Subject:
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Re: Why the Star Wars license isn't always good for builders
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.starwars
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Date:
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Tue, 9 Sep 2008 00:28:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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21470 times
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In lugnet.starwars, David Simmons wrote:
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Hey John,
I get what you’re saying. Personally, I just don’t see the point in buying a
toy that you’re never going to play with. I bought comics solely on spec in
the late 80’s for awhile, but I soon felt like I was wasting my money because
I wasn’t even reading them. Instead of anticipating a good story with
interesting characters, I was thinking about how much it would be worth. Not
the most rewarding approach for literature, even comic books.
I have bought a total of two Lego sets and resold them for a profit, and in
each case it was because the sets were already sought after because they were
out of production for more than a decade. The difference is that I didn’t
create the rarity by trying to corner the market. With the Star Wars sets, I
think that a lot of collectors have selfishly put themselves in the position
of demanding a certain price because such large quantities of sets are
concentrated in a much smaller group of people than probably any other Lego
theme. I feel that manufacturing rarity by monopolizing the product,
especially when it comes to Lego bricks, undermines the point of the product,
which to build and have fun!
I just don’t have the collector mindset anymore, and it bothers me to see
such a speculative approach applied to something that I feel is supposed to
be about creativity, community and enjoyment, not personal profit.
Dave S.
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HI
I see what you mean. I never started collecting Legos to sell, I am an OCD
horder by nature and there is just so much you can get with Legos. I really do
not think that someone can corner the market on any Lego set as they make so
many of them. The fewest number I know of is 10,000. The first Santa Fe train
with the special lmt edition numbered tile. If I remember correctly, Lego
auctioned the number one off on ebay and got close to 1000 for it. Not bad,
they also did the next 9 and they brought in 400-500 dollars each. The purpose
of anything that people collect is not what they were intended for. Coins are
currency and stamps to mail letters. The collectables that are worth little are
the ones issued to be collectables, Danbury mint and other companies like that.
I just like to see shelves full of Legos, drawers full of parts. And the great
thing is, when my grandaughter comes, she picks out a nice big lego and we build
it. Screws up the price, but you can’t put a price on the time spent building
it with her. and she has to put all the stickers on when we do this, I just
cringe. The last thing we built was the millianium falcon. Can’t beat those
memories. I might also mention that half the joy of having a collection is
trying to get what you want to put into it. It seems less important once you
get it, the anticipation is greater than the gain usually. Back to the
subject. I don’t think that anyone can corner any Lego. And if one person has
a bunch or a few people have a bunch then when it is acquired the buyer has that
joyous feeling (and then on to something else.) A side point, I have bought 10
of the Lego McDonalds glued together promo. I figured that there is a very
limited number. I still see them go for 50-100 on ebay. Not too much of a
price and I have 10 of the dumb things. John P
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