fred67

Well... yes and no, as I acknowledged in a later post. Well, I know we're all guilty of supposing we know something about what's going on when TLG makes some decision. I usually look at it from the perspective of what makes the most business sense, and I don't go into a lot of details about production capacities and so forth because I don't think it's all that hard, for most pieces, to make a new production run - swap out molds, make some number of pieces, and modify with what they have on hand, and move on. It's not like they have to make a new mold every time they do a run. And I do really want to get along with you, otherwise I'd just be ignoring you and not bringing it up at all - you've had a lot of great insight over the years, but sometimes you state things, down to little details of how and why, as if you were standing there in the room when the decision was made. The fact of the matter is, like all of us, we're all just guessing about the hows and whys. When it comes down to it, the hows and whys don't matter - TLG made a decision that, on the surface, seems like a bad one when it comes to fans of LEGO. It's not the end of the world, I'm not as upset about it as I sound, I just think it was a terrible decision. Discussing it here doesn't change the fact that the decision was made, but I like to think that if anyone at TLG is paying attention at all, if they're going re-release something, perhaps it would be better to direct their resources as what has the most potential to sell... in other words, give the people what they want. Even given a "sub-$100" restriction, even given any restriction (like parts, as you point out - some parts may be hard to come by, so it's accepted they may have to alter the set), they do enough surveys that they could easily have just asked what people wanted. Again, not the end of the world, just disappointing to a lot of people. We're not at wits-end, we're not suicidal, we shrug and move on - but if TLG learns anything from this, it should be that they should ask fans what they want. They really are not that great at forecasting demand... I can point out many instances. Why take chances when they can just ask? So I reiterate my suggestion earlier in this thread that, maybe once a year, TLG can do a survey - limit it to what they know they can produce, if need be, and offer up a few of the more popular retired sets, and let the people decide. I think, ultimately, to sum it up for me, it was like "Why did they pick THAT set re-release?" And again, it's not from a selfish standpoint - they could have picked any number of sets I already had and it still would have made more sense to me. Offer up a new Cafe Corner and I wouldn't buy it because I already have it - but I'd think it was cool that fans could get something they missed.

This probably belongs in the thread Dream LEGO Licenses. They did Ben 10. Not in minifgure scale, but they did it. Given all the different figures Ben could transform into, minifigure scale probably wouldn't be all that great.... some of those creatures had "weird" articulation that wouldn't work in minifugre scale. Some might work with big-figs. I seriously doubt TLG would want to revisit it.

Apparently so was Winter Village, and they managed to keep it going (of course, you can argue it doesn't actually have the label "winter village," but being as how it's a re-release of a WV set, it would be a terrible counter argument). If a series does good enough they will find a way to keep it going. I'm sure MF did well, it just obviously didn't do as well as what TLG thought they could do with other themes. I also really don't want to start any personal trouble with you - I like and appreciate a lot the insight you have on LEGO, honestly, but you come off like you somehow represent the company and know all about it's internal workings. You don't. I don't believe you work for them. You're not even a "LEGO Ambassador." So I really don't like it when you phrase things so matter-of-factly about how and why TLG does what it does. For the most part, you're guessing just like everybody else. It might be a bit more of an educated guess, but it's still just a guess.

I don't want your pity - I'm glad for my CMF displays; with the sheer number of them now everybody that sees the displays think it's awesome, and I think it's a damn sight better than being in a box.

Agree with most of the responses here, especially the last two. Sorting is supposed to make things easier/faster, but I find I have to go to a particular shelf, get a particular storage case (I have at least two for each color (big and small bin depths), determine which of the two or more cases for the color I need, pull it out of the shelf, open it up, then scan through looking for the compartment it may be in. In about half the cases the little bins have little baggies with different pieces, because if everything got it's own compartment then my bonus room would have nothing but storage cases. So that's just to get one piece. It's worse when I have a bunch I have to put away, like after taking apart a MOC. Yes, I have a mixture of storage types, but don't want to get too deep into that question since there's a thread dedicated to it. My last few endeavors were "bricklinking" a Market Street, a Harry Potter Sorting Hat set, and the Jun-Chi adventurers sets. In all cases I had at least half the parts - more for the two smaller ones. So I guess I'm not there yet. And I agree with Alfada's signature.

It's true that it may be a harder pill to swallow for a more expensive set - otherwise I could have just said the UCS Millennium Falcon, which is also going for 10x the MSRP... but few people are going to pay $5000 for a set. The point is there are a lot of sets that people would like to see re-released, I've never heard ANYBODY say they wanted a re-release of the Toy Shop; up until yesterday, nobody mentioned anything about rereleasing any WV sets at all. Do you take the LEGO surveys? I do. I've never been asked which set I'd like re-released. Do you honestly think if TLG asked in the "under $100" category what we'd like rereleased, that the WV Toy Shop would win? That's my point - I know I've been arguing about it quite a bit, but it's ultimately only a minor annoyance to me - but it's baffling to me, and I do think TLG was lazy about it, and I do think it's a mistake. At the same time, I don't run a multi-billion dollar company. But also, at the same time, TLG is hardly infallible.

