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Hello All, Just posted pics of my latest MOC, here are some pictures. It is a large diorama of a Mecha base/hangar. Fun build, check it out. Here are some teaser pics, visit my MOCpages for more details. http://mocpages.com/moc.php/403418

Just a FYI for some of the newer members. Some of them might even be reading this thread without posting. What I'm about to type is just my opinion through Lego and other investing. My experience is from the Toy Story, City, Monster Fighter, and Cars theme. You will notice that some members bought Lone Ranger sets at a very low price (say 50% off) and they don't mind holding onto LR sets. This is good advice but you need to see what works for your portfolio and strategy. Myself? I give pretty much all sets 1 year to appreciate from MSRP (aka retail price) and not the price I paid. MSRP is a far better indicator of growth since everyone will have one common baseline as a starting point. Additionally, the highest 12 month ROI % is 99% of the time during the first year. Then the 2nd highest 12 month growth period will be the 2nd year. Note: MSRP will vary by country. Now If I see good growth during the any set's 1st year after retirement, these sets will be held another 1-3 years. So what do I do with sets with below avg growth (from MSRP) during the 1st year? (For example, the 10227 UCS B-Wing which sold got $199.99 MSRP and appreciated to $215 (or so) after 12 months. ). I usually sell most if not all of these sets since the money can be used elsewhere (also known as opportunity cost of keeping something). ( I ended up selling all my 10227s which allowed me to buy 10224 Town Hall, 10226 Sopwith Camel, 10228 Haunted House, and Arkham Breakout sets. Thus... So please follow your gut and invest to match your strategy. Don't fall in love with sets or wait too long for them to appreciate from MSRP since "they are other fish in the sea). Happy investing and new year.

    And all the fights with my wife when she checks my suitcase in the evening and finds my sandwiches and milk untouched.

Please put a poll to ban Ciglione from this thread. It's for his own good. With skipping lunch every time, the poor man has already lost 8kg.

I understand your point, but I think because of the lack of Simpsons sets, the House will remain for awhile. When the Kwik E Mart releases, people will pay attention to the House if they originally didn't and might want to start collecting them all. It would be foolish for LEGO to stop production of one exclusive in a licensed theme immediately upon release of another, when there are so few sets within that theme. There will be an overlap and in the case of the Simpsons House, it is my opinion that it will be around for awhile. Many of us were wondering if the House was a one and done sort of thing, so people didn't invest heavily in he set. If there is a whole line of exclusives for this theme, having them all would be a smart investment strategy.

So has anyone's Grand Emporiums ordered from Amazon ES arrived yet? Its gone all quiet. Well, me, I went to one Flagship department store here, and holy moly slap me silly, someone returned 2 GEs! Merry Christmas to me! 20% off sticker price ea.

I have more faith in these than most of you. Most of them were still avail post Christmas last year. Hell, Silvermine and Colby City are STILL on shelves. Western themes are rare, I doubt we'll see another one in the near future. Many of us got the trains around $50, and they are hitting $125-130 or so now. There's just no way these will end up less than $150 by next Christmas. It's going to take some time, but these sets definitely have a built in audience. And personally, if I sell $50 trains at $150 apx 2 years after purchase, I am a-ok with that.

Good day today. All are new/sealed... Bricklink sales 2 x 9492 tie fighter for $195 shipped. Paid $72. 10 x 9471 Uruk hai for $582 shipped. Paid $210. eBay 1 x 10229 winter village cottage for $215 shipped. Paid $75. 1 x 79000 riddles for the ring for $21 shipped. Paid $5.

I just found this set 2015 at a Toys R'Us store near Charleston, West Virginia. I didn't waste any time building the model (without using the instructions) and writing up an article which describes the part selection, the build process and the finished model. The finished model is very detailed but pretty small. I enjoyed the build and think the finished model looks good. It is about average for a set in the Architecture series. It is a bit more repetitive and less engaging than some of the other models such as Big Ben, Eiffel Tower or UN Headquarters sets. The part selection includes rare and expensive parts, and is a great addition to a LEGO Architecture Studio collection of White bricks. The most noteworty part is 87994 (Bar 3L) in White, since the set includes 46 of them. That part is rare, and currently runs for 0.43$/part on Bricklink, so we should expect prices for that part in secondary markets to collapse. If you want to see more photos and learn more about this fun new Architecture set, you can see my blog post athttp://tomalphin.com Sincerely, ---tom

This is our mixer using "solar" power... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbQI-Luj5TA

So I could do just the 8881 and the 8883, and be set, it looks like. Doesn't matter on the backorder status to me. I'm finally getting a Fairground Mixer for myself.

Yeah!!! Batbot return has been started.

Sold a couple silver mines and trains on BL, slightly below retail but for a small profit. Wanted to free up space and capital, and win some more political points in the polls with Mrs. BrickLegacy. I'm hoping to keep a stagecoach and a few trains for long-term holds. Not just for the profits, but also to satisfy the hoarding in me. It was hard to lose on the train at $50.

