MAB

I'd buy box files instead. They are easier to label so you know what is where and not too heavy when full. Alternatively, you could use empty LEGO boxes for the same thing. If you want a tub, have a look at what is in the "classic" section on lego.com, although much of these type of "bucket sets" are now boxes rather than tubs.

There is a recommendation that international mail has the customer's phone number or email address on it, and some countries enforce this. So sellers often ask for it for international mail, as if the receiving country refuses it, not only does it get returned to the seller meaning longer time to get to the buyer but the seller also has to pay again to send it.

I don't really see a link between the two. The City set would have been designed last year, and the hat is an existing part that was last used in 2018, so still reasonably recent.

If they wanted to do Barney, they could have done him as a astronaut, Plow King, Be Sharps, or just without a beer (and maybe with his combed rather than messy hair). Same for Moe, he could have been in a Pin Pals shirt (and people would have bought four then!) or a regular suit or with an apron but with a coffee cup or with a telephone (being prank called by Bart). They have also done this guy serving "grape juice".

I don't think it is always that clear. Sometimes obviously licensed parts are listed for sale, sometimes listed but not for sale, and sometimes not listed. Same with regular parts, most of the time they are listed and for sale, sometimes listed but out of stock and occasionally not listed at all. It has been so long since that Scorpion Palace and the basic set that contained them, that they would not have any stock for B+P, but it will likely be for sale once they have stocks.

They didn't have to do Barney and Moe with booze either. They could have done them in other situations.

Congratualtions to @Aurore, I loved that design when I first saw it posted in historical and it deserved all three of my points! The mini-details did it for me, especially the cupcakes for flowerheads and the hidden details like the chameleon.

It is similar (although not quite as bad) in reverse.

Why the need for pirates here? Why not just a fantasy theme against mythical creatures? Or pirates in a conventional setting? Fantasy builders wouldn't want it if the minifigures were pirate based. Pirate builders wouldn't want it as the minifigures are fantasy based ghosts and zombies. To me, it wouldn't be of much interest to either fan base, much like complaints of Nexo Knights from Castle fans and Space fans. After all, join Castle and Space and you please two fan groups, right? When in reality, you end up appealing to neither.

The downside of that is that you have to identify and sort multiple times - so it has taken 3x as long in this case.

You don't have to watch the TV series though. My son really enjoyed Chima sets when they first came out but didn't see the cartoons until about 4 years later. He used to have lions and crocs as allies against all the birds. Yet even if you do watch the TV series or read the magazines, you can still make up your own adventures based on what you know about the characters just like you can make up your own adventures based on what you know about the stereotypical characters in pirate or Robin Hood style stories, whether you read them in books or saw them in movies or on TV.

Exactly, that is my point. You cut out part of my response, saying that they would blame it on coronavirus, then giving a made up reason such as not having access to parts to test.

They are also checking VAT registration of EU sellers, but again it should not really affect much at all. Yes, I used to buy quite a bit at just under £15 from the USA (to get under the VAT threshold), but stopped in about 2011/12 due to price increases for postage. Now postage prices from the USA have gone crazy.

You can buy bulk new bricks from parted out sets on eBay, Bricklink, Facebook marketplace, Craig's list, and so on.

Remember the exo-suit did not seem to sell that well. They had to advertise the "decommissioning phase", which was then extended when they still did not sell out. Another important point is what do you mean by Classic Space? As the exo-suit was not Classic Space. LEGO could re-release 1980s sets or update 1980s designs or they could do a new in-house space theme as they have done multiple times in the not too distant past. Re-released 1980s sets probably would not sell so well, as they don't look great compared to what is on the shelves these days. They could update, and some Classic Space would complain it is not real Classic Space. Or they go for new ideas for space, and people complain again they are not Classic Space. Presumably you also knew how to play space, castle and pirates. Your play would probably have drawn on stories you already knew. Give a kid this set, and I imagine they will act out stories like Robin Hood, based on what they already know. This set and they'll act out stories of Blackbeard or similar pirates, based no what they already know. Give a kid a set based on something that they cannot relate to based on what they have already experienced, and it is much harder to play with and come up with new adventures if you don't know anything about the characters.

Don't you get those colours in Friends, Disney Princesses, and so on?

