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I don't know if this has been brought up before. I know you guys probably discuss the increased price of Lego sets.
Often people attribute this to inflation, increased licensing fees, or better quality sets.
As you can see in my image, we have 2 x-wings. Granted they are different x-wings, their general construction features largely the same basic elements. If it were only a matter of inflation, the new X-Wing would be priced around $60. However, it stands at $80 which seem ridiculous when you put the thing together and stare at your $80 ~7 inch toy.
I think something else is going on here besides inflation. Obviously. I think what is going on is Lego is increasing the piece count wherever they can often by breaking up, for example, what could be a 2 x 8 brick into 2 1 x 4 bricks and a 2 x 4 brick. What they also will do is add in "details" that are hardly noticeable - like a smooth decorative piece on the wing of size 1 x 2 - things like that that no one would otherwise notice or care about but add to the piece count by nickeling and diming.
To make matters worse, once Lego reaches the price ranges +$50, they tend to round up more often than not....and sometimes it isn't them rounding to the nearest 5 but to the nearest 10, maybe 15, maybe 20. They know they can get away at these higher ranges because someone who is willing to pay +$50 is probably less likely to bitch out over 5, or 10 extra dollars. They are already spending $50.
Please discuss.
