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But seriously, I don't get the hate for Market St. It may be ugly to some people. But consider that it's a MOC that someone was lucky enough to get made into a real Lego set. And don't tell me that Ideas is the same thing. The Ideas sets are heavily modified and politicized. There's no way another Market St. would happen today. Lego is a gigantic, corporate monolith. Prepare for more generic Castle and Pirate themes and a crap ton of overpriced, minifig heavy IP based themes with small piece counts. But I guess that's what the masses want. Look how popular a goofy theme like Schooby-Doo is here? Boggles the mind of some AFOL for sure.
Market Street is ugly, spartan and looks as if it were made by a 10 year old; that's why the hate. The only reason it has value is because of its (argued) placement as part of the modular series. And you're right, there's no way another Market St. would happen because it's ugly, spartan and looks as if it were made by a 10 year old.
I'm usually not surprised when a wacky or silly theme gets popular. After all, LEGO is a toy, and as such the majority of its appeal is with kids and "kids-at-heart". So themes that seem utterly bonkers (Ninjago, Legends of Chima, Mixels, etc) will often appeal to such people's sense of humor. And a theme like Scooby-Doo that's been a part of people's childhoods for decades can have that kind of appeal with many generations of fans.
Even more "serious" themes like LEGO Star Wars generally take a turn for the sillier when adapted into media like "The Padawan Menace", "The Empire Strikes Out", or even the LEGO Star Wars video games. If these media were just straight adaptations of the Star Wars story in LEGO, they would probably be incredibly boring to many kids and adults. But LEGO has learned through the years that a childlike sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal, and they've made it a part of their DNA.
True, but at the expense of a child's creativity. There have been zillions of Scooby-Doo toys made over the years. What really differentiates the Lego sets from all the rest?
Plus the acknowledgement of child abuse that somehow seems to have been removed by a "mod".
- It was a user-submitted design through the defunct Factory program which had a very limited part selection
- Building techniques and the pieces that allow for them have advanced considerably since the time Market Street was made
- The Factory design probably didn't allow the many techniques and connections. The subsequent official modulars could not have been designed with the tools.
Most of us realize that it was made with limited parts in LDD. This doesn't make it better. If someone tried to sell you a car or house made with limited access to parts and it looked like crap would you buy one?
I guess it is "charming" *rolls eyes in its own way, but I cannot relate to the type or color of the building, especially living in the US. I'm sure there are colorful buildings like MS in Europe.
Obviously, the answer to both questions is that LEGO is a building toy, and pieces from LEGO sets can be rebuilt into whatever you can dream up. You want to make your fire truck or Mystery Machine into a helicopter, a hovercraft, or a snowmobile? With the right bricks and some creative thinking, you can!
What's more, building is not the only type of creative play — storytelling and role-play help to build an entirely different set of creative skills. This is something a lot of online commentators seem to miss when they talk about how "themed sets ruin creativity" and how they wish LEGO would go back to making basic brick buckets only and stop releasing instruction booklets.
"Story play" can even feed right into building, as it can inspire kids to create new things to fit the stories they dream up. Once you have a LEGO Scooby Doo gang, that can be the perfect inspiration to build new locations and mysteries for them to investigate. The sets just offer a small sample of the many types of situations the characters might end up in.
The mother of one of my son's friends is a scientist and actually ask me if I knew where she could get this set. This was back when it was first sold out, it was very popular at her work and I managed to get her 3 (From here).
She loved the fact that it was based around science but also that it showed women in a positive way. So this set was popular in at least some non AFOL/Reseller circles.
I chose Scooby Doo because the sets appear to be derivative of other Scooby Doo toys. Nothing to me stands out as being especially Lego like. It's a common problem with today's Lego sets which is why you see them pushing the new Classic line in attempt to fend off critics.
It's more of an accessory pack. You get some nice female minifigs, a great dino skeleton and a telescope. It would be better if there was an actual research institute structure to build with it. But that would have raised the price and people would still complain. I've been a vocal critic of this set and I can see why it would leave a Star Wars IP based fan cold.
I definitely do not want to get into another long and drawn out discussion about the merits of the Research Institute. I think we have a thread for that :) I will say that my daughters do not need a set like RI to empower them. My 5 year old is self motivated and loves astronomy and science. Their mother is highly successful and their father is all about science and history. I have no doubt that they will do fine whatever they choose as a career :)
Before seeing the cartoons, our kids would have probably been ambivalent. Now after actually seeing the cartoons, I think this theme will be a hit for our entire family.
As far as the Modulars, the TH was an anomaly because it retired out of order and caught many of us off guard. I don't see them going for what people are asking yet. Same with GE, I wouldn't pay anything over $250 for that set right now. Modulars have been decent profit makers, but if you take CC, MS, GG and TH out of the equation, we really only have 2 Modulars to go on and I think there are other sets that one can sink their money into. I think The Tumbler will be a huge winner. Better than Pet Shop or any other modular that might retire within the next 2 years.
I was just looking at the Town Hall on eBay Australia and in the last 10 days 7 have sold at an average price of $510AUD ($394USD) Shipped.
With the Tumbler, and any good set for that mater, I think a that the thing that will have the biggest impact on aftermarket pricing will be how long the set has been out and how quick it goes. Less than 2 years and a sudden disappearance would seem to trump a set that may well be more popular to collectors but lingers for ever and plenty of notice of it finally going.
Fire Brigade Vs. Town Hall is a good example, there is currently 14 FB's listed on AU eBay and the average asking price is actually less than the 9 TH's listed. There was about a year difference in retirement and by all accounts FB was the more popular Mod. It will be interesting to see the prices in another year. (I realise TH had a higher RRP which probably skews the data a little.)