Registration officially closes at midnight PST tonight for the 5th FBTB Parts Draft. There are only a couple spots left to fill in this forum topic.
If at the end of today we only have 8 participants, that’s the number of sets I’ll sort to keep it the split lots even. Anyone who decides to join after the sets are sorted will be added to the end of the list, since everyone else will have already paid and decided the draft order.
Registration opens today for the 5th FBTB Parts Draft. There will be 9 spots available to draft 9598 Pizza Planet Truck Rescue, one of which could be yours by following the instructions in this forum topic.
The next FBTB Parts Draft will take place on Saturday February 18th at 11 am PST.
We’ll be drafting 10 copies of Toy Story set 9598 Pizza Planet Truck Rescue for $18.50 a pop, more than 50% off MSRP! (shipping charges will be calculated later for each participant.) Our very own Don Solo reviewed it on the site here a year ago, and had high praises for it.
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You can see the inventory for this set on Bricklink.
The draft will follow the same rules as the last couple drafts, since we seem to have finally streamlined the process enough.
Draft registration will commence on Monday February 6th at 12 pm PST, which you can do in in this dedicated forum topic by simply posting “PIZZA!” Feel free to post any and all questions or comments in the thread; however, anyone posting “PIZZA!” before the clock hits noon on February 6th will be banned from participating. I will then confirm your registration via private message and give you PayPal payment instructions, and our draft order will be decided by the order of payment received from participants.
Woody’s Roundup, Right here every day, Woody’s Roundup, come on, it’s time to play
There’s Jessie, the yodeling cowgirl,(yo-de-la, you-de-la, yo-de-la)
Bullseye, he’s woody’s horse, (grrr…he’s a smart one)
Pete the old prospector, and Woody the man himself, of course
It’s time for Woody’s Roundup, He’s the very best!
He’s the rootinest tootinest cowboy in the Wild, Wild West
This was among the hardest of the Toy story sets to review, mostly because it was the least iconic of the first wave, and, as I initially thought, the least interesting. It was designed on something never seen in this form in the first two movies… Buzz’s starship was the box the original Buzz Lightyear came in.
Toy Story sets hold a special place in my heart. Not just because they capture one of my favorite movies, or come from the mighty Pixar, whose movies have set a standard that all animation, and even all movies, try to ascribe to. No, I love these sets because they created a sense of excitement in me that I hadn’t really felt since the first Star Wars sets hit. They are unique, and the first of the Disney line, capturing something that is already unique, and making it special.
As you may or may not know, Bricks by the Bay (northern California’s first LEGO convention) was held last weekend, and I was lucky enough to attend. Unfortunately I did not plan my trip well and didn’t take too many pictures, but I wanted to share with you may favorite upcoming set of this year that The LEGO Group decided to bring along and have on display for the fans: #7598 – Pizza Planet Truck Rescue
It will be an exclusive set, which I’m assuming means it will only be available on LEGO Shop at Home and in Toys R Us, and the price point will be $40 if I overheard correctly. I apologize for not having more solid information to share… I was busy playing with it. That does seem a bit high for a set with only 225 parts, but it has a lot of large slopes and windscreens, plus four of the special Toy Story minifig: Hamm (not shown in my picture, but he’s part of the set), Rex, Buzz, and one LGM. The hood, doors, and camper shell roof all open and you can fit everyone inside. Oh, and it shoots pizzas out of the front. How cool is that?
Maybe it’s just me because my first job was delivering pizzas in an old Toyota pickup, maybe it’s because of the a commonly known running gag to include the iconic “Delivery Shuttle” as an Easter egg in every Pixar movie, or maybe it’s because this is just a really fun and well designed set… whatever the reason, I am buying this the first chance I get. I don’t remember the last official set I’ve been this excited about.
My wife actually caught this deal in the Target ad, but Amazon goes a few cents better. Pick up Toy Story Army Men on Patrol (7595)
Below is the list of MSRP and piece counts for LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Toy Story January 2010 assortment along with reported Toys’R'Us prices:
* – items marked with an asterisk are store exclusives.
As you can see, the markup TRU places on top of MSRP is pretty significant once you add it all up. Out of the Star Wars sets, the Droid Tri-Fighter seems to be the best value, while Luke’s Landspeeder seems to be the worst, but honestly, the rest are all pretty bad. Toy Story sets seem to be a better value overall, with Woody’s Roundup hitting that golden ratio of about 10 cents per piece. Woody and Buzz to the rescue is the sore spot of the group however, but since you get RC with a pullback motor, it doesn’t seem so bad.
Pepa Quin found the entire 2010 LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Toy Story line up at his local Toys’R'Us, and it’s not looking good:
PepaBroke: Freeco Speeder – $29.99
PepaBroke: for 177 pieces
PepaBroke: TIE Defender – $54.99
PepaBroke: for 308 pieces
PepaBroke: ARC-170 – $64.99
PepaBroke: for less then 400 pieces
PepaBroke: what a ****ing rip off
PepaBroke: (I may not have remembered the piece count exactly)
PepaBroke: got the two battle packs ($12.99) and the tri-droid fighter ($29.99)
PepaBroke: they had RC ($21.99), army men (12.99) Buzz Statue ($25.99) and Woody’s Roundup ($54.99)
Mind you these are TRU prices, which tend to be higher than actual MSRP. Take for instance the TIE Defender set. TRU Price: $54.99, actual MSRP: I would guess to be $49.99. Still, with the markup in mind, one has to wonder how much more fleecing the fan base can take. With what we had to endure from the outrageously, and I mean OUTRAGEOUSLY, and you know I’m being deadly serious when I use caps, overpriced MINIFIG packs that were this year’s San Diego Comic Con exclusives, I guess LFL and TLG are expecting everyone to just bend over for next year’s assortment.
This is getting ridiculous.
My only hope is that the LEGO Toy Story release is a lot closer to something called reasonable. When Woody’s Roundup was exposed at TRU.com for $49.99, it later rose to $54.99, leading one to believe that the first price tag was actual MSRP. And for just over 500 pieces, 3 minifigs and Bullseye, it really hit the sweet spot, something the LEGO Star Wars line has been lacking for a long time. As soon as more real data becomes available, it would be interesting to see which would be the better value for the money. But I’m placing my bets on Toy Story.
