[byron_fast]

This is a great idea. Supposedly the LEGO factory is set up to produce anything - let me order some nostalgia set from 1983! Like how the Magic: The Gathering people have undermined "rare" cards by just printing so many they can never be valuable.

[rsync]

"Like how the Magic: The Gathering people have undermined "rare" cards by just printing so many they can never be valuable."

I don't believe that that is the case ... Alpha/Beta/ArabianNights versions of currently printed cards are quite a bit more valuable ...

[byron_fast]

There's always something rare, but they have consciously undermined collectability by re-printing things and banning cards from tournament play.

[onion2k]

The value of Magic cards on the secondary market does very little for the manufacturer. Why shouldn't they maximize their profit by selling as many as they can? People who want to speculate can just buy something else.

[johnrgrace]

Wait what? The secondary market value is why people are willing to buy new cards, it lets people justify spending a lot of money on new cards.

[jacquesm]

Lego tried for a very short while to deliver sets 'to order', any set, even stuff you designed yourself.

[byron_fast]

Yeah they gave up on that which is too bad. I recall being able to upload an image, refining the output with a browser applet and getting a grayscale version of the image. All the parts were packed in neat little baggies like it was a real set.

Mass customization is hard.