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All the winning prizes have shipped...Finally. A lot of work. I would appreciate that winners would post photos of their prizes in this thread. I would like to thank everyone once again for your support. Principal Robbins received and deposited the $62,000 check yesterday. Instead of planning for next year, the school would have been planning to close its doors without the support of all of you. I salute you...

I know a few people who do this......can someone explain what it accomplishes by saying no you cant see my receipt. Does it make you feel good? Like you have some power over the person who is doing their job? Honest question. In my mind their is no reason to just be a respectful human being and take the 10 or less seconds out of your day to show the person your receipt. Common courtesy seems to be a thing of the past. Im sure there are thoughts in someones head that justifies why they can't just comply with such a simple task. I would like to hear them if you guys dont mind.

A lot of you are really overthinking this. At the end of the day, TLG bans resellers from LEGO Shop at Home because it is a retail outlet, not a wholesale outlet. TLG maintains a completely separate wholesale distribution channel. Just like TLG wouldn't let an end-user buy products through its wholesale channel, TLG doesn't want resellers using its retail sales channel for wholesale purchases. When you buy wholesale from TLG, you pay freight. When you buy retail from LEGO Shop at Home, you don't pay shipping if you're over the threshold. When you buy wholesale from TLG, you have to meet very specific requirements that every other retailer who is buying wholesale must also meet (more or less). When you buy retail through LEGO Shop at Home, you have the ability to be far more selective in terms of what you buy than when you buy wholesale. Banning resellers is simply TLG's effort to keep the two separate sales channels separate. If TLG openly allowed wholesale purchases through LEGO Shop at Home, the impetus for many retailers to maintain wholesale accounts would weaken because even though you wouldn't get the same discount by purchasing through LEGO Shop at Home, you could cherry pick the specific sets that you want to sell and leave the less desirable sets alone.

Union Pacific EMD SD70 Ace Locomotive in Lego, scaled 1:16 The Lego model consist of about 27,000 bricks, and was built in 4 months. It is about 143 cm in length (56,2 inch).

That makes sense. He's the slowest moving of them all.

American Football is not the only sport who labels their champions as world champions.

Will update this first post when more info is available. A few days ago there as a reported DC Comics Super-Heroes set that had not been revealed yet. The only info known was that it would include Ra's al Ghul, the classic Batman villain. The set name was revealed today - Rescue from Ra's al Ghul. It is rumored the set will be a store exclusive. It's unknown whether Ra's daughter, Talia, would be included. Ra's was also the character played by Liam Neeson in the 2005 Batman Begins movie. via The Brick Fan

I had a party recently and I guess some kids messed with my ISD as a few loose pieces were sitting around it afterwards. I took it down and rebuilt it (not much fell off to be honest) and wanted to share this picture to show others the sheer size of this set. It’s MASSIVE and I love it because of that. Others have complained that it’s too fragile but I haven’t had many issues with it. It’s a set made for display and that’s where it shines. I’ve owned a UCS Falcon and I prefer this set over it. Crazy talk, I know, but it’s very impressive in person.

LOL! It's funny to me because you "don't want to spend 30 minutes looking for the correct place to post" yet it's OK for the mods to keep moving posts all day...

