Is LEGO Out Of Touch With Fans?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 พ.ย. 2024
- Despite a looming economic crisis, LEGO have continued to release an increasing amount of oversized and large sets on top of raising prices. With several sets around $500 releasing back to back, fans are left feeling priced out of their hobby and that the company has become tone deaf and out of touch.
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I really liked the direction LEGO took two years ago with the cheaper and downscaled X-Wing and Tie Fighter. Turned out a once-off thing despite them being actually really good for the scale, figures and prices asked for.
I liked it too, I will say I think it was continued with Boba Fett’s starship, but I can’t think of any more examples besides that one
@@carterdavis6962 there's been an X-wing, TIE Fighter, Slave I, and Imperial Shuttle in the cheaper scale. There's rumors of a TIE bomber and TIE Interceptor in 2023.
I kept hope that they would do a similar scaled Millennium Falcon. The price point was always a turn off for me (we're talking the $160 one) and recently with the price increases it went to an even HIGHER price (it used to be 3100 MXN, now it sits at around 4100).
Not to mention at least for SW, they are only making one Battlepack and Microfighter per year, and they've seemingly cut duel sets.
I agree the new Releases are really disappointing. I’m not really sure why they are going so big on many of the sites an incredibly high price points.
I think it’s important for fans to wait for sales or just skip sets that are crazy expensive. The only message they’ll get is if we stop buying everything they put out. They need to scale back on some of these themes and also ask fans what they want instead of thinking they are Steve Jobs here. You brought up a good point about them cutting corners and that’s my biggest gripe. Cutting corners AND raising prices is not a good look at all.
You could say the same thing about Disney theme parks!
As an adult with disposable income I can say I will def buy their big sets.....if they're good and make sense. Sanctum, Razor Crest, Daily Bugle are a few examples. The flip side of that....if I wanted a Black Panther bust I'd go to Sideshow or something lol. I have no idea what they were thinking with that.....or that reaaallly bad Hulkbuster for that matter.
I'm hoping for some good Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals
Dude every company thinks they're Steve Jobs these days, they think they're untouchable and god's gift
@@thebluetarp Tell me about it!!! I’m going to DW in December and I just saw the price for tickets 😮😮😮😮
I haven’t purchased any of the Lego sets I want because I’m saving everything for Florida.
I'd say they are. They're making sets no one wanted, a black panther bust, the absolutely disgusting hulkbuster. And with star wars they are making UCS sets every year, it used to be every few years but nope, lego thinks they NEED to release UCS sets. We don't need them at all, they are nice but we don't need them. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love star wars, but we need more $50 sets, not $250-$800 dollar sets. Lego needs to start making what the fans want, not stupidly large sets, they're nice but we dont need them every year. Also I'm never selling my lego collection, too much money went into it and I just love Legos. Besides my lego rant, keep up the good work, love the vids.
I agree. Every few years, release a 500 plus set. But in between…..200-250 MAX
Yeah well you don't have to worry if you aren't gonna buy them don't buy them plenty of other people will buy them instead and not have a tantrum because you don't want to buy the big expensive LEGO set that again plenty of other people have bought at least one of
@@Cloningmaster55 seems like you're having a tantrum
I agree, there are too many $200+ sets on the market, especially at a time when people are strapped for money with higher gas and food prices. Too many sets in the Ideas line are expensive. The Black Panther bust, Hulkbuster and large Bowser sets are great examples of what I’m talking about.
I love the fact you actually dive into the economic side of these issues rather than ignore it like a lot of collectors seem to. I’ve been fortunate to not have to stress out about it, but I know plenty of people who aren’t so lucky and that’s a factor a lot of these companies are failing to look at
My local Target has had the same Lego sets lining the shelves for months. They used to fly off the shelves like crazy a few years back, but ever since Lego drastically raised the prices people stopped buying them.
I think part of the problem is how Lego deals with set price points. To those unaware, they usually set the price first then design a model to match that price. It’s also pretty hard to change the price once it’s been set. It definitely makes the giant size of the hulkbuster make more sense as to fulfill the high price point, all the designers could do was just make it bigger. Also the fixed price point policy is why the new Foosball table comes with essentially a minifigure parts pack because they had to downsize the build. Also on a completely different note about the Black Pearl, I do think a recreation of the model from the Lego video games would make an awesome DTC set.
Agreed. The foosball set was the biggest example of this being a problem. That set should've been the big size one but it made sense that they made it smaller because they didn't have longer technic pieces for the rods. But the price just stayed the same so now we have a bunch of unnecessary minifigures and a stand that makes no sense and only exists to help justify the price. The smaller size wouldn't have been as bad if it was priced fairly. But people are force to buy extra crap that they might not want and now they have to pay extra for it
No most of us are aware, it’s just a dumb way to design.
I didn’t know that. That would explain some issues.
None of that makes sense. Surely the "difficulty" in changing a price point be far more worth it than the associated lack of sales of an oversized, overpriced set.
The original Idea designer said this was always the plan but I think they just make himsay that. They just put in on a scale and topped it off with heads and hairpieces till the meter said $250. I wonder what this set would cost if you order new pieces on bricklink without the extras. I think you might be really suprised
I remember back in like 2019 and before that, every other LEGO Ideas set to come out was priced at a moderate $60, like the dinosaur fossils, Doctor Who, and the Yellow Submarine. Since then, the cheapest set to come out in that line was Seinfeld at $70. The price for all Ideas sets has leveled out at over $200, for every set coming out at about that price (Light house at $300, the piano at $350, ect). LEGO sees lines like Ideas as only for adults now, so every set to come out is 18+ and ridiculously expensive.
I don't blame Lego for the direction Ideas has taken, blame for that lies solely with the fans in my opinion.
People keep submitting, and getting 10k votes for, the same garbage licenced IP sets with limited appeal over and over again, like The Office and Queer Eye for example. All you have to do is read the comments of any Ideas selection videos and you'll see people complaining Lego didn't select their preferred licenced set for that review period, "Oh but I really wanted Zelda, or Gilmore Girls, or some other niche licenced product with a limited appeal, specialised minifigs, and a ridiculously high price point!" Lego is just listening to the fans, then getting surprised the same kits underperform when only three people where going to buy it anyway.
