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We should steal Lego's blueprints for DS, so that they can't make no more...

Outside of the realm of fantasy and rank speculation, there is zero evidence to support the theory that this was an intentional ploy by TLG. You and a lot of the other conspiracy theorists around here are making the classic mistake of trying to figure out another person's intent at arms length by applying your world view to the situation. Keep in mind, TLG has gross revenues each year of over $3.5 billion. How many DS sets do you think sold in the days after it hit sold out status? Let's just say that retailers sold a total of 10,000 copies and that TLG sold each of those copies to those retailers at its standard wholesale discount of 30% (the number sold is almost certainly high and the wholesale discount that retailers like Amazon and Walmart command is likely low). Based on those numbers (which I admittedly pulled out of my butt), this ploy would have driven sales that represented approximately $2.8 million in revenue or less than 1/10 of 1% of TLG's annual revenue. I'm not sure if you've ever worked in a company whose business generates revenues in the same neighborhood as TLG's, but I have and I do currently, and I can tell you that I've never seen anyone waste time or resources playing stupid games like everyone seems to thinks TLG is playing with resellers here, particularly to have such an insignificant effect on corporate revenues. To assign intent to these recent events is to believe one's self to be far more important in the eyes of TLG than one actually is.

The six stages of DS investing... Complacency - I could be slowing building my inventory of 10188s but they take up a lot of space and I don't have the money to tie up. Panic - Oh crap 10188 is showing sold out! Lube up the CC, Ima' get 'em while they're hot! Denial - Listen, it's not coming back, 'Sold Out' is just a place holder until they mark it retired. It's like the exact same thing with different letters. Anger - WTF do they mean they're making more?? It's retired! I'm taking this s**t back! Depression - Lego investing really sucks, there's no big money anymore and what little I can make is gonna disappear when this bubble pops. Acceptance - I'm actually happy I got these 10188s. I can make some space at the bottom of my bed and just skip lunch for the next few months.

Luke has failed we need a true hero

yes

Completed the TB yesterday, took about 9 hours total. This set is very large when completed and looks amazing. I found this to be the most challenging/annoying build thus far....not because of the difficulty, but the sorting involved! Over 4000 pieces, and the bags were not numbered! I guess they didn't bother numbering bags for the older sets, there didn't seem to be much logic with the various pieces in the bags. Stopping every few minutes to look for that "one" piece was annoying. Here is a better pic.

I just picked up two MISB town halls at retail. Thank you fossilised Lego market of Namibia!

This is actually about a week or maybe two old now, so not 'built today' but built recently! I'd mentioned plans of doing this in a few other threads during the spring. Finally finished my first iteration. This is my modular Bike Shop & Cafe, comprised of 3 copies of the 31026, plus a tiny handful of extra bricks from my own collection. I googled other people's variations on this set, and I think mine came out quite unique; I was going for the older building look that fits the early 1900s (and other modulars) for the shops on the ground floor, but wanted to do a 'new reno' flat on the upper floor. I managed to keep a handful of the original set's features present on the ground floor, but went full custom on the next floor. The modernized hipster flat is complete with an eco-friendly green-roof, providing fresh produce for the chef next door at Chez Albert. One may also note the owner of the flat has purchased some of the abstract art from the painter that lives next door too... [did I go too far? lol] My images are too large to fit in one post... Edit: and now I can't upload any more? Guess this is all you get. I have a whole wack of shots of the inside, everything is fully furnished. Aw well.

So should I begin scouring local Targets for returned Death Stars marked 50% off?

Unleash reverse panic! http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Death-Star-10188 Out of stock, expected ship date Aug 09 2015

OMG! I think Lego did this on purpose. So people will be bankrupt once PR, PC, Tumbler and PS retire soon.

To add to this; "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. I find that I frequently need to remind myself of that quote. Anyone who works, or has worked, for a corporation should know that no matter how profitable a company is, or just how well oiled of a machine they appear to be... screw ups happen... more often than outsiders know.

up to 21 and have 4 more waiting at the walmart near my vacation destination. please stay sold out.

Fairground mixer. This set is an engineering marvel. There is a WOW factor that took me all the way back to Space Lock-up Isolation Base. If sleepers still exist, this may be it for 2015.

Perfect, except that after #5, you're supposed to loop back to #2 a few times before moving on to #6. It's sort of like Chutes & Ladders.

Research Institute.

Another case of a sold out reverting to something other than retired

The bigger problem is OP ordered from the seller's website and not eBay

It´s not a surprise now you´ve told everyone!

Watch, TLG will surprise us by retiring 3 modulars at once (PS, PC and PR).

Certainly, (b) is the more likely scenario, no argument there. But to dismiss the possibility that TLG is aware of and potentially exploiting the secondary market when it's useful seems a bit naive to me. If TLG has decided that they do in fact want to EOL DS and they still have 20,000 of them sitting in their warehouse (poor big business planning and all) they would want to move that inventory ASAP. Two ways to do that 1) have a sale or 2) create the impression they are already gone.

Bought the Scooby Doo Mystery Mansion today. Toys R Us markup up to $95. But used the 25% off coupon to get it down to $71. Then used my 20% off gift cards to get it down to $57. Forgot I had a $25 R Us Rewards, otherwise I would have gotten it cheaper.

You're in the what set did I build today thread... the answer is clear, build it!

i wonder how much you have to pay someone to say its an 8.0. and woo-hoooo anyway - its an 8. at this sales price point it seems sort of silly to have wasted your money on grading.

