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Bought this beauty today for €300. Its 100% complete, with instructions. No box.

Haunted House $499.99 incl shipping. EBay That was about a year earlier than I expected.

"Old" grey was last used in 2003/2004 ish. New bluish grey has been used since. This is true for both light and dark grey. Old grey will look dirty, almost yellow compared to new grey that definitely has a fresher look to it. A most welcome change to lego grey if you ask me.

I've seen this same thing happen with numerous star wars lines, the cars diecast line (at one point it was like printing money), movie maniacs, spawn, and many other things over time. When the demand shifts from end consumers to mostly resellers because they are convinced the dwindling end consumers are going to consume the resold stock that they buy at inflated prices, that's a sign to become skeptical. At this point, it seems the resellers are just creating the added demand of many of these sets. Granted, there will always be new people that come in and say "wow, I didn't know they made that, I want one", but at that point they might just settle with used complete sets instead of buying new ones at inflated prices.. I definitely wouldn't want to be stuck with a bunch of 199.99 sets, if they aren't going for more than retail 2 to 3 years from now, and that could very much happen with many of these sets. At that point it's a loss. Really only the early sets that weren't vastly hoarded, but still have "completionist demand" are going to remain valuable. All these other sets that are vastly hoarded will never see those aftermarket rise in value. To some resellers, it could be a loss of thousands, if not tens of thousands if they don't watch what they are doing. The added demand created by resellers, which creates a new run or two, and then they end up scarfing those up in droves is only going to add more sets to the market, which increases reseller supply. In the end that craters the aftermarket.

Very few people really know the true dynamics of LEGO's production plans, but I'm certain quarterly or even monthly sales of sets play into determining whether or not production is cutback, ramped up or stopped altogether. There is an original production plan for sets because I have seen examples, but they can change. By looking at the European stock levels that Huw posts on Brickset, there are not tens of thousands of a a particular set set being sold in a short period of time, so even subtle buying increases by resellers let's say, can have an effect on production plans. The Red 5 could also be affected by the ever increasing STAR WARS buzz and this could also be playing a role in regular LEGO fans and collectors buying up what LEGO releases. The Red 5 was a LEGO loser in the beginning. It was discounted multiple times and $40-$70 LEGO sets were thrown in multiple promos to unload Red 5 stock. Now, after major sets have retired recently, it is everyone's darling.

Yes... so maybe it is better we just skip PS and PC all together. Then we just stay on the side and watch the others go on their face. Then after they stop investing we jump in again and the good old days can start yet again.

Do people remember how criticized Diagon Alley was for being a slow moving set after retirement? It is simply that people have no patience and expect sky rocket returns immediately. Those who have this set will be laughing in the near future. Like most investment sets, throw it in a cupboard and forget about it.

I believe this (ToO) is a case of resellers being their own worst enemy. Why would Lego retire anything that is sold out for 30 days at a time. (Every run they make is already pretty much sold.) It's pretty much like printing money.

DICE's STAR WARS Battlefront looks fantastic. Jeff and I are old school Battlefield players going back to Modern Combat and the PC versions and this game looks damn incredible. Might even make me turn on the XBOX again.

Yeah I went to this last week. Got the kids all set up and headed over to TRU for some free Lego. Doh!

Toys R Us parking lot, of course.

Just for you Alpine... Just PM me your address, at this point I feel like I owe you one for the Theme Park set up you are doing.

My average buy-in was $35. I cashed out by trading a stack to a fellow Brickpicker. We both will make double our money when it's all said and done. Win-win all the way around. I love those type of deals.

Yes, there are still a lot of good sellers on eBay. You can also go through a seller's (positive) feedbacks to figure out how good of a packager s/he is

what about live star?

When has a salesman ever said, "Relax buddy, you have at least another year to get this model"? We do the same when we sell "LAST ITEM!" to pressure the buyer into taking a snap emotional decision based on fear of missing out. I am done with buying everything (apart from for my personal collection) until the Autumn as I have too much stockpiled, holidays are coming and nothing retires in summer.

Old grey is definitely not being produced anymore.

Thanks for the warning. All I am saying is 3 pcs of these sets for me is something I can manage if the bubble pops. For others it can be 1 or 10 pcs. Depends on your financial position. Just do not put your future financial position at risk by buying 20 pcs of something that you cannot afford or accept from yourself to loose.

Well sometimes they're trying to get your personal information but mostly they just want cash. You'll be asked to send the money via e-transfer or some other form of payment that can't be retracted or traced to them. People who "move" unload stuff before they move. People who are out of town for 6 months don't buy large amounts of stuff and have a moving company pick it up for them. etc.

I have.

