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Bionicleäpocalypse
And lo! the Builder was Sick and Tired of looking at the Old Toys and wanted He
room for the New Toys. Therefore put He His hand to a box of Zip-Loc® bags and
did part-out the Bionicle® thereto. Only the 2001, the MOC and the 2008 were
exempted and also the cooler models like the Exo-Toa® and Roodaka® and the
Bahrag® and Lesovik® and Lhikan® but not the sled or steed thereof for they
please not the Owner so much and maybe the Boxor® but most certainly not the
Matoran® of Metru Nui® which are the most Utter Crap. And that the baggies of
Bionicle® might not tempt His eyes with their unassembledness to a spasm of
MOCing they were cast deep within the tote that is of Rubbermaid® and no other
and thence to a shelf in the darkest garage beyond the Ford Focus® and the
Nordic Track®. And their Set Numbers were entered into an inventory and thence
to an Index Card even unto a Rolo-dex® that they be not forgotten entirely. Be
not sore of heart for all the toys will be gathered together at the last day
when the Builder assembles He an addition or shed or daylight basement or other
such Man-Cave as should please Him with sufficient display space thereunto. And
there will be such a display of Bionicle® as the world will never have yet seen!
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I'm not sure where this should be posted, so I placed it in events, general, and
storage. Stacy and I are planning to attend Brickworld and possibly BrickFair
this year. We would like to exhibit at both, but this year will be our first
time doing any kind of public exposition. Since we're first-timers, we have a
few questions (and I warn you this could get long) about AFoL events.
First we'll focus on Brickworld since it is closer to us in distance. We will
be driving (probably a MINI) from the La Crosse, WI area and will be coming down
either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Our questions...
1) How do most of you transport your MOC's and layouts to shows?
2) What types of containers do you use...if any?
3) How much stuff do you usually bring?
4) How do you determine what to bring?
5) How much stuff your first time exhibiting?
6) Does anyone collaborate on transport (i.e. multiple groups renting a U-haul)?
Next, we have BrickFair. This would involve us flying in...which presents a new
challenge. I'm leery of letting the airlines handle my MOC's, but I don't
really have the vacation available to drive out to VA. So...
1) If you fly to an event...do you brings MOC's?
2) If so, how do you get them to the show (airline, UPS, etc.)?
3) How much stuff do you usually bring to shows you fly to?
4) If you bring MOC's on the airline...how do you package them?
5) If you ship them, what type of container do you use?
I think this covers most stuff. We're just trying to get the logistics down for
going to these shows and bringing our MOC's, if possible. This will be a
new...and fun...experience for us. Can't wait to meet some/most/all of you this
summer!
Oh, if anyone is passing through the La Crosse area on the way to Brickworld and
has some "transport space for hire"...we'd be interested. :-)
Thanks,
Dave
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In lugnet.storage, Brian Kendig wrote:
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Anyone see the new “LEGO Furniture” items being sold now in the online
catalog?
A storage box in red, yellow, blue, or green, slightly larger than two feet
deep by 1.5 feet wide by one foot high... for a hundred twenty dollars!!
And a stacking bin in green or red, one foot tall by one foot deep by three
feet high - for a HUNDRED FIFTY dollars!!
I could understand these at a tenth of the price; I might buy storage boxes
for $12 each and stacking bins for $15 each - but am I the only one who thinks
that the LEGO prices for these are *insane*?!
And, there’s a table that’s 2’ by 4’ by a foot and a half high - for two
hundred dollars!! I could make something like that out of less than ten
dollars of wood... it doesn’t even have baseplates on its surface!
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These are all on
clearance now at S@H. The stacking bin is sold out, but the others are all
deeply discounted.
Marc Nelson Jr.
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In lugnet.color, Bob Parker wrote:
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Now that all I have is bley, it does look nice by itself. Since I sold off
all of my original grey, the mismatch between the two hues is not a problem
in my currently small collection of pieces.
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I don’t think I could stand to do that... there are too many unique pieces that
aren’t available in new grey colors. I’m currently wrestling with dilemmas
about how to cope with the various shades of grey in my sorting system. I’ve
tentatively decided to take the old grey and brown colors out and store them in
“obsolete color” bins, and when I build MOC’s I would choose either the new or
old grey bins to build from but not typically both at once.
It’s just such a pain to separate the different shades of grey from each
other...
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In lugnet.storage, David Eaton wrote:
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In lugnet.storage, John Patterson wrote:
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My guess is that they were made in China and cost Lego about a dollar each.
Tack on another dollar for shipping to the distrabution center.
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This guess seems out of whack. Lego has pretty thin price margins
comparatively (just ask merchandisers what the ‘at cost’ price is for Lego to
get an idea). I don’t see why Lego would be jacking up the price for these
storage bins but NOT for everything else. Besides, whenever they try to
market things in the USA, the price margins are razor thin compared to
everywhere else-- why should we expect these to be any different?
