@sjr60 said:
"Just the Christmas Tree... as that will probably sell out and not be available again until next February (like the wreath did)."

The US site says Oct 1st for the Christmas tree. Is it Sept 1 across the pond?

@B_Space_Man said:
"The US site says Oct 1st for the Christmas tree. Is it Sept 1 across the pond? "
Yes, all the Christmas bits and pieces are.

And I see, according the instructions, that the Christmas Tree is packed in paper bags.

@CCC said:
" @vzarmo said:
"which is kinda interesting because according to the their datas and how they handle the hardcore afol group, that market is not that big."

What data are you basing that on? The range of sets aimed at AFOLs (and more general adults) has changed massively in the last few years. It may not be the biggest part of the market, but I imagine the AFOL set market has larger growth than the kid set market, simply because it started so low. They have probably realised that the majority of people spending £250 on a luxury will still spend £300 on it, especially if there are not as many similar alternatives for adults as there are when it comes to buying toys for kids."

there is a reason why I wrote "hardcore afol group". they are the loudest ones too.

@MainBricker said:
"There is inflation, prices for everything is going up. BUT when you look at how Lego have done the price rises, it's heavily weighted on the big sets that sell well and aimed at adults.

It's not 20% across the board, it's deliberately targeted price rises on particular sets."

Don't forget that many of these sets have been developed after march 2020 and already were more expensive because of it. They definitely already took inflation into account when calculating the production cost of items like Santas sleigh and Home alone. They knew those items released in 2021 would need to be profitable until 2024 and knew to expect production cost increases. And they still have to increase their prices to keep profitable? It's impossible that these increases are only based on inflation, and that they haven't planned with certain amounts of inflation already with the higher than usual prices of before summer 2022.

Assembly Square has gone up again, when it was released it was £179 then moved to £229 in the new year price rises and has gone up again to £259 - an increase of £80 this year. The 3 in 1 Pirate Ship has gone up another £10 to £114 31109. I ordered the Boutique Hotel in yesterday anticipation of an increase and it's gone up by £25 but now time to pause, August has been an expensive Lego month, since I picked up the Galaxy Explorer too.

Anyone else not receive a confirmation email after they placed their latest order?

@MainBricker said:
"It's not 20% across the board, it's deliberately targeted price rises on particular sets."

Definately seems to be the case where some specific sets are targeted, The 2020 3-in-1 Pirate Ship went from €100, to €120 in January to €130 now.

And it's not retiring yet.

Still makes me question why Barracuda Bay was retired so fast.

Surprised and relieved that the CMFs are still £3.50 in the UK.

@Tynansd said:
" @TeriXeri said:
"European Price Increases : Available Now at LEGO.com

(not a joke, it actually happened) "

Yup. What an insult. Lego, a family friendly, luxury product that no one really needs, and which made record profits last year decides to increase prices on a number of sets, some of which were released years ago. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, takes away goodwill that’s built up and smacks of greed. Don’t be surprised if this is a tipping point and now the average consumer will say it’s not justifiable to spend what they’re asking for, on a bunch of plastic bricks."

What if their primary goal changed and now IS to become luxury toy ? Have you noticed that the number of wealthy people is steadily growing globally ?. Why should Lego produce 10K pcs of 1 set and sell for ex. $100 if it can produce only 5K pcs and charge $300 for each set ? With the first option they make only $1M, with second they make $1.5M. You see where I'm getting at ? Less work, more profits for them. Even if they lose half the customers they'll STILL make more money. Lego is now being considered as an INVESTMENT, not as a toy. That's why they can charge more and they will. They don't care about you and people like you and definitely won't care if you stop buying.

@CCC said:
" @vzarmo said:
"which is kinda interesting because according to the their datas and how they handle the hardcore afol group, that market is not that big."

What data are you basing that on? The range of sets aimed at AFOLs (and more general adults) has changed massively in the last few years. It may not be the biggest part of the market, but I imagine the AFOL set market has larger growth than the kid set market, simply because it started so low. They have probably realised that the majority of people spending £250 on a luxury will still spend £300 on it, especially if there are not as many similar alternatives for adults as there are when it comes to buying toys for kids."

What days are you basing that on?

