75159 - UCS: Death Star (2016)

[gregpj]

This one is for you LEGO, inspired by @BrickLegacy and brought to you by Brickpickers everywhere.

[dcdfan]

Even with essentially the same exact design as 10188, this could've still been really cool, had they only included some additional plate pieces to cover up half of it, so it could be shown on display and then simply rotated to play mode, like the Disney Castle. Or even better, have the exterior plates on some sort of spinning thing, so you could just rotate it itself around to whichever scenes you want to play with/display.

Surely Lego must realize their blunders. On LEGO Shop, Assault on Hoth currently sits at 2.8/5 stars, whereas all of the other UCS models are 4.6/5+.

And no doubt, when this is released it too will probably settle at a lackluster 3/5 stars as well.

But they're not trying to Make America Great Again. They're trying to make China and Denmark great again.

[Stud-Flipper]

If they keep up their letting down of fans, they're going to slowly lose their fanbase and their dominance in both the toy and the building block industry. It will happen, albeit very slowly. If 75098 and 75159 have set a new precedent for creative design quality, then the primary thing LEGO currently holds over its competitors is the physical quality of its parts, themselves. This is in addition to its well developed infrastructure. Practically any franchise would rather have sets based on their product, produced by Lego rather than say Mega Bloks. Lego is much more widely available, and held in a higher regard, and therefore can produce the most profit. However, again if the creative quality of their sets continue to stagnate, eventually some other brand will rise up and usurp their dominance. The only thing that needs to happen is for Lego's rivals to increase their part quality and diversity, and many of them are indeed slowly approaching LEGO's level. I mean, take Mega Bloks for example. If you're really into HALO, they've given you everything you could want. But with LEGO and fans of Star Wars, (and as an example, this set), so much more is to be wanted.

[fossilrock]

24 minutes ago, Stud-Flipper said:

If they keep up their letting down of fans, they're going to slowly lose their fanbase and their dominance in both the toy and the building block industry. It will happen, albeit very slowly. If 75098 and 75159 have set a new precedent for creative design quality, then the primary thing LEGO currently holds over its competitors is the physical quality of its parts, themselves. This is in addition to its well developed infrastructure. Practically any franchise would rather have sets based on their product, produced by Lego rather than say Mega Bloks. Lego is much more widely available, and held in a higher regard, and therefore can produce the most profit. However, again if the creative quality of their sets continue to stagnate, eventually some other brand will rise up and usurp their dominance. The only thing that needs to happen is for Lego's rivals to increase their part quality and diversity, and many of them are indeed slowly approaching LEGO's level. I mean, take Mega Bloks for example. If you're really into HALO, they've given you everything you could want. But with LEGO and fans of Star Wars, (and as an example, this set), so much more is to be wanted.

Ohh my gosh, Trump finally said something wise!

[exciter1]

7 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

Ohh my gosh, Trump finally said something wise!

[AirborneAFOL]

Deep breath everyone. Lego has produced dozens of duds every year. Hoth & DS are huge disappointments, sure.

But they hardly suggest the sky is falling. The SW line becoming stale, perhaps. But you could make a reasonable argument the same thing happens with any decade+ running line.

I see this more telling of the SW line reaching low-yield maturity as much as anything. Investing on the whole? 2 "collector" set duds in a single product line doesn't make me a bear...

[Stud-Flipper]

24 minutes ago, AirborneAFOL said:

Deep breath everyone. Lego has produced dozens of duds every year. Hoth & DS are huge disappointments, sure.

But they hardly suggest the sky is falling. The SW line becoming stale, perhaps. But you could make a reasonable argument the same thing happens with any decade+ running line.

I see this more telling of the SW line reaching low-yield maturity as much as anything. Investing on the whole? 2 "collector" set duds in a single product line doesn't make me a bear...

But Star Wars is the heart of Lego in its current state. If Star Wars falls, the rest of the themes will soon follow. And though Lego produces many a dud, most are not on a $300 or $500 price point, sets of a size and supposed quality that we only get a few each year. And not to mention, back to back. In the past, virtually all of the UCS's have been highly acclaimed. I mean sure there's been some criticisms here and there, but none were failures on a whole. And if Lego Star Wars implodes, there's really no other theme for Lego to pass off the flagship mantle to. I mean what, Superheroes?  

Edited August 21, 2016 by Stud-Flipper

[Lordoflego]

3 minutes ago, Stud-Flipper said:

But Star Wars is the heart of Lego in its current state. If Star Wars falls, the rest of the themes will soon follow. And though Lego produces many a dud, most are not on a $300 or $500 price point, sets of a size and supposed quality that we only get a few each year.

Lego-domino-effect?  lol

[MathBuilder]

20 minutes ago, AirborneAFOL said:

Deep breath everyone. Lego has produced dozens of duds every year. Hoth & DS are huge disappointments, sure.

