Monster Fighters - general discussion

[Rich B]

I also think the whole theme is a winner. I think that the top 3 in the theme as far as most profit are the haunted house, the vampyre castle and the train, in that order.

Those would be my Top 3 as well. Of the smaller sets (besides the 3 bigger sets listed above), which one will be the biggest investment winner? Other than the Zombies set that is clearly doing well, I think of these smaller sets it will probably be the vampyre hearse or the Crazy scientist set that does well. I prefer the Crazy scientist set myself. Which one of these smaller sets do you all think will do best? It will be interesting to see once EOL.

[Wizkid23]

Thanks everyone, this really helps. I'm definitely going to get the whole theme, and just now I am seeing that the Zombies set is already selling for over 100.00 on eBay. Glad I picked up a few when I did.....

[Doofy McGee]

I was doing some shopping at my favorite Target today. It is worth mentioning that I was there two days ago, and they didn't have anything worthwhile LEGO-wise. Being the eternal LEGO optimist, I decide to check the LEGO aisle again. And there it was...on the top shelf, all by itself, with rays of sunlight beaming down on it. The Zombies 9465! Now before anyone gets too excited, the box is in pretty bad shape. I'm talking maybe a 6/10 for condition. Regardless, I was beside myself with excitement. Horrible condition aside, the good news didn't stop there. I got to the checkout, fully prepared to pay $39.99 for it. Then it rung up at $27.98! On top of this, I found a Desert Skiff set that someone had returned. It was on clearance for $17.48. Also a pretty sweet deal! The point of this thread is not to gloat, no sir! The moral here is that if you live close enough to a retail outfit that carries LEGO, it would benefit you to check back as frequently as possible. I never thought I was going to come across these two sets today. I was prepared to feel the disappointment that has been more common lately than not. I hope everyone who reads this has a similar experience soon! Happy hunting everyone!

[Ed Mack]

The Target near my house was trashed. Not much left and no great deals. I guess they are waiting to restock with new themed sets.

[Huskers1236]

Last time I was in the SuperTarget near my house, they had over a dozen Epic Dragon Battles on clearance for about $85. Never purchased any, I'm banned right now, but was a hell of a deal.

[Doofy McGee]

Holy crap. I'm not even into Ninjago, but I have been wanting to buy an Epic Dragon Battle. Definitely would have found a way to pick one up at that price. I think that set is the crown jewel of the Ninjago series.

[TheOrcKing]

The whole theme is a total winner in my book.

These are ones that will stay pretty high in value I think.

Ghost & Grandfather Clock polybag (very limited run AND was a Target exclusive)

The Zombies (well, duh)

Haunted House (most expensive and kickass, similiar to the modulars)

The others will do fine. These are the ones I believe will continue to do well for a LONG time.

[wintersun]

Ghost & Grandfather Clock polybag (very limited run AND was a Target exclusive)

Not sure about that, Toy R Us had them too in october. And they have plenty left

My local store had probably 30-40

[Talon]

On ebay I found a Vampyre Castle for sale at $85 including shipping which seemed like a good price at this point (only $15 above the most I paid for one) until . . .

The interesting thing is not the price, it is the title - "NEW 2013 STOCK". If that is true then it opens up a whole new debate on the investment potential of Monster Fighters.

ebay Vampyre Castle

I didn't buy it, so if someone doesn't have one, go for it! But, be careful, this person's account has had no activity since 2011 and suddenly is selling a bunch of expensive Lego sets. Could be somone's account that got hacked. None of the pictures are actual pictures taken of the set.

Likely it is just a scammer making things up about new stock!

[RunMan3]

On ebay I found a Vampyre Castle for sale at $85 including shipping which seemed like a good price at this point (only $15 above the most I paid for one) until . . .

The interesting thing is not the price, it is the title - "NEW 2013 STOCK". If that is true then it opens up a whole new debate on the investment potential of Monster Fighters.

ebay Vampyre Castle

I didn't buy it, so if someone doesn't have one, go for it! But, be careful, this person's account has had no activity since 2011 and suddenly is selling a bunch of expensive Lego sets. Could be somone's account that got hacked. None of the pictures are actual pictures taken of the set.

Likely it is just a scammer making things up about new stock!

Now showing sold out so someone went for it. I just hope they don't get scammed! Earlier today this seller had Tower Bridges for $190 or less.

[Black_towr]

Not sure about that, Toy R Us had them too in october. And they have plenty left

My local store had probably 30-40

Really? I live in Southern California and have a ton of TRU's to check and i never saw the Ghost poly there. I picked up about 50-60 of them and every single one of them was from Target.

[wintersun]

Not sure about that, Toy R Us had them too in october. And they have plenty left

My local store had probably 30-40

Really? I live in Southern California and have a ton of TRU's to check and i never saw the Ghost poly there. I picked up about 50-60 of them and every single one of them was from Target.I live in Quebec/Canada. TRU had them for Bricktober but probably had a lot in stock after that.

