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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/03/2014 in all areas

  1. Warning - Long post. I don't know whether the set is retir(ing/ed) or not. I do know that I don't have one and that's ok, this set was not on my immediate buy list - I am confident that I will find one for my own collection. Every time a set retires or goes OOS, there is a mad dash to get the remaining scraps but everyone has had over 2 years to get at least one of this set, particularly those members who have been here that long. Except for people interested in flipping, there is no reason to keep waiting to the last minute to pick up sets. Create a Plan - Unless you have tens of thousands of dollars at your disposal, you can't have EVERY set. Instead of being the person missing a SSD, GE, HH, TH, Mars Rover and scrambling to get one - buy them early or earlier or don't worry about them. Determine in advance what sets you are targeting as a build, as an flip/investment, or both. It seems to me that a lot of people here are looking to be short term flippers and long term sellers and that's great, but if you can't do both extremely well, then perhaps you should excel at one and just dabble in the other - an example is that people have been selling RIs at a HUGE profit. You could have flipped 10 of those into 3 Town Halls or 3.5 Haunted Houses and your investment would have been $200 + your time - a crazy deal - probably a lot better than turning it into 6 WVM If you don't have the Pet Shop (among other sets) and you want some - then now is the time. If you can't afford it AND you want one or some, then buy 6 $20 sets, sell them for 50 each and use that to buy yourself 2 Pet Shops. My biggest mistake in my almost 1 year of accumulating Lego (Nov. 2013) was ignoring the Fire Brigade and picking up a Palace Cinema instead (It was my first major purchase after finding this site and I was in build mode and owned no modulars and no investments). I had regrets at the time, but I realized that it wasn't meant to be and I need to pay more attention - if that is my only real mistake, then I think that I'm doing pretty well. I was looking through my living room yesterday and noticed that I have $5500 US in Lego sets proudly displayed - all obtained since I joined - at a final cost to me of $2240 (after selling off a handful of sets that came with them or in bulk lots). These are all exclusives, except for the Black Pearl. I have a plan that I have refined over the last 6 months and I am happy with my investments, and builds for my hobby. Major thanks to DNIIM for sage advice, even if he doesn't know it. If you are a newer member and you missed out, consider it a lesson learned and it didn't cost you a cent; people make a lot more expensive errors than that. I await the next 2 years to see established members saying that they have no Tumblers, EEE, Parisian Restaurants, etc.
    8 points
  2. Ever since I saw the movies I loved Star Wars. Being one of the most impressive vehicles on screen of course the AT-AT was something I wished for when I was younger, stay playing with LEGOs not thinking about investing ;-) There have been quite some AT-ATs and they all have something going for them, though since it's my first one I prefer the newest edition. Anyhow, I always would have loved to see a HUUUGE UCS model of this one. But as you all might be aware of there is nothing like it available. So some of you might already know those MOC AT-AT, but if you have not seen them before you might love them just as much as I do. (if you didn't know: MOC = my own creation, refers to everything that somebody did build by himself without an official LEGO manual (so don't get me wrong it's not MY personal own creation ;-) )) Please feel free to post other cool MOC AT-ATs It's difficult to pic a favorite, but to me it is the ATAT MOC8 (i posted). I also really like the Friends-theme version and the steam-punk one. And the VW bus is just hilarious :-D
    5 points
  3. Even if you missed out on this set, there are still so many potential winners over the next 6-12 months. Look at the sets that are nearing EOL: R2, T1, TB, AA, Orthanc, etc. So many opportunities to buy sets with great returns. Some simple advice for everyone. Keep an eye out for new TH stock and buy those up with whatever funds you can scrap together. If nothing shows up, move on to the next set that you think is a winner. Simple as that. You have to move on. Skate to where the puck is going to be.
    4 points
  4. I'm super excited I finally got a misb black pearl for $100!
    4 points
  5. A part of every LEGO investor's toolkit.
    4 points
  6. A few Town Halls Maersk EEE Daily Bugles 1 divorce A few new friends under the bridge
    4 points
  7. Gave away a Vampyre Hearse to a family friend. They have no actual lego sets, just bricks and can't really afford new sets - it only cost me $9 so it's not a big deal, not as if I am giving away a SSD!
