LEGO DreamZzz Prices Make No Sense ~ Help Me Understand!

Now that I've seen the show, I think it's time to take a closer look at the sets themselves; in this video, we break down the prices of the upcoming LEGO DreamZzz series and also discuss what does and doesn't appear in the show.
Music:
• Unused Drome Racers Music
I created the photography, stop motion animation, and music in this video. Original artwork by Brett Halland. Thanks for watching!

[@catfish552]

It's honestly amazing how sets based on a series developed by Lego themselves are more disconnected from their source material than waves based on blockbuster movies, with their extreme secrecy before release. That takes real skill.

[@RRSlugger]

This is a great point! ☝️☝️

[@LuketheDuke424]

It's kinda shocking seeing the disconnect between the sets and the show considering the precedent LEGO has set in the past. We know from designers of Ninjago, Bionicle, and Nexo Knights that the sets are designed *before* the show is written/animated, so assuming that trend continued into DreamZzz it's really baffling to see this.

[@0hellow797]

I wonder if that practice didn’t continue and that’s why these sets are so off? It would make sense as a large company to forgo that, save time

[@ethanhaynes7406]

@@0hellow797 This theme apparently took 5+ years to develop. It might be possible that they started the show a bit before the sets were finalized. However, shows like niniago and chima have always changed up designs a good amount in their shows. Especially in the early years

[@Lordodragonss]

Yeah but notice how Ninjago often has characters that should have appear in sets and they never did (newest season has 3 characters like these)

[@LucasTigy2]

it makes complete sense to me considering how monkie kid has been and most show tie-in toys tend to be. sometimes you can't fit in all the same ideas between the two mediums and the production of one changes for some reason with the result leading to some sort of mis-match. you can't fit everything you want from the toys in the show as well, or maybe they needed some more sets to fill out the line. if there's a season 2, then it's perfectly possible that we'll see that tree house as the plot progresses

[@dashlytherin4152]

@@Lordodragonss these Charakters if I’m right are in a Charakter pack

[@PurpleBrickfilms]

At this point it’s more affordable to buy a retired Orient Expedition set than it is a DreamZz set

[@eriklee7643]

Just bought a lot of 3 small Orient Expedition for $40 but can only buy 1 DreamZz for that.

[@roddlez]

Ouch

[@ethanhaynes7406]

@@eriklee7643 where are you buying classic lego themes for so cheap :O

[@Sam_Guertin]

😂😂😂 I just bought 2 Dino island sets for $105

[@LooneyPort]

@@ethanhaynes7406 lucky eBay and Brick link scores

[@NickonPlanetRipple]

This is unfortunately just how sets are handled in most of Lego's programming. Maybe it's the writers not being interested in the builds, maybe it's some overcorrected effort to be "more" than a toy commercial, but it's all too common for something to be featured for a couple minutes, then smashed to pieces in the first outing and never used again.

[@yeth797]

holy shit its the rippler

[@NickonPlanetRipple]

@@yeth797 Ye

[@michaelgjrjvebs]

I've never watched Ninjago but I can't assume that happens there too? There's a ton of episodes so I could see them doing a mech/dragon per character for a season and swapping them out

[@NickonPlanetRipple]

@@michaelgjrjvebs It's almost become a running gag how often the Bounty crashes and they make a new one.

[@harrisonmason9139]

It’s Nick!

[@Rhewtani]

My feeling is that Matteo and Izzie's sets were intentionally DEFLATED as loss leaders. I assume every kid is going to need a hero set, but the villains are always more variable.

[@RRSlugger]

Ahhhh, that could be - good point. 👍

[@rodrigocoockiemonster4460]

Villains are always better, as a kid I never bought heroes

[@headcrabking9054]

In the US, Zblob is $20, whilst the cage monster is $38, and the turtle bus is $48. Its odd how it seems like the Canadian value of the sets is just all over the place.

[@rustyshackleford234]

I hate modern Lego’s pricing system lmao, where TF did they get weird prices like 38 and 48 dollars. Just round it up!

[@richardmcnamara8715]

The cage monster being $18 more expensive for its slightly larger size/higher piece count is still a huge leap up in price

[@headcrabking9054]

@@richardmcnamara8715 it definitely is, though at the very least I'm glad it isn't doubled the price like in Canada

[@headcrabking9054]

@@rustyshackleford234 I'd rather that they rounded down. It's already overpriced, I'd hate to spend even more for the sake of a nice flat number

[@rustyshackleford234]

@@headcrabking9054 yeah that’s very true. Also nice profile picture!

[@TheFuzzyOcelot]

I never noticed how many discrepancies and downright missing builds there are between the sets and the show. Makes me wonder if 8-10 years from now we'll see a "beta Dreamzzz concepts" video along the lines of all the crazy cancelled Bionicle G2 concepts that were brought to light somewhat recently.

[@toafellha8130]

Or get to see them in a different theme, for example the mushroom people might have been repurposed from Nexo Knights unused monsters that were depicted in books ( mushrooms and sea monsters)

[@RRSlugger]

I really hope so! I want to know what the heck happened here.

[@frogs3338]

@@toafellha8130 The mushroom people are in the sets, just not the right set.

