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Congrats to the winners. I see you almost pulled a double TOK. Not bad my friend

I'll say something on the positive side to make people feel better who are Lego diehard investors and GE fans. First, yes people are hoarding sets. Yes there are more investors than ever. However, I consider brickpicker.com THE AUTHORITATIVE source for Lego Investors. Looking at the home page - it says 394 people have joined in the last week and 747 users are online. I am sure there are a ton of members on this site. That all being said How many people are so madly into the lego daily deals that they follow the topic every day and get all the updates. I am one. It has netted me $18 UMB Canon's, $27 Technic MK II's and $360 SSD's. Looking at today's there are only 32 so far Yesterday's there was 45 and that thread is basically over Earth population 7 bilion Lego Movie box office revenue to date 467 million. Assuming 15$ a ticket (high end) that is about 31 million people going to see the movie in theaters let alone those who buy a copy. Lego Movie 2 on the way Lego more popular then ever Theme parks taking off What does all this mean? Do you really think the hoarding of GE is at so many sets that based on the popularity of Lego that the <100 people that follow the daily deals (I am sure thousands read it and don't post or follow) means that it is going to be a terrible performer? Fine, lets say there is 100,000 GE sets in private reseller inventory. I don't think that by the way. 7 billion people is a lot. Even if you just look at the US 313 million population, its a lot. That means over a course of years we would have to sell a GE to 1 out of every 3,130 people even if our target audience was 313 million and not 7 billion to sell out the full inventory. I like that number. My summary is, I am in the stock market too, but most every set I have ever bought (over $30) and held for 18 months I net at least 10% after all fees and business taxes. It is not a green grocer. It may not be what fire brigade will be after 5 years. But I think it beats passbook savings and is safer than the stock market for my situation. Most important everyone should do what they feel led to do. Genuinely. Savings Account. Stock Market. Lego Investing. Everyone has there own set of circumstances, risk factors and situations. One should not put down the other. GE is a winner in my opinion.

Absolutely do not keep them.

Like these? Still fun to look through every now and then. Look at all those awesome classic space sets....

Nice! I just managed to squeak it out. Big thanks to TOK for organizing the contest, and also big props for coming up with Stackwell Smart. That was genius. A huge hand as well to Bold-Arrow for his generosity in coming through with prizes. Bragging rights are pretty cool, but it's always nice to win a prize.

that is why i don't sell via amazon and always take pics of the sets and shipping boxes before mailing. I also let my ebay and bricklink buyers know upfront this is done to help minimize issues.

For the last 2 years, the GE was never discussed as much as the FB, PC, and PS (at least on this site until this Spring). We each have our own opinion. I'm only commenting on what I remember reading here and see out in the wild. I also remembering many people in that FB thead stating it's prob the #2 of not #1 best looking modular. Plus the FB is one of those modulars that won't be repeated on a high level. We'll see another "shopping center" like GE before another town hall, fire house, movie theater, etc... Was the FB hoarded? Of course but later in the year (2013) compared to GE this year. The GE isn't surprising anyone (unless it doesn't retire) like the FB caught many by surprise other than the people who said "it's gotta retire" every year since 2011.. So last year, no one really knew if any modular building was going to retire. Recap : -10182 CC was released in Fall 2007and was available until late 2009. -10185 GG was released in Spring 2008 and was available until late 2010. -------------Each had about a 3 year retail life. -10197 FB arrives in Fall 2009. -10211 GE arrives in Spring 2010. -10218 PS arrives in Spring 2011 but guess what? 10197 FB didn't follow suit by retiring like CC and GG with a 3 yr retail life. -10224 TH arrives in Spring 2012 but guess what (again), not only doesn't 10197 FB retire but neither does GE. We are all perplexed. -Now it's 2013. We have 3 modular buildings on the market when a 4th arrives (10232 PC in Spring 2013). Now everyone is scratching their heads. 4 sets of the same theme on the market and no real evidence of PS or GE retiring. Then all the sudden, FB sells out on amazon for the final time in late Aug 2013. Target and Walmart follow suit. Lego finally sells out in early Dec. 2014. -In 2014, everyone and their grandmom feels the GE is going to be next. Amazon sells out of GE in late May / early June of the set (compared to late Aug like in 2013) shop@home begins selling out of the GE in May compared to 2013 when it was in the Winter). So yes, I believe more GEs are hoarded (even if slightly more) then FBs from looking at dates (brickset and camelcamelcamel) plus skimming through the FB thread again. Please introduce me to this friend and i'll gladly trade him some GEs for FBs. In summary, I like the GE In my own opinion, i just don't see it racing out the gate like a Triple Crown (horse) winner like the FB did because more people are prepared. Please remember this post is not about GE vs. FB or which one is better. They both are "goodness" in their own ways. I'm looking at it from a investment comparison. GE will do "great" during EOL.

