Star Wars Buy-Any-Set Opportunity: What What Would You Choose? (Disclaimer: Hypothetical Scenario)

Kaitch

Here's a hypotheical scenario to get your teeth into. Imagine TLG announce that you can order any Lego Star Wars set they have ever produced, and they'll sell it to you. If they don't have it in stock because it was discontinued twenty years ago, they'll whip up a box, print the instructions and send someone round their brick warehouse. It'll be just the same as the original release. The prices will be decent, proportional to the size of the set but not the age of the design, so you don't have to worry about paying two grand for a 100-piece set from the 90s.

What would you order?

Are you a purist who wouldn't want these custom rereleases? Is there one set you've always wanted? Would you take a chance on something odd just for the sake of it? Or would you not be interested in older, less refined sets, and try to get something you missed out on recently?

Personally, I'd get some of the less-seen older sets. I'd like a copy of every set eventually, so I'd see this as a great opportunity to get something I might only see once every few years on eBay. I'd get smaller, cheaper ones, to get as many as finacially possible. Maybe treat myself to a UCS or two.

(If you want to play this scenario with other themes than Star Wars, I don't mind; I'm just primarily in SW myself.)

Toc13

I've always been partial to Ewok Village.
Still can't quite justify spending £200 on it though

FowlerBricks

Maybe The Death Star. The new one.

willp2003

UCS ISD or shuttle. Missed out on both, but given recent re-releases I'm hopeful of seeing them again one day. 

hoyatables

Probably Cloud City.

Darth_Jar_Jar

7159 *cough* *cough* 10019 Tantive IV

Lego_Lord_Mayorca

Uh, probably just the MTT set that came out in 2007. That is widely considered a gem, and foolish me was too busy graduating high school and starting college back then to get it.

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA

Can I have a UCS Shuttle made with parts moulded from old school pre mixed pellets? 

gmonkey76

I would rather LEGO reprinted the stickers from the awful period where they would just fall apart when you looked at them. Hell as long as we're dreaming I'll take all printed parts as a replacement.

Baby_Yoda

Probably the last minifigure-scale Slave I - that is, 8097. $150 is more reasonable to me now than it was eight years ago. I can't justify the $300 for the still-available UCS version, though.

Mr_Cross

I would want (to stock up on if possible) monorail sets, a variety of other classic space sets, modulars, pirate ships, big technic sets, bat pods, and anything else that contains parts with a crazy price on bricklink, like the large half barrel in light bluish grey, or this windscreen in trans black, or any of the other annoyingly rare pieces that I always seem to want in quantities of more than four but are super scarce and expensive just because "somebody" used that part in a MOC that went viral.
I will stress that I'm not interested in reselling those parts for some hypothetical financial gain, I currently want such a broad spectrum of parts that are unavailable for reasonable amounts of money that I can't ever imagine having enough spare cash to fulfill my wants list... although if I want all the above, I'm not sure I'd have the cash anyway...

If I'm just picking one, wow, probably #928, just to have a new one of my own. I bought mine secondhand and "mended" the box and even though the parts are in fantastic condition, I'd just love another that I bought new myself. I'd open it too. In fact, if money were no object I'd buy a MISB one and open it... that goes for a lot of discontinued sets.

CCC

As it is all hypothetical, I'd get them to make a set they didn't issue. A Helm's Deep sized Battle of Pelennor Fields, including a bit of Minas Tirith, a Witch King on a fell beast, Eowyn and I'd get a Faramir in there too.

mr_benn

The things about most SW sets is that the further along we come, the more redundant (and ugly) the earlier iterations of lots of the repeated stuff - X-Wings and the like - become - so I think in some ways we find ourselves increasingly less bothered about the old SW stuff and simply looking forward to the new.

So I'm not going to choose any old sets (aside from maybe a bunch of cheap battlepacks for original Stormtroopers) - but make them come out with a new minifig scale TIE interceptor and bomber to match the new design of the TIE fighter.  

Legopassion8

Rancor Pit.

I miss my Rancor.

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA

@Baby_Yoda Most cost effective method in O - If you can manage to find the UCS Slave at a Myer 3 for 2 (I'll admit it's unlikely this late in the game) you can, with a bit of wheeling and dealing, bring the cost of keeping a single set down to around $100. - it's what I did.
@Mr_Cross Thanks for that windscreen link!  I'm relatively confident I've identified the most common piece I own in the most colour variations that appeared in single sets!
  It's also damn freaky that the current combined cost of those transblack windscreens is greater than I EVER paid for any of my UCS speeders!
@mr_benn I think that your point of rereleases definitely comes down to personal preference.  I'm willing to admit each new iteration is generally closer to source but IMO opinion (for example) the original Landspeeder and UCS Snowspeeder are considerably more awesome than anything that has come since. A large part of this is definitely age based as either set is SO close to something we could have built in the early to mid eighties. (And tried to do numerous times!)

Bumblepants

Baby_Yoda said:

Probably the last minifigure-scale Slave I - that is, 8097. $150 is more reasonable to me now than it was eight years ago. I can't justify the $300 for the still-available UCS version, though.

