and this SW minifig isn't even the most expensive one.
Let's think about this: € 1632 is about the monthly net salary after taxes
in Italy and Spain. Both countries are not third world countries...
For a person in Latin America this would be 3-5 month salaries. And let's
not think about Africa.
I know that the price of a product is determined by supply and demand, that is
how the capitalist world we live in works and I accept that fact.
But.... I suspect TLG of deliberately making exclusive Star Wars minifigures
in almost every new SW set with an eye on the after market.
For TLG this is a double profit:
- 1 when selling the set to consumers
- 2 when selling the minifigures to SW collectors via BrickLink
I am a prototype collector myself so I know psychologically what I am talking
about. But slowly I ask myself if it is still ethical to continue collecting
since the ones who profit the most from it are the big corporations, like our
beloved LEGO in the small country of Denmark.
From the Bible: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is
never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
[…]
But.... I suspect TLG of deliberately making exclusive Star Wars minifigures
in almost every new SW set with an eye on the after market.
Not realistic. TLG is just doing new exclusives because they can and it makes
their new sets sell (not because of collectors but because “new, exclusive” sells).
The after market is peanuts.
How many of these minifigures are sold on BL every year? For what total amount?
And 3% of that?
Compare that to sales of Millenium Falcons, Death Stars, Modulars or whatever
other “rare” big set.
[…]
But.... I suspect TLG of deliberately making exclusive Star Wars minifigures
in almost every new SW set with an eye on the after market.
Not realistic. TLG is just doing new exclusives because they can and it makes
their new sets sell (not because of collectors but because “new, exclusive” sells).
The after market is peanuts.
How many of these minifigures are sold on BL every year? For what total amount?
And 3% of that?
Compare that to sales of Millenium Falcons, Death Stars, Modulars or whatever
other “rare” big set.
Maybe I wasn't completely clear. I meant that almost every new SW set these
days contains almost exclusively new minifigures that are unique to that specific
set.
The point of LEGO and this website is that people can recreate all kinds of sets
that were produced in the past by ordering bricks on Bricklink. That's what
Bricklink is for and fantastic at.
When I look at the SW sets that LEGO has made in recent years, there are hardly
any special bricks in them, except for those unique minifigures. That makes it
very expensive to bricklink a set from the past.
When you look at other themes, such as City of Friends, you see that the figures
are shared much more across different sets. Even the modulars share minifigures
with other sets and are therefore cheaper to buy.
So... I maintain that LEGO deliberately produces Star Wars sets with unique items
to feed the FOMO of SW collectors. And I think that's bad for people who
want to buy a set that is no longer in production.
and this SW minifig isn't even the most expensive one.
Let's think about this: € 1632 is about the monthly net salary after taxes
in Italy and Spain. Both countries are not third world countries...
For a person in Latin America this would be 3-5 month salaries. And let's
not think about Africa.
I know that the price of a product is determined by supply and demand, that is
how the capitalist world we live in works and I accept that fact.
But.... I suspect TLG of deliberately making exclusive Star Wars minifigures
in almost every new SW set with an eye on the after market.
For TLG this is a double profit:
- 1 when selling the set to consumers
- 2 when selling the minifigures to SW collectors via BrickLink
I am a prototype collector myself so I know psychologically what I am talking
about. But slowly I ask myself if it is still ethical to continue collecting
since the ones who profit the most from it are the big corporations, like our
beloved LEGO in the small country of Denmark.
From the Bible: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is
never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
That is an interesting theory, but I genuinely don’t know if lego “profits” anything
off of the bricklink fees, after server costs, staff costs, updates (good and
bad, but they aren’t free (research, testing, etc)), etc, I can’t imagine they
are left with that much of the 3%. Id imagine the increase in exclusive figures
is since lego figure collecting is very prevalent and they realize that the more
unique figures they make, the more sets they sell, which means your right that
it’s to make more money, but I’d imagine that’s only from the initial set sales,
and then on bricklink they would mostly profit off the data, rather then directly
financially
I still think it is ridiculous that a small piece of plastic can be worth thousands
of €’s.
You can buy art in museum quality for less and I do mean serious art that is
in demand too and sometimes only made in 1 or just a few pieces.
You can buy, for instance, a Picasso ceramic object for a few 1000 €’s, made
in let’s say 250 pieces.
A Lalique vase from the Art Deco period for the same amount etc. I can make a
really long list but you get the point.
Items that will last longer (if not dropped) than a Lego minifig, are made with
care and not quickly made in a machine.
I know, demand makes the price, the same for Lego as for art.
So it is ridculous when a piece of plastic is worth thousands of euro's,
but it is oke that a piece a clay is worth thousands euro's?
Because a famous artist made it?
Just like you said on the end. It is the demand that makes the price! Not the
logica!
Tim
In Off Topic, tonnic writes:
I still think it is ridiculous that a small piece of plastic can be worth thousands
of €’s.
You can buy art in museum quality for less and I do mean serious art that is
in demand too and sometimes only made in 1 or just a few pieces.
You can buy, for instance, a Picasso ceramic object for a few 1000 €’s, made
in let’s say 250 pieces.
A Lalique vase from the Art Deco period for the same amount etc. I can make a
really long list but you get the point.
