DrasticPlastic

...so many pilots...so many... How about some aliens? Or some dual moulding? Arm printing? The Star Wars figures have become a bit...flat.

Finally! Luke! Absurd we’re had to wait 2 years!

Call me a crazy SJW, but I do appreciate minifigs with different skin tones. I’m not going to lecture lego, but I’d like to see them include more, whenever it’s appropriate to do so. El Dorado looks great, hope that’s dual moulded legs that I see.

Annoying when Lego skips the back printing, makes it that much harder to reuse the torso for MOCs...reusing bricks is kinda the point, right?

This is clearly a false rumour, confused with the speeders from episode 8.

That video reassures that's it's actually a really good sized set. Fine. Day one.

Destiny's Bounty - £109.99 for 2200 bricks...C'mon Lego!

Okay... I've loved the TLBM sets. I have all of them. I've loved lego making big AFOL sets in greater number. But...this is surely too much? The sheer number of sets has got a bit beyond a joke. This is a 3,400 brick set, one of the largest ever made, and it's just not that good. It's a gimmick with the piece count of a UCS star destroyer. It's like Lego are hurling everything they can at a shelf. There can't be enough AFOLs to sustain so many huge sets? I can't find space for 10+ a year... It's pretty weak that we get recycled figs too, let's not pretend it was a result of 'cost' issues.

You can lift this thing to even look beneath?! Mine is still in the exact spot it was built - I can't find a sensible place to hold this thing!

I imagine those claiming lego would provide adequate stock, and shouted down any that said otherwise, want to reassess their position. In all seriousness, this set isn't released for another fortnight so stock issues have to be seen in context and all companies underproduce 'risky' products to manage the risk and to enhance the perception of demand 'shelves cleaned out? Wow, this must be an amazing set!' We tend to forget that the biggest UCS sets are really marketing tools and not standard sets at all. Major news outlets have covered this release - they don't do that for Yoda's Hut playsets (TM) - the Falcon is on shelves to 'wow' people, to get people that have never bought a Lego set to start thinking about Lego (if you buy a £650 set, you'll come back for more) and the set works to 'inspire', to show what's possible with plastic bricks. It's a way of marketing that's much more effective than posters and adverts at getting across some key messages. Oh, and the set is incredible and so much bigger in person that any picture can convey. It's also virtually impossible to lift. Anyone have a spare hour to help me move it ?

What's this about a black VIP card? When I bought the Falcon someone in store mentioned it gets posted to you? Didn't seem to be any way to get one then and there.

There's currently 200+ people queuing in London for the Falcon. With 5 hours to go. There's a market for this stuff. Median US household income is $60,000. Or >$200 per working day (mon-fri). A few days pay. Check the maths ;) It might not seem modest, but the stats say otherwise. A lot of people have 'Falcon money'!

Despite what the media likes to say, it's not a '1%' - rich people are everywhere. There's plenty on this board that spend a grand building some enourmous set they have designed and £/$600 - £/$700 is a few days pay for even a reasonably modest earner.

I think some people are a bit cranky because they can't afford the set. Meanwhile, the rest of us and going to enjoy our hobby and the fan community which is, overwhelmingly, nice people working to create a friendly online community. Now if any of you get in the queue ahead of me I'll.... ...probably have a chat with you about lego.

But that's just it, 'initial clamour' + LEGO's laughably poor ability to factor fan interest means it could be months before the set is reliably on shelves. If lego are the sort of demons that would fire 1,400 people over a 3% fall in profit they may also deliberately under produce this set...

