Community LEGO Blogs
LEGO Blog Articles Submitted by the Brickpicker Community
259 blog articles in this category
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A couple of days ago, Brianl3 published a great Blog Article where he described a very simple process to calculate the Compounded Annual Growth rate we use so much on this set. As most of you already know, this figure represents the smoothed growth a set has had over its entire life since being released, and can be usually used to get a fell of how well it has done compared to some of the others. Now, below you will find an attached Excel spreadsheet with an incorporated CAGR calculator, where
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If you regularly read threads in the forums, especially the thread in the “Amazon” section, then you have probably seen something about “CamelCamelCamel”. Now your first thought might be “Why don't they just call it 3 Camels? That's way easier” and that's understandable, but your second thought should be “ Am I totally missing out?”. Yes is the answer to that question. It's really very simple. CamelCamelCamel is a free website where you can sign up and be sent an alert any time items you desire
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In the LEGO investing world, the CITY theme is one of the least talked about and somewhat ignored by most investors. Other than the trains, it seems a lot of people simply don’t pay enough attention to the theme, maybe because there are a lot of re-released sets, mostly targeted to kids or its very generic nature. Having said that, the theme is a pretty good performer overall, with a CAGR of around 13.00%, above the average LEGO set/theme, and is probably the only theme you can keep constantly e
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When choosing between the Clone Wars, the Prequel Trilogy, and the Original Trilogy, most LEGO investors turn to the Original Trilogy, because of its superior storyline, and overall quality. In second place usually comes the Prequel Trilogy, with its somewhat muddy storyline, but still above average quality, in my opinion. Finally dead last, comes the Clone Wars. Though it is difficult to compare an animated TV show with a full-blown movie, it is clear that it is the lackluster of the three. Doe
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This is the first of 4 installments comparing and contrasting sets from the Star Wars Universe from the BrickIndex Top 20 list. 1. 10174-1: Imperial AT-ST 2. 10212-1: Imperial Shuttle 3. 10186-1: General Grievous 4. 10143-1: Death Star II 5. 7255-1: General Grievous Chase As promised, I am now going to write short paragraphs on the TOP 20 Performing Star Wars sets, in sets of 5. **Please Note: These percentages are for the month of April. The BrickIndex has not yet been updated to Ma
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Thanks to those of you who have been reading this series of the LEGO Star Wars BrickIndex Top 20 Performers! If you are just picking up here, here's a small introduction to what I have been writing about. One of the helpful features of BrickPicker is that it provides the values of LEGO sets from various themes throughout the LEGO world. Another is that BrickPicker does a basic analysis of sets from a certain theme, and finds the Top 20 Performers of that theme, or of all themes. One theme that
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11. 8083-1: Rebel Trooper Battle Pack 12. 6209-1: Slave I 13. 7153-1: Jango Fett's Slave I 14. 4483-1: AT-AT 15. 7143-1: Jedi Starfighter This article is a continuation of an analysis of the BrickIndex of LEGO Star Wars. The BrickIndex is a handy BrickPicker tool that allows the user to view the overall Top 20 Performing sets from all themes, or a single theme. It helps to decide what sets might be skyrocketing in value, and what you may want to pick up for the future. This is t
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INTRODUCTION The LEGO Group has developed numerous Star Wars sets over the past 16 years, but the most coveted, and generally most valuable, are those with the Ultimate Collector's Series (UCS) label. What exactly, defines the term Ultimate Collector's Series? Brickipedia provides this definition: "The Ultimate Collector's Series, or UCS, is a sub-theme of sets. UCS sets are meant to be more detailed and aimed at
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It happens to the best of us..... You haven't built a LEGO set in a week or two. It's a slow day, you're bored, and you've got some spare time on your hands. You glance lovingly at your secret stash of LEGO sets and notice the pristine Pet Shops 10218s sitting on the shelf. They're mocking you - daring you to break those beautiful seals. Grabbing a set off the shelf, you carefully open the package before dumping the glorious contents onto the kitchen table to g
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Hello. My name is Elaine, and I am a Lego addict. I have often said this in jest, but I’ve started to realize that it is not a joke. I woke up this morning, and the first thing I did was check Brick Picker for the deals buzz. As soon as I had put the kids on the bus, I started planning my buy of the day. Since I went to see “The Force Awakens” (again) last night, I was feeling like I needed some more Star Wars sets. I took to the web, and made a plan to go to TRU (since it was Thursday) t
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Craigslist can be a really irritating place for anyone looking to buy or sell something. Whenever I set up a listing, I always dread getting the emails from people asking if I will take half my price or if I will trade for a “engine that don't work real good, but has a lot of good parts”. Is there any way to avoid this on Craigslist? We all know that selling locally is by far the best way to sell. As long as you don't have a store, you don't have to charge the person tax nor shipping at all so y
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Photographing LEGO minifigures, boxes and sets can be a difficult task to do correctly. It can mean the difference between selling or not selling an item on eBay or similar sites. Before I found out how to create this light box, it was a time consuming process to set up a good lighting system, take pictures of my minifigures, and list them on eBay. When I was in a time crunch, I would just put the minifigures flat on a piece of paper, which did not look the greatest. This light box is easy t
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I have never liked Chess as a kid or as a teenager. It was just one of those games that looked boring and bland. A game for nerds. However in the past several years after buying my first iphone, I could not find a app that suited my needs. Ultimately I needed an game that required some strategy and would never get boring. A game that I could improve on over time and a game that would pass time while I was playing it. That game ended up being Chess. At first, I was VERY BAD at Chess, and in some
