Blondie-Wan

I like this one, though I don't think it would stay together very long in any of the three configurations if I had it. I'd still love to get it (or a couple copies, in fact) to use as the starting points of a build of my own. My wife also liked the look of this one, so I gave it to her last month as one of her birthday presents. She hasn't put it together yet, but I imagine she will soon.

Indeed it is, though the original comics character is more than a decade older than that - I believe we passed his 40th anniversary a couple years ago. Fun fact: all of Howard the Duck's feature film appearances so far (all both of them :p ) have come out on the same day, August 1st - Howard the Duck was released on that day in 1986, and Guardians of the Galaxy was released exactly 28 years to the day later, on August 1, 2014. _____________________ I don't know how likely a LEGO minifigure is, given that it would unquestionably necessitate at least one new mold and possibly more, for a character who is mostly obscure and best-known for a less-than-acclaimed movie released about three decades ago, but I seriously would love to see it happen.

That's strange - Jay is still catalogued with all the rest in that box artwork, as well as in the instruction booklets we've seen. They don't usually show exclusives in or on the packaging of non-exclusives, presumably since all the other vendors who don't have a given exclusive set dong wan't their own stock advertising products one can get only elsewhere.

Of course they would have. It was never planned to run forever. It was a one-and-done theme from the outset.

Indeed. The way I'm looking at it right now, Santa's Workshop was the finale, and this is the encore.

I like this set, but I do wish that as long as it were coming with three minifigures, at least two of them would something other than specific, unique "named" characters. I could deal with having a bunch of Arvel Crynyds if I were to buy multiples, since it's easy to use them to represent a bunch of different pilots (especially with a bit of judicious head-swapping), but I'd rather have a single Admiral Ackbar and a bunch of "generic" Mon Calamari rebels rather than the other way around, and of course Han Solo's inclusion in this set is a bit of a head-scratcher all around. I mean, okay, so he and A-wings were in the Home One hangar together, and this set can accurately recreate the thrilling moment when Han, uh... walks by an A-wing on the way to Tyderium or something, I guess, but if they had to include a random third rebel, I'd rather it had been a forest camo'ed soldier, or a rebel tech, or another pilot, or really just about anyone other than one of the main heroes we already have umpteen-seven of and who had little to do with this particular vessel. But oh, well. The minifigure selection kept me from getting multiples of these. I might have done so anyway had I been able to find them at good deals, but I seldom did, and now the set is discontinued and getting scarce in stores. I may try to get one or two more if I can, but I do have many more urgent LEGO priorities.

853421 - Magnet set with Aurra Sing, Embo and an ARF Trooper. I wish they weren't glued, since this would give me those bounty hunter figures I missed out on in not getting the regular set in which they appeared, but oh well; it's still nice to have, and at least some of the accessories and possibly headgear and heads should be usable. I quite surprised to find it at all, though not nearly as much as I was to find the even earlier Indiana Jones magnet set with Indy, Mutt and Spalko, and those 2009 magnets aren't glued. Huzzah!

Really? In the sense that others were using the word "collectible"? If so, I don't know that that's thr case.

The update isn't identical, and the ways in which it's not make it arguably superior (and it will likely also be rarer, as I doubt they will reissue this next year and the year after that as they did with 10199). If anything, then, this new one ought to go for a better price on the secondary market eventually, though the first one may have an advantage simply by virtue of being first (and kicking off the whole line). (Not that investment value is or should be the most important consideration with LEGO sets, of course, but it is for some, I know.)

Howard the Duck, please!

Winnie the Pooh has actually been in LEGO several times, as it happens.

I was comparing them to various seasonal things, to emphasize the fact that they're, y'know, seasonal, which is the extent to which they're "limited". That's all. And that might be what "collecting" is all about, but "collecting in that sense isn't necessarily what the Winter Village line was about, which was my main point.

Except that there's more to it than that. You're forgetting the testing period where they check to ensure the set is stable. You're forgetting where they refine the design to determine the ideal number and type of bricks to use in this wall or that section of roof. You're forgetting the research they do on various ideas to see which ones consumers will most recognize and find meaningful, what should be in a given concept, etc. You're forgetting the whole development period for the instructions, where they decide which of any number of different ways of building the model is the best order to present things in, how many parts should be added in each step, whether it should be one booklet or two or three, etc. You're forgetting the proofreading and testing of the instructions and the model to make sure the instructions are clear enough for builders in the target age range. There's a ton of stuff that goes into a given set that takes up lots of development time; it's really not as simple as one of us just whipping up a MOC over a weekend and cranking out an LDD file and some crude instructions from that. There's a reason (reasons, actually) why it takes a while to develop a set, and it does indeed generally take a long time, a few exceptions notwithstanding.