[@arcblooper2699]

I want to see original themes with more design consistency. Ninjago, Dreamzzz, Chima, Monkie Kidd, and Nexo Knights all seem to be a hodgepodge of ideas and aesthetics, likely to encourage creativity and mixing, but it just completely destroys the inspiration I used to get from the “prompts” older Lego themes used to provide in themes like Adventurers or Mars Mission. It’s an aesthetic that can work with something like a theme about dreams or time travel, but when it’s every original theme Lego has it just turns into mush.

[@pathowgate2544]

This! I can’t even bring myself to look at the boxes on ninjago sets when I go in store. They’re just such a mess and an assault on the eyes

[@thebignacho]

Yeah. Lego needs to start making more mature or timeless themes like they used to. As someone getting into legos as an older teen, most of their sets don't appeal to me like the old space theme, adventure theme, wild west etc

[@Hyper_1989]

I know Jangbricks has talked about this a few times but pricing in Canada will always "feel" off for me (without even going in to the normal price increases lego has done recently). For some reason I can't shake the fact that back around 2005 or 2008 Lego sets were the same price in the United States and Canada. Even though they're technically cheaper in Canada now compared to the United States when you adjust for the exchange rate, it makes buying them seem way "worse" of a deal. Essentially I have a hard time realizing $100 isn't worth what I remember it from when I was younger.

[@Bionicleforever]

Actually remember back in the day, I didnt actively start buying lego a lot until like 2009 but I always remember the prices being really bad in canada with sets while not being as different as they are now, still being like 20-30% more expensive when the exchange rate was almost 1 to 1. Now I feel like lego is expensive in general and I dont buy modern lego for that reason but it doesnt feel as bad to me now as back then personally for specifically canada

[@Hyper_1989]

@Bionicle Forever that's really strange then. Maybe it was only a few years where the prices were the same (they probably never recovered after the 2008 crisis) but I have some older catalogs from that time and the prices were the same as the US. I bet that I just isolated that small time as my entire childhood - hell the most important part of 2003 were new lego sets and 2008 was the clone wars (no real memories of Iraq or the housing crisis).

[@empatheticrambo4890]

I wonder if this is because in those days the US and Canadian dollars were often equivalent? (and I say this as someone who lived in and bought Lego in both US and Canada 10 - 15 years ago, but I’m no financial statistician...I could be completely wrong)

[@Hyper_1989]

@Empathetic Rambo Yeah, that's why. Still it's something that I've never been able to shake.

[@Bionicleforever]

@@Hyper_1989 oh yea thats probably happened after the 08 crisis the prices increased. Also maybe the fact lego wasnt financially the best they wanted to sell the sets as low as possible to gain market share, though I wouldn't know since I was like 9 at the time lol Idk I guess you gotta check the catalogs to see what the prices were like.

[@n_ex13]

The disconnect between show and sets for the first wave of lego sets is pretty common, like it happened to ninjago chima and monkey kid. As far as I am aware that is because the show starts being produced fairly early to well manifest as a show. Concept design are used. With the ground work laid, later season will begin later in production and have much later design to base the show design on.

[@RaiJolt2]

Yeah, the sets look like a lot of fun, it’s just unfortunate how the prices aren’t as good as they used to be for original themes. Some sets are super well priced, some aren’t

[@Triadow]

I think that the first wave of Chima sets were perfect. I don't blame you if you haven't seen Chima, but holy cow they chose great sets. Basically all of the main characters, vehicles, AND some speedorz were released in the very first wave. There weren't many large sets either, most of them were a generally affordable size.

[@tomasbarrela8672]

Honestly the sets themselfs have a cool design imo but the prices just ruin it, wich is really sad since this might be one of our last chances to get new original themes and the almost certain flop will really discourage lego from making more.

[@ravenspurplebeats5412]

makes me question are lego over paying for new theme's to make sets around now if honest as new sets wont be hot like say marvel, starwars or even ninjago is currently as those theme's have big fan base alreadly so lego can play it more risky with pricing those sets.

[@autumn702]

Conspiracy theory time: maybe Lego don't want to do original themes anymore because licenses and nostalgia-driven remakes are more lucrative. If they set Dreamz up to fail then they can use it as "justification" for not doing them anymore. Taking off my tin foil hat, I think a lot of the sets look really nice and I might get one or two that I can afford but the whole theme seems doomed before they have even been released because they are banking too hard on a media tie-in. Again.

[@Superabound2]

​@@ravenspurplebeats5412 bro wtf language is this supposed to be?

[@ravenspurplebeats5412]

@@Superabound2 what is this new language you speak ?

[@GlennKinz]

Really unfortunate the way this theme has been handled. There’s an idea there for sure, and there clearly was care put into the sets.

[@Pacca64]

It kinda feels like this theme was made specifically for the designers so they could branch out and make big wacky brightly colored sets that don't fit the other themes, and then the management and marketing side of things sent concept art of the sets in progress to the show makers and didn't really direct things all that much. I do like that the designers have been able to branch out and create these cool wacky new playcentric sets, but it seems the lore and general continuity of the theme was never really a priority. I actually kinda like that there is a disconnect too, all the extra bits not in the show encourage creating new scenarios beyond the established stories. I do think its' really weird that the little villager guys are so drastically different though, you'd think they'd at least get the character designs consistent! Perhaps the mushroom design was changed after the concepts were sent to the show makers, or the show makers were given so little to work with they made that up on the spot? Kinda of a curious thing X3 Edit: Looking more closely, the mushroom people are in a completely different set! Must have been scrambled together X3

[@Ehksoduss]

Finally, a KZbinr actually addressing the prices of Lego-sets. I feel like this aspect is often missing in other videos, since no matter how well designed a set is, as long as the price is unjustified like in some of the sets here, I can't really take any recommendations for sets at face value.

