The Everything Store is shrinking again. Amazon customers who want to order forthcoming Warner Home Video features, including “The Lego Movie,” “300: Rise of an Empire,” “Winter’s Tale” and “Transcendence,” are finding it impossible to do so. The retailer’s refusal to sell the movies is part of its effort to gain leverage in yet another major confrontation with a supplier to become public in recent weeks. In a standoff with the Hachette Book Group, Amazon is refusing to take advance orders and delaying shipments. Amazon and Hachette are wrangling over e-book terms. The retailer is in a third standoff in Germany, with the Bonnier Media Group. Disputes between retailers and vendors happen every day. What is unusual here is not Amazon’s relentless desire to gain margin from its suppliers, but the suppliers’ growing resolve to hold the line. If other suppliers adopt the same attitude, that might have significant implications for Amazon’s pell-mell growth.
The confrontations indicate that Amazon’s long-stated desire to sell everything to everybody might be taking a back seat. The biggest book release in the middle of June is the new J. K. Rowling novel from Hachette; the biggest movie is “Lego.” Amazon is basically telling its customers to go elsewhere for them, which is a very un-Amazon thing to do. Amazon started refusing preorders for the Time Warner movies in mid-May. That frustrated some customers, who voiced their displeasure on its forums. “This has got to be the most eagerly awaited 2014 movie being released so far — kids movie, adults like it too, the first good 2014 film,” wrote one movie buff about “Lego.” “Oh well, Amazon may be digging their own grave if they keep this up.” The retailer’s page for the movies says that customers’ only option is to sign up to be notified when they become available. “The Lego Movie” is not even featured in Amazon’s list of forthcoming “Kids & Family” movies.
Such lists are a big driver of preorders. The Blu-ray of “The Lego Movie,” due out next week, languishes at No. 18,183. The Blu-ray of “300” is ranked 105,389. A Warner Bros. spokesman said it was the company’s “general policy not to comment on contract terms or any other proprietary information having to do with our partners.” An Amazon spokesman declined to comment. In the middle of the Hachette confrontation, Amazon issued a statement saying disputes with suppliers were routine. It also said people who really wanted the books immediately should go to a competitor. There is no resolution in sight to the Hachette standoff. Amazon’s tactics with Warner Home Video are unlikely to provoke as much of an uproar, since DVDs do not carry the cultural weight of books. And the films are readily available from other vendors, including Target and Barnes & Noble. Neither does Amazon seem to be imposing lengthy shipping delays on the DVDs once they go on sale, one of the things that provoked particular ire with Hachette.
The delays with Hachette books took weeks to become public. So have the issues with the videos. “Considering all the press regarding Hachette it seems strange that no one is reporting this,” one commentator wrote on the Amazon forum. One of the few websites that did notice something was going on with the movies was Digital Bits, which briefly noted that it had learned “through industry sources” that “preorders on Warner titles have been suspended” until there is a new contract.Used & new (15) from $2.48See newer model of this itemFollow me over to the blog for more homemade goodness . . . If Walmart's $139.99 TIE fighter sale wasn't enough, here's an even better discount. has discounted the set by 37% to $125.99 for Prime members. An additional $30 can be saved by using the Amazon Rewards Visa credit card during check-out. Click the link below for more information. For more Brickpicker information about this set and more Lego deals, please view the Forum topics below.
Sign in to follow this Sign in if you're already registered. /2016/09/29/rogue-one-sets-now-available-on-amazon/ on this server. Your technical support key is: 36fb-190c-1756-6707Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click here for more. LEGO Sets, $9 off with code BIGTHANKS Fill your kids’ your toy box with new LEGO sets for less, thanks to Amazon’s discount. Use the code BIGTHANKS at checkout and take almost $9 off some pretty awesome sets like LEGO Batman, Star Wars, and Architecture. If you’re not feeling any of those, any set above $50 will quality for the discount.Here are some of the top sets, but here’s the list of $50+ sets so you can make your choice.Since its debut on Danish shelves in 1949, the Little Brick That Could has become the Vast Armada of Little Bricks That Has Dominated the Toy Market. While its newer, unofficial title doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, Lego is undoubtedly one of the most successful toys of all time, its name alone one of the most recognizable in the toy industry and synonymous with most if not all construction kits (except perhaps K’Nex, but no one could confuse Lego with that).
The Lego Group has the largest market share of any construction toy series and the third largest of any toy company after Mattel and Hasbro, and its popularity has only grown since it has acquired the licenses to popular franchises such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and a host of comic book hero properties. On top of all that, the recently released The Lego Movie has grossed close to $200 million worldwide. In short, it’s a decent earner. So, in light of Lego’s success, let’s take a look at the 10 most popular kits in the Armada of Little Bricks’ history, most of which have been determined through their sales rankings on Amazon. One of the coolest characters in The Lego Movie, the Nick Offerman-voiced MetalBeard was also a setpiece unto himself. A former Lego pirate who lost most of his minifigure pieces, MetalBeard constructed a new body from a myraid of pieces, resulting in an intricate look that’s half Blackbeard, half RoboCop. This set, taken from the movie’s climax, depicts the mecha-pirate in combat with one of Lord Business’ “Micro Manager” robots and comes out to less than $20.
