Predictions on Discontinuing Sets and their Secondary Market Value

Chubbles · November 2015

Maybe that's why they are shutting down this line now to create enough of a gap between this line and the new one that will be coming.

Sethro3 · November 2015

Or maybe pirates aren't as popular and LEGO is realizing that now.

I love pirates, don't get me wrong, but I never see kids playing "pirate" anymore. They don't pretend to be medieval knights. no one is a cowboy these days. A lot of play items are geared toward more sci-fi it seems. GotG, Dr Who, SW of course. Even Avengers had a lot of tech stuff.

Which makes me think Nexo Knights might actually be a hit. It combines the classic medieval knights with sci fi...although, it could just as easily be a huge miss.

Chubbles · November 2015

That's a direct result of kids playing what they are exposed to. There are no good pirates shows besides the super kiddy stuff, no good cowboy stuff except the failed lone ranger, and the medieval stuff has been replaced by GoT type of things which tend to incorporate more dragons and zombies than your typical stuff from that era. Super Heroes and Fantasy have taken over.

Kralaskan · December 2015

That's no moon, that's a space station! Had to say it. Lol.

MrJ_NY · December 2015

Who wants to buy Pirates when they stopped making blue/water colored baseplates...meh

Legoboy · December 2015

There was rumour going back 10 months I think that a mk 2 was it's way with updated figs. I heard it from a couple of staff at the time but have heard nothing since.

wagnerml2 · December 2015

Obviously no one has been to Disney World lately. Plenty of pirates wandering around that place, granted they are Jack Sparrow, but they have entire nights at the Magic Kingdom for pirate parties. Now Cowboys and Indians on the other hand......

Legoboy · December 2015

^^ Completely out of context. What happens when you miss the new page of posts.

ModulaR · December 2015

That is a fair point... but look at it on the shelf (mine has been there for 5 years now), it is really showing some age...

The minifigs show it the most, and I'd be concerned at some point if I was TLG that it no longer shows off their best foot. It is quite different now to all the new sets, from the quality of the instructions (the book is physically good, but the design is old) to the figure design, to the box itself.

(Re: Death Star) Out of curiosity, what exactly do you mean about the instructions?

I guess that from my perspective, if the set it still selling, that is incentive to not bother updating it. I would even say that it has an increasingly unique charm owing to its box art style. The human minifig faces are rough, though.

LegoFanTexas · December 2015

ModulaR said:

That is a fair point... but look at it on the shelf (mine has been there for 5 years now), it is really showing some age...

The minifigs show it the most, and I'd be concerned at some point if I was TLG that it no longer shows off their best foot. It is quite different now to all the new sets, from the quality of the instructions (the book is physically good, but the design is old) to the figure design, to the box itself.

(Re: Death Star) Out of curiosity, what exactly do you mean about the instructions?

I guess that from my perspective, if the set it still selling, that is incentive to not bother updating it. I would even say that it has an increasingly unique charm owing to its box art style. The human minifig faces are rough, though.

If you open a Star Wars instruction book from 2005, then 2010, then 2015, you'll see many small differences, or at least I do. Maybe I pay too much attention, or build too many sets, but I can almost tell the age of a set by looking at a random page from the instructions.

They have gotten much better in quality, in showing where to put parts, how many parts per step, the list of parts needed for each step, and how much to do for each step.

Or maybe I have just lost my mind, who knows. :)

CCC · December 2015

^ or gotten much too easy to follow :-)

brumey · December 2015

^^
OR

pirates is getting merged with ninJAHgo

bok2 · December 2015

CCC said:

^ or gotten much too easy to follow :-)

In the good old days kids (and/or their parents) were assumed to be smart and/or like a challenge. Today we know this is not the case!

brumey · December 2015

bok2 said:

CCC said:

^ or gotten much too easy to follow :-)

In the good old days kids (and/or their parents) were assumed to be smart and/or like a challenge. Today we know this is not the case!

thats why i play demons and dark souls ......

people dont want a challenge nowadays! sadly

Aanchir · December 2015

bok2 said:

CCC said:

^ or gotten much too easy to follow :-)

In the good old days kids (and/or their parents) were assumed to be smart and/or like a challenge. Today we know this is not the case!

Personally, I think today's sets offer plenty of challenge without that challenge having to stem from unclear (i.e. poorly-designed) instructions. How does making it easier to miss a part help anybody? I've made plenty of mistakes in building sets before, even with recent sets, and it doesn't make building the sets any more fun or rewarding for me. It just adds unnecessary confusion or frustration, especially if you make it several more steps without noticing your mistake and then have to backtrack to see where you messed up.

