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It is an Ultimate Collector's Series because it ultimately collects series of smaller sets into 1 big set.

Here are the official pictures:

Best way to display the 10179, in my opinion! Just pure awesomeness!

Got a used for display sandcrawler complete with box and instructions for $150 cnd...

After a somewhat long absence from writing articles, I decided that a good way to try and get back into the rhythm was to revisit one of my 2013 articles, The LEGO December Effect. For those of you who have not had the time to read the previous article, back in 2013 I noticed an interesting price trend for the most expensive sets: they seemed to take a big deep in value in the month of December. Back then, I decided to compile some data for a few of the most expensive sets at the time and do a comparison between their November and December value. The table below is the one I originally used. It is pretty apparent that a majority of the sets in the list dipped quite significantly in the month of December, with the Eiffel Tower dropping a whopping 33% alone. However, it is important to remember that these expensive sets also tend to have the lowest sales in terms of quantity, a factor that result in one out of the norm sale to affect the set’s value in the Price Guide. Back then some theorized that one of the possible reasons for this deep in price could be that AFOLs, by far the most likely group to spend hundreds of dollars in these sets, put a temporary stop in their set spending in order to prepare for the holiday season. I also noticed that there seemed to be an increase in supply for these sets in the months leading up to and including December. This coupled with the above theory about collector spending gave a pretty decent explanation for the “December Effect” at the time. A couple of years have passed and I honestly regret not keeping track of this and analyzing it on a yearly basis, as the more data we had the easier it would be to determine if it was a fluke or an actual recurrent event. But, no point in worrying about what could have been while there is still time to show what happened in the last holiday season. The table below includes the same sets I researched back in 2013 and some others that have since retired or significantly increased in value. They are sorted from Largest to Smallest set value. Surprised? I certainly am. While a plurality of the sets in the table still decreased in value, the number of sets that didn’t is as close as it could be without being the same (12 vs. 11). More significant is the fact that the magnitude of the dips in value seems to have been smaller in this past year, with none of the sets decreasing by more than 10%. Something crossed my mind while I was looking at this table. Could the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens have generated enough buzz that interested for older UCS sets was impacted? Looking at the average decrease in price from November to December shows that while all the sets in the table aggregate to around (1.16%), Star Wars sets decreased at a lower rate (0.75%) relative to the (1.70%) of the remaining sets. For reference, the numbers in my last post were pretty much even at (8.3%) While there seems to be a small variance between Star Wars and other sets this time around, it is very hard for me to say that this is completely due to the release of the new movie. If the non-SW sets had performed similar to the way they did in 2012, it would be easier to make that point, but that wasn’t the case. In conclusion, it seems that the “December Effect” was nowhere near as strong this year as it was the year I originally noticed it. Clearly, we need way more data to determine if it is even a thing, but for that we will have to, once again, wait until next year! Thanks for reading! You can revisit one of my 2013 articles, The LEGO December Effect to gain more insight on this topic. View full blog article

Amazon.com : cargo train 60052 : $133.79

Exact same plot points does equal remake. Both Rebels and bad guys are pursuing a droid with secret information who winds up on a desert planet where his owner sends him away to escape capture. Said droid is found by a mysterious youngster with parental abandonment issues that has a connection to the Force and the main bad guy who then leave the planet after fighting some locals with the aid of a stranger aboard the Millennium Falcon with Han and Chewie. There is an alien bar scene with the heroes and someone with knowledge of the Force, a rebel planet is destroyed by the Death planetoid, the droid is delivered to the rebels, there is a break and enter and escape from the planetoid following a confrontation between an old man and the bad guy in black where the old man buys it otherwise our heroes are never hit by laser blasts, and then there is a fighter assault on the planetoid where it is destroyed by an impossibly lucky X-wing pilot amidst a big dogfight. Which movie am I describing?

I just wanted to warn you guys. If you open up up these blind bags, know that these two characters have a long standing beef. Keep 'em separated!

Right out of their packages, Hook and Pan get right into it. Pan commandeers Hooks ship and makes him walk his own plank. Guess who shows up then? Later, against all odds, Hook and Pan join forces against Queen Elsa, who was getting dangerously overzealous with her ice powers.

Father's Day is coming up . Time for a hint. note to self: make sure Mother's Day gift is well appreciated

Unquestionably, the older expensive sets do sell for less (on avg) in Dec. Between the collectors who take a seasonal break in buying for themselves, some collectors who need to sell that rare set in order to get funds for holiday shopping, and the influx of Seasonal sellers who plan on selling set XYZ for as much as they could get (regardless of its price), this inevitably has a negative short term effect. What people need to keep in mind that these expensive sets did not suddenly become less valuable in Dec (regardless of the data). It should remind us that statistics can be deceiving (especially when there is limited data within a time frame) - They simply don't always show the reality of what is actually happening.

Anyone who builds Technic MOC supercars will know about this ICARUS Supercar. It was so much fun to build this car by the great Madoca1977. This supercar has 4 Large motors propelling it, a servo motor for steering and two lights and two LiPo batteries for power. I have substituted the Sbricks in the original build with two V2 receivers and a pole reverser so I can use only one IR receiver. This supercar looks amazing at every angle which is partly due to Madoca1977's crazy use of angled panels. It was tricky to assemble it with instructions, so the upmost respect to someone who can imagine, design and assemble models of this complexity!