I think they could do a set faster than that; they do Ideas sets faster than that (less than a year). I do understand it's not always quite that simple, and people may be working on other things, but I also expect they've had any number of ideas for WV sets that hadn't been chosen yet. I also want to point out that, while it seems like people are going really crazy over this release, it's really merely disappointing. I'll discuss it as long as anybody wants to discuss it, but in the grand scheme of things it's not like my hopes and dreams were crushed... I don't want to overstate the case. The biggest thing to me is how baffling it is. I can believe they weren't going to continue it (although we don't know, and I won't claim it must be the most likely scenario, it's that I can accept the possibility); I can believe they had to come up with something quick, and I can believe they didn't have time to develop a whole new set. But I can't believe they didn't already have other ideas from past years that would have fit the bill, and it's nearly impossible for me to believe they are "testing the waters" on re-releases, because this would have been one of the dumbest choices they could have made for such a test. Again, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but a set from a similar time frame whose aftermarket value is 10x MSRP seems like a much more likely choice than one whose aftermarket value is little more than 3x MSRP - a simple indication of demand, IMO.

Why, if sales were good, were they going to discontinue it? Because of one statement that could be taken several different ways?

Agreed - TLG doesn't read this forum, and I don't know what's going on on their facebook page or other social media, but this goes back to the point I made that if they are going to re-release a set, why the heck didn't they pick a set that was actually, vocally, in demand. A lot of people might be happy about this re-release, but few were vocal about it, versus how many people have been begging for a re-release of Cafe Corner (with bricklink sales stats to back it up)? I don't think people are complaining that a set was re-released so much as if they're going to re-release a set, there were many better choices.

I disagree - "collectible" w.r.t. hobbies means something that has potential to become rare and sought after. That these sets were never "rare" was actually one of my points (see the (*) part) - it's more reason TLG shouldn't be re-releasing it. I've missed plenty of sets in the past - I can't afford everything as soon as it comes out (or at all, in a lot of cases). I didn't get the MF Haunted House, either - I would really have loved to get that one, so it's not like I'm "lording" anything over anybody - I even agreed that some sets could go for a re-release, but those sets wouldn't: 1) supplant a new set, and 2) should be ones that are actually highly sought after.

Wow... if they chose Stay Puft, I wouldn't bother with the Dimensions set (since that's minifigure size anyway). I would rather pay $50 for this than $15 for a dimensions set I only want the figure from.

Let me explain why I think this set as a re-release is bad. These sets are pretty much supposed to be collectible - they released one new one every year - and it's not a new concept, there are a lot of Christmas "series" out there from other places (like ceramic villages) where one or two new pieces are added every year - even Barbie has a holiday release every year (or used to - I don't really follow Barbie, but my niece got the new one every year). You can argue that LEGO is not supposed to be "collectible," except when they release minifigures as "collectible..." So TLG DOES recognize the collectibility of some things.(*) It's just part of ANY hobby. It's just how it is. So the first point is that re-releasing the Toy Shop would be like re-releasing CMF series one with some slight variations because, hey, some people missed it. The second point is that there are retired sets that are HUGELY in demand compared to the WV sets. It's hard to quantify the number of people, but given the economics of supply and demand, a good measure would be what old sets are selling for. Up until yesterday, the Toy Shop was selling for somewhere around 3 to 4 times it's MSRP. Cafe Corner is closer to 10. Which one does it make sense to re-release? Keep in mind that I have both - I'm not arguing this from a "I don't have it so they should re-release it" perspective, I have BOTH, and it wouldn't bother me nearly as much if they re-released Cafe Corner because that's obviously what people want. The third point is that if there's only one main WV set per year, then a repeat supplants anything new. Re-releasing a modular wouldn't have to supplant releasing a new modular, too... if they release a new modular at the beginning of a year, re-releasing an old set in the summer wouldn't hurt anything. To answer your last question, you should never, ever count on a set being re-released... ever. Just be happy if they do it for a set you missed, but never count on it, and don't bother getting your hopes up. (*) As a side note, my only problem with "collectible" is when they create an artificial scarcity, or make something unreasonably difficult to get - but these sets were widely available to everybody at the time.

Actually, I'm a little peeved about the Toy Shop (I have one), but would not be about the Cafe Corner (despite having one of those, too) - it's been off the market longer than the Toy Shop, has a lot more people interested in it (based on the old Toy Shop selling for about 3.5 times it's MSRP and Cafe Corner selling for closer to 10 times it's original MSRP), and I think they'd release a new, regular, annual modular set, too. If it supplanted that year's new modular, then I don't know how I'd feel - but at least I'd understand the need for a re-release more than Christmas. The Christmas theme, and getting the new set every year, has become somewhat of a tradition. Last year I had to get a second folding table to expand my display, and was just stoked about having the train have twice as much track to run on. In fact, it simply wouldn't be disappointing at all if they released a new set, too. I'd like to throw this suggestion out there, if anyone's listening... instead of supplanting a new set, release a new set and allow people to vote on what get's a re-release. I know they need to plan way ahead, so the holidays timed voting could apply to the next holiday season. But don't limit it to WV - do it for modular, too, and perhaps other ongoing themes where it could apply. So I'll probably get a couple of the changing seasons sets (was going to anyway) and Christmas them up. Plus we'll be getting the smaller auxiliary sets, too, so need to wait to how they look before getting really disappointed.