But even moreso-- what do you think most US citizens would be willing to pay
for them? If they were for sale at $40 per shelf, they’d be selling like
iPods to teenagers. They’d move thousands of them REALLY quickly, because
they LOOK fantastic, they’re versatile, and they’d be affordable. If Lego’s
cost were even $20 per, they’d be making a KILLING at $40 per unit, selling
them by the proverbial barrelful. But at $100+, they’ll sell FAR fewer, and
make way less money (assuming the same $20 baseline cost for Lego).
Personally, I think these look like (and are priced like) high quality
shelves, and I’d be proud to have some. I don’t think I’d keep my Lego in
them (because it’s just inefficient for AFOL sized collections), but they
look perfect to go in (say) the front hall as a place to store shoes or
boots, or in some other room as a cute storage system. I also think they’d
work well for schools, day care centers, etc-- anywhere where there’s a chunk
of Lego for kids to play with that needs a sturdy storage system.
DaveE
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I have the storage and sorting box and it is ok, nothing special, but a lot
cheaper than the other ones. I also have the older one from the 80’s or earily
90’s, held up well. My guess on the price comes from my other life when we
ordered a few things from China. Very very low prices when you buy in quanity
and if you fill up a conex container shipping is very low also. Not what one
would expect. That is why so many things are made in China now. I just bought
a bedroom set and it is very heavy and it was made in China. So I don’t think
that it is all that expensive considering the weight and that the item is more
than keystoned. So for a $5500 bedroom set, the seller here makes around $3000
that leaves 2500 amd if the keystone is more, which it probably is then cut
another $500off and then shipping in the US from the West Coast is probably
around $200 if by rail. Then the profit in China and their internal shipping,
so the production cost goes down even more. And I do not think that wood is a
problem in China. The cost for wood jumped after Katernia here, but China
stayed about the same.
I am sure that it is a good quality product and there are a lot of private
schools that may pick it up, but even I, who is Lego crazy would not spend that
much for the furniture. After all I live in El Paso, not Beverly Hills. (The
sorting storage box is great and at a resonable price, probaby did that to fill
up the shipping container.) John P
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In lugnet.storage, Bryan Wong wrote:
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In lugnet.storage, Scott Lyttle wrote:
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Since this product is made from pine, I’d dare say there is no particle board
present. (Most of those bookshelves from Wal-Mart are made of particle
board...Particle board is an awful material to build with--even MDF would be
preferred over particle board.. and MDF is basically sawdust and glue!)
So, you’re probably getting a pretty decent quality product with those
containers. I, for one, will not be buying them, simply because I’ve got a
really nice table saw in my garage to use for another of my hobbies. I’m
currently in the process of using my saw to make storage shelves in my own
LEGO room, and it’s building my skillset on the saw at the same time.
Yes, some will probably be sold by those who “must have it at any price”, but
if the quality of that furniture will be anything like the 3-sided play
table, it should hold up very well. For some reason, I think the furniture
is not shipped assembled, so assembly is required.
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Yeah, the website says that the LEGO furniture is made from pine and MDF.
Also says that the item will come mostly unassembled - much easier to ship
that way I guess. Besides, being a construction toy company, I’d expect most
LEGO products to require assembly!
-Bryan
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**snickers**
Bryan, you beat me to the funniest part of this whole thread. “Some assembly
required...!” Yeah, right.
Still wouldn’t buy it at those prices for kids. I’d get it for myself, and have
fun with it...if I had the bucks. But between getting new LEGO, and buying
bricks off of Bricklink--does that sound familiar?
Play Well and Prosper,
Matthew
“The Brick Detetctive”
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In lugnet.storage, Scott Lyttle wrote:
> Since this product is made from pine, I'd dare say there is no particle board
> present. (Most of those bookshelves from Wal-Mart are made of particle
> board...Particle board is an awful material to build with--even MDF would be
> preferred over particle board.. and MDF is basically sawdust and glue!)
>
> So, you're probably getting a pretty decent quality product with those
> containers. I, for one, will not be buying them, simply because I've got a
> really nice table saw in my garage to use for another of my hobbies. I'm
> currently in the process of using my saw to make storage shelves in my own LEGO
> room, and it's building my skillset on the saw at the same time.
>
> Yes, some will probably be sold by those who "must have it at any price", but if
> the quality of that furniture will be anything like the 3-sided play table, it
> should hold up very well. For some reason, I think the furniture is not shipped
> assembled, so assembly is required.
Yeah, the website says that the LEGO furniture is made from pine and MDF. Also
says that the item will come mostly unassembled - much easier to ship that way I
guess. Besides, being a construction toy company, I'd expect most LEGO products
to require assembly!