42056 has now been announced as a June 1st release, and it will be Lava Orange, as speculated: https://www.facebook.com/LEGO/videos/10153647882953403/

Nobody in their right mind...

Hmm, movie 7 just told Disney that people wanted same old / similar elements in their SW movies (and SW fans will watch anything with SW on the title ). This is actually disturbing for movie 8.

UCS = Ultimate Collector Series - that to me indicates this is meant for Collectors, i.e. the adult/late-teen audience. If it's a playset, it doesn't really fit with the UCS tag. So I can see how people might be upset about LEGO using this on AoH. I know it is all semantics anyways, and I tend to agree with those who think it was Disney who pushed for this designation.

Call Mark

Got this off of Brickset, but this book has wonderful little MOCs. Might get a copy for the kids:

Biggest thing I notice is several retired sets would have made great investments in 2013 despite their inflated cost over rrp. I had no interest in a $900 Grand Carousel back then but it would have been a great investment.

It's not the price that's high here...

Not many would complain if it was a regular set priced around $200. Iconic SW themes are bound to be rehashed after all and I can imagine many people who don't have a good Hoth setup. People are offended because they put the UCS tag on it like it was special and charge the corresponding premium markup.

finally came across these in the wild at my honey hole walmart. there was a box which i took out and counted - 58 - as i was putting it back saw a second unopened case which i snagged - knew they would open it up front so i opened it myself and counted 60. daughters went crazy when i got home and smooshed 18-18 zero misses - easiest series i've ever smooshed.

as I child, that would probably be the best imaginable Christmas present ever.

You forgot one. My personal fav. How about it lego?

I loved the line about how much bigger it was this time. To paraphrase Crocodile Dundee - That's not a space station, this is a space station.

The risk (up front cost) to reward (box office) is pretty cruel to untried commodities in today's Hollywood. The low budget John Carpenters and George Romeros of the world have gone to Youtube and live in their parents' basements.

True, I feel the TV shows are better and more creative than the movies in recent years.

Good point. I really have no idea why I stopped in December, that would definitely be an interesting thing to see. Maybe I can add it at some point this week. That's kind of what I did back in 2013. Then, we had eBay data about quantity sold per month, so one could see the peaks in the holiday season. Unfortunately, it seems eBay does not provide us with that data anymore.

I didn't dislike it. Just thought it was disappointing to see a remake. They had dozens of directions they could have gone. Star Wars is a massive universe with so much potential yet they went down a path we've already walked. I'll go into Ep 8 with an open mind just like I did with 7 having read no reviews or spoilers. I just don't want to see an excellent franchise end up like Marvel with all of their watered down films that get spewed forth and gobbled up each year. Maybe all of our internet complaints will change Disney's mind about how they handle future storylines?

That's just not true, from the first images in January it was speculated that the final car would be Lava Orange since Porsche almost exclusively used that color to promote the real car: http://www.porsche.com/microsite/911-gt3-rs/usa.aspx#intro

Yup, will be as limited as Exo Suit too. I can smell fingers burning.

KMart magic makes turd look like gold

This might be the first time I've been accused of having something resembling "standards"

I think these are some of the most beautiful sets produced by TLG, and most of them have several play bits put into them. But it does seem like it hasn't been quite as big of a hit as they thought it might be. I also, though, remember when the first series of Friends was all put at 30% by WalMart and looked like it might tank, so a little time might make a difference here also.

My thoughts exactly. Amazing box, manual, and inner packaging treatment. That's where the extra cost was put into.

I was shopping around a little this morning and everything was ok. They may be updating some prices, or better yet, 50% off SSDs, today only! We've had better prices on City Square, so I won't blame you for this one.

I still think LEGO should create "Porsche custom color" add-on sets that include only the orange plates in different color (say 1 set for red, 1 for white, and another for black). For $100 a set they would make a killing on those plates

*crickets chirping*

Had an amazing find, I feel...Fire Brigade with ~60 missing pieces for $35 at a garage sale.

Between Scooby's Haunted Lighthouse, Friends' Heartlake Lighthouse, Ninjago's Lighthouse Siege, and this Lighthouse Point, you could say LEGO has gone rather lighthouse crazy. Ha. Still I love the killer whale here and though it took them a while I must admit they perfected the curvature of a real lighthouse.

and rear view.

1 Sealed SHIELD Helicarrier at Target in Mansfield, TX for $244.98. Must be an online return. I passed but that's a great price if you're interested. It's on an end cap with some other avengers items.

Voltron - Defender Of The Universe Submitted on April 11, 2016. Already at ~5700 votes. As a child of the 80s - I *need* this to happen.

I stacked 3 TRU vouchers and bought this for £34 recently, I've been putting off buying it because I wasn't sure how good the finished product would be, but I have to say, best £34 I've spent on lego. Very under rated set. Surprisingly big for an RRP £70 and with a MOC stand it looks great displayed. If you haven't got this yet, pull the trigger. I've put it next to the huge Helicarrier to show scale

I like this set. It is bad enough to finally focus LEGO's attention on the fact that the target customers of this scale/price point don't want trash. The desperate damage control going on over Brickset is a testament to this. If the existence of this set was needed for this realisation then I welcome it.

I made the chassis, put my own body design on top and added power functions. With 3 or 4 medium sized sets it can be done for around 200 euros.

As finished touch, Lego satisfied the Dutch...I love the orange!