And as for instructions getting longer due to having fewer parts per step, I actually think that makes the building experience MORE rewarding, not less. There's something really validating about watching a model come together piece by piece, slowly but surely — whether it's a $20 LEGO City "Great Vehicle", a $70 Ninjago dragon, or a giant display piece like the Modular Buildings. Turning the set into a race to complete the model in as few steps as possible takes some of the fun out of that. Also, coming from a household with two siblings, I build many sets together with a partner, alternating steps. And that's much more fun for me when we get to alternate back and forth more frequently.

Sethro3 · December 2015

It is interesting. I've been building old space sets from my youth lately. So looking at a lot of early 90s set instructions compared to the newer versions I've built with over the last year. It is amazing how few steps a giant set was in the 90s compared to now.

Certainly some pieces are going to get overlooked.

binaryeye · December 2015

madforLEGO said:

If another PoTC movie was not coming out next year (which will likley reintroduce the line), I would say they could go up.

So you're saying they could go up? Dead Men Tell No Tales is currently scheduled for July 2017.

madforLEGO · December 2015

binaryeye said:

madforLEGO said:

If another PoTC movie was not coming out next year (which will likley reintroduce the line), I would say they could go up.

So you're saying they could go up? Dead Men Tell No Tales is currently scheduled for July 2017.

Ah, did not realize the movie is not out until 17 (as I thought they were filming it now) so yeah it could go up, but again what likely will increase its value is the pirate ship. Im not sensing the other sets (maybe that soldier fort) would rise too much. But just my 2 cents

SithLord196 · December 2015

I'm not that shocked to see the Pirates theme gone. I had a feeling it might be gone by the end of the year when the chess set ended up for sale somewhere during the summer, and has been on sale twice again since, including currently.

wagnerml2 · December 2015

Sethro3 said:

It is interesting. I've been building old space sets from my youth lately. So looking at a lot of early 90s set instructions compared to the newer versions I've built with over the last year. It is amazing how few steps a giant set was in the 90s compared to now.

Certainly some pieces are going to get overlooked.

Interesting. I am doing the same thing. Just rebuilt my Galaxy Explorer #497 last night. It's a huge ship and was the belle of the ball back in the day. The instructions are only 7 pages and there are MANY more pieces per step than in today's sets. THis struck me. However, the set only has 338 pieces and the build is VERY simple and straight forward compared to today's sets. Bottom line is that a large classic set would be a small-medium size set today based on piece count. When you add in the expansion of the color palette, the use of technic pieces and the shear size and complexity of some of the builds today, its no wonder that the instructions have become more detailed and simple. They have to.

madforLEGO · December 2015

wagnerml2 said:

Sethro3 said:

It is interesting. I've been building old space sets from my youth lately. So looking at a lot of early 90s set instructions compared to the newer versions I've built with over the last year. It is amazing how few steps a giant set was in the 90s compared to now.

Certainly some pieces are going to get overlooked.

Interesting. I am doing the same thing. Just rebuilt my Galaxy Explorer #497 last night. It's a huge ship and was the belle of the ball back in the day. The instructions are only 7 pages and there are MANY more pieces per step than in today's sets. THis struck me. However, the set only has 338 pieces and the build is VERY simple and straight forward compared to today's sets. Bottom line is that a large classic set would be a small-medium size set today based on piece count. When you add in the expansion of the color palette, the use of technic pieces and the shear size and complexity of some of the builds today, its no wonder that the instructions have become more detailed and simple. They have to.

I like the Galaxy Explorer, actually most of the classic space sets. Just really creative sets and really easy for the imagination take over on those when I was a kid. I just had to give classic space up from my collection as I had to trim down my genres because Town/train takes up a lot of space. Though Blacktron I and Space Police I have creeped back into my home lately.
The only issue have building the Galaxy Explorer is ensuring I have the all the plates in the right place when building the base of the ship.

Yodalicious · December 2015

I like and dislike the instructions these days compared to the days of my youth - the 80s and into the 90s. Yes, the instructions are easier to follow, but some steps really do have too few pieces. Yes, this is a kid's toy and should be simplified somewhat, but there are steps that include two pieces. Even my three-year-old is looking ahead to the next step because he's found them so quickly. The build techniques are vastly superior these days, so I completely understand the need for simplified instructions compared to the old days, but in some cases we've reached an almost ridiculous point.

DreamyBongo · December 2015

My 30 year old brothers are both smart people when it comes to putting things together yet they can't put LEGO sets together. People exist that have trouble with current directions.

Sethro3 · December 2015

They should make them even easier to read then!

I actually saw some custom instructions online for some MOC. They had the entire build grayscaled, except for the new pieces. It really made them stand out to know what you needed and where to put them. The new outline helps a lot though too.

Dougout · December 2015

I was thinking about grabbing a few extra Cafe & Bike shops #31026. It isn't a big set, but it might look good to break up rows of modular houses. Then again, maybe I just like too many Lego sets and think just about everything is good.