So all that's left for Ideas, as far as the 10k votes are concerned, are for big builds, or builds of real items like the Piano, Typewriter, Polaroid, Globe, etc. All of which end up being large scale and ridiculously expensive, so Lego can make up for some of those licencing fees. They market the big kits at everyone who "in theory" have the money, because they didn't buy Queer Eye or The Office etc, that Lego wasted their money buying licence fees and printing sets for niche appeal kits nobody was going to buy anyway. But then nobody buys the globe either for example, because it looks terrible for the $350AUD asking price that most people can't afford. Or they skip the beautiful looking Piano because it's $520AUD and you could buy a real piano for that price.
Lego seem to be trying to take Ideas back and get it under control with the four most recent selections all having different price points and no licenced kits. That said, it still has the Orient Express and Polaroid.kits, which are probably going to be around $1000 and $400AUD respectively so that's less than ideal as well. But as long as the fans keep voting how they are, Ideas is going to suffer and become increasingly unaffordable for most people.
In my opinion, Lego needs to ban licensed kits from Ideas. Or make a policy that only one licenced kit will be produced per year or something. Because if they keep letting the fans run it into the ground, they're going to go broke with flop kits.
I don't mind the occasional LEGO Ideas set being super expensive (the Home Alone set for example is fine at that price), but come on LEGO, please make some of the Ideas sets more affordable like in the past
I didn't like lego as a kid, I feel like they produce so much junk for fans of a series, I mean it's ridiculous, Star Wars, Star Terk, Hogwarts, Marvel, Disney and what not. Then they make lots of buildings that are famous which are cool and all but I wish they create things like FDNY firehouses or Philldelphea inspire buildings more and at cheaper price points too They create a lot of sports cars but not trucks? I feel like the miss out on a lot of places they can profit Imagine the release a lego bridge set or something cruise ships would be awesome too.
@@VitZ9 Exactly it horrible I mean seriously that many license sets? Why not make it yourself Lego is literally a toy you can build anything with people make literal cities out of them, then some of them complain about lack of things and wished it had more
The price increases are one of the major reasons I've switched to only looking for cheap bulk. I do mostly MOCing, so sets aren't super important any more. Plus, digging through bins looking for stuff is fun for me.
Creating your own things with lego bricks is the best part of the lego toy, I just wish I could love the company as much as I love the toy..
I started buying Friends sets because they're priced much more reasonably, have a pretty good experience and design, and come with a good selection of parts. I just put the mini-dolls and their blobby pets into the deepest, darkest recesses of my storage space where I may never see them again.
They always have great pieces for like city Mocs and stuff. They make more buildings than city which is kinda sad
I'll take the minidolls if you don't want them.
The newer series is just as badly priced as lego city now
@@Gameprojordan yes, I’ve noticed that too. It’s very annoying
I have had arguments with others tell them that if you loose your core customers, kids, lego will fail. I have watched parents walk in, there kid asks for a set, they see the 300 dollar price tag and then walk out
If this continues lego will die
I was in a Lego store the other week and it's all I heard as well. Made me sad
My parents did that with 150 dollar sets as a kid and lego knows this so they shifted to target adults like most toy companies do they know they can make more money off adults anyways. It's crazy I remember as a kid be happy with a 50 dollar or 60 dollar set two of my favorites were the city series police and coast guard but most of the time lego sets I had were 20 dollars ones probably why I didn't like it Lego prices turned me away form them.
I’m just glad TH-camrs are calling out LEGO finally. The LAN TH-camrs always seemed to be holding back or being too lenient in reviews because they were afraid to piss off LEGO, but it seems the majority are finally putting their foot down.
And then Lego pulls BS and is like if we didn't put prices up we would go bankrupt is probably the excuse
Everything should be called out these days. Legos are just part of it. Videogames and all the DLC and rise in cost is insane. Digital streaming has skyrocketed which is why I stick with cheap DVDs. Clothes feel cheaper. Food has so many unhealthy ingredients and yet the cost is rising. The price is going up but the quality is poor. And then when someone does come along and specializes in one thing and really hones their craft to sell the prices are higher and people balk and go right back to the Lego way. Mass production. Hot Wheels RLC line is going up in price but the quality from China is getting worse. I got a few that were bad.
Not only are they incredibly expensive, they are so big I don't have anywhere to put them! I could dissemble them, but for how expensive they are it seems like throwing out money.
This is something I haven’t seen as many people talk about, but is a major problem with big sets. Even if I wanted and could afford something like the UCS Razorcrest, I have nowhere to put it. It’s just too frickin big. At least with the millennium falcon you can use it as a chandelier, lol.
Size is big problem for me too. I only have a finite amount of room
The only set I've gotten in months was the modular Bookshop, and that was for $100 used from a friend. There's a couple of sets I want like the Sanctum, the Office, and the Republic Fighter Tank (for the figures tbh), but overall I've felt priced out for months and don't see myself getting much of anything for the forseeable future (despite having been a diehard LEGO fan for longer than I can remember). Even with the 501st and AAT sets retiring recently, I did get my fill of 501sts back when the set came out, but even at Amazon's discounted price I'm just not feeling it for the AAT anymore. I do hope LEGO listens to feedback and they aren't just selling out to the handful of millionaires that can afford to keep up with them.
My biggest gripe is how many collections are their own creation anymore. When I was a kid you had sets like various space collections (from NASA to Ice Planet), the Time Travel sets, original pirates, knights, ninjas, Rock Raiders and Johnny Explorer (He had a few appearances in the 2010s, but it was in sets for other IPs mainly movies).
Don't get me wrong I like a lot of the SW sets and the random IPs they make into sets like Ghost Busters and Seinfeld, but it just seems like that's all they do now with the minor exception of a few of their own they can turn into shows it's all collections based on big IPs like Marvel, Harry Potter and Star Wars and they reserve most of the original stuff for Lego City or whatever they put on TV (or limited time stuff).
