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for anyone interested in lego design/quality, this is a fascinating article/review about the dewback in 75052: https://medium.com/quality-works/an-inquiry-into-this-lego-star-wars-dinosaur-d47d3a64c3b7#.c0iubmct8

So RRP then...?

It's official: http://toyfair.vporoom.com/LEGO/news?item=122631 Relevant text: "LEGO Assault on Hoth™ Base will Challenge Even the Most Skilled Fan BuildersExperienced builders can recreate the Rebel Force’s Echo Base from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back in an unbelievably detailed recreation of one of the most iconic scenes in the original Star Wars trilogy. The 2,144-piece building set inspires fans to build their own scouting missions with the Snowspeeder, armed with twin spring-loaded shooters, and get back to base on the speeder bike to help Luke, Han and the other Rebel heroes. The modular design enables fans to customize their Rebel base configuration, including a Wampa cave and Wampa figure. The set features LEGO minifigure versions of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Toryn Farr, Wes Janson, Wedge Antilles, K-3PO, and more. Available May 1 for $249.99."

You guys should know from being on this site that the customer is not always right. The envelope rate is intended for a stack of papers. The machinery that processes envelopes will chew up anything that has a piece of ABS plastic inside it. The only way to safely ship Lego is parcel rate in a bubble mailer or box. Some sellers may be willing to take the risk that your parcel makes it through without getting destroyed. We ship ~1000 orders a month, and we've got a standard process. if you were to ask us to ship via envelope we'd say no.

Here is a little treat for architecture series fans. I work for a home builder, the division I work at builds over $1mil houses, we offer warranty on some things so after the house is sold, people move in but I still deal with them because of the warranty. So last week I go to one of the houses, I see architecture set on the table (homeowner has 2 daughters) so I start a little conversation: ' oh I see you have architecture series set' she didn't know exactly what it is but mentioned quickly that her husband got it when he gave a speech at chicago's museum science and industry recently, ok whatever, didn't click (because I'm not architecture fan (yet)) but since that last visit I thought about it.... Is it custom made especially for that museum for that event (whatever event it was) ? anyway, I had to go there today again, so I asked about it again and she said it again that her hubby got it for the speech at that particular museum..... I asked if I could take pics and here they are:

Give a speech at museum of science and industry

Last year I had a White Stripes LP returned to me as faulty because it apparently wasn't compatible with the buyer's turntable. They didn't know it had more than one speed, changeable by removing the platter. It really shouldn't be an eBay seller's job to teach people how to achieve 33rpm.