The Go Brick Me packs are available in the US now. 40541 and 40542

@vzarmo:
There was an analysis posted recently that showed the biggest price increases were on multi-year releases that had just hit the market, the smallest increases were on multi-year releases that had been out a while, and no increases were made to either multi-year releases that are close to retirement or regular retail sets that typically have single-year releases. The theory put forth was that a standard rate of inflation is built into set prices so they don’t end up becoming unprofitable by their end of production. The unusually high inflation of late throws all that math out the window, and the longer they’ll stay in production from now, the more money they’d lose as they neared retirement. Regular retail sets would also be experiencing price increases, but the current range will retire before inflation has much of an impact, and forthcoming sets will have the price adjustment factored in before they’re even announced.

@CCC:
The only hard data we ever got was shortly after the start of VIP Red, when we learned that AFOLs accounted for roughly 25% of their sales (not over 50% as many AFOLs assumed, or a mere 5% as believed by TLG). Since then, The LEGO Movie gave the youth market a significant boost, but it has probably waned with time. Kids who watched the movie in theaters have aged out, or lost interest. The AFOL market also saw a boost with the pandemic, but again many of them have probably moved on now that things are opening back up. Both have seen increases and decreases, but we don’t know how much.

@Anonym:
Cloud City Boba Fett used old grey and brown parts, and a retired helmet/jetpack element. It will never be directly reproduced. A similar body was, however, used for the UCS Slave I Boba Fett, with new greys and brown, and with the updated separate helmet and jetpack elements. The latter can be swapped out for the old style, but the colors will still be post-2004. Someone who only wants the look can do it much cheaper, but for true completionists, the price of CCBF is only likely to keep going up.

@gylman said:
"I keep looking at the motorized lighthouse and wanting to buy it. But it's getting harder and harder to justify the increasing costs when there are so many big and beautiful sets coming out. Two years ago that would have been a $200 to $250 set. Now it's $379 CAD. Really hard to justify it to myself. I will have to be more selective in the future. "

I agree. Two years ago or even last year it would’ve been a day one purchase. Now I question if I even want to spend that much for it.

@AustinPowers said:
" (...)
I tried not to comment anymore, and for almost a month now managed to actually do so, but this I just had to react to.
"not as many similar alternatives for adults"?
Have you been living under a rock for the past few years?
There have never been as many widely available alternatives for adults as there are now. Entire brands that cater almost solely for that demographic.
(...)"
I'm glad you're back! I wanted to say thanks for inspiring me to look to other brands: I bought a Sluban aircraft a little while back and it's a beautiful model.
Just a shame it can't be added to my collection on here! :-D

@TedBricks said:
"Anyone else not receive a confirmation email after they placed their latest order?"
I placed an order yesterday evening, but haven't received a confirmation e-mail yet either; however, I've seen on my account that it's already been shipped. Maybe there's a bug in the system (again).

@essel said:
" @TedBricks said:
"Anyone else not receive a confirmation email after they placed their latest order?"
I placed an order yesterday evening, but haven't received a confirmation e-mail yet either; however, I've seen on my account that it's already been shipped. Maybe there's a bug in the system (again)."

Yeah that's exactly what I've got. I mean the order has gone through like yours, hasn't been shipped though haha

@Brainslugged said:
"Surprised and relieved that the CMFs are still £3.50 in the UK."
Thank goodness! I bought six today plus the 3-pack of Halloween BAMs: witch, bat kid and pumpkin head.

@bananaworld said:
"I'm glad you're back! I wanted to say thanks for inspiring me to look to other brands: I bought a Sluban aircraft a little while back and it's a beautiful model."
You're welcome.
And thanks for the kind words.

@CCC : I fall under the category of having played with LEGO as a kid and having been a fan for decades. It's only in recent years that I got disillusioned with the company (too many bad experiences) and started looking at alternatives.
I still buy LEGO sets of course now and then, I'm just highly selective, and often buy an alternative set instead with the budget I had formerly set aside for LEGO purchases.

@CCC:
AFOL sites have been exclusively focused on LEGO products for decades before the RLFM program was announced. They didn’t need bribes to focus exclusively on LEGO products back then, and I doubt they need them now. New sites, maybe, but some of those probably got started with the idea of earning RLFM status, and wouldn’t exist without it. You make it sound like TLG holds a sword to the neck of every RLFM out there, and that this is the only reason they haven’t switched to other brands.

@PurpleDave: the "sword" would be the free review copies I guess.
Do you think TLG would keep providing sites like Brickset with those free sets if they started reviewing other brands on a regular basis?