Here we go again. Add 1 more year to your Dow Jones or S&P average ROR and let me know how your rate of return was? I know of not one investor that started at a cash position (not lost and then sold out) at the market bottoms of 2009 and rode the wave up to today. That is a biased skewed rear view look which is completely inaccurate for measuring TROR. A better measure would be those sets that retired in 2008 measured against the dow or s&p until today. LEGO wins hands down and blows it out of the water when you account for risk or (on a risk adjusted basis).

Winter is Comi..., err.., Christmas Flipping is Coming. Sent from an iPhone using the Brickpicker app

I had to buy it for 2K, because this man have so so so many more sets, now today I collect them from his 120 m2 storage. A real Lego dream! The best part...... he want to sell a lot and guess what..... who's gonna buy it......??? So many sets all sealed in top condition, my lucky day!

And just remember, there are people who don`t care about their own credit car debt either. Rack it up, pay the interest, who cares. It`s an insane, ludicrous mentality, but people do it every day.

It was me actually. I do not believe the majority of the 7 billion will buy lego's. That was not my intent. I was trying to show a potential purchasing base. I work with marketing, print and fulfillment all the time. A 2-3% on purchasing something from direct mail is a great success rate. I do not have illusions on the average US or Global person's individual wealth. Especially even more so in the last few years. I personally do not like the developing wealth disconnect in this country. For many reasons. But I know we are supposed to keep politics off of brick picker so I will not go into this topic in depth. If you read my original post here is one of the main points I was trying to state: To sell 100,000 GE's out of private reseller inventory in the USA you would have to sell to 1 out of every 3,130 people even if our target audience was 313 million and not 7 billion to sell out the full inventory. I doubt there is 10,000 GE's in private reseller inventory. 1 out of 3,130 is an even far less amount than the "1%" many people like to pick on. It is actually saying only the ".00031 %" of the US population would need to buy one. That all being said I was just trying to show potential distribution. Not start a wealth distribution discussion. The fact is the majority of Lego sets that I sell are $50-$300 sets and most times I do not believe they are bought by the wealthy. Families of all income levels do something that many people in the US used to do, save up for something and then purchase it.

Haven`t seen the exact chart before, but I`m a sucker for statistics. It`s truth on a page, fact, easy to read, understand, then adjust/implement a change accordingly. Regardless, the fact that GE and sets of the like is a money maker is undisputable. If you don`t invest in sets like this for some reason, that`s perfectly ok, but it`s ridiculous when people come back and say things that are contradictory when the evidence is clearly available. Same goes for everything. Wonder if they`de wait and retire at the end of the year? Surely Lego would want Christmas sales from a set this gorgeous?

Welcome to Brickpicker! I visited Oxnard earlier this year and it is a really beautiful area.

Welcome, young padawan.

Welcome! To expand upon what terrymc4677, the Millennium Falcon will probably be retiring soon, so if you think you want one for yourself the time to buy is now. It will only go up in price after it retires. Good luck on your Lego searches and welcome to the site!

Welcome to the site. If it's Star Wars you are after then check out your local targets. They are currently running a clearance sale on the millennium falcon at either 30% or 50%. Each location will vary. If yours are at 30%, then they will eventually go to 50% if nobody buys them at 30%. A falcon at 50% off is a great deal on a great set and the lowest we have seen. Good luck!

Welcome to Brickpicker!!