But they hardly suggest the sky is falling. The SW line becoming stale, perhaps. But you could make a reasonable argument the same thing happens with any decade+ running line.

I see this more telling of the SW line reaching low-yield maturity as much as anything. Investing on the whole? 2 "collector" set duds in a single product line doesn't make me a bear...

Usually people don't hoard those duds. Last dud I remember everybody and their grandma hoarded was  6857 "The Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape" I still have a dozen of those but at $35-$45 they hardly even matter... 

In contrast 10188 was super hoarded by almost everybody here. You are seeing the mass exodus in craigslist ebay and amazon. Sure some people got it way under MSRP and selling now at MSRP might not break their bank but the whole thing is a major blow to the reseller/investor/collector communities in general. It does not matter if you don't have a stash of 10188 in your closet. Every single one of us is being affected by this poor LEGO-Disney idea of a UCS set.   

[AirborneAFOL]

But Star Wars is the heart of Lego in its current state. If Star Wars falls, the rest of the themes will soon follow. And though Lego produces many a dud, most are not on a $300 or $500 price point, sets of a size and supposed quality that we only get a few each year.

Yes, that's the bear argument, to be sure. It's a valid concern, I won't deny that.

But if you take the Warren Buffet longview, which I try to, this is just a "Tech Bubble Burst of 1999". 5 years from now SW line may very conceivably be firing on all cylinders and we look back on summer 2016 as a Y2K panic. Or some new lines may emerge as having become sufficiently consistent winners to replace the high-yields of SW.

I don't mean to make light of SW investors gutshot over DS, or the massive disappointment of of Hoth, or the watering down of the UCS label. I just think it's a bit premature to be declaring the gutshot as a fatal headwound to investing.

[Stud-Flipper]

And the snowspeeder UCS will probably be relatively small. So, it'll probably be a good year before we get another UCS of any size, at which point Lego may screw us over again and give us something they jurst threw together or a replica of something we've already gotten.

[Lego Templar]

But Star Wars is the heart of Lego in its current state. If Star Wars falls, the rest of the themes will soon follow. And though Lego produces many a dud, most are not on a $300 or $500 price point, sets of a size and supposed quality that we only get a few each year. And not to mention, back to back. In the past, virtually all of the UCS's have been highly acclaimed. I mean sure there's been some criticisms here and there, but none were failures on a whole. And if Lego Star Wars implodes, there's really no other theme for Lego to pass off the flagship mantle to. I mean what, Superheroes?  

Maybe I'm a minority but I feel like the best sets lately have been SuperHero. Maybe not the 300-500 dollar range but from 19.99+ I've enjoyed the SH releases year to date over the SW. I find myself buying literally every Marvel set released this year. Maybe 25% of the SW sets (for personal collection)

Maybe they feel Star Wars sets are to big to fail so they shifted their "creative team" to other series.

[AirborneAFOL]

Maybe I'm a minority but I feel like the best sets lately have been SuperHero. Maybe not the 300-500 dollar range but from 19.99+ I've enjoyed the SH releases year to date over the SW. I find myself buying literally every Marvel set released this year. Maybe 25% of the SW sets (for personal collection)

Maybe they feel Star Wars sets are to big to fail so they shifted their "creative team" to other series.

I've had the exact same sense.

Look at City. Every year or two they just rehash a fire/police station. We're lucky to get 2-3 even nominally unique sets any given year. City has been around so long, and is a consistent seller, so they've moved into just rehashing whats proven to sell. They don't commit their elite designers / teams to it, and understandably so. It'd be pretty reasonable if the same dynamic began occurring with SW - seems inevitable with any product line after its been on the market long enough.

[Stud-Flipper]

1 minute ago, Lego Templar said:

 

Maybe I'm a minority but I feel like the best sets lately have been SuperHero. Maybe not the 300-500 dollar range but from 19.99+ I've enjoyed the SH releases year to date over the SW. I find myself buying literally every Marvel set released this year. Maybe 25% of the SW sets (for personal collection)

Maybe they feel Star Wars sets are to big to fail so they shifted their "creative team" to other series.

 

Some of the Avengers sets have been a bit dull IMO, especially with the repetitiveness of certain characters such as Iron Man over and over. But definitely, the most recent wave with the Spider Man bridge, Doctor Strange, etc. were all creative winners. Especially with the diverse range of mini figures. The DC line is much less consistent. Alot of the recent sets just seem like they just threw some random vehicles and a handful of characters into each set, with no thought. And the minifigures aren't as exciting either. They focus too much on reissuing the same set of Batman villains over and over, or giving us characters no one really asked for (Captain Boomerang, Killer Moth), while there's still so many great, untapped characters still waiting to be made into minifigure form.

[Alpinemaps]

Han's just looking for the cheese wedge he dropped.

[Loghamel]

12 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

Han's just looking for the cheese wedge he dropped.

 

Good stuff.

