natelite

I can see how this works with an EF MMOG! Build your own battle mech! :-P fight baddies, get gold and upgrade your machines!

Looks like I need to rethink the themes I buy. Probably going to be towner and swer. :-P If TLG keeps coming up with blockbusters, I will have a hard time keeping up! I can't tie up $10k for resale in the future :-P

this is the store in bridgewater, nj. if anyone was thinking of going there too. they seem to be on top of their game. they only give the stamps when the goods arrive. you actually need the packing slips to get your stamps. that's a long wait for your loyalty stamps. lol...oh well, i can use it to purchase the other summer sets then. :-P

i called up the store, they said no stamps for online purchase...even pre-order. i need to order from the store to get the stamps. and i can only get them when i bring the packing slip to the store. so...anyway, i cancelled my online order and will stop by the shop to pre-order. 2500 can earn me $240 of gift card! that would be silly if i were to pass on that!

this is great news. dunamis, which document did you use? the email order confirmation? or the order status?

hmm, not so sure about that. the magnet sets are usually very expensive. i much rather get the battle packs for the guns or mfs. clone bp for eg, has 4 clones and 4 guns. the magnet only has 3 guns and 3 mfs.

I think we have members who frequently travel from europe to the states. What if we can arrange for a meeting between the said members? That could potentially reduce the shipping cost and custom tax risk. Obviously we can't have arrangement to obscure places but what if we make it the east coast, ie the tri-states area, NY, NJ or CT and in the hands of a trusted EB member? They can do the exchange say at Times Square NY or Bryant park or somewhere easy to meet. And the eb member who goes back to europe can meet up with the raffle winner at say the paris lego store or something. In exchange, the raffle winner will pay $50 to the EB "courier" for the trouble. :-P

yup it's a big gamble for me too. but if it pays off, this should fund my hobby entirely...and then some. ;-) initially i thought of buying cheap sets during clearance or buy 1 get 1 50% off sale but if this pays off, this is much better. i dont need to look out for sales and will be able to get sets when released instead of waiting for sales. :-) tying up so much money for so many years (at least 2-3 years so no selling this until 2010 or longer) is a bit scary to me though. the boxes will be sitting in my basement so there's the worry of flood or burglary, etc.

what? you dont have a "i ordered the max number possible borrowing all possible addresses including my aunt's" option. ;-)

it should be similar in weight as it's only chrome painted. the c3p0 is probably transparent underneath. like i have been saying...the difference in the amount of glue used to seal the boxes probably exceeds that 3g.

TLG doesn't care about what you pay your government. the net sales to tlg is eur460 and $500. plus you can't compare us prices to eu prices. you have to include shipping cost, which will be a deal breaker in this case. not to mention if you ship from us, you get to pay custom taxes.

prices seem to keep going up. supernova was only $20 with 287 parts count. this sucker is only 262 and cost $25. duh...

14k gold actually means gold plated. 18k gold is the lowest acceptable "pure" gold standard (ie 95% gold and 5% impurities or something like that). 24k equals 100% (ie pure as going through hell's fire). doubt anyone will be playing much with their 14k gold c3p0. you can see clearly how scratched the display model is. :-D they should just place it in a display case.

city sets in general do not make money since they have the highest parts to price ratio (or so is inferred). I really don't think weighing the boxes is going to work. A regular c3p0 (which includes the 10,000 chrome gold mf) is almost similar in weight to the glue they used to seal the boxes. The assembly lines for packaging do not use a high tolerance, hence there isn't a set amount of glue used for each box. The next time you stop at the local TRU check the boxes. You will find a lot of imperfections with regards to how the boxes are sealed up. It's even worse for the bigger boxes ($89, $99+). The top side (the side opposite of the tape seals) is usually the worst. the contest was revealed in the ny toyfair and was mentioned was for the 30th anniversary sets. people naturally deduced that the winter 06 sw sets will not be included in the competition as they were released prior to the contest.

dont know how many sets. my guess is any orders placed b4 march 31st because that is the cutoff for pre-order. whether tlg is going to extend the offer or not is anybody's guess at the moment. if they do, then the total number of first production sets will increase. otherwise....bye bye certificate!

well, the fewer people buying it now the more valuable it is going to be in the future. if "millions" of battle packs were bought like you said, those clone mfs wont be worth much later on now, would it?

like what yoda said. it's not a toy. it's a work of art. for $500 it better be. ;-) in 10 year's time it will be a classic and then we'll see who's sorry. ;-)

yes. all boxes have glue. have you tried taking any of the boxes apart? not opening them but actually taking them apart.

i think they weight them before sealing. you can't weigh the sealed boxes because the amount of glue used will tip the scale either way (lighter or heavier). edit: don't kill me for this but I think the 10,000 droids is only for NA. it was announced in the NY toyfair and nothing was mentioned in the france or german toyfair.

what i meant was in the ebay or bricklink market. :-P of course tlg won't change the price. if anything, they will probably raise it. just look at the 2005 police station. it retailed for $50. then increased to $70 recently. edit: SW4J got to it b4 me. thanks.

precisely. glad you catched on.

hello? it's pre-order. there is no "limit". they haven't even started cranking the machines yet. once they know how many to make they will start making them (which is by 31 march when the offer ends). as for certificate - yes, first edition is that much more expensive even if you decided to keep it. just like comics. :-D it's sad, i know.

omg. i didn't know. last night when i placed the order it wasn't on the list. i'm gonna put the order for another 4 then. btw, vader - you can't compare this to ucs sd. it doesn't have a certificate. the certificate changes everything. a diamond with a certificate of authenticity is worth like 10x more than a diamond without. if you want to just own the set, then get a second production set (or a used one). a first production with a cert will fetch top dollars. especially considering that this is the first time they are doing this. this will beat out 7191 in terms of hype. i dont think first production will run out. they are taking orders now so they can estimate how many sets to make for the first production. i think if the demand is good they might extend the offer to the second production. if that happens then the set will not be as expensive. more on sale = more supply -> driving prices down. btw, i dont work for tlg. just wanted to make sure EBers dont lose out on an opportunity like this, either to own or to make some money. just think - CTT and the arc-170 are now out of stock in the US and see how much they are fetching on ebay. just 2 month's ago, they were on sale in TRU for buy 1 get 1 50% off. and it's not like they will ever make another ucs mf before 2011 when the licensing expire. as with any investing, there are risks involved. prices can go up or down. my gut feel is that this will be a blockbuster. we shall see in 5 years if i was right. ;-)

that's my initial thoughts too that it was too pricy and would wait for a sale or something. but then TLG's marketing team basically decided to make this first production limited edition. limited edition certificate, and a price tag of $500 basically makes this set a must have NOW! think about it...how many 5000 piece sets will TLG be making? and with a limited edition certificate? long story short, i decided to buy one. and will probably see the demand at the end of feb. if it makes the top 25 hot seller list, i'll put in another order for 4 more (since one address can only order 5 max). i don't think there will be a lack of demand for it despite the high price tag. mindstorm was half of that and it had no trouble making the top 25 list too on debut. i think after the first production ended, the demand will die down somewhat though.

I was never in charge of the mech forum or contests, I just do it. :-P but if people want me to be the moderator that's fine too. ;-) i think designing alternate models is a good idea seeing how the new sets (2007) don't actually come with alternate models.