Friends - general discussion

[Ed Mack]

Just picked up two 3315 Olivia's Houses. It's a slight discount, but it's the best price I have seen for it. These sets just don't get discounted very much.

[kutaone]

I have sold a few sets on ebay at a good mark up while they were easily found cheaper elsewhere...which tells me that they were super hot.?.? The stockers i spoke with said this was the set they had to stock the most of during the holiday season.

[littlenicky]

There may have been a shortage of Lego's this past Christmas. A lot of sets went out of stock early and didn't come back until Mid-December. If you checked around your local Targets/Walmarts/Toys R US's, you should have notice that there was a lack of supply of Legos around early to mid November.

[Talon]

In the first two weeks of December I sold a bunch of the Ninjago Destiny's Bounty and Epic Dragon Battle for twice what I paid for them. Around the 15th of December Amazon and others got them back in stock and the selling price on ebay dropped dramatically! What's hot and out of stock makes a big difference in price, but it is very difficult to predict!

[Doofy McGee]

I agree that Friends is a good theme to part out on Bricklink, if nothing else. I recently parted out 3185 Summer Riding Camp, and there are lots of good rare colors in there. I also agree that because many of us took a while to warm up to the theme, there will be a lot less Friends sets to resell after EOL. I think I just talked myself into investing in Friends! :)

[Legodog]

Are their any Friends sets that are retired or retiring soon other than 3937 Olivia's Speedboat?

[Talon]

Well TRU seems to have a lot of friends' sets, they are listing Olivia's House for $69.99 on ebay plus 8.55 shipping to me. Which is a good price for TRU as it is normal retail! lol I would buy another item that gets the total to $79 for the free shipping! TRU has several of the friends sets listed at retail on ebay.

[kutaone]

Yeah b/c everyone wants to buy a fat ugly doll / toy...geez... I got a website for them... http://www.naafaonline.com/dev2/

[kutaone]

These things are never on sale...still waiting...

[relhak]

I think the people who think Friends are sexist or pandering haven't taken a good look at the City lineup. The dominant colors are garish red and yellow, and almost every boy is either a construction worker, policeman or firefighter. *Every* last one of them is either a laborer or criminal. Are men not allowed to relax and have fun without ending up in prison? [And yes, there are a few minor exceptions, but you have to look hard to find them.] My only gripe with Friends is that the figs are a different design from the standard Lego figs. But as the father of a 9 year old girl, I've seen that it really is the right decision to help girls get over the stigma that Lego has as a boy-toy. She used to get odd reactions for playing with the modulars (augmented with extra figs that I ordered), but now her female friends always pull them off the shelf to play with. Hopefully they'll be able to transition the lineup back to the chunky minifig design. Stuart

[Ed Mack]

These things are never on sale...still waiting...

They really don't get discounted by a lot, but when they are, even by a small amount, I pick a couple up. It seems to be that if you wait with this theme to be discounted the typical 20% or more, you will miss the boat entirely.

[eracine]

Anyone fans of this theme? The outlook on the first line looks pretty good.

[Ed Mack]

Anyone fans of this theme? The outlook on the first line looks pretty good.

I love the theme as an investment, but I really just buy the sets that are discounted.

[Doofy McGee]

LEGO investment has been male dominated for the most part, but you can't discount that one day some of the young girls who play with Friends today will one day grow up to become successful women who have plenty of money to get back the beloved Friends sets from their childhood. :)

[emes]

I have multiples of most of the Friends sets. Most of them I've found discounted, but a few such as "Emma's Horse Trailer" and "Summer Riding Camp" I've bought at RRP. I feel like Friends is more of a quick flip, but then again, that's really my style anyway. Once I get a minimum 30% profit on something I tend to dump it and move on. I know I'm leaving money on the table, but I've usually turned my investment over several times before something plateaus. Friends 3931 - 3936 are becoming nearly impossible to find. If you find them at any kind of discount, grab them. Even at RRP they'll be good earners. There seems to be decent stock of 3930, 3183, and 3937-3939, and I'm saying this based on looking at Targets and WalMarts in 4 different major cities across the US over the last week (Dallas area, Atlanta, San Ramon, CA, and Northern Virginia). Tonight I was at a B&****** and I had a 20% coupon that expired today. My choice was between a Dino Triceratops Trapper and a Friends Heartlake Stables. I picked the Dino one. I might have seen 5 total Dino sets in the last week, whereas the $30-$50 range Friends items seem to be in stock everywhere. I feel like the $30-$50 Friends items have some time to be discounted, so I'm not worrying about them at the moment. So the pool, the vet, the cafe I'm not picking up at the moment. Not to get off topic, but in other news, based on looking across the country, I'd say grab some Monster Fighters sets, especially the castle. I'm hardly seeing that anywhere. The only exception is that I've seen tons of Ghost Trains, but not always discounted. Also, the Chima stuff seems to be available everywhere. I'm wondering about the wisdom of releasing that cartoon and product line so soon after Christmas...I'm guessing it will take a few months before those sets start becoming scarce and that will depend on the cartoon being a hit.