There are always reasons for sets to retire. With the risk of being too obvious for many members, I'll sum up some good ones: 1. Lack of popularity and sales growth: example the arctic line-up 2. Retirement/upgrade of molds: example CC, TH, light grey pieces 3. Shelf space (less a problem these days as it seems the biggest shelf for TLG has become LEGO Shop at Home): SSD, many large Technic Sets 4. Strategy: e.g. box size reduction > TH, end of Lego Games 5. Licence lenght & cost of renewal: LoTR, Harry Potter 6. Set Refreshes: City, Friends, Trains, MF ... etc The fact that resellers are lengthening the sales cycle of popular 'investment-like' products, impaires the previously faster trigger reason n°1 for EoL. It seems only normal that as long as resellers are willing to stock away product, TLG can continue to produce & sell. Solution: find under the radar sets ... or ...those which will get retired even though the are very popular!! Good luck ;-)

The simple answer is that many people either doubted that sets like the SSD, TH, R2 and AA would retire, so they never stocked up or gave LEGO an indication that the sets were worthy of production extension. Fast forward a year and you have the Red 5 for example, which was discounted numerous times and was basically ignored by resellers, even with the free set promos and discounts. The Red 5 all of the sudden became a wanted set and there was nothing else close to retiring, so they jumped hard on it...again and again. It's still hanging around and probably should have retired 6 months ago, but it's still here.

Maybe, maybe not. I'm not completely sure if the price will drop on this set. Most City sets only last for about two years and this one is a little older than two years right now. I personally think that this set is going to around till at least Christmas, so my best guess would be that it would drop in price between now and then.

It all depends on your buy-in price. UG is looking good for me right now...price has risen steadily over the past 6 months and is now sitting at 3x my average buy-in.

the last 2 i sold this week were 273 shipping included. overall sold 11 between 255-275. holding my last two for xmas time.

the run on PC is due to the TH being retired out of sequence. why did that happen? for all we know at the 2012 TLG evil lord business meeting they decided to make new modulars last 24 months instead of 48 to help ease production demands on modulars and so starting last year in 2014, GE retired after 4, TH retired after 2 years. This year PS retires after 4, PC retires after 2. after this year they can phase out the larger modular boxes. then starting in 2016 they will catch up to one retiring a year from then on. this will also discourage insane hoarding behavior by only having 2-3 modulars available at a time because they can keep up with that type of demand instead of having 4 available. Everything about this subject is speculation. This is the reason i concocted for the modular retirement behavior of last year. My current PC hoarding behavior will prevent me from being under goal should PC retire this year or next year. its not going to get easier to accumulate stock on this one even if it sticks around another year. Its a great build.

I was at the Raleigh store today. Plenty on the shelf, 23R5. Still standing by...

I think it will do better than AA. ToO has a better ratio per piece, more impressive, not a remake ...and less stored !

This may be partly true, but look at the premium people are willing to pay for a NISB set compared to a used set with instructions and box. People want the box, they want the instructions, and they want it new.

in terms of SW and WMV - it comes down to classic supply v demand. WMV historically has not been in high demand, which is why Toyworld still has stock and its on sale. SW wasnt stocked in retail till about a month ago, and has been in high demand (selling as high as 180-200+ over Xmas). I would assume that unless Toyworld gets a massive load of stock that it will sell out before Xmas and again sell for well above RRP. WMV will eventually get to 200+ but it may take a while as it will be competing with SW as well as the new Winter set coming out later this year. One plus for WMV is the Carousel which pairs well with the the Fairground themed sets (although a standalone Carousel may be released in coming years if the theme takes off). To summarize, short-term there is money to be made with WVM if you get it on discount, but long-term SW will beat it hands-down especially since it has a lower RRP and is much more popular seller on LEGO Shop at Home.

Resellers are an important part of the cause but it seems that sales are up in general as LEGO as an "in" product right now. We can see that discounts are now very scarce - Amazon in particular is notably less aggressive than in the past. A lot of us who dont buy at less than 20% off have had an easy ride in the last few months as there has been nothing to buy. While more buyers is good news as there is more demand for older items, those who are just getting into the investment game now and haven´t built up a stock of retired sets will find it harder to turn a decent profit. There will also come a point where it is impossible for Lego to sustain this popularity and a decline in demand will follow - I have my own idea of the timeframe for this. In any case, it is impossible for Lego to maintain such a big portfolio so some sets and lines will have to go this year and ToO is one of the worst selling exclusives (apart from being part of a discontinued line) so on a sales based strategy its time is nearer than others.