Since 2012, I have been watching all themes after retirement. The sets that didn't have some form of "pop" or increase in value before / after the retirement are the ones that appreciate very little during EOL unless there is something to help with demand. The Cars 1 movie sets have done "ok" because of Pixar and Disney Land. Toy Story sets (mainly the ones featuring key chars from the original 2 movies) are doing good because Disney have kept that franchise alive (annual TV shows and the upcoming 4th film). Monster Fighters always have Halloween. Lone Ranger has nothing. Western themes also haven't been popular in a long time and Lego will ultimately release another theme just like Pirates in 2015. The Army builder and Stagecoach sets (luckily) were the only ones to sellout sorta fast despite the clearance sales and slightly popped after retirement. None of the other sets did that. At this point, we would have prob done better if a Lone Ranger minifig wasn't included in that set. Ha but sorta true. Even a short lifespan isn't helping this theme and TRU still selling some of these sets near MSRP is brutal. By the time they are sold-out, I think there won't Much demand for Lone Ranger sets in general. I want the train set to do well as 10 are taking up space in my house ( and all LR sets are cool in my opinion) . I'm just preparing myself for the possiblity the Train set will need to be sold around MSRP w/in another year since my $700 spent csn be used on nearly 3 Tumblers, 2 Tower Bridges, or 10 Santa Wokshops, etc... that will most definitely pop when they are sold-out everywhere before retirement.

Found 3 x $40 X-Wings today at Wal-Mart. I hope to get a few more from rural locations over the next few weeks.

My collection is very small at the moment and look very boring compared to most on here I also have the new Mini Cooper, research lab and Ecto 1 but they are currently sitting unbuilt at the mother in laws!

Something tells me if you spend $75 and get a Star Wars and a Friends item, you will get all 3 promos.

Why not offer suggestions or information why you think your sets sold @ $45 while other's did not?

where's the jealousy, dislike, why didn't mine sell button? (free shipping?)

It was July last week so I don't think so. Ex Astris, Scientia.

The motor has a pigtail, it appears to be about 8", that will work, but it will limit the distance you can put battery from the set, if that is a concern.

Yep, just Google "blocked bidder list", or here is the link: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#block This is a funny one, but not for you. Crazy folk!

Build it as it is a great build. I broke the seals (I think that is like "crossing the streams" from Ghostbusters) and built one book over each of the last 3 days and really appreciate the design characteristics and some of the techniques used. It is a magnificent set on display and worth every penny.

great minds think alike or at least i was thinking like exciter 1.

This kit has everything you need. I bought it since everything else was backordered when I was looking. http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Power-Functions-Motor-Set-8293 If you just want the necessary components. Pick a battery box. http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Power-Functions-Battery-Box-8881 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Power-Functions-AAA-Battery-Box-88000 http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Power-Functions-Rechargeable-Battery-Box-8878 And this motor. http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-Power-Functions-M-Motor-8883

Theme would have done much better if not linked to the movie. Seriously, you were stuck getting LR/Tonto in about every set and then a couple random bad guys nobody cared about. I got rid of everything I had at Christmas except trains for small profits and moved on. I never found 50% off trains, but got all mine from $65-70, so it will take $150-200 for it to be worthwhile to sell. For me at least.

my daughter opened one last night and I told her those were a hot commodity right now. The look she gave me was priceless. I like messing with her over retiring / sold out stuff. I did see the new Classic Tan baseplates now at LEGO B&M.

Bought other two blue baseplates at lunchtime. And... some rolls of packing tape.

Also I believe that in the new age of chaos 1 year long lifespans are highly unlikely unless the item is an utter flop. I might say we can confidently expect 2 years. Setting up an exclusive involves lots of costs and logistic, probably much more than of a regular set. LEGO wouldn't want to produce them only for 1 year. What we won't have probably anymore are the 3-5 year shelf lifes, unless the set is a star seller.

Welcome. Maybe Mixels is a good place to start your adventure. The questions I would ask myself in your position: 1. What is the plateau price for a mixel? 2. How will you resell? 3. Is selling Mixels scalable? Good luck

Greetings, Felix. CAGR stands for Compound Annual Growth Rate which is a way of looking at how a set has performed over a certain timeframe. There was a help page for that somewhere explaining the complete formula but I can't seem to dig it up now. Scratch that last bit, here is the article. :good:

I would say 4k parts is way too low. I didn't even bother opening the store before I had 70k parts, at which point I would receive about an order per day. Now with 120k parts, in the past 30 days, I have received 37 orders on BrickLink and 51 orders on BrickOwl.

Tumber, ToO, PS, 3 RI, 6 76006

Welp, those mars rovers that popped up on TRU yesterday were canceled. Guess it was too good to be true...

Right now there is no relationship between Brickpicker and Brick Classifieds. For now you would just need to contact me or register with your name. If you want to be Jeff Mack, I feel sorry for you Default shipping is set here(http://www.brickclassifieds.com/address) Make sure you pick Unitied States and it will hold that region as where it ships from. Multiple prices for different shipping is not there. I will add back the status link in product listing to deactivate it from live listings later or tomorrow.

interesting Fortune Cover story posted today about Disney CEO, Star Wars and the new Falcon.. http://fortune.com/2014/12/29/millennium-falcon-bob-iger/

Hey hey hey

Go Wolverines! (My NFL team is out of the playoffs, I'm looking at next year... and since my team's management apparently decided they'd rather start having losing seasons again... ) Otherwise: Go best teams! The playoffs are almost more enjoyable when I don't care who wins.

