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quit making to many themes, to many BS sets, way to much overproduction to where the stuff gets liquidated heavily at retail and in bulk through other avenues. Quit extending retirement dates because of a sales spike. Quit holding products who knows where then releasing 75,000 of a poly on a retailer months after it has no interest. Quit releasing the holiday sets that you retire on your website one year after with new print / batch codes. Quit giving out the same promos years later. Make some new concepts instead of just retiring the previous smaller set then releasing another. Those are all things that would help right the ship over re releasing the same set you've already offered before. People want new stuff when it comes to big sets. There are plenty of ways to get the retired sets that go to high for a cheaper price whether it be used or bricklinking if you are a collector and really wanted something you missed out on. The sales decline has everything to do with a glut of average or subpar / rehashed products and product that has been out way to long and should of been retired years ago. People only have so much money and 600 active sets just overwhelms customers and causes disinterest in the brand as well as retailers having to do drastic sales to move it.

Just finished this up, figured I'd post it up. The goal was to leave the Haunted House set untouched but to build around it. I also wanted to be able to open the house. All in all I'm happy with how it turned out. Thoughts and comments appreciated.

At least I’m attempting to contribute.

I didn't think that the Saturn V was capable of sustaining a crew all the way to Uranus.

I've never understood the kind of person who signs up to brickpicker and then basically abuses those who buy and sell Lego for profit. Go /rant somewhere else.

Definitely going With my earlier call. Trolling account.

Amazon did confirm that this is a glitch...this notice was sent out to everyone by mistake. The Amazon forums are blowing up! They are supposed to send out an apology email shortly. I know I hit the panic button hard this morning!! But then checked my metrics again, and everything is perfect. Nothing like a little high anxiety first thing in the morning!!

I'm loving all this doom and gloom from you guys. As a strict builder only, secondary value is purely that, secondary. I don't really care what the value is, I love buying the sets and displaying them. The fact that you think Lego is magically going to go belly up just like that is so over the top. Like others have said, they are not here to protect your precious profits on sets. They are here to release toys to their fans. Of course they are wanting to get a chunk of the action, but so what. All sets eventually retire anyways, and they obviously can't remake every single set every single year. I'm fine with having an opportunity to buy a set that Lego stopped making years ago. I don't look at older sets and think, oh man it's so rare I have to have that...No, I look at a set, and think, damn I want to build that. There are plenty of retired sets that you couldn't give to me for free that I would want. And I've said this before, those that have been holding on perpetually, well I have ZERO sympathy for you. Greed bit you in the ass. There are things that I've collected over the years that have no value whatsoever because I loved the product, not because of some notion it will be worth money down the road. It just was a bonus on some stuff I've sold over the years that I was able to get my money back in a tight situation. But that is never my primary motivation for buying a set. And I can promise you, the vast majority of people who buy Lego don't immediately think, ohhhh, this will be worth money. No it's usually, oh look a really cool set that I would like to build and enjoy. I've been buying Lego for several years, and there are sets I had when I was a kid that I would love to have again. Even if I still had them, I would still love to have an updated model. It's always the minority that are the loudest, and quite frankly, I don't think Lego gives a crap what a few of you guys think about the perceived value. I remember as a kid, my mom got me the ISD for Christmas, and others as well over the years prior, and never once in my head did I think man, what is this going to be worth years from now. I still freaking have beanie babies for christs sake, and they are worthless. /rant

Yes.