I dunno I just feel like it isn't the Lego that inspired creativity like it did in the late 80s and 90s when I was collecting.
Really enjoyed this video, very well put together!
In my mind, the size of the sets just means you have to prioritise. 99% of people don't feel the need to get most of them (tbh this is mostly a problem TH-camrs seem to have - most of us are content without buying loads of the 18+ sets). The quantity of good stuff coming out is only natural when it's selling so well. We can't expect them to produce less sets and thereby intentionally self-harm (as a greater variety of large sets will appeal to a larger audience and therefore get more sales).
I find the debate around the inflationary price-increases to be one of the most painful things I've come across in this community bc most people commenting on it are clueless on these issues. Lego have swallowed inflationary costs for years and things are unsustainable now. The logic that they should allow their profits to go down because they've done so financially well recently is flawed. The price-increases aren't upping their margins - they're only keeping them in line with inflation. Lego simply want to be able to continue with their R&D priorities (questionable digital investment) and not have their margins plummet. Their margins, also, sit around 30% - not huge at all (Apple averages 70% for comparison) and reflects how much work goes into the production of sets. So Lego is profitable, yes, but not obscenely, and the inflationary price-increases will make little-to-no difference in either direction when it comes to the underlying margins.
An interesting point you raised was whether this is the wrong time to come out with lots of expensive sets. We can speculate, but only the financial reports will really reveal the answer. As you say it's a tough issue for them because sets are designed and thought-up long in advance. By the time sets designed now are coming out, the global situation will probably be quite different.
On the other hand I'd like to see more sets priced between the two extremes. Lego make lots of sets below £100 and lots over £250. Star Wars in particular has benefited from sets which are large (£100-150) but not 18+ levels of large. A greater diversity of price ranges is best. Sets like the Hulkbuster and Black Panther bust seem ridiculous to me when Lego could be spending that time making minifigure-based stuff, things that seem to sell better. I also agree that several of the 18+ sets could be down-sized - we've had amazing 18+ stuff like Winnie the Pooh, which appealed to adults but is still affordable.
I agree 100%, most of the large sets are in design for around 2 years, so unless Lego are mind readers, how could they predict that inflation hits at the same time as they release their sets and traditionally large sets have only been SW. So it's actually nice that they are branching to other themes.
Also 100% for the wanting every set, never understood that. Pick the one's you want, there are hundreds at cheaper prices released every year and out of the expensive sets released recently there are only two that I want and since my tastes differ to others, why should what I want prevent other sets in other genres being made? I don't need or even want every set.
The majority in the mid price range would be cool.
I'm not as hyped as past years. LEGO drowns us under a pile of sets more unaffordable and uninteresting than each other. I think they're slowly and surely losing fans.
Totally agree with you about the size and cost of sets getting out of hand. It’s crazy. Personally I think they need to focus as much on small one off sets as much as big one off sets. Things like speed champions give me hope in that regard as this year TLG finally seemed to figure out that combing an existing popular LEGO line (speed champions) with well known IPs (James Bond and Fast & Furious) is highly profitable. I really wish they’d done this sooner and do this more often. Mixing in IPs with speed champions is something they’ve effectively already done with sets like the mini Tumbler or the Lego Ideas Ecto 1 (I wish they’d rereleased that set as a speed champions type set than do a big creator expert set last year). But think of all the film and TV vehicles they could be doing, and it would work with speed champions as they have typically had a mix of small and medium size sets so you could justify charging more if they wanted to include more minifigures or a slightly larger vehicle, just price it like they do the speed champions double packs for an A Team van or the ecto 1 with 4 minifigures…
And there has been very few sets released this year that have appealed to me save for the creator expert Camaro car, oh and the Jurassic Park breakout set (which again I don’t really like but as a JP fan had to get it- I mean the T. rex is terrible and you don’t get 2 full Ford Explorers 🤬 but it was relatively cheap plus I got it on sale at 20% off).
the trex really is atrocious. This whole set. Im a huge jp fan as well but this set is just a bitchslap in the face of every fan....
I am a Transformer collector. Hasbro is experiencing many of these same issues
Knock off masterpieces are cheaper and better quality than the actual masterpieces.
This is why I have tried to avoid licensed themes in recent years..
sadly there are not enough non licensed themes and they are just making MORE licensed themes (eg. avatar, vidiyo) just an excuse for very overpriced sets
only a handful of affordable themes at the moment! But even their sets will discontinue so fast you have little time to save up for them
Yes, absolutely
Unfortunately, for me as a Star Wars fan, when I used to buy those cheap army builders because £10 wasn’t too bad to spend every now and then there is now nothing I want in their price range multiple of, I think the 501st battle pack is just that too pricy for me to justify randomly buying and the price of the snowtroopers (£18) just doesn’t feel worth it when I used to be able to spend £10 for the same kind of set
This has to be the best and most honest opinion I've heard from a lego reviewer. This is exactly what I have been thinking about lately and I couldn't have said it any better. Bravo, keep up the good work.
She really hit the nail on the head.
If price hike continues, it can be Fall of lego
yep, as would also love the castle set but i agree with holly that its to pricey, like i get collecting medieval theme isnt cheap but lego copied what high end collectors play for medieval theme with rrp they gave the castle so doubt i ever own it unless its like 50% off rrp price.
After buying the lion knight castle I've basically just started looking for and buying Amazon Warehouse Deals sets. They usually go for like 15-25% off because the packaging got mangled at the warehouse. So far I haven't come across anything inside the package being broken or teared, just superficial box damage
exactly. The 10305 set was 400 but i had to have it. But now i wont spent months if not a year not buying lego stuff bc that 400 price tag hit really hard.
Food and gas has doubled in price in the last 2 years. The US dollar sure don't feel strong.
Lego's biggest problem is adjusting to the market quickly.
It seems LEGO forgets one of their most effective marketing tools: the VIP program. That way they can see what and when these 'loyal' customers buy, ie what sets/themes, double points, GWP, upon release or later, and so on. But if they do, then they either do what their customers want or they ignore them.
