25 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Very honest and quality video.

LEGO really overplayed their hand. This year alone I have spent $200 buying The Great Wave and a Medieval Castle. Nothing else. Barring a castle/pirate themed promo that blows me away I might just take the next year off the hobby. I’d be curious to know how the purchase habits of others here have changed? I might make a survey on it later.

15 minutes ago, spener90 said:

LEGO really overplayed their hand. This year alone I have spent $200 buying The Great Wave and a Medieval Castle. Nothing else. Barring a castle/pirate themed promo that blows me away I might just take the next year off the hobby. I’d be curious to know how the purchase habits of others here have changed? I might make a survey on it later.

The amount of “Super Sets” scheduled to come out over the next 18 months is out of hand, but I said the same thing this time last year. Oh, and they may have got you as there is a rumored “From the Vault” Classic Pirates set coming out, probably something with Captain Red Beard, but I don’t know this theme that well. 
 

My issue is also with LAN, I think she left LAN on her own but don’t follow her so not sure.  Look at these 2 sloppy ars videos on a $500 set they got for free (don’t actually watch them) 

This one she didn’t even review her husband did and he is not the “influencer”

 

 

And this one is even worse her mom built it because she was too busy with school to hit the deadline and she did a terrible job and you can tell the reviewer has no familiarity with the build. They get $1500 plus in sets plus 10 of these Super Sets a year for free. 
 

 

It's not even simply a money / burnout thing. Space and time are a huge concern. Even the wealthiest Lego fan in the world (not me) probably doesn't want to spend 8 hours a day just building everything they felt compelled to purchase.

I've hit the point where I have unbuilt sets piling up, some of which I've had for years (current rolling record is 5 years, 5 months). I'm either going to have to dismantle some sets to make room, or just give up and sell stuff. Maybe UCS sets - they used to be special when they were the largest, most adult-focused sets TLG made, but now they're just some among many others.

The LEGO influencer market is concentrated cringe, but the increasing size/footprint of super sets leaves most of them off the personal list regardless of cost/value. 

Quality control is my biggest issue at the moment. 

the bigger issue for me is the drop off of the $70-$150 priced sets...those for me are the sweet spots of "something special"...and affordable

I feel that the majority of new stuff in this price range are retreads (maybe to discourage resellers???)

 

I mean expensive sets are what they are...but no one is making someone buy them..it's like complaining that sports cars are too expensive.  But I do think many here have some sort of "completionist complex" and has to buy them and hence complain about the price.  There will always be things too expensive to afford..tis life.  but LEGO not giving the more affordable sets teh attention they deserve...that's what irks me more.

49 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

But I do think many here have some sort of "completionist complex" and has to buy them and hence complain about the price.

Better to complain here than the “White Whale” thread 😂

 

 

Edited March 10, 20232 yr by Pseudoty

1 hour ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

but LEGO not giving the more affordable sets teh attention they deserve...that's what irks me more.

To be fair LEGO have released more adult oriented sets at around $100 than ever before, like the Ideas sets, SW dioramas, helmets, MCU gauntlets, etc.  Those are more of display models than playsets

I’m still saving up for Titanic, not this new crap.

2 hours ago, Pseudoty said:

My issue is also with LAN, I think she left LAN on her own but don’t follow her so not sure.  Look at these 2 sloppy ars videos on a $500 set they got for free (don’t actually watch them) 

 

2 hours ago, Pseudoty said:

And this one is even worse her mom built it because she was too busy with school to hit the deadline and she did a terrible job and you can tell the reviewer has no familiarity with the build. They get $1500 plus in sets plus 10 of these Super Sets a year for free. 

Boo hoo.  They signed up their souls time to be slaves ambassadors for LEGO and were backing out after all of the free stuffs...

13 hours ago, Captain_chaos said:

It's not even simply a money / burnout thing. Space and time are a huge concern. Even the wealthiest Lego fan in the world (not me) probably doesn't want to spend 8 hours a day just building everything they felt compelled to purchase.

I've hit the point where I have unbuilt sets piling up, some of which I've had for years (current rolling record is 5 years, 5 months). I'm either going to have to dismantle some sets to make room, or just give up and sell stuff. Maybe UCS sets - they used to be special when they were the largest, most adult-focused sets TLG made, but now they're just some among many others.

Agree. I think I've transitioned from collector to hoarder, as due to work / kids, not built a set in months. But I just keep on buying sets as addicted lol 

59 minutes ago, Voltron said:

Agree. I think I've transitioned from collector to hoarder, as due to work / kids, not built a set in months. But I just keep on buying sets as addicted lol 

Years in my case.  There is no place to put the finished build anyway.  I'd rather use the space to hoard store sealed boxes..

3 hours ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Years in my case.  There is no place to put the finished build anyway.  I'd rather use the space to hoard store sealed boxes..