For most mixed up collections, sorting by hand is faster anyway. Anything not instantly recognizable, chuck in an "unknown" box. The other problem with sorting machines is the vast variety of parts. If you sort, you have to store. If you store, your sorting machine needs access to every storage bin. Which is why they are huge.

If that is the case, they'll probably blame it on coronavirus. There are new motor parts in the set that the testers did not have access to at home and could not fully test the mechanism.

The VAT in EU is for seller fees only. So if the VAT rate is 20%, then you will pay 3% + 20% of that, so 3.6% in fees. However, I suggest EU sellers stop selling to America. If you get a US sale, then the buyer gets charged the US sales tax which bricklink collects in the same paypal transaction as when the buyer pays you. You are responsible for the paypal fees on that whole transaction so you are paying the paypal fee on the portion that BL collects. LEGO says this is fair as they are paying for the calculation of the US sales tax. So if you sell the same item to a US buyer or to a EU buyer, you are worse off if the US buyer buys it. So it is better to get EU sales than US sales. Whereas the reverse is not true. If a US seller sells to an EU buyer, then the buyer is responsible for paying the VAT on import and of course the calculation and collection fee too.

If they didn't do Barney and Moe in The Simpsons, would they do Bender? Unlikely.

I don't think them being completely forgettable or formulaic matters to kids. If you compare them to Scooby Doo or Tom and Jerry or He-Man, they also have very similar storylines in every episode. The same stuff, again and again. What matters is that the multimedia is essentially advertising and the kids can play with what they see on screen (whether TV or youtube or other videos online). So long as they enjoy what they see, they will want to recreate it. The placement on TV is similar here. I don't think my kids ever see them on live TV. But then live TV is not that important these days. They are all over youtube and also in other kids (that do see the TV series) impressions of sets / theme on youtube. Plus the multimedia goes much further - not just TV, but online videos, content in LEGO club magazines and also specific magazines (Ninjago, Chima, Elves, NK all had their own magazines here), sticker collections (topps/panini style), even lunchboxes and backpacks, etc . The characters do have to stand for themselves though, whether that is in the sets (without the media) or in the media (without the sets). It wouldn't surprise me if they took the builds or the storyline or both for Chima and stuck some Ninjago figures in it, they would be more popular.

I see what you mean. In context of aiming sets at kids then yes, the material is probably much more niche than movies aimed at younger kids. I think LEGO has slowly become aware of how much product is being sold to adults. Star Wars and Super Heroes sets used to be firmly kid sets but that changed a long time ago with Star Wars and more recently with Super Heroes. Some of the sets are still clearly aimed at kids but the higher end stuff is adult targeted. It has changed more mainstream too recently with the 18+ sets - with the piano, the mosaics, FORMA. I hope if they do something like LOTR again, they'd forget the kid aspect, and go 16+ or 18+ in terms of designs, sizes and prices. Even if they did a few decent large sets (in similar size to Stranger Things for example) rather than normal range of small to large sets at multiple price points. Although the good thing about having the normal range of LOTR sets and them available widely at many retail outlets was that the prices were low, especially when on sale.

That is a mid-to-high price per kilo and quite high for just City but it depends on the condition (as used means anywhere between excellent and trash), what pieces are missing, what the sets / minifigures are and whether they are mixed up then divided up into lots or near complete sets just mixed up. Another big factor is location. For heavy collection only lots, you get better prices where there is a large population of middle class family children nearby. And the country matters - are you in Vietnam or Canada?

True. And of course any big bang theme is also competing with all of the other LEGO themes - not only other current big bang themes - plus all of the other toys on the shelves from other manufacturers. The other thing to consider is that if only themes that have three year plans and get a heavy marketing push and get a TV theme are compared, then those themes must have some element of continuity to ensure at least modest success. Even a company like LEGO are not going to invest huge sums of money over many years into something completely unique to see if it works. Much smaller themes can be used to test ideas, or even alternative routes to test out novel ideas. For example, FORMA being used to test out ideas for selling sets to adults by highlighting creativity and stress-relief, which has now been used in the mosaics and piano. So the similarities in that Ninjago and Chima and Nexo Knights are all good vs bad faction based action themes is not that surprising. LEGO knows that works well enough even when it doesn't work very well.

Everyone worldwide got that or similar. I don't think it was personal! LEGO had to undergo emergency maintenance.