Just like the title asks, what LEGO set did you buy today?

I bought the 4184 POTC Black Pearl.

Found a damaged box Volkswagen for half off, happy to pick it up for personal build. 

I'm thinking about getting the  new BricQ Motion kit for my soon-to-be eight year old. I want to get her the more advanced 45400 Prime set and get younger brother who just turned 5 the BricQ Motion Essential Personal Learning kit 2000471. The problem is they don't sell the stupid $10 kits in the US outside of bundles for classrooms. Does anyone know of a store that sells the small kits? 

Swung into the local LEGO Store to scope out and grab a promo set -

Remaining Hidden Side Sets: Marked down to 30% off.

Monkie Kid Sets first wave were marked down 20% off.

WW84 was marked down 20%.

 

Same sets at my store on clearance except they are all at 30% off.

Local dept store doing 30% off all lego, I was there to pick up some clearance sets at 50% off and guess what the discounts stacked so that means 65% off. Had it do it the hard way and carried stuff to my car. Left with 42114, old Trafford, London bus amongst others. Never thought I would see deep discounts like this in one of the most expensive countries in the world. 😊

"won" an auction for the big TRex Jurrasic Park gate set Used on Ebay...$168 plus tax and $13 ship (I liked this one because 2/3 are still in sealed bags)

To me, this is a "cool" albeit greatly over-priced set...I know I would kick myself when it hits Cloud City prices post-retirement.  Still can't stomach buying it at RRP even with like 2 GWPs...so this used set for my backlog will be my hedge.

finally managed to get some corner garages today. whoop

NISB Lloyd's Mech 70676 $110 ($119 total):ouch!...just waited too long getting this; I don't think it ever hit discounts so I don;t feel too bad about the premium price...for some reason I envision a shelf full of LEGO Mechs in my office and this one is a must have for it...

My son has wanted that every since he found out about it a few months ago. I finally had to break down and get it yesterday from eBay as well. One came up new fir $107 and free shipping.

Hurts bad enough to pay retail however the pain is much worse paying over that. Lol.

Will likely be an end of school year gift.

Bought my other boy Zane's Titan mech recently. Target price matched costco and cs was nice enough to give me the $10 gc during that recent promo even though that set wasn't in the list.

Also got a great deal on the Destiny's bounty set today.

3 minutes ago, mplsabdullah said:

Also got a great deal on the Destiny's bounty set today.

 

which one, how much?, where?

which one, how much?, where?

The latest one 71705. The deal was sort of a one off. I've pm'd you

I had a score at the local thrift store last week. Long sentimental story ahead.

I moved to Japan a few years ago it's been rough not being able to see my family due to Covid. My mother, who always enabled my LEGO addiction, has been taking me to Lego clearance since I was 10 years old. She doesn't know much about Lego but she loves hunting, scanning and only occasionally stashing sets through the aisles. 2020 was the first year we couldn't do that together, and it hit me really hard. On top of that, Lego is really expensive in Japan. REALLY expensive. There's no logic to it, but the smaller sets are usually less accessible than the more expensive ones. I've stockpiled a lot of good US online deals (per you guys) but I've just had to ship them to my parents and hope one day the pandemic ends to build them.  

So last week, I bike to the thrift store. Japanese thrift stores are great because they take care of their stuff, but they're expensive as all get out. Only like 10-30% cheaper than retail. I don't have much money since I'm just stopping in for Pokemon stuff for my friend. I'm browsing and see a crate on the floor. There is a sealed bag of bricks sticking out, and my LEGO alarm explodes. I pick it up. The entire crate is full of sets. Almost all the Overwatch sets, the entirety of Mario's first wave, the Ninjago set with Akita, a Friends set with a pink narwhal. Knowing Japanese kids, every set seems 100% complete (the extra pieces are even in a small zip in each bag). I am beyond excited. 

I tally it up. It's a lot but I can do it. It'll fit it in my bike basket. I think. Yeah, my balance is good enough. Wait. WAIT. I don't have enough cash. 

I had to hobble over to the counter, the only foreigner in either the store or rural Japan, with a year's supply of LEGOs. In my childish Japanese, I have a one-sided toddler conversation with the cashier. It's mostly grunting and pleading with my eyes. She just nods along to my sentences, which scares me that I'm making zero sense. 

"ATM money machine have here?"

"Me cross street, get money from magic money box, okay?"

"Watchy watchy Lego pwease? No sell other to manchildren, pwease?" 

I hand the entire stash over the counter, pray to God she understood me and book it. I jaywalk across the street because I gotta there before the ATM closes (yes, that's a thing in Japan). I am almost hit by a car  but I must survive. I dash back, sweaty and war-torn. Every other Japanese person is looking at the deranged foreign animal, grunting and chanting BRICKS BRICKS BRICKS. I seize my prize from behind the counter and fling the cash over, texting my mom that I need to call her and tell her the good news. She thinks I have gotten engaged. I tell her it's better than that. 

All in all, I paid about 200 for everything. I know that these prices are not great by American standards but this would be at least 1000 dollars worth of LEGO if purchased new in Japan (and that's pretty much the only way to get it here).  Now I can build and play and wonder how to get it all back to the states. 

200 is not a bad deal for the lot I think. Anyways do you use http://legojapan.seesaa.net/, it has a list of the current deals. rakuten has some deals from time to time also.

Take care of yourself mate, I haven't been able to go back to my home country in two years as well. The pandemic will likely end this year and hopefully we have some kind of normality. Video call your folks! 30 years ago we have to use letters!!

