any interest in them. Town Hall maybe, but today it would be a $250-$300 set, which they can do a lot better with. Green Grocer looks great, but is out of scale with the others to my eyes. The others (along with Pet Shop) really show their age and look basic in comparison to most of the others. Even Grand Emporium and Palace Cinema seem basic. But this is the great thing about LEGO, everyone can have an opinion, and each individual is right. There are some great options on Rebrickable to build the older modulars with modern parts, so they look pretty much identical, but at a far more reasonable cost. Ha! Posted as I was writing my thoughts, which are, as you say, generally negative and 'it won't happen' But, I certainly think having new versions of old functions would be great. Nothing wrong with a new fire brigade. Frankly, a new department store would be awesome, as Grand Emporium is somewhat basic and very sparse on the inside. Minifigures need a place to be amazed at what they can purchase.

That's great news if it's accurate and they continue with it.

Endoscope arrived today and I tried it out on a box of Marvel series 2 that I got cheap and am saving for birthday party favours. Results were excellent. Easily and quickly able to identify all figures. Clarity of the image was superb: Equally as important is the impact on the box. Out of 36, there were two where it felt forced to get the scope in, as the gap was a little tight. On one, it damaged the box very slightly, the other didn't leave a mark more noticeable than any of the others: The ear wax scoop on the end is really useful to feed the scope into the gap. I'd be confident doing this to undermine the silliness and gambling of blind loot boxes, while at the same time not damaging the product - certainly no more than you see standard sets in retail stores with the odd dent and bash anyway.

It appears to have increased to $15 not. It's arriving today, any I will report the results. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0B4W2VQ4R

I tried weighing the Marvel CMF and the weights were all over the place and completely inconsistent. However, I had great results putting my phone torch light against one of the tiny holes in the bottom corner and then my eye up against the other to see inside. I got the couple that I wanted that way, and their weights were generally not anywhere near the expected weights. I've ordered a cheap ($13) 3mm endoscope that will make it a lot easier. I have a 6mm one, which is too large to see inside, but 3mm should work perfectly without damaging the boxes at all.

This would be great, although if they don't do it, at least the talented folks who can do it will put some on Rebrickable. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.

No delivery for me today, so it will be a parts free Christmas. Not that it matters too much, as there is plenty else to do, and it's unlikely I'd start any of the Bricklink MOC Pop-up Store models that all my incoming orders are for anyway. Regular sets for Christmas spread between me and the children will keep us more than busy enough.