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"Sound the alarms, the base is being assaulted!" "By how many?!" "Two!" "Two AT-ATs?!" "No, two guys." "Oh."

How is there an assault on the base without an AT-AT (or at least one available for sale in the current set line-up)?! It should be called Wednesday at Hoth Base.

How did the rebels loose the Hoth base again? They outnumbered the Imperial Army 7 to 2 !!!

Only if you sell them.

Let's not get into this here please. Take it to Daily Discussion, or just let it be. Thanks...

Looks like crap. LEGO standards are lowering.

This is what you need guys!

There have been many recent articles, all over the web, in local papers and on the radio. They're saying that LEGO investing is better than gold. It's sensationalist. It excites the imagination. It sounds easy. These articles point up the sets that have increased in value many times above their initial costs. Dreamers sweep store shelves expecting instant returns and easy money. Conventional wisdom says that you'll never lose money on LEGO, it will always be worth at least what you bought it for. What if it's not? I'd like to take a journey through the dusty backrooms of stores and the dark corners of investor's storage areas to look at some themes that proved to be so unpopular that if their demand and value hasn't remained flat, it actually got worse. These are themes that got the same market push as every other theme, but failed to capture the target audience. Let's take a look at some licensed themes from recent history: The first theme that we'll take a look at is Prince of Persia. Disney's attempt to turn a video game franchise into a profitable film franchise. LEGO released 6 Sets consisting of 7569 Desert Attack, 7570 The Ostrich Race, 7571 The Fight for the Dagger, 7572 Quest Against Time, 7573 Battle of Alamut, and 20017 Dagger Trap Polybag. All combined, this theme sold at retail for a total of $190.95 (Pre Tax of course,) the current value of these sets averages to $178.75. That's a return of 94% of the initial investment. It would be worse if not for the Polybag, which I calculated at retail of free because I couldn't find any data about cost. (So, I assumed it was free.) The second licensed theme that we'll discuss is The Lone Ranger. (Personally, I loved these sets and wanted more. {if I could get them on steep discount.}) Disney released the Lone Ranger to poor reception and poor reviews. The days of the Western might be dead, and this theme sure did seem like a nail in the coffin. This theme consisted of 6 sets and 2 Polybags. They are 79106 Cavalry Builder set (How they can be cavalry without horses I don't know. I guess Artillery is confusing,) 79107 Comanche Camp, 79108 Stagecoach Escape, 79109 Colby City Showdown, 79110 Silver Mine Shootout, 79111 Constitution Train Chase, 30260 Lone Ranger's Pump Car, and 30261 Tonto's Campfire. The combined retail total before tax is $291.92 but when I get the average sold price for the last 6 months on Bricklink they sold for a grand total of $283. Slightly better than Prince of Persia with 97% remaining value. It's probably not LEGO's fault that these themes died on the vine. Some might argue that if the source material had been better received, there would be greater demand on the aftermarket. It's a fair argument, but you could also point out that if LEGO had done a better job on the sets, they might have succeeded despite the failures of the original properties. If you think it's the fault of the source material, let's take a look at a LEGO owned theme that they got very wrong. For our non licensed theme we'll look at the horror of Galaxy Squad. It is a continuation/expansion of the classic Space theme. Science Fiction has been popular for a long time, and little boys have always wanted to be an astronaut and kill space bugs. This theme had a whopping 10 sets and 2 polybags. The sets are 70700 Space Swarmer, 70701 Swarm Interceptor, 70702 Warp Stinger, 70703 Star Slicer, 70704 Vermin Vaporizer, 70705 Bug Obliterator, 70706 Crater Creeper, 70707 CLS-89 Eradicator Mech, 70708 Hive Crawler, 70709 Galactic Titan, with polybags 30230 Mini Mech, and 30231 Space Insectoid. That's about 4000 pieces of fun right there. All of those sets together would cost $479.38 at retail before tax. How much is Bricklink's average sold price for the entire series? $320. You're losing a full third of your initial investment if you bought these at retail and sold them for the average price. Are these the only themes that have lost money? By no means. Early predictions are putting the future of Chima in the toilet. I'll let those of you inclined to do so research other past themes to see which ones should cause speculators to run for the hills. For those people who jumped in head first, thinking that investing in LEGO would be like printing money, this should serve as a sobering wake-up call. If you had bought any of these themes at retail, you'd have saved yourself time by handing $5 bills to random people on the street, or better yet, save the money by burying it in a coffee can in your backyard. With every success story and humble brag about the times when someone guessed right, there's someone cursing the hundreds or thousands of dollars tied up in inventory, eating storage space. What can you do with all those Ostrich Races or Crater Creepers? I hear Toys for Tots accepts any toy that is unopened and unwrapped. You could break them down for parts, but that's a whole different headache. The average values that I list are not a complete indication of the value of these sets. Looking at Bricklink, many have sold or are currently available for notably less than the average. On the other hand, some bought these sets at significantly below average pricing. Prince of Persia has 2 unique animals (ostrich and camel) that have some demand on the parts market. Some people are making money on these sets. Smart money avoided these themes from the beginning, most even avoided them on clearance. Some, however, are wondering if it's possible to use these sets to make storage for their moneymaking investment. If you haven't thought about it, even if you sold at the listed average price, the amount of your return is at least 7% lower due to fees. If you're buying LEGO for investment and you don't know or don't care about the themes that you are buying, chances are that you're throwing money away. View full blog article

