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But your best bet is double VIP points through S@H or the retail Lego Store.
(Or trading with some of the clowns on this website.)
To the OP - you're traveling down a dangerous road. Once you start with the modulars, you wont be able to stop until you have them all. Brick linking the more expensive retired modulars is a fun and rewarding process, speaking from experience.
(I have another in bags waiting to be re-assembled and displayed next to my @DadsAFOL Bat-pod, and 2006 UC Batmobile...)
This is is too addictive....
On topic: I bought my first modular (PR) for double points in the fall. I kind of thought that might be it for me. Then, in January, I picked up used versions of DO, PS, PC, and GE. Although I am content with these right now, I can see what @Pitfall69 is saying because if I happened to find something like the Fire House for a price I found reasonable, I would probably make an offer.
This is indeed a slippery slope.
Don't worry, I'm not gonna preach at ya...
But, if I did come into the money, would I? That is the question. Right now, things like paying off my student loans and being serious with saving would be where I first allocate any extra cash. "But", you persistently ask, "what if all that was taken care of? If you had no financial obligations and plenty of financial wealth, WOULD YOU BUY THE OUT OF PRODUCTION MODULARS?!?!?"
Well, probably, yeah. They would look nice in my city and each have their own wonderful details. But I'm perfectly ok if I never touch am. Just because I might one day own them doesn't mean that I can't be content with what I have now. I don't want lack of material goods to rob me of today's joy, because you know what? After you get your nice new toy... there's always a bigger, nicer, even newer toy.
In a shorter and simpler analogy, might I one day own a Porsche or Lamborghini or some other sports car? Sure. It would be nice. But does that mean I'm not content with my Altima? Nope. I'm perfectly happy with my current sedan.
I was just trying to gage what your idea of "content" meant in the grand scheme of things. Yes, I know money can be used for other things and that there are other things that are more important than Lego.
As far as Market Street is concerned; I had it once and it was sealed and I sold it. At first, I was under the impression that it wasn't an official Modular, but then that theory fell to pieces after it was mentioned along with the other Modulars in the Assembly Square review. That doesn't change the fact that it is hideous.
Also hope you don't think I was condescending. I have a tendency to overexplain cause I'm an Aspie, and folks get frustrated because they think I'm talking down like a jerkwad. Not true! I'm a really nice guy! It's just the whole... talking and dealing with people thing isn't always a strong suit.
Hope I satisfied your curiosity, and glad to be of service. :)
Building a hotch potch modular from genuine Lego with teeth marks all over every brick is preferable to allowing 'Neil P' into my life.
There is one type of old LEGO set; it is made by and with LEGO; not by some company knocking off the brick and the designs. What is sad to me is that people endorse this behavior each time they buy a knockoff copy.
Getting back to the discussion about the comfort level and where to draw the line with modulars - I decided that for me, bricklinked versions of Cafe Corner and Market Street with color substitutions and no mini figures were good enough for me to scratch the itch. For those, I wanted the experience of building them, and I found the process of bricklinking them to be incredibly fun and rewarding, although not without it's challenges. Most pieces for Market Street can be found on PaB online. Good option for double VIP and / or promotions. I think the total cost with the PaB pieces and the few I couldn't get there from Bricklink was around $270, with some color substitutions that I think made an ugly modular a little less ugly.
You only profit the set designer if you buy the OFFICIAL set, the designer would not get a single cent if you rip off the design by building the model with your own bricks, Lego or otherwise.
Lets take an example using an Ideas set given it had loyalty payouts. Say TLG produced 5,000 sets of the EXO Suit and 1000 were sold, so that means designer only get royalty for that 1000 sold.
Instead of buying the remaining sets, AFOLs now happily build their own version of the EXO suit, using own Lego bricks or bricks bought from BL. Will there be more loyalty going into the designer's pocket?
As I noted originally, it is one thing to get an old set made by and with LEGO brick, and another that uses knockoff parts from a knockoff company. A company is taking a shortcut and using designs owned by LEGO on top of that. They are doing nothing but sponging off of the company doing all of the work for their own profits trying to build their company. People buying LEGO brick and instructions to build their favorite set is one thing, knockoffs are entirely different.