CircleK · December 2015

Dougout said:

I was thinking about grabbing a few extra Cafe & Bike shops #31026. It isn't a big set, but it might look good to break up rows of modular houses. Then again, maybe I just like too many Lego sets and think just about everything is good.

I was thinking the same if Amazon has them around 30% off again. It's a decent set on its own and should also make for good parts pack. I like builldings in that scale for some odd reason and was happy to see it continued with the upcoming corner Deli. In some ways, I think Creator does a better job at City buildings than City does itself.

If I ever get the time, bricks, and inclination someday then I may try to MOC some buildings in that scale that resemble the Modulars.

Sethro3 · December 2015

I bought the cafe and bike shop specifically to turn into as modular. I find love the set though and wonder why I spent the money.

prevere · December 2015

^I've seen a couple of nice modulars done with 2x Cafe and Bike Shops. Also waiting for the 30% Amazon deal again to grab another.

tecjam · December 2015

^ I managed to grab a 2nd of #31026 at 40% off. I already have one built, but for the price per part I couldn't let a 2nd one slip. I also grabbed a couple more #31036 at roughly the same discount. I quite like the smaller buildings, especially as you can easily beef them up with a 2nd set.

As for instructions, I quite liked the way the Town Hall Instructions has the newly added parts surrounded with a red line. I wonder why they stopped doing that. It seemed like the best way, to me anyway.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/70/rl5fdws6k7i7.png

Did I read somewhere that the new Pirates theme as been discontinued?

brumey · December 2015

getting merged with ninjago

tick1970 · December 2015

so is the At-At #75054 just about done and dusted? finding stock on shelves anywhere is tough

tecjam · December 2015

^^ looks like it. First the Star Detroyer, now the At-At.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/6i/vgbbeewyckj4.png

khmellymel · December 2015

tecjam said:

^ I managed to grab a 2nd of #31026 at 40% off. I already have one built, but for the price per part I couldn't let a 2nd one slip. I also grabbed a couple more #31036 at roughly the same discount. I quite like the smaller buildings, especially as you can easily beef them up with a 2nd set.

As for instructions, I quite liked the way the Town Hall Instructions has the newly added parts surrounded with a red line. I wonder why they stopped doing that. It seemed like the best way, to me anyway.

I think the red outlines are still used, but was just intended to for those builds where it might be difficult to tell that new pieces are required. I have the Architecture Trevi Fountain #21020 which was produced after Town Hall, and the instructions have red outlines where there are all the trans-blue plates are in the model. Pretty thankful for those ones actually, I rarely get confused on a build but that definitely had me scratching my head a time or two!

I also like #31026 for parts, if I can find one at around 50% off I'll probably grab another. The Creator buildings are generally what I'm drawn to collecting anyway but #31026 screams "buy two of me and make me bigger!".

tecjam · December 2015

@khmellymel Thanks for that. I havn't seen the red outlines since the TH, so I presumed they stopped them as none of the newer modulars seem to have them. Glad to know they are still used in certain sets. =)

Yodalicious · December 2015

tecjam said:

Did I read somewhere that the new Pirates theme as been discontinued?

I don't think it's necessarily that it's getting discontinued (or that it merged with Ninjago, because that's not entirely accurate even if Ninjago will have a pirate-theme to it in 2016). I think it's that these themes - Pirates, Castle, even Space to some extent - will have one-off runs from time to time to gauge overall interest. They probably do okay, but not excellent considering the emphasis on licensed themes these days. So they give them a run, spark some interest, AFOLs get excited because they remember them from their youth, and then they get shelved for a period of time before they can come out again.

So not discontinued as much as paused until a later time. I think we'll always see non-licensed Pirates, Castle and Space pop up from time to time. Even with slightly different theming (like Galaxy Squad for instance). But they will mostly be one run and then a waiting period. They won't go year to year like City does.

Sierra26 · December 2015

Quick heads up #31026 is £37.29 on amazon spain 43% off plus post but if you buy a couple works out quite sensible! Might help someone ;-)

AceCobra1 · December 2015

Sierra26 said:

Quick heads up #31026 is £37.29 on amazon spain 43% off plus post but if you buy a couple works out quite sensible! Might help someone ;-)

Does amazon UK account work for amazon US ?

lleeggoo · December 2015

31026 is listed as 'retiring soon' here in Australia

tecjam · December 2015

^^ I presume all of 2014/2015 Creator sets will go as soon as the 2016 sets start to come out, some of which already are.

prevere · December 2015

Is there any consistency with a timeline of retiring soon or sold out labels hitting EU or AU sites before the US site?

tecjam · December 2015

So now 123 (it was 127 this morning) sets are labelled as retiring soon - including the Tumbler, UCS X-Wing, the entire pirates theme and a few lot of others.

leetshoe · December 2015

khmellymel said:

tecjam said:

^ I managed to grab a 2nd of #31026 at 40% off. I already have one built, but for the price per part I couldn't let a 2nd one slip. I also grabbed a couple more #31036 at roughly the same discount. I quite like the smaller buildings, especially as you can easily beef them up with a 2nd set.