@bananaworld said:
"
Once again, I just want to shout out these wise words from a few weeks ago:

@legoDad42 said:
"(...)Best to collect what you REALLY like, not for aftermarket, DON'T be a compleatist and truly enjoy the hobby.
Big sets you want, truly sacrifice and save, and in few months, you can own that big UCS set.
I do this, I look for deals, save over time and have been a happier collector for it.
I even sell some sets that I loved, I just takes good pics and keep those as mementos of my collection.
Car and motorcycle collectors do this all the time.
Don't let the price increases ruin your love of the hobby. There's ways to sacrifice, trade, sell and SAVE to get the kits you REALLY want. It's much better that way."

Thanks again, buddy! You've saved me from wasting money on advent calendars (and more...) which I don't really want, but previously felt compelled to buy."

Too kind my friend.
I got my UCS Millennium Falcon that way and now working on the UCS AT AT.
Went through my collection recently and found about 5 sealed in box kits I know I won’t build and not my top favs.
Notables are The Black Pearl and the original Diagon Alley. ;)

@AustinPowers:
Do you think long-term AFOL sites would suddenly start reviewing non-LEGO brands just because they weren’t receiving free review sets? They didn’t before RLFM started. I think a more likely possibility is the people reviewing multiple brands do so because they either didn’t qualify for RLFM status and did it as a form of retaliation, or that they bear a grudge for some other perceived offense. The two such instances I know of are that German YouTuber who got all torqued out of shape over something minor and now uses his YouTube channel to trash talk TLG. The other was some guy who had the audacity to ask them for free bricks so he could brickbuild a computer case and call it the “LEGO PC” or something, and he got all torqued out of shape when they all-too-predictably responded by way of a Cease & Desist order for trademark violation in the name of the project, the registered URL, and the use of LEGO logos on the website. He swore off buying LEGO product and jumped ship for the first competing brand who were eager enough to increase their tiny market share by throwing free substandard bricks his way, because he couldn’t accept that TLG has a legal obligation to at least show they’re attempting to defend their trademark or risk having it permanently revoked like what happened to Xerox and Aspirin. Most of the others are probably people who couldn’t build an audience just reviewing LEGO sets (a requirement for RLFM status), so they branched out into other brands that weren’t getting as much attention…which disqualified them for RLFM status.

@PurpleDave said:
" @AustinPowers :
Do you think long-term AFOL sites would suddenly start reviewing non-LEGO brands just because they weren’t receiving free review sets?"
I'm sorry, perhaps I wasn't getting through properly, I meant the other way around.
I meant that TLG probably wouldn't like to see a site that formerly only focused on LEGO sets suddenly start reviewing other brands as well. This might prompt them to withdraw their support in the form of free review copies, and some sites might refrain from reviewing alternative brands because they don't want to lose the support by TLG.

That German YouTuber (Held der Steine) didn't start reviewing alternative brands simply because of one minor issue by the way. He had become dissatisfied with LEGO as a supplier of his brick and mortar toy store in Frankfurt, and the issue with his logo was just the final straw. He still reviews LEGO sets too by the way, and not all of his reviews of LEGO products are negative. Just like not all his reviews about alternatives are positive. He also doesn't constantly trash talk LEGO. He only critizises what many others critizise too, namely TLG's ever increasing cost cutting, the drop in quality over the last few years, the ever more ridiculous prices of some sets/themes, the disadvantages of Powered Up versus Power Functions, the decline of the Technic line of sets (which used to be the best selling line in his store, hence the growing unpopularity of the offered sets directly impacted his bottom line), etc.

@AustinPowers said:
"There have never been as many widely available alternatives for adults as there are now. Entire brands that cater almost solely for that demographic."

Unfortunately most of these brands are not readily available in the US. Some are on Amazon but usually for inflated prices. I will be in Berlin for a week in December. Can you recommend any stores? I already collect Cobi and Mega sets, but am open to other brands if the price is right.

@illennium : I must confess I have never been to Berlin my entire life, so I don't know about where to shop there, but try googling "klemmbaustein laden berlin". I did and it yielded quite a few promising results. Also worth visiting might be the BlueBrixx website.
Not so much for the alternative brands they also offer, but for their own brand sets (the Specials and Pro lines, the latter of which also includes all of their officially licensed Star Trek sets).
Seeing their huge array of sets and themes can be a real eye opener, especially for people who have never seen anything other than LEGO sets before.
Mind you, I am not trying to promote them even if it might sound like it. I have nothing to gain by telling you about them. I have simply had very positive experiences with their offerings and by now have built around a hundred of their sets, mainly trains and train related buildings as well as other architectural sets, but also some of their 1/18th scale cars, City size compatible vehicles as well as several Star Trek sets.

