fred67

So... getting two, or are you able to cancel the S@H order? Interestingly (slightly off topic), I ordered a Hogwarts Castle when it said expected ship date was the 19th... after my order, a couple of hours later, the website said 29th (I think that was it). Well... I received it two days ago and the website now says "Available." NOOOO... that completely sucks! The delivery people just leave it on my porch... do you live in an apartment or something? If you have the means you might be able to call them and see if you can't pick it up tomorrow.

Just wanted to note that S@H (US at least) is still having a great sale, and I keep checking all the time and keep finding the list of things slightly changing on an almost daily basis. The Home One for $55 (was $110) The Wind Turbine Transport for $30 (was $60) Count Dooku's Sailor, Midi-scale Star Destroyer, both 50% off. Obi-Wan's Star Fighter, 25% off ($75, was $100). These are, as I write this, all still "Available Now."

If I was standing in the LEGO store and wanted curves, I would. But now it's a chicken or the egg scenario... if they hadn't been making us buy so many curves to get the needed straights we wouldn't have the overabundance to begin with. Moreover, being a small segment of TLG's customers, it's the parents who are expanding their kids layouts that would do most of the buying, I think. But the bottom line is I don't want flex track either (or rather, like curves, a very small number of them), but now I have to buy that to get straights. The worst part is the new packs cost more, but still have the same amount of straights. I makes me that they did this, but only because I have a decent number of straights at the moment (and a drawer full of unused curves). I'm sure I just don't understand the problem. I remember reading that for 9V they had a single mold that made the same number of both straight and curved pieces, and by selling them separately they ended up with this enormous amount of 9V curves that nobody wanted. I think they must have started off RC with the same mold, but now it seems like they might actually be using a mold that does straight and flex.... maybe they just really want a single mold for tracks and that's it, and they have to sell it as packs if they want to get rid of it all. I don't know. I'd love to hear someone from TLG try to explain how this is somehow beneficial to the consumer (which is a tact most companies would take). Unfortunately, TLG is not as prone to BS as most companies, so they'd probably come right out and say the technical reason why they do this and tell us "That's just the way it is. Sorry."

I use one of these. The leather hole punch with variable sizes and you don't need a surface, but depending on the material you may need to squeeze really hard. My avatar is wearing a cape I made out of microfiber suede.

Agreed... all our complaining about getting too many curves in the packs, and the result seems to be... no more curves at all? That's not exactly what people had in mind... how about selling them separate? Yes, people will buy more straights... so make more straights! Is there really a problem with selling customers what they want? Now we're out of the frying pan (straights and curves) and into the fire (straights and flex).

You're just proving that while price per piece is a "fair" (as opposed to good or excellent) starting point, it doesn't adequately give you an objective measure of a sets worth. The Death Star comes with over 20 minifigures (I don't count some of those droids). If you value the minifigures separately (at say, $3/each, which is what collectibles cost in the US, and is less than the build-a-minifigure price per figure), then the price of the remaining pieces of the death star become much more reasonable - but even that still isn't a great method, just better than mere price per piece. A bit off topic, I know. One of the things I need to put up with, as a largely free market capitalist, is the subjectivity (often emotionally charged) of the people I'm discussing things with. Objectively, if people are willfully buying LEGO in such large quantities that so many sets are sold out and back ordered, and that TLG seems to have been reporting year over year increases in sales, then there's no way one can claim LEGO is "overpriced." Ironically, though, trying to be objective about a singular set or theme doesn't work because the value itself is subjective. You can complain a set in one line is overpriced, while a set in another line, with a similar price per piece and/or minifigure ratio exists could be a "must have." If you take an objective approach and consider that, no matter what the quality, no matter what the molding tolerances are, you're still buying molded plastic bits, then the price is, objectively I think, quite high. However, I'm a free market capitalist; I don't think any other system yet tried has worked as well as the largely free market. That doesn't mean I like the price I pay for LEGO, I objectively think it's high. But it's not too high to keep me from buying it... therefore, it's not "over" priced. If it was, I wouldn't be on EB discussing it.

Sellers are almost always willing to answer questions... contact the stores and ask how much it would be to ship. I generally (but not always) restrict my searches to North America, but depending on what you're buying it could definitely be worth buying from overseas. You can also ask if they'll repack the set into a smaller box, which often saves money, if the box doesn't mean anything to you (it generally doesn't to me).