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This new blog category will be the place where I post about those CUUSOO projects that I personally like the most. I know that there is a specific thread like this already in the forums, and TOK does a great job summarizing some of the best ideas, but I wanted to make this a more personal and regular type of thing. With the new blog system, I think it is the best place to do it! The Legend of Zelda is my all time favorite video game series, so it made sense for me to pick the CUUSOO project sch
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FTL: Faster Than Light is a top down, real time strategy, rogue-like indie game created by developers Subset Games released for digital distribution on September 14, 2012. The general premise is you, the player, are the high ranking commander of a faster-than-light travel capable spacecraft belonging to the remnants of a once great Federation trying to transport secret tactical information to headquarters which could ensure victory over the malicious Rebels all the while avoiding destruction or
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The year, 1927, roughly a few years before the time “talkies” were about to become a global phenomenon, an Austrian filmmaker by the name of Friedrich Christian Anton Lang directed one of the single most important films in history simply titled “Metropolis”. At a cost of five million Reichsmarks (close to $1,200,000 in U.S. currency at the time), it was the most expensive motion picture ever released up to that point. An epic story telling about the lower class toiling away beneath the steel and
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Deals in Ireland stores SMYTHS Smyths website :http://www.toys.ie/ Star Wars on sale: LEGO Star Wars: free lego planets when you spend 10+ LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon 7965 LEGO Star Wars The Malevolence 9515 LEGO Star Wars Rancor Pit 75005 LEGO Star Wars Z-95 Headhunter 75004 LEGO Star Wars Ewok Attack 7956 LEGO Star Wars TIE Fighter 9492 LEGO Star Wars Saesee Tiins Jedi Starfighter 9498 LEGO Chima on sale LEGO Chima Equilas Ultra Striker 70013 LEGO Chima Boulder Bowling 70103 LEGO Chima CH
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Most people can figure out the bidding function on Ebay with ease. Proxy bidding is a very simple concept to understand: If you bid higher than the current bidder, the price only goes up to just above their bid. Once the auction ends, the highest bidder wins. If you bid a max higher than what the auction ends at, you only have to pay the current bid, not your max. Most people take this general simplicity, along with the fact that the highest bid wins, and think they don't need a strategy. Howeve
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Investing, trading, speculating, flipping, gambling, hoarding, whichever “-ing” you decide to label a particular strategy with they all boil down to one thing – making money (well maybe not hoarding!). The handle you attach doesn’t really matter, we don’t need a label to neatly categorize different strategies into compartmentalised silos. Personally I use investing or investment as a catch-all term to encompass any form of buying an asset (Lego in this case) for the intention of resale at a prof
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It is probably the most widely discussed topic on this website – discounts! Some of the most popular forum threads are about specials and deals at various retail outlets, and the volume of topics is huge. There are even specific sub-forums for discussing deals and discounts. It is such an ingrained logical mantra that any investment purchase is considerably enhanced by obtaining said investment for the cheapest possible purchase price. Everyone knows this and everyone tries to do this, but I hav
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I just wanted to remind members the Blog Article contest in ending at midnight on July 31, 2013. I also want to tell members to not forget about the SET REVIEWS as a way to earn BrickPoints. With the new BRICKPOINTS STORE feature now active, members can earn LEGO sets without spending a Penny or Pound of their money. I wanted to point out a wonderful review of the 10188 Death Star submitted idunno101. Reviews like that can earn 200 or more Brickpoints very easily. The review was an nice mix of p
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This is just a quick tip if you want to dust off your Lego sets without worrying about taking them apart and running them through the dishwasher, or meticulously wiping them with a cloth. So, I just got my Jedi Defender-class Cruiser the other day, and completed my Old Republic subtheme collection. However, my two Republic Striker-class Starfighters and my Sith Fury-class Interceptor had quite a layer of dust built up on them. They looked pretty lousy and unpresentable, so I decided to try out t
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I have been on Ebay since the late 90's. Back then, I was a very early teen and I grew up watching my Dad use Ebay to buy old toy Train sets as he was a giant train enthusiast. He and I loved Ebay because you could get online and see thousands of items from thousands of buyers and had choices to buy used or buy new and be able to get a possible discount off a store price. My Dad once commented "The bad thing about Ebay is you can't haggle. Haggling is the only way to get the best price". Obvious
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In the first part of this blog, I gave a lot of reason's why Best Offer can be a great thing for buyers purchasing sets on Ebay. However, it is also a great tool for a seller as well. Auctions are definitely a really good way to sell items, but if you want to go with Buy It Now for any reason ( and there are advantages to Buy it Now), I recommend using Best Offer as well. A lot of seller's avoid Best Offer for many reasons: They don't want to deal with low-ball offers. The don't want to spend th
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Hello fellow BrickPickers... The end of the Summer is approaching quickly and we are heading into the prime LEGO season...Fall. There are many great new LEGO sets getting released and many great old ones getting retired. One thing is for sure, it is an active time of year, with the Christmas buying season right around the corner. Our recent Review and Blog content contests were very successful and we received a large influx of quality and informative LEGO set reviews and LEGO based blog articles
