75159 - UCS: Death Star (2016)

[gregpj]

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

[Ed Mack]

12 minutes ago, Steve Brule said:

Trying to say this is nbd because Star Wars is an old property seems a bit naive. Look at the bigger picture. LEGO has shown they have no reluctance to rerelease an exact set that retired 9 months prior. That means anything in your inventory could be rereleased at anytime. Of course this won't happen with every set, just the good ones that people WOULD BE willing to pay a premium for if the set weren't otherwise available.

Some are too entrenched to see the big issue though.

I think most of these conversations in this thread are emotionally based.  My original thought on the 10188/75159 was that it is ONE set...The longest running production set of all time.  It must have made money for LEGO...a lot of money to be around so long.  It is special.  So special that LEGO decided to freshen it up a bit a roll it out once again.  We all get it.  We understand why LEGO wants to give this set another couple of years.  It's a quick refresh and repackaging and thousands more will be sold.  

I think it is a wasted opportunity though.  LEGO really could have done something wonderful...a true showpiece.  It could have been a massive 5000-6000 piece set that would have displayed beautifully in every LEGO store across the world.  People would have paid $500-$600 or more for something special.  Now, many (...and I mean many of the true LEGO fans with money) will blow off the new set and rightfully so.  Why?  They have it.  

Personally, I will move onto other sets and themes...less and less STAR WARS sets by the way.  With the exception of a handful of sets in the theme, the sets are just not that interesting or well done.  Flashy boxes don't hide weak designs.  LEGO is getting lazy with this theme.  There are so many vehicles and characters that could get UCS treatment and are ignored for retreads.  The future of LEGO investing does not lie with the STAR WARS theme in my opinion and that is coming from a guy with thousands of STAR WARS sets.  

What's next?  Another Snowspeeder and Falcon?  Another Imperial Star Destroyer?  How about a UCS C-3PO?  An AT-AT?  A Venator?  A Landspeeder?  Mos Eisley Cantina?  I can go on.  There are a lot of smart people on this forum and many of us feel disappointed in this ONE particular set.  I won't be disappointed in another UCS Falcon.  I expect it.  I just hope it is BETTER than the original...way better.  That's all that I ask.

[marcandre]

6 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

The future of LEGO investing does not lie with the STAR WARS theme in my opinion and that is coming from a guy with thousands of STAR WARS sets.  

 

Does lego investing have a future? I'm concerned with the failure to retire sets more than anything. If sets are available for 4,5,6+ years, then only to be refreshed, lego investing will not be worthwhile in the long term. 

[KShine]

LEGO has been lazy, and cutting corners 9 times out of 10 lately, regardless of the theme (not just limited to Star Wars).

With a never ending series of SW movies coming, it is still the theme to be in. Now if LEGO (that is LEGO, not the designers who I am certain would love to be creating beautiful sets) decides to continue making crap, that is on them.

[binary_storm]

7 minutes ago, Ed Mack said:

Personally, I will move onto other sets and themes...less and less STAR WARS sets by the way.  With the exception of a handful of sets in the theme, the sets are just not that interesting or well done.  Flashy boxes don't hide weak designs.  LEGO is getting lazy with this theme.  There are so many vehicles and characters that could get UCS treatment and are ignored for retreads.

I see this kind of statement a lot, but honestly I can't think of many things that could be given the UCS treatment that haven't already been done at least once. I think all of the major vehicles from the original trilogy have been done, with the exception of the Nebulon B Frigate from Empire (I would love to see that one) and the Mon Calamari cruisers from Jedi (pretty unlikely given their shape, I would have thought).

There are a bunch of UCS possibilities from the prequel trilogy (have there been any PT UCS sets?) but I'm guessing TLG think they would be less likely to sell given the (relatively) lower popularity of the prequels. For The Force Awakens it is probably too early to release a UCS set, plus there are very few vehicle designs from that movie that are UCS-worthy IMO.

