Legends of Chima - general discussion

[biniou]

Thanks for your opinions guys, that's what I needed.

 

I'll unload all my sets (except one) on Xmas, and am hoping 70% ROI.

 

Sauromosis, to sell at RRP or slightly below can seem disappointing but for $100 sets got with more than 50% discount and resold 10 months later it's still a nice investment IMHO.

I appreciate your opinion though because to miss a boat is better than to sink with one...

Edited February 27, 2015 by biniou

[gregpj]

Thanks for your opinions guys, that's what I needed.

 

I'll unload all my sets (except one) on Xmas, and am hoping 70% ROI.

 

Sauromosis, to sell at RRP or slightly below can seem disappointing but for $100 sets got with more than 50% discount and resold 10 months later it's still a nice investment IMHO.

I appreciate your opinion though because to miss a boat is better than to sink with one...

 

I'm not sure if Lego has officially announced it, but it was mentioned by more than one attendee at the London Toy Fair that after this summer's release of Chima sets that they would be no more. Until it happens of course, who knows...

 

Xmas 2015 will be an excellent time to unload Chima if you can for a profit that you find acceptable.

 

The thing is, kids will continue to be interested in Chima for a few years... I just met a guy locally who's son had just started watching Chima in the last few weeks. He'll be a prime candidate for buying Chima on the secondary market in about 6 months!

[Grynn]

As a non-fan of Chima, I was not aware the end was imminent.

 

It does appear to me the sets are unique and high-quality designs for the most part. I find the show marginally more interesting than Ninjago when watching with my son. I think the two themes suffer from the same issues, namely that no AFOLs are interested, and kids are fickle, always ready to move on to the next thing with little to no loyalty in general (OK that goes for adults these days too, but bear with me...)

 

Is the CHI Temple the most iconic set thus far? From my limited knowledge I would say yes, and agree that Cragger's Command Ship vies for a somewhat distant second.  I have no idea if this new fire / ice sub-theme is popular or not.

 

The additional disadvantage for Chima is that, in terms of "investing" it is basically Ninjago 2.0, so not catching anyone by surprise (ala Ice Dragon sets and the like).

 

For these reasons I feel any long-term position on the theme would be super-risky, and agree that smart money dumps almost all of it next holiday season. I have passed on 50% deals constantly, and often wondered if I was making a mistake. I finally got over it by realizing I would rather wonder that and possibly regret it, than have them sitting in the closet, wondering if I made THAT mistake, and possibly regretting THAT decision.

 

That said, I have about 4 Chi Temples and a handful of ~85% discount finds that will make me some money in 8 more months.

 

If you go long and deep on Chima and win, you will definitely get a lot of attention for it. Good luck!

[Val-E]

No Chima at all in the Spain/Portugal 2015 1H catalogue.

[4gotAboutDre]

Just built 70012 - Razar's Chi Raider for my son tonight. He was pretty excited.

Something tells me this one is a big secret among parter outers. It has a good amount of nice, rare, and abundant parts and could be had for less than $15 a couple weeks ago.

I found a bunch of these at Wal-marts around my area for $11. Only bought one for the parts but I can't imagine a lego set not being a great deal at $11 for over 400 pieces. Debating on buying more for the parts alone.

[chezzzuk]

Just a quick question about the set 70146 flying phoenix fire temple. The MSRP is $119.99 and the part out value on bricklink is $240. Does it mean the parts are in demand? Seen people getting them at $35 each.

[crowdbent]

Looking for some advice, I sell random stuff on Ebay and have sold Legos before. My local Walmart has Chima sets for 50 percent off, but they are all selling on ebay for the same price. I am not familiar with Chima as a genre and don't know if these sets would sell for a little more if I opened up to global buyers, or if they might be worth holding until Christmas, normally I never pass up a half off lego set, although they don't come up often, but I am worried I won't make my money back.  

[biniou]

I don't know if it will perform well. But if you're "worried", I think you should pass and invest elsewhere, it's a wiser decision IMHO.

[DivingDW]

I just went around to all my local Walmart's and bought these sets up. I was surprised at the register when sets that were tagged at $13 and $15 rang up for $5. Might want to use the price checker on a few of them to see if they do the same for you. 

