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I dunno, I feel like the quality is way down with the new facilities being used to make the minifigs:

So I've noticed recently that LEGO has been making several changes. Some may be good, some may be bad, but they don't exactly hurt us as investors, except for maybe #3 which is could technically. But let me know if you have some more to add to the list, or is it just me that these things are happening? 1) Condensed boxes. It seems like that the most recent sets I got were almost bigger. This may be because the boxes themselves were smaller to actually fit the set better. I'm not POSITIVE, but I am pretty sure that boxes for most sets (except for battlepacks or $13 sets) have gotten smaller and are a better fit with the set you buy. A couple years ago, I remember buying a $30 Star Wars set and the box was huge! I don't remember which one, but I remember it felt smaller than I was expecting because of the size of the box. A week ago, I picked up the new General Grievous Wheel Bike for $25, but the box seemed so much smaller, and same thing for the Batman: Riddler Chase set (which I got at the same time). You can tell just buy swooshing the boxes around (sealed of course), that it's harder to hear the pieces floating around in there, because it's more condensed. 2) HIGHLY detailed figures. We all like minifigures and I think most of us appreciate authenticity, but it just might be getting out of hand. The new Luke Skywalker that comes with the Sand Crawler will have Mark Hamil's mole (beauty mark etc., someone correct me if my terminology is wrong) on his face. A MOLE! I don't really know if this is a good thing or not. I appreciate authenticity, but that seems really odd to me. And the new Darth Vader and Obi-Wan in the Summer 2014 wave will have printed on cloaks. Vader gets a cape (because he actually wears one, I guess), but all of Obi-Wan's garments are screen-printed. I DON'T like that in the LEAST. 3) Separation of Figs and Set In case you were wondering, that was supposed to be sort of a pun like "Separation of Church and State" (not to get political, but as a joke, but I went to the dentist and got nova cane, so none of this may make any sense...). Anyways, the sets are separated in numbered bags to make building simpler, which as a collector I like, and the figures are also separated in said bags. I appreciate this, as a teen who still plays with LEGO. It adds more anticipation in building the next part, rather than wanting to use the minifigs for hours and THEN build the set. But as a parter-outer, which some of you are, but I am not, it makes selling minifigs apart from sets difficult since you have to open 2, 3, or 4 bags to get 1 or 2 figures. It does help with selling the model parts though, since having a dozen bags all opened at once to build a tiny section is time consuming. 4) DC Comics (no longer DC Universe as it was in 2012-13) Overall, I appreciate this because I am a huge DC fan and comic reader. I don't read EVERY comic, but I read the biggest story arcs and know several characters (including the Martian Manhunter which has caused some stir in the investing world). Many characters have been given interesting looks that some did not expect, such as the Flash. His design is somewhat based on the New 52 (which is DC's relaunch of comic books, negating some things that happened in original comics, and starting fresh). If it wasn't, he would probably have been given the same helmet as in the LEGO Batman 2: The Videogame. Other characters with a New 52 look include: Martian Manhunter, Nightwing, Damian Wayne Robin, Batgirl, and (sort-of but not quite) SDCC Green Arrow. This is probably an effort of WB to streamline the New 52 into all aspects of DC, which now includes LEGO sets/minifigures. 5) Chinese Manufactured Parts I am not talking about the fake figures you see going for $0.03 on eBay, I am referring to LEGO approved parts that are not exactly the quality standard of normal Denmark manufactured LEGO. Some have wondered how to identify for sure if it was manufactured in China or not. Apart from just noticing look and feel differences, there's some branding you can look for. As seen in picture 1, I have compared 2 new, recently unpackaged and built, DC Super Heroes 2014 minifigures, Batman and Martian Manhunter. Manhunter is the Chinese manufactured figure. In picture 2, compare the right arms of the figures. On Batman, you can see the first thing very close to his hand is a number (not sure what the number means exactly), and then the word LEGO. On Martian Manhunter, you can see closer to his armpit (I don't know what it's called...arm pin maybe?) there is an indentation with a number. I didn't want to remove the arm in the event I might damage the torso. In picture 3, the legs of Batman feature the LEGO branding and numbers. Manhunter's legs do not. That is summary is how to identify a Chinese manufactured minifigure. So is it just me? Did you catch any of those before? Learn something new? I want to hear anything you noticed happening in recent years of LEGO history.

