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    Brickpicker blog articles on LEGO investing, news, reviews, evaluations, discounts and more...
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    • Fcbarcelona101
      In this second entry on the Minifig Corner, I wanted to focus on one of the most sought after and expensive minifigs ever released: The Cloud City variation of Boba Fett.
      First of all, it seems logical that a minifigure of this particular character is one of the most popular released by LEGO, given the high popularity of the character it is based on. For some reason that's completely beyond me, Boba Fett has been one of the most admired characters of the whole Star Wars series, even though he did not really have that much screen time in the movies.
      The Boba Fett based minifigure has been produced in several different variations, from the classic 6210 version to the somewhat expensive white version, passing through the star of this article. Of all of these versions, the only one that even comes close to the value of Cloud City Boba is the promotional White Boba Fett polybag, but even then the difference in price is quite substantial.
      In 2003, LEGO released what is, so far, the only Cloud City play-set. It included some great minifigures like Lando, Luke and this more detailed version of the famous bounty hunter. The set itself was not really one that had a particularly short lifespan, as it seems to have been retired around 2 years after release in 2005, basically the same amount of time as the average set. Having said that, the set is pretty hard to find at the moment, and fetches over $ 1,000 (MISB).
      A very important value driver for this set is the unique version of the classic Boba Fett minifigure. Basically, it included the same version we see in other sets like the 6210 Sail Barge, with the added details of printed arms and legs. Those 2 factors are what propelled the value of this version to well over $100, also taking into consideration how rare it is to see more than 2 or 3 listed on ebay at any given time.
      If you take a look at BL, you will notice that buying only the printed arms and legs will cost you well over $200. That's a pretty steep price to pay, but one that serious SW LEGO collectors probably see as a must in order to have a truly complete collection.
      More recently, a printed legs version of Boba Fett has been released on sets like the new Desert Skiff, but it is pretty clear that no version of this character will ever hold the charm and value the Cloud City version currently enjoys.
      Thanks for reading
    • comicblast
      Last February I did a blog on the Bottom 50 LEGO sets with regards to CAGR values. Among the Bottom 50 LEGO sets, there were 5 Toy Story sets:
      7591 Construct-A-Zurg 7598 Pizza Planet Truck Rescue 7789 Lotso's Dump Truck 7596 Trash Compactor Escape 7593 Buzz's Command Spaceship Not only did the Toy Story theme make up 10% of the Bottom 50 LEGO sets, the worst performing set was a Toy Story set...the 7591 Construct-A-Zurg. Well, I took a look at the most recent BrickIndex, which shows the top appreciating sets over the past 6 months, and to my surprise, there were three Toy Story sets on the Top 20...7591 Construct-A-Zurg, 7590 Woody and Buzz to the Rescue, and the 7789 Lotso's Dump Truck.
      What is even more amazing is that the worst performing set back in February of 2013, the 7591 Construct-A-Zurg, is now the BEST performing set over the last 6 months, increasing over 55% in value. The 7596 Lotso's Dump Truck went up 25% as well. If you check the other Toy Story sets that were in the Bottom 50, the 7598 Pizza Planet Truck Rescue went up 24%, the 7596 Trash Compactor Escape went up 24.5% and the 7593 Buzz's Command Spaceship went up 15% over the past 6 months.
      From a personal standpoint, I am glad to see this theme attract the attention of collectors and investors. I have always thought that these Toy Story sets were true to the wonderful movies. Their minifigures were top notch and the sets had quite a few unique pieces and designs. What it also confirms for me is that once again, there is true value in many older sets that are retired and under the radar. While many investors are out there looking for new sets to invest in, there are savvy LEGO investors taking a chance on sets that were overlooked for various reasons.
      For those of you who like to think outside the LEGO investment box a bit and like older sets, check out the Top Retired Sets page or the BrickIndex page to scan for retired sets that might be showing some late life and growth. They are out there...every month. Some sets are just late bloomers. Good luck...
    • Fcbarcelona101
      So, it's been a while since my last blog entry, but I finally managed to find some free time to continue with one of my favorite articles to write, the effect of re-makes on LEGO sets.
      This time, I wanted to analyze the impact the newly released Republic Gunship had on both of its predecessors. For some reason that's beyond me, this particular ship seems to be one of the most popular vehicles of the whole Prequel Trilogy, and LEGO has seen a lot of value in releasing it for the THIRD time this past summer.
      This new version follows the same path as the 2008 version by having a pretty decent piece count of just over 1,000 pieces, along with a pretty nice selection of minifigures. As far as the actual ship design is concerned, both 7676 and 75021 share pretty much the same appearance. As one would expect, there are some changes here or there that make the new set unique, but other than that and a couple of new cool minifigures there is really nothing that would make me buy this set if I owned any of the other versions, especially 2008's.
      Now, let's take a look at the price charts from Brickpicker for the older versions of the Gunship and see if we can determine the impact 75021 had on them:

      I think this graph pretty much says it all. First of all, the graph shows both previous set's price trends, along with their lineal trend as well as the first month when we started seeing the new Gunship on the shelves (represented by the black vertical line). As you can see, the oldest version of the 2 has dipped some since the announcement and subsequent release of 75021, but it is 7676 that has seen the worst drop in value.
      Despite going up around $40 from March to April and hovering around that price for a couple months, it suddenly dropped almost a full hundred dollars by pretty much the same time the new version started hitting the shelves or at least when it was expected to be released in a short period of time. So far, this has been the largest drop in value I have encountered when writing this series of articles, and this helps to make the inference that the market feels pretty much the same way I do: the similarities between the 2 newer versions justify just passing on the older, more expensive version in favor of the newer, cheaper one.
      Those investors that unloaded their 7676 stock prior to the month of July are certainly happy they did, while those that decided to hold may be regretting it. Thanks for reading!
    • Ed Mack
      Okay so back in the 80's I used to work for a top advertising agency in the UK. This agency did very controversial adverts, one of which was the Carling Black label campaign's That always ended with the phrase "I bet he drinks Carling Black label!"
      We were asked by Lego to do an advertising campaign for them. This campaign was to run in all the national newspapers and also on tube stations billboards etc.
      After much deliberation with the creative and design departments of the agency, It was decided to focus the campaign on Michael Jackson (R.I.P) who of course was at his prime at the time. The idea was to create a life-size model of Michael made of Lego, and as advertising agencies do, add a few catchy phrases for the campaign.
      Eight months in the making the model was made, shot and put together by the agency, and of course was given the go-ahead by the clients Lego. The campaign lead with the line "amazing what you can make out of plastic these days" At the time Michael Jackson denied ever having plastic surgery, and clearly this was taking the Mick out of that. The Jackson camp must've got wind of the campaign because two weeks before the campaign was due to be released, I received a hand written letter on Neverland's headed paper from the main man himself threatening legal action for defamation of character should we proceed with the campaign. Michael requested that the model was destroyed and the campaign was abandoned.
      Although the campaign never pacifically mentioned Michael, after you see the advert clearly there is no doubt who it refers to. The head cheeses of the agency backed down and decided to totally abandon the campaign fearing a hefty lawsuit from Michael Jackson. The account manager for the agency ordered the model to be destroyed, but decided to keep the head for himself which he kept on his desk for a number of years before moving on and passing it down to me :-)
      I was such a big fan of Michael Jackson, that I kept the original letter (as it has his signature on it) and the only copy of the advert, along with the lego head the account manager had given me. My plan was to write to him personally and maybe, just maybe I would get the opportunity to go over to Neverland and meet my idol. Alas this never happened :-(
      The small print under the advert read:
      "it's not our first facelift, of course. Year after year we bring out string of new hits. All of which help to keep us in the spotlight. And what about our long-term sales record? You just can't beat it. Twenty five consecutive annual sales increases, receiving no end of gold discs along the way. It always pays to remember just who's number one. And in the toy market there's certainly no bigger thriller. Lego the worlds most popular toy."


