Modern Lego Robustnesss & Prices.

Mark#1

Hi,

I'm 41 and have been a lifelong Lego fan.

My 9 year-old boy is already more of a fanatic than I ever was, which is great - he has XBox & Wii & nearly 100 Simpsons recorded on the TV, but he's always happy to play with his Lego when he's reached his TV/gaming quota.

There are a few models he's got recently that just aren't as robust as I remember my models being. He's got some Star Wars ones that have doors that pop off easily when you try to open them - that's caused a few tears.

He's now looking for the Agents Mobile Command Centre ( http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/Product.aspx?p=8635&cn=543&d=70 ), but some reviews of this model say that it suffers the same delicateness I'm talking about ( http://www.shopireland.ie/toys/reviews/B0018PLCKI/ ).

Realistically, what 9 year-old is going to just build this and then just watch it gathering dust on a shelf? For me, Lego toys were for playing with after you've built them, but some of these newer models don't seem up to that brief.

I'm also bothered by the disproportionate prices of some Lego toys, but at least I always buy from the lowest-priced, best-reputed seller I can find (for any commodity), and to Paddy's shame, it's increasingly rare that that seller is in ROI.

So has anyone found this Lego Agents Mobile Command Centre (8635) in stock in ROI or UK/Europe for a reasonable price?


Thanks,

Mark

syklops

Depends what you call a reasonable price. How much is it in the Republic?

I will have a look in my local lego stockist and see if there is any major difference(I am in eastern europe and some things are cheaper and some more expensive.

I have just been pricing a Technic Jeep which I am going to ask Santa for, and here it was cheaper than it was on the lego website.

As for your comment on its robustness, I would agree to some extent. While I am more interested in Technic/Mindstorms, some things do seem a little less sturdy than I remember(and its not just because I have gotten stronger). In technic, this could be because they have moved from Studded construction to studless. For regular Lego, in part I blame the new 'themed' sets, such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, because with regular builder sets, the end result does not need to look exactly the same as the real world article. For example, the Space Police space cruiser, or the Police Station sets that I had were not modeled on actual crafts, where as the Star Wars crafts do have to look like the ships in the films.

This means they have to make more non-standard bricks so that the cockpit in the X-wing fighter looks correct for example. As a result of having to make non-standard bricks, this adds an extra cost to the making of the set, and I think they may be scrimping on quality slightly for these non-standard pieces.

If your still reading(after that novel), I would like to point out that I think you and me and your son are very lucky that Lego is still around. They were in big trouble for a few years because kids were buying xboxes and gameboys and Lego was no longer being added to the Christmas list. When I was about 8 or 9 the argos catalogue would have about 8 pages of lego. There was a time not long ago when Lego got half a page to itself. Even on the Late late toy show this year I saw lego in the background somewhere but it didnt get an actual mention, where as when I was young they always had a good display of lego and it got a great mention.

Arnotts used to put on a fantastic display every year but I think they have stopped doing that now. Last year I went looking for some Lego and 2 toy shops didnt have any and I ended up going to a craft shop to buy it.

Which reminds me, I always found the prices of lego sets in the Art and Hobbies shop in the Jervis centre to be very reasonable. They also had a deal on, that if you spent 20 euro or more, you got a stamp on a card and after 6 stamps you got a 20 euro voucher. So I bought a few sets there, and bought my mother some art supplies for her birthday, and got a 20 euro voucher. Guess what I spent it on?

So to summarise, yes I think quality has dropped slightly, but I dont blame them too much for it, and I do believe that it has become more expensive. I remember buying a fire jeep in Woolworths when I was about 8 and it cost 99p. Sadly Woolworths, and buy lego for less than a pound are both things of the past.

Mark#1

Oh cruel fate, why do you mock me so?

I ordered the Mobile Command Centre from Lego shop (€99 + €15 shipping).

The price bothered me, but I was happy to have secured one.

While in Smyth's sizing up a bike for my youngest, I just thought I'd have a gawp around the Lego area. Sure enough, there it was: Lego Agents Mobile Command Centre - €90. At least 8 of them on the shelf.

Annoyed? Just a tad.

It's still not even on their website now.

I'm gonna get one of them and check out the returns situation with Lego shop (it's already shipped). I may not salvage the full €25, but I might get something back.

Your comments on the specialist models make sense - some of the custom peices or fixing methods just won't stay together as securely as standard peices.

Thanks for your reply,

Mark