    3 points
  8. Meh to all of the non retirement comments. You may be right but I am with Ed Mack and what he did not say.
    3 points
  9. I was able to pick up a 100% complete, open Palace Cinema 10232 with box and manuals from Ebay. The Palace Cinema is, of course, part of the Creator "Modular" series and is considered Expert since it is labeled for ages 16+. It was released on March 1, 2013 and is the third corner building after the Cafe Corner and the Grand Emporium. The large red baseplate is unique to this set. It contains 2196 pieces, many dark tan and dark red, and retails at $149.99 USD. Some think the design is inspired by Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. The set contains 6 minifigures and a black convertible, however, my review does NOT contain the convertible due to missing pieces. THE BOX & MANUALS The large box measures 22.5" x 19" x 3.5" and is beautifully done: There is 1 instruction sticker sheet and 3 manuals: THE MINIFIGURES There are 6 minifigures - child star, chauffeur, female and male guest, photographer, and cinema worker. THE BUILD The build starts with the limousine (not pictured) and a couple minifigures before getting into the building's first floor. The sidewalk portion of the building utilizes a bunch of assorted tiles for a real smooth, clean look. The first floor interior is a little plain with a snack bar, a ticket booth, and a stairway up to the 2nd floor. Since the cinema is a corner building, the front doors are attached using claws and poles and they swing open wide. The second floor facade continues the use of arches and windows and an interesting use of "skeleton feet" to create a wrought-iron gate look. The interior of the second floor is the movie theatre itself - 2 rows of 3 seats facing a movie screen (sticker) with an old-fashioned movie reel in the back. The third floor is just the roof. The back part of the roof is rather plain, but does include an access door from the stairway below. Whatever the back lacks in detail and design, however, is made up for by the front facade of the roof - beautifully done "shingles" are created by utilizing 1x1 round cannonball pieces. The apex of the roof is also nicely done utilizing some snot techniques with dark red bricks. The final build is the marquee "Palace" sign that attaches to the front of the building. The design is very clever, spelling out the word "palace" using only blue and white bricks. When it all comes together, you're not disappointed: For investing purposes, the only "cons" that I could think of is that the building only contains 2 actual floors, when others have 3, and the use of stickers in key locations - like the marquee and the movie screen. However, that is nit-picking in my opinion. The Palace Cinema is a beautiful build and displays very, very well. It is only the 2nd modular building that includes a vehicle, and while the 6 minifigures aren't anything too special, they are typical for a modular. The corner design should help it's popularity, and the fact that most modular fans will want/need this set. Of course, there is speculation that the more recent modulars have been made in larger quantities than some of the earlier ones (like Cafe Corner, Market Street, and Green Grocer), but no one really has access to that information. I believe that even these recent modulars will be in high demand to some degree. There are "new" LEGO collectors entering the market every day - whether they are new to LEGO or coming out of their dark ages - and once they discover the modulars, they will want to include as many as possible in their collection. So while the Palace Cinema won't probably see values like the Cafe Corner, there's a good chance it's value could mirror the Fire Brigade after retirement.
    3 points
  10. Just popped up on LEGO Shop at Home to buy. Shipping Oct 18th http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=jfOcdvfTNg4&offerid=115554.10000006&type=3&subid=0 *Edit* trying to get the affiliate link in here somehow:
    3 points
  11. I agree it was not a good seller in my mind. I think it had the mentality of yes I would really like to get it but wow $200 and I can get this cool Cinema Palace or Grand Emporium or this or that instead for $150. I'll get it but I'll get it later. Then everyone planned to get it "LATER". Then no one got it. Now it may be EOL because of that.
    3 points
  12. Im having such a wonderful time reading about you blokes having your HH orders filled. Now bugger off. :-P
    2 points
  13. (...or maybe not. Don't wait if you planned to get some)
    2 points
  14. All I know is Lego is Laughing all the way to the Town Hall
    2 points
  15. Fun reading: http://community.brickpicker.com/topic/5243-town-hall-eol/?hl=town%20hall Remember the May 2013 $154 TH? Good times.