Can breathe now. Did a store search at TRU on July 2 and only one in the country was showing 10221 Super Star Destroyer in stock. They had it sitting in the back storage room because "it's too expensive to display, and no one's going to buy it." Worked out a store-to-store transfer but didn't say anything on the forums because I didn't want anyone to swoop in and nab it. Overpaid - full TRU price $499 - and the box's condition... Well, it may have dated Chris Brown. But the interior boxes were still sealed; popped a couple open just to be sure the instruction manual and mini figs were there before I bought it. Seals were 41R2, and the set came from the Bloomington, MN store. Now I have one to keep for investment and one to play with... Er, I mean, display,

Let me guess, you are going to wait a bit longer no matter what happens on Sunday ;)

Pretty sure these sets have been seen. They were at a show in 2013 and then were pretty much hidden since then. I think there is a review from Huw from Brickset(or admin from another site, can't remember 100%) about seeing these and said these characters were in the set. Though Witch King is not as you see him in LotR, but ghostly as you see him in DoS, from what I remember. It's been some time since I've read much about these sets but I'm sure we will see something at SDCC at the end of the month, if not some teaser before that. This is the dead horse I won't stop beating, but I really hope we see something from LotR in '15. Anything, even if it's a single D2C from Minas Tirith to give us some needed figures to put a bow on the series and wrap it up.

Thanks for your post. We try to keep the site and forum very friendly and congenial...after all it is about LEGO bricks. That being said, it is also about money and I understand some people don't like to share information with others. As a matter of fact, some people hate this site and what we do and promote, but yet they still lurk anyway. I like how the community comes together and shares information, sales and deals. This is information that most would never obtain by themselves. Jeff and I hope to build a stronger community with the recent Trader option and the new Classifieds(we are waiting on a few German fellas to correct a few glitches). I think people can work together for a common goal...making money, even though they are competitors in many circumstances. I guess that is very "socialistic." The President would be proud...LOL.

~3.0oz + 0.5oz for #0 Bubble Mailer

Releasing small batches would be a very experience and inefficient way of running a business. I think resellers only take a small cut out of the pie; our effect is overstated on sites like BP since we are all Reese's.

"Brand New. Product Not Contained within Plastic Shrink-Wrap." As a side note, the Xbox version, although not contained within shrink wrap, is sealed on the long end with a Certificate of Authenticity, which contains a barcode. Seeing the CoA sealed will be enough to satisfy your customers, but to cover all bases, include the text above. Probably sold 50 or so just like this w/out any issues.

I agree, otherwise you may be looking at an item not as described case. I'd specify that the game had never been play or even removed from the case.

generally european stock has different boxes(no piece count on the box for example) and different upcs so i highly doubt they are getting european stock

When I got back into Lego, I also wanted to start making some larger MOC's but was lacking pieces; I really only had vintage sets at that time and didn't want to break those sets up for parts. I bought sets on clearance, like 50%-70% off, sold off the minifigs, and then sorted the pieces into bins. Most of the time you get the bricks for free or at very little cost after selling the bits you don't want. I don't really plan a build, I just dive into my parts bins and start putting things together, so having a selection of random parts is fine for me. If I get to the point where I think I need more of a specific type of piece, I'll hit bricklink.

kandypop, i just noticed your older post. hope this isn't an issue anymore. nice sets but for the love of all AFOLs, investors, gods, and everything sacred, PLEASE fix your box stacking and REMOVE that boxed sealed or opened ucs sd out from the bottom. put the sidney opera down there of needed. when stacking boxes, do it like this lets say you have 4 levels of 5 sets in each level. each set needs to be tight up against the set it's touching. top level, 2nd level, 3rd level, and bottom level ((when looking top down toward the floor) = I I I I I - - - - - I I I I I - - - - - if you have sets piled on top of each other in the same direction, you won't get enough support. the boxes will begin sagging near the bottoms due to the weight on top of it (each level) and the bags inside the box that is sagging.

Sorry my bad. Buy lego. Sell lego. Guaranteed $$$ for everyone. Everything is awesome.

Can we stick to the topic plz. Every thread is spiraling out of context as of late.