Hello all. Self-introduction here. 34-yr old male in the US Midwest. 3 kids all under the age of 3 yrs old - their arrival brought me out of my "dark ages" and back to Lego. Hardcore AFOL now. 9-yr US Army vet (paratrooper, hence "Airborne" in my handle), got an MBA and married in my late 20's / early 30's and now run my own independent consulting business assisting major US banks when they run into hot water with regulators. I'm an MOC/MOD display builder first and foremost. A reseller second - only meddling in moving a relatively meager volume of excesses from my own inventory/collection. As for investing - well, I've always been leery of Lego as a bonafide "investment opportunity", and instead see Lego as an "expensive hobby, but one which can be slightly less expensive through reselling". The MBA-finance background keeps me keenly aware Lego's sole instrinsic value is that of a "play/hobby commodity", and thus the inherent investment opportunity lives and dies both on external market demand and supplier (TLG) production decisions. In other words, I'd never put money into Lego before my traditional investment accounts because Lego is far more volatile - but that doesn't mean a Brickfolio can't be a prudent way to hedge the costs of Lego as a hobby. Active Eurobricks browser/poster for a couple years - gleaning inspirations and posting a few of my own MOC/MOD builds (username AirborneAFOL). Substantial modular-style basement tabletop display. Daily Brickset user as well, for my "Lego news" fix and using their ACM tool for my set inventory. Incidentally, I've got around $12,500 spent on sets the past 3 years; only the modular-expert ones retain 100% intact, with dozens of the Creator/City themes having undergone extensive MOD alterations, and scores of non-city-theme sets having been parted out (minifigs/rare elements sold, 50-75% of the set just dumped into my personal brick inventory for MOC/MOD purposes). WARNING: Shameless self-promotion plug. I maintain a modest storefront ("veritasbricks") on Ebay, where I do $250-500 in monthly sales. My Ebay store is mostly just to part out minifigs from sets (particularly themed/lisenced ones), random brick lots from when I overindulge on retail PAB, assorted lots I lack the storage/need for, some sporadic parted-set components, a few NISB I pick up at below-retail costs, and the occassional classic/vintage set I no longer have the space/interest to keep in my own display. Frankly it's not a profitable venture for me at all, and just serves to keep my wife appeased by showing her at least *some* bricks going out the door on a routine basis (it's the best answer I've found to "Seriously?!?! MORE Lego?!?!? How much money did you spend this time?!?!"). I tend to be lucky to just break even in terms of acquisition + shipping + materials costs. All my listings are BIN-OBO, but if ever you're interested in something there, msg me there that you're a Brickpicker and I'll gladly give you a 10% discount. Fellow AFOL's tend to recognize good value when they see it and capitalize on combined shipping, which saves me time packaging the small orders for soccer moms (leaving me more time for my actual passion of building). All in all I'd say I'm very much a "small time reseller" - if you can even call it "reselling", given I don't do it profitably - but very much enjoy engaging in discussions of Ebay buying/selling news, strategies, etc. Registered on Bricklink and browse frequently (their price guide is my go-to reference for buying/selling elements & minifigs) but never gone to the trouble of actually buying/selling there. With only 60-100 active listings on Ebay at any given time (~20k total elements for sale), I suspect I'd have too few/small of orders there to make it worth the trouble, and am bias towards the postage/shipping ease of Ebay. In the past year, I've picked up just a handful (~$1k value) of sets maintained NISB (both Creator Christmas sets, Ewok Village, a couple $20-50 City sets, etc). Despite being leery of Lego as a true "investment opportunity", I've come to find Brickpicker to be at the top of the list for Lego sites I frequent. Between the investing/selling insights in the forums, Brickfolio tools, and most recently the wildly inspiring St Paul School Raffle, I've just finally created an account. Tend to post very rarely (on any Lego site for that matter) but visit daily. Hopefully this bio isn't inappropriately longwinded / self-promoting - and just useful reference point in the event someone sees one of my rare sporadic posts and wants to dig up my historical ones to find out a bit more about who I am. Cheers. -Ryan

Yes the sixth set does fit in the box with the other five.

I completely agree with this... I have heard it countless times that are simply too many sets to choose from and collect. I honestly believe that they are losing sales (maybe not enough to matter) as some parents tap out and just admit they can't get them all... so they get none at all of a certain theme. I know I have - we used to buy one copy of every Super Hero for ourselves, but stopped with last years sets.. too many repeat figs, too many sets. This is a tough one... the sets are arguably more creative than ever, but so many parents think that LEGO is just regular old blocks. I heard it all the time selling the creative brick boxes... but what I say to them was don't underestimate the power of a child's imagination. Big parts, small parts, they create amazing things no matter what. Parents who realize this (or have witnessed it - my kids build all kinds of non-bionicle things out of those parts) still think LEGO is one of the best toys around and worth the price of admission. What I really don't get is LEGO's unbalanced approach... how hard is it to have company-wide policies and enforce them for the biggest toy maker in the world? And I realize little slip ups happen, but we get so many contradictory stories on BP that it continues to amaze me.