    2 points
  16. Write your message > submit > about 5 seconds into sending kill the app = no more double posts
    2 points
  17. There are only two tracking websites that I am aware of. Nowinstock.net is one of them. Zoolert.com is the other. Both are too slow to catch these spurious stockings. They work if an item goes solidly in stock for 30 minutes or so. The enthusiasts here will have programming background and have set up their own scripts to ping or scrape the sites more often. If you want to try something less complex, you can run google chrome browser with the Page Monitor plugin and set it up to monitor pages for changes. You'll have to be near the PC to see the alert however. And you'll have to try different query conditions to prevent false alarms. For amazon, I use the Regex custom mode and test for "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com" We should probably create a members-only post with the best known methods for users to create their own alerts. For the more-sophisticated users wanting to exchange script tricks, it might be useful as well to have a forum thread if one doesn't already exist. I know this is the secret sauce for some folks. I'm just banking karma points :)
    2 points
  18. Just a little heads up for US members who don't look at european LEGO Shop at Home . The only big sets that have signs of retirement are: - HH (sold out, but FYI seals of lastest sets are from middle of september) - SSD (OoS, expected shipping on Dec. 18th) - 9398 Crawler (OoS, expected shipping on Oct. 30th) The rest (GE, TB, PS, TH...) are "available now" (Tumbler excepted but the OoS is because of its success).
    2 points
  19. LOL...No, it implies he thought the set would be around for another year, so he has only 17 as of yesterday(according to his own words). But knowing Uncle Ed like I do, I bet he has his fake mustaches and beards out and is scouring the Maryland LEGO stores.
    2 points
  20. I am just catching up on this insanity, but I find it funny this thread had exactly 3 posts for 2 years and then suddenly blew up. Carry on.
    2 points
  21. Love to chat on the forums...but have to run now to Walmart for Chima!!!
    2 points
  22. I have zero Town Hall's and will continue to have zero. I spent the past year loading up on GE, SSD, HH, PS, and TB. I simply don't have any more money to invest in long term holds. I only buy on credit when I can pay it off the same month. I wonder how many are putting these on credit that they will be paying interest on for months to come. I could start selling now to buy some. Really want to get closer to xmas though. Can't buy everything, this many sets drying up at once makes it tough.
    2 points
  23. Sigh, and I wish the commonly accepted, non-slur word for homosexuality wasn't considered a bad word in these forums.
    2 points
  24. Hahaha ) It's not the 1st time this question appears on Lego forums. "Do you feel LEGO should include more female characters?" Shortly - No/it doesn't bother me. Why? Let's see. 1) I think classic Lego is for everyone. Those "special girlish" colors of Friends make me sick. 2) Collectible minifigures provide a lot of female characters. Go get them if you need more females. 3) Themes follow the books/movies. How many female characters are in Hobbit and LOTR? Harry Potter? Lone Ranger? POTC? Star Wars? 4) Classic Lego themes - say, Castle and Pirates. How many female characters are in classic books like Ivanhoe or Treasure Island? (2/sorta 1 - Jim's mother). Don't create a problem where there is none)) You wouldn't criticize Marx Toys for not including female characters in their famous toy soldiers sets 5) Large sets from Modulars or City normally include several female figures, I don't see a problem there. 6) Smaller sets - here we are. Well, you really want a cute girl to drive a huge truck?)) You can always find a set with a female if you wish, for example 60017.
    2 points
  25. 2 points
  26. Just leaving the Westfarms mall in Connecticut where they only have two Townhall's left. I just bought one which was all they would let me buy. The seal codes on this are 46R3. That would imply late 2013 manufacture. The manager said they were not getting any more in. They were surprised as well and said people have been coming all day buying them. They also had three tumblers, snag one of them and a mint pet shop. No GE.
    2 points
  27. Why? It's not going anywhere and what not...
    2 points
  28. Uh oh, it's a battle of the Eds. Who will win?!
    2 points
  29. Just dropped into the local Walmart on the way home yesterday & noticed they had clearance tags on several Ninjago & Chima Lego sets (moved to an end cap) some of the savings were a whopping 86 cents below reg. on the tag! wow! I suppose maybe this was just a placeholder for something for the weekend???
