Serenity Firefly kit available after all

 

  • Serenity Firefly kit available after all

    Posted by Huw, 04 Dec 2012 09:49. Filed under Cuusoo.

    If you were frustrated that the Serenity Firefly project was dismissed by LEGO at Cuusoo you may be interested to hear that a kit has been made available by some enterprising souls.

    A company called Etadyne has put the kit together, containing all 2186 parts needed to build the ship, which is priced at just $385. It doesn't contain the custom minifigs: they'll set you back another $85.

    You can also buy the instructions as a PDF separately for $15.

    Interested? Head on over to Etadyne.com to find out more.


    27 comments, latest one posted 5 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by Renny in United States, 04 Dec 2012 10:32

Its great to see this set made available but I really do think it is really overpriced, especially with the figures adding another $85 to the total. Still, a cool ship and design. Anyone who gets it I'm sure will love it.

Posted by slope_modified in Australia, 04 Dec 2012 10:40

Wow! It this for real? Etadyne sells specialized audio products from the looks of it, but a custom set? It is overpriced, but oh so tempting...

Posted by glenbricker in United States, 04 Dec 2012 11:05

I have to ask "overpriced" according to what? I have investigated putting some sets together for sale and that seems about right on the money to me.

An off the shelf Lego set costs about 10 cents per part (in the U.S.). At 2186 this would put the basic cost at $218.

But Etadyne is not The Lego Group and they certainly do not have a system in place like Brickmania.

So what you have is a couple people with no real experience at producing sets either buying sets of the shelf and parting them out or ordering what they need off bricklink. It is a huge effort of person/hours and every bricklink purchase carries with it the increased cost of shipping. The bricklink prices and shipping could easily add 50% to the cost over the Lego price...so 218 becomes $327

Factor in all the labor involved, bags, instructions, boxes, and profit and you are basically looking at a $385. (Not to mention paying the legal fees if anyone comes after them )

This math is not designed to be perfect, just some table napkin approximations but the price is legitimate in my opinion.

The bigger issue in my opinion is that they don't show a picture of the actual set as a whole on the site, just the Cuusoo submission. There are smaller zoomed in pics on the bottom of the set that is being sold.

Posted by richselby in United Kingdom, 04 Dec 2012 11:11

What a great idea. If Cuusoo can't / won't deliver the community's suggestions, then let the community step in. Now if only they could do that with **insert name of favourite Cuusoo project here**. Cut out the middle man, but who would have thought the middle man is The Lego Group.

The Lego Birds project - that would be a good candidate for a non-official set, with Tomaso's blessing. And unlike Serenity, no licensing issues either, unless our feathered friends have lawyers. I mean, legal eagle is just a figure of speech, isn't it?

Posted by glenbricker in United States, 04 Dec 2012 11:32

@richselby

Actually, there is a bit of legal hurdle, when you post a project to Cuusoo you agree to the following:

"You grant us (the Lego Group) the rights we need to commercialize your idea. For your idea to become reality, the LEGO Group must have the exclusive rights to manufacture, distribute, market, and sell your idea. We're not trying to take away your ability to post and share your model, though. You can continue to do that as you wish on your own website and online profiles."

Posted by lippidp in United States, 04 Dec 2012 11:47

Eagerly awaiting the verdict on that enormous Sand Crawler!

Posted by Renny in United States, 04 Dec 2012 12:04

This is not a discussion forum but I will just say that I am comparing it to retail sets that offer much greater value. Like I said, its wonderful that it is being offered but for me $385 + $85 for figures is way too much for a set. I understand if it was a retired set like cafe corner or the ucs mf where the parts are rare but that is not the case here.

Posted by Sethro3 in United States, 04 Dec 2012 12:37

That is really neat to have someone make available. I think the proper term is, it is a high price, but not necessarily overpriced. I agree with the math above. Unless you have these pieces already from parting out sets, bricklink/ebay will add up quickly, especially because of shipping. I don't know anything about the figures. Are they printed or are they just decals?

I don't care enough about Firefly to ever build this, but it's neat that it is available through some medium.

Posted by Brick_Obsession in Canada, 04 Dec 2012 13:00

Move over "sliced bread"!

Very excited about this. I am interested in just the ship as I can see it almost being a UCS sized ship and I do not like to have mini-figs with my UCS.

Christmas is just getting better and better...

Posted by meyerc13 in United States, 04 Dec 2012 13:10

Glenbricker mentioned Brickmania... their custom kits are often $0.30 or $0.40/piece. At less than $0.18/piece this is a bargain in comparison for someone who is a fan. The time and shipping/handling to assemble the parts for a kit like this via bricklink will add up quickly. If you think you can do it for less, they offer the instructions separately so you are free to give it a try.

Honestly it's the daunting task of assembling the parts that has kept me from buying the instructions for some of the wonderful models I've seen produced by companies like Brick City Depot. I think the fact that they offer a kit here for less than twenty cents a piece makes this an incredible deal for anyone interested in the model.

Posted by cinemajay in United States, 04 Dec 2012 13:22

@Renny, FWIW, this set is awesome and also out of my price range, but I agree with glenbricker that it's not "overpriced". That implies the fault lies with the cost of arranging the set, not my inability to afford it--an important distinction :)

Posted by IAmWillGibson in United States, 04 Dec 2012 13:40

You're paying for convenience, really.