The UCS version is incredible though. Worth the difference. 

ucsstarwarsfan

Bumblepants said:

Baby_Yoda said:

Probably the last minifigure-scale Slave I - that is, 8097. $150 is more reasonable to me now than it was eight years ago. I can't justify the $300 for the still-available UCS version, though.

The UCS version is incredible though. Worth the difference. 

The UCS is $200, not $300.

BrickByBrick

^I'm assuming the price is different in Australia, where the poster is from. Australian prices are higher than US because conversion rates

Baby_Yoda

^Exactly.

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA Unfortunately I already know my nearest Myer is dry. I'd prefer a minifigure-scale ship anyway since it would fit with my current collection better, although I certainly wouldn't mind 75060 for only $100! I can afford it now, too, because I won't be getting 75098 anymore. It was sold out when I went to purchase it, online and in-store. I should never have wasted time thinking about it...

MaffyD

Well, if we're keeping it to Star Wars, I'd go for (predictably) the UCS B Wing #10227 , UCS Imperial Shuttle #10212 or UCS Tantive IV #10019 . They're the only ones I want but don't have. The B Wing would be my first choice as it has a unique look, and it's unlikely to get a re-release.

Although saying that, I thought the same for the original UCS MF, so who knows.

Expanding beyond SW: LL-928 #928 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 #8169 Shuttle Expedition #10231 and then the rest of my Wanted list.

MaffyD

And if we're going off the rails and into sets Lego ought to have done: Minas Tirith

Have you ever seen it? The White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners caught high in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?

Not in Lego, we haven't.

Fizyx

MaffyD said:

And if we're going off the rails and into sets Lego ought to have done: Minas Tirith

Have you ever seen it? The White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners caught high in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?

Not in Lego, we haven't.

A UCS Minas Tirith would have been super amazing

SumoLego

Not as awesome as a UCS Serenity... Is that now a Disney property as part of the Fox acquisition?

(I say with a glimmer of hope... and a twinkle in my eye...)

MaffyD

And I almost forgot - UCS USS Enterprise! Or any size Enterprise. Yes, I have the MB version. I would still buy a Lego version.

The Serenity can wait... :-P

560Heliport

^Yes yes yes! I'd buy anything Firefly-related LEGO would make! No chance of a naked Christina Hendricks minifigure, I suppose...

Mr_Hobbles

Cafe Corner
Market Street
Green Grocer
UCS ISD
Metroliner...in new BLEY! (And club car)
Santa Fe...also in new bley (And cars)

I don't ask for much. ;)

CCC

Fizyx said:

A UCS Minas Tirith would have been super amazing

A LOTR SW crossover set?

redarmy

Not something thats ever been produced..but if only there was a life size slave Leia..and it wouldn't need to be glued..

MaffyD

CCC said:

Fizyx said:

A UCS Minas Tirith would have been super amazing

A LOTR SW crossover set?

It's only a matter of time before some Lego employee goes a bit nuts with the 'UCS' brand and inadvertently slaps it on a non-SW set. It gets through into production and everyone goes nuts when it's on the shelves.

And it won't even have a plaque on the base...

CCC

That would be fun.  Especially if it was a single figure polybag, or a small set or something similar.

Kaitch

I was reading through the General Star Wars discussion thread, and was surprised to see y'all had been discussing something similar last year. Except there, the discussion tended to focus on financial viability. Good points were made by both sides. But I really don't think it would be logistically viable.

steveomcl

UCS SSD hands down, £600 - £800 for BNIB is still a stretch for me. Still considering it though.

Fizyx

Okay, this is in no way a real set, this is a mockup that someone did and I just saw posted on Imgur, but if they had a series of these, I would buy multiples of all of them:

CCC

What if they cost $350-375? Essentially 25x the price of a battle pack.

It is not really any different to the Dark Side bucket on cuusoo/IDEAS that made it to review back in 2012.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/9660d6be-6418-4393-89cb-ab8ef2c09dec
 
I think they are better off making battle packs with four figures, than extremely large packs containing 100. Most buyers would be better off too - they would be in the price range of most buyers and you get some parts too, plus you can choose an army size in line with your budget.

SumoLego

Last year, when TRU did a Stormtrooper give-away, there were cases of 'generic' Stormtroopers traveling about the US.

$100 for 100 would probably still be very profitable for LEGO.

CCC

It probably would, but if people are wiling to pay about $3 per figure, why sell 100 for $100?

It would also cheapen the figures, making CMF, battle packs, single figure polys and BAM appear expensive.

Fizyx

CCC said:

It probably would, but if people are wiling to pay about $3 per figure, why sell 100 for $100?

It would also cheapen the figures, making CMF, battle packs, single figure polys and BAM appear expensive.

Honestly, at $300 I don't think it would be terrible.  We all know minifigs are more expensive due to their complexity, and while a lot of these figures can be had for $1.50 or $2.00 on BL, there's definitely something to be said both for getting something straight from the source, without having to order from 10 different places/people.

