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0 • Like •That goes double for you prof! haha.
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0 • Like •I don't know how you guys operate, but I buy my sets without regards to future value on the basis that Lego just makes really unique and awesome toys so I really have no problem with reissues. Yea a cafe corner reissue might take up a new modular slot, but better than nothing.
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0 • Like •That is a big deal, and it means that they will have the resources and capital to expand and create all new production facilities to hold down the cost of their product. You are welcome to your opinion, but the facts are with me. Lego would not sell as many Cafe Corners as they would an all new design. It makes no business sense, it makes no logical sense, and it has been tried with the Legends series. Those didn't sell well either.
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0 • Like •The Lego Group could exist without the modular buildings, but without popular lines like Ninjago, they would not remain in business. I'm going to disagree with you here... While you're entitled to your opinion on this one as well, any graduate of business school could tell you that you're mistaken.
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0 • Like •The girl I buy my girl scout cookies from (mmm... thin mints!) loves Harry Potter... She and her Mom were unaware it was being retired this year, they saw a handful of sets here and asked about them, when I informed them that it was going away for LOTR coming this summer, the Mom went over to the Lego store that afternoon to pickup the rest of the line so they didn't miss it.
So while we might be "only 5%" of the market, I suspect we influence another 5% or more worth of purchases, due to the people we know.
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0 • Like •*goes to get a cup of coffee and relax a bit*
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0 • Like •@yellowcastle Numbers don't lie.
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0 • Like •Really you guys are making this whole thing way too much of a big deal. Will Lego ever re-release modulars? I would like to think that they might. Thank goodness they are not a publicly traded company. If they were, folks like BigLegoTexas would be pulling the strings and we would only be seeing Ninjago and Star Wars sets released because nothing else would be profitable enough.
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0 • Like •...LegoFanTexas probably could only afford a 10% stake in TLG, not nearly enough to pull all the strings to decide what themes are allowed.
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0 • Like •I seriously doubt LEGO will EVER discount a modular to get rid of it, and for this reason alone I doubt LEGO would redo it.
Also if there are AFOLs saying this design is woefully dated, what do you think the Actual LEGO designers think of it??
I think you would need something like a million signatures to get LEGO to redo something, MAYBE, and who's to say that the CC would stay its original 140 price? It would most likely go up to around 200 as well. Then no one would buy it saying it cost too much for what it is.
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0 • Like •The AFOL market hasn't changed all that much in the last ten years; it's merely become more visible and vocal due to the effect of the internet. I say that speaking as someone who has been an AFOL for two decades now (and never really had a dark age that took me out of contact with Lego even if there was a period when I wasn't buying).
Personally, I don't like Ninjago but whether I think it's a piece of crap or not is irrelevant to the fact that reissued sets don't do better than their original release and when it comes to a more niche-market set like the Modulars, that spells death for sales recouping expenses.
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0 • Like •The idea that those of us disagreeing with the notion of rereleasing the CC are simply doing so to protect our aftermarket interests is offensive to me. Most of the vocal participants here are not even resellers. Perhaps you should stop carrying your disdain for the secondary market into each and every thread and instead simply weigh the individual posts on their own merit.
At a minimum, I recommend you temporarily suspend your research on the Legends theme and instead reread the post above from @davee123. I think you'll find that he did indeed make some very interesting points, most of which are born from more than a fortnight's worth of experience...
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0 • Like •Although I would like to see lego, maybe not do an buy online option for old sets, but maybe make the parts to build it easier to get hold of through things like PAB
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0 • Like •Essentially, as far as LEGO's concerned, they've been there, done that. So, unless you have a professional market research team at your disposal who can show them decent evidence to the contrary, LEGO's probably going to continue believing that the Legends line proved that they ought not do re-releases. Essentially, they (I believe) aren't even considering it, because that experience is still fresh in their minds.
The Legends Line was also from a VERY low point in the company. And ultimately, Legends did poorly. So LEGO's got an extra bad taste in its mouth from many of the things they were doing in the late 1990's and early 2000's. There's an extra layer of taint surrounding re-releases.
Somewhere down the line, sure, maybe they'll re-evaluate it. After all, not ALL of the Legends sets did badly. And it's true, the market HAS changed (and will continue to).
As for Cafe Corner *specifically*, I can't imagine that they'd re-release it so soon, even if they WERE considering doing re-releases. I mean, it was still in stores back in 2009, and that was only 3 years ago. Maybe if they got over their fear of re-releases, and decided to do a 10-year anniversary set in 2017, I could believe that, I guess.