    • nolanfan34
      Hey there Brickpickers! Here's my first blog post, thought I'd make it a doozy. Wanted to share some of the sights from Brickcon 2013 in Seattle. I went on Sunday, day two of the event. Took my nephew and my 5 year old son, so if I lack details it is likely due to the attention spans of a 10 and 5 year old. :-)
      Overall Impressions
      The event is really a must see for any Lego fan in the area. The venue is somewhat small - I would expect it to expand in future years with Lego's growth - but there is a lot to see, and you can spend half a day there pretty easily. Not sure it is worth travelling a LONG distance for, but that could change in future years.
      Here's a shot of part of the room to show how packed it was on the main floor.

      Sellers, sellers, sellers
      Being a Brickpicker, I was of course interested in the vendors who were there to sell their wares. There were a good number of custom sellers, including Brickarms and Custom Army Clones (I think i have that right).
      Brickarms sells custom guns and accessories, molded from the same ABS plastic as Lego. I have to say, for a non-Lego item, they are pretty impressive and look and feel like the real thing. They had a sizable display and we picked up a few of their items.

      Another cool vendor was one that sold custom capes for minifigs. All sorts of printed capes of different shapes and sizes, which again looked exactly like legit Lego capes.

      A number of vendors were selling minifigs. Both custom minifigs, and minifigs from regular sets. You could find pretty much anyone you wanted, although I did not see Mr. Gold anywhere. Being there on day 2 of 2, I wonder what was sold on Day 1 when it opened.

      One vendor was also selling some of the custom sets I have seen posted on here, like the Ghostbusters car.

      Surprisingly, one of the busiest areas was a vendor (can't remember the name, maybe Math n Stuff) who was selling mostly current market sets at retail prices. Their area was pretty packed with people buying things they could go buy at their local Walmart or Target, or go to Amazon.com, and find for less.

      A bunch of vendors were selling used and retired sets. Saw a couple of Cloud City's, and a few other cool things for market prices. There was a used adult owned Burrow 4840 for $100 which I was thinking of buying, but when I went back it was sold. I will say - I saw a number of Harry Potter used sets for sale in the morning, and they were gone in the afternoon. Ol' Harry still has a lot of draw. But I was surprised to see so many new sets being sold. Chowren Toys was a sponsor for the show, and I hoped they would have a booth, but if they did then I missed it.
      There is probably an opportunity for someone like the Mack's to come in and blow everyone away with a bunch of old sets, but given what I saw the crowd buying during my time there, I am not sure it would be worth the time/money/booth investment.
      Official LEGO presence
      So....the only "official" Lego booth I saw was promoting - what else - Chima! Just stand in line and play some Speedzor game, and you would get a free set with Razer in it. So once again, they were using free giveaways to pump the Chima line. As a marketing technique, it might work - both my nephew and son didn't want to wait in line, we did anyway since I can't pass up free Lego, and once we got home they were having a blast with the set. Now my son wants some of the other characters. I don't think it will translate into anything better than Ninjago when it comes to investing, but something interesting to watch.

      MOC's Galore
      The number of MOC's on display was simply awesome and inspiring. Some you have probably seen before, but I was amazed at the skill of the AFOL's who had stuff on display. Sit back and buckle in, this will be a long ride.
      There were a ton of cool things made from Bionicle parts - shout out to Exobro. :-)
      This Dragon was probably 18" high and two feet long, and was really amazing.

      The big alien monster thing from The Avengers was another cool one - you can see the crew batting it in the pic, sort of.

      I also liked this Alien brain sucker head mask thing, which was sized for an adult!

      Star Wars of course remained a popular MOC item. This was a cool mini scale Hoth battle scene diorama.

      Another section had some detailed 15" tall Star Wars figures. The Han Solo in carbonite had blinking lights on the side, it was pretty awesome.

      This R2D2 was as big as a real garbage can, but somehow lost his feet. Poor R2!

      This one was a big MOC with an Endor scene on the top...

      ...and a Rebel Base hanger underneath, with regular sized X-wings and everything. pretty impressive.

