Understanding the LEGO Star Wars Economy
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2023
- It has been a wild ride trying to understand why everything I want to add to my LEGO collection will lead to my bankruptcy.. Maybe this video will inform and entertain you on the subject of the LEGO Star Wars economy.
I have a few reservations towards whatnot, but when used responsibly, you can get some really great deals.
Mattysminifigures - / mattysminifigures
Music: ‘Solo’ by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio”
Instagram - / darkbluishgray - บันเทิง
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I think it’s a combination of supply and demand, people getting back into the hobby, and value based on your own needs.
I look at the speeder Rex came in thinking “that set was 24 dollars and was available for almost 3 years, why didn’t they buy it then?” Truth is people were either too young or not into Lego at the time.
Great video!
Thanks man! I wish I bought a few of those $25 BARC speeder sets, but you're right I wasn't into LEGO at that time.
Yeah I was too young as well and wasn't in the hobby as well.
I thought your name looked familiar I watch your videos and keep up the great work 👍
Definitely true! At the same time, Rex isn’t even a truly rare figure, there’s plenty of supply. Some of the price, but not all, can be credited to hype alone, as people pay more to get something, the price goes up whether supply is low or not.
Got Queen Amidala for $125 from a coworker & Geonosis Padme for $40 off Amazan just recently. Losing faith in LEGO to care about Prequel sets again. Made a custom throne for that Queen Amidala proudly on display now. Sadly I had most of the golden age Star Wars sets but due to priorities I sold them in 2017. Still made good money but feels tough.
I think it’s also nostalgia. I grew up getting the sets of the early 2000’s. I had no interest in Lego for years thereafter. Then, I had two boys of my own who have unwillingly gotten me back into it.
100% people getting to relive the good ole days through their kids.
What people are also paying for is nostalgia, myself included. As kids, these were sets we likely never had the chance to get, and now that we're afols, we can lol. That feeling of wanting to get as many sets and figures for the collection and build is now possible because we have money.
Minor flex, but I've got all the clone wars versions of Rex, Cody, Fox, Wolffe, and Gree. :P Glad I didn't sell them when I thought I was done with lego star wars lol
I think I hit the nail on the head then. Nostalgia is very powerful! I am envious of your Clones.
Yup, just got the Rogue Shadow that I've wanted since I was a kid. Costed me $190 for everything, retailed for $50 in '08
See, I think it's largely "those who were into lego in 2007-2014 are now engineers making $100k+ and don't have kids yet"
Basically that's my thesis. Works for like, me and at least six friends I know.
We all wanted certain sets when we were young, and now that really you can just buy them, there's no reason not to
I spoke to my friend about this very concept recently.
Childless afols with high paying jobs, with a lot of discretionary income. They will dominate the secondary market despite very high prices. Must be nice haha
@DarkBluishGray It makes total sense really though. Kids who like legos tend to end up as computer scientists and engineers. I'm sure in 5 or 10 years once we get families and stuff it'll level off though I think. Really it's the 20-30 year old nostalgia right now I think that's driving the market.
That mando set was a smyths exclusive here in the uk,
Got the last one on the shelf @ my local store for £22.99 haven't stopped since!,
Picked up last 3 sanctoriums for £144.99 ea!!!......
Shout out smyths!..love ya.
Tallneck......£59.99
Flower bouquet £34.99
Inq transport scythe..£71.99
At te .......£85.99.
Long may our relationship continue.
😎👍❤
Very Awesome video 👏👏 people at my job think im crazy and look at me weird when i talk about lego and they look at me even more crazy when i talk about how much ive spent on just one Minifigure 😂😂😂 some people just don't understand the value of lego now when i say lego im more meaning Star wars lego the other themes in my opinion are pointless and sorta just a waste of purchasing .
Same here. My parents are shocked at the prices of certain figures and just don’t understand why. This vid is super informative.
Glad you dug it! I totally agree. People outside the hobby just don't understand the crazy market.
I have the queen amidalla figure from Christmas 2012. My brother got it in the gungan sub.