I have been reading a lot of comment on Lego's FB page , and a lot of grown a** adults are asking for several remakes of HH, SSD, TH , ect... Again , adults asking for the re-release of those sets that only retired 2 to 3 years and many ( wont say most; going with the befit of the doubt here ) could have bought them when they are readily available. the only reason they want them now is because they see the price increase and perceive this set to be very special/unique/ special. without this perceived look, many high end sets will stall down the road, but hey ,:

I'm not abusing you guys. I'm just stating that Lego doesn't owe you any profit or to cater to your need to make money. Lego is a toy first and foremost. I follow several different sites for different takes and news on stuff. It's nice to follow this for particular information I find useful, and one of that is not how much I can potentially gain on a set. You guys might need to check your feelings a bit if someone like me doesn't fully agree with everything on here. You guys live in your own little bubble world out here, and miss that there are more people who buy Lego to play and enjoy than purely as an investment vehicle. That's the thing too though, if you treat it like an investment, you are going to get burned. Simple as that. It's like that with anything you treat as an investment. You win some you lose some. I've had many things that I spent a lot of money on, to only have it be worthless and it burned me. It happens. I've also had things that were little gold mines for me as well. For me, when I buy a product, I buy it for my enjoyment, whether it be movies, video games, what have you. Some of my prized possessions aren't worth a dime. Money isn't the only factor in something that I will spend my money on. I don't care how special it is to other people, because it's special to me, and that's all that really matters in the end. I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm just saying, that the investors prospective isn't the only one, and Lego I'm sure figures they will gain more catering to their bigger market, the non-investors like me out here. Yes, I will agree that it potentially having some value will get people to collect things, but that's not even remotely always the case. Some people collect bottle caps, are those worth much? Nope, so why do they do it then? For the love of something. For people like me, it's the love of Lego, not the value. I buy Lego even expensive Lego, because I personally get the value out of it. Not in monetary fashion. Sure some people might stop buying Lego because of this, but it's a revolving door. For every person that stops buying Lego, they could be bringing in one or more people new to the hobby and buying Lego. You might see it as a lazy move, and that's fine, nothing wrong with your opinion, but I would personally be worried if every single set in a year was a complete re-release. They still put out lots of original new sets every year, so I just think this screaming from the mountain tops that Lego is going to go belly up for a couple of re-makes a year is a little over the top.

I honestly have no sympathy for those who hold 10 years hoping the values keeps going up... at some point if your end goal is to make money, you should sell. We all know people made piles of money reselling these things. If you're a hoarder, then you probably don't care because you have the original and not the re-release! I do however have sympathy for all those people who have shelled out big time cash in the last 6 months while LEGO made the decision to release the Taj Mahal. I'd be seriously pissed at LEGO and this would make me reconsider collecting these AFOL targeted sets. And I'm not talking about a $70 Toy Shop aimed at families... these bigs sets are aimed at collectors and this was an unintended shot over the bow against the 'collectibility' of large sets. Totally agree that greed is driving these short sighted decisions. Well, either that or they're just stupid which is always possible.

Lego 50%+ off clearance haul from KMart. These go with the polys posted above. I left plenty behind.

I might be wrong but that could be the same source code Lego use for SAH search function when you sort by price and display all items. Either that or Russian roulette.

If every reseller stocks 99 plus units at full RRP, then failure is guaranteed.

Major dislike.@citymorgue is no troll. Just because he has a different PoV does not warrant name-calling. I find the various opinions on LEGOs recent move refreshing, and welcome them any time of the day. Personally, I think this is a dumb move, because how many people are really interested in this set? It had interest because it was unattainable, but now that it is, I don't think it will be a top seller. I'm definitely not even remotely interested.

I agree with those saying this is killing the collectable aspect. I will admit, that is one reason I got into lego. There was a collectability factor, but when they start remaking set after set just because they have aftermarket value it starts to become redundant and look like a pathetic cash grab that ultimately collapses both markets. The Taj Mahal should have not been remade like this. I could understand making an architecture model like the Capitol Building from last year... but I don't understand why they would just bring back the Taj Mahal, and do nothing to it but put it in a new box. As many had said, they could have done many different models. I'm now kind of glad I haven't bought any of these landmark sets. There was a time I had Sydney Opera Houses in my cart, but thought twice about it and then emptied it. Glad I did that. The Death Star debacle was another blunder, and there have been others. I dig the new Carousel (and I bought that one), but I also feel they could have skipped that and made a swing, or some other ride.