      I liked the Rebel trooper bowling with the soccer ball in front of the entrance.
      They had the big daddy of them all of course, although I think this one had some modifcations.

      And it was completely dwarfed by this. A 6 ft long Venator Attack Cruiser. This thing was amazing, and I can only imagine how many parts it was.

      Here's a shot of the engines in the back. Amazing detail.

      They also had the Giant Squid attacking the SSD, which people may have seen on the web making the rounds a bunch of months ago.

      Super heroes were popular of course as well in the booths and on the floor. This Batcave was pretty amazing. The wall in the upper left with the costumes would rotate into a wall with bat weapons as well.

      This semi-scale sized Sentinel from the Marvel comic books was pretty cool.

      More super heroes stuff.

      There were MOC's of all shapes and sizes. I probably took pics of like 20% of them at the most. Here are a bunch with a few comments scattered here and there.





      Disney castle was cool.

      This monastery on the side of a mountain was amazing. Modeled after a real life place.




      Mothra was pretty funny.




      This was the other cool space ship I saw, the Aurora. Just massive with a ton of detail.



      I don't even know what the heck these were, cities on wheels I guess, but they were amazing.


      This one cracked me up - a battle base with mechs manned by Friends figures. Really cool.

      Here's the Delorean we wish we could buy.

      And I would buy an A-Team van in a heartbeat - bring us a minifig BA Baracus please!

      This might have been one of my favorites, just for the detail. A junked car wrapped around a tree. Such imagination, for something that most of us would never think to build.

      And then there was Hogwarts...
      Yes, they had the most amazing MOC of them all, the giant Hogwarts I think people have seen pics or videos of. It is breathtaking in person, and I try to say that without hyperbole. If you are a fan of the HP series, it is just incredible to see in person in every way. Every big scene at Hogwarts? It is in there. Every detail? They nailed it. I'm not sure what else to say about it, it was the best part of the show for me, and mindblowing to think of it being constructed and planned out.
      Here are some pictures without comment.











      Final thoughts
      It was a cool event. Well worth a $9 admission fee. They were filming some sort of a documentary during the day, so perhaps you will see some video from it in the future.

      And to end....obligatory Space Needle made out of Lego!

      See you in 2014!
    • comicblast
      One very commonly asked question in the BrickPicker Forum is what is the better place to buy and/or sell your LEGO sets - BrickLink or eBay? More often then not, responses will list advantages and disadvantages of both services, but not necessarily which one is superior. The purpose of this article is to settle that dispute once and for all!
      Several installments of this type of article will be produced in the near future, but for now, here is the first part of The Superior Market - eBay vs. BrickLink.
      Several dozen sets, varying in size, will be compared, based on eBay and BrickLink sales of the last 6 months. I will try my hardest to keep these findings as non-biased and impartial as possible, as well as survey a good variety of sets that have qualifying data.
      Small Sets - MSRP $0.01 - $9.99
      If the image is a little small, you can click on the table and it will be enlarged.
      *Average over the last 5 months. Numbers provided by BrickPicker.com and BrickLink.com Price Guides.
      **Value in red signifies eBay USA has higher price, value in green signifies BrickLink has higher price.
      ***Percentage difference between greater sale price and lesser sale price. All values rounded to the nearest thousandth. On average, sets that sold for more on eBay USA sold 16.95% more on eBay. Sets that sold for more on BrickLink had sale prices of an average of 12.16% more than eBay. Overall though, of the 20 sets surveyed, 80% of them sold for a higher price on eBay than on BrickLink.