Out of 42 comments above only three of those even mention a comment about the Lighthouse 21335. All the rest are mostly moaning and arguing about price increases! I think Brickset needs to have a separate forum for those wanting to moan and complain about price increases so that comments relating to the specific Lego reviews can be made!

@Koend1999: I agree that Thomas (Held der Steine) often exaggerates in his videos, but that is done mainly for comedic effect. Those who like watching his videos often watch them just for that, the entertainment factor.
Also he clearly criticizes alternatives as well, not just LEGO. And he didn't make "a massive ruckus". He made one video about the subject, and that one went viral and was then picked up even by national news media. The whole incident was totally blown out of proportion imho. But anyway, nobody is forced to watch his videos, nor is anyone forced to agree with him. I don't agree with him on several of his opinions yet I still enjoy watching his videos.

As for BlueBrixx sets, imho they have improved massively over the years.
You are right, especially their older sets could be hit and miss, with some being total crap. No other word for it. But in contrast to TLG they listen to criticism by their customers and do everything they can to become better at what they're doing. Current sets feel far more professional and the quality has also improved a lot. As for their Pro line, I have built some of their Star Trek sets (that are actually produced for them exclusively by Xingbao), and for example the quality of their prints is better than LEGO's by quite a bit. And let's not even start to talk about the fact that practically this entire line is prints-only, just like Cobi sets.

@Koend1999 said:
"Also, I do not care about Bluebrixx as long as they keep making sets without licenses just because they sell well. I cannot stand companies that refuse to obtain proper licensing to keep things cheaper and easier for themselves, even if the licenses are strictly spoken not required from a legal point of view.

People do not realize that a large part of why LEGO sets are more expensive is because they are under a lot more scrutiny to obtain proper licenses, and because these licenses are spread out over their product range. It is always easy to criticize a company in Youtube. It is a lit more difficult to come up with honest, objective and balanced reviews like Jangbricks does."
I agree with you about Jangbricks. When it comes to well balanced, fair and objective reviews, Jang is my absolute favorite. And just like with Bob Ross I just love to listen to his voice. It's so relaxing and enjoyable.
I don't know how the YouTube algorithms work (nor do I care). If people can make a living from it, why not. Plenty of high quality content creators out there who deserve to be able to make some money off of their efforts. Especially since said content is free for me.

As for licensing, BlueBrixx has several official licenses, with Star Trek of course being the most important. But when it comes to normal vehicles, why should they try to obtain a license for something that is generic enough to not warrant a license legally? Like the pickup truck that looks similar to the one from the old Fall Guy TV show. It has got the right colour scheme but no decals or anything. LEGO has also made lots of sets in the past, especially Technic sets, that closely resembled actual vehicles, yet none of those was ever licensed. Nor do I think it needs to be.

On the contrary, I really hate it that TLG thinks everything needs to be licensed nowadays. Why does the new rescue helicopter for example have to have an Airbus license? It doesn't even look very much like the real thing to begin with. Why add extra cost to an already overly expensive set by having it be a licensed one?

Stuff like Mario, or Star Wars is different of course, but generic vehicles, construction equipment etc.? A Technic supercar doesn't need to be a Porsche, Lambo or Bugatti to be a desirable set. It just needs to be a great set with excellent value for money. Like the red supercar from CaDa for example. It looks generic enough to not be considered a Ferrari, just similar. 8880 had no license, not even for the "kind of Formula One/Indycar" B-model, yet it is still considered one of the all time greats of the Technic theme.

@Koend1999 : I don't listen to influencers. Held der Steine and Jangbricks are the only two LEGO YouTube channels I watch several times a week, but I don't let them influence me. I don't need other people to make up my mind for me, I am old enough to be able to have my own opinions.
And my opinion is that we simply have to agree to disagree. I don't agree with your conclusions and you don't agree with mine. You see a similarity in the new Technic rescue helicopter with the Airbus model it's supposed to be representing, I think it looks almost exactly like a modern version of 8856. If you think the new one needed the license then the old one would have needed one as well imho. Or perhaps Airbus should have paid licensing fees to TLG when designing their current model for basing it on an old LEGO Technic set ;-)

As for those BlueBrixx cars, some of which look like famous movie vehicles (or rather the standard vehicles the movie versions were based on), I really find your argument totally ridiculous. But hey, if you love overpriced licensed stuff just to feel good, so be it. I'm not trying to change your ways. Or buy some of their Star Trek sets. They are officially licensed, fun to build, and more expensive than the Specials line, which I am sure will make you happy. Enjoy.