There's always a lag between corporate descision making, design, production, distribution, and sales. Don't worry! They'll adapt and we'll get a lot more of the type of sets we were getting 2 years ago, smaller and more affordable sets etc. 😉
I hope and believe your right.
I do think the concept of more adult oriented sets was a good idea, I just hope they make smaller ones that cost the same amount as sets for kids. The Speed Champions line is the only theme they have right now that’s like that.
Got to agree. As a little insight: here in germany lego has been criticized for a while now, for exactly these problems thanks to a TH-camr and lego Store owner called "Held der Steine". Im happy to see the problem gets more attention. Lego can obviously do great sets for a good price , like the galaxy explorer. While quality of sets is going down, the price is going up, and i cant see myself continuing here. As a kid i loved city, tho nowadays with theye arse road plates (that dont fit like 2 trucks next to each other), all we get is house fronts (like lego pls, what grocery store doesn't have a roof)... Lego used to be for children, and now show me a child that gets a 600 bucks titanic, im just a uni student, but i feel left out lego hasnt done any real ships since the old Maersk one, or a realistic train like the maersk or emerald express. It feels like all we get is Pop culture branded sets at absurd prices (tho thats personal preference). The only strong series i see is speedchampions, great sets, fun building and affordable. Unfortunate that they were increased in price. But knowing Amazon here, they slap on 30% at one point and thats when ill buy.
In conclusion, if lego continues down this road, i cant see myself buying it anymore. Competition is growing stronger, in terms of quality, new ideas and pricing (cada, cobi, bluebrixx,...) 🤷♂️
Yes, yes they are.
One of two things, 1. They need to slow down on all of the licensing and focus on making their own sets like they did back in the day with miners, knights, space police, etc.
2. feel like they need to introduce more mature sets, preferably military oriented. Yeah I understand they’re whole ideology of the whole “We shouldn’t sell violence” but they already are with Star Wars which is their most popular series and violence and action packed things are everywhere and kids are exposed to it at a very young age so might as well make some awesome military sets!
Totally agree on making more unlicensed themes, that was what got me and a lot of people into Lego in the first place not these giant overpriced collector sets..
People say that Lego isn't pricing out consumers, as there are still sets in the old price range. However they seem to convieniently forget that these builds are often smaller and less complex.
On a moment of reflection I realised I could get an actual Bonsai Tree for my desk... OR even grow one myself with some care!
I totally agree. To raise the price of sets already on the shelf was just insane. I get cost of doing business but that is crazy. I am searching for my HP sets on market place or people selling their collection. I also buy bulk from the same as it's a lot cheaper then buying from Lego.
I cannot believe a Corn piece costs more the a Minifigure, personally I kind of have a habit of space, and because of so many releases, that are big, I tend to hold back on a lot of it
Lego is crazy with these prices
You're completely correct - I'm an old guy but the prices are just too high to buy new. I've been buying second hand and often you will indeed find sets that have been built once, displayed for some time, and then sold. Often saves half of the RRP for what is almost new lego.
Another thing I did was browse through the back catalogue (to about 2003) and find really nice sets from the past to buy used. In most cases people sell them at about half the original price 10-20 years ago, and this time inflation works in my advantage!
just boycott their larger sets and maybe they will eventually take notice
That’s what I’ve done. I couldn’t resist the SW Mos Eisley Cantina, but I’m not buying anymore of their collector sets until things change. There are four sets I’d get right now, but I’m not going to keep rewarding them. The crap they’re doing right now is not what made them successful.
I agree completely. I'm sure I'm one of the oldest "Legomaniacs" around at 71 and I can manage to buy just about any set I want. But Lego has carried it too far. But my main beef with them is all of the "licensed" series of sets. Why not get back to basic sets from everyday real life and pull back on all of these futuristic, fantasy, unrealistic sets. Why not sort of get back to basics. For instance, if they want to produce an expensive vehicle set, why not a really detailed and realistic fire engine or something like that. Why all of the outlandish luxury sports cars that have limited interest. I just think they need to stop all of theses futuristic, unrealistic, licensed sets and get back to the real world.
I would really like the new Lion Knight's castle, but it is just a bit too pricey. It would be great if they came out with a $400 dollar lineup of 5-7 castle sets. Start with a $150 dollar castle, a $75 forestmen hideout set, $50 set with a dragon and wizard, the fill it in with a few small sets. They have totally made the shift to expensive sets thinking people have disposable cash. They will soon realize they hit a perfect storm of circumstances to sell giant expensive sets.
Pricing is why i havent bought any monkey kid sets.
With disney being the new home of doctor who internationally, a lot of people (myself included) will be wanting a bunch of doctor who lego sets. We had an ideas set and two dimensions packs which gave us three versions of the doctor, three daleks, a cyberman, clara oswald, k9 and a weeping angel. Getting new doctor who sets would be great, considering its nearly the 60th anniversary of the show. At least give us a minifigure series.
I'd want more Lego Doctor Who too but didn't the Lego Ideas set flop?
Thanks, Holly, I really appreciate your take on the issue. I think these kinds of professional opinion pieces really set your channel apart.
I agree, Lego is getting way too expensive. And even worse, where I live, the cost of Lego is at least double the original and sometimes even triple due to taxes. I feel Lego should really make some smaller sets now.
In 2022 I ended up buying more lego then I thought I would. I adored all the flower sets from the cheaper sunflowers to the more expensive orchids. But even at $70/80 CA, it didn’t feel too steep for me as a Lego lover. I also loved the starry night such a beautiful Lego ideas set that the Lego community and the non Lego community could appreciate. I also feel it wasn’t too expensive comparatively to what you get. I also have the yellow fiat which was a super fun build and not too expensive for a Lego car. I also picked up a few of the friends sets specifically the stage and the art school, I thoroughly enjoyed the build and the final product, I also didn’t hate the price tag for both of them. But now as we move into the fall I really haven’t seen anything that I would immediately wanna grab. Some things like the classic castle are beautiful but I just can’t prioritize a lego set over rent. It’s honestly so sad walking into the lego store and seeing the disconnect between the company and the fans. Disney and Harry Potter sets are just far to expensive to justify anymore for me personally. I remember a few years ago when the Disney castle came out, I believe it was around $400 and was about the most expensive set I could find in the Lego store. And now it almost feels like that $400 price point it’s getting more and more common.