If you want to read more information about using LDD, I would recommend hopping over to the EuroBricks forum. You can find a ton of information and inspiration there! Here you can a quick link towards their section index about LDD.

To me its tough to agree or disagree with a comment like this. To say LEGO quality has gone down over the years to me is not really fair. You are making comments as if you are an executive there and know exactly what is going on when you don't. Over the past few years, LEGO's popularity has soared to heights that most companies could dream of and with that becomes new levels of scrutiny. They are producing more pieces than ever with different types of pieces and different production facilities. Overall I think they are doing a pretty darn good job keeping up with the demand and still producing a fine toy. This reminds me of years ago when Sony was the biggest player in town for all types of electronics. After a few years of dominance, you would hear things like "Sony TVs are garbage, they have the most recalls and support incidents". The thing most people were not accounting for was that there were a 100+ Sony TVs sold to every 1 of any other brand. That means there are more of them to go to service. Mega Bloks is where LEGO was years ago, I am sure they would have the same production issues as LEGO if they were having the same success. LEGO customer service would be happy to send a you a few replacement bricks for you to make your $200 set look perfect.

Basically the Extended mode gives you access to every single piece in every color available in the program. I think Regular mode is supposed to be more of restricting your access only to pieces actually made in those colors where Extended gives you free range over it all. I notice when in Regular mode that when you pick different colors to sort by, the selection can grow or shrink substantially. If you pick a color in Extended, the parts list never changes; just the color of every piece displayed.

Of course there are tons, and there are also people buying dozens of sets who will crack within 12 months and sell off their inventory for whatever reason, but either way the demand for the Modular sets will always be there because you can create an iconic town which will always be interesting to a Lego fan.

Would it be ironic if we start keeping sets around longer because we jump on them so quick that Lego decides "hmm, maybe we shouldn't retire this?"

Same here, drake. LoTR is the license that brought me back. Funny thing is when they first came out, I remember telling my wife I wished they had cool lego sets like that when I was a kid. Her and I play the lego video games but I never considered getting back into the hobby due to cost. Until one day I bought my first middle earth $10 lego set and I was hooked on lego again. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker

Yeah that would fix the problem........not!!

Actually, I had a similar situation late last year with a Jabba's Place. I called Lego support, gave them a pic of my receipt, and they sent me the minifigs, can't hurt to try. ...and that was for a licensed themed set which they balk at. At $50, I would take a used VC... I would still return the $20 hearse though but do tell Lego Support about that set. Be sure to tell them that "your child" really wants to keep the set and since it is hard to find in stores anymore, you are between a rock and a hard place. "It' s sad for a child to receive a set without the key part, minifigs,"

Dude, people gotta stop buying my TRU returns... J/k

Cha-Ching!! It`s very likely demand for older sets could increase dramatically around the release date, so something else to keep in mind for people considering StarWars.

There is still plenty of stock of SSD in Belgium it seems.

i've been finding a lot of 4625's at walmart and 5560s at target lately and have been snagging them. these sets don't scream winner when you see them on the shelf but they should do well. worst case scenario my daughters get to play with more pink bricks.

I'd definitely pick up the big one of 5508 but unsure about the smaller 6166. If you believe the set can keep going then go for it. I have absolutely no idea why these brick buckets are so popular when retired but there it is. Now I can understand if it were the 4625 as pretty much every piece in that is rare or even exclusive but still doth mind be boggled when it cometh to these items. :wacko:

I know people hate chima, but those 2 big sets on the first chima page are really neat.

Personally as a buyer I hate when stores have quantity requirements, ie this 1x1 plate can only be purchased in multiples of 10. Most of the time I'm bricklinking to get the pieces for an incomplete set or for an MOC, and don't need a bunch of extra pieces of this one element that I'm never going to use again. A minimum purchase amount is fine to me, because as long as the store has a decent selection of items for sale, I can always find something to hit the minimum, like a bunch of this one part I use a lot, or a minifigure just for fun.

Enjoy~

Yeah a bunch of the set is not in bags - all the hull of the ship and sometimes the sails.

kind of messy.

Just picked up my first store display. The Monster Fighters Ghost Train and The Mad Scientist and His Monster.