I recently got Queen Amidala with the entire gungan sub set for $75 on side market. That sort of video reminds me of how lucky I got back then.
I'm very envious
You can get anything for dirt cheap if you just wait for it. Mine was the original ucs falcon for $100, just a year ago. I don’t understand why people don’t have the patience to go out and look
Matty is the best on whatnot! I got ten 2005 clones for $60.00, and he's always got great giveaways
You know it!
I had the shadow arf trooper and I sold it on Mercari for $300. I also had the Queen Amidala minifigure and sold it on ebay for $40 about 3 years ago. It pains me to see that it is worth $200 now
Win some lose some. I've learned it is very hard to time the "market". I'd buy one for $40, but someone listing one for that cheap now a days would be sus haha.
Very good take on this topic. I would’ve loved to see an outlook on the future though. As you said it’s mostly the AFOL community that keeps prices high. The question is how further generations will deal with this hype
I honestly don't think it will get any better, probably worse. It depends on if LEGO remakes more of our favorite sets and figures. Though a lot of long time collectors grew up in the "Golden age" and might have more rosy retrospection than they'd like to admit. People are hard to please, and place a lot of value on the sets from the good ole days.
I'm curious where the market will be 10 years from now. There are so so many factors at play.
It seems like there's more awareness of sets values as investments, leading to more people investing, which could lead to more on the market, lower prices: if so many more hold onto their NISB 501s, what will the price actually look like?
We're also entering an era where Lego is becoming more self aware and seemingly aiming to please clone fans: from 2020 to 2023 we've gotten such a wide variety of clones. Will Lego keep up this rate, and if so will clone factions be remade/rereleased a dozen times (ie we've had two 501 battlepacks in the span of a few years)
Finally and maybe most importantly, will Star Wars retain a simillar value 10 years from now: will there be kids who grew up on our current era of Disney Star Wars who still have interest in the franchise. Regardless of personal opinions, Disney Star Wars has critically been a mixed bag--Obi Wan, Boba Fett, the sequels VS R1, Andor, Bad Batch. I feel like if the franchise continues at the rate it does it won't be able to bring in a new generation like Clone Wars and PT did: will there be a sort of 'star wars fatigue' where, regardless of quality, the quantity decreases interest in the brand? But then again does the quality of media actually impact whatever instills nostalgia in a child and eventually adult? Will generations that have grown up online surrounded by youtube, tik tok, instagram, the hot made for streaming show of the month that comes and goes, have the same investment in IPs that us folks who grew up with long running TV shows, toys and limited internet have? So many factors.
Those are some interesting questions for sure. You make good points about the current state of Disney Star Wars and the true impact it will actually have with new generations. I don't think they will have the longevity compared to the original trilogy and prequels. It might just make the future LEGO market even more crazy because it will only be dominated by adult collectors.
I won the Gungan Sub for free in a sweepstakes and I didn’t even realize the value that the minifigures had
Very timely video.
Quite the time we're living in.
i paid 12 cents for a tactical droid what a steal
I have two 212 clone troopers from the battle pack a few years ago and brown jacket cassias andor
Excellent stuff my friend!!,
Long may you continue with the eargazmic content👍😎
Thanks! Glad you dig it.
Glad to be aboard in early days!😎👍
the lego vintage economy is worse, sets retailing for $10 be worth $500+ on avg and they are only like ten years older than Star Wars itself..
ooof no thank you
@@DarkBluishGray Yeah, though Star Wars is def worse when it comes to annual growth.
I got the Armourer's Forge for Christmas 2021, which I was quite happy with. I really shouldn't have opened it if I knew it was going to appreciate in value that much! Good set though.
It really depends on what kind of "collector" you are. Who cares what the value of a set is on the secondary market if you get joy from it.
I'm not here to collect cardboard boxes.
Another big reason is that we suddenly had more time on our hands in 2020, so many of us found or returned to LEGO. I didn't until late 2021 which by then was an expensive time to be an AFOL. I never thought I'd spend $85 on a plastic goat. 💀
Yeah it seems lots of people got into LEGO during that time.