[@deathgun5925]

There are a few, especially in the SW side, But those are often hated on because They say things like They are and arent forced to hype up sets.

[@Sopsy_Hallow]

yang says smth about the price almost every time, and he's a pretty big reviewer and yeah the price is generally very high for all lego, some of it is due to inflation, some might be unfair profit margins, and some might be cuz of how sets are different now (more pieces to make a more detailed but less volumous set)

[@Qoobon_]

Legotubers i watch always talk about prices. The Best example is mandr

[@Gameprojordan]

Every single youtuber I watch that does previews of upcoming lego sets always talks about the pricing, whether it's worth the price based on the amount of pieces, or whether the set is large enough to warrant a slightly higher price per piece count than usual

[@RRSlugger]

It’s hard to develop a meaningful opinion on the price of a set when Lego sends it to you for free. 👍

[@MatecaCorp]

I had very high hopes for Dreamzzz so it’s really disappointing to see all the signs pointing to it being a flop.

[@Jackster8484]

Lego might have moved the production cost from the the Z-Blob set and the Bunchu the Bunny to the Grimkeeper in order to keep those other sets cheaper. As a sort of entry level set into the theme.

[@Ads-yw1wr]

Man the crocodile car looks cool but jeez that’s some unfortunate pricing

[@chrispatmatbuilds]

The inclusion of so many weapons at the Blacksmith shop is surprising for the village set. I don't recall from your last Dreamzzz video if the protagonists actually used edged weapons or other methods to defeat the nightmare forces. I definitely feel like using edged weapons instead of intuitive methods (such as sleep training) and morals would be a HUGE waste of potential. So I guess my question is: what role do weapons play in this show, or are they just in the sets as a play feature?

[@emel6423]

I mean, in the first episode, we got to see a guy use a sword to take on a bunch of mooks. Granted, when hit they just turn into purple dust, and he does go down pretty quick, but I guess it's there.

[@pi172]

All I want is that this little magic mushroom creatures do a dance and sing a song with some psychodelic visuals.

[@Gameprojordan]

Well seeing as dream village is supposed to be medieval fantasy-like maybe the mushroom guy army uses swords and stuff. Doesn't always have to tie directly with the protagonists

[@williamaitken7533]

It seems like there's a big disconnect between the Lego sets and the actual show itself. I mentioned this in a comment on your other video, but the first season of Monkie Kid had a similar problem where the sets really didn't tie into any of the plot points or characters from the first season. It's really only been from like the 2nd season onward (so sets from the last two years) where there's a definite connection between the sets and the show and more easter eggs and references. My assumption is that the toy line informs the show and the show informs the toy line, so you need to build up a bit before things get going. I will 100% be picking up the rocket bunny and the Pegasus Flying Horse (it's far more reasonably priced in the US).

[@legoben98productions]

The fact that there’s such a disconnect between the sets and the show is odd because lego did so much research in the theme and had thousands of kids to test the toys and probably even the show itself and had a positive reaction to them. I sometimes wonder if the product that was made is out of touch or ourselves being out of touch because we’re not in the demographic like we were years ago. I’m sure that if dreamzzz was made back in the early 2000’s I’d love it to bricks but now I’m 24 and see the world differently and have to take care of the house, along with my parents. I hope that kids enjoy the show and gets a target audience otherwise lego is gonna lose confidence in their original ips again.

[@qarsiseer]

I love how you can hear the madness leak from Slugger when he laughs after pointing out something bizarre. It’s too bad about the show. I like the designs of these sets and I especially like how it seems to blend “boys” themes and “girls” themes really well. I really liked the rabbit mech and the dream animal lodge a lot so it speaks to the broad appeal maybe!

[@RRSlugger]

Yes! I do love the homogenization of gendered themes in this series - it’s nice to see! 😊

[@GravityTrash]

I swear they rose the price on a lot of the sets recently Nightmare Shark Ship was $120 and Stable of Dream Creatures and Shark Car was $50, now they went up $20 in price I really hate how they're scalping the price, like with the Lego Mario Question Block going from $160 to $200

[@RoninCatholic]

They seem to be either intentionally inflating the prices of the bad guys or intentionally deflating the prices of the good guys.

[@NiraSader]

I am just surprised how little minifigures so many of the newer Lego sets have. Especially licensed ones. Like, having a 100$ set with like 3-4 figs

[@loreescape47]

I don't doubt that there will be some weird disconnects/mixed emphasis when it comes to the sets vs. the show when it's all said and done, but there are still 10 episodes left to go. I think some of the stuff we haven't seen yet (especially surrounding Mrs. Castillo) will turn up later on. It's weird that the back half of the season (or season 2, not sure how they're dividing it up) hasn't been mentioned more in the promotional stuff, but 20 episodes have been confirmed in the Blocks 103 magazine cover story and on IMDB. (IMDB lists these episodes as dropping August 1st along with the new sets.)