As for instructions, I quite liked the way the Town Hall Instructions has the newly added parts surrounded with a red line. I wonder why they stopped doing that. It seemed like the best way, to me anyway.

I think the red outlines are still used, but was just intended to for those builds where it might be difficult to tell that new pieces are required. I have the Architecture Trevi Fountain #21020 which was produced after Town Hall, and the instructions have red outlines where there are all the trans-blue plates are in the model. Pretty thankful for those ones actually, I rarely get confused on a build but that definitely had me scratching my head a time or two!

I also like #31026 for parts, if I can find one at around 50% off I'll probably grab another. The Creator buildings are generally what I'm drawn to collecting anyway but #31026 screams "buy two of me and make me bigger!".

The Trevi Fountain was difficult to follow because they have two different colors of clear bricks. And the instructions don't do a good enough job on telling you if you need the darker color or not. So when I was almost done with that, I realized I used the wrong color a while back and had to take it apart.

VorpalRyu · December 2015

TLG's choices for colours to represent some colours can be a major pain. When building her Elves sets, my wife wasted time looking for orange parts more than a few times, only to realise they were referring to something in pearl gold.

With #41074 & #41075, she had to partially dismantle & rebuild at least once during the builds, because of the instructions. I've noticed a lot of people seem to have this kind of issue particularly with the use of dark colours in the instruction.

Yodalicious · December 2015

^ Ewok Village was similar for me with the two shades of brown when making the trees. Crazy hard to see.

BuriedinBricks · December 2015

Constantly shocked by Ninjago dragon sets. Was digging through my backlog for stuff to get rid of and was pleasantly shocked to find #70503 pushing the $60 mark.

Vortex · December 2015

Gone also , is the Cantina ... Seems like it was only yesterday that it arrived( in stores ) ...and I failed to buy one , though I wanted it .

At at ....another one I may or may not regret not buying . I once heard someone quote a person in the know that they were in a TLG meeting if sorts and a 4 legged UCS was being slotted for the very near future .. I don't even see a two legged walker in UCS much less all fours. .. Sigh

and now you're hearing about a UCS Snow speeder ....there are better things they could reincarnate ( if they must ) ... Won't even whisper the " MF " word ...

gosh sh I sound to myself like Marvin the orb robot from Hitch Hikers Guide To the Galaxy ( would I love yo see that in Lego... Yes Marvin a depressed robot with a head rage size of a planet and wandering mind ... From At-At to Marvin in one post ..hopeless

Aanchir · December 2015

BuriedinBricks said:

Constantly shocked by Ninjago dragon sets. Was digging through my backlog for stuff to get rid of and was pleasantly shocked to find #70503 pushing the $60 mark.

It came out at a time when Ninjago was still very popular but there weren't a whole lot of other new Ninjago sets out to take people's attention away. And it was affordably priced, so it didn't have to be clearanced like #70725 Nindroid MechDragon did. Add in that it made its TV debut in an extremely iconic scene from the Season 2 finale, and I can see why demand is high in spite of it arguably being one of the worse Ninjago dragon sets (no ankle articulation, fairly limited wing articulation, and awkward proportions).

The Golden Lloyd minifigure is being re-issued in an upcoming LEGO Dimensions fun pack ( #71239 ), along with a mini-version of the Golden Dragon. But I don't know if this will reduce demand for the original Golden Dragon or re-ignite interest in it. Lloyd getting a new dragon in #70593 next summer might also help stabilize the price.

No telling what will happen with #70734 Master Wu Dragon! Ninjago's a much bigger theme this year than it was in 2013, so it's possible this set might have been produced in greater numbers, and that there are enough other sets out now that demand won't be so focused on this one. At the same time, it's possibly the best dragon Ninjago's had, it has an incredible value for money, it's been on at least one "top toys" list for this year, and it might be years before Wu gets another dragon of his own. Like the Golden Dragon, it's also going to be getting a mini-model in an upcoming Dimensions fun pack ( #71234 ).

Personally I'd encourage people to buy at least one just to have one. If the price goes up you can sell it on (or save yourself the trouble of buying one on the aftermarket), and if the price stagnates or goes down you'll have a really cool building experience to look forward to.

littlepuppi · December 2015

Death star showing as sold out [email protected] EU

bp10030 · December 2015

#10188 has gone at [email protected] (sold out)

BuriedinBricks · December 2015

@Aanchir - I guess the lackluster reviews and the cheaper retail price are what caught me off guard. If I remember, the set was almost always available at below RRP for most of its lifespan in the US.

Predictions on Discontinuing Sets and their Secondary Market Value

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