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Computer I was on was apparently not very cooperative. Here we go...

Look at what received the Architecture treatment.

Just sold my very first minifigure today, a Darth Revan poly for $72 + free shipping.

Series 6 mixels $127 shipped BOOM! ! just found 1 case so sad

CL Find - Loose TB for $75, no instructions or box. No guarantee of it being complete, but it was a nice old lady selling it, so I'm pretty sure it will be. Glad I don't have to open one of my sealed boxes to build this. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever opened a sealed Lego set for myself. I only like to build big sets and have always been able to find a used loose one on CL to build, e.g. DS, ISD (10030), SSD, PS, etc. My kids on the other hand, open new sets all the time! LOL

I believe TLG only wants one thing: sustained profitability. Period. Full stop. No company of its kind wants anything else. So the question the Lego company is constantly facing is: how do we (1) keep demand for our products up and (2) sell them for as much as we can? 1) They want people to be scrambling to acquire the sets they produce; they want people thinking "I'd better buy this right now because who knows when it will be retired and gone forever!" That is a very good mentality for Lego's customers to have. Lego's customers will take a much different approach to buying if they know they can get this same set in a few years for the same price. 2) And let's talk about price: Lego is VERY expensive! Almost outrageously expensive. Seriously. $200 for a spaceship made out of little bricks with a Star Wars logo on it? That's not cheap. But a huge reason why people are willing to spend $150, $200 or even $400 for a box of plastic bricks is because consumers believe in their value. Consumers believe these sets will always be worth what they paid for them, and will maybe even appreciate. Consumers trust in Lego because they are well made, last forever, and retain value. So the $200 price tag is softened quite a bit when you know it will always be worth this amount, even after you open and play with it. Compare this to my other hobby: my wine cellar. I often compare the two in my mind, and I think the comparison is worth pointing out here. Wine is consumable. The moment I pop the cork on a $400 bottle of Bond or Schrader or whatever, that "asset" just became worth nothing except the pleasure I'm about to experience as I drink it. Tomorrow morning I'm going to pee it all out and recycle the empty bottle. And my $400 Death Star? I can open it up and build it with my son. And then display it for a year while he plays with it. Then tear it apart and build a new scene with some of the pieces and minifigures and toss the bulk in a storage bin. Then we can find all the pieces again and build it all over in five years. And then get tired of it and put it all back in the original box with the instructions and sell it used and complete on eBay for $700. It sure makes it a lot easier for me to spend $400 on a Lego set than a bottle of cabernet once I go through all of this in my head... To sum up, I think TLG wants to retire sets, loves seeing prices skyrocket in the secondary market, and will not do anything that is going to screw up its own sustainable profitability. What TLG has done over the past 10 years has seen the company rise from the ashes to become this massive leviathan of money-making. If they started re-releasing numerous old sets or making their products available forever (i.e. stopped retiring them after 2-4 years) then the consumers' mindsets would really change. And profits would go down. And that isn't going to happen.

I'm very cautious about becoming a united sausage, it's a daily fear of mine.

Ha. As long as you don't spend them during double VIP, you'll be ok.

This whole mess around PS retirement gives some support to another acquisition strategy: buy exclusives *after* they've retired. Yes, you pay a small premium. For example, you could purchase GE after retirement in the $220 range. Sure, that's above MSRP, but now GE has been on a steady growth all this year, and that $220 outlay in February is worth about $320 today. Not bad at all. Same with TH, actually. They were available post-retirement in late December/early January for around $280. I know, I bought 4 of them at that price. And I just sold the last of them for $500. Again, it didn't maximize my gain, but it was relatively risk free, the timing was locked in and I didn't have to play this "will they/won't they" game, I just cashed a nice set of profits for relatively easy acquisition and sale. My thinking in acquiring the TH at $280 was that is was a surprise retirement, and was sure to appreciate quickly. Turns out, that was correct. Investment is about both $$$ and time. We tend to focus on the $$$. Buying post-retirement is a time-efficient strategy, as opposed to $$$ efficient. I'll bet your CAGR is actually better buying post retirement and selling 12 months later, than buying PS now and selling 12 months post. YMMV.

Just use a sharp knife pointed away from your body. Easy as pie...

My used Ewok Village sans minifigs arrived last week. Sorted the pieces over the course of the week then built up the village on Friday night. It lasted less than 24 hours where I dismantled it and put the purchase to it's real purpose. Saw this in the MOCs thread a couple months back and fell in love with it, had to have one. I present my personal edition of the 10236 UCS Lord of the Rings Ent!

