71006 - The Simpsons House

[inversion]

I can only tell you what's happening in Hungary. At the release of SH the hopes of some store owners were very high (I know the owner of one of the most popular stores), they stacked SH-s like crazy. It bombed. While modulars were frequently going out of stock. They still have the stock from back then, never had to backorder.

 

This signals Hungarian demand quite well since most Hungarians are buying exclusives in physical stores, according to my experience very few people use s@h. Explains why overpriced webshops have 40k and 25k likes on facebook in a 10m country. 

 

Anyway I don'T believe that our tastes differ significantly from that of Europe. SH has a certain appeal, but with constrained budgets there are more desirable sets out there for EU citizens.

[diablo2112]

To complete my analysis of whether EU inventory data tracks Amazon sales, here's the last bits.  I'll compare sales rate in the EU data to Amazon sales rank for the last 3 months.  We only have good EU inventory data back to early February, but using the rate (units/week) should be ok  Sales rates are remarkably similar each week throughout the EU data.  I'll also note the number of restocks of each set. 

 

Here we go.  

 

First column is Amazon sales rank, second is EU sales rate in units/week.  3rd column is number of restocks.  Sales rate is my eyeball of the data, good to +/- 10 units/week.

 

DO   9, 500 units/week, 4 restocks

PS    9, no data - 0 inventory throughout

PC   11, 310 units/week, 3 restocks

Tumbler 14, 300 units/week, 0 restocks

PR   32, 250 units/week, 2 restocks

Simpson

Edited April 11, 2015 by diablo2112

[tacsniper]

Here we go.  

 

First column is Amazon sales rank, second is EU sales rate in units/week.  3rd column is number of restocks.  Sales rate is my eyeball of the data, good to +/- 10 units/week.

 

DO   9, 500 units/week, 4 restocks

PS    9, no data - 0 inventory throughout

PC   11, 310 units/week, 3 restocks

Tumbler 14, 300 units/week, 0 restocks

PR   32, 250 units/week, 2 restocks

Simpson

Edited April 11, 2015 by tacsniper

[diablo2112]

Can you show us how you pull these data? This is a very interesting tool. Does it work with Amazon North America?

 

Data on EU inventory levels comes from Brickset, from which I've made a local archive for my own use.   Amazon sales ranks comes from camelcamelcamel.com

 

Here's the link to camel^3 for the Simpson's House.    Click on the "sales rank" tab, then adjust to show 3 months data.  It will tell you the highest sales rank.

Edited April 11, 2015 by diablo2112

[Vinetu]

Thanks for the camel site diablo2112, much appreciated! And good analysis!

[brickolodon]

Simpsons has been a below-average performer in sales rank for Lego exclusives on Amazon. Here's data from Camel^3. This is the highest sales rank achieved by a number of Lego exclusives over the last 3 months. Nearly all Lego exclusives rank in the top 3000. The popular ones usually rank in the top 50.

DO 9

PS 9

PC 11

Tumbler 14

PR 32

Simpson

[GhostDad]

It's always dangerous to read too much into one's own tastes, but I used to watch every Simpsons episode.  That was decades ago.  Since then I paid zero attention to the show until lego released SH.  I have no trouble believing that Simpsons is more enduring than SpongeBob (although that show's been around forever too, and some episodes include cultural commentary along the lines of Simpsons).  But I was selling SpongeBob sets last year, and definitely saw a steep price drop (about 30%) in long-retired sets.  A set like Flying Dutchman that retired only last year is probably going to appreciate a little bit after EOL, but $38 including shipping on amazon is not great for something with a MSRP of $25.

 

SH has a great interior, but the exterior, while accurate to the show, is really bland, and both the model and figures really only integrate with other Simpsons sets, still a pretty narrow universe.  Lego is also apparently intent on releasing the family figures twice a year (new CMF series + KM), so there's zero exclusivity there versus a set like AA.  I have trouble prioritizing SH over something like ToO at the same price point, or even a newer set like Tumbler (if it only has the lifespan of AA, this might seriously be a reasonable time to start accumulating it).

[paladyr]

I went ahead and bought one on the off chance it gets scarce before September or retailers raise prices. The first 12(?) Seasons were better than any other show in history!

