Alternative: Lego 75155 and 75095 Sets

I continue to add more sets into my portfolio after successfully selling 9462: The Mummy, 9471: Uruk-Hai Army and various other LOTR sets as they mature for more than 3 years with a cool profit margin of 55.82%. Once again I like to use the proceeds to get bigger and badder sets :) This is known as trade up; a term used by real estate investors. One good marketplace for the Malaysian market is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/KedaiLegoMalaysia/ or eBay for overseas.

The lego shop in Queensbay Mall is having a 30% discount promo for selected sets; mainly Star Wars until 6th Nov 2016. And you will get two polybag freebies for free if you spent above RM350; easily worth RM60 in total!

75155: Rebel U-Wing Fighter

Aboi Says:
- Ship fits in with the aesthetic of A New Hope (episode 4) and has the old classic feeling and colours.
- UT-60D will form an integral part of the coming film based on trailers; may well prove to the most popular of all Rogue One Lego sets.
- Impression selection of minifigures. Jyn will very probably be not unique. Bistan's head is completely unique and the U-Wing's pilot blue suit is nicely crafted.
- On a USD 0.11 price per brick basis this set is considered on the low end of pricing in Rogue One Lego sets.

This ship will be pretty well sought after in the future provided it has a significant presence in the film for it has amazing play features & minifigures. Medium risk level.

75095: UCS Tie Fighter

Aboi Says:
- Most revered of Star Wars offerings a UCS set - Ultimate Collector's Series. It is only available on Lego.com and the Lego brand stores so it is considered very exclusive and hard to find.
- The minifigure of a TIE Fighter Pilot is completely unique to this set - addition of detailed printing on the shoulder, arm and wrist.
- Twice as large as the retired 9492: Tie Fighter set back in 2012. That set retailed at $55 and now it is selling for nearly $100 in the secondary market - a whopping CAGR of 16.12%. And this set is better in every single aspect + being a UCS.
- On a USD 0.12 price per brick basis this set is considered low on the pricing scale.

The ship's design is based of the original trilogy and being a UCS set it will definitely hold on to its value and certainly go up in value over the logn run. Too bad that the [75060: Slave I] was completely sold out by the time I went to the store - otherwise that would be another UCS set that I would get and hold. Low risk level.

And these are the free polybags that were given. Easily worth RM60 in total.

Disclaimer: The reports, analysis and recommendations in this blog are solely my personal views. I do not link to any investment body or company. As such, I will not be responsible of any of your investment decision. Consult your investment adviser or come to your own conclusions before making any investment decision.

Alternative: Lego 75099 Rey's Speeder

I've started to sell off my old sets that I have kept since 2011. 8 sets (avg 170 pcs/set) this year and they are largely 2011/2012 sets with a cool profit margin of 57.66%. With those proceeds I picked up two of Rey's Speeder recently (and immediately once I saw it). I could have bought more if not for both Lego shop and Toy R US having only one of each remaining.

Star Wars The Force Awaken Lego have various sets as depicted below but why I did choose Rey's Speeder?

Pros:
- Set selling fast so I am lucky to find the last ones. Rey is popular with kids.
- Set with Rey for $20, the other set with her will run you $150!
- Though Rey is not unique, she looks fantastic and her dust cover will probably be just a one time deal so just the minifig alone is worth it.
- Nice dark red slopes and good little pieces in the set makes it look very detailed.
- On a USD price per brick basis this set is considered the cheapest of all TFA Lego sets.

Cons:
- Tools stuck on the side don't match with what we see in the movie. But a simple modification will do it (many people have done so just google it).
- Hate the stickers, it's a lot for a relatively small set.
- Not very much a playset, it is for display purpose.

In comparison to an older set: 8092 Luke's Speeder back in 2010 has a retail price of $25. It is now commanding a selling value of $42.40, roughly a CAGR of 9.1%. If you’ve seen the trailer, Rey's speeder was the first vehicle we got to see, so it’s the one that was just stamped into our brains. It's truly iconic that isn't clearly based on Original Trilogy vehicles and could certainly fetch a similar return.

Aboi Says: The set and this version of Rey with the dust cover will NOT likely be remade. With its current popularity (can't find this set in Penang anymore) and potential uniqueness & rarity once it is no longer in production makes it a good deal.

Disclaimer: The reports, analysis and recommendations in this blog are solely my personal views. I do not link to any investment body or company. As such, I will not be responsible of any of your investment decision. Consult your investment adviser or come to your own conclusions before making any investment decision.

Brick or Break Investment?

Can you make decent money from collectibles? Yes and no, that depends on what kind of toy or collectibles you are looking at. I have a sizable collection of these at home from LEGO to Hard Rock limited edition pins, some selected Magic The Gathering rare cards, Shell car sets and Shell Select Doraemon display figures and even some Real Grade Gundams. Unknown to many folks, these items really do fetch a premium later on after the sets go EOL (end-of-life) from production or they stop selling in retail. Take for example the LEGO Harry Potter 4708-1: Hogwarts Express introduced in 2001 for $39.99, went EOL in 2003 and is now selling for ~$230 on the secondary market e.g. Ebay (x6 the original price). I did a more thorough research on LEGO back in June 2013 and started to add some into my portfolio.

Here are some good reads (And I mean really good ones):

#1 Making Money from LEGO Bricks…

#2 LEGO Investment Bubble: Fact or Fiction?

Bear in mind that not all sets will bear fruit e.g. Lone Ranger sets are not doing well. I picked my sets carefully putting more weights largely on Lord Of The Rings (because of the adult fan base and Hobbit will definitely help spur interest in Middle Earth) and Star Wars (well known series and being rebooted with Episodes 7/8/9 soon). Also some of the more kinda limited special sets like Minecraft, Volkswagen Camper, Haunted House (the green bricks are very very rare, some people use for MOC: my own creation) and Seasonal sets like the Winter ones. 

You can view my LEGO brick collection here: http://my.brickpicker.com/nchoong (with charts and price values). To date it has appreciated by 11.44% (in less than 6 months due to some LOTR sets being sold out and approaching end of life). Overall if you are interested to spend some $$ on these, do store them carefully. From my experience the most interesting part is when you are actively researching their potential and looking for them. Happy hunting. This is the lighter side of investing in physical assets. Risk level is relatively medium as long as you pick popular & highly sought after collectibles which will outperform in the long-term horizon (5-years+). Heck anytime better than dumping $$ into FD for 3.50% p.a.

Disclaimer: The reports, analysis and recommendations in this blog are solely my personal views. I do not link to any investment body or company. As such, I will not be responsible of any of your investment decision. Consult your investment adviser or come to your own conclusions before making any investment decision.