You buy what you want... if someone has a large quantity of something then you can buy as much of it as you want. On my early bricklink days I was fortunate enough to find 1x2 and 1x1 white and black bricks for like $0.019 each and bought thousands of them just to have (I like them better than 2x4 and 2x2 for minifig scale). What I do when I need specific pieces is I'll find the store that I like (price/feedback/intuition) and after I put what I need in my cart, if it's not a lot, I'll see if I can't bulk up the order with other useful pieces, maybe see what the store has on sale.

I often end up telling people that LEGO today is not the LEGO you remember as kids, the buildings are not just boxes, but beautiful architectural designs involving a lot of intricate detail; the Emerald Night train, with it's working pistons and connecting rods, and the ability to create remotely controlled vehicles, not to mention robotics.

I don't normally buy sets on BL, but I have on occasion and haven't had any problems. Read the complete description, the seller should note if there are any missing or replaced pieces, and you can always ask the seller before buying. I think most sellers are unwilling to tell you a sealed series 3 is a specific one because there's a lot more error than than the barcode method. I haven't bought any yet (I try to get what I want from S@H and at the store first, and then use BL to fill out what I've missed; since they're just released, I'm at least a month away from resorting to BL), but what I've seen is that they've just opened the packs to verify what they were... if you're going to use them (not save them), I don't see why that would be a problem. I've gotten opened series 1 and 2 and they were fine. That's a hard question... I make good use of my wanted list, so that even if I'm looking for a single specific part I can flesh out my orders with what's on my wanted list, so I'll often look for sellers that have the most things I want... but there's a lot more than that, as the ones with most of the parts I want are often the most expensive vendors. I also read the feedback. Even if there's only 1 negative in 1000 feedbacks, I read what the person wrote and I consider how recent it was. After a successful transaction, if you really liked how it all went, you can add the store to your favorites list. You can also add any bad stores you dealt with to your least favorites, and filter them out of searches. (*) It took me some time to get a handle on my wanted lists, but I think that's a great feature to explore and it can help find shops that have the most of the things you want, as you can sort stores in searches by how many wanted list matches you have. It also lists stores you have coupons with first, which is nice. Read the forums... sellers announce sales all the time (there's a specific forum for it). While rip offs and scammers are far fewer on BL than Ebay (IMO), you still need to be careful. The old saying is accurate - if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, but out of around 70 buys I've only ever had one really bad one that I had to leave negative feedback for. Also keep in mind these people are generally hobbyists, most are not full time sellers, so if you don't expect too much then you won't be disappointed. (*) While I've only left one negative, I have a good list of least favorite stores (although my most favorite list is definitely larger); when you buy "used" you have to assume the bricks are... you know... used. But good sellers will tell you they are discolored or might be dusty or something; I've had to wash and retrobright many a piece purchased from bricklink.

There's no way I know of to get huge numbers of bricks for any kind of reasonable price. If you are a member of a Lego User's Group, you may be eligible for the occasional bulk group purchase from TLG. I would say this - do NOT discount S@H's PAB section as being too expensive. I've often found bricks in "bulk" (100 pieces or more) that were cheaper than Bricklink. It's not common, but it happens, and you are guaranteed to get new, clean bricks without a smoky smell, without cat hair, and without free spiders.