Same here. I was scrambling to figure out what I could sell today to try and get in under the wire. Then I checked my metrics and noticed everything seemed fine to qualify. I also have had 34 FBM orders since 9/1 so I know it's not that. Glad to hear confirmation that it's a glitch.

This is why this is a hard platform to commit to, for me at least. We're always one glitch or automated process away from being shutdown. Not much recourse or assistance from their seller support either. It definitely adds some anxiety when you have your inventory sitting out there and it could all of a sudden become inactive.

I don't really buy into the theory of "Lego is re-releasing collector sets to discourage/anger re-sellers", I think it is more along the lines of the fact that Lego is not doing as well at the moment (layoffs and decline etc.) and is looking for popular sets that they know will be bought by many people. What better way to find a sure fire seller than to look at the most valuable sets in the past? A very easy way to find some of the sets with the highest demand. However, I think they are missing the point completely. It may help with short term sales, but sooner or later the value and collect-ability of both the past and present sets will go down the drain. The overcompensation of tons of sets with 5,000+ pieces won't fix their problems. What they need to do is go back and design NEW and INTERESTING sets that the fans want. Releasing 20 City Helicopters, the same Star Wars, and adding 200 studs and 1x1's to every set to increase the price by $40 won't work.

I guess it's finally time to sell my Yellow Castle. Not taking any chances.

I need someone to sell my new "Unlimited Monthly Wash Passes." On a side note, nobody will lose their job. I have a heart.

fixed that for you.

Wish they would re-release sets from the vault that people cared about...

I am not a fan of exact re-releases, but I would not ring the doomsday clock because of this one. LEGO will obviously not remake every set, not even every successful one. For every re-release of an exclusive there will be at least 10 that will never see a new release. So, what do we see here? The timing indicates that this does not take a place of a new exclusive, and since no designers spent unnecessary time on it, it can be considered as an extra in the release schedule. Thus, the complaints about LEGO losing its creativity are not warranted, like in the case of Winter Toy Shop. I would also say that it likely will not stop a new landmark from being released, as this is clearly for the fans only, as otherwise LEGO would not try to attract new customers with dated looks and building techniques. Then, what kind of exclusives are usually re-released? From what I see, they need to be either: Core elements of licensed franchises that are evergreens, and without any alternatives in the same franchise that have iconic enough status to make a large set sell well. Right now these are mostly SW vehicles. Sets that are iconic due to collectibility status and historical rarity, but they also need to be great on their own terms. Taj Mahal is one of these. About Winter Toy Shop: it did not fit any of the above criteria. Plus, it came instead of a new set. And accordingly, it caused an outrage. LEGO admitted that they made a mistake, and based on this, it can be said that LEGO will be afraid of releasing old sets that would take the place of a new one in a series or a release schedule. Any re-release that is not of a highly hyped set without any significant updates must only come as an extra in the release schedule. Then look at Taj Mahal. For LEGO, it must be an easy and cheap to produce sets due to the relatively small number of unique pieces. If it had lots of unique elements and minifigs, it might not have been re-released like this. I think its homogeneity was a huge factor when 10256 was considered. What does all of this mean to us? Well, due to the current market conditions, it is obvious there will not be new sets as desired in the long run as Taj or the Falcon. Therefore, they will not get a re-release due to some iconic collectibility status. So what is left is core franchise sets. If you avoid those, you can make a moderate profit if you play well.

Brick separator.

Nope, they have stacks of catalogs.

But it's Halloween. I'm just trying to be festive!!! lol

What's funny about this is you were DONE investing in Lego not that long ago, and now you are ready to go deep on 2 sets. Your actions are saying something completely opposite from your words.