Old set or not, by not buying the official set the designers get zero profit. That is my point. If we really value the Lego designers' effort we shouldn't even BL the parts, at all.
What was the company's yearly profit again? I do wonder how much of it goes to the designers as profit sharing bonus? Any Lego designers or TLG employees here care to comment?
However TLG do still keep one or two sets purely for sale in their own stores.
I don't known about the USA but would be surprised if TLG can keep their product Exclusive.
TRU UK do have The Parisian Restaurant, The Palace Cinema and The Brick Bank.
They are currently full RRP but at the weekend TRU had a 20% discount using the Gold Card Reward Scheme. They also have other big sets which previously would have been Lego Exclusives like the Simpsons House, The Kwik-E-mart, The Shield Helicarrier, The Ferris Wheel, (The Minecraft) The Village and The Ghostbusters HQ.
Smyth's Toys have had The Ewok Village, the Pet Shop (there might still be one or two in the stores), and other exclusives like the Classic Batman 1960's Batcave, The Simpson House, The Kwik-E-mart. Again they run a 20% weekend in September and other promotions through the year.
John Lewis UK have had the Tower Bridge, The Petshop, The Palace Cinema and the Brick Bank, and other previous exclusives like the Beetle Camper Van and the Mini. JL will generally price-match other stores and have their own discount days.
The current Lego Exclusives are The Disney Castle, The Big Ben, and the Assembly Square, but they may become available in other stores and will then be subject to discounts and other offers.
I only got into the modular game when the little lady bought me the Palace Cinema for my birthday last year. The Pet Shop followed on Black Friday, plus a Parisian Restaurant at 2x VIP right before Christmas. And I finished my expanded GB Firehouse Headquarters mod to reign supreme over the rest.
Assembly Square was ordered yesterday and I'll be looking forward to dig into that, esp for the 2x2 light grey turntables that I can use to mimic "Melissa's Lego"'s Art Deco Palace Cinema mod. Between stockpiled VIP points and some Amazon credit card rewards I've got available, hoping to justify pulling the trigger on the Brick Bank and the Detective Office soon.
But, as far as the older modulars go, I really only have a strong affinity for Grand Emporium and the Green Grocer. I keep an eye on eBay for good prices on the former and one day maybe I'll BL the latter.
Fire Brigade, Town Hall, Market Street, and Cafe Corner just don't "do it" for me.
I have bricklinked CC, but then ultimately didn't put it together because even though it is iconic, it doesn't do anything for me visually. The GG is similar. I ended up changing colors to sand blue because I think it looks better. But when I bricklink a building, I might as well modify the design to how I like it instead of using the original set up since that doesn't do it for me. MS will likely never get bricklinked because, c'mon...
As for official releases, I try to keep up with them because I do like the build techniques and colors and whatnot, but to complete a collection, I've missed out on that so I'm not too concerned.
Now I'm only left with 1 set which is fixed up and on display.
Though I am a bit confused by your argument now. So you are saying since the designers make nothing extra on their designs, people can and should buy illegal knockoffs?
An excuse to buy an illegal knockoff is just that, an excuse, and typically are poor excuses as well. I'll admit, I know no designers so I cannot verify what Im going to say next, but I would guess that buying an illegal knockoff product of their design is a helluvalot more insulting to a designer than someone buying LEGO parts and building their own version of the set.
Public listed and privately owned companies probably have different policies when it comes to sharing the profit. In my former public listed company we have share options, we have company performance bonus and project bonus. Project bonus means if the project that I'm involved in sold above a targeted figure we will get that bonus. Assuming TLG had this project bonus, it will affect the whole project team (including the designers) if all AFOLs do their Bricklinking instead of supporting the designer in buying the actual official set.
Is it cheaper to Bricklink any set that's available at retail? I would find that very hard to believe considering the prices I see, and annectodal stories of the extravagant prices people pay to put together older sets. After TLG retires a set... you are buying from a reseller that either picked up the set at a discount or at full MSRP---which TLG has been compensated for. Your Bricklink argument is moot at that point. TLG got was owed them.
I'd say, if they are retail, get them at MSRP or on sale. If they are retired, that is a different setting altogether.
see, I figured out how we help each other not spend $ on the forums