Max Rebo is my bucket list Star Wars minifigure. I’ve always found the economy for Star Wars minifigures interesting as I didn’t grow up with it unlike I did with Spider-Man or Ninjago for example, so I’ve only gotten like 15 or so Star Wars minifigures I like individually. I just can’t justify spending over $35 for a single minifigure unless I have a very special reason but these people are spending $100-300 for a single minifigure which I just don’t understand how it could be worth that much. Hopefully I can find a fluke cheap listing like I found with this other minifigure I wanted, General Garg who goes for over $100 but I got for $46 somehow. Great video though, I really liked it!
Thanks! Yeah its a very strange secondary market surrounding LEGO Star Wars. As much as I want some of those older more desirable figures, I wont be spending $100+ for any of them. I'm starting to see the appeal of custom figures printed on official parts, but a lot of them also can get a little pricy for just one figure.
I'm after him too--it's pretty much confirmed we're getting a UCS sail barge next year so crossing my fingers we'll get him again there
i think i was lucky that i had purchased the mandalorian's armorer forge, i don't have the build but i have the figures
Good to see your channel growing and I found a rex for 40£
That's a good deal. Thanks man.
I have the captain rex from buying the set from a tesco for a few euros
I paid $60 for a Classic Robin (to complete collection) and $30 for a Ledger Joker. I'd never pay over $100 for a minifig. Even the price I paid for those two is too much. Very few minifigs are worth going out of your way to purchase anyway. LEGO remakes them constantly. In my case though, a a big Batman fan, I don't really see much of a need for them to revisit the classic series or Dark Knight trilogy. Unlike Star Wars, DC sets don't come as often.
Yeah I agree. The most I've ever paid for an official LEGO mini figure is $36. That was for an ARC Trooper from 2012.
Honestly can't believe some of the prices, like for Paz Viszla (who died a completely avoidable, staged and generally worthless death for clicks), Phase 2 Rex and others. I can't hold a value to *them, even if they're "official" minfigures.
Paz Viszla should be at most a $15 figure after retiring.. it's crazy how quickly the secondary market gave so much value to his character.
Can someone tell me where to sell figured the best, without making a bricking account and having to buy stuff? I got the red Amidaka with minor marks at the points of the crown and I don’t really know where to sell her.
Great video. As someone who started buying in 2019 on IG auctions and now see the prices on Whatnot, it’s amazing to see the price difference from 2019 to now. Another honorable mention would be Thrawn. He was a $40 figure before his name was mentioned in Mandalorian season 2. He shot up to $80 overnight. Now he is trending around $160.
That's absolutely crazy! The memes are out of control.
Proud owner of the gungan sub and also phase 1 commander Wolfe!
A god amongst men
It’s sad that I can never justify getting some of my favorite figs. Even if I had the money to spend $300 on captain Rex, I’d rather spend that getting multiple sets
This is exactly why the custom mini figure market is booming. Pad or UV printed on official LEGO parts and often look way better than what LEGO is releasing. They're way cheaper too.
I wanna get some figures I missed out on but holy shit some of it is extremely expensive
I wanted a boba fett from the OT but he was too much so I’m glad he’s back
I wanna get a captain Rex and holy shit no
I don't think the new Rex coming in the UCS Venator will affect the price of the old one either. Hopefully be able to eventually snag a new one for a sensible price.
@@DarkBluishGray it won’t drop the old one’s price too much as it is in some ways better than the original one but in other ways worse, the Kama definitely put the old one above the new one, personally I don’t care too much as I’ll buy the new Rex in a year or 2 depending on if he comes in a cheaper set and I’ll just buy a Kama online and replace his legs with a regular 501st legs
@@deeznuts23yearsago Exactly. He better come in a cheaper set!
I just bought the gungan sub complete on eBay for $180.
very lucky snag
The Star Wars market place is insane man, the economics are crazy, prices are high, you just got to understand man.