Yes they are, since they cancelled Bionicle they have become extremely out of touch with fans
People like to ignore bionicle despite it stopping lego from becoming bankrupt
@@muby102 exactly, I was fine with Lego making products of Harry Potter and Star Wars, but when they started making all these other franchises I just lost my interest in Lego
You people also forget that when they did bring it back no one bought it
@@86starscream I didn’t even know there was a Gen 2 until it was cancelled, I saw no commercials for it and zero internet advertisement
@@86starscream that's lego's fault for not advertising it enough and leaving it to the existing fans to get people to buy it which wasn't a good idea at all
Honestly, Speed Champions is the only theme I'm really into right now. I used to be big into Star Wars, but I think at this point we just keep on seeing mediocre smaller sets which just bums me out. I went to the Lego Store a few weeks back and I swear it seems like there were so few good sets under like 30 dollars. I do think Speed Champions price increase is a little justified, with the rumors/leaks of raising the single cars to 25 dollars, they're all incredibly dense and detailed models so I do think that's justified, but it sucks since at this point I can only see myself picking up a few Speed Champions throughout the year and maybe 1 to 3 big sets I splurge on at this point.
Speed Champions as well has such great models for the price, great printing, great sticker detail, easy to display and great for play. Such a great theme. And because they’re small too it’s easier to get and store than all these oversized sets
@@HollyOnFilm Yeah. That and the odd Ninjago set for me as well (got the Ninja Dojo Temple along with Zane's mech and Jay's Dragon Evo to have the complete 'core' cast on display).
Thank you, Holly! You covered many different aspects of this growing issue (and trend in fan reactions) so well, and I have continued to share and send this comprehensive video to other FOLs and friends across my Discord servers, social media, and other apps ever since you posted it. Definitely agree with you, I'm personally observing more and more fall-off among the casual fans, esp. the COVID-era folks, if we can't reach out and connect more of them with MOC-inspiration and other community resources. Hopefully The LEGO Group is able to catch up (despite their multi-year design and production pipeline) and shift their approach to give us more of those smaller sets for reasonable pricing… otherwise, we'll just wait them out for those discount sales or avoid buying from them directly at all! Always some pre-recession retired sets, used kits on the secondhand market, and bulk parts we can stock up on instead as the prices continue going up on everything in 2023. Happy New Year!
I had been used to purchasing every Creator Expert set, but I stopped the routine this year since too many expensive and huge sets launched. I don't think my financial and home space allow me to keep my routine.
Razor Crest is just as bad a Hulk Buster, at least from the perspective that Lego had already produced a smaller version that was pretty good. The only two large sets I have liked this year were the Lions Knight Castle and the Lighthouse.
I skipped playscale and I was excited that they were coming out with the UCS version. I had problems with the smaller version, but then they released the UCS and I was ready to buy it. However, they cut some corners that I didn’t like and I wasn’t going to just accept it. So, I bought the playscale version, lol. Got it for $100 and can just modify it to the way I want it.
Holly I would like to apologise, i slated you years ago saying you were very biased towards Lego with being an ambassador. Really love this relevant and really important take on the dangerous way Lego is going, this is a superb insight 🎉
Like you said, as a college student myself I really have to chose what I REALLY want rather than get a set because it’s cool. Which is the sad reality now with LEGO, I remember being able to get sets just to build without feeling I burned a hole in my wallet.
I said it five years ago on Lego Cusso/ Ideas. Make small sets interesting. Bigger always gets more attention. Licensed sets always get more attention than non. It’s the way it is until consumers stop buying it Lego will continue to make it.
I have a decent size Lego collection and have 7 and 3 year old grandsons that are enjoying Lego now. I’m now 51 and find myself passing on my Lego sets to them, verses paying the increased cost of Lego sets that are currently out. I’m at at point in my life where I’m downsizing things and the boys are enjoying all the sets that I have held dear.
The hot-toys N-1 Star fighter is probably $2k or more, considering it's 3ft by 5ft in 6th scale, the turbines spin and it lights up
I really miss the older sets that you could buy a small one, a medium one or a large one and then combine them together if you wanted to later. Think the lego city sets or even the Bionicle sets had such an idea with new characters or forms and even the more recent hogwarts did this.
Personally I'd love if they did 2-3 sets of each type, 3 small, 3 medium and 2 large. Which have extra instructions to combine them together with their own size set and another to combine it with all of them. That way if you wanted to only buy the smaller sets, you can still collect them all to make a bigger set later on.
"Combine"
God... Remember when LEGO actually did combination models and alt builds outside of Creator 3-in-1? BIONICLE and EXO-Force are honestly the golden examples of this in my opinion. BIONICLE had fun combo models, and EXO-Force had great combo models AND alt builds to get more fun out of them.
It's honestly depressing to say, but outside some of the Ninjago Mechs from the past few years, the most fun I've had with a LEGO set was back with the first LEGO Movie sets. They were so darn creative with many having a very "normal, by the books" build like an ice cream truck, a garbage truck, a fire truck (A lot of trucks...) and then an alternate build to make something absolutely ridiculous in the best way. That movie, and those sets encouraged getting creative and stepping outside the instructions, and I *loved* it. I thought we were entering the beginning of a new, better era for LEGO... And then things slowly went back to how they were.
Some things got new life from it, sure, like Classic Space and Pirates, but still a lot of themes have remained abandoned and forgotten outside the occasional sticker reference in Ninjago, and it just grinds my gears. LEGO feels like it's lost a lot of that creativity that made me love it, many original themes are dead as they operate on the Nickelodeon model of "If it's not Spongebob(Ninjago) levels of popularity, don't bother", variety is so sparse with almost everything they put out being a licensed IP, and now the prices being raised as all sets are becoming these huge, over-priced kits... LEGO just feels so dead to me, anymore.
