1 hour ago, Captain_chaos said:

How April? It was released last June, so surely June would be the earliest?

True, just double checked. Thought it was April 

So there's got to be a minimum 6months more left.

incan rare why they would retire it after anything less than a year. I also don't see there being any sort of production run limit with the designers.

only thing might be a NASA license agreement? But again surely that won't end it early, this is good publicity 

Edited January 14, 20187 yr by andyposterfan

11 minutes ago, andyposterfan said:

only thing might be a NASA license agreement? But again surely that won't end it early, this is good publicity 

Then Women of Nasa would have to go as well, which is even more unlikely.

I love how the most popular and talked about Lego set of the last few years (besides maybe the MF) was designed by a fan and not a Lego designer...

33 minutes ago, Captain_chaos said:

Then Women of Nasa would have to go as well, which is even more unlikely.

The license may include a production limit.

Edited January 14, 20187 yr by John82

1 minute ago, John82 said:

The license may include a production limit.

I am thinking that too, same happened to DFB team...

@TabbyBoy

So Mr Smug, how many do you have stashed away?

If you were TLG, would renegotiating the contract be such a big deal? I mean this set is like printing money for them.

Alternatively, maybe they got worried the last batch didn´t sell out immediately and they decided to spook resellers into action. In a week or two it will miraculously come back into stock.

Or maybe it really is done with no retiring soon tag and at the beginning of 2018 just so they could say they sold it this year. Even raising the Spanish RRP by 10 euros a week ago to dissuade anyone from buying it.

I doubt this set has sold more units than Ecto 1  and that one already went in and  out of stock on occastions causing full reseller scum panic and look what happened afterwards...

27 minutes ago, mauro23 said:

I am thinking that too, same happened to DFB team...

Not a great example to inspire confidence in post EOL residuals. Only the 718 listings on Ebay and starting at 1.99 a minifig.....

Edited January 14, 20187 yr by Val-E

6 minutes ago, Val-E said:

If you were TLG, would renegotiating the contract be such a big deal? I mean this set is like printing money for them.

Alternatively, maybe they got worried the last batch didn´t sell out immediately and they decided to spook resellers into action. In a week or two it will miraculously come back into stock.

Back in stock after the 60 year promo ends is my guess. 

We've seen that TLG like to keep their moneyspinners in production a looooong time. TB, DS, T1 ect. As a new move, they also seem to strategically combat the reseller market with their own trgeting of remakes of sets that have been investment superstars. Retireing this soon would seem to go against these grains of what TLG are all about. 

Why would they cut off a robust revenue stream and tee up the reseller scum for a windfall? Anathema to the Bilund brigade.

I´m trying to think of which known bestsellers they have pulled the plug on early in recent times.

Perhaps the Architecture sets like Trevi and Louvre not making it past  2 years, but those are real niche items. The Claas tractor could also have gone another year.

If they  can´t retire turds like Batman Movie or Angry Birds after less than 1.5 years, one would expect this set to go on at least until November 2018, if not another year.

Perhaps Women of Nasa will even go first.

2 hours ago, John82 said:

Back in stock after the 60 year promo ends is my guess. 

Yeah, that was my first thought as well.

this might be rubbish but I was told by a store manager that the production is slow as there are parts in this that are also in the ucs falcon which is why both are slow stock. Take it as you want.

I can't see why they wouldn't want it available during the promo, what's the difference between selling this at promo time to any other set? 

5 minutes ago, blocp13 said:

this might be rubbish but I was told by a store manager that the production is slow as there are parts in this that are also in the ucs falcon which is why both are slow stock. Take it as you want.

I can't see why they wouldn't want it available during the promo, what's the difference between selling this at promo time to any other set? 

That's an interesting point if true and could be a reason for retiring it because it brings in less money (I would assume) compared to the Falcon.

2 hours ago, Anomander said:

We've seen that TLG like to keep their moneyspinners in production a looooong time. TB, DS, T1 ect. As a new move, they also seem to strategically combat the reseller market with their own trgeting of remakes of sets that have been investment superstars. Retireing this soon would seem to go against these grains of what TLG are all about. 

Why would they cut off a robust revenue stream and tee up the reseller scum for a windfall? Anathema to the Bilund brigade.

Could be a way of restoring some faith in resellers, giving us the odd homer. Especially if supported by other things like slowing production of the Falcon. Could make sense for them, while making resellers happy. 

Edited January 14, 20187 yr by jimmajenga

Have a look at bricklink and see if any of the 'rarer' parts are featured in both sets I guess....

Sent from my SM-G950F using Brickpicker Forum mobile app

4 hours ago, richiej1979 said:

@TabbyBoy

So Mr Smug, how many do you have stashed away?

Since you asked... I have 261 once the JL ones arrive ;-)

4 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

Since you asked... I have 261 once the JL ones arrive ;-)

Is that it, you need to round that up to 300 lol

8 minutes ago, TabbyBoy said:

Since you asked... I have 261 once the JL ones arrive ;-)

That's over $44,000 worth Canadian! I wish I had that kind of money!  Lol

5 minutes ago, jimmajenga said:

That's over $44,000 worth Canadian! I wish I had that kind of money!  Lol

Currently no problem to get a credit for such an amount of money in the EU...

It makes even sense because you make more profit than you pay for interests..

Just in case this is a sign of impending early retirement I just now completed the order of two Saturn V sets. I won't be caught with my pants down and have Saturn V retire while I haven't got any stashed away. That's for sure!

Built it yesterday. Absolute must build.
Just an awesome set for the $.

12 minutes ago, Haay said:

Just in case this is a sign of impending early retirement I just now completed the order of two Saturn V sets. I won't be caught with my pants down and have Saturn V retire while I haven't got any stashed away. That's for sure!

I'm probably going to order a couple for the same reason. Can return them if they come back.

Exactly what I've done before Tabbyboy clears out John Lewis.

2 Toys R Us near me are swimming in these for $135.00