Hmm, not the greatest looking lot. I`m not a big bulk buyer, but do have some experience with this. It`s quite a bit of Lego, but it will absolutely need some cleaning and sorting to remove any damaged/defective parts (faded, etc.). I`d pick it up if you don`t mind putting in a couple of hours of cleaning. If he`s asking $70, I`d try $40 and use the condition as leverage (well it will need some cleaning up, etc.) if need be. Worst case scenario you sell it on Ebay as bulk-used at $X.XX per pound, and a $40 buy in with this much should yield a decent return. The Lego underneath may not be as faded, but you`ll need to go through the entire lot. Only buy if you are willing to put in the time required to sort and clean them, that goes for virtually all bulk buys. In this case, if it was me, I`d just pass, as I don`t have the time to do any of that. But you have to decide that for yourself. And if you do decide to pick these up, get rid of those atrocious looking bins asap. The fading and water damage (3rd pic) is hideous haha.

Your better half knows best - unless you can get at least 30% off RRP.

Several members have been able to pick this set up for $40-50 over the past year/year and a half. At that price, it was a no brainer, easy money. For $89 though, not so much IMHO. I think you`ve got plenty of better option available to you. That said, if you want the set personally and don`t yet own one, I would buy it. This set should level off somewhere in the $150-$200 range I would think, eventually.

The way it's been with TRU, most of us will have to pay $30+ to get one, Raven & Pseudoty will get 5,000 of them somehow w/o additional purchases, and Mscheaf and I will never see a single one.

Yea I think the t1 is normally 129.99 CAD.

Just sold a 7961 Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator for $103

I got 10 75015 for 9.99 each. I tried to convince them to knock it down more since it seemed to be old stock that they just found, but the person I talked to had absolutely no clue and probably no authority. I left like 7 more on the shelf. Maybe I'll check back later and see if they knock the rest down.

I will be happy once this goes eol. I only have 1 and can't wait to make space in my closet. I'm running outta room!!

All from TW and all RRP unfortunately, I forgo the VIP points, however I have put them on lay-by (can pick up as late as Xmas eve) so my LEGO slush fund won't take a massive hit at once. I nabbed the GB outright, so I'm starting to build a row of them on the shelf. As you can see by my description of 10240, I'm not a massive SW nut but as Ed and the other overlords around here say, diversification is the key, so I'll grab another today.

Story behind the change.. http://news.lugnet.com/lego/?n=1791 in the pic below,the newer gray (bley) bricks are on our right.

Got back from trip to Schaumburg, Illinois with kids. Went to Legoland Discovery Center. We purchased a PS to build and a few JW sets too. Also, Not sure if this is the right place (mods - please move if needed), thought I would give you a field report for those that maybe looking. Lego Discovery Center had three PS left in stock, as well as 4 PC, no Red 5, no ToO, no Tower Bridge. Had a few EV, a few Tie Fighters, a couple of Sydney Opera House, couple of Death Stars, couple Sandcrawlers, couple of Parisian Restaurants, a few DO and one Ferris Wheel. Drove across the parking lot to mall to go to Lego Store ... No PS, no PC, no Red 5, no ToO and no Tower Bridge. A few Tie Fighters, a few EV, a couple of Sydney Opera House, couple of Death Star, quite a few of Parisian Rest, Sandcrawlers and DO and cannot think of anything else. Maybe this helps if anyone is going to Brickworld this upcoming weekend.

Video games are more or less dead for me. I just played too many of them over two decades (including Shenmue 1+2 on Dreamcast). Then some day I realised there's nothing new for me to be seen anymore - everything just repeats over and over again with better and better graphics (your "FF VII REMAKE" is so telling in that regard...). There are hardly any new ideas. Just like with movies and music. It's a pity, but it's like that. Today I play only a few times every 3 months or so, only on handhelds, not no longer on stationary consoles. I like Zen Pinball 2 on Vita and some Nintendo jump'n'runs on 3DS. However, Nintendo's ideas also are nothing new anymore, but at least their games and characters have a soul. Long gone are the times when I completed Shenmue several times in speed-running fashion just to climb up in the online rankings. I don't care about stuff like that anymore. Competing with people I don't even know is not my cup of tea. Don't understand why so many others love online multiplayer games. My video game world was a single-player one. Well, I just have to move on. Lego investing is my new hobby.

yeah August cant come soon enough

Just sold 100 electro's on ebay for $550. On paper its not much of a profit after fees, but it was minimal effort required and I made a partial payment with discounted GC's.

lol he's making a local theme park not a franchise!!

Ordered 16 x 9678-1: Twin-Pod Cloud Car & Bespin for $3.25 each from chapters website.

Didn´t you know that Exo Suit is retiring soon? That money could be put to much better use on those bad boys - get ´em before they are gone forever.

The problem is that the first MTT was just so awesome. As with the last Sail Barge, I think the reception would be much friendlier if it didn't have such a tough act to follow.

I think I may be going to hell, saw that Christopher Lee had died and my first thought was, ooh, that might add value to the Tower of Orthanc. I'm now going to go and hang my head in shame for the rest of the day. Fair thee well Dracula, Saruman, Count Dooku and Scaramanga, RIP.