Strand

Being a TOR player, seems rather unusual the Imperial Lego ship is the very awesome Sith Warrior/Inquisitor class ship while the Republic one is kind of a bad design. They couldn't have chosen the Jedi Knight/Consular design? Or the Smuggler X1? Will probably be picking up the Desert Skiff, TOR sith ship, Saesee Tiin, Gungan Sub and Jabba's Palace.

Pretty neat, though I'd agree that it's probably only good for coastal battery/fort-type MOCs. A ship would be too cramped and the cannons would be covered by another deck while a fort would allow you fiddle with it a lot more easily.

Great set, though the improvements over the last Y-wing (itself an excellent ship) are rather minimal outside the better cockpit. Will still pick up a couple of these 2, want me some R5 heads.

You realise that nearly all these designs are basically all from Tarsem Singh's Immortals movie, with some ambiguous product naming for legal purposes right? That said, I'm totally digging the Skyrim helmet.

As another Aussie who has to take visiting family and friends to this building several times a year, that's some pretty questionable resemblance. I give TLG credit for attempting to portray the 'sails', but they probably shouldn't have bothered unless they want to take another crack with a much higher piece count.

Well... It's clear that BioWare's heavily pushing the Star Wars brand recognition so this game can compete with WoW. Of course they'll re-use certain recognisable motifs throughout the series. Hence why all the troopers look inexplicably like Stormtroopers, the smuggler ship is a KIRF Millennium Falcon and walkers are still the heavy ground vehicle of choice. This technological stagnation makes no sense within the lore (when this game is set thousands of years prior to the trilogies), you just have to live with it. Much like how in many fantasy series (Tolkien is a main offender), warfare never really progresses past swords, shields, bows and arrows despite millennia passing between books. Back on topic. I do wish they make some of these ships into official sets. I liked what TLG did with the Rogue Shadow from The Force Unleashed, even if I didn't like the set itself and I hope they continue to support EU-inspired designs like the ones from TOR.

Holy crap. Now just put a steel frame around it and a glass top on it and you'd have one hell of a coffee table.

If you live near a CostCo, there's no reason not to get a membership. If you shop for a large family, you'd make back the membership fee on your first outing on food alone, it's that much cheaper than Coles/Woolies etc. If you buy a lot of non-perishables on a fairly regular basis (canned food, nappies, craft supplies, dog food etc) the savings add up. The fact that Lego's cheaper is just a very nice perk. It's such a shame the only one in Sydney is so far from the city centre, so really only accessible for Westies.

Is it possible to just call up Customer Service and bitch until they ship you Kings Castle? Might sound rather mean, but I have gotten online shops to honour their deals by doing this, when they have incorrect advertising.

The VW Kombivan recently piqued my interest, so without trawling through outdated info, does anyone know what's a good price right now or in the near future for this set?

The set was expensive but it wasn't that bad. I don't think hyperbole is helping anyone here. The thing was selling at Kmart for $750 during the mid-year toy sale, even on this board (Aussie Bargains thread), members like me were discussing it. And no, it wasn't some incredibly rare, limited toy like a Turbo Man. The Kmart I visited (fairly late in the day, mind you) had several in the back that weren't reserved, and it seemed to be a nation-wide thing. Again, $750 isn't cheap, but it's a hell of a lot easier to swallow than $1079. Comments like this are incredibly trollish.

Loving the lot. The Battlepacks (especially the Clone Wars one) are awesome. Finally, a Battlepack vehicle I won't just cannibalise for parts! That cannon looks like something I'd actually keep around. X-Wing looks different enough from the 6212 that I'd probably pick one up... or three. TIE Fighter is the improvement we always knew was coming. Geonosian Cannon is probably the weak link here. It's one of those sets you'll probably just pick up once and only for the minfigs. The cannon looks forgettable.

Well, I should be able to do a Sydney CBD pick-up. Seeing as shipping was free for the minifig set, think you can knock it down to $60? Throw an email to strand0410@gmail.com if you're still interested in selling to organise a date :)

Do you do pick up?