I've got a back-log of "need to build" sets...that would require me to live till 150...I have acknowledge that I cannot start  a set until I have a "home" for the finished set...which now leads me to the Display shelf project...on my Home Improvement Projects back-log...which is probably longer than my LEGO  "need to build" sets...

[and yet I JUST bought/won auction on 3 more NISB sets and placed bids on two more]...stop the ride I want to get off!

Edited March 10, 20232 yr by $20 on joe vs dan

19 hours ago, weemsc54 said:

The LEGO influencer market is concentrated cringe

No kidding.  Jang is still my goto for a set review and his analysis on value.

Great article (you will have to translate the article within Chrome). Talks about how LEGO is now doing an about-face on the price increase in Europe. We all knew this was going to happen. Still not seeing the BIG SALES like in 2018-19 on Amazon, Walmart online, etc. Hoping this will change soon and they'll bring back the $299.99 big set price point. Not everyone knows about the cash-back extensions -- I know that was a sly way of hiding the discounts.

I love supply vs demand, the market will always correct itself (eventually)!

https://www.promobricks.de/lego-preissenkungen-mai-2023/162896/

1 hour ago, Captain_Obvious said:

Great article (you will have to translate the article within Chrome). Talks about how LEGO is now doing an about-face on the price increase in Europe. We all knew this was going to happen. Still not seeing the BIG SALES like in 2018-19 on Amazon, Walmart online, etc. Hoping this will change soon and they'll bring back the $299.99 big set price point. Not everyone knows about the cash-back extensions -- I know that was a sly way of hiding the discounts.

I love supply vs demand, the market will always correct itself (eventually)!

https://www.promobricks.de/lego-preissenkungen-mai-2023/162896/

So raise prices 20-30% than decrease them 5-10%? The 3 examples he gives are from sets not released yet and the Batcave may have been an error in the press kit not an actual price decrease. Lego pricing structure just seems off in general when you have a new set and charge $109 for it just make it $100 or $120. 

ETA:

Currently the only set above $100 not available is 21325. 
Ninjago City Markets seems like a bargain at $369 in today’s pricing structure but then we have this $25 wasn’t enough for 66 pieces they had to go with $26.99. 

Edited May 26, 20232 yr by Pseudoty

1 hour ago, Pseudoty said:

So raise prices 20-30% than decrease them 5-10%? The 3 examples he gives are from sets not released yet and the Batcave may have been an error in the press kit not an actual price decrease. Lego pricing structure just seems off in general when you have a new set and charge $109 for it just make it $100 or $120. 

ETA:

Currently the only set above $100 not available is 21325. 
Ninjago City Markets seems like a bargain at $369 in today’s pricing structure but then we have this $25 wasn’t enough for 66 pieces they had to go with $26.99. 

You're absolutely right about "all over the place". As if they have control though. The market will correct itself. It's not like they're the Fed that can raise the debt limit. They got too carried away with the Covid demand and the new Covid Flippers that came out of it. I have a feeling the CF's got burnt out and aren't buying like they used to. I've always been a big box set dude, but it's even too much for me with all these $400+ sets. Now if all those sets were $299.99 with a smaller piece count, I'd literally be swimming in LEGO now...

Edited May 26, 20232 yr by Captain_Obvious

LEGO is experiencing whiplash. Couldn’t keep up with Covid demand and now people cutting discretionary spending to pay for basics.

So, what do you do if you are LEGO and there is inflation all around you as well?  If you don’t raise prices, your premium status starts to drop.  Something you don’t want to have to recoup in the long haul. But if you do raise prices, you’ll lose sales in the short term and all that expensive factory capacity you just bought sits idle for awhile. 
Tough call. 
Good time to be an investor though — buy right after the Covid newbies are still licking their wounds and vowing never to invest in plastic bricks again — buy right when people don’t have the money at the moment to get the sets they may normally buy before they retire — buy when the retailers are pressured to discount the sets to move to anyone — and then hold a few years for those factors to reverse themselves and demand/supply conveniently flips back in our favor. 
phase 3 — PROFITS!!!

The new 2024 SC singles are reportedly going up to $28 a 40% increase from 2022. 

6 minutes ago, Pseudoty said:

The new 2024 SC singles are reportedly going up to $28 a 40% increase from 2022. 

Apologies, but you've lost me. What is an SC single?

Just now, BrickStanley74 said:

Apologies, but you've lost me. What is an SC single?

speed champion one car 

8 hours ago, Pseudoty said:

The new 2024 SC singles are reportedly going up to $28 a 40% increase from 2022. 

Hmmm may need to get more of the ones retiring this year on comparatively cheaper prices

On 9/1/2023 at 10:14 AM, Pseudoty said:

The new 2024 SC singles are reportedly going up to $28 a 40% increase from 2022. 

They have already had three price increases in two years.  I can allow one, when LEGO went from 6-wide to 8-wide.  But if they don't watch out, they're going to kill the series.