Just a final reply. The old HdS logo in question was just his name with some rudimentary studs on top. And the proportions looked more like two 2x2 bricks stacked on top of one another. But if anything, he should have paid license fees to the estate of Hilary Page, since Kiddycraft did the "hard work designing the stuff" in question. LEGO didn't invent the studs, they themselves stole the design from Kiddycraft and simply refined the underside of the brick. But since the studs were not their invention and the underside of a LEGO brick was not shown in the old HdS logo at all, why the fuss?

I don't have a problem with giving credit where it is due, but there's a limit.
BlueBrixx cars for example are not stolen MOC designs but designed in-house by people who do "the hard work designing the stuff". They don't get any help from the car manufacturers whose old models some of their sets resemble. They also don't use the names or brands to boost sales, but of course they are smart enough to know that their customers recognize what the sets are supposed to represent. Just like countless LEGO sets from the Eighties and Nineties clearly represented Formula One cars, yet TLG never paid any license fees for those. Or how about all those Model Team and Technic sets that are clearly based on certain vehicles, yet never named specifically? There's no difference to what BlueBrixx does.
Don't let your love for LEGO cloud your judgement. TLG is not the saint of a company some want to believe they are.

@Koend1999 said:
"...since your morality and level of disrespect are acres away from mine."
Interesting. Personal insults. I can't remember stooping to that level.
I wonder whose level of disrespect is actually worse.

@CCC:
Yeah, I’m aware. LUGNET had one member who exclusively bought clone brands, at a time when many of them were legitimately stealing patented and trademarked designs. The only other person I knew back then who used any other brands wouldn’t touch any non-LEGO brand besides Tyco, because it was the only one he was aware of that had quality on par with TLG’s. MB was still the main clone brand. Most of their parts were cribbed from LEGO sets, except they did a few genre themes where they used sculpted bricks (rocks, sandbags, etc) instead of plain ones, which severely hampered their usefulness in other models. And most of the non-Brickset AFOL sites I know of do cover MOCs on a regular basis (TBB even started as a site that focused on custom minifigs), so I can’t really agree on that point.

@AustinPowers:
No, I understood you perfectly. I just don’t think most of the RLFM sites were ever likely to start covering clone brands, except as April Fools jokes, or a once-in-a-blue-moon review just to settle any curiosity over quality (or lack thereof). If the RLFM program went belly up tomorrow, the only major difference I see happening is less reviews in general (because most reviewers wouldn’t normally buy all those sets).

And HdS had a major beef with getting a C&D letter, and the usual German complaints about how the product line has shifted away from German tastes. He has an axe to grind, plain and simple. And the fact that he publishes his videos in German shows he’s speaking mainly to his fellow Germans. I doubt his message would have significantly wider appeal if it was in a language more commonly used worldwide.

@AustinPowers:
@Koend1999:
TLG did effectively steal the original brick design from Kiddiecraft, because they based the LEGO System off a sample mold that Ole Kirk received with his first injection molding machine. Then they improved the design. And then they bought the patent from Page’s estate before they sued Tyco for patent infringement. They probably already had Tyco dead to rights for using one of the various tube alternatives they famously molded on a single sprue, but suing them would have opened them to a countersuit from Page’s estate, so they fixed that situation in a legal manner. By the time HdS had his conflict, Page’s estate no longer had a horse in that race.

I realy hope LEGO increases their prices to lower their productions. I certainly hope that people will wake up and realise that this new prises are way too high for what you´ll get! Maybe TLG wants people to think about more wether someone realy needs a set or not.

What i am realy questioning is: A Lamborgini Cian for 449,99€ without any motorisation is insane!!! Even for 399,99€! People who like the product have already bought it i reckon. So why LEGO does a price increase of 50€? To make sure that nobody will buy it anymore! Thats my explanation. If people still buy it, you have to leave them behind, its too late for those..

In my opinion LEGO Technic in total is going real steep downhill. It ain´t LEGO anymore! Back in the day when Technic was still Technic you could build several models from one single set and it was all about the technic and not about putting your Sets into an inclosure to only watch at it. Often a motor was included as well! Today you get a motor in a display set Lighthouse but if you like Technic you have to dream about that maybe in the nightlight of your Lighthouse display piece. I wonder if that goes price up as well in the near future. Don´t get me wrong, its expensive, but expensive enough for a Fanboy?

@Brainslugged said:
"Surprised and relieved that the CMFs are still £3.50 in the UK."

Still trying to work out if this is sarcasm or not. :) Big thumbs up if it is.