Use code LEGO5 for an extra $5 off

Too true. Far too many sets now for any child to take interest in a theme to collect them all is their biggest problem. For example. To collect all Lego Batman Movie sets would cost almost £1300 at RRP. This isn't including the minifigures series or dimensions. That's a hell of a lot of money and sets to complete a theme that's only been around for 1 year. Similar with Ninjago Movie. Its only on its first set of releases and the collection would already cost £900. That's their bread & butter right there, not high end halo sets for Afols. After all re-release too many colleactor sets and afols will start to disappear as their collections depreciate. Lego will struggle until it gets its annual cost per theme targeted at children back around £500. Then people can afford to collect them all which will continue to drive demand for themes. The smash and grab scattergun approach with heavy discounting at retail within months isn't a model that will ever help them.

This. More is not always better. Too many choices breeds apathy. If they continue down this path of reissuing older classic sets, nothing will be special or exclusive. How can you pitch things as "Hard to Find"...""Retiring Soon"..."Collectible" when you can wait a few years and get a similar or exact set? Go ahead, release a Cafe Corner, Eiffel Tower or Green Grocer. Eventually, nobody will care and instead of having "perceived value," LEGO will be perceived like every knockoff brick company...just a box of cheap ABS plastic.

There will no doubt be some initial interest and some good sales but it wouldn’t surprise me, if after that, this then becomes a bit of a slow burner like the SOH. Price point is also a lot higher than other architecture sets so is a consideration for buyers. The reason why this was sought after by collectors (including myself) was because of its scarcity and until recently the largest set ever. As a result the price was what it was (apologies to those who have NISB versions in their inventory!) and ultimately another reason to have this in your collection. Now that it is being re-released I’m not actually too sure I will get one, due to: 1) the size of it - where am I going to put it? 2) it looks like a very repetitive and boring build 3) there is no longer the wow factor of this being a rare piece, since people can just pick it up (no doubt from any retailer in six months time) 4) if it gets anywhere near sunlight it will lose it brilliant white shine A number of my fellow AFOLs at my LUG were discussing this and this seems to be the universal view. It is this demographic that ultimately is the buyers that lego are targeting for this set, not the masses. So in my opinion this is an own goal by Lego, since not only will sales of this be lacklustre but it will probably harm sales of other large exclusive sets that they would normally get from resellers and also from those builders who buy one to build/display and another mint one for storage to sell on in a few years for a bit of profit. This will just not happen now since the threat of remake is so big now. Those who fall into the latter category are probably much larger in numbers and sales volumes than the resellers. Sorry Julia, but you and your corporate strategy team may have miscalculated. Having a large set on the shelf that has a high price point that doesn’t shift isnt going to get you back to double digit growth. It may have reduced your high cost base in terms of your R&D costs and to a certain extent improved your operating profit but ultimately not your revenues and NIBBT which is what is important to determine the health of a company. Maybe it’s time to get Mckinseys in and get rid of BCG?

Happy Halloween! by justin_m_winn

It's interesting, but I tend to think this is more of an experiment than a committed strategy. Lego got burned with the "Legend" re-releases in 2002. The "fans demanded" rereleasing some great sets. And then no one bought them. They are either testing the waters for the "fan demand" to rerelease, or testing if they can beat bogus bricks at their game, or both. I think someone went through a short list of sets from ~10 years ago, asked which one(s) used parts that are still in production, and picked Taj. The biggest tell will be to see if Taj is readily available upon release, or out of stock for months (like Saturn V, MILF, etc.). So before everyone starts dumping their collections, I would wait and see how 10256 actually sells. Expect Lego to decide the future of rereleases based on this one.

If they stopped releasing crappy sets that would help. For every winner there is at least one loser they should have predicted... I get the need to hit certain price points but put a little effort into it (ie maybe something other than a helicopter). They could also stop releasing niche sets aimed at the AFOL market (60’s Batman was cool but no way it was a money maker). I think they’re listening too much to the minoritys clamouring for more niche sets and minis.