Exactly. It's a hobby that pays for itself, and allows us to justify the cost to your spouse or significant other. For myself, when I used to do this back in the mid 2000's it was actually to supplement my income. However, now I have a well paying job, and it's primarily to justify me buying these several hundred dollar lego sets, as it is a bit of a splurge. If you truly need to make significant cash from Lego's it becomes a full time job. The amount of time spent tracking sales, market research, listing, packing, shipping, dealing with returns and customer complaints, etc. starts to consume a massive amount of time. If you have a family and a full time job, it just becomes unfeasible to make more than a couple thousand a month at most with the time investment required, which brings us to which certain investment strategy is best for your lifestyle. For me, the long term hold on the pricey sets is by far the best return for my time, and I suspect it is for any body who does not have the time to churn through packing and shipping 10-15 sets a day for a 10 dollar profit. As you get older, money is no longer your most valuable asset. Time is. Time is money. And spending a couple hours packing and shipping to make a 150 dollar profit is not worth it for most people in this game. With a long term hold you can make potentially 200-300 dollars in a sell and the time it took is the same to pack and sell for a 10 dollar flip. These are vague estimates. Your actual time may vary, but I tried to round to make math easier. 5 min. to buy the item (seconds with amazon 1-click) 5 min. to pick up item from doorstep and store in basement, storage unit in home, etc., 20 min. for market research and to list on ebay, amazon, brick link when it comes time to sell. 10 min. Answer a couple emails on product 30 min. Pack and ship product 30 min.(includes time to put on label, and drive to post office and ship, shipping from home reduces this) 70 total minutes to buy an item and send it out. 200-300 dollars for an approximate hour of someone's time is much more appealing than 10-15 dollars for the same time span for someone that has a full time job, spouse, kids, etc. on top of legovesting. The short term hold yields the same amount "work" time, however, your profit is much lower for the same amount of actual "work." Your dollar per hour wage is that of a fast food worker. If the flip is 30 dollars/hour you've at least moved into a realm of a more respectable "wage." I've done fast food in my youth and college, and I can say I am glad I am past that point. Another obstacle toward the short term flip and an obstacle for anyone with an income is taxes. If you are paying 25-35% on your tax return, suddenly, that 10 dollar profit is reduced to 7.50-6.50. Now we are sub minimum wage. At least a medium term hold would make it worth the effort at that point. Again, this all depends on your tax situation. This is all dependent on if you have the capital to tie up thousands of dollars in Legos for long term. Obviously if you are buying on margin the Long Term hold might not be the best for you. The ideal goal is to have a continual stream of old "mature" stock that you can sell for the 200/hour wage, so you are constantly making a good wage. I managed to achieve this in 2007, but sadly had to shut the biz down due to life changes, and am only getting it restarted. It is my goal to build up a nice portfolio so when I retire I can do this as a retirement gig, when income and therefore taxes are lower. It will also keep myself from being bored in the retirement years. The stock market, while risky, and basically gambling, is highly appealing to many because it takes SECONDS to buy and sell stocks. Your per hour wage can be astronomical. Sadly, stocks are incredibly risky, but with great risk there is potential for great reward. Either way, there are many strategies, you just need to pick the one that works best for your lifestyle, life goals, and how much you believe your time to be worth. I apologize if that was off topic. Mods please move to whatever forum you believe this to relevant.

I didn't like the jerky steering so decided to use a Train remote instead which worked reasonably well; however, I couldn't control multiple functions at once. I don't normally build unique items, but I couldn't find any solution online so I decided to try and build something that would allow me FWD and REV motion while being able to steer simultaneously on the train remote. End result, is what you see. The one drawback is that I don't get full speed in FWD or REV because the gear ratio doesn't spin enough in the 90 DEG motion of the steering column, but it is a minor drawback. You can tilt the steering column slightly downwards allowing full FWD motion and using the red reset button allows full motion as well. I did try using the larger bevel gear but the unit just became too big and cumbersome. Anyways.....it is a great playability set. Will go well with the Ultimate 8043.

I'm going to start building this set tonight Live on Twitch. Will start roughly at 8pm PST, need to finish a Mario MoC first. Hopefully I will get through the first floor. I'm really looking forward to this set. These previous two DO, PR have been great! http://www.twitch.tv/silburned

A little of topic, and it was over ten years ago so the relevance now is non existent, but the UCS sets, they used to go on sale for 50 percent off at times. I had massive orders of UCS items back then. I bought 30 snowspeeders in orders of 5 during this sale. The good ole days....

Have you always wanted to organize your LEGO collection, but didn't know how to get started? Or, maybe you've already sorted your LEGO, but it's hard to find which box, bin or drawer has the part you need? I'm excited to share a massive update to the LEGO Brick Labels collection to include most of the bricks in a typical AFOL LEGO collection.Sample showing crisp images and a clear description of each LEGO Element.This updated collection includes 500 different labels organized into the following groups: Basic Elements (bricks, plates, tiles), SNOT Elements, Slopes, Wedges, Round, Curved, Clips/Hinges. Two additional groups are in “beta” because they aren’t quite complete: Technic, and ‘Other’. LEARN MORE: http://brickarchitect.com/labels/Sample showing Technic labels on an Akro-Mils 64-drawer cabinet.Here is a low-resolution preview of many of the labels contained in the collection. (Technic is not included in the preview images as it is in "beta".)You can learn more and download the labels at: http://brickarchitect.com/labels/Love the labels? Let me know! Comments, corrections or ideas how to make them better - I'd love to hear your feedback!Sincerely,Tom AlphinAuthor of The LEGO Architect, 2015, No Starch Press.