    • El Guapo
      If you remember The Perfect Storm, it didn’t end very well for the heroes. George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg went on to create classics such as The Descendants and The Departed while their on-screen alter egos – Captain Billy Thyne and Bobby Shatford - were swallowed in a monstrous tidal wave never to be seen again. So how did I fare with my Lego selling experience in September? Was the “perfect storm” of Lego giveaways successful, or was it a disaster?
      My Original Proposal
      On Sunday, September 1st I will walk into the Lego Store in Downtown Disney with $102. With this $102 I will get 1 x Funhouse Escape (6857), 5 x Star Wars Battlepack (probably 75000...but might change my mind depending on qty available), 1 x VW polybag and 1 x Clone Lieutenant polybag.
      I get a 10% discount at the Lego Store in DD due to my Disney annual pass. So 64.99 + 39.99 x 10% off x 8% tax rate comes out to $102.
      I will sell the minifigs and Funhouse separately on Ebay, with short listings at first, maybe 1 day to take advantage of Labor Day. I will reconfigure my battlepacks to cater to the army builders (ie 10 Droidekas in a lot) and sell them all off as well. I will be one of the first VW polybags listed on Ebay as I will have both of those listed on Sunday morning, ending on Monday and shipped (hopefully) on Tuesday.
      When I sell enough to earn another $102 in Paypal I will repeat the process as many times as I can during the month of September. Hopefully earning enough to where I have multiple Funhouses for sale at the same time.
      Uh-Oh
      So as many of you know, this is not how it went down. The Lego Store did NOT give both polybags to customers who qualified for them (while S@H did). This threw a large wrench into my plan, as I now I would have to choose: 10% discount or second poly bag?
      There was a second problem I “ran” into. The Disney Marathon was taking place on Sunday, September 1st – delaying my purchase by one day. At the time this seemed like a monumental set back, but really had no effect either way on my overall outcome. So I was forced to actually make my starting purchase on Monday. I was staying at the Hotel there with my girlfriend for a nice weekend getaway, so no extra trips were required. I was also able to pick up a couple of crawlers while I was there, flipping one for a nice $150 profit in my pocket!!!
      The Battlepacks also were not in stock, so I had to make a last second adjustment and went with 2 Corporate Alliance Tank Droids and 1 Mandalorian Speeder instead.
      The Experience
      Sales were okay. There were a few things that sold quickly (VW Polybags) and a few that just languished (thank you Robot Darth Maul).
      I was able to turn my inventory about 3 times. After selling through my initial purchase I ended up with $130.46 (profit of about $28). The second wave of sales was actually done through S@H, and I bought 3 of the CATD’s and didn’t get another Mandalorian Speeder. The second round was more successful, because I also added a Golden Dragon from the Ninjago line. I bought this through TRU, surprisingly, and was able to get the free Sea Plane polybag. After this round I had $172.70 in my pocket (profit of about $70). Round three was the same as round two…but seemed like things took longer to sell. I was able to buy a second Golden Dragon and ended up with $203.35. I also had about $14 leftover that was unspent, and a Harley Quinn minifigure, and two of the CATD’s that are still unsold. My total time spent was about 6-8 hours of work. For $100. That’s about $12-$15 per hour of work. Plus a few dollars for gasoline (once to Downtown Disney, then twice to TRU, but it’s on my way home from work).
      Conclusions
      It was a lot of work. I spent time packaging and shipping, listing and re-listing. Also had to deal with people that wanted their items sooner (sorry buddy…but regular shipping won’t get that BatCycle to you in 48 hours for your kid’s birthday). Was it worth the trouble? Hard to say. I took what I thought was the most opportune time to part out sets and still only made about $100. The irony of this was that I made one and a half times that in about 12 minutes of work selling the 41999 Crawler. I guess the lesson here is that I probably won’t be parting out much more, as for me, it was too time intensive for the return that I got. If you are doing this, I wish you well and hope that you have better luck then I do!
      So what set am I going to buy with my $203? Well, I am going to use my 10% discount, and I earned 292 VIP points…so that’s worth $14. I am just shy of being able to get an Ewok Village…probably get an R2-D2 and another Funhouse and call it a day.