I sold a few of those red Spinjitsu sets for $30, so I feel alright picking them up for $4. Found a few more nuggets at a local store I skipped yesterday, including a Pop Star Tour Bus for $28.50 and a City Police Boat for $23.50, before coupons and stuff.

Like! Except for the Spinjitsu and Super Hero Girls set =) $10 cheaper than the $80 market price it's been sitting at. It's probably ok for personal though I feel we'll see it drop a little more soon?

What do you guys think? To build/ use not resell..

Agree, its a pile of plastic that Lego completely takes advantage of and charges through the nose for. The lego high prices are only justified because people believe they are collectible. I sure as Heck won't pay 400 or 800 for a pile of plastic, if I can't get out of it one day. Collectibility creates demand, art, comics, cards, stamps. Lego is shooting both their feet off. The downward spiral for them will continue. Oh well, big companies always miss it. Greed ultimately loses, in this case holding falcon or taj for 10 years was one too long. I'm ramping up my selling.

TRU tax.

Let´s revisit the 10249 story one more time. Before we get started, it might be good to get one question out of the way. Why was this set reissued? It’s a question Jamie Berard (the lead designer for LEGO Creator) gets asked a lot these days. I have a friend who recently took a trip to Denmark, and had a chance to ask Jamie this very question in person. The long and short of his response was rather surprising. The reissue had nothing to do with a lack of new design ideas. In fact, according to Jamie, they had a new model ready to go. However management was not ready to put resources into it just yet. So Jamie talked with the people in charge and it all boiled down to this; there would either be no new LEGO Winter Village set this year, or they could rerelease one of the previous sets. The end result is a revised version of the #10199 LEGO Winter Toy Shop from 2009. The next logical question is; what changes are there in the revised version?

I would say that Lego has shown its cards and that almost no set is safe at this point. CC, GG, and ISD are probably right around the corner, along with several other retired sets that are in high demand. I am guessing that the number of AFOL's that have come out of the dark ages in last 3-5 years has probably increased significantly. Lego is in the business of making money and they see a huge opportunity with these new AFOL's and remaking retired sets. Lego is no longer just a kids toy and I think they recognize that have to cater to their adult consumers as well. Not to mention if there are sets geared toward adults, Lego could increase their chances of having more life-long Lego fans. Having to buy sought-after sets that are retired for a small fortune can be a turn-off for some new AFOL's and potentially turn them off Lego altogether. Investor/Collectors/Resellers, whatever you want to call it is probably a small group compared to the AFOL builders on a global scale and there is a lot of upside for Lego in this market compared to the potential downside of losing sales from investors/collectors. I personally don't care for the new set or the original and probably won't be getting it. I do feel bad for those who are investors and are now seeing their profits erased. Long-term hold on 10189 NIB could still be there.

Yes but I think he meant sets, not your own personal status an investor

You can always hire me to stand around warning your customers of the doom & gloom that awaits them (if they fail to keep their cars clean & well maintained).

Sorry, but I do not think you are reading the signs correctly. I have the firm belief that this set is an extra, you have the band releasing the new album and also selling remastered copies of the old one. The latter take no work. Look at the November releases: when did LEGO release sets with so high piece count at the same time? It never did, actually it does not even tend to release exclusives in November at all. The Joker Manor is the obviously on-schedule release, the Taj Mahal is the extra thrown in for the missed-out fans and some quick cash grab.

Thank god release date is soon so we don´t have 90 pages of hype to trawl through in the future before the money shots of cat related box damage and store rooms full of 100 copies. Full marks for the sarcastic comment about the change of box in the video, though!

With recent financial expectations not being met by Lego, I would have to assume that any cost cutting opportunities will be considered. Re-released Taj Majal is not lazy...disappointing sure, but not lazy. To call it "For the Fans" is just a PR spin to justify a release that didn't take much effort or cost to begin with. There are still many other newer, big sets that are being released but I wouldn't count out the possibility that remakes will increase in the coming years.

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