"Collectible" with regard to hobbies can refer to things like seashells, though, which clearly aren't limited edition things. Moreover, it's a bit moot, since TLG itself seldom if ever uses the word "collectible" anyway. At its closest, it says things like "collect the whole series!" Even the so-called "CMFs" are in fact called that only by us fans, not TLG - the official name of the theme is simply "Minifigures", and they don't actually use the word "collectible". They do implore one to collect them all, they refer to a given series in aggregate as a collection, and they even refer to the little poster-like checklist / instruction sheet as a "collector's leaflet", but they don't call the figures "collectible" - that's just a name that our fan community ascribed to them, and then we get all riled up when TLG doesn't treat them like that adjective it doesn't use itself. Anyway, getting back on track, there's no evidence this set did supplant a new set; it's quite possible Santa's Workshop was intended to be the end of the series (and I for one actually thought that might be the case as early as last year), and that the only reason they released this new Winter Toy Shop at all is because the theme is so popular they decided at the eleventh hour to release another, but that since they didn't start developing one in time they had to reuse an existing set and gave it some tweaks and additions. No, we don't know that's what happened, true, but we also don't know that they would have released any other Winter Village-type set if they hadn't done this. They might well have just not released any. Many people surely would have been disappointed by that, which I understand; what I don't understand is why they apparently feel so much more upset about this one than they would have about LEGO not doing one at all. Oh, well. It's most unfortunate - I think after this reaction, TLG will be even more skittish about reissues (and near-reissues, like this one) than they were already. I think if they'd done the same thing one more year, and given us an updated Winter Village Bakery in 2016, it would've been great - it could take advantage of the molds for ice skates, cupcakes, etc. that didn't exist in 2010. I very much doubt it'll happen, though, after the way people have bitten TLG's head off for releasing this set.

Rereleasing it doesn't affect the collectibility, though. If anything, it makes it more collectible, since it's easier to collect. :p The problem is that you're using the wrong definition of "collectible". These sets were never intended to be "rare" or whatever; they were limited, yes, but in the sense of being seasonally available, like Christmas trees, Santa ornaments or Pumpkin Spice Frappuccinos. The idea these were ever intended as trophies for those elite few who are able to get everything right away and then lord it over the poor teeming unwashed masses is refuted by the fact they released each of the first two or three sets for three consecutive years each (the original Winter Toy Shop was released in 2009, and rereleased in both 2010 and 2011; the Winter Village Bakery was made available in 2010, 2011, and 2012, etc.). These are sets for "everyone" (that is, at least as many people as LEGO is able to sell them to). That said, I will agree with your point that one shouldn't count on a set being rereleased, and to just be happy if one is.

Seconded!

Amazingly, I just happened to come across a place that still had the last wave of Indiana Jones "extended line" items (magnet set & keychains), so I picked up that second magnet set (Indy, Mutt, Spalko) and the last two keychains I needed (Mutt and Dovchenko). I already had all sixteen retail sets plus the Brickmaster set, plus two Nintendo DS cases (they have actual LEGO tile mosaics, and buildable top and bottom surfaces), plus four of the six keychains, and I was pretty happy with all that but had begun to regret not quite getting everything; now I have all the mass-produced stuff with actual LEGO elements except the first magnet set, plus a few items produced only in extremely limited quantities (the SDCC set, the ToyFare release, etc.).

It's closer to white than it is to any gray LEGO currently makes, though. It looks both better and more accurate this way than it would if offered in LEGO's current lightest gray.

Nicely done. It belongs in another forum, of course, since LEGO has never done sets based on The Blues Brothers and presumably never will, but it's a good MOC.

Yes. Eventually, definitely, since if nothing else, I expect LEGO to make sets for Toy Story 4 a couple years from now. No telling whether they'll ever be used for any other characters at all, much less anytime before Toy Story 4 comes out, but you never know.

N/m, wrong thread.

Recolored? It doesn't look like they even did that. They did change and add a lot of small details, though.

It's actually a life preserver first and foremost, rather than a toilet seat.

Honestly, I half-assumed last year's set was supposed to be the last; doing not just an ordinary shop in a small village somewhere but the workshop of Santa himself seemed to me to be both a departure from the theme and a capper to it, like a "send off" set for the theme (sort of the equivalent of Medieval Market Village, Kingdoms Joust, Haunted House, Imperial Flagship, Diagon Alley, etc.), even if it wasn't in the same price class as most of those. I wasn't entirely expecting another one this year at all. The theory quoted earlier in the thread by Legocity2713, from JusJeff at Brickset, sounds quite plausible to me. We know it takes them a long time to design a set, and the WV sets have all been planned well in advance of their releases; if they really did intend Santa's Workshop to be the last, then there shouldn't be cause for complaint here, since this isn't taking the place of something else. Plenty of people do seem quite upset, though. Oh, well. I honestly don't mind this set at all, and I'm someone who has the original (from the second run, in 2010). I'm actually thinking of getting it if I can afford it, though that doesn't seem likely right now. Not even close. They did straight-up reissues of several sets in the early 2000s, most of which were closer recreations of the originals than this is (what with its new signage, additional minifigure, additional toys, etc.). Both, actually - it was available during the holiday seasons of three consecutive years. So was the one after it. For the first few years of the theme, each holiday season one could buy that year's set, plus the one from the year before if there had been one, plus the one from the year before that if there had been one. Four or five years in it changed, so that the later ones were each available only twice, but this one could be had in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

As long as you're buying them from a LEGO Brand Store or LEGO Shop at Home, you should get VIP points on them, just like anything else, unless it's different in the UK. Over here in the US, you get VIP points on anything you buy from them, even if it's stuff like mugs, calendars, books, wrapping paper, etc. (and, yes, videogames). If they give VIP points for those, I certainly can't imagine products containing actual LEGO bricks would be any different. The only thing determining whether you'll get VIP points is where you make your purchase, not what you buy. You can drop ten thousand bucks on LEGO at Toy 'R' Us (which might be enough to cover three or even four sets :p ;) ), and not get s single VIP point, but buying anything at one of LEGO's own stores will get you points, regardless of exactly what sort of thing it is.