natelite

this is annoying. i got my set from ebay and it has the european rims. i like the box rims more... will they become rare? i would hate to have to buy them for $1 or more per piece. did anyone get any answer from lego? can i send in a replacement request? :-P

i dont see any pictures? just 1 golden 2x4 brick? hmm, i think my local walmart sells one of them 50th anni. bucket.

hasbro is not the biggest. it is second to mattel. :-P will we start seeing lego barbie? :-P

dont feel bad. i can't find the second round of exo-force sets in any stores either. it's available from lsah but...

hmm, with so many bad guys shooting at batman, i doubt batkart is used much. maybe batskates? :-P

well, there's nothing to show about my car. it's a normal 04 honda crv se. it's a family man car. the next "upgrade" will be to a family mini van...probably a honda oddessey. sorry, this is an old dog here. maybe when i'm retired at 60 i can buy a z4 (or probably z10 by then) or a lexus roadster and start picking up hot babes young enough to be my granddaughter ;-) j/k.

i dont think there is any risk of lego being sold. the brick-locking system is no longer patented. they are selling the production to flextronic so no longer will the brick material be proprietary. all they have left after the new structure would be purely set design and box art design. that can't be bought because it's all human capital. piss off the lead designer, he quits, go work for mega bloks and the whole company crumble to nothing. there's still brand recognition currently. but if the brick production technology leaked to mega bloks or elsewhere the premium on brand name should disappear in a few years. the block makers would probably compete on designs at that point. from then on, if you want the company, just hire the key people. it will be just like the game software companies - human capital forms the bulk of the company value.

stickers? a lot. it's shown in the brickshelf folder. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1849672

someone posted a much better picture review of the set on brickshelf.com. no commentaries though. such a pity. the set is highly joonerized though. just look at the base of the repair bay. the mechs are the only saving grace of the entire set. not getting this unless it sells for 50% dc or more. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=189104 only looking forward to the 7713 and 7706 (still not available in lego stores or tru).

alright! i missed out on x-wing 4502 (was in my dark ages) and i'm not about to buy one from overpriced ebay sellers. besides, i like to have the orange jumpsuit luke instead. older sets have old grey (all my collections are in new bley), so yeah. finally i get to collect the iconic x-wing without paying a hefty price for it! lots of minifigs please! :-P

yup, no worries from this customer. don't be racist just because things are made in asia. i don't think machines determine the quality. it's the material and the process. from what i know the material mixing process is proprietary, and that will soon be sold to flextronic which will buy out their factories. cheaper sets is as inevitable as time itself. there are 3 ways to improve profit. improve sales margin, improve asset turnover or increase leverage. 1. the firm is probably already leveraged enough and with a risky toy business (annual sales fluctuate a lot depending on demand), you can't increase leverage without running into serious risk. 2. there's only so much of sales margin you can make per set. they are already cutting cost by relocating to cheaper production centers. cutting sg&a and possibly tax will require them to sell out or relocate to an investor friendly country like us or uk. 3. asset turnover is probably the venue still unexplored. with the outsourcing of production to someone else, asset should be dramatically reduced (they only need some computers and maybe a few buildings to house the staff, etc). the other way to improve asset turnover is to produce more sales. and that can be achieve by reducing prices. toys are luxury goods and are more price sensitive. by reducing the incremental price, you can achieve more volume (i.e. sacrificing sales margin for higher asset turnover) thereby increasing profits. if lego was ordinary household item like toilet paper or toothbrush, i would agree with you that they won't achieve anything by reducing price. there are still so many markets out there that lego can sell to, if only they were much cheaper.

hmm, i didnt know a passat goes on tour... i know most people love seeing a rare 1958 mustang convertible...but a 2003 passat?

wow...that's exactly what i had predicted earlier this year when i joined the forum. i remember saying that they should relocate the production facility to somewhere cheaper in asia. from the news it seems they picked flextronic, a decent hi-tech singaporean company to run their production. do you think someone from lego came here and read my post? :-P haha, probably it was already suggested by consultants they hired to reorg the group. i dont think there is a risk to the brick quality. afterall, they didn't just outsource to a "funny" company in china. they did go for a hi-tech singapore company. singapore is a first world country with a third world's operating cost. pretty high up there in terms of production quality and integrity (one of the least corrupted country, even higher than US). also, with them as the client they are in full control of the quality. if quality is poor, they have the ability to accept or reject a production lot. the only downside i can see from this is that they will have to export the technology to singapore. this is a risk in that eventually megabloks or best lock can also "steal" the technology by having flextronic make their blocks too (using the technology that lego created). but this can be countered easily by having exclusive contracts with flextronic. still, there will be unavoidable leaks (ie employees who quit to work for megabloks or bestlock). some of that cheaper cost should be transferable to the consumer a few years down the line. we can enjoy buying cheaper sets maybe in 2-3 years time? here's to $50 for 1000 brick sets!

what is a Wii?

well that's not so difficult. if you had a shop in the past or if you started your collection a few years back when lego sw was still a dream instead of reality... and with quite a lot of money... i think money is a major part of it. having a shop though still doesn't really explain having a $42k hobby. if he is an eccentric millionaire, why sell now?

well, buy them during sale! you can't go wrong buying sw sets. the sets usually sell for double retail a year after sale ended. like the 4504 MF still available in US last year, right now selling for $150-$200 and that's on ebay, if you're lucky. cheapest on BL go for $200.

how did he end up with $42k of lego in the first place?!?! *wacko* *wacko*

where did you get them?!?!?! i wanted some for the joint parts and mod bricks.

i bought 7781 and 7782 from ebay for $30. what a bargain! no instruction and no box though. gonna get the instructions from BL.

HOLY!!!! umm, is $60 (incl shipping) a good price for a misb jango slave? i think i just won it on ebay. didn't think i would win but thought i would try. *wub* is it? is it? btw, what is AOTC in ebay terms?

probably the serial number from the barcode. but that can be easily abused by going to a toy shop and "steal" the numbers from the boxes. i reckon you could just as easily con a complete minifig by using 4 barcodes (1 for headgear, 1 for head, 1 for torso and 1 for leg).

you could add some rockets to the torso (the four studs right next to the cockpit) like those from the supernova. or some greeble bits. i don't quite like the "wings." the position is very odd looking. i like the stealth hunter windshield. much better imo. btw, wouldnt it be better to order parts from 1 seller rather than to order from many? the shipping charge is quite ridiculous from some of them.

it looks a little odd. not sure what it is. i think it may be the color combo.

if you see lego as an investment, you can't open the box else the value immediately drops 30% average. right now, i'm looking to have my hobby fund itself. obviously we won't know that until 5 years later. i'll have to keep track of my spending, etc on a spreadsheet until then. :-) the problem with hobby/lego is that the appreciation will bottom out and is very unstable. over 10 years or more i dont think you will be able to recover your investment + inflation. also demand can be rather erratic.

it will probably be more than $5000. there's compounding interest to consider even if it is just sitting in the bank. best to buy some kind of a fund which may yield better return than just CDs.