Edited March 10, 20214 yr by coelian

I was living in Tokyo from 2012-2016 and the prices of new set were terrible but I still managed to get most of the rebels sets.  I also loved hiring up Hobby Off anytime I could to find random minifigs or older sets.  

Last year I thought I saw a Cafe Corner in a Hobby Off for 1k.

22 hours ago, coelian said:

200 is not a bad deal for the lot I think. Anyways do you use http://legojapan.seesaa.net/, it has a list of the current deals. rakuten has some deals from time to time also.

Take care of yourself mate, I haven't been able to go back to my home country in two years as well. The pandemic will likely end this year and hopefully we have some kind of normality. Video call your folks! 30 years ago we have to use letters!!

Yes, I use it all the time! Unfortunately it's still too rich for my blood but... there's a great Amazon deal on Lantern Festival for literally 20 bucks cheaper than the US right now. I love how the Chinese New Year sets are the only cheap things here due to the anti-China racism, lol. 

I call my parents when I can, but I'm sure you understand that it's not the same. If you need a Lego friend in Japan, let me know ahaha. 

22 hours ago, Blinky316 said:

I was living in Tokyo from 2012-2016 and the prices of new set were terrible but I still managed to get most of the rebels sets.  I also loved hiring up Hobby Off anytime I could to find random minifigs or older sets.  

Yeah, these sets were from a Hard-off. I've seen a few sets there before, an in-box Jabba's Palace 4480 (minus Jabba...) and green Rakshi, both horrendously overpriced. However I live in the sticks so not a lot of LEGO opportunities for me (have stumbled on TRU clearance once though). The Shibuya Mandarake has a small section of LEGO, including the Temple of the Crystal skull which has sat unsold for 2 years at 100 bucks (and every time, I almost buy it to release it from captivity).

Edited March 11, 20214 yr by raindroplet

41 minutes ago, raindroplet said:

Yes, I use it all the time! Unfortunately it's still too rich for my blood but... there's a great Amazon deal on Lantern Festival for literally 20 bucks cheaper than the US right now. I love how the Chinese New Year sets are the only cheap things here due to the anti-China racism, lol. 

I call my parents when I can, but I'm sure you understand that it's not the same. If you need a Lego friend in Japan, let me know ahaha. 

The CNY sets are great, there are interesting sets from time to time. Last year I picked up the Sakura set that came with the Tokyo Archi set BIC camera. Of course the price wasn't cheap but you can't get it anywhere else. The recent toysrus bricktober fairground sets are also very nice.

Hope you get a chance to meet your folks soon. I'm dreaming of some nice Japanese food now, the sushi I can get here is terrible and very expensive. 

 

5 hours ago, raindroplet said:

Yes, I use it all the time! Unfortunately it's still too rich for my blood but... there's a great Amazon deal on Lantern Festival for literally 20 bucks cheaper than the US right now. I love how the Chinese New Year sets are the only cheap things here due to the anti-China racism, lol. 

I think it was a fail by LEGO to labels these sets "Chinese New Year..."

Lunar New Year would have been much more inclusive 

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

 

I think it was a fail by LEGO to labels these sets "Chinese New Year..."

Lunar New Year would have been much more inclusive 

Would it have made any difference?  I don't remember any other culture celebrate Lunar New Year the way they are depicted on those sets.  These sets look like they were made for Chinese audience and I bet people in Japan can tell without reading the names of the sets.

Also calling these specifically Chinese New Year would attract more buyers in China (which has bigger population than other countries in Asia)

1 minute ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Would it have made any difference?  I don't remember any other culture celebrate Lunar New Year the way they are depicted on those sets.  These sets look like they were made for Chinese audience and I bet people in Japan can tell without reading the names of the sets.

Also calling these specifically Chinese New Year would attract more buyers in China (which has bigger population than other countries in Asia)

I was thinking mixing it up a bit with IP from other country celebrations...not exclusively China..that way the theme is inclusive w/ individual sets being regional

Love the cherry blossom minis that came for Japan...LEGO should branch out...it's not just about population size that makes a strong market...the rest of the world eyes China's population and see $$$...sorry but most of that population can not afford a lot of LEGO.

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

I was thinking mixing it up a bit with IP from other country celebrations...not exclusively China..that way the theme is inclusive w/ individual sets being regional

Love the cherry blossom minis that came for Japan...LEGO should branch out...it's not just about population size that makes a strong market...the rest of the world eyes China's population and see $$$...sorry but most of that population can not afford a lot of LEGO.

That would be good idea for new separate line.  Without getting to too much details, I bet there are many factors beyond sales that pushed this line to be exclusively Chinese New Year.  

Even if it was just sales, a fraction of China's population that can afford LEGO is still bigger than population of "rich/affluent people" in many countries in the world.

Yesterday I went to downtown disney as they were doing a deal for past annual pass holders while Disneyland is shut. I was able to get 30% off the Disney lego train set in the World of Disney store...Feeling pretty lucky! Its for personal build, I am in the middle of the castle at the moment. Not sure when I will get to building the train... Hopefully in time for Christmas haha! 

stumbled upon this the other day on fbm and just got a reply. I had randomly asked "would you do $25 shipped?'  2 days later, "Sure thing" tracking number provided.

Last couple of days...

Spring Lantern Festival
Gingerbread House

A used lot of small vintage city sets

I remember having the TV van as a kid, so I had to get that one again.

 

Not a bad score at the Lego Store.

6 hours ago, Thanos75 said:

Not a bad score at the Lego Store.

No kidding, huh.  I'm going to head back there again shortly.  Too good to pass up.