What fools would know this set is in the pipeline and then discontinue the most obvious and easiest $130 add-on set?! This had to be one of the dumbest moves ever done by them.

Unimaginative Crappy [Lego Hoth] Set OR - Unimaginative Costly [Lego Hoth] Set Tada, it is now a UCS.

$249.99

From my experience, it seems that the TRU express stores in the mall have an additional surcharge over and above the regular TRU surcharge.

Where the hell is that Tumbler forum...? [emoji48]

Everyone who could afford and wanted The Tumbler ... Must have one now... surely? This is not taking into account unhappy customers (for whatever reason) returns, loses, damaged items, and lot of time and effort, packing, sourcing packing materials and actually shipping. For most this is just a hobby and their actual jobs pay better than the time spent doing this for a QF.

Meijer has most of the Spring Star Wars sets out plus 15% off this weekend. YMMV

This sounds like a Star Wars Jokerland. I hope I'm wrong.

I think this helps the 75049. One snow speeder is not enough to fight 4 or 5 AT-ATs.

I'm glad I haven't sold a single AT-AT yet. Thanks for sharing Alpine.

Where are these trains at 50% off that you speak of?

“Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures" series coming to Disney XD. http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/lego-star-wars-freemaker-adventures-series-disney-1201703492/

Pretty cool build actually

Mexico is too busy churning out Heath Ledger minifigures...

Great read--and laced throughout are the reasons LEGO is unlike any other toy. Ever.

Wow...I would absolutely love this.

Agree. When I look at the projects on the Ideas website that manage to achieve 10,000 votes and end up in the official LEGO Ideas Review, more than once I can't help to think: what were the people voting on those submissions actually thinking? People seem to forget that LEGO Ideas is not a MOC-popularity contest! Sure, I too love the highly detailed intricate MOC designs submitted at the LEGO Ideas site. They are usually beautiful and very well designed. But they don't fit in with the 'idea' of LEGO Ideas! <Rant starting> Another gripe I have is with the continuous stream of submissions that belong to already existing LEGO themes like Star Wars, Scooby Doo, Super Heroes, Disney, Architecture, etc. All these people who submit a BB-8 or Luggabeast design... Do they think LEGO isn't looking into such possible sets already, and probably designing or maybe even finishing up the design of the manual and box by now? And when LEGO comes out with a set that has some similarities to one of the Ideas submissions, they complain and whine that LEGO 'stole their Idea/design/submission'. While forgetting that the whole process of designing and developing a model, designing a building manual with logical and understandable steps, extensive testing it with a control-group, designing a box for it, taking promotional photos and planning a release date, all takes quite a long time! And the last annoyance I have is the sheer overload of terribly poor quality submissions. Just because a parent loves their child and they are proud of the apple of their eyes for building a simple house with their bucket of LEGO bricks does NOT mean they should submit that house as a LEGO Ideas submission! </end of Rant>

I like to be optimistic on this one and think that it's actually not about the money for her. If you take a look at her as a person and her history with how she handles money, it points to her not being a sell out. I actually don't remember if she said "never". I think she mentioned it was very unlikely she'd ever write another HP book. Given the fact that she stated this after finishing a series that she wrote over 10 years, I could see perfectly well why she might say something of that nature back then. But money-wise, she is a very philanthropic person. She pledged to donate all profits of a future HP encyclopedia to charity (although this book hasn't been written yet). She is also the first person on Forbes list of billionaires to lose her billionaire status due to charitable giving. I think/hope that she's just as in love with her creation of the HP universe, and that's what drives her to continue her work in the area. Like you said, everyone has their price. She is still immensely wealthy and could of course donate more money. But I just think there's a little bit more to it for her than that. Anyways, all the new HP related stuff coming out is great I think and could help boost sales. New movies..new HP land.

Just nasty. That needs to get produced for the public yesterday.

You haven't MOC'ed your own Pennys apt, Walowitz' room or University cafeteria?

Buying from Amazon right now would be the better deal as reported by @exciter1 in the DD @ $39.99...