I think you get two types of buyers: 1) less affluent / more casual; (kids and grandparent gifts) and 2) richer / mega fan (birthday and AFOL crowd) The less affluent/casual are less concerned with quality, they'll take what they can afford. The richer/bigger fan is paying more, and wants to get more. In practice this means you are pitching small, cheap sets or big, expensive sets and middle of the road 400-700 brick $40-$80 dollar sets aren't really anyone's first choice - they are too expensive for the less affluent but lack the size/scale/detail the richer/bigger fan wants. The LBM had a lot of these middle of the road sets. Killer Croc was far too expensive for the less affluent but not really good enough for the richer/bigger fan. Solutions? Here's 2: 1) reduce the number of medium size sets, ensure you have a lot of eye catching smaller sets with interesting figures and also a good range of large and impressive big sets. We could have lost the standard batmobile and kept the ultimate one. We could have lost the joker's low rider and had those figs in a $/£20 Joker Ballon set. 2) really focus the efforts on high quality medium value sets that are just in reach of the less affluent but still have the quality the richer buyers demand. This is what lego has done with Ninjago Movie. There are a large number of medium priced sets that are well above average quality with just 2 big sets and 2 really small sets. Whatever Lego decides, I hope they don't sacrifice quality. Those 2018 DC sets are just rubbish - they are neither cheap nor good. The figures are bland. These sets delight few, if any. That's not the way to win sales.

Finally, someone willing to actually engage with the facts. Most people just seem to arrive at a random opinion and then present it as gospel.

I find it baffling that people think the simplistic builds of the 80's and 90's are superior to the vastly larger, more detailed sets of today that just drown us in useful parts, colours and the like. See how far your MOC's get with only parts released in the 90's! Check out the evolution of Millenium Falcon's for a clue! You think kids want a bucket of bricks over a Batmobile? As for 'expensive', ha! I grew up in the 80's - a 500 brick set would cost £100, that's probably £150 in today's money! The fact is lego is vastly better and quantifiable cheaper than ever. The selection is better, there's more parts and more sales and discounts. A huge number of kids - say the stats guys - clear £40 in pocket money a month. It's not as if these sets cost thousands. Lego's issue is just releasing too much - two films in one year? 3 waves of Star Wars sets? I can't find the space for 40+ new sets a year, even if I can afford it. Lego can't beat a PS4 game's appeal with a bucket of bricks and if that's what YOU want...bricklink, maybe?

The Lego accounts and Toys R Us updates confirmed 'weak'demand for Lego Batman sets. Why do we think that is? I have been delighted with the sets and I think this sub theme has produced the best minifigs ever, better than even the strongest (non Batman) CMF line up and makes the DC figs scheduled for 2018 look very weak. If I had to speculate as to the problems it would be the release of too many sets (there's been a lot, although I love the fact it gives choice) and price. The Joker's low rider and Killer Croc's vehicle were atleast 30% too high. It worries me that Lego might see these Batman movie as a mistake, that might lead to the standard of the minifigs getting rolled back. I refer back to the really rather bland 2018 figures and hate to think that's the direction we'll be heading back to.

Yup. There's going to be (deliberate?) lack of stock.

I think it's LEGO's lack of consistency that I struggle most with. I can get 4 figures in a battle pack for £12 and 5 figures in a £130 Walker... ...I can get key rings with printing on every surface of the figure but a £650 set gives me non exclusive figures and some lack even leg printing. If I had a criticism of Lego it would be with their graphic designers work ethic - they can make a stunning Batman villain figure that no one ever heard of (hi, Zodiac Master) but then phone in an iconic Star Wars character in a set that is the very definition of an 'ultimate collectors' set. Why does the winter soldier polybag I was handed for free in store have a holster printed on the side of the legs, but Han Solo (who's holster is so iconic - Greedo! - doesn't?) Was it 5pm and you were tired? Oh, I'm sure it was 'budget' reasons in a £650 set...

Milton Keynes Lego shop has one you can play with - had someone there to stop me stealing parts though ;) Pretty much the entire 'roof' comes off, I was expecting a few sections. Get modding I guess... The box with wheels is true, I checked.

Just saw it in the brick... Amazing. Looks like most of the roof panels lift so there's a huge amount of accessible empty space for modding.

The republic bomber is wonderful and I can't resist an AT-AT...but this TLJ wave really doesn't impress. The prices aren't great but I think the killer is the boring figures. We know TLJ has interesting new characters but little of that shows through.

The black stripe on the mandible is...bizarre.