I think we're basically stuck with rehashes of already-released SW UCS sets for the foreseeable: that doesn't mean that TLG can't put greater effort into them though.

[psusyntar]

15 minutes ago, binary_storm said:

 

There are a bunch of UCS possibilities from the prequel trilogy (have there been any PT UCS sets?) but I'm guessing TLG think they would be less likely to sell given the (relatively) lower popularity of the prequels. For The Force Awakens it is probably too early to release a UCS set, plus there are very few vehicle designs from that movie that are UCS-worthy IMO.

10215, 10018 and 10026, I believe count as UCS.  Few years ago it needed to start with '10' to be considered UCS.

[Will 4]

2 minutes ago, psusyntar said:

10215, 10018 and 10026, I believe count as UCS.  Few years ago it needed to start with '10' to be considered UCS.

10026 Don't really count considering it had 187 parts I would like to see it remade properly though with say 1500-2500 pieces.

[binary_storm]

3 minutes ago, psusyntar said:

10215, 10018 and 10026, I believe count as UCS.  Few years ago it needed to start with '10' to be considered UCS.

Don't recall seeing the Naboo Starfighter one before, neat set. Could have done with being larger though.

[Will 4]

3 minutes ago, binary_storm said:

Don't recall seeing the Naboo Starfighter one before, neat set. Could have done with being larger though.

Yep even comes with a plaque which is starting to become a rarity among UCS sets

[binary_storm]

Trying to think of OT vehicles that haven't had the UCS treatment:

• Luke's landspeeder
• T-16 Skyhopper
• Escape pod
• Rebel cargo transport
• Twin-pod cloud car
• TIE bomber
• Nebulon B medical frigate
• Desert skiff
• Jabba's sail barge (although there's been the regular version obviously)
• A-wing
• Speeder bike
• Mon Calamari cruisers

Actually there are quite a few...

Edited August 21, 2016 by binary_storm
Forgot a couple

[harrismiles]

Maybe the whole Lego Star Wars design team was abducted by lepin a few years back so the cleaning crew left behind took over and threw together a few hoth sets to create the UCS AOH and slapped a UCS on the Deathstar - Boom! New design team!

yo yo here comes snow speeder next.  Stand back!  Brand - New - Design - Crew!

Edited August 21, 2016 by harrismiles
Spelling

[labfreak7]

Does lego investing have a future? I'm concerned with the failure to retire sets more than anything. If sets are available for 4,5,6+ years, then only to be refreshed, lego investing will not be worthwhile in the long term. 

With rehashes like these, Lepin counterfeit sets, and the influx of new investors everyday, my opinion on Lego investing has drastically changed. I have said many times I have stopped buying sets. This recent move by Lego really sent me over the edge.

[redcell]

Help me out here and pick the absolute winner from the current available exclusives. One that will go through the roof once it retires. And one that even if hoarded like hell still manages to sell in such high pace that supplies cannot keep up. 

None. Those days are long gone for exclusives.

[dcdfan]

Help me out here and pick the absolute winner from the current available exclusives. One that will go through the roof once it retires. And one that even if hoarded like hell still manages to sell in such high pace that supplies cannot keep up. 

Aren't you guys always saying that would be the VW T1?

[Bold-Arrow]

3 hours ago, binary_storm said:

Trying to think of OT vehicles that haven't had the UCS treatment:

• Luke's landspeeder
• T-16 Skyhopper
• Escape pod
• Rebel cargo transport
• Twin-pod cloud car
• TIE bomber
• Nebulon B medical frigate
• Desert skiff
• Jabba's sail barge (although there's been the regular version obviously)
• A-wing
• Speeder bike
• Mon Calamari cruisers

Actually there are quite a few...