[@RRSlugger]

Ahhh, I was wondering where the source of this information came from! Thanks!

[@billwest2852]

THIS MAKES PERFECT SENSE!!! You ever try to explain a dream to someone? The disconnect in your story vs the actual dream. Yeah. Thats what we have here. This is just Lego being SUPER meta. 😂

[@someguyonyoutube3229]

The only one I would be willing to buy is the Mateo and Z-Blob purely for Z-blob his design is so cool

[@mini_k]

The irony is all these sets of things basically not in the show, yet the weird gryphon owl creature ISNT one yet

[@bingomachine]

Shrooms: The Lego Theme Edit: Yes the prices are bad, but here in Western Europe at least, we gett at least 20-30% off easily on most sets through Amazon etc.

[@justawriter4866]

The way you talk about this all makes me feel like the series was in development hell..... all of that "focus group testing" that the lego group did probably cost so much and took so long that it entirely changed the direction of the series. at one point, the things that never show up probably *were* big parts of the series, but ended up on the cutting room floor because it took so long to happen that there was a breakdown between the toy line and the animation

[@RRSlugger]

That’s what I’m thinking too. I really want to find out what happened behind the scenes one day…

[@justawriter4866]

Same.

[@adamn.4615]

I wonder if the sets were designed to be canon, but the show writers couldn’t figure out how to write them in the story…or maybe they were forced to drop them from the show for time constraints.

[@bourbonbobo]

It feels like the showrunners must have been given either too little resources or direction or both. The disconnect between show and sets is really disappointing because it's such a genuinely interesting idea to have a theme all about dreams explored through lego. All around there's some baffling decisions on show here though.

[@wattsynchron]

I wonder if some of the weird price gaps despite similar piece counts could be because of the alt builds they mentioned the theme pushing. Like maybe the crocodile car has more complex alt builds therefore more like development cost/time.

[@RRSlugger]

That could be too! It’s a sound theory. 👍

[@GermanPeter]

I haven't seen the show (and have ZERO desire to do so), but judging by how simple everything looks there compared to the actual sets, I'm suspecting that the show is based on really, really, REALLY early concepts. As in, they started working on it before even nailing down the Lego sets, which then evolved over time, while the show was stuck with these early iterations of models, characters and set pieces. Like, originally ALL of the villagers were generic mushroom people, but they decided to expand the concept for the sets, because, you know, it looks nicer if they look different to each other! Same reason why the crocodile-car looks more complex as a set, or why the giant bunny has the cool roller skates and boxing gloves, it's just more fun to look at and play with. I'm actually really reminded of the early Rock Raiders renders, where you can sorta see the resemblance to the final models in the game and the sets, but they're also a lot more primitive. And considering the show... doesn't look very good to begin with, I think they really just needed to get it out asap to coincide with the release of the physical sets. As if they knew it's not enough, but they had to show SOMETHING. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they release a new season and basically just completely revamp EVERYTHING. Like, introduce everything from the Lego sets, change how old designs of characters and objects looked, and so on.

[@Robot_Eva]

Honestly it is quite a shame to see this new original theme sort of fall flat on all fronts so far. I'm not really a fan of the Lego Group due to their recent business practices but I was genuinely hoping that this line would be able to shine through some of the more mediocre offerings Lego as of recent. I feel like Lego has acquiesced more to licensed themes lately and as such we haven't been able to see a lot of their own ideas and themes. Monkey Kid was pretty good when it came out and I guess I was hoping this theme could launch with a similar level of hype and creativity but at least from what we've seen so far, it just doesn't feel like it's gonna reach similar heights. I just hope that the upcoming 2023 sets will be able to shore up what feels like a middling year in Lego so far...

[@legoben98productions]

What business practices are you referring?

[@boogie1434]

​​@@legoben98productions FOMO, price gouging, catering to whales, bad printing, stagnation and regression(mechs don't have knees or elbows anymore) wack Ideas, etc.

[@vaimantobe3034]

@@boogie1434 catering to whales? You mean those titanic sized sets, or stuff like catering to the chinese market? Or the titanic sized sets specifically aimed at Star Wars fans? Or the general lopsidedness of priceranges with few small ones and a myriad of big expensive ones... ...Wow, that's a lot of candidates!

[@skyyswaggstudios2934]

So this feels like pretty typical lego pricing, alot fo the time lego prices sets at what they think they can get, not what the set is worth. There are themes I think arr generally decently priced, speed champions, friends, ninjago, and monkie kid are generally priced right but alot of others like dreamzzz, city, star wars, etc are at least 10 or 20 dollars more (if not more) than what i think it should be, especially big sets. It sucks but not much we can do about it

[@Tudsamfa]

EU context (Prices taken from German Website): Our sets are consistently more expensive than yours, probably because people here are willing to spend more on LEGOs. Given 1€=1,44CA$, we pay 5CA$ more on the "small" sets (including the cage monster), 10CA$ more on the medium sets and 20 CA$ on the big sets (stable and up). Only things that stand out to me is that the village price is pretty much the same, and the tree house only costs 10CA$ more despite being the 2nd biggest. Hope this helps someone contextualize, I wasn't going to buy these sets either way. But if you want to feel like a Canadian fan of LEGO, buy the village.

[@veroniquepasquereau9801]

Well, there's more episodes planned this august, so hopefully we'll see what's in the sets there. It kinda sucks to have to go through a dozen of episode before seeing them though.