I didn't mean to go on some rant, but after seeing these types of threads crop up almost seasonally after every big item has come and gone, it does wear thin. No-one's case is any more special than anyone else's. Those who bought this at retail had to give up just as much as you guys do. At the time the UCS was coming out, I had an exam-filled year of full-time medical school and no income, I practically had to live off ramen for a month to afford it and I'm sure most UCS Falcon story begins with its owner making some kind of sacrifice. This is why I take issue with the mentality where if disgruntled fans missed out on something, they will sometimes assume the 'haves' are attempting to deny them their rights, because they maliciously want to exploit the resale market for financial gain.

So I take it everything in the first paragraph you agreed with then? That the UCS line is not designed for children, so there is no reason for Lego to price or market them ‘appropriately.’ The set stayed on shelves and on Lego Shop At Home for plenty of time and fans were given ample warning to pick one up, months if I recall. As to your initial question about it being overpriced? Evidently not, as plenty purchased them at the RRP and even now, BLers are paying more via the more complicated route. The set was never overpriced, the aftermarket value is. But that’s not TLG’s fault, nor is it the fans who did pick it up, or even the ‘investors’ fault. They weren’t actively denying you from purchasing one when they were available, as stock was always plentiful. They’re not even the reason why it’s overpriced now, well after you now decided you wanted one. The people you should take issue with, are the desperate fans who aren’t voting with their wallets, and ARE paying these scalpers what they want, keeping the market value so high. The comments about TLG ‘not being a business’ are your words alone, and any perceived fiscal naivety is at your end. TLG won’t release this set because, as mentioned, it’s unprecedented, and secondly (but more importantly), it’s unsound business practice. Lego’s not on the ropes, that they desperately need a short-term windfall that would jeopardise their subsequent UCS releases. UCS sets are a range specially aimed at pleasing the collector demographic, the kind who do their research because they’re about to drop a hunk of change on an expensive toy, with an ample profit margin. TLG would never again be able to justify these prices and shatter any goodwill felt towards their brand, which is far more damaging than missing the paltry $ they can make through re-releasing a single set. Business isn’t always about milking as much as you can while you can, like it’s going out of fashion, especially not one with a history as Lego’s. I take it you really are new to EB and other AFOL communities and thus, completely unaware of the correspondence between them and TLG? The fact that many TLG releases, roadmaps and promotions are very much affected by fans? Additionally, re-releasing a UCS set takes up another release slot that should have been taken up by something new, or actually NEEDS a re-design, something which will please everyone, instead of a minority of malcontents. Every time this happens, some people will complain about how they want one but couldn’t get one, if the bus stopped for every case, it wouldn’t move at all. And this is where the self-interested and persecuted complex kicks in, because each of these groups who missed out on sets X, Y, Z will demand the re-release of their particular set and not give a second thought to any of the rest. Hell, usually they want new sets too! They just... want their own particular wants to be handed first. Almost as if Lego’s obligated to pleasing the needs of every fan who didn’t act until the eleventh hour. So every time a particularly valuable set has come and gone, this board will fill with threads, very much like this, where someone will initially wish for the line to be extended... then they’ll try the secondary channels, and lastly settle on wishing. Wishing for TLG to make a ridiculous, myopic and unprecedented business decision like this for no other reason, than a sudden and uncharacteristic desire for money. I'm saying it's analogous in the same way any collectible produced now comes out with the asterisk that the line is indeed limited. If any of you collect rare videogames, cars or artwork, then it's very much the same principle. If an artist produces a run of X number of art prints and demands much more than what it would normally cost, but limit it to a printing run of 10,000 people will be willing to pay more than if it was a regular item, and those very people will be very disgruntled if he suddenly decides after they're all bought and sold, that he'll print an extra 50,000. Such an artist loses all integrity. I'm not arguing against the complete lack of any Falcons from now until the end of time. But if you approach it from that angle, it's not particularly likely either, as it has never been done, and the whole point of the UCS Falcon, was that a designer was allowed to 'go nuts' which is why it costs as much as it did, and was 5100 pieces. It's as close to perfect as it can be, the first time round. Any deliberate alteration will only disservice this amazing set, to appease all groups. And just before people call me unreasonable, I understand what you feel. It's a great set, and missing out on one really does suck, but as you yourself acknowledged, you were lazy and/or didn't have the money. Lego cannot possibly make concessions for every case when someone's down on their home payments or car rego, otherwise they'd be a loans office and have a big APPROVED/DENIED stamp set. It's much like life, sometimes you're in a good position and get something you want, sometimes you're not. But plenty of people are now paying more, later and with a lot more blood and sweat. Everyone has to play by the same rules, and for all the things I've been unlucky enough to miss out on, I suck it up. Blaming the game doesn't get you anywhere.