    1 point
  30. Got one more at the local LEGO store..that puts me closer to where I would like to be. If I can't get more, I will still be very happy
    1 point
  31. Few days. Was like that before the big run of panic buys.
    1 point
  32. I am unskilled when it comes to tracking websites. Was there a thread on this or could someone explain it to me?
    1 point
  33. TH isn't retired, so relax. There will be plenty of time to buy these at a later date.
    1 point
  34. I have the same on the last GE I ordered from Amazon
    1 point
  35. HH rom Sep 30 order (australian lego LEGO Shop at Home) went to "in process" today..
    1 point
  36. was it a *** word? (okay I checked it ^.^) Doesn't it also mean jolly? So actually a synonym for jolly is banned. Doesn't bother me ***** Though it's only ONE opinion I wanted to thank "Ronda" for her point of view. Some of my stormtroopers already are female ^.^ but they wear a helmet so you won't see it anyways ;-)
    1 point
  37. This is honestly the Modular that appeals to me the most. I am not really big on them, but this one is really nice looking.
    1 point
  38. Hope it does well for you. The set not the bathroom haha
    1 point
  39. The increase in price for the Parisian restaurant was most likely to keep up with inflation. In the U.S. the CPI has risen about 10% since 2009, so $160 seems to be pretty fair. Hopefully they don't increase in price every year, but in order for the quality to be maintained, there will have to be periodic price increases.
    1 point
  40. Old production codes possibly meaning that everything is old stock and has sat being sold off slowly. Its the only set I ever see sitting on the shelve and never touched.
    1 point
  41. u will have a few more chances (assuming it is done that is)
    1 point
  42. I think I already had you part of it based on how many articles you have done in the past. You are set.
    1 point
  43. it just feels like this needs to be said...
    1 point
  44. I will probably be heckled for this, though I ask you to respond respectfully. Lego is at or approaching being a $5 Billion corporation. Does everyone really think that the mass effect of people on Brickpicker and other sites who buy up inventory have such an important effect on Lego that we actually cause them to adjust sales forecasts and run complete new builds of products? When we were mass buying up the SSD's they did not come through and keep producing 50,000 more they retired it in the US. We can cause spikes shortages and out of stocks but to think that Lego adjusts their overall marketing strategy based upon the frenzy of people scooping up something like Town Hall and that they either were going to retire it or no will not retire it based on the last few days of sales I think makes a much higher opinion of ourselves than we deserve in terms of their overall strategy. The majority of their sales goes to end users (through authorized retailers) and direct through LEGO Shop at Home. In the US I think they do not like at all what most of us do buying up sets are doing and they try to ban and block it where ever possible so that the sets are available for their original intended base. But I do not think there is any great focus on us. I would liken it to if any of you have lived on a farm and owned a horse. There are constantly flies buzzing around the horse and it will swat them with its tail whenever possible, and there will always be flies and it will always swat them, but is a horses main reason in life to swat flies? It doesn't care about the flies it just wants them gone but it goes on and eats, runs, and has fun whether they are there or not. The same with Lego. Whether TH, GE, PS, TB, ToO, 3E or any of them go away we can make small ripples in the pond. But I think we are ripples. Lego is an ocean. That said I am stocking up on everything. Cheers!
    1 point
  45. slick statement. +1 like for you. btw, that is the BTTF set for those like me how can't memorize newer set #s
    1 point
  46. Anyone without a Lego store nearby who cannot order online and wants one will pay a premium. Already selling for $300 on eBay...If I can make a 50%+ profit with a 2 month hold, I'll be more than satisfied.
    1 point
  47. I got this in my email 30% off $50 purchase of packing and mailing supplies Coupon code: 11784 Expires 10/4/14 Not as hot as the previous one, but still better than nothing
    1 point
  48. Why do people think there will be an increased demand for Monster Fighter sets during Halloween? Does Halloween really have an impact on retail toy sales? When I think Halloween I think cheap decorations, candy, and costumes, not plastic building toys.
    1 point
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