[@RRSlugger]

I can’t stomach the idea of watching MORE. 😭

[@Funky_Player2]

​@@RRSlugger LOL. Me with Ninjago tbh.

[@Alecin_]

Hello, Slugger :) I'm indeed from Germany and actually really really like your videos espacially the charme and nostalgia of the retro-stuff 😊 Keep it up, man!

[@RRSlugger]

Thank you! ❤️

[@VorpalSlade]

I work in a LEGO store, and the motorbike side-build from Crocodile Car appears in a free comic we're giving away with every purchase at the moment, so at least there's that!

[@ComicBoy750]

I’m fine with trying a new theme like this out. For example, I intend to get the Spacebus & Croc Car because I like Space sets in general (excluding most Star Wars) & the Croc Car is a nice unique concept.

[@NathanLazyBear]

So the balancing act I see with the pricing, is they take the "financial hit" by providing fairly priced entry level kits, then get people interested and push the price of the wave onto the slightly bigger kits. I could understand some disconnect with the sets and the show if they were different IP, but yeah you fairly pointed out it's all in house, and they should have a better read on which sets to release to be more involved with the show. I don't have the space for shark ship, but whoever gets that kit it's going to be an awesome addition to their collection for sure.

[@nottoofast]

I am too broke to be watching this video.

[@Lordodragonss]

YES! I was waiting for Bunchu "Battle mode" appear on screen and I was dissapointed in both ways. The alternate build for set should have have been "Bunny on 4 legs" if they have it in show. Maybe it will transform in later episodes when theme premieres? Same with the dentist nightmare guy who looks like a king? Also the Dreamstables do appear but in big shot in Dream village. also its a less detailed version, The Dreamhouse it a weird cause - we can see Izzie planting the sapling in last episode, but for some reason that treehouse also appears randomly on their island in other episodes. xD

[@RRSlugger]

That’s where the sapling was!! I remembered seeing it at some point but couldn’t find it again when combing through the first few episodes. 😅

[@endingsoon]

tbh, even though the sets are expensive and not reflective of the show, I do like the design of the sets themselves. Hopefully they can pull together the link between the sets and the show together, and get pricing sorted for the second series, if it happens...

[@MinishMan]

I think it's 'modern' pricing strategies. Lots and lots of workshopping, algorithms, applied psychology, pricing 'segmentation', 'pushing' consumers into slightly higher prices than they had initially budgeted for by providing (comparatively) much better value at those prices and awareness of pricing power. (I bitterly blame Apple for making all these things mainstream lol, and psychologists selling out). I basically see it as a combination of Bullshit Jobs (excellent book) and Greedflation (about 2/3rds of price inflation in the last couple of years is companies in monopolistic market positions taking the opportunity of 'cost of living' narrative to increase profit margins above pre-2020 levels). For example, I speculate that $50 CAD is a common figure that parents set aside for 'buying a toy', therefore the $50 CAD set is priced to represent terrible value (we can imagine the protests from the kid in the toy store - refusal to 'lose out' on money by accepting a cheaper set but really, really not wanting that POS). This makes the sets that are $10, 20, 30CAD more expensive appear to offer much better value and become 'irresistible' in the eyes of the consumer (the pressured parent, keenly aware that " well things have got more expensive..."). In this way, applied year over year, they force parents to psychologically readjust their expectations of 'what toys cost', and increase revenues and profit margins as a result.

[@Nadiki]

It’s been pretty depressingly obvious that companies have been doing that lately. So many report record profits (including Lego themselves if I’m not mistaken) and it’s because they’re raising prices knowing they can use inflation as an excuse :/

[@SDgooo]

Amazing video man, I'm so glad I find your channel! You are 100% right and after seeing all this and your other video about the show, it all has a weird aftertaste now, idk if I will get any sets now. Probably those two little ones, blob for me and bunny for my wife, but others... I'm not so sure now.

[@RRSlugger]

Thanks! Yeah… the show definitely sucked some of the wind from my sails on this theme sadly… Still want that Crocodile Car though, haha. 😅

[@UltravioletNomad]

This series has a lot of creativity and potential for wide appeal, it doesn't deserve to be dead on arrival, but between the phoned in and inconsistent show/marketing and the way it wiggles between Ninjago and Monkey Kid pricing, I don't think Lego has confidence in the series. This feels like it could have been a way to get a fantasy series that doesn't alienate demos in boys or girls categories but what seemed like an inventive concept is proving itself to be a lack of direction.

[@spiderdian2]

It's a really damn shame how disconnected the sets are from the show. When I first saw the set leaks I started imagining what kinda crazy adventure show would come out of it. The writers dropped the ball really hard. My only guess is that most of these features will be better shown later on, similar to how a lot of ninjago sets come out before they ever appear onscreen. The price inbalance was also one of the first things I noticed. The dream village and ms castillo's van have the EXACT same piece count and general volume of stuff, however there's a 18 euro gap between them... HOW? We're not talking about one set being all 1x1s and the other being 400+ massive panels. All sets in the wave share the same general element palette. There's just nothing directly visible that looks like it'd cover such gap aside from the minifig count (is lego once again trying to sell us the idea a single minifig is worth 5 bucks??). And lets not even start on the crocodile car. that thing has star wars levels of bad pricing. What happened to non-licensed themes being incredibly fair with their pricing? Remember the lego ninjago movie coming out with those beeg badass mechs, all in the range of 20-80 bucks?! The more I think about it the more I fall into the thoughts that "Oh no...is this a giant flop unfolding right before my eyes?". I really like the designs, I really wanna like this theme because of how pretty it all looks, but lego just doesn't help their own case.