I know, crazy right! I got out of bed, checked my email, and said "HOLY SHIP!" Then my 3yr repeated what I had blurted out, oops. I even took a photo of the invoice and sent it to the wife at work. Super stoked about this sale!

Just got back from my Target where they restocked the pegs. Nice quiet time in the store... one hour of smooshing later, I scored my "case completion pack" (that's 20 packs: 2 Wolf Guy, 2 Witch, 2 Cheerleader, 2 Tiger, 2 Businessman, 2 Banshee, 2 Spider Lady, 1 Plant Guy, 1 Fly, 1 Specter, 1 Gargoyle, 1 Skeleton & 1 Square Foot). Now I'll have 5 complete sets with my case. And - cuz "smooshin' was good" - I picked up a few extra of the rarer ones.

...but but but, I have all these VIP points to spend.

Shh...

The latest classy design from Andrew Tate (Snaillad). Grand Prix Auto Services by Andrew Tate

Last week the news was all abuzz regarding the new star wars toys. That got the new movie on my mind and all the wonderful ships in the show. Thought I would do a little rendition of a ship that is little recognized, but one of my favorites nonetheless. See more pics and information at http://mocpages.com/moc.php/419160

Better images via The Brick Fan.

And many silent supporters who didn't want to draw more attention to this set.

I sold a LoC fire bike today at a convention for $5 dollars. I feel like I just won the lottery.

Prototype Synth by Master Shifu Leo J DJ Mixer by BruceLowell

That's enough smooshing for one night!

What we should be very cautious about is to become a united sausage. If we all would buy the same sets in huge quantities it will decrease chances of it becoming a success. I dare to say that except for R2 being a very good set the sceptism about it helped it alot to be less hoarded. Thus increasing more in value after EOL. I exposed my opinion on this set before it went EOL. I have said it was a set with big potential and acted accordingly. Nevertheless there were the doubters who said it was ugly and it needed clearasil. Who am I to persuade them? It is not a religion we are selling here. We are not here to convert people.

That's is where it gets tricky . I don't think anyone is under any obligation to spoonfeed anyone else , but that is a far cry from intentionally misleading someone else . This site give you (anyone ) all the tools to get going and be successful but if you choose to sit back and wait for others to tell you what to do then don't expect to be as successful as them .

built the Temple of Airjitzu with my sons this weekend. Two word: frickin' beautiful! It was really a lot of fun - but now I don't want them to touch it

LOL. My son, on the other hand, does not have the same box opening issues that I have.

Avail eBay @Niko 193+

Here is a gallery for instructions on how to build a Tron: Legacy lightcycle (aka Exciter1's current avatar, ha). Light Cycle Instructions by Jack Marquez

This microfighter esque Hunter Killer further confirms how much the Skeletron from The LEGO Movie looks like a Terminator unit. Micro Hunter Killer by Paddy Bricksplitter

From toysnbricks

Floating Paradise by Tyler

Sleepy Unicorn Inn by Adam Dodge

Seeing the popularity of the Sphero BB-8 and just how adorable it is, I think TLG will have a winner if they decide to make a BB-8 UCS.

I finally found a little bit of time this afternoon to expand Tony Stark's mansion for my son. He's happy now, but still wants more displays for his suits. It's still a work in progress, since I need some more large white slopes to fill out the front. I built it up a little bit to give it more of a mountain-side feel. It's real solid now with the heavier base.

Lone Ranger was very good for me, I bought in on a very steep discount though. I also focused on the train, stage coach and battle pack.

Yep, even the common rubes think this one is good. I say better performance long term than Orthanc.

Please don't ruin a good panic. =)

Oh I agree. I thought I had read somewhere where Huskers1236 said that the employees at his location weren't very helpful or friendly.

Depends where you live and where you expect to sell it, Europe is not America for this set (and so many others) and within Europe some countries have better residuals than others for this one.

BTTF Delorean for $88 including shipping on eBay. Raised the price now, but it was just too tempting.

Let the other impatient ones sell... then it will become like a snowball running down the hill. Resulting in ever growing value.

I think this set will be a nice flip in the USA this Christmas. It is extremely hard to find it in my city already. it is already ranked 278 in toys on Amazon.

Run you fools!

200 by christmas. 300 or higher by next christmas isn't out of question.. I noticed a noticable drop in the amount of sellers over the last few months. That number will continue to go down..

No. Buy the Fallingwater...

Welcome to BP. I never use Mint or MISB learned my lesson on that one. I will use "Collectors Quality" with a disclaimer at times.