So, the Taj shipment is coming with UPS and weighs 18lb. Feeling better now

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-LEGO-Holiday-Sets-10216-10222-And-10199-With-Boxes-/221396237373?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item338c3e7c3d Outside of the Taj Mahal, probably the deal of the month.

My grandpa ran a plastic injection mold business for many years and I asked him about this and he told me Chinese Manufacturing won't change the quality of parts because they will use the same molds and machines. They will be there monitoring the process and make sure everything is going right, it's not like they're turning the whole manufacturing plant over to a bunch of Chinese people and see what happens. -I don't always going shopping, but when I do I buy Lego-

The bane figure alone in this set is high value down the line, you also get his tank, the black bat-bike is better than the blue one in the funhouse and looks really good with a black batman fig rather than the blue supplied.. only this set and the funhouse can you get the classic blue batman red robin, ivy only available in arkham set. The batcave has some good features such as the changing cell, Ivy's holding cell, the computer displays and the bat equipment and bat phone. This set is still the best investment of any superheroes set to date... IMO.

So my story begins upon leaving the movie theatre after viewing The Desolation of Smaug. With nothing scheduled for the afternoon, I decided to take a quick peek in the nearby Wal-Mart to see if there was anything of note within their clearance section. This particular Wal-Mart is one of the older, less desirable ones, small and disorganized that I had frequented only once before. If I had any expectations, they would have been extremely low. So into the store I go, heading straight for the clearance banner hanging by the garden section of the store. As I walk down the aisle, my heart skips a beat when I gazed upon a new, undamaged 4840, The Burrow. I couldn

I would start with your post office. I had a similar issue one time and tracked down the postal worker who remembered delivering my package to the neighbor's house.

Congrats on your new http://www.worldslargestpuzzle.com/! (jk of course, I am rooting for you ... amazing find)

*And the Brickpickers gear up for a civil war over piece quality*

The quality of the CMF is quite clearly less than the regular minifigures you get from regular sets. The minifigures from the CMF line as well as things like magnets are made in China while, up to this point, the minifigures that you find in regular sets have not been. It's pretty easy to tell the difference but it has been discussed on many other sites for a couple years now. The CMF minifigures feel a little cheaper, have a more milky, translucent quality to the plastic and they do not have the black strip on the neck post. Maybe this isn't as obvious to newer collectors, but I would say that anyone who has been collecting a long time can tell the difference without being told there is one.

Why do people keep insisting Chima is a flop? It has already surpassed many many other Lego themes to date! And as for 50% or steeper discounts, every line has had them, not just Chima.

BRAGGING TIME !!!! I bought some new TMNT sets: 79118 - Karai Bike Escape 79119 - Mutation Chamber Unleashed 79120 - T-Rawket Sky Strike All for quick flipity flip Pics or never happ... oh wait... :D

I got this letter from Target: Dear Sir, Please quit buying our hot selling items and reselling them. Please purchase our crappy stuff like our up and up brand and resell those. We really could use the help after letting all your personal information get hacked. By the way, we are not sorry, sucker.

I'm not against it all I just wish people would stop making themselves so visible. Why buy 50+ sets of anything or purchase 1000s of dollars worth of sets at a time? All that is doing is messing up things for the smart buyers who stay under the radar. If the secondary market goes to crap these are the people to blame.