[@RRSlugger]

Great observation on the Dream Village and Turtle Van - I missed that one! 🤯

[@madmusial]

Looking at the same sets you are for my kids around Christmas time. They enjoyed the show but the prices seem pretty outrageous for the sets. Will definitely be looking for them on sale.

[@toafellha8130]

Or you might buy them used, often "collecters" keep the figures, replace some or prefer reselling them in figure lots,... It really helps buying sets at bargain / reasonable prices plus you don't get as many duplicate figures.

[@twell1984]

These prices are for the adult fans who buy "first day". I think a Christmas sale for "normal" people (parents buying for their kids) is very likely.

[@madmusial]

@@twell1984 Pretty much sums up my thoughts on all of Legos pricing at this point. Far to much overlap with my wargaming hobby in the buying mentality.

[@NIRDIAN1]

Dang I still need to finish the show before I can watch your previous video! And yeah the pricing in the middle is WILD?! Like... The smallest sets are priced great, the largest sets also seem priced great... But then the Crocodile Car, which I expected to be 30-40 is 63?! :S Gives me Cloud Chaser flashbacks... a 70€ set that got retired suddenly and unexpectedly before I had saved up enough for it, and is now perfect scalper fodder as it was a store/online exclusive...

[@TheHylianBatman]

As an American, I made the choice that Canadian dollars and US dollars are the same. I know that's not the truth, but it makes things easier in my head. With that, here's my totally arbitrary thoughts on the prices: Matteo & Z-Blob: $5 over Bunchu: $5 over Dream Village: $10 over Grimkeeper: $25 over, WTF Turtle Van: $10 over Pegasus Flying Horse: $5 over Crocodile Car: $20 over Stable of Dream Creatures: $20 over Spacebus: $20 over Fantastical Tree House: Price is fine? Nightmare Shark Ship: Price is fine? I feel like most modern LEGO is overpriced. I really liked this video; it felt like a livestream, but, like... not a livestream. I hope Dreamzzz can turn around; it doesn't seem to be doing good! I want LEGO to succeed, dang it!

[@SuperSecretBricks]

Gosh, that reminds me of Monkie Kid, where the sets and the show have a noticeable disconnect. The price disparity is incomprehensible, but I truly think some sets might still be worth getting (I'm personally eyeing on the Bunny).

[@HIIMPIEZ]

I feel like this series is overall a step back from Monkie Kid. That series typically has really nice builds, and from what I hear, the show is good. I just don't know what went on here, unfortunately. These sets have fake alt builds, and with a concept like "dreams", you'd figure they'd go wild with alt builds and using your imagination - especially with a target audience of children. It's just disappointing that all that research Lego did was pretty much wasted.

[@hilariousskullnamedcatzo647]

The different new molds, new pieces, and prints are probably why they're expensive Also the little people are sooo disturbing and uncanny, like why LEGO? WHY?! 😰

[@chrispatmatbuilds]

Honestly, I find them very disturbing as well. Imagine going through used LEGO bins years from now and just finding tons of these.

[@awogbob]

I think there was a lot lost in translation to the show itself. The vision that is represented in the sets seems so much better imo

[@RRSlugger]

Absolutely!

[@rustyshackleford234]

Honestly the only Lego themes I enjoy anymore are the occasional 18+ space set (they haven’t made one since 2021), and Lego Minecraft. (It’s somewhat fair priced)

[@nigerianpr1nce948]

Loves these vidoes love how passionate you are it really shows. Love you slug

[@RRSlugger]

❤️❤️❤️

[@ShallowVA]

As a very casual observer of LEGO stuff, it looks like there are a lot of new moulds and printed pieces in this theme. Are those causing the weird price fluctuations? I think the winner here is the turtle bus. That thing rules! It looks like someone took a City set and added a bunch of wacky fantasy stuff to it. Reminds of some of my favorite Hidden Side sets!

[@YourNeighborNat]

I guess something broke down in regards to getting the sets and the show synced up on what they were making, yeah. Hmm.

[@CarsSimplified]

I managed to watch the whole show (that is available right now) and it really feels like there are more episodes that aren't out yet. So many things from sets that aren't in the show! Maybe a bunch of episodes were cut? It definitely seems like something happened with the show behind the scenes, perhaps late in production.

[@crossingseason]

If I'm really honest, I think the colors selected for Lego DreamZzz theme is an eye sore. So, a lot of these sets are unappealing for me. However, Mrs. Castillo's Turtle Van is the exception and overall represents the show and concept well. Mrs. Castillo's Van is featured both in the real and dream world, which I think this theme should do more often. Sets (and story elements) that have crossovers between the two realms.

[@RustyBud]

Diffrent reasons go towards pricing sets the amount of peices if a set uses new molds or lots of prints the amount of figures the size and how much demand they think the sets will have edit: the crocodile car is the only price that makes no sense to me in any way

[@n_ex13]

It probably has much more to do with it being a brand new theme. They have to hook children by reducing certain prices and as not decrease there profit margins increase the price on the sets they think will sell regardless of the hire price.