I'd past on most of those and I'm a OT freak 

[Stud-Flipper]

3 hours ago, binary_storm said:

Trying to think of OT vehicles that haven't had the UCS treatment:

• Luke's landspeeder
• T-16 Skyhopper
• Escape pod
• Rebel cargo transport
• Twin-pod cloud car
• TIE bomber
• Nebulon B medical frigate
• Desert skiff
• Jabba's sail barge (although there's been the regular version obviously)
• A-wing
• Speeder bike
• Mon Calamari cruisers

Actually there are quite a few...

Most of those are either ridiculously small or only present in one minor scene. Jabba's saile barge as a UCS would be epic though. The same with the palace.

[kris_1973]

Trying to think of OT vehicles that haven't had the UCS treatment:

• Luke's landspeeder
• T-16 Skyhopper
• Escape pod
• Rebel cargo transport
• Twin-pod cloud car
• TIE bomber
• Nebulon B medical frigate
• Desert skiff
• Jabba's sail barge (although there's been the regular version obviously)
• A-wing
• Speeder bike
• Mon Calamari cruisers

Actually there are quite a few...

Based on the new DS, it could be a remake of any of these, just with a UCS logo added to cover art.

[jaisonline]

Nuff said.

[JRandall]

I wonder if even Emazers has started to sell his 10188 stock with the announcement of the nearly identical re-release with different minifigs.  I was on fleabay earlier and DS's were going for about MSRP now, down from $600.

Edited August 22, 2016 by JRandall

[BrickLegacy]

I wonder if even Emazers has started to sell his 10188 stock with the announcement of the nearly identical re-release with different minifigs.  I was on fleabay earlier and DS's were going for about MSRP now, down from $600.

Somewhere in this mess of a thread he posted. I think it was early Friday evening or so (Eastern time).

[Steve Brule]

That's all right. These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood. Been ten years since the last one. You know, you gotta stop them at the beginning.

Edited August 22, 2016 by exciter1
Removed dictator reference

[Alpinemaps]

[MathBuilder]

 

1 hour ago, Steve Brule said:

That's all right. These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood. Been ten years since the last one. You know, you gotta stop them at the beginning. [content redacted]

Some things are really not funny and comparing the DS mess with real life historic tragedies it is out of place here IMHO. I'll leave it at that. I see mods have now taken care of this so no point in adding more wood to the flame. 

[harrismiles]

What I don't get is does Lego want a collectors item and the secondary market that comes wth that.  I mean they do limit 1 on some exclusives like helicarrier. They have  high priced " exclusives" and "Ultimate Collector Series". The whole set up looks like they want an exclusive collectable product.  It sure seems designed that way including the high prices on the secondary marke which imo make their products more attractive to collectors..  But than there is mixed messages here.  Death Star being the biggest but also keeping sets alive for a very long time like TB, PS, and T1. So do they want this exclusive collectable market or not?   Ironic that it is the Deathstar where talking about here

[jaisonline]

Yup. I feel like poor Greedo who was shot first.  75159 left a bad feeling in my gut similar to what I think blaster fire would feel like.  

 

5 hours ago, Alpinemaps said:

H

 

[jaisonline]

What I don't get is does Lego want a collectors item and the secondary market that comes wth that.  I mean they do limit 1 on some exclusives like helicarrier. They have  high priced " exclusives" and "Ultimate Collector Series". The whole set up looks like they want an exclusive collectable product.  It sure seems designed that way including the high prices on the secondary marke which imo make their products more attractive to collectors..  But than there is mixed messages here.  Death Star being the biggest but also keeping sets alive for a very long time like TB, PS, and T1. So do they want this exclusive collectable market or not?   Ironic that it is the Deathstar where talking about here

Some think Lego is easing up on resellers. You see some limits on certain see probably because they are near EOL and Lego wants every little Jack and AFOL Andy to be able to get one.

I honestly don't think Lego gives a hoot about resellers / secondary market. It doesn't impact their bottom line as I feel the majority of their target markets buy at retail anyway (or buy from both).