      Now…that Christmas Set doubled up with the Star Wars Polybag….maybe THAT’s the real PERFECT STORM!!!!
    • Blackjack
      This is just a quick tip if you want to dust off your Lego sets without worrying about taking them apart and running them through the dishwasher, or meticulously wiping them with a cloth. So, I just got my Jedi Defender-class Cruiser the other day, and completed my Old Republic subtheme collection. However, my two Republic Striker-class Starfighters and my Sith Fury-class Interceptor had quite a layer of dust built up on them. They looked pretty lousy and unpresentable, so I decided to try out the 'ol air compressor on them. This turned out to be a very successful experiment, as it dusted those sets off in ten or fifteen seconds apiece. Now, they were not completely clean and still had a very thin,almost invisible layer of dust on them, but the shine of the plastic was back and the pieces were in no danger of being scratched like they are with other dusting methods. Of course, this won't work with cleaning dirt or grim off of sets, but I think that it is a great quick fix if you want to keep your display sets looking their best.
    • StompingFreak
      BrickPicker Notes: Hello. I would like to introduce you to Owen, AKA Stomping Freak. He has quite a story to tell. Owen was a Sergeant in the Cheshire Regiment of the British Army. He has served tours all over the world. Jeff and I thought Owen's story is a must read for many LEGO fans...and even some non LEGO fans. Owen suffers from many physical and mental disorders, but has found relief and help through building and handling LEGO bricks. I hope you enjoy his blog. It is our wish that his story might help others that suffer from similar health issues...Ed
      Hi, everyone, this is me. I'm 43 years old...and disabled. I have a bone disease which is affecting my spine, legs, and hands. Depressed, well I should be. But thanks to my childhood friend, the LEGO brick, I'm starting to feel like a human being again.
      Right. Let me give you some history. While most of you were leaning to wobble to the sofa, I was graduating high school, going to college, meeting girls(I was good looking with hair down to my waist), playing football, running, reading...really enjoying life. Then due to one too many broken bones, I found I was paralyzed from the waist down(There is a large piece of surgical steel in the base of my back).
      Oh, check this pic, its me at my little sisters wedding:
      As you can see, young, thin...Damn sexy... LOL!!!
      While I was recovering, I started getting shooting pains in my hands. They began to shake and I had problems holding items. But because of my grip being strong like a clamp, I couldn't hold a cup without breaking it. Weeks passed and I had started to become run down. I could live without being able to walk, but I could not live without being able to use my hands. I was devastated. Then my friend came to see me. She felt bad that she had brought her son with her because she didn't want a child running around, making noise...etc., but he had brought his favorite toy plane with him. It was made from LEGO bricks. After a short time, the little fellow wanted me to play. I was scared of breaking his toy. I held the plane. I could feel it. It didn't break. I could hold the bricks without breaking them. One of the nurses saw this. The next day, she brought me a tray of LEGO bricks from one of the child wards. Even with shaking, I was able to build a little brick wall. WOW... it felt good! It felt friggin' amazing!
      Over the next couple of months that I spent learning to walk again, my aides got me to play/build with LEGO bricks more and more. My hand/eye coordination began to improve. One week before I was discharged, I built my first LEGO Creator set, the 10218 Pet Shop. It took me three weeks to complete.
      Since then, I have continued to use LEGO bricks to keep my hands working properly. I have been able to return to shooting(crossbow) on the range. I can hold mugs, cook, and perform personal care once again, all thanks to LEGO Bricks.
      I love the stuff. I would like to thank Jeff for making me write this. I will continue to blog about fun things, my life, daft stuff and of course...LEGO bricks.
      I know I have upset members of the forums, for that, I am sorry. I have physical and mental heath isuses(due to my past). I will delve into this next time. If you know anyone that has problems with hand and nerve injuries, buy them a LEGO set. It could really help them.
      It helped me and is still is helping me.
      Stomping
       