I miss Rock Raiders, I miss Blacktron, I miss Space Police, I miss EXO-Force, I miss Aquaraiders, and so many more... But we'll never get them again, and if we do they'll be another Knight's castle situation... And we see how THAT'S going.
I’m 100% sure they could cut 50$ off of all their sets above 150$ and still make a huge profit
You provided an excellent analysis here. It’s insane how expensive some sets are becoming. But I’m also very disappointed with some of the “Lego Ideas” creations. The fans are making better sets than Lego, but only a few each time are being developed. They are unsupportive of some really fantastic ideas…..Gilmore Girls house, I’m looking at you!
Started collecting as an adult in early 2020 - pandemic chilled vibes, more time etc.
Now, I've sold (about 5 months back), my entire collection as I saw all this happening and realised I was missing out on themes I wanted that I wasn't prepared to continue splurging out on.
I've sold everything, except for Lego Minecraft. As an adult, they remind me of basic biking techniques, blocky looks, without everything smooth surfaces, lots of creativity and MOC building is amazing. I now collect Lego Minecraft exclusively. And no set is beyond £130.
The Llama village is a great set and was £99 for me in a shop, new.
Now, I just look forward to the 12 sets of Lego Minecraft a year and I'm really really glad I stopped with Star Wars, City, Ideas and the like earlier this year.
In a time where I couldn't agree with you more Holly, I think themes like Lego Minexraft will do well, and pave the way for cheaper sets again, with pay features, with great minis.
The £20 Lego Minecraft sets have so much in, in terms of MOBS and Minis - it's crazy good.
Marvel just looks awful right now. Harry Potter, doesn't look as good as it used to be.
Hopefully rhings will change with themes like LoTR & Indiana Jones returning.
You make some really good points here. It is frustrating to see all of these amazingly expensive gigantic sets that I just cannot justify purchasing. I think quality over piece count/price. They will end up selling more if they do it this way in my opinion.
Think about LEGO ten years ago in 2012. They were able to have such good 100 dollar or less sets such as the helms deep, mine, or Star Wars vehicles. They still had some big ones, but those were few and far. Lego’s choices lately have put me into a dark age. I don’t buy new sets anymore that much, as they are all so expensive and don’t feel justified. Bigger does not automatically mean better. It’s crazy to think that just two or three years ago LEGO was doing
it right. Nowadays it only seems like friends was the best cheaper theme, but even then they’re changing it for whatever reason after ten years. The builds have really weird color schemes now even though they aren’t just simply pink.
Holly, excellent video.
Lego has done a masterful job of destroying my enthusiasm for their product. About all I can afford now is watching others build on TH-cam. This is where greed, leads.
I am an AFOL, and I felt this a few months ago when I walked into a LEGO store, one wall was just sets made for adults, it seemed wrong
Yeah, I 100% agree on this and have been saying so for a little while now. When I got back in to Lego about 6/7 years ago, as a therapy after my father passed away suddenly, I was able to branch out into multiple themes, Star Wars UCS primarily, but also modular buildings, Ideas, Creator cars and other random sets that I liked like UCS Batman Tumbler, Ghostbusters HQ, Shield Hellicarrier etc. As I'm lucky enough to be quite a high earner in the UK with an understanding missus, I was able to buy basically every set I wanted in a year, build them, display them, then collapse them down and store them to make room for the next ones coming out. An expensive set would be around £300 - £400 like Disney castle, or Hogwarts or the Death Star, and you might only get one or two of those a year. But now we're looking at sets in excess of that price coming out almost on a monthly basis and i simply cannot keep up. I'm likely going to have to concentrate only on Star Wars UCS, or stop altogether, and that was before Lego price hikes or cost of living problems. I think the Millennium Falcon was the reason tbh. That was £650, the biggest, most expensive set of all time and people flocked to buy it, and rightly so. I have it. But I think that lit something in the Lego high-ups that people are willing to pay much more for the products, so let's make more really big sets. Look at it just a few years later and the Millennium Falcon doesn't even seem that big where previously it eclipsed absolutely everything. Just my thoughts, but I'm probably going to have to tap out of Lego now. Sad, because it really helped me back when I started collecting again.
I am getting back into collecting Lego now as an adult and I have to say I 100% agree with almost all the points you made in this video. When making the decision to collect Lego I forced myself to limit my themes (modulars and Marvel is what is settled on) so that I can have a very focused collection without breaking my bank. I have the DB, modular police station, and am getting the sanctum very soon. Aside from those sets, everything else I have are smaller retired sets or individually purchased minifigures. The new sets don't even come close to how good the majority of the retired sets for marvel are. It's to the point where I am more willing to buy a retired set that has doubled in value than anything currently being produced by Lego. Marvel is drowning in mechs and hulk busters and its getting super old.
Yep. They are. They saw non Lego fans getting into Lego during the pandemic and saw dollar signs in their eyes. They saw that people who hadn't bought a Lego set in years were willing to spend $100/$200/$300 on sets. So they decided to go even further and make more $400/$500/$600 sets. At first some people were a bit okay with it with once in a while sets like the Millennium Falcon (I know it came out before the pandemic) and the Colosseum and Titanic. But people have their limits. You can't be releasing these basic sets like the Hogwarts Express or Hulkbuster which have been made so many times already and expect people will just hand over that much money for something so meh just because it's BIG!!! I really feel like the 2010s or even more specifically the mid-2010s were the best time for Lego adult fans.
Stores used to have trouble keeping Lego in stock now the same sets sit for months at a time.
I would love to see some smaller sets for Lego Railroad fans.
Right now, if you're interested in trains, you have to buy these huge sets with all the bells and whistles.
Tracks, motors, cars, locomotives and everything.
What if you just wanna buy an additional passenger car? Or a single freight car?
Well, you can't.
You'd have to buy an entire new huge set for that.