[PKSnarl]

By order of appeal i would sort the best sets like this

Laval fire lion - Great design, lasting impression, good playability, exclusive mammoth, and it's the first lion tank to look solid

Phoenix temple - Ground base is flawed but a safe investment nonetheless, can still be found at 50% at some stores

Icebite claw driller - Very good model, still unbalanced. It's shelfwarming on all the stores i visited, will probably compare to the gorilla striker. Will get its value in the long run!

Tiger mobile command - a popular set, looks very noisy even on the box, and the tiger minifigs are not as good as the ones in the design chapter. So many distributed, it will keep its price for a long time

Ultimate phoenix - very popular and even more widespread, so not worth investing

Sir fangar ice fortress - that brown ship set on the top of the tower break the model, yet it will be sought as an exclusive. For AFOL investment

Mammoth walker - very good overall, yet very discrete color palette, more for AFOL than childrens

Last wave:

King crominus rescue - The side blades break the croc design. Crocs are low silhouette... But the lion tank is good. worth it at 50% mark

Vultrix sky scavenger - If it wasn't for the unbalanced force (2+big aircraft vs. 1+floaty) this would take 1st spot

Mammoth Frozen stronghold - Two mammoth heads but no throne or prison, or living quarters room(s)... That's a problem

Rumble bear - can't work, because of that huge hole and the technic pin in the middle of the chest

 

Edited June 16, 2015 by PKSnarl

[Wrothgar]

There's a niche for ultra pristine sealed chima boxes with very high resale value, given how absurdly fragile the boxes are. Unusually, they are waxed, and not pelliculated: imperfections shows up clear as sky, and too much humidity can blot the slightest scratch; they saggs or catch wrinkles just by picking them up.

If you can keep at AFA100-90 a box as prone to self-destruction as a 70010, 70145, or a 70146, you're set!

Edited July 1, 2015 by Wrothgar

[Achilles]

Is Chima officially done? I see a lot of the remaining Red Box sets being clearanced out, and don't see any new ones - Nor do I see any preview images/speculation with some quick searching. 

[Val-E]

Yes.

[Serejai]

Is there a general consensus as to whether or not Chima sets are worth buying? Lots of local stores have them for 50% off right now, and I've made money off Chima clearance in the past... they DO sell decently well as far as volume is concerned. But from my prior experience the price on them doesn't really go up after EOL like most other sets do. I'm thinking that might change with the product line being discontinued, but I'm not really sure since it may take a while for kids/parents to realize there won't be any new Chima sets.

[pete411]

38 minutes ago, Serejai said:

Is there a general consensus as to whether or not Chima sets are worth buying? Lots of local stores have them for 50% off right now, and I've made money off Chima clearance in the past... they DO sell decently well as far as volume is concerned. But from my prior experience the price on them doesn't really go up after EOL like most other sets do. I'm thinking that might change with the product line being discontinued, but I'm not really sure since it may take a while for kids/parents to realize there won't be any new Chima sets.

I don't see Chima sets appreciating very much in the future without the theme continuing. With no TV show or visibility from Lego, the theme will go quitely in the night and not many folks will seek it out after its gone. A theme like Ninjago will see additional demand in the future because Lego is keeping it going with a new movie coming out next year. That said, it's kind of impossible to lose money on any Lego set that's 50% off so there's no risk involved in stocking up. You just have to ask yourself if it's worth your time and effort to sell them for minimal gains in the future.

[justapilgrim]

I look at the mammoth. I got it on clearance a YEAR ago at slightly less than current amazon sale price ($40 somethiny). Even if it went to RRP I could be fine. Check amazon, there are plenty of Chima sets from the green box wave selling at or below retail. Choose wisely

[Serejai]

9 minutes ago, justapilgrim said:

I look at the mammoth. I got it on clearance a YEAR ago at slightly less than current amazon sale price ($40 somethiny). Even if it went to RRP I could be fine. Check amazon, there are plenty of Chima sets from the green box wave selling at or below retail. Choose wisely

 

I can currently pick up about 40 of the 70226 for $25 each. It seems like a decently safe investment, but my concern is supply/demand more than price. Like you said, if the set goes up to RRP I'll still make money... but Amazon currently has about 800 of these left, and at their current rate of sale it will take about four months for them to sell out. I'm also going to assume these things are still readily available everywhere outside of my current town, so once Amazon sells out there will still be thousands of them up from resellers.