[davelin]

Target by me had a Black Pearl over the weekend but of course went back a day or two later and the section was reorganized and no ship to be seen.

[Yellow]

I am suprised that this series did well when you look and see how so-so the MiniMates Line did that was 'Offically' Licensed!

[Matt C.]

Is the Vampyre Castle difficult to find?

[Talon]

It is all over ebay! lol It is sold out at all my local stores (TRU, Target, Shopko, Kmart) except I saw two today at a Walmart for $99. Almost bought them, but it is tough to cough up the extra $30 more than the most expensive one I've purchased so far.

[justgod]

My question is this: for long term is it better to pick up two of 9468 or one of 10228?

[jaisonline]

went shopping today with the family. we hit up a cherry hill, nj target. like the plymouth meeting, pa target, MFs were in-stock. prices include price matching from amazon and walmart i purchased all the swamp creatures at $5 each. passed on 3 ghost trains for $54, all the were wolfs anyone could want, 4 mad scientists at retail, and 1 castle for $99. again, no vamp hearse. at least in phila area, i can't find one walmart and target.

[jaisonline]

My question is this: for long term is it better to pick up two of 9468 or one of 10228?

while the house looks awesome, my gut tells me the castle will end up with a shorter life on the shelf. hence, i would wager on the castle as having more roi. this is just my opinion.

[shawn_low]

Quick flip? Zombies. Anyone have any idea why this is in short supply compared to the other sets? Long-term? Haunted House. This one is leaps and bounds ahead in terms of fun, quality and sheer awesomeness compared to the other MF sets. It also has an appeal that goes beyond the series theme. It's a building that could fit with the modulars (thematically at least). And it's such a great set in general. Also, big sets above 2000 pieces are always great for investment.

[jaisonline]

Quick flip? Zombies.

Anyone have any idea why this is in short supply compared to the other sets

This was available only at Target and Lego in the U.S.

[Talon]

I love the Haunted House, I still think it is the best set to come out in 2012. But the fact that it is now available on Amazon and elsewhere makes me think I would wait to purchase it at a discount. I did get some when Lego had its sale back in November at about 24% off list. Now that we don't know how long it will be around it is a little more risky to put money into it now at full retail. Because of the current popularity of Zombies and the much lower price it has been the most popular, as in most difficult to find and purchase. If you can find it anywhere near retail I would buy this first, but I haven't seen it at retail prices since it became sold out on Lego S @ ****. The Zombies will be the main portion of our graveyard in our Halloween display. After those I think the Vampyre Castle is just cool! I just purchased two at full retail ($99) at my local Walmart even though I already had five at a discount (Shopko carried these at $69 each and I got 15% off). I'll sit on them for a few weeks and may return them if I find a lower price somewhere, but this is about the going rate on ebay and I got boxes in great condition even though my Walmart only had two. We noticed that we could put a few of these together to create a huge castle with a center courtyard for our Halloween display, so decided we needed a couple more. We might even put the graveyard in the center courtyard of the castles. Normally I would say the Ghost Train is next, but all the stores around me have multiple sets available, so I expect to see these at a great discount at different stores. I picked mine up at $43.54 including tax at Shopko and they had many left. For us the next set that seemed good was the Crazy Scientist and His Monster partly because some of that set we can use in our graveyard. But the Vampyre Hearse is pretty cool and is cheaper then the Crazy Scientist. The smaller sets we weren't as excited about but we have some of most of them. The small sets often double in price right away but we have seen many of the swamp monster sets in our local stores, as they seem the least popular. How much longer will they be around? That has been debated ad nauseum here in other threads. At one point we all thought it was done, but then Lego kept the Haunted House in its store and it showed up on Amazon and elsewhere. I think it will become a seasonal theme like the Holiday Sets but no one outside of Lego really knows (sometimes I wonder if this very thing is being debated inside Lego! lol). Sorry about the long reply, there is just a lot to like and say about this theme and I personally would prefer that these sets were done and Lego came out with some new Halloween sets this year.

[shawn_low]

This was available only at Target and Lego in the U.S.

Ah, I see! Thanks. It was available in all stores here in Australia but I think that stores in general didn't stock much MF and certainly not the Haunted House.

As of now, plenty of stores here only have the train and swamp monster left.

[jaisonline]

I finally waved my white flag and threw my arms up in the air. Paid $90 for a mint 9464 Zombies. Jeez, I hate paying 2.5 x over retail for something was prob retired last Nov and pretty much sold out in Dec. however, it is truly retired then we are talking less than 5-6 months of shelf life. Prices usually subside on ebay during the late Sping / early summer (at least with vintage Star Wars Kenner) so maybe these can be had for less 1 less time before next Halloween.

[Blackjack]

This looks like a run of the mill Lego theme that stays around for a year or two and then dies out without a real following. With this said, I'm surprised that these sets are so popular and that it has the highest CAGR of any theme!