gylman

I was waiting for a lively discussion about this item announced by Jan Byer http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...showtopic=15877 But unless I have missed it, there seems to be no reaction! :-( Why? Well, from my perspective this seems like a very cool thing, and I couldn't help but notice that keychains will get a whole chapter, so clearly these people are on the right track. Anyway, here are pics from a gadget site.

Actually, in pink and white for my paradisa display! Unless I misread the information, according to the Bricklink catalog, the 1 x 1 corner panel and the 1 x 2 panel have never been made in dark green before!

Well with spare parts, here's my hack at doing it.... I don'' have the right wheels, though, so I didn't try to put those on. I can't really tell what's at the back of the truck. Obviously getting those parts in dark green is hard. That's the real reason to get the set.

Meh... we can just reverse engineer it and build our own. I tried to do it just now, but I don't seem to have the right size wheels for it easily at hand. Maybe later this evening I'll try again.

Gary Sabol at Bricklink gets credit for finding this, if it is news. http://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=258874 I have to say, this is very very nice. I'm not a fan of the Indy line, but if it was more like this, I could be persuaded to take a second look. http://www.starwars.com/community/news/fil...ws20080228.html

I think TLC needs the presence in the US market to be a global company, and doesn't want to lose any. I assume that much or most or all of the reason why they make less "revenue" is because their profit margin is small in the US (i.e. prices are much lower in the US) than anywhere else.

Another point from that interview is this: "At present Lego makes approximately 60 per cent of its income in Europe, 25 per cent in North America and the remaining 15 per cent in all other regions. In particular in China and India Knudstorp sees large Potential. " I've been point this out for a couple of years, and you can expect that in the next10 years a lot of effort will be spent to establish presence in China and India. North America will become less important to TLC.

Fully agree that TLC is missing an opportunity here. I guess they just don't care that much about this market. They figure they can count on their brand name supporting the premium price, and to some extent that's true. But the strength of the Canadian dollar was an opportunity to try to grow the market a bit, and I guess that's not a big enough thing for them to be worth the trouble. Anyway, the future for TLC is in Asia. I think in North Am the market is mostly saturated. They probably don't have any major growth goals here - just hold their own against their rivals in terms of market share and bring down their costs.

Sorry, but I still can't see where it says that.... All I see is that it said the dispute was "resolved". It did not say how. I agree with Natelite above... probably Walmart will have more opportunity for offering sales and specials editions. My LEGO buying these days is identical to Blueandwhite's: sales only, Bricklink or Ebay for current sets I want. Only recent exception was the Town Plan, which I paid for on S@H, and promptly received a mashed-up box. :-(

Well, "frequent" BOGO has not been my experience. It's pretty uncommon actually except on single items like Xpods, miniracers, etc. Once in a while a real BOGO comes along, but I don't remember the last time that happened. TRU was selling many LEGO items at 20-40% off MSRP during most of the October - December period. The sales varied week to week, and they managed to cover more or less the entire product line over that time period, and I loaded up on many things from Castle to Technic, Town, Creator. However, all the TRU products now are back to MSRP again. Tedbeard, I don't necessarily agree that return to WalMart of LEGO product is a bad thing. For all we know TLC compromised with Wal-Mart, and there will be a price reduction. Other retailers will have to follow. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Wal-Mart fan, and on the few times I have shopped there, I have found their selection of LEGO to be crap. Nearly all of my retail LEGO purchase is from TRU, with occasional Zellers/Hudson's Bay when they have a good sale, and from smaller toy stores whenever I can.

Clearly a TLG issue. I think you are dead on Johnny 5.

With over a thousand eBay transactions, and 200+ Bricklink visits in over 7 years, nearly all as a buyer, I have to say that my bar for a negative is pretty high: -badly damaged goods that clearly were not due to the postal service malhandling -blatant misrepresentation of item. If something does not arrive, unless I spent a whole bunch extra for special delivery (which I never do), how can I prove that it wasn't lost in the mail? I usually buy only from >99% sellers, so I have to trust that they are honest. So I don't leave negs for non-arrival unless other purchases from other sellers recently also got lost in the mail. Some sellers just "go bad". I lost a 100$ knife that way. I assume some guy in Canada Customs is enjoying it now, but maybe the seller never sent it. But I did not leave neg feedback. I've never given a neg for lateness of an order, and I have had some orders from the US or Canada take 4 weeks to arrive, including several well known Bricklink sellers who have high sales volume. There are just too many reasonable reasons why an order can take a long time, either to prepare or to ship. And actually, Voltio, my experience is that eBay and Bricklink are MORE reliable than Amazon. I doubt Amazon never makes a packing mistake or delivers damaged good. Do you think their packers and shippers are paid $25 hourly and care what they are tossing into boxes from various bins? But if you want reliable and relatively hassle free eBay and Bricklink transactions you have to identify the good sellers with 99% or higher positive feedback, and resist the temptation to save 2 bucks by buying from the cheapos with a 92% feedback rating and a couple of bad feedbacks in the last month.

How much cheaper than a dollar a fig do you think they should be? It seems a pretty low price regardless...