Deadpool minifigs seem to be down to the low $20's on eBay, from a high of around $40 earlier in the year. There is no new set with Deadpool, so I think this has to be the impact of the counterfeit sellers. Have any of you guys tried reporting them? It's not hard to do (there are lots of instructions earlier in this thread and in the counterfeit thread on brickpicker). It also only takes a minute to email [email protected] and point out the eBay counterfeiting situation to them as well. Rather than post here to bemoan the falling price of the set, why not take action to defend your investment?

Anybody take notice of how much a Slave I looks like a right angle grinder?

I think we can write-off this set. Appreciate people who stay positive and I sincerely hope I am wrong. Many sets are "refreshed" with just some minor differences. Wondering if the man on the street (our target customers) will care for those minor differences and buy the old different ones as well. To me it seems like Lego has started the war on resellers and pulled the white flag on the war against counterfeiters and fakes. Call me negative but that is just what I am seeing recently.

This is a great thread. I hope mos avoid these. That will mean less supply in the future. Collectibles are supply and demand in the future, not now. I remember piles of black pearl on clearance at walmart and I strolled on by. Must have been a bad seller. To each his own. The lotr theme is stronger by a large margin than hobbit. I will stack the smaug set on clearance and discount. If i can find them cheap enough on clearance i will stack the witchking sets to throw in as freebies in the future. It looks like supply will be lower. In fact.i have decided to go thirty deep on TOO for this very reason.

Well, that's the kind of folks we want for our customers in Brick Classifieds.

    My final hope was moving these with the Xmas selling frenzy. But nothing. Did not sell a single one. Was one of the cheapest on ebay Germany. Should I try to sell them internationally? I have still six of these. Hate to have to write them off!

I bought some coloured LED lights from Amazon but as I am not happy with the strobe effect, my girlfriend decided that we could string Christmas lights through some modular buildings (instead of putting the buildings away for the winter) so we grabbed one white light string and 5.5 of our buildings - just enough for one string of lights. The method and results are as follows: The light string enters at the top floor of the fire brigade and continues to the top floor of the pet shop From the top floor of the pet shop to the middle floor of the brownstone apartment building From the middle of the apartment building to the middle of the Cafe Corner, then a lot of lights get used in the middle and upper floor of the CC. The string leaves the upper floor of the CC to the upper floor of the Green Grocer but by keeping it only in the upper floor, the GG loses lighting (Rave opportunity) After leaving the top of the GG, the string goes through the Market Street patio door and down to the middle of the first floor so that it may enter the bottom floor of the Grand Emporium and spiral up the walls, ending at the chandelier. I removed 1-6 pieces per building depending on where I entered and exited the respective buildings. Currently, she is experimenting with "outside Christmas lights" and you can see the first result in the later pictures. For added colour, I can add a rave room to the Green Grocer and the Apartment building Enjoy!

NMM, i personally think that the initial and near EOL demand is totally skewed by "reseller-effect". if we are to negate and/or take away that impact; TLG does very good job of producing sets at near where popular demand wants it. we have seen the effect, how widespread it can be and literally more than 1500 units of $200 set can be re-distributed within 48hrs. having said that until the initial reseller demand is saturated "which can be very large" as demonstrated by the accumulation of TH, exo-suit; ghostbusters and delorean; i find it very hard to term it as "popular set". don't get me wrong, TUMBLER is a very popular set; i understand that but i also think most of them are being hoarded by "resellers" making it seem like there is really extra demand for it. i am thinking about 40% of total sales of this set at this moment are being motivated by "reselling purpose". i would rather TLG "under-produce" any set than "over-produce" and cause a huge saturation. and i am sure TLG realizes that and hence is feeding this relationship. reseller-effect: creating distributive storage of lego sets than localized storages @ retailers (like of amazon; TRU; target; walmart in that order) seen most recently with TH

You full parter outers are troopers. I am starting to get fed up with just parting out minifigures. Can't imagine having to find 50 parts for 10 different people and put them in bags. lol.

I guess it's because the Gallery is kind of that button that's hiding in plain sight, but I believe not many people have seen my MOCs I've put there yet (or any of the other uploads there by others). So, for those who only pay attention to the forum posts, here's a link...to the Gallery! LFoW's MFZ MOCs. This is a small collection of my mini-mech models I build for a LEGO tabletop game by the name of Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack, where you build the mechs you use as gamepieces, the terrain, and the guns all out of LEGO (or similar brands). I'll be doing a large in-depth blog or forum post on it soon, so look for that in the future! I post primarily to my Flickr page, so if you like what you see and want moar (or even a glimpse into my past MOCs that become progressively less and less impressive), then you can click this link below to go to my Flickr: LFoW's Flickr Page.