There is one fundamental flaw with this theory...by the time that a set hits "Sold Out" status at LEGO Shop at Home, TLG has already made all of the money that it is going to make on the set and does not gain any further direct benefit from the 1000s of units that are sold in the wake of the retirement. Once TLG sells a set at wholesale to a retailer like Amazon or Target or Walmart, it has already made its money on that set regardless of whether the set is sold to a consumer one week, one month, or one year later.

sold yesterday for $1025 + $99 shipping - bit of an anomaly with the grading but still...$1K http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-Lego-Star-Wars-10221-SUPER-STAR-DESTROYER-Ultimate-Collector-Series-AFA-8-0-/331606693022?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d354c949e

These mechs are awesome. After discovering Mixels purely by chance, and then discovering people were building mechs out of these sets I had to have a crack at it myself. Unfortunately I'm a poor photographer

he means if you are reselling these down the road that the condition of the box will not drastically effect the value of the set.

Built the Shuttle Tydirium last week, and it's now my new favorite non-exclusive Star Wars kit. All it needed was a stand, so I bricklinked the parts I needed so the stand is as new and shiny as the rest of it. Beautiful kit for those of you (like me) who do not have the UCS version.

stop Raptor time...

In for one and a couple more if Target and Amazon get them in stock. I'm a believer.

Went in for a MK2 crane from Amazon for $176

That was amazing... The death star needs to die

I just bought one from eBay for $320 including shipping, with a description (via questions) of used, with broken seals and some box damage but all inner boxes intact. It arrived today, just as described. The box has some tape marks and ripped off graphics (about 2% of total surface area) and the outer seals are broken. But all four inner boxes are sealed and mint, so is the instruction manual. I think this was a good pick-up for my collection at $320 (I didn't previously own one), but what do you think for resale? How much will tape damage and broken outer seals affect price? 5% off new? 10%? It's certainly going to beat any "used" set out there. Kind of a new one for me. What do you think?

The Disney D23 Expo is August 14-16. If official images are going to be released before Force Friday I would expect it to happen then. Honestly I don't know why they would wait until the street date since that is still 3 1/2 months prior to the movie release date. It's not like a few weeks is going to make much difference at that point. It will still feel like an eternity between buying TFA toys/sets and then waiting for the movie to come out.

Any predictions when they will release the first "official images" of the sets? I really hope it's not on September 3rd at 11:49pm.

This is the one thing that drives me nuts sometimes about sets. How is it that a set like ECTO1 can have all printed pieces, but a freaking $350 premium UCS set has tons of stickers on them. Of course from a production standpoint I can see how printing a bagillion different pieces is a logistical nightmare, but I don't understand why they can't do it for UCS sets. I think it's a question that will never be fully understood/answered.

the security spiders?

Yea I had about 12 on reserve at 3 different stores and could not believe my eyes when I saw 11 more on shelf. It made 10 hrs in car worth it.

I certainly wouldn't consider myself a conspiracy theorist, you're inferring quite a bit to get there. I don't believe TLG is out to get reseller or even spending considerable resources on the topic. I do however believe that TLG is aware there is a secondary market and could be finding ways to exploit it when its advantageous to do so. Lets go with your numbers, aside from the 2.8 million (which is a pretty good return on 5 minutes worth of work from an $18 an hour web intern) there are other reasons TLG may want to move inventory, a box redesign or logo change for example. All that said, it could very well be that TLG did simply sell out of DSs, end of story. Very possible, I don't know or claim to know any different. What I do know is 1) Regardless of the actual numbers, when the most expensive item a company manufactures, which has been readily available for 7 years, goes completely sold out across all major retailers within 48 hours of a change in status on said companies webpage, that's powerful. When you have sets like PC and PS which for months can't stay instock at MSRP, that's powerful. IMO, TLG would be foolish not to realize these trends and more foolish not to exploit them if they have reason to do so. 2) This is an open speculation thread and I'm speculating. No conspiracy or tin foil hat, just discussing with an open mind to try to make the most informed decision possible in the future.. BTW, I don't see how it's relevant but the company I work for did almost 9 billion in 2014.

Golden Cup Grand Hotel by Jorge Barros

I ordered my first TOO from Amazon. Welcome Tom! You should drop by this section for more info as a new member http://community.brickpicker.com/forum/21-introduce-yourself-new-member-faqs/

So.. you know. Thought I'd build it and make a little scene

Well at one Walmart I was at today they did not lower the IR sets on clearance and I put them back on the shelf. I picked up 3 Raptor Exchanges at that store... But I really wanted to find a "deal" somewhere in the store. I thought OK let me start looking and I looked up on the shelf straight in front of me and low and behold I bought this very good condition for $39 new and seals look great. Trying to decide if I want to flip it or add it to my collection.

Ed said for you. He did not say for everyone. There is risk. you have a valid view to contribute but in my opinion your opinion has been made well known and I wish you would contribute something else.

I've been reading your posts and I'm sure there are many that feel the same way. My advice to you is to enjoy the LEGO brick. Buy a set to build and one to save long term. Don't try to flip. Sleep at night. One day, these sets in the back of your closet (and even the ones you built) will be worth quite a bit.

I've been assuming that down the road a little bit, a year or two, it will be a thing as long as the Ideas set and Dimensions sets sell a certain amount. I'd love different Tardis control rooms and a Dalek Emperor. I kind of wonder what else you can do with sets.