[@RustyBud]

@@n_ex13 Lego original themes aren’t tied to an existing listence in anyway making them cheaper then let’s say a Star Wars or marvel set and normally legos original themes have normal prices I know inflation and everything but if that’s the case why isn’t every set overpriced this entire theme is strange on a pricing front

[@n_ex13]

@@RustyBud like I said lego has to get kids to buy this theme so they deliberately underpriced certain sets while to make up for the lesser profit over price certain sets which in there eyes will be desirable like the crocodile car or the turtle van

[@elberik2582]

I get the impression that development for the sets and TV show diverged at some point. The show continuing to be rewritten and editted while the sets were designed based off an earlier draft.

[@Chokun-Gaming]

In my region (Finland) the prices are about the same number (usually a tiny bit lower but sometimes even higher) as the Canadian ones despite the euro having a higher value, so even the fairly priced sets are overpriced here

[@Gameprojordan]

Damn dude that's rough

[@Chokun-Gaming]

@@Gameprojordan what living as far away from the biggest factories as possible and hight value tax does a price

[@pi172]

the weirdest thing about lego prices is the inconsistent conversion rates between different currencies. even within the same wave of the same theme. E.g. relatively spoken 71455 Grimkeeper and 40567 Dream Villager are cheaper in Eurozone when I compare it to the other sets and Canada, while the 71457 Pegasus or 71459 Stables are more expensive. The Canadian Dollar is 117%-133% of the price in Euro. granted there are themes which have a bigger span of conversions, but we can already see here some notable difference which make some sets appear cheaper in Eurozone and some more expensive in Eurozone. And the inconsistency between sets and show: I think a bit of it will clear up once the 2nd half of the first season and the 2nd wave of sets is out. Its probable they they just made sets for the 1st season, but the decision how to split them up between two waves depended on other reasons than strict chronological order. Has someone any insight, maybe a designer interview how Dreamzzz was created? Or some old interview how this works in Ninjago? I mean specifically, how the design process between show and sets work? is it a ping-pong-process? or does the show come first? or the sets?

[@dcbandit]

It would have been better if they made the sets first, then make episodes that center on the sets, make sure to spotlight each set in one way or another. What I think they DID, was do both simultaneously, based on the same preliminary designs, and it was only after did it turn out that there was some miscommunications happening. I prefer the sets, myself, even though I probably won't get many of them.

[@fuzzbuns84]

i appreciate getting your perspective while sticking to talking about canadian dollars. as a fellow canadian value can be hard to trickier to gather in other videos with foreign currencies.

[@NLR-J]

Maybe it isn't a disconnect, but more of a case of the sets showing off everything that'll appear later on to make sure the sets match their final forms which they'll be getting later on in the show.

[@frogmouth2]

I don’t think the sets have consistent quality unfortunately. Some look really cool like the bunny or the slime robot but others like the cage monster look pretty bad. I will maybe buy a couple sets like the car and the slime robot probably but otherwise, I’m hoping wave 2 is better. It’s a shame cuz I wanna like this cuz we’ve been stuck with just ninjago and ninjago+ for the last several years. We’re finally getting something new but it feels like a mixed bag. Hopefully if this theme does meet an early end, it’s actually replaced and we aren’t just stuck with ninjago and monkie kid for eternity.

[@JPOG7TV]

This theme went from being really exciting to just another original theme that won’t have much staying power. I don’t think it’s going to sell well since kids may find the disconnect with the show an issue and may not even have the cash to get the larger sets.

[@Alfwin]

I honestly hope this theme does well; the sets all look really cool and original. The dissonance between the sets and the show is really weird, but it doesn't bother me too much since I've no intention of watching the show. In fact, I think it's a bit weird that there even _is_ a show in the first place - having an official canon storyline seems antithetical to the theme's core concept of "whatever you can dream up". Just give us a basic premise and some surreal abstract sets and let us fill in the gaps with our imaginations. Isn't that what LEGO is supposed to be all about?

[@user-bp8mr4gr6h]

For me the Stable is probably the worst offender because I think the building facade is one of the prettiest ones they've released. But at this price point (85€ for me), I would feel bad paying even half of that.

[@constructionproduction4965]

I love how you have the prices in Canadian tire don’t have to do any conversion when watching the US channels talk about the Lego sets

[@darthvaderbutwayshittier7054]

My guess is all the sets were designed before the show was made, but the show itself was susbtantially reworked after all the sets were already in production.

[@Bionickpunk]

Maybe the show has a Season 2 where most of these sets appear in. All of Lego original IP lines with shows have this model where they release sets way ahead of their show appearances.

[@strikeoplays]

Considering the fact more episodes come out on the release date of the sets, I'd like to assume the stuff we haven't seen in the show will show up then, but thats just hope

[@RRSlugger]

There’s going to be **more** episodes?? 💀

[@strikeoplays]

@@RRSlugger If the source i read was accurate, yep

[@RRSlugger]

@@strikeoplays 💀💀💀

[@darkroom0716]

You're really cranking out the vids lately, nice!