    • DoNotInsertIntoMouth
      I know it has been a while, so I wanted to do a Set that I was really exited about for my next visual review/blog. I haven't been into Lego sets very long, but I am a huge Star Wars fan. Besides the obvious sets like all the UCS ships, my favorite retired sets are all the Duel sets. Mostly because they are simple and can be displayed in a bunch of different ways.
      Unfortunately it has really been a long time since we have had one. Luckily, with the fall lineup we finally got a new one and it was a great one: The Duel on Genosis. Why does it look so great? Well, for one, its much bigger than the other duel sets there have been. Pretty much every Duel set there has been has had less than 200 pieces and just 2 minfigures. This one has 391 pieces and has a lot more play pieces which we will go over below.
      On to the duel!
      So first off, the box:

      I really love this box. In general, I like two different types of boxes: Boxes that really make the ship or set stand out with a color complimentary background that really makes it stand out, and boxes that have a lot of different things going on making the set look really fun. This one fits the latter description. You have Poggle the Lesser flying around, the big column is falling, Yoda is hovering while in battle with Doku. Even the overhead lights on the arch are lighting up. There isn't a child that sees this set that wont want to play with it. The box is definitely one of the better ones of the new sets.
      My only complaint against the box is that the background being brown doesn't compliment the set quite as much as I'd like. I am not sure the set draws you to it, though once you look you are pretty wow-ed.
      Once you open the box, you get about what you paid for: 391 pieces for about 10 cents a piece. The opened set doesn't look any bigger or smaller - just about average. There isn't anything when you open it that tremendously stands out; most the pieces are of average size. The only sort of cool piece is the large, flat, grey piece in the middle:

      On to the set!
      First up, we get the "big name" exclusive minfigure, Poggle the Lesser. Though he not actually a big name, he is definitely a more unique minifigure and will most likely carry the value of this set quite a bit (at least in my opinion). Strong minifigures, as we all know, can be very important to a sets value - especially a duel set like this:

      I really liked his wings. they are made of a thin, bendable plastic and fit on pretty well. The head piece is the best part as it very detailed and really stands out. This minifigure is going to be pretty sought after in the line because of it's uniqueness.
      (Note: Yes I know the dog hair. Sadly, I vacuum, but with three dogs it just doesn't happen. Gonna get hard wood   )
      Next up is FA-4, which is a redesign:

      This figure is alright, but I don't find that it really has a wow factor. I am not really a big fan of minifigures that include normal pieces with a body and arms and head. It may have been the best way to build this one, but I like them to be more non-lego. Not a ton of value in this figure, but it is only in 2 other sets so its value will most likely be stagnant. I doubt it will show up in many more.
      Next up is the excellent re-design of Count Doku:

      Though our friend Poggle is the exclusive minifigure, Count Doku is really going to help the value of this set a lot as well. He is, as of now, an exclusive re-design to this set and he looks awesome with the chrome Lightsaber handle and the lightning.
      I wouldn't underestimate the lightning effect on the minifigure. I was recently parting out the Jek-14 set and someone on Ebay was selling Jek with lightening (he doesn't come with it in the set). He was getting over $4 more for just having that piece. It is not a very common thing in Star Wars sets, so this definitely is going to help the value.
      The face is also done really well with great facial hair detail.
      He we go with the rest of the first bag. First up is the speeder the set comes with:

      This speeder is pretty close to the one that comes with the 75012 Barc Speeder set. It has just a little different color scheme. though it is nothing crazy impressive, don't underestimate its value to this set. Speeder's are big time fun for children and sets that have them add a lot of play-ability. This adds to all the different things and scenes you can make with this set.
      The next part you build is the Arch passageway along with the platform that uses the long, flat, grey piece I spoke of earlier:

      The build is pretty easy and fun. Its actually much sturdier than other sets that include archs and things of that nature. The detail to it is really nice as well. the light fixture is also really cool as well as it has places to attach minifigures (in several pictures of the set Poggle is chillin' on top of it).

      The last bag gives us another minifigure - an exclusive redesign:

      Funny enough, Yoda is not in near as many sets as you think. For being one of the most iconic characters, and probably the most quotable character in the movies, he is only actually in 9 sets. Since there are over 300 Star Wars Lego sets, this makes him fairly rare for his popularity. Most of his variants sell for around $8 or so, and I think this one will fit right in that category, adding some solid value to the set.
      The rest of the last bag is the back end of the playset:

      The back part of the set is pretty bland building wise but shows off a few of the cool play-ability pieces of the set. For one, the black rod piece is for Yoda so oyu can fly him around while fighting Doku. Second, you have the big column (if you remember in the movie these were used as weapons in this scene quite a few times). This one can be tipped over to fall on an unsuspecting minifigure. It is controlled as well meaning you can stop it in thin air if you would like for Yoda or Doku to use the Force.
      So how does the set look displayed?