I agree with the comments above. LEGO in the US, long term, will have trouble: 1) It is a premium toy compared to all other brands of building blocks and construction. The quality of the bricks does not sell them to most buyers, except to the few who are knowledgeable about these things, and care. Right now LEGO succeeds in the US because it is seen as a "smart toy", has huge name value, and now the generation of people who played with it has children. 2) The ongoing competition for kids' time. Kids don't really have the time to play with LEGO the way they used to, and this can only get worse over time. TLC has tried to fight this, and is hanging in, but it is a brutal battle. 3) Market saturation. There is little or no room to grow when you are the biggest and best by far. The only market TLC can grow in is girls, and they have tried and failed several times. The future for LEGO is Asia. It has huge popularity as a premium toy, and as China gets richer, that's where future growth will come from. http://416-777-7777.com/News/World/article/285750 As for the comments about the LEGO distribution system, and Shop @ Home..... OMG don't get me started. They have outsourced all this to a third party, and it's a total mess. I remember 2 weeks ago calling in to complain about a beaten up 10148 Town Plan I received. I was put in touch with a phone person who clearly knew nothing about LEGO, and in the background I could hear someone else selling airplane tickets. It was very disturbing and disappointing. At least in the past when i had called S@H I felt like I was speaking to TLC. http://www.dmnews.com/Lego-outsources-dist.../article/93958/

There's no doubt that Walmart is a bully. Universally despised by everyone.... except that people keep going there because the bottom line is that money talks. I've actually never bought at Walmart except a single Toa Lhikam and Kikanalo set a few years ago, and it was a full price. Their LEGO selection usually sucks. TRU is FAR better. Also, TLC is not being a bully.... they are standing on their principle of not reducing prices in relation to market fluctuation. That's their right. Just like it's my right to stop buying their product at full retail price. Reality for TLC is that they are actually LOSING money big time because of how weak the US dollar is - a large part of their sales is in the US. However, it is a very competitive market and they can't raise prices because of fear of losing sales. They have to hang in and hope that the currency thing straightens itself out. So, I am in fact defending TLC partially. However, two things remain: -the Canadian dollar has appreciated significantly in relation to the Euro, and practically all currencies in the past year. The Canadian economy has outperformed practically every major economy in the world except China http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=qkchart&symbol=FX%5EEURCAD -the optics to Canadians of paying 30-40% more for the same product across the border from a nation where we have supposed "free trade", and when OTHER sellers have accommodated the exchange change change to a partial or full degree in the past year, is very bad. This is the more relevant graph Mikael. Look at the 5 year chart; http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?...=USD&amt=1&t=5y And the fact is that 5 years ago I was paying a 30-50% premium for LEGO in US dollars vs Canadian. Now I am paying a 30-40% premium.

, I predict the effect will be small. There are lots of outlets for sales of LEGO in Canada, and my impression is that TLC and Walmart have never been particularly friendly to each other. It will, however, make it easier for the other major retailer, TRU, to demand some price breaks. This past fall, from September to December pretty much every single TRU LEGO set could be found at 20-40% off at one time or another - any line from SW to creator. I bought vast amounts. I presume it was the exchange rate issue which permitted or forced TRU to do this. I'm hoping to do the same this year, so I don't plan to buy any LEGO now. Except for S@H only sets, and special S@H sales, there is really no reason to buy anything from S@H. S@H costs the same or more than retail, and all you get for your trouble is a mashed up box half the time.

Hi Thok. Interesting item of news, but it's always good if you link to the source of the information http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=289961 If you read the article, though,it is pretty clear that The Lego Company is the bad guy. They are the supplier, refusing to lower their cost to the retailer, who then has to charge a higher cost. This is exactly what I have been ranting about since last year. Canadians are playing a pretty arbitrary 30-40% premium compared to Americans, and this is purely a result of TLC policies. TLC deserves to get their knuckles rapped no this one. Maybe TLC will finally clue in that their usurious pricing policy in Canada is going to harm not only their sales, but their customer loyalty. <cough>like me<cough>

The sets seemed exciting at first, but quickly got repetitive. With so many useless parts (at least for the way I build), I could never buy them as parts packs. I never even bought them at 50% off. I'm not surprised this happened, but I do feel bad for the many enthusiastic EF fans out there. Rest In Peace Exo Force. We hardly knew ye.

I'm glad so many people entered. Great contest. Tough to make a choice among the top 5-6 votegetters. All are worthy and I am glad we have prizes for them, one way or the other. Good work, everyone.

The direct answer to your question: "Is the new Castle line making old ones obsolete?" Is that the old ones ARE OBSOLETE ALREADY!. They are not made anymore! No more dragon knights, crusaders, or forestmen will ever be born! Real gray is dead! So the question makes no sense. Old castle is already long obsolete. You probably meant: "will the availability of a new and not-utterly-useless castle line make us pine less for the old days and look more to the future"? The answer, of course, is YES. While I am not crazy about the new castle line, and I am not planning to buy much of it, I am an old fart that can't use bley, and I do not represent the typical LEGO buyer and builder of today (luckily for TLC). Obviously the new figs and accessories with the new castle line will open up great new opportunities for building and play for many people, and therefore the old lines will see less attention. It is inevitable. And good.

We've beaten this topic to death, and I hesitate to add a "me too" type of response, but Batbrick I agree with you 100%. I also think Svelte's analysis of what's going to happen with the IJ line seems very plausible.

Yep, I'm proud to say I've been stealing that design for years! http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2145337

We're gonna have to make you an honorary Adventurer Pieman! You're single handedly reviving interest in the Orient Expedition line. I wasn't the hugest fan of this set (it's not in the same universe as the Dragon Fortress), but there are very few useless parts, and a generous number of figs for a set this cost. It's actually still not hard to find these days at an almost reasonable price on bricklink http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?pg=1&q...10&searchSort=N

Eglinton, a bit East of Laird, near the Home Depot (aren't they all?) Winners used to be amazing for LEGO bargoons in the past, but the last couple of years have been a wasteland. Nothing but Bionicle sets, and the occasional Batman set. All the Batman stuff was selling at 30-50% off this year, but meh....