Perhaps they meant to call the set "Insult on Hoth" ?

I don't usually post here, but........ My wife went to a large consignment sale last night and sent me a text of a picture of a Detectives Office. I thought she was pulling my leg. Price on box said $98. I asked if it was sealed she said yes. When she came home I inspected the box and sure enough brand new sealed DO for $98.

Looks like an insult to the gold seal

As a general rule of thumb in not just Lego Investing, but in collecting in general, in terms of what will appreciate in value, is that if it displays well, it will do well. In my 34 years of collecting that is ultimately what I have learned. As a child, I collected anything and everything of any theme. I was a huge trekkie in the 1990's and that was a total disaster, however, the only items that retained some value, and even potentially appreciated were the ships. Why did the ships appreciate, and not the endless amounts of action figures. Because it is DISPLAYABLE. People want to pay money for things they can display. Many people buy things to have a complete collection, but ultimately, the items that ALWAYS sell for the most are the ones that are the most displayable. My gobs of action figures Mint On Card don't matter because you can't put them up in an office and have them be acceptable from a display standpoint without looking bad or cheesy. Some of the nicer action figures these days do pretty well, but again, it must be displayable, not look cheap, and typically the more articulation points the better. But again IT IS DISPLAYABLE. I always use the CEO Rule. If you can imagine this in a CEO's office on a shelf or in a glass display case, then it will likely do well. If you can't it is not as good of a bet. The Lego playsets almost ALWAYS do worse than the vehicles and ships simply because most adults, who are the people can afford to pay 1,000's for a set, do not want to display Arkham Asylum or a Hoth Attack playset in their office. The Modulars do well because they are a series, and many people want to have a whole town, and to have a complete town, they have to buy the first ones, which no one stock piled at the time. As time goes on, people jump on in the middle and then need to buy the subsequent versions. Even a weak IP (intellectual property) or total lack of IP (Think Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower) will do well if it can be displayed. While a strong IP like LOTR and Harry Potter are not a bad thing, There were very few truly ICONIC sets made from those IP's. If there was a UCS Hogwarts, that would have had major potential, but sadly none was ever made. And while there is the ToO, it has not done well in retirement, again, because it is not something I would put in a CEO's office. It has a Goth feel to it, and a business Exec does not want to convey a "Goth" feel. However, Star Wars has a more "intellectual" feel about the property, and most of the vehicles are instantly more recognizable than the ToO. Lastly, an appreciating collectible CANNOT BE A FAD. No matter how displayable something is, if it is a FAD then EVERYONE and their mother will buy one. (Think Beanie Babies, Furbies, etc.) With a Fad eventually the market will shrink as the Fad dies. As with anything, pricing is based on supply and demand. When a fad dies, the supply is massive, and the demand miniscule causing the implosion in prices. Why is my Star Trek Collection worthless, cuz it was a fad. Why are my beanie babies worthless? Cuz it was a fad. While Franklin mint items are beautiful to display, they were again Fads, and people bought them in droves as they believed they would be worth something some day. Legos are NOT a fad. Even though Legovesting is more popular now, it is still not a FAD. There are not groves of people lining up outside stores so they can invest in Legos. People do not call every store in the area so they can buy legos. Not only are Lego's not a fad, but the number of Lego fans grow worldwide EVERY YEAR. Lego's are universal and loved in every country. Legos are displayable AND socially acceptable to have in your office. I have many toys and Lego's in my office and most people find them amusing and entertaining. The toys I keep in my office that are not legos are typically very well made Sci-Fi ships with nice display value such as the Art Asylum Star Trek Series, Bandai Star Trek Model Series, and Battlestar Galactica Moebius ships. The business executive professional market increases the market value tremendously, and is what allows the toys to sell for hundreds and thousands. Children are NOT likely to spend 2000 on a MF or Taj Mahal. Adults with expendable income will though. This is why the bigger the set, the more people are willing to spend for it. Most people willing to spend 3000 on a Taj Mahal do not want Minifig clone armies displayed in their office or their house. The professional DEFINITELY DOES NOT want Chima, Lone Ranger, Nexo Knights, Friends, or Prince of Persia in their office either. They wouldn't mind a UCS Imperial Shuttle or UCS Slave I though. While some of the sets might return a nice CAGR such as Friends, they will never hit the astronomical heights of the UCS Sets, simply because children do not have the cash to pay 1000 for a friends set. Lego's are like the Apple of the toy world, and as such are able to command higher prices than the average toy.