      I think it looks awesome for a $40 set. I decided in mine to have Yoda in clear battle with Doku, poggle is just chillin out watching everything happen and FA-4 is just dead in the middle. I think I have issues...
      To display some of the cool parts of this set, here is the flying Yoda and the falling column:

      Poggle is going to regret standing there.
      As an investment, what can we expect from this set? Well I think it is a big time sleeper winner and here is why:
      Duel Sets past investment success Solid minifigures Genosis sets 1. Let's see how the duel sets have done. If you didn't know, this is actually sort of a remake of the 7103 Jedi duel with Yoda and Doku. How did that set do?
      Retail: $9.99 Current Price: $35.27 CAGR: 12.15% ROI: 253% over 11 Years
      Not too bad. In reality, this set did a lot better because it has had pretty stagnant growth for the last while. How did the other Duel sets do?
      7101 Lightsaber Duel. Retail : $5.99 Current Price: $21.67 CAGR: 9.67% ROI: 261% over 14 Years
      7200 Final Duel. Retail : $6.99 Current Price: $28.40 CAGR: 13.49% ROI: 306% over 11 Years
      7201 Final Duel II Retail : $6.99 Current Price: $14.82 CAGR: 7.07% ROI: 112% over 11 Years
      Pretty solid, right?
      And then, there is the set that most clearly matches up with this set: 7257 Ultimate Light Saber Duel.
      7257 Final Duel II Retail : $29.99 Current Price: $116.28 CAGR: 18.46% ROI: 288% over 8 Years Pieces: 282 with 2 Minifigures
      This set definitely depicts just a bit more iconic scene, but I think the fight scene with Yoda and Doku is probably one of the best and most iconic scenes of the early episode trilogy. Just think about it - it's the first time that we get to see the ultimate Jedi master in Yoda. He is flipping all over the place, tearing people up. This set has the same suspension type pieces used in 7257 for Yoda, and has some extra play pieces as well as being 100 pieces more. This is definitely good news for the set's value.
      2. Here are rough averages for the minifigures on Ebay currently (these obviously will go down after a while but the price of minifigures definitely helps see the value in the set)
      Doku: $15 Yoda: $9 FA-4: $4 Poggle: $8 Total: $36.
      Definitely helps you see that the minifigures have definitely value. there were listings that sold for higher for each minifigure. The set has 375 other pieces on top of the valuable minifigures!
      3. Genosis. If you haven't noticed, the whole fall line was based on these scenes and really most of the sets have been pretty exceptional looking. I haven't found a bad one in the bunch. With the Genosis battlepacks and the genosis cannon set along with the new line, this is going to add a nice collectible plus to this set along with its great display-ability, play-ability, and minifigures.
      Why do I call this set a "sleeper"? Well for one, it is definitely not the stand out set of the fall line. Not that it isn't one of the best, but the redone Gunship and AT-TE along with the Jek set and the Ewok Village are going to overshadow this set quite a bit, especially for investors. That's why I don't think this set will get near as much attention. Plus a lot of investors are not investing in Star Wars near as much. Why does this help? Well, I feel like these investors will buy the more obvious sets like the gunship and the Ewok Village, leaving sets like this to really surprise.
      Considering everything we have shown, past sets, the minifigures, the sleeper possibilities and the Genosis line, I am going to predict a pretty conservative 12.5% growth after 5 years (after release). I think this set will at least see 10% and could definitely see up to 20% before I would really be surprised. If it grows at that rate, you would be looking at a price of $72 2-3 years after retirement. I don't think it will be extremely hard to grab this set for $25-$30 meaning you should be able to double your money, and have a nice upside as well.
      Eitherway, you have to grab one for your collection if you are a big Star Wars fan. this is definitely the best looking of the duel sets and will be a nice change of pace in between those 200 vehicles you have!


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