I think part of the SH's problem is that a lot of buyers aren't even aware this thing exists. I just got back into legos and found out about the SH. I think a lot of fans will discover it after EOL.

Edited April 12, 2015 by paladyr

[tacsniper]

I went ahead and bought one on the off chance it gets scarce before September or retailers raise prices. The first 12(?) Seasons were better than any other show in history!

I think part of the SH's problem is that a lot of buyers aren't even aware this thing exists. I just got back into legos and found out about the SH. I think a lot of fans will discover it after EOL.

 

It will be nice if Lego and Simpsons partnered to make a few episodes out of lego minifigures... maybe that will make Simpsons fan aware of the Lego sets.

[Pseudoty]

It will be nice if Lego and Simpsons partnered to make a few episodes out of lego minifigures... maybe that will make Simpsons fan aware of the Lego sets.

Like this?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_Like_Me

[GhostDad]

Yes, they did it once and viewers liked it.  Twice and they might just start to annoy people.  Doesn't mean they can't make a lego Simpsons video game or something though.

[tractorboy]

The big problem with SH is that it came out 10 years too late. 10-15 years ago it would have been gold.

[Neosphinx]

The big problem with SH is that it came out 10 years too late. 10-15 years ago it would have been gold.

10-15 years ago, I wouldn't have the money to buy it as would many other AFOLS I know.

[tractorboy]

10-15 years ago, I wouldn't have the money to buy it as would many other AFOLS I know.

lol yeah, I would have missed it too. I've only been at this a year.

[Alfiepops]

The big problem with SH is that it came out 10 years too late. 10-15 years ago it would have been gold.

 

So true. The ship has sailed long ago.

[bricketycricket]

10-15 years ago the show still sucked, but it doesn't matter. I don't watch the show anymore but I'll always be a huge fan because of the first 8 or 9 seasons. I've bought all of the figs and the house already, and have plans to get the Kwik E Mart as well. It helps that most of the references contained within the figs and the sets are from the old episodes when the show was still funny.

[Alfiepops]

I still have a lot of the Playmates figures from the height of the popularity. Radioactive Homer, Devil Homer, Space man Homer, Boxing Homer, Tree house of horror (King Kong Homer) etc etc. Nice to look at for nostalgia, but not worth any real money now. The boys have made their millions. Time to let the thing go. The cow's utters are dried and shriveled up. Let her be.

[Val-E]

50 extra VIP points on this one at EU shop during May. Poor seller, poor seller.

[gregpj]

Since we don't have a Simpsons forum, thought I'd post it here..

http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/23/someone-has-recreated-the-entire-town-of-springfield-in-lego-form-and-its-amazing-5308615/

Pretty cool.. I like the nuclear plant myself!

[dcdfan]

Since we don't have a Simpsons forum, thought I'd post it here..

http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/23/someone-has-recreated-the-entire-town-of-springfield-in-lego-form-and-its-amazing-5308615/

Pretty cool.. I like the nuclear plant myself!

You're right! So weird we don't have a Simpsons forum! Strange since the Simpsons have 2 $200 sets & yet that short lived Jurassic World didn't even have one set that big & it has a forum of its own...

[gregpj]

Don't forget two series of CMFs!

[Grolim]

Since we don't have a Simpsons forum, thought I'd post it here..

http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/23/someone-has-recreated-the-entire-town-of-springfield-in-lego-form-and-its-amazing-5308615/

Pretty cool.. I like the nuclear plant myself!

I was fleetingly tempted to ddo something like that myself when the house came out.  Then my lack of funds, creativity, and space snapped me out of it. 

[gregpj]

I was fleetingly tempted to ddo something like that myself when the house came out.  Then my lack of funds, creativity, and space snapped me out of it. 

I feel that way every time I see a new line... I'd love to setup an Arctic layout but I have no space or time. Oh well... I'll just keep hoarding personal collection sets I guess.

[tacsniper]

very cool! I see the potential to mix this with the modular sets so you can have 2 new sets a year to add to the town if The Simpsons line continues on

[cladner]

Since we (still) don't have a dedicated Simpson's forum ...

anyone notice that Kwik-E-Mart is a "Walmart exclusive" at least according to walmart?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/LEGO-The-Simpsons-The-Kwik-E-Mart/42104282

It's going to be tough to get these with mint boxes.