[emazers]

The Monster Fighters sets are not discontinued, they will be out until at least the end of 2013

[Doofy McGee]

The Monster Fighters sets are not discontinued, they will be out until at least the end of 2013

Interesting statement. May I ask what your source is for this information?

[emes]

Interesting statement. May I ask what your source is for this information?

I'm curious too, but, it makes sense to keep it going for a bit. It doesn't seem to jive with what we're seeing in terms of WalMart red tags, if that is an indicator of products being deleted...

However, even if they did keep it going I think it's unlikely that major retailers would want Halloween-themed stuff on the shelves all year long. So MF would likely not be seen on shelves until August timeframe when people start gearing up for Halloween.

[Sue866]

Friends sets are adorable and they're partly responsible for me getting back into Legos. When I saw the theme at first, I thought they were cute, but thought it didn't really fit in with regular Legos. Around the same time, a friend at work built his own modular house and I'm like, that's so cool, Legos are awesome. I grew up with Legos and matchbox cars and became an engineer. So looking online, I bought some regular sets for myself. Then I got the Friends Horse Stable for Christmas. Haha! I wasn't sure about it, but opened it and built it and the thing is soooo cute. For some reason, I thought the minifigs of Friends were a lot larger than the traditional minifigs, but that's not true. They coincide just fine. Different, yes, but can still work together. What's more, I adore the unique colors and shapes and such available in the Friends sets. When I think of things I'd like to build, I really like the opportunity to use brighter colors along with the traditional colors. I'm a horse person, as many girls are, and the horses are probably the best ones Lego has designed so far. What's interesting is the many different versions of horses over time. These things are a hit with girls, but some of the price points might be an issue for parents buying for kids, if they're being marked up in the future. For investment, it would have to be well-to-do persons buying for kids, or other adults. Not sure how that's going to play out in the future but if anyone is looking for the parts, there is that too. I'm buying to collect for myself with an extra set here or there, just in case.

[stephen_rockefeller]

So I never ever see friends sets at my local big box stores(excluding my Lego stores). As I was making my way to the Lego section at one of my local targets I passed the barbie isle and there they were.....and a wide selection, I think most of them. Just in case someone was interested in where they might be located at your local stores.

[Rich B]

So I never ever see friends sets at my local big box stores(excluding my Lego stores). As I was making my way to the Lego section at one of my local targets I passed the barbie isle and there they were.....and a wide selection, I think most of them. Just in case someone was interested in where they might be located at your local stores.

Interesting, I always wondered why I never see friends sets at Walmart and target. Welp I now know where to look if I ever decide to start collecting these ;)

[justgod]

Yep, the same holds true for Walmart. My TRU has a display in the aisle on the opposite side of the store. I always hope that people think I am shopping for my nonexistent daughter....

[Veegs]

They are always in the 'pink' aisles, at least around me. I always feel vaguely creepy scoping out Friends sets when I'm shopping alone. I try to make my pregnant wife do the price-checking if the store is busy :)

[Legodog]

So I never ever see friends sets at my local big box stores(excluding my Lego stores). As I was making my way to the Lego section at one of my local targets I passed the barbie isle and there they were.....and a wide selection, I think most of them. Just in case someone was interested in where they might be located at your local stores.

I thought everyone already knew this otherwise I would have mentioned it long ago.

[TheOrcKing]

I thought everyone already knew this otherwise I would have mentioned it long ago.

Felt the same way. Every store has always had the FRIENDS sets with all the other girl stuff. (Otherwise known as 'the pink aisle'.)