Thursday, August 28, 2014

Winning the Lottery

I'm sure for most people winning the lottery conjures up images of piles of money but for a fan of Lego it means scoring a rare set at regular price.

A few weeks ago I tried to purchase set #21110 The Research Institute and set #21109 The Exo Suit and found out that they were either "Sold Out" or "temporarily out of stock" on the Lego web site. They were not to be found at either of my local Lego stores; in fact they were going for double and triple their original asking price on the secondary market.

Aggggghhhhhh

Well, who should come to my rescue but my daughter, Sierra. My daughter is amazing. While I have coped with the excess of Lego in my house by photographing it, she went and got a job at our local Lego Store. This has both it's pluses and minuses, trust me.

First she found set #21110 at our local toy store Math 'n Stuff. I love Math 'n Stuff because they sell Lego, they have an amazing set-up at our local BrickCon and they often have older sets at regular price. The staff is always friendly and did I mention they are only two blocks away? Sierra happened to be in Math n' Stuff last week to get a new puzzle and spied a case of #21110 behind the counter. One thing led to another and before I knew it I had purchased The Research Institute. It seemed there was hope after all!

Yesterday Sierra came to me and told me that her store was getting in a big Lego shipment and that the Exo Suit was listed on the manifest. The hunt was on! I wasn't taking any chances on this one. We arrived at the store at opening but alas they had not had a chance to unpack the shipment. We decided not to hover and wandered around the mall. Before we knew it Sierra received a text from Sean, back at the store, that he had found the sets and they were waiting for us.

Woooooo hooooo

Seriously I felt like I had just won the lottery. I'm pretty sure buying Lego shouldn't engender this kind of emotional response in an adult. But that is my reality.

~ xxsjc

How far have you gone to score that hard to find set?
What set did you miss that you still regret?


My apologies for not having an image that is more appropriate. But life is moving pretty fast right now. Hopefully I will be more on point in future posts. 

8 comments:

  1. I got the Research Institute last week at the NYCLUG meeting, at which time we installed our MOC display at the Rockefeller Center LEGO Store. And I'm proud to say I have a piece in that exhibit!

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    1. Lyn I saw your group photo from the store. That is so cool that you have a piece in the exhibit! Why have you not shared this with us on IG? Or did I miss it?

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    2. I didn't put anything on IG, though I did post it to my Facebook page and got more likes than anything else I posted all year (even the announcement that my companion to Gringolandia sold to a publisher). @donaldsshadow posted the photo, though.

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    3. Lyn!! Congratulations on selling your companion to Gringolandia! That is the best news ever my friend!!

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  2. What set do I regret not getting? That would be the UCS Millenium Falcon I'm afraid. I still remember the days it was listed on S@H for "normal price". I did not click the "buy" button, as I was afraid not to find a proper place to put / display it. But other than that, I don't regret anything. I have lots of LEGO to keep me busy :)

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    1. Ken, I just looked up the current price for the UCS MF. WOW!! My self, I wish I had gotten the Taj Mahal. But even to this day I wouldn't know what to do with it. We had the Super Star Destroyer for a while, but I finally dismantled it because it was always in the way. Sometimes you can have too much Lego. I know, shocking. :D

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  3. The one set that I really (like REALLY) wanted badly was the #10228 Mansion from the MonsterFighters series. For a long time i thought it was too big to keep it built up anywhere but finally found a place. And when I finally got it (after saving money for two months) it was just the right time- two weeks later it had disappeared from the online store! That made me smile even wider...;-)

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    1. The Haunted House is one of my favorite places to hang out as well, Stefan.

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