I am no longer buying Lego…….. sets
Last September, I decided to stop purchasing sets and to start purchasing parts. This is kind of a big decision on my part. From my earliest Lego buying days I have always bought sets.
Sets are creative, they inspire and they show me what others find inspirational. Also I still do not see myself as an inspired MOC creator. So when I see something creative like, #21335 Motorized Lighthouse:
I get excited. It fits into any city layout, looks fun to build and most importantly I can learn new techniques. Also when you buy a set you can theoretically resell the set down the road and recover some of your investment.
The only downside is I am forced to create a city layout like everyone else. So my city will look much like everyone else’s. Which isn’t a problem for my non Lug friends, but if I want to impress the people that impress me then I want something more individual or unique.
This is what I have been doing for the last seven or so years. Recently I have decided to build a story with my city. So I am starting with open nature scenes and then evolving into the city of the future.
My new plan is to purchase the parts I need either from the Pick a Brick Walls at Lego Stores or from Brick Link. I imagine this will give me greater flexibility in my city, but it will be much harder to generate a city. Also, when I am done with the building I wont have the option of selling the set to recover my cost. Cost is a big concern.
Typically I like to buy sets that inspire me, or sets that come at a good price point. For me, good equates to .05$ a brick. So when I see a set that looks like a good price I divide the set price by the number of parts and determine how much the parts sell for individually. If we use the example above, it is 2065 for $300. This equates to $.14 a brick, typically far outside of my desired price range.
There are some price considerations to think about. There are two unique minifigs that will only be released in this set.
So if either of these is exciting, then that will drop the price. Or if I want the set and don’t care about the fig I could sell them to someone that might. That would drop the resale value of my investment, but if I plan to part it out after I am tired of it, then the minifigs might not mean anything to me.
Also the price is a bargain, if you were going to price the set out per part. If you total all the individual parts out of Bricklink the price comes to $440, so you save money by buying the set whole.
Lego parts, when bought individually, are not as cheap as they are in sets. So then my next step is to buy the parts in sets that are marked down.
Currently Target is selling 66708 for $50. It has 901 parts, for a cost of $.05 a part. Right in my value zone. The downside is I don’t use a lot of Star Wars in my builds. So, while the parts are cheap I don’t have a lot of use for them currently so I would be holding onto them for a while.
My last option is buy the sets by the pound, from friends or online. This is the best value, but typically all of the truly valuable pieces have been removed. Like the minifigs and accessories.
For me this isn’t a problem, because I do not collect minifigs. On the other hand most of the parts being sold this way are not the standard bricks for building. You get a lot of tires, windows and doors. Which is great if you need them, but becomes a storing and sorting hassle if you are looking for dark blue gray 1×4 blocks for castle walls.
All this leads me back to buying bricks directly from Lego, in the quantities I desire but with a cost that is undesirable. To build my natural landscapes I need lots of rock type builds, some tree and bush type builds and the occasional animal. None of these are cheap, some are affordable, but none are cheap.
In general though, I won’t be buying a lot of cheap bricks I won’t be using, so I will be saving time in sorting and the sorrow of not getting the parts I want. I think for a while I will be spending my money and time on buying the very specific pieces, and no longer buying Sets.