Hi, I'm Fred, and I'm a 43 year old LEGO addict. Hi, Fred! I'm not ashamed nor embarrassed by it. I like LEGO more than my 11 year old son ever did, and I often visit the LEGO Store just for myself. I spent an hour "feeling up" minifigure packets at TRU just before Christmas... and some people gave me odd looks, but some actually figured I knew something and asked about sets for gifts (like "my sister tells me my nephew likes 'advanced' LEGO, do you have any idea what that means?") I have a great LEGO collection. I'd buy it all if I had the money, but I have everything I really want right now... my wife went all out for Christmas for me, and when the dust settled she bought be Diagon Alley for my birthday later this month. I love seeing my collection on the wall at home, and even though few people ever get to see it (it's upstairs in the bonus room my wife and I share as 'office' space), I sometimes stand there and just look it over and admire it. Sometimes I'll move the Emerald Night back and forth a couple of times to see the working parts go, or re-pose some figures. The architecture series on display in my office at work has a lot of admirers, many of whom really want sets like those for themselves. I also am lucky enough to work in a really creative environment (television production) and many people have "toys" on display. But I don't tend to talk about it much unless people ask me. I don't go to people at parties and say "I like LEGO, what do you like?" although I'd like one of you younger EB'ers to try that out on the ladies next time you go to a bar. I guess that when I look at it rationally, there's a lot worse hobbies one could have. I'm not a big fan of spectator sports, for example (although I like playing some sports, I hate watching), so it would amuse me to no end to get ridiculed by some sports fan who thinks my hobby is lame, when at least it's creatively productive (at most it's incredibly rewarding), and watching sports leaves you with nothing at the end of the day. I mean, it's not like I don't watch ANY sports, I watch World Cup, for example, and some Olympics, but it's not my "hobby." I create things. Even if I take them apart, at the end of the day I have things I've created. You can't beat that. Some other parents I met thought I was a bit immature when I volunteered to by Odyssey of the Mind coach for my son's team - until they built a tracked vehicle partially out of my LEGO and made it to the statewide competition. Hey... I don't run around my house with my X-Wing making spaceship noises... I build things, including remotely operated vehicles that I scare the dogs with... that's pretty cool, if you ask me. Anyway, after some consideration a long time ago, I decided that I ultimately don't really care what anyone else thinks. It's surprisingly easy and makes life more enjoyable. You should see my story about Series 3... I was in the LEGO store with my son and there we were, feeling up the minifigures when a lady with two young daughters walks over and picks them up and starts feeling them... her daughters wanted the "girl" ones, and had randomly bought some the day before... but ended up with the space guy and a couple other ones they didn't want, so I told them it was easy to feel what it was you were buying and telling them what to look for... so there we were, the five of us crowded around the minifigure box, feeling up packages. It must have been a sight.

Did I miss discussion about production and distribution? From what I understood, TLG realized they made a mistake in N.A. when series 1 sold so well... they changed distribution a bit for series 2, but the production cycle was apparently already completed and they couldn't do anything about the total quantity produced... So has anyone heard anything about the production of series 3?

I agree this is possibly the most difficult contest I've voted on. I normally go through the list and pick the ones I like the most, the do process of elimination... only my initial list was twice as long as I have points to give, and they were all so great it was painful to cross ones off the list to narrow it down to seven. 8. HMS Prince of Wales +1 Point 9. Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion +1 Point 15. Vesta +1 Point 21. HMS Sabre +1 Point 25. The Maeve Aulsebrook +1 Point 26. Lion of Luebeck +1 Point 31. RTS Legomalee +1 Point My hats off to the builders, congratulations on the excellent work!

Good advice... I was, with 100% accuracy, able to get exactly what I wanted. First trip to TRU got an elf and the tribal chieftain... the elf is quite obvious with the bow and while the square bases that each figure comes with can make it hard to find the shield, it's quite obvious when you do. The chieftain's spear is also unique, it's long and thin without much else, unlike the fishing pole. The big clunky headdress confirms it. The second trip, this time at the LEGO store, I was there with my son, and me and my big beefy hands were able to find another couple of elves (another for me, and one for him), two samurai (another one for each of us... look for the blade... long, thin, and with a unique handle), and he wanted the ape-suit guy, and the banana made it clear... That's 7 for 7 with 100% accuracy. I can't tell if I was correct or not, but the aliens and blacktron guy were also quite obvious. Maracas and microphone are confusing, but the Hula woman has 2, while the rapper has the "box."

Oh... what day was it? Wednesday (29th) or Thursday (30th)? I stopped by the LEGO store and got not only Diagon Alley but a handful of series 3 minifigures. I was surprised, as normally the store is a stickler for official dates, but I am guessing the shelves were so empty of other products they needed something they had to fill out them out.

Well done, very impressive... I'm wondering if you got the bulk of those pieces from a second EN car, or did you find all that tan (including the windows) on Bricklink?