I actually think for CMFs, Single figure polys, and BAMs, the effect wouldn't be too bad, since those tend to be exclusive or smaller run figures, and a large pack like the one pictured would be made of generic 'mob' type characters.

I DO think it would make LEGO step up their game with the battle packs... and I don't view that as a bad thing.

Good/fun discussion!

Judgeguy

I missed out on the 2014 B-Wing. I want to collect all the rebel ships i.e. the A, B, U, X and Y wings. I have all except the B-Wing and the 2014 one was pretty nice.
The X-Wing I have is the 2006 one which sucks so I would have liked to replace it with the 2012 one but I was in my dark ages when it came out. I think there's an even better one coming out soon though so I'll grab that.
Also, I wish I got the 2014 MTT (I know right!) and 2013 Battle of Hoth. 

I also really want the Wookiee Catamaran from 2005. Surprisingly it only has about 360 pieces so it wouldn't be expensive if it came out today.

CCC

Fizyx said:

Honestly, at $300 I don't think it would be terrible. 

If they are going to sell 100 for $300, then they might as well sell 10 for $30 or 4 for $12, as they will probably sell more overall - to both collectors that want 100 and those collectors that cannot afford 100. If they did boxes of 100 only, there woul dbe complaints that it is too many in a box. They could go the other way, and do boxes of 1000 for $3000 for real army builders, not those wannbee army builders that think 100 is an army. Of course, it highly limits the target market but I'm sure some would buy although many would complain about the cost.

Baby_Yoda

That'd be interesting. Why buy a state-of-the-art desktop computer, for example, when you could have one thousand Lego stormtroopers?

SumoLego

CCC said:

It probably would, but if people are wiling to pay about $3 per figure, why sell 100 for $100?

I think a $100.00 price point for a generic minifigure would not 'cheapen' the market.  The CMFs are different.  And the battle packs offer more variety.  $100.00 is not particularly expensive as LEGO goes, but that's a totally different buyer than the impulse-buy CMF packet, or the $12.99 battle-pack buyer.

I don't know too many people that would be at the $200.00 pricepoint for 100 figures.  Or definitely $300.00.  There should be some sort of volume discount.

(It's that how warehouse stores like Sam's, Costco and BJ's market?)

andywilson

How about a Holiday Special Wookie Family set?

colay

Is this actually a hypothetical post? Reason I ask is, I remember reading an online post 18 months ago somewhere, that this is actually going to happen. I've also heard strong rumours that something similar is going to happen and render older sets less valuable. But, that's all they are, rumours.

In answer to your question, I'd love to be able to get the Star Destroyer. Oh, and Tantive IV

CCC

SumoLego said:

CCC said:

It probably would, but if people are wiling to pay about $3 per figure, why sell 100 for $100?

I think a $100.00 price point for a generic minifigure would not 'cheapen' the market.  ...

I don't know too many people that would be at the $200.00 pricepoint for 100 figures.  Or definitely $300.00.  There should be some sort of volume discount.

The idea of a volume discount is nice for collectors to amass a large army. But I think it would cheaper the market. The problem with a volume discount means that resellers control the market. If collectors (or kids) wanting a small-ish army want or can afford 10 or 20 or 50, they cannot get the box. If LEGO sold a generic stormtrooper for $1 a piece but only in boxes of 100 / 500 / 1000, then people buying those boxes would control the price of the figure. If LEGO sold the same figure inidividually for $3, the ceiling price would be set but there is still plenty of room for resellers to make a profit and control what sales are made. Resellers would take away sales from the official LEGO sales. If LEGO didn't sell it, the ceiling would be set by the market.

Of course, it depends on the figure, but if they did a popular army builder figure like a stormtrooper (or Spartan or Roman, etc) then $200 for 100 seems pretty cheap. Even $300 seems reasonably cheap.

SumoLego

^ Oooo... I love it when you talk economics and market behavior to me.

I completely agree that it would primarily undercut the battle packs market, and essentially create a class of minifigure wholesalers in the secondary market.  I agree that you'd have to set the figure price atleast at $2.50 in order to maintain the integrity of other products in the market.  

But it's nice to dream about a Stormtrooper Pieces Tub that isn't cost-prohibitive...

Addicted2Oxygen

For me there are 3 sets:
- Tantive IV
- Jabba the Hutts palace
- Rancor Pit

The last two would have to be together. 

Kaitch

Y'know what would be nice? All those promos from five/ten/fifteen years ago you missed out on...

CCC

Kaitch said:

Y'know what would be nice? All those promos from five/ten/fifteen years ago you missed out on...

I certainly wouldn't mind rehashed chrome stormtroopers and Vader, although I'd prefer them to be updated not just re-released as they were. Even a new chromed R2 would be nice.

Baby_Yoda

Addicted2Oxygen said:

For me there are 3 sets:
- Tantive IV
- Jabba the Hutts palace
- Rancor Pit

The last two would have to be together. 

I know a guy who's had Jabba's Palace half-built under his bed since it was released. He hardly even lives in that house anymore - it's at his parents' and he boards for college. I swear one night I'm gonna sneak in there and steal it. He would never notice.