-Bryan
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In lugnet.storage, John Patterson wrote:
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My guess is that they were made in China and cost Lego about a dollar each.
Tack on another dollar for shipping to the distrabution center.
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This guess seems out of whack. Lego has pretty thin price margins comparatively
(just ask merchandisers what the ‘at cost’ price is for Lego to get an idea). I
don’t see why Lego would be jacking up the price for these storage bins but NOT
for everything else. Besides, whenever they try to market things in the USA, the
price margins are razor thin compared to everywhere else-- why should we expect
these to be any different?
But even moreso-- what do you think most US citizens would be willing to pay for
them? If they were for sale at $40 per shelf, they’d be selling like iPods to
teenagers. They’d move thousands of them REALLY quickly, because they LOOK
fantastic, they’re versatile, and they’d be affordable. If Lego’s cost were even
$20 per, they’d be making a KILLING at $40 per unit, selling them by the
proverbial barrelful. But at $100+, they’ll sell FAR fewer, and make way less
money (assuming the same $20 baseline cost for Lego).
Personally, I think these look like (and are priced like) high quality shelves,
and I’d be proud to have some. I don’t think I’d keep my Lego in them (because
it’s just inefficient for AFOL sized collections), but they look perfect to go
in (say) the front hall as a place to store shoes or boots, or in some other
room as a cute storage system. I also think they’d work well for schools, day
care centers, etc-- anywhere where there’s a chunk of Lego for kids to play with
that needs a sturdy storage system.
DaveE
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In lugnet.storage, Brian Kendig wrote:
> Anyone see the new "LEGO Furniture" items being sold now in the online catalog?
>
> A storage box in red, yellow, blue, or green, slightly larger than two feet deep
> by 1.5 feet wide by one foot high... for a hundred twenty dollars!!
>
> And a stacking bin in green or red, one foot tall by one foot deep by three feet
> high - for a HUNDRED FIFTY dollars!!
>
> I could understand these at a tenth of the price; I might buy storage boxes for
> $12 each and stacking bins for $15 each - but am I the only one who thinks that
> the LEGO prices for these are *insane*?!
>
> And, there's a table that's 2' by 4' by a foot and a half high - for two hundred
> dollars!! I could make something like that out of less than ten dollars of
> wood... it doesn't even have baseplates on its surface!
Well, from what I understand, the materials are made of pine (softwood...As an
amateur woodworker, I like hardwoods much better), and I agree, the prices are a
bit high, but there's still probably a bit of cost there. Wood is not cheap,
even in bulk, factor in shipping, warehousing and labor (if made in China, labor
is probably quite small, relatively speaking). I'd say for that 150 dollar
price tag, you're probably looking around 40-50 dollars material and shipping
cost--remember, oil is going up, and China is now a major consumer of oil, given
their current economic boom.
Since this product is made from pine, I'd dare say there is no particle board
present. (Most of those bookshelves from Wal-Mart are made of particle
board...Particle board is an awful material to build with--even MDF would be
preferred over particle board.. and MDF is basically sawdust and glue!)
So, you're probably getting a pretty decent quality product with those
containers. I, for one, will not be buying them, simply because I've got a
really nice table saw in my garage to use for another of my hobbies. I'm
currently in the process of using my saw to make storage shelves in my own LEGO
room, and it's building my skillset on the saw at the same time.
Yes, some will probably be sold by those who "must have it at any price", but if
the quality of that furniture will be anything like the 3-sided play table, it
should hold up very well. For some reason, I think the furniture is not shipped
assembled, so assembly is required.
Scott
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In lugnet.storage, John Patterson wrote:
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They are in the new catalog. My guess is that they were made in China and
cost Lego about a dollar each. Tack on another dollar for shipping to the
distrabution center.
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Yeah, not buying that guesstimate, on either count. Wood in large volume is a
lot more expensive than a small amount of plastic, and for shipping purposes,
those will either eat up a huge amount of volume (if they’re preassembled), or
weigh an ungodly amount (if they’re flat-boxed kits) and still take up a large
volume. Either way, they will not ship anywhere near as economically as small
boxes of plastic toys. Also, consider warehousing costs, which will again be
much higher based on volume (and order-picking might be similarly affected by
both weight and volume).
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Give it time, they probably bought thousands and when they get stuck with
them, as with Galidor, the price will drop very very low.
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I’m sure they don’t expect this to sell like hotcakes, so they probably ordered
in fairly low volume. There will be enough moderately wealthy families out
there who’ll think this is worth buying for them to move their stock. When I
was in high school, I spent a few years working for a boat-builder, and he used
to make rocking-boats that a local store would sell for ~$150. This was over 15
years ago, we lived in a resort town of ~6000 residents, and those rocking-boats
would still sell as fast as he could make them.
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