They used to sell train cars seperately, but not anymore.
as a kid my family couldn't afford new toys often so the few Legos we got were either gifts from others or from knock off brands. I had hoped that as an adult I would finally be able to really get into lego since I really enjoyed the few I had growing up, but alas the prices have only increased in prices and I still can't afford lego. kind of sucks since lego started off as a family oriented brand but through the years feels like it's become more of an exclusive club for wealthy people
I'm just now getting back into lego for the new LotR releases, hoping for some new playsets in the wave after the brickheads. Now I'm starting to worry it's all gonna be $250+ sets only for collectors
In Canada the hulkbuster cost 699.99 plus 15% taxe. No way.
The thing about me is that I used to buy quite a few sets but then changed and basically only buy Star Wars themed Ultimate Collector Series set. It gives me about a year to pull the trigger and actually buy it. Plus the sets being 2,000 - 7,000 pieces means Ill be working on it for a while.
I typically know the price its going to be based on the amount of pieces it has, which is something a lot of LEGO fans pick up. It usually scales $100=1,000 pieces.
The prices and sets have gotten a bit bigger and is odd to see, but they'll usually figure out what they did wrong when they check the numbers.
As an AFOL, with some disposable income and a dedicated room, even for me it has become way too much. Too many sets in general, as well as too many large expensive sets. I can't afford, or have the space, to continue with LEGO as a main hobby anymore. I am currently selling 75% of my LEGO Star Wars sets, with the intention of buying maybe the odd few sets every year going forward. I will still continue with most Harry Potter sets (with the exception of the large Hogwarts Express that nobody asked for), but that is it for me.
Those missing out most though are the Kids, parents can't afford all these bigger and more expensive sets. After all LEGO is a toy, it needs to revert back to more affordable quality sets like there used to be. These really large expensive sets should be the odd few every year maybe, not several every month which is how it seems now.
Great content, thanks 👍🏻
Lego isn’t cutting corners lol if they make a set for 200$ and customers purchase that set…. What’s the problem? If you can’t afford something, save up or maybe you shouldn’t spend money on a toy.
As a Back to the Future fan I am intrigued, and equally worried, about them purchasing the rights to “Brick to the Future”. I think they’re going to expand it exponentially, especially after their recent Lego Icons Back to the Future Delorean. As excited as I am about the universe expanding it’s going to be verrrrrrrrry expensive 😳😭
This argument of a massive conglomorate seemingly taking advantage of their dedicated fans is all to familiar with what has been going on with Disney and Disney Park ticket prices. I personally am of the mindset that these companies (Disney, Lego, etc) are private companies that are allowed to do whatever they want with their prices. The best way to combat these continued prices increases is honestly to speak with our dollars. In regards to Disney, I refuse to buy the Genie+ asset and pay for Lightning Lanes (for those who are unaware these are paid Fastpasses, which used to be free pre-pandemic) as well as the UCS Razor Crest and Black Panther Bust. Make the companies regret their decisions, and use your voice (or wallet) as a consumer. The REAL overall problem and why Lego is "tone deaf" is because the rest of the world is failing to catch up in regards to cost of living. Companies aren't paying enough for their employees, and the housing crises all over the world are hurting people financially , moreso than Lego's prices. Be selective, folks. Don't feel obligated to buy certain things. Always put your well being first. Also that Lego and Disney are luxuries, we are not entitled to these things.
I only just got obsessed with Lego, rekindling a childhood passion. I feel like I missed a golden age.
These days too it’s not just in terms of price, but even feels like overall quality. There’s less detail that I feel is included despite the sets being larger, especially when it comes to minifigures there’s a major difference between 2011-2014 and now
Just look up some other brick company. While lego has been lazy at the top a lot of other manufaturers have put out some good sets! Some even surpass lego in terms of brick quality.
Really spot on assessment. Over the years I have barely bought new large sets - most of my budget goes towards Bricklink.
Something I feel is understated is that people don't have infinite space to own and display things. With the oversized sets, not only is it expensive, but where would I even put it?
I'd rather sets be smaller but more detailed. Quality over quantity sort of thing.
A huge failure of the hogwarts express is that it's not a standard train size - you can't run it on a layout. A smaller standard train size with a larger station would have been excellent.
Exactly my thoughts recently... I have jumped back to LEGO during Covid period, ordered several different sets, but currently I am losing interest - too big sets, I am creating list of priorities as I cannot afford all, but it keeps changing, in the end I am not buying anything, frustrating
On top where to find space for these giants sets? It is easier to me to find space for several smaller sets than just few big ones and it also requires much more time to actually finish building them - as you mentioned we are back to normal life and have a lot of other things to do...
Your video is spot on! I have collected over 100 sets and about half a million bricks over a 20 year period. Whenever people ask me how to get back into the hobby I usually tell them to only stick to 1 or 2 themes and to avoid branching out. The problem is that LEGO is letting too many brain farts, they start up too many things only to abandon them a few sets later!
Now with way too many “adult” sets in too many different themes it becomes even harder to get back into the hobby as an adult, which can only mean one thing. Your adult base is going to dwindle as too few new AFOL’s will join the ranks and it becomes an even bigger headache when the kids of today won’t be part of your customer base in 15 to 20 years time.
As someone who likes to build MOC’s I like to know the price/brick… Let’s say I like to build “castles” as an example, take 3x set 31120 which will give you 4218 bricks for less then 300$ VS the Lion Castle 10305 that will give you 4514 bricks BUT at an additional cost of 100$ or more!!! That simply does not make sense! Why pay so much more for only 296 bricks??? The bricks in the 31120 boxes will share a lot of the similarities with set 10305 as both allow you to build large castles… At least that’s how I calculate what to purchase and what not to!
Hope it helps ;-)
I find that even with the play themes like ninjago, there are more and more larger sets and less small, cheap sets.
I don’t mind the prices, but I do mind how most of the available sets today are very hard to display. They’re either loose parts, too large, or honestly rather tacky looking. I only really buy sets these days if I have somewhere to display them or somewhere where they would work as decorations. I hate taking apart my legos after they’re built, so if I have nowhere to put them I simply won’t buy them regardless of how cheap it is
lego has now got bit like disney in terms of lazy idea's partly and also over charging people for items they produce. like i would pay rrp more if sets had more accurate details and better print on lego figures also more accurate figures would also be nice.