Posted by savatheaggie in United States, 04 Dec 2012 13:44

@glenbricker

This has been and remains my biggest problem with Cuusoo. I refuse to give up my commercial rights for something that may not happen. And since LEGO now owns commercial rights to the design, even if rejected, nothing stops them from turning around five/ten/thirty years down the road and creating a set off the design giving no credit or compensation to the designer.

The way Cuusoo should work, in my opinion, is that everyone should be free and clear to upload whatever they want and retain ALL rights. Only when a project earns 10,000 votes, and ONLY when LEGO agrees to review the design, should LEGO gain access to the commercial rights. At the point of the 10,000th vote the designer should be contacted and given a waiver to sign granting commercial rights for LEGO to explore the design. And if LEGO rejects the design, the commercial rights should return to the designer.

Until that time, I will never upload anything to Cuusoo that isn't stupid simple to build or designed specifically to be added to Cuusoo.

Posted by antsbull in New Zealand, 04 Dec 2012 14:01

Pretty ironic all the United States based posters calling this out for being 'overpriced'. Compared to what? What other non-Lego produced sets are you comparing this to exactly?

Given that the rest of the world pays through the nose compared to the U.S. for Lego sets - e.g. Helms Deep for $210 USD in some places, Star Wars Death Star for $850 USD etc - to hear people from the United States complaining about how this is somehow overpriced is both funny and annoying in one.

Posted by Ivan Leo in Indonesia, 04 Dec 2012 14:19

And we pay twice the US market price for every set bought here :(

Posted by Orthobotrex in Philippines, 04 Dec 2012 16:17

Does the designer get any royalties from this one?

Posted by sadowsk1 in United States, 04 Dec 2012 16:24

This set isn't overpriced, especially in light of the fact that they give you the parts list for free through their website. The designers of the set deserve something for their efforts. No room to complain if you can obtain all the parts and build it yourself at cost if you don't think their instructions are worth the asking price.

Posted by sidneyleejohnson in United States, 04 Dec 2012 16:40

Any chance we chance this can be added to Peeron so that we can determine what parts we need that we don't already have?

Posted by cinemajay in United States, 04 Dec 2012 17:32

@antsbull "Pretty ironic all the United States based posters calling this out for being 'overpriced'. Compared to what? What other non-Lego produced sets are you comparing this to exactly?"

Uh, I see only two posters who called the set over priced and ONE was from the US--most of the other US posters agreed it's not overpriced. The other was from Australia (hey, isn't that near New Zealand?).

Anyway, let's try an remain civil and avoid making blanket statements about some-such-group-or-another. We needt to come together around our common love for all things Lego, rather than gripe about our differences. I mean, let's not debase ourselves like common Mega Bloks fans--we're better than that!

Posted by goldfish in United Kingdom, 04 Dec 2012 17:39

over priced, but hey, it is enterprising.

Posted by Paul Boratko in United States, 04 Dec 2012 18:21

I don't think this is overpriced at all...

I doubt there is very much profit even being made here, especially after taking into consideration the labor of locating and piecing each set together... I used to put together 1,400 piece Technic Gallardo kits and I would sell them from between $400 to $450 and in the end there was very very little profit..

Posted by Sonic_Raptor in United States, 04 Dec 2012 20:23

My first thought was "YIKES, that's the cost of a SW Death Star w/ Minifigs!!!". Call it a "knee-jerk" reaction. Also, I try not to pay retail (no offense to TLG, but if I can save money, then I can buy more sets!).

Upon further thought though, I think the price is "ok". Obviously they are a smaller shop than TLG and considering the finding, bagging, and boxing of the parts is probably not as "streamlined" as LEGO, the cost is probably spot on with little margin. And who knows about the legal hurdles that may follow (or already occurred).

In the end it is a cool looking spacecraft and would find a good home in a Firefly-fan home.

Posted by sinfanti in Taiwan, Province of China, 04 Dec 2012 22:25

At $15 the instructions are tempting. I see a lot of parts I already have sitting around.

Posted by MrSeatle in United States, 05 Dec 2012 02:42

This is good news for Firefly fans! I believe the price is fair considering demand will never be a high as the large Star Wars sets. Get it while you can!

Posted by xccj in United States, 05 Dec 2012 03:38

I would call it over priced in that it is way out of my price range. But I kind of knew it would be when I voted for the original Cuusoo model. Still, this is a great way for determined fans to build their own Serenity, so I hope those collectors can get their hands on this!

Posted by Irene in United States, 05 Dec 2012 08:00

I find the idea that anyone would publish the instructions VERY exciting.

I just don't seem to be able to design myself, and would love if say, The Vampire Coach, or any other design would publish the instructions.

I'd even be good if LEGO did the publishing. $15 sounds good to me.

Posted by medieval1 in United States, 11 Dec 2012 18:49

So is it possible to get the instructions now? I already have all those parts. Alas, I see no way to order just the instructions since I would most certainly pay $15US for them.

Gah...nevermind...found the link. My browser hates me.

Commenting has ended on this article.