I was under the impression they use the exact same plastic. I would assume the raw materials are identical, it's perhaps the process that isn't as good - perhaps higher tolerance for error, and translucency is obviously the result of improper mixing (from what I understand, the plastic always starts as clear and color is added). Perhaps improper mixing or finishing (which could account for the shininess) is also to blame for it's "weakness," although I don't know that I've ever seen that claim substantiated... plenty of "good" LEGO breaks, too. If the Chinese make a lot of figures and parts that get moved and played with a lot, it's easy to see that even with quality consistent with Denmark that they could get blamed for poorer quality. My problem right now is that I have many of the "problem" sets, including the Kingdoms BPs, but I haven't even opened them as I have no more display space. I'll crack them open tonight to see if I notice anything. I've not had ANY problems with collectibles so far (knock on wood). I also have a couple of magnet sets that I'm certainly not unhappy with at all, although with the new gluing I'm not likely to buy them anymore anyway. But I saw this on an EB post - Medieval Market Village practically trashed from cracked bricks, and they're not from China (AFAIK). I guess I just don't want to excuse poor quality from Denmark as being "just a bad batch" while poor quality from Chinese production is considered endemic when ZERO of my own minifgures (so far) from China have quality problems, IMO. EDIT: So I cleared some display space and opened up the packs and, lo and behold, I had the problem with the minifigure grip. What I noticed was the shields were not fully placed in the hands, they were only halfway, forcing the hands opens for the entire time they've been in that package. It wasn't all of them, and it wasn't on their weapon hands, just the shields. I'm following the advice to just leave the hands empty for a while and hope they revert to their molded shape. That said, it certainly seems like an issue of bad packaging and not "Chinese" plastic. I agree... I've had many a figure on the shelves for years and don't seem to have a problem but, as I mentioned, the weapons that were solidly placed in the hands did not cause any problems in the packs I opened - it was universally (across both lions and dragons) the shield hand where the shield was only partly inserted, keeping the hand in the forced open position for all those many months. All the weapons hands seemed fine.

Well... there's no "the movie," since there's three movies and this new line is being released coinciding with the fourth one that we haven't seen yet. Since the curse was broken by the end of the first movie, and the ship is being released with the fourth movie, I'd suggest they'd darn well better NOT be skeletons (which, frankly, I don't even count as being "real" minifigures).

Yes... I've found some of these parts in our "build a minifigure" section; I don't always look there, I don't think it's generally a good buy, but I will tell you this: I have NEVER seen the printed slope pieces (dresses) for sale there despite having the "dress" torsos, which is pretty disappointing. I've also never seen a chromed crown and, of course, they never have capes or the like. I'd probably be interested in this set if it were available in the U.S..

Agreed... I went and looked when I saw kohhu's post, and thought it was a bit much. I realize there must be some license issue there, but I don't think that should account for such a high premium, especially for what amounts to free advertising (or increased brand name recognition, anyway). It's like paying extra for a Nike shirt instead of a plain one.

+1 Legoman

Any reviews from the U.S., because it's already released there, too... I'd do it, but while I bought it yesterday it's actually for my wife to give me for my birthday in a couple of weeks. I also haven't "completed" the reviewers academy.

Well... we can over-analyze all we want. TLG uses very high quality plastic, we all know that. TLG uses very high quality, low tolerance for error molds; we all know that, too. But ultimately we are buying injection molded plastic pieces and, for what it is, it's ridiculously overpriced. But that's not all, right? There's licensing for licensed themes, there's shipping and taxes and profits built into the price for everyone along the chain of distribution, and more importantly, there's set and piece design - the sum of the parts of most sets is more valuable than the cost of the sets. Ultimately TLG charges what each market will tolerate - that's how businesses operate. Having a veritable monopoly on quality plastic building bricks, TLG "gets away" with charging quite a bit more than they could otherwise.... and we pay it because it's worth it for us to buy. Nobody ever buys something they didn't think was worth it (even essentials). EDIT: This is my first post responding to the OP, my first post was specifically about collecting as an investment... but to answer the actual question: "Do you think Lego is insanely overpriced for a good reason?" the answer is "Yes," because TLG is a profit driven company, and they charge what they can to maximize their profits. Capitalism is a good reason... it works, and it ultimately works best for both consumer and producer.

I don't like the prices, but I will still buy because I'm an addict, and unlike most people (it seems) I love series 3. But I will still complain when I have something to complain about, but I'll try to keep from going off topic.