My comparison was Europe not US and Amazon prices are not a good indicator because they don´t reflect actual sales. Compare on Ebay or Bricklink and you´ll likely see a different story altogether. Of course, the long termers won´t care as there will probably be a convergence over time but I don´t plan on keeping either for ten years to find out! Super Heroes cannot hold a candle to SW right now and we have seen that time and time over - who would take a Milano jet over a 9493 X wing, for example? The higher up the price range you go, the less demand for SH stuff there will be as essentially it´s a kids based theme (in Europe). What would make this set grow is relative scarcity through a short lifecycle but if it doesn´t retire this year, my money would be safer with either one of the SW sets mentioned, or indeed EV. Exactly, never count your T1´s before they have EOL´d!

Wanted to build this beautiful model designed by Nico71 for a long time. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Lego will one day regret the actions they are now undertaking. They are too greedy in many ways, it will cost them. I don't know how long but I think I will point to 2015 and 2016 as peak of the Lego era. Down hill from here. Notice, I did not say Lego investing era.

I've noticed over the years, most sets like this always follow the same general trend. Release: panned, not liked, skipped, etc. During production: this set is a stinker, no one will buy, etc. Near retirement: I think I'll pass... Once prices start to spike, the same people start buying and the horde follows. Retirement: Man this set was awesome, I'm glad I grabbed some when I got the chance. This set is a winner!!! P.S. I sure did open a can of worms replying to this topic. Sweet...

Damn, just when you think people have complained about everything possible. I'll go back to avoiding this topic.

"46" = Week of Production "S" = Production Plant "5" = Year of Production H = Nyíregyháza, Hungary R = Ciénega de Flores, Mexico S = Kladno, Czech Republic Q = Purkersdorf, Austria

You know it's the slow season when the last three "deals" were a t-shirt, a burrito and something from a tractor supply store. Someone wake me up when double VIP starts. Also, I definitely jumped on that burrito deal. Thanks BA!

Went to the Lego store today didn't end up buying anything but checked some date codes while I was here. EV 04S6 MINI 0106 T1 51S5 TB 51S5 SOH 49S5 PC 39S5 PR 51S5 SLAVE 46S5 SHC 43S5 IR 45S5?

I ordered one from Amazon and it arrived today -- 03R6. Looks like she does indeed have a little life left.

It'll be his cousin Piggens

Bought the following over the last week: 42029 at tru for $89.99 on truth 4x 75105 for $74 each at wm 4x final duel for $40 each at wm 5x anakin custom Jedi fighter for $19 each at wm 3x imperial shuttle tydirium for $49 each at wm 3x attack of the morro dragon for $35 each at wm 1x imperial assault carrier for $64 at wm 2x republic av7 cannon for $19 each at wm 2x master wu dragon for $19 each at wm 2x titanium dragon for $19 each at wm 1x tie advanced prototype for $19 each at wm 2x naboo star fighter for $25 each at wm 2x first order snow speeder at $19 at wm 2x Cupid puppy for $9.99 each at Lego store 2x Kylo ren shuttle for $59 each at wm 1x architecture Eiffel Tower at $35 at shop at home (for daughter) 1x butterfly organizer for $16.99 at Lego store (for daughter) 1x king's mech for $29.99 at shop at home 1x hail fire droid for $19.99 at shop at home 2x 42043 Aroc Benz from Amazon.de for roughly $163 each 1x piggy bank at $14.99 at Lego store Used $10 in VIP points and Got 2 free robin's mini fortrex and 1 fire car free from Lego and tru as well. Also forgot 2x blue power jet at $35 each at wm

It makes sense if they want to strictly adhere to wholesale and retail conventions. The cherry picking, I feel, is the most pertinant point, as I imagine being cleaned out of stock for certain popular sets regularly affects their image. The injustice some resellers rail at is that by trying their hand using LEGO retail distributors as wholesale sources, they are being persecuted despite the 'penalties' that they suffer (higher price & longer hold) for deviating from the usual chain of supply model.