[Alpinemaps]

1 hour ago, Loghamel said:

Good stuff.

Alternatively, "that's no moon!  Oh, wait..."

or

"That's no space station!"

[Val-E]

9 hours ago, Alpinemaps said:

Han's just looking for the cheese wedge he dropped.

Looks more like he is puking after a heavy session in the cantina. Either that or because has 50 10188´ and just saw the images of 75159.

[Val-E]

I guess it´s not a coincidence that Lego waited 9 months to launch the remake - that way they are safe from reseller returns under the 6 month policy. Something to watch out for in the future, perhaps.

[Will 4]

2 hours ago, Val-E said:

I guess it´s not a coincidence that Lego waited 9 months to launch the remake - that way they are safe from reseller returns under the 6 month policy. Something to watch out for in the future, perhaps.

That's a shame I would have loved to see a reseller return 20 death stars to a Lego store (most probably were not bought there but still) and see the employees faces.

[Ciglione]

18 hours ago, Ed Mack said:

New 75159 Designer video up!!!

 

Can't we all unite and everyone who owns a 10188 DS make this same video and send it to Lego? 

Like the Ice Bucket Challenge last year? So it becomes viral on Youtube and trending topic on Twitter? 

 

[redcell]

10 hours ago, Stud-Flipper said:

But Star Wars is the heart of Lego in its current state. If Star Wars falls, the rest of the themes will soon follow. And though Lego produces many a dud, most are not on a $300 or $500 price point, sets of a size and supposed quality that we only get a few each year. And not to mention, back to back. In the past, virtually all of the UCS's have been highly acclaimed. I mean sure there's been some criticisms here and there, but none were failures on a whole. And if Lego Star Wars implodes, there's really no other theme for Lego to pass off the flagship mantle to. I mean what, Superheroes?  

Star Wars may perhaps be the center of your Lego universe, but it is not the lynchpin for the entire Lego universe by any stretch of the imagination.  Why exactly do you think the City, Technic, Princess, Friends, and Juniors sets will "fall" if the sheen comes off of the Star Wars theme?

[Phil B]

Personally I think that while the SW theme has brought many new AFOLs back to buying LEGO, TLG likely makes way more money off of their non-licensed themes such as the bread-and-butter City sets, the Modulars, the Winter sets as well as all the Friends and Elves stuff. After 20 years of SW sets, things were about to get a bit stale anyways (not justifying the lack of creativity in the last few big sets here). It would be silly to think that SW would be that crucial to LEGO though ....

[KShine]

1 hour ago, redcell said:

Star Wars may perhaps be the center of your Lego universe, but it is not the lynchpin for the entire Lego universe by any stretch of the imagination.  Why exactly do you think the City, Technic, Princess, Friends, and Juniors sets will "fall" if the sheen comes off of the Star Wars theme?

 

31 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Personally I think that while the SW theme has brought many new AFOLs back to buying LEGO, TLG likely makes way more money off of their non-licensed themes such as the bread-and-butter City sets, the Modulars, the Winter sets as well as all the Friends and Elves stuff. After 20 years of SW sets, things were about to get a bit stale anyways (not justifying the lack of creativity in the last few big sets here). It would be silly to think that SW would be that crucial to LEGO though ....

If LEGO had never licensed Star Wars - none of us would be here.

[AirborneAFOL]

Personally I think that while the SW theme has brought many new AFOLs back to buying LEGO, TLG likely makes way more money off of their non-licensed themes such as the bread-and-butter City sets, the Modulars, the Winter sets as well as all the Friends and Elves stuff. After 20 years of SW sets, things were about to get a bit stale anyways (not justifying the lack of creativity in the last few big sets here). It would be silly to think that SW would be that crucial to LEGO though ....

One of the better indexes to use for which lines are profitable is "shelf space". Retailers (Target, Walmart, etc) place a premium on it, and devote considerable energy.

Just walk into your local Target. Whichever product is routinely featured on endcaps and had the most linear footage of shelf space in the aisle - that's your most profitable sellers.

City & SW are neck and neck, a #1 & #1A. Friends/Elves/Princess combine to check in at #2. Superheroes/Ninjago are a distant #3. Everything else is pretty far behind the top 3 spots.

I don't doubt that SW is a big revenue/profit source for TLG based off the shelf space index. I wouldn't be surprised if they've made the strategic decision to increasingly treat it like City, though, and invest their creative resources into building the popularity of other lines.

[Ed Mack]

14 hours ago, Mos_Eisley said:

"When my grandfather designed the 10188, they didn't have the advanced building techniques and elements we have available today. Please keep in mind that we didn't take advantage of either of those things, but at least they were available to us."

I just got the most recent BLOCKS magazine with my monthly article in it.  Great magazine...My article "looked" great.  It was about the 10188 and was written several months ago.  I wrote about the 75159's possible influence on the 10188.  I assumed that it was a completely different set.  I sure look like an a s s now.