But it does open up a big problem-- half the reason people want it now is because they're new AFOLs who didn't get a chance to buy it when it was out. So, if LEGO re-releases it... then what do you do in 5 more years with the even newer AFOLs who weren't around to buy the re-release? Do you re-release again? A 3rd time? A 4th? And then, what do you do about the other sets in the series? Do you re-release Green Grocer, Market Street, and the Fire Brigade? Pretty soon, you have to do more re-releases than normal ones, and we won't see anything new.
And then you've got the same issue for things like UCS Star Wars sets, the MMV, the Winter Village, and all the other sets that AFOLs can't get enough of. It's just a bad precedent, IMHO.
Anyway, I don't see it happening the way things are going currently.
DaveE
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0 • Like •I agree that a movie theater done up in a classic art deco style would be great. Of course there would be those that would whine that it's already been done with the Town Plan set and why would TLG want to lose millions of dollars for those who were too slow (and not rich enough) to buy when it was available ; )
Ohh, oh, I know... a Police Station...Lego hasn't made enough police stations and we all know that the City series is profitable for TLG so they should only make stuff that makes them millions of dollars.
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0 • Like •The "millions" is the lost good-will a re-release would cost the company among its collectors. You continue to ignore this point, as if it doesn't exist, however history is littered with failed companies that failed to take the long view and protect the value of their brand.
No, most people don't resell Lego, and many people never sell any of their personal collection, but there is value in having it have value. It improves the overall value of the Lego brand image, which is really all that Lego has since the patents are long expired. They want their product to be viewed as a premium product, which won't happen if it keeps ending up in the discount bin because they over produce everything.
No, most people are not going to spend $1,200 on Cafe Corner, nor will they spend $2K on UCS Falcon, but having those two sets at that price makes the Lego brand appear valuable to everyone, even Soccer Mom's who are just buying for kids.
I recently had my spring order of girl scout cookies delivered, and the Mom noticed a few Harry Potter Lego sets here, she mentioned that her daughter loved HP and had asked for a few of the recent sets for this coming Christmas. I pointed out to her that LOTR was coming this summer, so don't wait, and even she knew they would become more expensive on eBay once sold out, and she is just an average Mom.
It does matter, it really does... it makes people buy now, even average non-collectors. She now has several more HP sets in the closet waiting for Christmas, picked up because I made her aware that it wouldn't be here come Christmas and she doesn't want to pay eBay prices in 9 months.
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0 • Like •You simply are ignoring the damage to the Lego brand by making things available forever... Short term gain, long term loss...
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0 • Like •First, thank you to everyone who has supported the modular line over the years. I'm psyched that we were just able to release our 7th building! Hopefully sales will continue to stay strong so we can continue to grow and evolve the concept.
In regards to re-releases, we have considered them many times over the past several years. We learned a lot from the LEGO Legends line. First and foremost is that fans' memories are extremely difficult to match with original products. Those sets which were exact re-releases, for some reason seemed smaller, less detailed or somehow not quite as grandiose as remembered. Compared with current sets, the price value also seemed to be lacking. Sets with substitution bricks were blasted as not being authentic enough and somehow not true to the original masterpiece. In the end, more fans spoke of wanting re-releases than those who actually purchased them.
Speaking of substitution elements, the Cafe Corner could not be re-released again today without a reasonable amount of reworking and substitution elements. Our bricks are constantly evolving and improving which can cause issues when trying to stay true to an original design. For example, we no longer have the molds for the doors which were used for both the corner and side door. Our substitution options for these doors would be 1 brick taller which would affect the look and build of the entire set. The wall elements used in the mid-floor now have extra support structures which look slightly different than the originals. Our 1x6x1 arches have changed as well as several other elements.
So far all of the modular buildings with the possible exception of Market Street have lived in the market for an average of 3 years. Cafe Corner was retired with the launch of the Grand Emporium. Considering that our standard retail range usually lasts 6 months to 2 years, I believe there has been a reasonable amount of time to purchase each of the modulars.
Unfortunately this does not help those of you who missed out on the Cafe Corner and now want to buy it. As a fellow fan, I too am struggling to balance bricklink and Ebay LEGO purchases with maintaining a mortgage and relationship :)
All I can recommend is to keep your eyes open for bargains (craigslist, yard sales and word of mouth through friends) and keep up the optimism. I'm not sure I'll ever get all the sets I've always wanted...but I'm not sure that's such a bad thing...
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