Two new polybags (that we sorta knew about anyway) confirmed by CM4Sci over on Eurobricks today: 30603 - Batman Classic TV Series - Mr. Freeze 30447 - Captain America's Motorcycle No word yet on how they will be made available.

Is it really any different than standing in a line to hand someone a ticket to get into an event, on a train, on a plane? They are just looking at your ticket to verify you can exit the store with the goods you purchased.

OK, I'll let you argue against the Fish & Chips Eating World Championship too.

Sorry no sticker. Just wish they would hire people that could count as they make the people count the items in your cart.

It's weird to me that most of you seem to ignore the fact that most people only have X amount of dollars and time to spend. If people are spending money on two year old or outdated LEGO sets, they have LESS money (time, whatever) to spend on NEW releases. This upsets not only TLG, but potential partners (Disney, etc) - who have license agreements. This doesn't even scratch the surface of the relationships LEGO must have with large retailers (Walmart, Target, etc) not to mention whatever preexisting deals they had to move out large quantities of excess inventory. TLG, especially publicly, HAS to disavow resellers. Everyone's like, "We're filling a gap" - But that's not completely true. YES there is a gap being filled, but we are in part creating the gap that LEGO doesn't really want to see. Are they happy there's some folks that have old sets and there's a demand for them? I am sure they are. Do they want large percentage of their consumer stock to go to people who are going to sit on it for 2 years and prevent people from buying twice as many new sets in the future? Of course not. If they wanted SSDs to sell for 1k, they would have priced it at 1k. If someone is spending 1 month and 1k on a aftermarket SSD, that's money they are NOT spending on new sets - which not only impacts their bottom line, but also their research and metrics. Again, it's partially a love/hate relationship - but in no way can they ever condone reselling. We're not the ones spending multi-millions of dollars to sell and advertise their products on retail shelves. It's obviously an extremely complicated issue top to bottom. Personally, I think the shorter lived sets and themes are GOOD for us. It means they are producing fewer of set x, making it hard to get, and making it harder to find at discount. but I guess the future will tell how that all plays out.

Just hoping this thread will some how lead to the bubble thread then the circle is complete .. muhahaha

LEGO needs a robust secondary market. Part of the value of a LEGO set is the resale value--even non-resellers know this. What other child's toy, once played with, can still be sold for near or even above retail value? LEGO holds value. It's collectible. This benefits LEGO. A robust secondary market and broad base of collector-consumers creates that value. What LEGO doesn't need is competition for in-production sets with resellers.

I will explain you the secret behind. When a set is retired LEGO does not earn any money at this moment with these sets. But a potential buyer has to decide - will he spend his money to buy a retired set from reseller or to buy another set directly from LEGO. At this time there is a competistion between LEGO and resellers to get the money from this potential buyer. If LEGO would have sold all the retired sets to final customers then they would be sure to get the money always from the potential buyer for current sets - this would make an easier planning...

I'm not sure it's dumb to ban resellers and I don't think it's for appearances. I think it's about managing stock levels and I'm not sure what choice LEGO has. Everyone here knows the power of the horde, heck many complain about it regularly. At the first sniff of retirement, right or wrong, the horde will clear out all available stock in days. This is particularly true of exclusives which are produced in lower numbers. Now if the set is actually retiring probably LEGO is happy to sell out of remaining stock and move on, but it's the times when it's not retiring that mess everything up. In those cases LEGO needs to choose between 1) having no Pet Shops on the shelves for an entire summer and explaining to customers why it's available for 30% more than MSRP on eBay or 2) altering production schedules to restock (which the horde may just gobble up again). Since neither of these is a good option for LEGO and there is no way to predict or control rumors, they must feel their only option is to push resellers to places like Amazon and Walmart.