Just LEGOs are awesome? Don't you mean... (Hears several whispers "Oh god, not again" "Shut up Frank" "Ugh") EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! EVERYTHING IS COOL WHEN YOU'RE PART OF A TEAM! EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! WE'RE LIVING OUR DREAM *Bum dun nun dum*

Some of you read my light box article. I just recently discovered a new use for it! This is my three-legged, blind in one eye, cat named Tom. I am sure that everyone here with cats knows that if you leave a box on the floor, the cat will eventually end up inside the box. When I saw this, I grabbed the camera. My cat was very cooperative and looked up for most of the pictures. When I created my light box, I planned to photograph minifigures with it, but I guess it works pretty well with pets, too!

Yeah, it's actually pretty common, just not with these kind of really collectible sets.

This will start counting against them in a meaningful way soon - starting May 1 if they're big enough to be on a 3 month evaluation cycle, or now if they're on a 12 month (with August 20 being the first look back period where eBay will see it and potentially do something about it ) -- this is all under the new "defect" rating just announced, and one of the best of the new things in my opinion (cancellations requested by the buyer won't count against a seller).

These don't hang around TRU long, no matter what the price is.

So in simpler terms it's like trying to figure out what a drunk guy will do next. Haha -I don't always going shopping, but when I do I buy Lego-

Actually, I prefer the random pattern of retirement. I think it actually helps weed out many investors in the lego game of investing.

Bruce inherited all his money....back to you..

My only point was don't assume if TLG begins full scale production in China that equates to a drop in quality. The only time a drop in quality happens is when TLG decides it.

Absolutely go immediately to your post office with the relevant data and ask to speak to the postmaster and to the carrier who scanned your packages "delivered". You either have an incompetent carrier or a mail thief. If the former, you need the postmaster's help in retraining him. If the latter, you need to file a police report and find a different address for your deliveries, or a locked package delivery receptacle, etc. The merchants may or may not be willing to cover your loss this once, but they will not continue doing so, so it's something to take care of on your end.

Two words.... Sto Len.

The tools buying stupid amounts of the same set and also buying ridiculous dollars amounts at one time will ruin lego investing long before brickpicker does.

I'm making the point about taking financial advice from a man dressed in a batman mask...

Luckily my parents had the foresight to keep all of my Lego for me, and never sold it off or donated it. They even saved all of the original boxes, and stored the instructions in a filing cabinet. I sold a lot of my old toys for pennies on the dollar (from what they're worth today) when I got into Magic: The Gathering to buy cards for that game. They call it cardboard crack for a reason. Never occurred to me at the time to sell Lego, and that's a good thing! Several times since I moved out of the house during my 20's they tried to get me to take all of it with me. I told them they should just save it in case grand kids come along so they have something to play with at their house. I think I told them at one time to donate it all of it was taking up too much space. I'm so glad they didn't now. I'm married now, and have a newborn son. I'm really glad I have all of my old Lego so that we can play together when he gets older. Of course, things have come full circle and I just got done selling off my Magic collection in order to buy more Lego It doesn't take that long. All of my childhood lego was mixed together in a couple of big rubbermade bins. Took about a week to sort through and build everything (working on it for several hours a night). It was tedious but I had a ton of fun doing it, and it brought back a lot of good memories.

Assuming they did, it's because it's Working as Intended. TLG isn't a helpless bystander watching their outsourced contractors destroy their brand while they wring their hands and sob, "Oh, if only we had known!" They give specifications, they accept finished product based on their own internal quality control assessments, and they authorize the product for shipment. It doesn't mater if they contract out to a factory in China, Japan, Germany, Bangladesh, the U.S., Canada, or Outer Mongolia - they say how it's to be made, the contractor makes it and hands it back, TLG looks it over and say, "Yep, that's fine" or "Nope, not good enough, change this and this." It's weird to me that a Chinese contractor is getting the blame for product that was specified by TLG and subsequently rubber-stamped as a-ok by TLG.

Aren't we all? Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

I think I will not wait for April's double vip-points to acquire the GE. Cause I think in half an hour all GE's will be gone.