So, currently there is still demand at $40... but at $60? I don't know. The more I think about it... there aren't going to be any new kids buying Chima down the road, so the only people wanting these sets will probably be collectors... and the majority of them probably already have it.

[Val-E]

Chima - safe investment is an oxymoron, it is.

Whilst some sets are big winners in some countries, the majority are dead wood -  you can still find them on shelves years after EOL, like Lone Ranger.

The big issue is the one you mentioned - the line is done, kids move on and the market for adult Chima AFOL´s is reduced to a 2km radius around Ciglione´s house.

In Europe, flagship 70146 sold in barrel loads on ebay at Xmas but only because they were 30% cheaper than SOH and it was the last "interesting" set to sell out so what chance do smaller sets have.

[Sprocket77]

49 minutes ago, valenciaeric said:

Chima - safe investment is an oxymoron, it is.

Whilst some sets are big winners in some countries, the majority are dead wood -  you can still find them on shelves years after EOL, like Lone Ranger.

The big issue is the one you mentioned - the line is done, kids move on and the market for adult Chima AFOL´s is reduced to a 2km radius around Ciglione´s house.

In Europe, flagship 70146 sold in barrel loads on ebay at Xmas but only because they were 30% cheaper than SOH and it was the last "interesting" set to sell out so what chance do smaller sets have.

I picked up a couple of Flying Phoenix Fire Temples for €50. Stuck them up on a local adverts site at €95 in the run up to Christmas, best offer I got was €60. Doesn't fill me with much faith in the line when this set, which when you look at it is actually impressive enough doesn't get a bit more interest.

One of the goals for the first 6 months of the year will be to offload these so I can reinvest the money somewhere else.

[Ciglione]

For Chima investing we are already in injury time.

There were only a handful good investments in this line. Depending on your geographical location. Here in Germany some were really winners. 

I have only one Chima set (Swamp Hideout) left and I am happy it is the last. Cause they are less easy to move now. Cause like others have mentioned... kids already are moving on to the next big thing. 

So I would give a negative advice on buying Chima for investment now.  

[Robb]

I'm thinking about them for parting out. They seem good for that.

[Phil B]

4 hours ago, Robb said:

I'm thinking about them for parting out. They seem good for that.

I thought about that too, but I find there are too many Chima-specific speciality pieces in the sets, and to get a solid part-out return the sets need to be more than 50% discounted. I'm not counting on the minifigs selling for their BL prices, as interested parties are likely to have moved on. Maybe parted out minifigs parts might sell, but haven't tried. Just my 2cts though.

Even 70146 Flying Phoenix Fire Temple, an excellent set btw, my son loves it to death, has a non-minifig BL value of ~$160, which for me means buy-in is around $60 for the set, a 51% price reduction from MSRP. That's a steep discount (though not impossible here in the US).

[chezzzuk]

For Chima investing we are already in injury time.

There were only a handful good investments in this line. Depending on your geographical location. Here in Germany some were really winners. 

I have only one Chima set (Swamp Hideout) left and I am happy it is the last. Cause they are less easy to move now. Cause like others have mentioned... kids already are moving on to the next big thing. 

So I would give a negative advice on buying Chima for investment now.  

Amazon UK prices are looking good for lots of Chima sets. I am not sure why people think Chima is a bad investment?

[Sfcommando14]

The reason they get to that price is because nobody will pay more for them. I'm stuck with a few Chima dogs in my closet from poor choices. Unless you want to build them, stay away.

[Vinetu]

I will shere some parting-out perspective. At 50% off that 70146 and 70226 could be found in the EU, you can't lose money on these. Yes, there are specific parts that I curse every time I open my inventory boxes because they are dead wood, others move at a very decent rates recouping anywhere from 80-100% of your investment (and yes, these are perhaps 20-30% of parts + 2/3 of minifigs...). It's a no-brainer investment at 50% off IMHO. Whenever the outlier parts and figs sell, they will be pure profit.