[@RRSlugger]

😅😅

[@sircotty2330]

It feels like the show designers and the set designers were only given concept art to work on, and just tried to make do

[@PlasticToa]

from what I'm seeing the 10 episodes we've gotten are seemingly just the first half of a two part season, (an unlisted playlist showed up on a random youtube channel with 20 episodes, but I haven't watched the latter half of those yet) so we might still see more of the wave 1 sets?

[@M0torsagmannen]

personally i might pick up, Z-Blob mech, turtle van and Shark ship. but i might not do it immediately, maybe wait for a sale on the last one since it is pretty pricey

[@cricketben6742]

Id love to be excited about the show because the sets look awesome, but i feel like the mediocracy and disconnect from the sets of the show could be a real setback for the entire theme. Lets see how well DreamZzz will perform after release...

[@davidaustin272]

These weird sets really peak my interest, harkening back to Hidden Side days. It could be a really engaging new line or a quirky speck in the Lego Group's history. Time (and marketing) will tell. Do you live stream builds on this channel or another platform? I'm curious to see these built live.

[@AmethystPlays1999]

I think the actual crocodile car design was used in the Ninjago teasers for Dreamzzz

[@retektereptest]

Went through the same exact thought process as you have with the grimkeeper upon seeing the pricetag. In general the price range is far too user hostile to engage with at a casual level. Ah well, maybe the "action theme" is just not for me anymore.

[@si8813]

Lego releases their shows in a 10 episode fashion 10 for one month and the rest for the others so we have only watched half of the 1st season so far which is why some sets don’t line up with the show so far

[@RRSlugger]

…there’s going to be MORE?? 💀

[@Sir_Bone-Head]

Not sure what's going on with the pricing, although the fact that many sets were made that don't correlate, or even appear in the show kind of remind me of what I learned about Transformers figures made for the movies. Apparently a lot of the times when the toys are made, they base them off of earlier scripts and story elements. Best example would be the Cogman and Nitro Zeus figures. Cogman was stated to be a headmaster (a robot that converts into a head) and there was a scene were Nitro Zeus would lose his head, and Cogman would transform and take control of his body. It would later get cut, but the gimmick is still a part of Nitro Zeus, and the toy made for Cogman is a headmaster.

[@nuclearcosmos23]

Yup and then other figures were recolours of older figures from the anime series

[@Carboxylated]

same goes for the new jurassic park sets as the dilophosaurus attack and triceratops research are basically same set pc count etc but one is $20, the other is $50. Makes no sense

[@paulzou3301]

In a normal size set wave, sets such as the turtle van, the Pegasus and the stable could be not included. 11 sets in a wave is huge. 🎉

[@jianboren]

Great video Slugger! This whole Dreamzzz thing is so odd.

[@Stereomoo]

With other themes, creator in particular, I've noticed the rubber tires add a pretty large premium. So $80cad for a 500 piece set with 6 solid rubber tires is not all that out of place. (eg. the little creator motorcycle is $20 for 130 pieces, vs. $14 for the 140 piece unicorn). Unfortunate for lego fans who like vehicles...

[@RRSlugger]

Good observation! I certainly didn’t factor in the tires. 😮

[@brickblums]

I am 100% in for the treehouse & will be doing a review of it. I figured with the set to show discrepancy that they would be in the show more in the future. That has been what they do with Star Wars - a little bit of spoilers for some of the scenes in those shows.

[@STEALT_BLADE]

also depends on the type of bricks cause some are more eazy to manufacture and some are not

[@ballisticblocker9163]

My best guess is that the sets were actually based on concept art for the show, and not the show itself.

[@autumn702]

When I convert the prices from GBP to CAD they are all priced higher for some reason, and I think they vary a lot more as well. The biggest difference is the Stable of Dream Creatures which is £75 or $125, about a $25 difference. Grimkeeper and Dream Village however are only $3 more expensive than in the Canada store, but Bunny and Z-Blob are $12 more. I'm moderately interested in some of the sets though (the Turtle Van might be my favourite, it's really cute!) but won't be able to pick any up at launch, I may have to wait for a price drop perhaps.

[@Hot_SpicyGrill]

Don’t stress about being topical. A lot of reviewers have to be topical because without it they struggle to be relevant. Because their no entertainment in the video. Not they their reviews are bad reviews. But your reviews are reviews and entertainment.

[@sarahstrongin4400]

I had to pull out my chroma wheel to decide whether that comment about Bunchu's color scheme was a masterful joke. I'm leaning....yes?

[@anon36977]

Great video Slugger, but man I am craving for your next Orient Expidition set review!

[@RRSlugger]

It’s the biggest one yet! Sadly, it isn’t destined for June, but maybe July!

[@anon36977]

@@RRSlugger don't worry about it, I don't mind waiting another month all your video reviews are top notch!

[@LB_the_Creator]

Currently, only ten out of the twenty episode for the first season of Dreamzzz have aired. The rest will release in the rest of the year. So many of the sets will most likely appear more in the following episodes

[@RRSlugger]

A number of folks have pointed this out to me, but is there a source for this information? I was totally unaware.

[@tatotahto4409]

I get the feeling this is affecting a lot of different themes? Like i'm aware that buying directly from the lego website or lego store will be more expensive than buying them from one of my standard retail places, but my local store has one of the new Ninjago sets for 45 aud, whereas the Lego store has them for 62.99. not sure if this is the case for other places, but overall its rather confusing