PSA: LEGO Retiring Multiple Nintendo Sets (UK)

Building essentially a box with blocks has to be the worst Lego set, referring to the NES

I swear some of these haven't even been out that long. The Larry and Morton Airships were fairly recent releases I thought.

@NinChocolate it comes with a tv with moving mario on screen and lots of hidden nods

It’s actually a very nice set

I always wanted the NES but it was way too expensive. That's LEGO I suppose.

Well that sucks. Time for some FOMO buying before the scalpers go nuts.

I didn’t want the n64 block because it should have been the “!” Block but this may sucker me into getting it. Sigh. Just gotta hope stock holds out till November. Doing a Lego run then.

Damn, it shows that they truly understand what the nintendo brand is about, they are Super-Mario-3D-All-Starsing those sets.

@fenlix that is precisely why they are phasing them out I suppose. Licensing fees go nuts.

Thank you for service.

@Friendly I don’t doubt it. I love the NES myself. But removing that identity and looking at that set purely as a silhouette, essentially just some squares, and putting it next to the silhouette of any other large set, surely no kids are choosing that set over others

This is inaccurate. The "Retiring soon" label on Lego's website doesn't encompass every retiring set, I'd recommend referring to other resources such as Brickset or certain subreddits. The "Hard to find" label refers only to retailer availability, not retirement; it indicates that a given set may not be available at all retailers. Also, to the best of my knowledge, Lego does not retire sets at different dates for different regions (though certain regions may run out of stock faster than others).

Regarding the sets shown above, I can confirm that the NES is retiring at the end of the year. The Mario 64 Question Block has already been retired as of July of this year. I haven't bothered to look into the rest of the items listed here but I know that there are at least two Minecraft sets not listed here that are retiring at the end of this year (The Fox Lodge and The Deep Dark Battle).

@Reprise This is mostly about sales. Set that have low sales figures are discontinued sooner than sets with high amount of sales. Also sometimes sets get reissued or slight redesigns. And some sets are actually never disconinued.

@fenlix Lego makes hundreds of new sets each year. They simply can't keep manufacturing every single set they ever made.

I do wish that NES was available without the TV for a lower price.

@Ryu_Niiyama Idk because Iaven't got the set, but it looks like you could just rearrange the tiles on the yellow faces to turn it into a ! block. It is lego you know, you can change aspects of the model you don't like.

some nice sets, prices do differ dramatically. I presume its the licensing fee that makes the price quite high on some and lower on others. I noticed the Nintendo , Disney ones are quite a lot more in comparison to say Sega's licensed offerings.
Some of the Star Wars stuff is ludicrous pricing.
So Maybe its just Lego but the Ip holders who want so much money for the license.

@sunny63 True but the “!” Block isn’t yellow( edit: not plain yellow. The box has a border design as well). It’s just one of those things that as a person that grew up with Mario 64 I would have liked correct for a novelty item. Lego made it a question block on purpose.

@NinChocolate Kids aren't the target market for the NES set though.

I might have to get that NES before it's gone, I've got the Atari 2600 Lego and it's great

@Late Exactly, it doesn’t appeal to a range of people as a Lego set, it’s appealing to a narrow group that doesn’t care if it’s comparatively an uninteresting way to assemble little toy bricks, because the subject matter is all that matters to them. That puts it among the least interesting Lego builds, despite it being (obviously, reading comments) wildly fantastic and mind blowing to someone with feelings for the NES and old tube TV’s.

@Ryu_Niiyama Aren't there yellow ones in 64? There were in the DS version, not as common as the reds but certainly there.

@sunny63 the “!” Blocks in the original were red, green and blue based on cap power ups. There was a yellow “!” but not as common. Not sure if that was changed in the DS version (I have the game but never beat it on DS due to my dislike and discomfort with handhelds). As I said the “?” Block was used by Lego on purpose because the general public associated with that. For me it just wasn’t accurate (doesn’t have the border either). I am probably still gonna buy it if I can find one but I am not a fan. I may go dig out my mario 64 guide to see how many yellow ones there were. I remember the cap blocks more vividly.

@Ryu_Niiyama Okay. Still, It's not impossible to make it more accurate if you want to.

@sunny63 Ok. I am guessing you are a lego person or something so I can understand why you are saying that. However I am not so I would build it as the instructions say which is a question block. And to make it look like a “!” Block would require modifying it heavily as the border is missing. And for 200 dollars I don’t think it’s a big ask to be accurate. Of course the design lead already explained why it’s a question block and not a “!” Block so I simply wasn’t interested in it due to how it was designed.

This is my last response as I am not sure why my disinterest has piqued your interest but my stance remains unchanged. I may buy it due to FOMO but I still wish the product was accurate. Which was all I was saying initially.

Have a nice day.

@Ryu_Niiyama Aight ok. Sorry if I came across as trying to convince you or argue. You have a nice day too.