I sent you my pic in private .. Smh

As somebody who is a fan of Star Wars that doesn't own any Hoth sets, I'm still not impressed and won't be buying this. Price aside (PR has 300+ more pieces for $90 less; Disney/Star Wars "tax" is becoming out of control), it's nothing special. Back to waiting for a UCS AT-AT.

Meijer has most of the Spring Star Wars sets out plus 15% off this weekend. YMMV

Given the nature of the opinions on this board (from here) the 75098 UCS Assault on Hoth should be retiring shortly.

This is the worst thing ever. I don't mean the worst Lego set ever, I mean the worst thing humanity has ever created in all of recorded time!

Unfortunately I was right.

I bet that extra $100 you need to spend to get a Ghostbusters HQ isn't looking that bad after all. I already have gift cards with GBHQ written on them waiting for the next 2x VIP.

Your Shop Your Way Choice Benefits should be available for this quarter. Don't get suckered into the $15 back on $40 or $20 back on $50. You should probably have a 100% back on $50 purchase (one item) selection. I usually pick this, unless I choose one of the other products/incentives. They have some good deals on luggage, 75% back in points on a lawnmower, 75% back on a storage shed, Craftsman stuff, etc.

It comes with all three new " shooters" .. the new six-stud shooter a flick fire the single-stud pistol shooter LOTS of play value there. ** Edit.. no helicopter though. Is the snowspeeder the new Star Wars helicopter? **

I really want to know how TLG is defining UCS. Forget investment aspect for a minute, as a builder and a big fan , this is a disgrace to the subtheme if the pic is in fact accurate .

TRU is offering bonus rewards on LEGO. 2x rewards for non CC and 3x for CC purchases. *Offer valid for Rewards''R''Us Members only. Membership number must be presented at time of purchase. Bonus points eligible for LEGO products only through 2/20/16. Cannot be combined with “R”Us Credit Card account opening discount or Special Financing promotion. Visit Toysrus.com/myrewards for full program terms.

TLG decided to help out the reseller scum this time .

I don't know if the sole purpose of this website is for investment research. I like to think of it as a community of LEGO fans, collectors, and pure investors. Some people obviously fall into multiple categories. I can think of any number of reasons I love this site, beyond doing investing research. I don't think it's a straw man argument because there has been a fair amount of recent, relevant media attention suggesting that LEGO investing is a sure fire way to achieve great returns. This article is simply a counterpoint to that sentiment. For the seasoned, savvy reseller, this article might seem like obvious points, but for a noobie, maybe not so much.

I didn't know I already have a ucs hoth set.

Ride your firebike into eternity, the wind forever in your face

This makes Home One look like 10179.

I've bought just about every single exclusive since late 2013, and have enjoyed just about every single one of them. But this is definitely on the disappointing side honestly. When I first heard about the $270 batcave, I was pretty excited, but honestly, I have no desire whatsoever to buy it. I might buy this Hoth set, only because I don't have any hoth related items, but even then, it's going to be a tough pill to swallow for $250. Even if the scale looks nice and it's big, it just looks unfinished. It's like a 5 in 1 set, not a single cohesive UCS set. That's one thing I will give Ewok Village over this, it's huge, and all of it ties together. It's not a mishmash of stuff. I, like most of you have waited a very long time to see this, and this is it? I just hope the rumors of a 'bigger, better Death Star' are true, and I really hope the rumors of a UCS Snowspeeder is true as well. Otherwise, outside of flagship technic sets, there won't be much to rave about this year.

