Good Sets For Parts

[Wadmaasi]

Now I wish there were a ShopRite somewhere nearby.

[Mantisking]

At some point I will be doing a blog post on where, and when, to go shopping for discounted Lego.

[Mantisking]

A super-hero set that's an affordable Price per Piece and has good pieces? Who'da thunk it? 6862 Superman vs. Power Armor Lex is that set.

[Wadmaasi]

A super-hero set that's an affordable Price per Piece and has good pieces? Who'da thunk it? 6862 Superman vs. Power Armor Lex is that set.

Oh shazbot. Those purple Hi-Leg cockpits/Chub abdomens are REAL tempting. But we won't talk about how much I've spent on LEGO since I discovered the Kickstarter*.

*Hint: It's more than the (entirely) unexpected $1000 I got in March.

[Mantisking]

A super-hero set that's an affordable Price per Piece and has good pieces? Who'da thunk it? 6862 Superman vs. Power Armor Lex is that set.

Oh shazbot. Those purple Hi-Leg cockpits/Chub abdomens are REAL tempting. But we won't talk about how much I've spent on LEGO since I discovered the Kickstarter*.

Those parts make me want to build a Chub in Lex Luthor's colors.

[Wadmaasi]

Gah, I bought one of the Luthor sets.

[Mantisking]

Gah, I bought one of the Luthor sets.

Problem?

[Wadmaasi]

Problem?

See prior reference to my LEGO acquiring problem.

[Ced23Ric]

The local LEGO flagship store has a "Buy a cup of LEGOs for $12 or a large cup for $17.50." * thingey. I'mma go and check that out tomorrow, maybe I can grab some base parts that I need. The stuff I need is small, so that might just work out fine, if I actually get to have a decent amount of parts to pick from.

* converted from Euros. It's 8.99 / 15.99

[jonbro]

What is the best way to feed this hobby folks? I am currently getting a ton of stuff on bricklink, but that seems insane. Maybe once the initial shopping spree wears off, I can get lego at stores like a normal person? I can't help but feel like I am missing some secret though. Is it boot sales? Amazon sales?

[Mantisking]

What is the best way to feed this hobby folks? I am currently getting a ton of stuff on bricklink, but that seems insane. Maybe once the initial shopping spree wears off, I can get lego at stores like a normal person? I can't help but feel like I am missing some secret though. Is it boot sales? Amazon sales?

Keep your eyes open for good sales, like "Buy One Get One 50% Off" which is essentially 25% off if you buy two sets the same price. Look for Clearance deals at Target and Walmart. If you have a Lego Store near you, shop after Christmas for some great deals. Sign up and participate over at Toys 'n' Bricks 'cause they are Lego-hunting fiends. I'll try and put together more tips in my Blog at some point.

[jonbro]

I started looking through the bricklink forums, and it seems like there are some people dumping their whole collections cheap. I still don't know if it is cheaper than buying the sets (I am guessing no?), but potentially a direction.

Ebay seems like not at all the right place to go.

[Ced23Ric]

So I went to the LEGO Flagship Store in Berlin (~4 Million inhabs, so: big), and showed them my parts list. They said: LOL, and gave me 8 parts for free, and two addresses for privately-run stores. One in South-West Berlin, the other in the North. Went SW first, but the store was closed for inventory. Luckily, a woman who lived in the same house knew the owner, got him to open his store, and then, him and I went on a private shopping spree. The total was like 65€ (~$85), but because his registers were off, he said, 60€ is fine and even gave me some spares for iffy parts. So I got the majority of what I needed - and headed onwards to the next store. Through the entrie city. One hour later, I arrivd there, and grabbed a few more parts, about 11€ ($15), and now I am just missing a few parts to complete an entire lance (4 'Frames) of VMX-04 Sutoraikas, with all weapon and system options. Who's a proud little Lego hunter? This guy.

[jonbro]

So I went to the LEGO Flagship Store in Berlin ...

So you would or would not recommend going to the lego store while I am there later this week? (can't figure out how to plug this conference naturally: http://www.amaze-festival.de/indie-connect-2012 Indie games thing happening in berlin later this week.)

[Ced23Ric]

First of all, you should add me on Skype. And then, I recommend the "Spielzeugladen an der Kaisereiche", which you can reach from Innsbrucker Platz via U4, take the M48/M85 bus to Kaisereiche and walk to Saarstraße 2 (opposite side of the road, behind the matresses outlet). These guys have a **** ton of stuff. Mondays closed.

Flagship Store is more of a tourist attraction really. Not worth the time for us.

[LowestFormOfWit]

For anyone in the US, I frequently (in my area anyway) find older sets of LEGO at my Marshall's and TJMaxx stores. You can usually find them for a good price. Some of my better finds have been when children vandalize the boxes (this also happens a lot in my area ), and the store is forced to put them on clearance. While some of the parts are missing sometimes in this case, LEGO was happy to send me anything that had gotten lost when I provided my proof of purchase.

Some of my finds at Marshall's/TJMaxx:
5984 Lunar Limo for $20.00 (A lot of useful pieces in black plus some purple/gold details to boot. What more could you want?)
7572 Quest Against Time for a total of $14.00 (Bought on two separate trips. Someone sold me 2 of the bags that were floating around loose for $4.00 since we couldn't find the rest. Next trip we found the remaining parts and the manager sold them to me for $9.00. This set has tons of Dark Bley cheese slopes and pieces that make some great rocky terrain very easily.)
Star Wars Brickmaster for $10.00 (on clearance since some kid has trashed the book and spread some of the pieces out. A little hunting and I found them all!)
Ninjago Brickmaster for $10.00 (Same store as above, the book was actually missing whole pages. Pieces intact so whatever!)

I recently took advantage of a clearance special at K-Mart, where they had %50 their clearance (which was already marked down pretty heavy):
7065 Alien Mothership for $22.00
8077 Atlantis Exploration HQ for $25.00 (I think most of the Atlantis line has many useful MFZ parts)

Wal-Mart and Target are also good (the slower stores in my area have some great stuff that goes to clearance) but I think they go to a max of %50 off on sets. At one time I saw these three separate lines of $100.00 sets for $50.00, but this was before I got back into my LEGO through MFZ (Oh you fate!):
7327 Scorpian Pyramid
7066 Earth Defense HQ
8078 Portal of Atlantis

What I'm waiting for are those $10.00 Star Wars sets (the ones that come in the planet ball decoration) to go to clearance. My Wal-Marts are all still full of them. it's inevitable.

[Wordman]

My local(-ish) Lego store had some cool stuff in their big wall of loose parts you can buy by the bucket this weekend: one tub of 1x1 tile with clip (dark bluish grey), a tub of those fat tires showing up in some frames posted here (e.g. the Iguana), a tub of grass/flowers. It's worth checking in every once in a while.

[Mantisking]

My local(-ish) Lego store had some cool stuff in their big wall of loose parts you can buy by the bucket this weekend: one tub of 1x1 tile with clip (dark bluish grey), a tub of those fat tires showing up in some frames posted here (e.g. the Iguana), a tub of grass/flowers. It's worth checking in every once in a while.

You're in Massachusetts, right?

[LowestFormOfWit]

I just snagged two (2) Star Wars Advent Calendars at a Wal-Mart having a sale on their clearance for $11.00 a piece.

[Wordman]

You're in Massachusetts, right?

Long Island, though I lived in Cambridge for years (and Jersey, and Colorado...)