Items that will last longer (if not dropped) than a Lego minifig, are made with
care and not quickly made in a machine.
I know, demand makes the price, the same for Lego as for art.
So it is ridculous when a piece of plastic is worth thousands of euro's,
but it is oke that a piece a clay is worth thousands euro's?
Because a famous artist made it?
Well, yes it is. One is made with love and care, Lego is stamped out of a machine
and printed.
Boba Fett Cloud City has been made in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even more,
it isn’t rare, it is the demand that makes the price.
And like I said, I spoke about myself in terms of ‘I’ so others can think different.
Just like you said on the end. It is the demand that makes the price! Not the
logica!
Tim
In Off Topic, tonnic writes:
I still think it is ridiculous that a small piece of plastic can be worth thousands
of €’s.
You can buy art in museum quality for less and I do mean serious art that is
in demand too and sometimes only made in 1 or just a few pieces.
You can buy, for instance, a Picasso ceramic object for a few 1000 €’s, made
in let’s say 250 pieces.
A Lalique vase from the Art Deco period for the same amount etc. I can make a
really long list but you get the point.
Items that will last longer (if not dropped) than a Lego minifig, are made with
care and not quickly made in a machine.
I know, demand makes the price, the same for Lego as for art.
So it is ridculous when a piece of plastic is worth thousands of euro's,
but it is oke that a piece a clay is worth thousands euro's?
Because a famous artist made it?
Well, yes it is. One is made with love and care, Lego is stamped out of a machine
and printed.
One could also argue that some works are rather made with love of money
(aka greed) and not much care, especially when they are just a means of tax evasion
or money laundering.
Boba Fett Cloud City has been made in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even more,
it isn’t rare, it is the demand that makes the price.
And like I said, I spoke about myself in terms of ‘I’ so others can think different.
So it is ridculous when a piece of plastic is worth thousands of euro's,
but it is oke that a piece a clay is worth thousands euro's?
Because a famous artist made it?
Well, yes it is. One is made with love and care, Lego is stamped out of a machine
and printed.
Oh, yes, Duchamp, Man Ray and others are known for making art out of daily (well,
daily..) objects.
And more recent artists like Jeff Koons created (what’s in a word?) a whole industry
where employees make his design in 1 or multiples examples. So money has and
will be made. Money makes the world go round.
One could also argue that some works are rather made with love of money
(aka greed) and not much care, especially when they are just a means of tax evasion
or money laundering.
Boba Fett Cloud City has been made in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even more,
it isn’t rare, it is the demand that makes the price.
And like I said, I spoke about myself in terms of ‘I’ so others can think different.
and this SW minifig isn't even the most expensive one.
Let's think about this: € 1632 is about the monthly net salary after taxes
in Italy and Spain. Both countries are not third world countries...
For a person in Latin America this would be 3-5 month salaries. And let's
not think about Africa.
I know that the price of a product is determined by supply and demand, that is
how the capitalist world we live in works and I accept that fact.
But.... I suspect TLG of deliberately making exclusive Star Wars minifigures
in almost every new SW set with an eye on the after market.
For TLG this is a double profit:
- 1 when selling the set to consumers
- 2 when selling the minifigures to SW collectors via BrickLink
I am a prototype collector myself so I know psychologically what I am talking
about. But slowly I ask myself if it is still ethical to continue collecting
since the ones who profit the most from it are the big corporations, like our
beloved LEGO in the small country of Denmark.
From the Bible: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is
never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
Bricklink fees are less than 3%. Even on a €1632 sale, that's what €30 in
fees? Paypal charges more just on currencies conversions.
Prices are simply supply and demand. This was a ~ $100 figure for nearly a decade
after it's release and only went up during covid when people speculated and
got into collecting vintage a lot more.
The price on the Cloud City set also flatlined around covid and has slowly been
creeping down.
Unless you're a completionist, the non-printed vintage one is very attainable
and new Boba's are a couple dollars. Lego even re-released the Lando from
Cloud City so it's more attainable, which was (in my opinion) a lot more
of a unique figure with his cape and torso colours.
and this SW minifig isn't even the most expensive one.
Let's think about this: € 1632 is about the monthly net salary after taxes
in Italy and Spain. Both countries are not third world countries...
For a person in Latin America this would be 3-5 month salaries. And let's
not think about Africa.
I know that the price of a product is determined by supply and demand, that is
how the capitalist world we live in works and I accept that fact.
But.... I suspect TLG of deliberately making exclusive Star Wars minifigures
in almost every new SW set with an eye on the after market.
For TLG this is a double profit:
- 1 when selling the set to consumers
- 2 when selling the minifigures to SW collectors via BrickLink
I am a prototype collector myself so I know psychologically what I am talking
about. But slowly I ask myself if it is still ethical to continue collecting
since the ones who profit the most from it are the big corporations, like our
beloved LEGO in the small country of Denmark.
From the Bible: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is
never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
Leaving aside the biblical quotations the Market Value of collectables has
often little to do with the producer of the said item and should not be upheld
as the basis for any craze. Such influences are nearly always externally driven,
though no less real as far as market evaluation goes In other words, don't
blame the producer, but rather the aftermarket.
Netherlands, Overijssel
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Canada, Ontario
USA, Washington
the Market Value of collectables has