Month: June 2012

Here is a peak at what Toys R Us is offering in terms of LEGO here in early summer. It’s an interesting mix of newer 2012 themes, and earlier stuff that I am surprised is still so well represented on the shelves. Alien Conquest and Harry Potter in particular each have a pretty big presence.

A big display of Monster Fighters right when you walk in the door at Toys R Us, plus Super Heroes. I wonder how well Monster Fighters is selling compared to a licensed brand such as Avengers.

Another big display at the front of the store, Toys R Us was having a $10 off $50 LEGO purchase sale. Lots of Harry Potter Hogwart’s Castles still in stock. They always have this at Target too:

I love how Lord of the Rings is inches away from Duplo:

Ninjago:

LEGO Minifigure Speech Bubbles:

Big gray baseplates:

Nothing new in the Star Wars section yet, the summer wave has yet to hit here:

Pirates of the Caribbean still on the shelves too:

As usual, a bit of a mess:

I suppose I could try to interpret this photo as Lord of the Rings sets selling well:

They still have the big promotional display of Alien Conquest taking up shelf space:

I love tracking the price of the LEGO Harry Potter Quidditch Match set. Around the holidays, the price goes up to nearly $40. Now at a bargain price of $24.99, still $5 over MSRP:

Weathertop with a mere $5 markup:

City:

City and Technic:

Creator with a red box Ninjago in the background:

Ninjago:

When I was 19, I found a vintage LEGO castle set at a thrift store, still in the box. That find set off the adult years of LEGO hobby, taking me “out of the dark ages,” which is how adult fans of LEGO describe the years between childhood and picking up the hobby again as an adult.

For years, I bought LEGO at yard sales and retail stores, and my favorite theme of the pre-Star Wars era was always Castle. When I had to pare down my collection, I would sell everything but the castle sets and pieces. Much of it is still packed away.

In recent years, LEGO has began putting out amazing sets across a range of themes. So, I still buy sets such as Medieval Market Village, Joust, and other Castle themes sets (now called Kingdoms), but I have broadened my interests as well: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Modulars, Alien Conquest, City and more.

But… I just couldn’t pass up this lot of older Castle sets from eBay several months back:

These are opened sets from the late 1980s and early 1990s. I have no use for MISB sets – besides there expense… I like being able to build these. (of course though, I haven’t had time to even pry these sets open yet!)

Here we have set 6057 Sea Serpent, set 6017 King’s Oarsmen, and 6012 Siege Cart:

Here is set 6030 Catapult and 6038 Wolfpack Renegades:

And finally set 6023 Maiden’s Cart and 6041 Armor Shop:

One day perhaps I will create a nice display of all my castle sets. Much of what I have in storage needs to be collected back into sets. In the meantime, I am happy to stare at these boxes!