Prices just reflect what people are willing to pay.. unfortunately
How many prequels memes did I manage to sneak into this video?
just bought queen amidala for $280 😭 worth it but like omg
ooof congrats and my condolences.
You make good videos
Thanks. I have fun making them.
@@DarkBluishGray I see
I wouldn't attribute so much worth to memes as I would popularity and FOMO.
I would argue that fomo is just another side effects of the run away memes.
Whatever set or fig you've given up on -- there's an investor's warehouse full that's just one bad divorce settlement away from rolling into your purview.
hahaha hope springs eternal
Where did you get you’re Lego cal from?
It's a custom commissioned by my friend HelloThereRex.
I bought one from him.
something you should touch on more is the collector mindset too. I own p2 rex, queen amidala, p1 fox, count dooku, paz, and many other great figs. I’d estimate my total minifig value at around 10k usd. HOWEVER, as a collector I alwayssss want MORE. I want pre vizsla, darth revan, luminara, zeb. It gets you into this position as a collector where unless you own EVERYTHING you always are gonna want more, and nobody really owns EVERYTHING, so it’s a feedback loop
That's quite a collection! "I want more and I know I shouldn't"
is a familiar sentiment I've had before as well. You're right when you get into the collector mindset more is never enough.
@@DarkBluishGray Take it from me, if i could post pics to a yt comment section i would, but i have a lot. I’m also the demographic you discuss, prequel era dude in my early 20s w a job now. I have so much, but i’m never gonna be satisfied. consumerism ig. That said, this is a video many of my pals would be shocked by, except they already know ME 😂
One of the great classic sf movies even if John carpenters version outshines it by miles.
I like star wars but I stopped being a fan after episode 9, I just couldn't find interest in anything new related to star wars, except for the Mandalorian and I feel lucky because I became a Lego collector in 2022 and I could never consider putting more than 10$ on a single piece or more than 20$ for a single minifig. I collect mainly Indiana Jones and now I only need the two Temple of Doom sets, wich are starting from 100$ and 250$ and it's starting to feel like too much for what they are. The single most expensive thing I own is a camel from Prince of Persia wich is 50$ in new condition and when I look at it I find that insane so the fact that people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for one minifig is beyond me. It really makes me hope I never fall back into star wars and that's sad.
I really enjoyed building the new LEGO Indiana Jones Temple of the Golden Idol set. I've still got the Escape from the Lost Tomb and Fighter Plane Chase sealed.
Why would I buy an official P2 Rex when I could decal my own Lego Rex Minifigure.
Too many people expeculating and hoarding! The price in US are just crazy! In Europe we get the same minifigs for half the price. 😅
im seller sold all
Dude someone paid 800 for minty phase 1 Rex a while back k screen record it with live chat
That is just madness
i have every P2 clone captain and commander😭😭
Nice! Do you have every P1 Commander?
@@DarkBluishGray I’ve got none of the rare P1s unfortunately, figure I’ll start collecting a few of them now that I’m caught up on P2
@@mike9574 They can get pretty pricy too
I got all these for 1$ on Ali.
I'm sure they are exquisite knock offs haha
I hate that whatnot is just a thing now
I have some reservations towards whatnot, and see the potential pitfalls. It's VERY easy to overpay. The traitorous "slide to bid" button has betrayed me a few times. You gotta know what things are worth, and the max you're willing to pay. I've gotten some really good deals though.
@@DarkBluishGrayI completely agree. Just like BrickLink, it’s WAY too easy to overspend just because. Earlier this year I was in an auction to try & get a Baymax minifigure from the Disney 100 CMF which someone had found a month before it released in stores. The $5 minifigure sold for $30 just because it’s not available to the public yet. I was shocked people would pay that much. Then 2 months later after it actually released I picked one up for the $5 retail price. Just like anything else worth buying, do your research & know how much something’s worth before buying it.
lego is not a better investment than gold stop perpetuating that clickbait title and ruining our hobby for profit
I don't think you understand what clickbait is you ninny.
the only one i have is p2 rex
I've got Jar Jar
@@DarkBluishGray that's cool I don't have him