New city coast guard pricing

iancam33 · May 2013

Is it just me or are the new coast guard sets uber expensive? I know that the boat hulls are more costly to produce but when it comes down to it set #60014 is off the charts as the worst offender. 449 pieces for $80. Come now, do we really need 3 sharks, a dog and 6 minifigs. The lighthouse obviously is just a filler to add some pieces to the set. Frankly I'd rather have a more detailed boat.

pillpod · May 2013

I agree it's quite overpriced, but the animals and minifigs make it a very playable set...which is probably the main goal of the set.

iancam33 · May 2013

I understand needing playability with a set but the higher number of sharks would be better suited to the surfer rescue set. I find that more and more sets seem to have more characters than what is needed. Give me more building pieces and leave the minifigs to the small accessory sets. If I really want minifgs I'll buy those.

natro220 · May 2013

I'm sorry iancam33, but I think you're in the minority here. Minifigs have become just as important to sets and playability...usually people are arguing in favor of MORE minifigs per set. They need to make the set appealing to their target market - kids - and to do so they need to build playability into the set. The easiest way to do so is with minifigs and animals.

dougts · May 2013

the boat-hull sets are always way overpriced - just look back to the harbor one from two summers ago. Don't worry, I suspect this set will easily be found for 30%+ off if you are willing to wait

iancam33 · May 2013

@natro220. Don't get me wrong I love minifigs but I'd prefer to have unique ones instead of ones that only have a slight difference in their garment. Also, there is the redundancy factor. Right now I have 3 Tonto characters and I just picked up #79110 today so that will make 4 Tontos. How many Tonto minifigs can I play with at once...........I guess I could make like Star wars and have a Tonto clone army.

pillpod · May 2013

Having a Tonto in most or all of the sets works out for everyone. Would you rather there only be a Tonto in one set, which forces people to buy a specific set?

Anyways, if you don't need your Tontos, I could take one off your hands.

iancam33 · May 2013

@pillpod. How about having the "star" minifigs being in the larger, special sets if you will, instead of every set. This would give an added value to those sets. Kinda like the saying "too many chiefs and not enough indians."(and yes I know the true meaning of this phrase) In this case you'd never have giant lego battles because not enough of the peons were in the sets.

I will part with a Tonto for $500 each. Do you want two of them or three perhaps. :)

TheLoneTensor · May 2013

iancam33 said:
@pillpod. How about having the "star" minifigs being in the larger, special sets if you will, instead of every set. This would give an added value to those sets. Kinda like the saying "too many chiefs and not enough indians."(and yes I know the true meaning of this phrase) In this case you'd never have giant lego battles because not enough of the peons were in the sets.

I will part with a Tonto for $500 each. Do you want two of them or three perhaps. :)

I'm more a fan of not having the star figs in only the bigger sets. I don't ever want to be forced to get the bigger sets in order to get all the "stars" (looking at you TMNT).

HokieJoe99 · May 2013

They put an exclusive minifigure in an expensive Star Wars set, sales of the set go up. They put an exclusive minifigure in an expensive Lone Ranger set, you would hear a lot of complaining about how nobody can get that figure rather than increasing sales of the set. That is why Tonto and the Lone Ranger are in most of the sets in the theme.

icey117 · May 2013

Main topic: I jumped too when I saw the prices. First I thought Lego did a bumb-the-prices-up year again.

Aanchir · May 2013

#60014 is expensive, but I don't think that's inexplicable. The giant boat hulls are costly, both in terms of size and the amount of space the package will inevitably require during shipping. The number of minifigures is undoubtedly a factor as well, but note that the price-per-piece has been a little absurd every time a set has included that giant hull. Five years ago, #7739 had about the same piece count for $60. Three years ago, #7207 had 306 pieces for $50. Two years ago, #4645 had 551 pieces for $90.

Now, the one thing that really calls this set's price into question for me is #70006 Cragger's Command Ship. It was released this year for the same price as this set and with just as many minifigures, but with a total piece count of 609, giving it the very best price per piece of any set to ever use this hull. I can't exactly figure why the price per piece would be so different between these sets. Certainly the Coast Guard Patrol has other large pieces like the 8x5x2 white windscreen/slope element, the two 2x4x6 mountain bricks, the four 2x4x5 half-cylinders, the large motorboat hull, a number of assorted large plates, and the pre-assembled 2x8x2 windscreens. But Cragger's Command Ship has its own collection of large parts including eight 6x6 quarter-circle slopes, two 3x12 curved slopes, and two dinghys. It could be that the big motorboat hull is more expensive than its size would make it appear — I do know a sketch model of a lion motorboat using this hull was rejected in favor of the two lion jetskis — but I doubt that's the be-all and end-all of it. Perhaps since it is a Chima set, Cragger's Command Ship's cost is subsidized by the inflated price of the Speedorz sets.

piratemania7 · May 2013

I also wonder what element "summer" plays into this? Any wave during the summer might be subject to higher, or maybe increased awareness by TLG because they know that kids are out of school and will need something to do so mommy and daddy "have" to buy a set or two for them? Or, alternatively, during the summer months especially in the U.S. and Europe people are much happier with the nicer weather and therefore maybe more motivated to easily part with their cash?

I don't know, just spit balling here...

iancam33 · May 2013

Like Dougts said i hope it does go on sale for around 30% off. There are pieces in that I'd like to get my hands on.

natro220 · May 2013

No doubt these will be heavily discounted on Amazon soon after release.

New city coast guard pricing

Comments

Shopping at LEGO.com or Amazon?

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Categories