This reminds me a lot of the new 60's Batcave. A bunch of freestanding, disparate pieces that have a few cool ideas but when stood on a shelf would look kind of dumb. I have the old Echo Base set and the new small Hoth set too, not to mention a Snowspeeder, so what exactly is in this set that would make anyone want it? Very little, unless you had somehow never acquired any Hoth Lego before and wanted this rather boring thing cluttering up your life. Might go and buy another Ewok Village as that set destroys this one in every aspect.

If they make something better than 10188, it will be $699.99.

I'm preparing for disappointment on this one. I'd love to be surprised and see this set have some display qualities but all signs point to a very expensive bundling of play sets.

Exactly. It's a hobby that pays for itself, and allows us to justify the cost to your spouse or significant other. For myself, when I used to do this back in the mid 2000's it was actually to supplement my income. However, now I have a well paying job, and it's primarily to justify me buying these several hundred dollar lego sets, as it is a bit of a splurge. If you truly need to make significant cash from Lego's it becomes a full time job. The amount of time spent tracking sales, market research, listing, packing, shipping, dealing with returns and customer complaints, etc. starts to consume a massive amount of time. If you have a family and a full time job, it just becomes unfeasible to make more than a couple thousand a month at most with the time investment required, which brings us to which certain investment strategy is best for your lifestyle. For me, the long term hold on the pricey sets is by far the best return for my time, and I suspect it is for any body who does not have the time to churn through packing and shipping 10-15 sets a day for a 10 dollar profit. As you get older, money is no longer your most valuable asset. Time is. Time is money. And spending a couple hours packing and shipping to make a 150 dollar profit is not worth it for most people in this game. With a long term hold you can make potentially 200-300 dollars in a sell and the time it took is the same to pack and sell for a 10 dollar flip. These are vague estimates. Your actual time may vary, but I tried to round to make math easier. 5 min. to buy the item (seconds with amazon 1-click) 5 min. to pick up item from doorstep and store in basement, storage unit in home, etc., 20 min. for market research and to list on ebay, amazon, brick link when it comes time to sell. 10 min. Answer a couple emails on product 30 min. Pack and ship product 30 min.(includes time to put on label, and drive to post office and ship, shipping from home reduces this) 70 total minutes to buy an item and send it out. 200-300 dollars for an approximate hour of someone's time is much more appealing than 10-15 dollars for the same time span for someone that has a full time job, spouse, kids, etc. on top of legovesting. The short term hold yields the same amount "work" time, however, your profit is much lower for the same amount of actual "work." Your dollar per hour wage is that of a fast food worker. If the flip is 30 dollars/hour you've at least moved into a realm of a more respectable "wage." I've done fast food in my youth and college, and I can say I am glad I am past that point. Another obstacle toward the short term flip and an obstacle for anyone with an income is taxes. If you are paying 25-35% on your tax return, suddenly, that 10 dollar profit is reduced to 7.50-6.50. Now we are sub minimum wage. At least a medium term hold would make it worth the effort at that point. Again, this all depends on your tax situation. This is all dependent on if you have the capital to tie up thousands of dollars in Legos for long term. Obviously if you are buying on margin the Long Term hold might not be the best for you. The ideal goal is to have a continual stream of old "mature" stock that you can sell for the 200/hour wage, so you are constantly making a good wage. I managed to achieve this in 2007, but sadly had to shut the biz down due to life changes, and am only getting it restarted. It is my goal to build up a nice portfolio so when I retire I can do this as a retirement gig, when income and therefore taxes are lower. It will also keep myself from being bored in the retirement years. The stock market, while risky, and basically gambling, is highly appealing to many because it takes SECONDS to buy and sell stocks. Your per hour wage can be astronomical. Sadly, stocks are incredibly risky, but with great risk there is potential for great reward. Either way, there are many strategies, you just need to pick the one that works best for your lifestyle, life goals, and how much you believe your time to be worth. I apologize if that was off topic. Mods please move to whatever forum you believe this to relevant.