Agreed... it's been a tight year for me. The other differences are that the jack in the box is orange and blue instead of red and blue. It's like night and day, really. The end of speculation? The only reason I doubt it'll happen is not because of technical feasibility, but because they don't want old sets to compete with new ones.

The thing is they couldn't have picked a dumber set to "test the waters." Average sales for a new Cafe Corner is over $1300 on bricklink, Toy Shop is just over $200. Compared to MSRP, the Toy Shop is selling for about 3.5 times it's original price. Compared to MSRP, Cafe Corner is selling for well over 9 times it's original price. Which one is obviously in more demand? Which one would be better to "test the waters" with? And I say this as someone who has a CC and wouldn't buy a new one, not someone desperately hoping for a re-release.

But I think this is out of the ordinary, and I'd liken it to an Ideas set - if they made an Ideas "Christmas" set, I don't think it would (or should) supplant the usual Winter Village set. And yet, after only six years, the demand for the old set is apparently so high they need to re-release it... It's either popular or it's not, if it's not that popular I don't understand why they'd feel the need to re-release sets. (EDIT: although it does explain why they wouldn't want to sink a lot of resources into a new set and, instead, modify and release the old one) And, for the record, if I'm not mistaken, they DID a limited re-release of this set either the second or third year? I know when fall came around one of those years they started selling the previous year's set. Not sure if it was the first or second year. Anyway, one of the sets coming out (we had a set name only) was a Christmas Train (which is odd that they actually used the name "Christmas" in it). I'm hoping it's a real train, and not a mini. Maybe we'll see what these other sets are soon.

Updated wants and added a new series 14 Fly Guy for trade in my post! Come on, people, let's get the ball rolling again!

Yes, but nobody wants those re-releases to supplant what should have been a new set. Why couldn't they release the new Toy Shop along with something new? A while back, in the thread about re-releasing sets, I suggested TLG allow people to vote for a set to be re-released - so I'm certainly not against the concept, but I was thinking it would be like a LEGO Ideas set - it wouldn't change the usual order of anything else, it would be extra.

Let's hope not. If they did a vote to pick a single set every year for re-release outside the normal series, that's one thing - but not getting a new primary winter set (as they do release those smaller, secondary sets) is very disappointing. If they released the Toy Shop along with something that was actually new, that'd be something.

Well, I'm happy that I own the original, and can now save some money that TLG would otherwise have gotten. Happy about saving money, but not happy otherwise. I know the people that missed it are happy, but it IS pretty poor decision making on TLG's part. Think about it - the people that missed this set, but have started collecting winter village sets would have bought ANYTHING new TLG released - as would the ones who already have this. From a business standpoint, it makes little sense. We can use the same arguments for them to stop making CMFs after series 14 and just start over again, or just "update" the modulars and not have any new ones, just recycling all the old ones. But hey, they'll have some different colors maybe! Having missed quite a lot of stuff myself, I'm still not happy when they do stuff like this.

I haven't had much success with the Target I normally go to (Suwanee, GA); it took them over a month to put out Simpsons 2, I had little hope to see S14 at all, but was killing time and checked anyway... and they had, hanging on the Simpsons display, 11 S14. I bought them all - only 3 duplicates (and ones that I certainly don't mind getting duplicates of - 2 extra flies and one zombie businessman). I was shocked. And happy.

Save a step and just cut your signature and paste it as a new layer to create the new layer automatically.

Do all of you that started collecting late know about the CMF Trading Thread? Good way to trade newer figures for some of the older ones you may not have. Unfortunately, people have stopped keeping their haves/wants up to date. The link to my post is in my signature. I realize there are some other sites were made to facilitate trading, but it just seems to have died completely here.

There are many fonts, but if you are really trying to do something fancy and unique, then as the other ideas suggested, you can just make your own image with a transparent background and overlay it on other images. It doesn't even have to be the same size - you can create a smaller rectangular image that, with decent image software, you can overlay located anywhere on top of the image you are trying to put your signature on. I know a lot of people will disagree with me here, but the free GIMP software is more than capable of this and a lot more.

Sure, but the question is do you have to count those tangential series? As I mentioned, these are generally considered sub-themes, so if I don't have all the sub-themes, do I not have a complete collection? I can see it both ways - I tend to think that you really need them all in order to say you have them all, but are TLM figures supplemental to TLM sets, or are they really supposed to be "collectible?" Does it matter why they were made? I don't know, but I guess I often figured that since TGB was not available here, I didn't care if I had them or not.