Any reason you didn't include Market Street? And I have no trouble with you using U.S. Data because you have to go with something but I do object to calling brickpicker a U.S. Forum. As far as I know brickpicker aims to be an international site, where American users are just the biggest group. Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met behulp van Brickpicker

For those interested, here's the announcement directly from LEGO about the smaller boxes: http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/news-room/2013/february/smaller-lego-boxes-easier-on-the-environment

Target and walmart both out of stock but i noticed i can order lex luther armor vs superman for pick up at my local TRU so i went down there and asked lady if she would price match walmart $15 she said ok so i went and got the 7 on the shelf ya baby ya! Can i get a high 5?.. anyone please i need some high 5s

Same question: How do you know? (Sincere question, not a snark.) I get that there's lots of internet chatter, but is any of it actually proven, or just "what everyone knows"? Sources would be most welcome, I'm always eager to learn.

How do you know? (A sincere question, not a snark.)

Always been a fan of classic Space; my first set was a little gray spaceship in Christmas '86. I was parting out a Joker's Steamroller last week, and when I got to the Batwing/Jet, and for two or three seconds I could've sworn I was 9 years old again and breaking open bags for my Blacktron Renegade. It was a strange rush of memories, but a nice feeling nonetheless.

The bags are separated like that #3 to make it more difficult to steal all the minifigs. When they were all in one bag people would open the box, grab bag 1 and have all the figs.

It's the LEGO downloaded manual. Drives me nuts. I've been trying to build a couple different things with those manuals, and they are just awful. I'm glad the directions are out there, but sometimes, I have to pull the inventory from Bricklink so I can figure out whether it's really calling for one color over another. Dark greens look like blacks, grays look the same, etc.

I found this page: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=86497 and http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=83736 Looking at these I might need to get one of the 10937 sets

I think we can all agree that someone who is a collector first is very welcome - someone has to open and build sets to make Lego investing work!

Good deal.

Last night I had someone offer me $26.00, yes $26.00 for my NISB Architecture Studio, I declined, not even worth the counter, they offered again, $40.00 this time, so now I'm annoyed and I countered for a dollar less than my asking price and said that if they made one more stupid offer I'd ban them from ever being able to bid on my auctions

You can buy the batman tumbler polybag at target and pretend like it's the batmobile!

Mkay, results are in! I'll crunch some numbers and post up a few more stats in the next day or 3

I have 4 for investment at this point going for 10 minimum. I'm buying at least one a month regardless of discount (which don't exist anymore). I'm also mixing in some Pet Shops to try to get ahead of the game. If it doesn't retire until the end of the year I should have 15+ but I just have a feeling it's going to retire this summer? I think the Modulars are no brainers along with large scale models, Seasonal(Winter Village) etc... I believe unless you have unlimited funds there are to many large sets to own(for the collector) or really to invest in for the reseller. I think this bodes well for most investors its a natural limiting factor for the average collector or investor where in sets retire before they have obtained them. At this time LEGO has(and has had recently) so many good large sets($100+) to invest in it diversifies the pool of investors which is why I believe the FB is doing well. Even for those that didn't invest in the FB they may have just put those funds towards another winner. At this time I just can't imagine someone investing and losing unless all they are buying are $5-$25 sets and even then they might make money in 5-7 years. Now fast flipping is a whole other thing. For the most part I'm on a 2-3 year cycle from retirement to sale. I won't be selling my FB's for another 2-3 more years. After your in that cycle is where you make much bigger $ with much less work. I just don't have the time or interest to make 5-10-20 $ a set, I realize that it works for some but I make to much at my regular job for such a low return on my time. Wow...I rambled oh well just my 2cents Nothing ground breaking or unique

You just entered "The Twilight Zone".

I would definitely pay a yearly fee to sell sets on Brickpicker depending on how much the fee is. How much would that fee be?