Just because I don't like the scale of the SHIELD Helicarrier doesn't mean others shouldn't like it either. I'm just giving my own feelings about this set, and I'm probably just particular about things that others don't care about. Regarding the SSD (10221) ... if I could choose, I'd rather have the UCS ISD (10030) than the SSD because on the scale they've been made by LEGO, I find the ISD conveying more of its massive size: (image acquired through Google Image search, with source: Eurobricks) Of course, if you hang a (micro sized) TIE Fighter next to that ISD, you'd have a similar situation as the SSD here with the micro-sized ISD next to it. But, anyway, the Helicarrier is just not a LEGO model I would want to put up on display myself. Different strokes for different folks, right?

With so many different building blocks and knock offs in the market now, Lego has no choice but to expand further. To have the next big product. Is it going to cannibalize their sales? Sure, a bit for a short period of time. But the great news is that Lego can stop production for a set the moment a certain set's sales are being cannibalized by newer sets (which is why sets retire). Like I mentioned, it's either adapt to the market or crash. I think the release of more sets is in response to that. Of course there is some level of greed involved. It's a business. For the brand image they have, I think their prices are completely acceptable (even if they are high). Will that greed catch up with them? Maybe. And if it does, people will stop buying poorer quality sets or sets in general due to hyper choice..not being able to decide what to buy due to there being too many products. Then Lego will readjust their strategy and everything will be right in the world. Banning people is something I think they are very smart to do. It stands behind their core values. If you look at their mission and vision statements, they make it clear that they want people to enjoy their product and encourage play. Not doing anything to stop people who buy out all the shelves to sell back to the consumers for 2x 3x 4x etc. MRSP will make the company look bad. Plain and simple.

Illuminated Bar by SEBASTIAN-Z

All businesses have have their growth and then contraction. Lego continues to sell a luxury toy that is very, very expensive. They have enacted price controls which if they had corporate headquarters in the good OK USA would have them facing government prosecution. I believe they are producing too many sets from too many themes. The market is becoming saturated. They are cannibalizing their own sales with too many products. They are making lots of one of sets and also losing the creativity of the toy, which is what made it popular to begin with. The cause of their salvation was licensed themes, it will be their demise. They could learn a lot from afols and the mocs they build, creative. Greed and arrogance are going to catch up with them. If I wasn't an investor I would not be spending these kind of dollars for the vast quantity of new sets. I make a very healthy living and still wouldn't do it. People on this site buy extras to sell to fund their hobby. Lego istarting to ban these people, their actual target market. It is idiocy. Those are some thoughts.

Until Lego bans Timmy grandma for buying a set or two I don't think that will affect their bottom line or policies . Seems to me they have a near perfect record of only banning resellers . The day Lego wants/begs resellers to buy their product is the day Lego investment goes down the tube . If the end consumer doesn't want it who will the investor sell to ?

Walmart Clearance after a lot of footwork.

I'm not an Avengers fan but even I have to admit (like the Sea Cow), seeing the Helicarrier in pictures don't do it justice. It looks awesome in-person.

The replies seem to have been mis-quoted. No worries; I fixed it.

All this dislike and ambivalence for the set makes me think this is the next Sea Cow.

We already have a thread on this, but since you're asking. 1. Holiday Special 2. Wrath Of Khan

Palace Cinema...with some personal modifications. I have always admired the aesthetic style of this theatre and was happy to finally have a used one cross my path to build. The build was overall an enjoyable experience. The interior is not the most detailed of the modulars, but the exterior makes up for it in spades. Book 3 was very enjoyable to see how the roof, marque, and most impressively, the Palace sign come together. I enjoyed adding my little touches although I funged up the Shawshank poster. It adds charm though! I still may create stadium-style seating in the theatre, but for now I have a bank to build!

It will remain underwhelming for the rest of your life if you take a look at this.

Heres a BIG shout out to Lego for finally putting a minifig in a wheelchair! It is in set 60134, kind of a park setting. As a father of one boy in a chair, and another who is almost wheelchair bound, this is a sight for sore eyes. My boys have MOC'd many wheelchairs, but it is refreshing to see them design a specific wheelchair piece. Thank you Lego!