I feel like Lego picked up on people investing. Lego knows that there price always goes up so they might as well increase to go with the trends. It wasnt until 2020 when I noticed that Lego investing became more mainstream. Its probably why they increased sets and make random stuff since they assume that everyone should go up after it retires. Thus those investors will buy it eventually everything
They need to cut back on licensed sets. They are hella overpriced and not creative, based on already existing ideas. I miss getting a bunch of original story themes, now we are just left with Ninjago, which is good, but I miss Bionicle, Nexo knights, and even Chima. Those sets are way more appealing than the same X-Wing over and over again. I would like star wars more, if they focused less on the same few ships every year, and released sets from a wider array of eras like they did around 2012/2013. Lego should cut back on expensive, adult-oriented licensed sets, and go back to the more colorful and creative story themes they had in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Completely unrelated, but when is Spider-Man going to get a molded head?! Even the Tusken Raiders have molded heads! 😭😭
I remember thinking $100 for a lego set was expensive, now it seems like its the standard price to get a decent set now. Its also disheartening to pay $200+ and have majority of the printed elements be stickers.
We've left the beat decade of LEGO. Innovative, extra detail, great builds, fair prices. RIP LEGO 2010-2020
Yeah I'm feeling the same way. The 2010s were the best time for Lego, especially for adults. It's when Lego Ideas was amazing and brought so many new fans back into the hobby and we got so many different IPs and lines of sets
agreed. I have tried getting into Legos this year. Looking for $30-50 sets, but none of them look like LEGO really puts any effort. Then when I am interested in some good looking sets, its like crazy expensive to the point where it can't be justified. $300-$500 statues and figures can you some crazy looking detail and something you can appreciate the art for. $300-$500 lego sets is just a lego-fied figure with simplified detail using the same lego blocks. Hate that LEGO is catering to collectors instead of the mass casuals.
The price of Lego here in the UK has gone up loads very fast in such a short space of time too, with some sets that were costing under £200’s is now way over the £200’s mark pricing me out completely 😢 to where normally I could just about justify spending £100 and odd pounds on some sets I like. I’m worried that if Lego carry’s on going down this path of big sets with unrealistic prices a lot of AFOL’s like myself included would be priced out completely and have to pass up on justifying spending over £200’s on the sets/themes we/I love 🙁 another great video Holly 👍🏼
Remember when the most expensive LEGO set was $400 good times
Smaller, Simpler, and more Affordable is the way Lego should go. I like to get 4+ sets so I can add more detailing or swap out parts to make the models more interesting. Another thing are those Star Wars Microfighters. They are cute with their mini figure sized cockpits. But I can modify them with extra parts to have them fully enclosed.
When I was a kid, no more than a few pieces were needed to make a great Lego set. But lately I think a greater portion of the parts budgets go into making sets as detailed as possible, which negatively affect the price points. Even as an adult Lego fan who is still interested in vehicles, buildings and trains, I feel that with the Super Mario sets and such the essence of Lego has been lost.
Also, I feel that smaller gifts with purchase could be made more accessible to those with less disposable incomes and limited budgets- not everyone can splurge on a few modular buildings and an Ultimate Collector's Series set during one trip to the Lego store. My favourite sets still remain those that contain as much detail in as few pieces as possible, like the starter sets offered in the City theme some time ago.
Lego being a kidz TOYS company and putting out so many crazy expensive sets that even ADULTS CANT AFFORD for themself is just plain stupid and im not sure wtf they be smoking over in bilund
I agree! As a young person I'm so frustrated at the steep price of the lion knight's castle, I collect lego castles and I think making a commitment of about £200 is already huge and they should respect that, rather than releasing massive £400 castle.
Let's see what they do for black Friday this year.
Lego sale for black Friday last year sucked.
No big sales and nothing worth buying.
This year the Lego sale for Black Friday is the new enormous Eiffel Tower lol
@@Gzilla313 thanks but no thanks.
Enjoy haunting for those lego sales.
Thanks for bringing light to this opinion. I would but both of the marvel sets once they hare heavily discounted just for the spare parts. I loved the Razorcrest but can't justify the cost at this time. Good luck to everyone on hunting for sales and discounts!
As a huge LEGO fan I'm the type that wants to collect almost everything. I was pretty up to date collecting the star wars UCS sets...but the past couple years have gotten ridiculous with the huge, extremely expensive (yet super cool) sets coming out thick and fast. My paycheck can't keep up anymore and honestly due to the size I don't have the space anymore either. LEGO can't expect the fans that are willing to drop their cash on UCS sets to only want the one and stop there, and the 25% price increase was brutal as well. I only ever buy LEGO now if it's on sale somewhere. They need to just calm down for a year or so, release smaller sets and let everyone catch up. I disagree that nobody wanted a big UCS scale Hulkbuster though because I wanted one for years...it's just what we got is pretty bad.
Also I really hate the plain black boxes now they're depressing.
Great video- I think another thing turning people away is just the sheer volume of content coming out. Star Wars has always been my favorite theme, but the Razor Crest has no appeal for me- it’s a beautiful set and very accurate, but with all the new shows, movies, etc coming out and life getting busier, I haven’t even had the chance to watch all of Mandalorian. Hard for me to justify that price point on the ship from one of many new shows
There were many questionable decisions on Lego's part but the Galaxy Explorer is easily my favourite set in many years. I really wish they'd do more sets like that.
I got mine at Walmart at 25% off about two weeks ago and have been going at it here and there....currently about to open the final bag out of nine. Been a lot of fun and some pretty genius design techniques and cool how they pointed out certain things in the manual that I wouldn't have otherwise known. It's the biggest Lego set I've personally ever had. I couldn't imagine doing something much bigger than that. I wish I could find the Forestmen set in stores but I don't think it ever was anywhere physically.