Hey Folks! Recently I've been displaying more and more custom creations (or just somewhat modified) Vs. actual LEGO designed sets. I guess I've just hit a point where i take more pride in something i have personally designed/fixed/added to. As many of you may have seen a few months ago; i made a large Jurassic World display with most of the JW sets (you can view that below), but as we all know - the JW sets other than the Dino's are pretty lame and not very screen accurate. So it started look a little kiddie on display with my 10179 and Pirate Ships and i took it down. However JP still is one of my favourite franchises and i felt bad not displaying it in some way. So one Saturday i sat down with 5 million chrome tabs open and started brainstorming ideas and looking at parts and other mocs and decided to make a fairly large T-Rex paddock from JP1, three 32x32 tan baseplates to be exact that will span across 2 detolfs like my previous JW display. Normally when i do these builds/fixes i just post pictures of the finished product, but this time i decided to do a build log at the suggestion of my girlfriend (she helped me make some foliage and wanted it shown off haha). Hopefully some of you will enjoy the pictures and/or the finished model, so lets get started! (lots of pictures below). For starters here is my crude "blueprint" courtesy of MS paint: I went with Tan baseplates as most of the road the cars go on is some kind of sand/gravel that resembles tan more than anything else. Also the new green baseplates are way too bright and do not look natural. One problem i know i'll have is the trees available in LEGO form will be fairly tiny and likely be smaller than the fence itself but what can you do. I'm only going to make 1 Explorer as lime green parts are a pain in the ass to get. I actually have a custom explorer un-built that i received as a gift for Christmas from some company that sells custom kits (will post pics and the company when i get around to it). I'll use those monorail pieces for the car tracks which work perfectly. Some of the pieces I've received so far: I'm going to go with black technic axles for the fences. This isn't screen accurate, but it's more doable (most of the fence is grey in the movie) the large foundation will be grey however. The core design of the fence will be based around a design i found on LDD (http://ldd.us.lego.com/en-us/gallery/d1ebd352-7c59-4542-b859-a4efcb6cb429?index=16&searchword=fence). I don't have enough parts to really start much, but i did build a bunch of foliage/tree setups for his cage along with a couple of the fence lights (not shown, picture is corrupt or something): I would really like some more palm trees, specifically the crappy 2 piece ones as they are taller, but any kind of complete palm tree is pretty expensive. So i went to my local LEGO store and luckily they had a couple plant pieces and lots of green pieces on the wall. So i stocked up and combined my parts with theirs to create numerous foliage pieces. I may still end up having to get some more palm trees though if it looks wimpy behind the cage. The final challenge i have is the minifigures. The only figure we have from JP1 is Dr. Wu (who i don't even need for this moc). So i have to custom make them by scouring bricklink/rebrickable for pieces that will match. And ideally flesh tone pieces. I'm only going to go with Tim, Lex, Alan, and Ian to make it easier on myself. Over time i may add more. Also the Explorer will only fit 4 people. The minty fresh baseplates and some decals: That's it for now! i have lots of pieces on the way and eagerly await their arrival. Once I've made some progress i will post again. The only thing i know i'm missing and have still yet to order is the goat figure from Mill Village Raid. Rexy has to have some lunch after all! I've actually posted in the trade forum looking for it, but it's fairly specific that i don't think i'll get any takers but i figured i'd try (link to that post below): Future plans/ideas: A few more characters added, and maybe the JP1 opening scene/Raptor Paddock moc. Thanks for looking!

I'm building that one......assuming it ships.

1/2 price Hoth May 4th, 2017

My 42043 AROCS just arrived ... 2 big shipping boxes both in great condition (given they came from the UK), just a few scratches and punctures but structurally completely sound, and the actual 42043's are pristine inside, very professionally packed with brown paper on top and bottom, and plenty of aircushions on the side. Doing a happy dance now!

Don't they all

This weekend's in-store coupon can be printed here: http://promo.booksamillion.com/save/coupons/isc_160211_prezday.html?&utm_source=prezday1%2002/12&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=prezday1%2002/12/2016&utm_content=header&ad=AD021116&smrtrctid=102800838 Yes, it says it excludes Lego, but I just used it, here... (first 2 items are not Lego. They are my wife's Valentine's Day gift... we've been married a while... )

That's UCS Trash Compactor

This is what you need guys!

The UCS tag has become a marketing tactic and as such they don't have to be very consistent with how they utilize it. At this point it seems to best be defined as a large LEGO exclusive set, nothing more.

Yeah, this might be the first SW UCS set you can lose invested money with...

Sold a pair of pirate ships today. 6280 and 6250, used but complete with instructions. I found a wanted ad on CL and reached out to the buyer, let them drive the first offer and haggled from there. Turns out he was a legit collector and was willing to pay premium to have the opportunity to sit down and verify completion and quality. Spent half an hour with him at the coffee shop, saw some collection/stockroom photos on his phone that would rival many posted here already! Purchased off a fellow Brickpicker a few weeks back, buy-in was $157.63 for the pair. Sold for $340 cash. Went and bought some shelving for my stockroom to celebrate!

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).

Not UCS? What on Earth are you smoking? Never mind, I wouldn't want to smoke it anyway.