Featuring Superman, three Kryptonian soldiers, a spaceship and a military Jeep, this set was made to tie in with last summer’s Man of Steel film, though thankfully lacking the intimidating amount of collateral damage found within that universe. As of right now, this tiny battle ranks 16th on Amazon’s bestselling Lego toy list. Lego has gotten into the Disney game as well—though, now that both Star Wars and Marvel are under the Disney banner this synergy has been going on for a while. Focusing on Disney princesses, this new line features sets from Cinderella, Tangled, Pixar’s Brave and The Little Mermaid. By far the series’ most popular set, coming in at #9 for Lego sets on Amazon, the Ariel’s Magic Kiss kit replicates the memorable “Kiss the Girl” scene from Mermaid, and includes specially designed figures of Ariel and Prince Eric that eschew the common Lego minifigure format for miniatures that more resemble the characters’ cartoon forms. Sebastian and Flounder are not included, unfortunately.
This action packed kit from the Lego City line—which focuses on municipal institutions like the police, fire and postal services and all of the cool vehicles that come with them—depicts a daring breakout attempt from a police paddy wagon mid-transfer. The set includes the prisoner transport van and an ATV that the prisoner’s rescuer drives. It also includes a ball and chain for the prisoner’s foot, which feels somewhat out of time compared to the high tech nature of the set, but that seems an odd complaint. This dynamic set is currently Amazon’s 5th most popular Lego collection. Here we go: a big Lego set with a lot of moving parts, rubber-tipped projectiles and an aesthetic right out of a Saturday morning cartoon. Right off the bat the Ninjago NinjaCopter is a set likely to sell well with kids. Though its size and number of pieces warrant a $75 price, the NinjaCopter is currently selling for $48.74 on Amazon. The price reduction, plus its inherent coolness factor, is likely why the set is currently the 7th most popular Lego kit on the site.
Just, you know, make sure the toy missiles aren’t aimed at any eyes. Lego cannons can pack a surprising amount of power. When all is said and done, with all of the custom minifigures and decals and specifically-moulded pieces made just for one set, you just can’t beat the old fashioned Lego bricks. Though chunky and oblong, they enable some of the most freeform creativity capable with Lego and, admittedly, have a bit of a retro charm to them. As Michael Chabon points out in his memoir, Manhood for Amateurs, the original bricks allow one to dictate their own sense of scale, so models can be as small as one’s fist or as large as a car. The Bricks & More set is designed exactly for that kind of freeform thinking, packing 650 multi-coloured Lego bricks. Sadly, the kit doesn’t include one of the bases that normally comes with larger Lego assortments, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming the 11th highest selling toy or game on Amazon (and the 4th highest selling Lego kit there overall).
There’s nothing special or fancy about the Green Building Plate, listed for less than $10 on Amazon, but it’s essential for freeform building, allowing Lego creators to more easily arrange their structures and hold them in place. It should be noted that Amazon pairs the plate in a bundle with the previously described Builders of Tomorrow set that comes sans-base, which is probably why this stubbed piece of plastic is the 14th most popular Lego item on the site. Part of Lego’s general Creator series—which encompasses vehicles, buildings, etc.—the Twinblade Adventures is, in spite of its success (highest selling Lego set on Amazon, third highest selling toy overall) a fairly small aircraft set that includes pieces capable of constructing a twin-rotor airplane, a biplane and a helicopter. Other smaller Creator sets, like the Sunset Speeder Car (the second highest-selling Lego set) and the Highway Cruiser motorcycle (third) similarly have 3-in-1 construction capabilities, which allows kids to get even more mileage out of your typical Lego kit and might even encourage a more freestyle approach to building.
With this in mind it’s not surprising that the Twinblade Adventures and its kin are selling so well: they’re more bang for one’s buck, pairing prolonged amusement with relatively inexpensiveness. With Star Wars as famous as it is, it’s no surprise that one of its many Lego sets should be one of the most popular in the company’s history. The kit in question is Han Solo’s iconic Millennium Falcon. Shipping with minifigures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, the Falcon set is close to 60 centimetres in length and weighs over two kilograms. An earlier, deluxe edition version of the set, released for a limited time in 2007, was nearly 90 centimetres long, had the second highest number of pieces of any official Lego set (the highest came with the 2008 Jaj Mahal kit) and sold for $500 US. Its smaller companion is still on shelves and at $179.99 is somewhat more affordable. Debuting in 1998, Lego’s Mindstorms line introduced robotics to the construction toy series.