Late to the economics lesson! But UCS sets are not 'just a toy', they were never designed for children and laymen, thus they were never designed around the limitations of playability/price/marketability to appear to a mass audience. UCS sets were designed purely for the niche, collector AFOL demographic, and because of that, TLG is not entitled to please everyone with the pricing or length of the run. This is like any other collector's item whether it be collectible games, prints, cars etc, it's not a bag of plastic or a 'toy' in the same way the Mona Lisa isn't just dried paint on canvas. It's the exclusive, limited and expensive nature of the product that increases desirability and appreciation in their customers. And if you think this is bad, what about rare antiques which are auctioned to the highest bidder? Or collectible sneakers and film prints that are produced in such limited runs that they have more customers willing to pay for them than they have items, which induces scalping? The UCS Falcon was on shelves for a very long time, it was listed on the Lego website for just as long and even its cancellation was met with news on boards such as EB, warning fans to pick one up if they haven't done so yet. IMO TLG has been more than fair and thus has no obligation to fulfilling everyones' wants. It's just how the cookie crumbles. Again, it's not an issue of money. Yes, TLG could very easily re-release the UCS again and make a lot of money but they won't. Why? Because more than many other companies, they value the relationship they have with the AFOL community, and are intimately aware of its grey-market industry. Doing such a thing is short-sighted and implausible because it's completely unprecedented and secondly, it does cheapen the product and the company. If TLG re-released this set, it would utterly destroy the goodwill they've cultivated with fans, and nuke the value of their products. While you might wonder how this can possibly screw them over (since they're not making any more from a second hand sale), how could Lego possibly justify the cost of subsequent collector's sets, when the people willing to pay the UCS profit margin only do so because we trust Lego's word? TLDR: The fact is, it boils down to supply and demand. I was fortunate enough to pick one up for $750 AUD when it was available and even knowing how much they're worth now, would not have picked up a second because I'm not in it for financial gain. At the same, there are plenty of sets I kick myself for not buying, but acknowledge that it was my failure to act. It's the nature of the game, if you wanted the UCS, it was readily available, and even at full RRP it'll likely be cheaper than how much the BLers are trying to piece together (without the headache/heartache).

LOL. While I want a new B-Wing as much as anyone else, this is a pretty flimsy reasoning to suggest UCS.

Thanks!

I can see either of these two happening This one... not so much. From Episode I, I'd love a Naboo cruiser in the not-to-scale style of the Blockade Runner and the other Corellian Cruisers. Maybe just a cockpit and 'throne room' inside and a maintenance area for astromech droids. Minifigs: Amidala, The two Jedi, R2 and maybe a Naboo crewmember or two.

As of this point, I'm uncomfortable about saying anything 'desperately' needs a remake or re-release. TBH only one which came to mind was the TIE-fighter, which was showing its age and thankfully it was one of the first announced. The Interceptor needed a palette swap, which by Lego standards, justifies a re-release. They got the B-Wing/Y-Wing/X-Wing right second time around so I personally can't see much room for improvement. What else could be redone for 30th?

One year membership at least: Yep! Minimum of 200 posts: 229 posts Minimum of 25% of all posts within the Star Wars Forum: Still have no idea how to check this, though I'm positive it should be over 25% as it's my favourite theme. I'd love the icon if possible, but if my quota in SW isn't up there yet, oh well.

B-E-A-Utiful! Totally digging the cobblestone effect for the paths. I wish I had enough space in my place to make something like this for my imperial flagship.

AHhahah Western Money Union and no Paypal? That should set off alarm bells for everyone. That's how Nigerian scammers have been working for years, I find it funny they're moving into the AFOL crowd.

Doubt it. If you even want to come close to earning a living trading Lego, then you're talking about a large operation with a tonne of stock so you can minimise overhead with an economy of scale. You'd need a very large investment to even get start up and even then you'd need a good opportunity to buy low, to sell high later. Throw in the fact that plenty are pinching their wallets due to the recession, and it's not very good time to get into it. My advise is to not even bother, it'll just be a lot of headaches (and heartache). Keep your current job, there's a reason why people (even AFOLs) engage in Lego as hobbyists and amateurs.