My 11 year old opened her own BL store with my help, mostly selling minifigures. She is making probably $10 a week or more profit per week. She can inventory them, invoice, pack and ship. Not bad for 11 year old, on pace for $500 this year. I threw a bunch of polybags that have languished forever on ebay listings and have been moving rocket racoons, hulks, mini tumblers, and a slew of others above ebay prices. Almost 100% international sales: poland, slovakia, S Korea and Spain just this week

"46" = Week of Production "S" = Production Plant "5" = Year of Production H = Nyíregyháza, Hungary R = Ciénega de Flores, Mexico S = Kladno, Czech Republic Q = Purkersdorf, Austria

Yesterday I began building again. I started off small with some CMF series 15 followed by 75900 Mummy Museum Mystery. In the meantime some more sets followed: 41078 Skyra's Mysterious Sky Castle 75904 Mystery Mansion 41119 Cupcake Cafe 41101 Heartlake Grand Hotel (which I haven't finished building yet) All builds were enjoyable so far. Some stickers I left off as they would limit a later re-use too much. Especially all those run-down and broken window effects from 75904 probably wouldn't fit into any of my future projects. And even in a toned down 75904 the janitor hired by Skyra doesn't look too happy with the prospect of cleaning up that place. 41078 is surprisingly small. The Mystery Mansion at the same RRP is a lot more impressive in size. The construction of the portal between Elvendale and the world of Emily Jones is cool nonetheless. As I still had a Council of Elrond in the cupboard I added it to 41078 for a fun effect.

Hopefully it'll come back up with dozens of retired tags...

Nice heavy duty packing tape on sale at Costco right now.

That book is mesmerizing - I have it at home (the two authors are fellow Dutchmen ) and I regularly peek into it. Features models from several builders, known in the AFOL spheres. One of the authors has another locomotive in that book as well, equally impressive.

That locomotive is stunning.

I bought a couple cups from the pick a brick wall, and some Friends car that was marked down. The car may become a Mad Max style vehicle. It depends on my mood this weekend.

$9.03, commercial base rate for parcels 0-8 oz. So you can get about 200g of bricks for $9. If you need one piece or figure, it's expensive. If you are Bricklinking a project or set, its reasonable. I expected a drop off in international orders, but what we've seen so far is that people are maximizing the postage so the dollar amount per order average is going up. So fewer orders are being offset by larger orders. Net effect on sales is negligible. So far. We'll see what craziness USPS comes up with next year.

Not available...

Is the problem with LEGO or with the voters? How many people looked at 7 minifigures and thought that would make a great set? How many people who voted for it stopped and realized that really all you could do was have them sit on the couch and eat takeout? The team who made the decision looked at the positive response, the popularity of the show, the overlap of nerds who like the show and nerds who buy LEGO and the success of other licensed LEGO Ideas sets. The voters are constantly supporting untenable sets. "Hey, look, a 10,000 piece Helicarrier! I'd definitely buy that and I think it should run about $250." The upvoters have a hard time seeing past the initial cool factor to "What am I going to do with that next?" Were they going to build a variety of BBT dios? Were they going to add the minifigs to their modular displays?

Sorry, you didn't pass the "kragle"-test...

San Diego Comic-Con 2015 Dagobah Minibuild

Maybe the thread should be "Are the rude people..." Bought "12 lbs Lego Friends" for my kids on eBay. Seller included the manuals and the boxes in the total weight. No way to tell in photos since it was all in bulk. I notice that the shipping weight on box is 12 lbs 0 oz, so that cued me that something was up. Start going through everything and building with my kids and discover less than 8 lbs of Lego bricks. Less than 2 lbs of instructions/manuals. Then discover 1/2 lb of mega bloks. You do the math 8+2+0.5 does NOT equal 12. I am very kind in my communication. Seller is not. Essentially it is my fault for not asking questions. It is my fault for making assumptions that it is all Lego. It is my fault that it does not equal 12 lbs. After what feels like 15 e-mails back and forth, he offered $25 off. I said no, $40. Never have filed a SNAD and have never had one filed against me. Somehow this seems like the right time... Oh and he's a reseller, told me this was pulled from a large auction he won. Might need to brush up on customer service skills...

I wish I knew. I make up crap all the time.