“Adults Welcome” LEGO Sets Aren't Working...

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18+ LEGO Sets have been increasing in number every year over the last 4 years and I think there are some issues with this line of products.
These sets are expensive, they take a lot of shelf space, and they are making LEGO less affordable to the average consumer.
Maybe it’s time for a change?
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[@firebirdbricks]

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[@gag-dodgers]

Hi 👋

[@LuMnOsITi]

All lego is currently 2.5x the price it's worth. This works with every set you can think of.

[@jonesstinger]

Lego doesn’t choose what goes on Walmart shelf’s, Walmart executives and managers choose.

[@Croz89]

LEGO have found out that selling $500 sets to adults is more profitable than selling $50 sets to kids. The problem is if you ignore the kids they won't become those adults who buy those $500 sets when they grow up. LEGO is reaping the benefits from selling affordable sets to kids 20 years ago without doing the same for the next generation.

[@RoninCatholic]

And some of us retain nostalgia for the playstyle and amount of time between opening the box and actually playing with the toy we had 20 or 30 years ago. I don't want to spend 5-45 minutes applying individual 1x1 tiles and plates to a larger plate or brick to make something look _less_ like a Lego surface, and in fact want as many studs of floor space exposed as I can to place figures or small builds of my own on and move them around during play.

[@pwcorgi2000]

Um..even as an adult, I'm not about to pay $500 on a set. Below $200 would be my ultimate max. All of my current sets are well below $100.

[@Solaxe]

@@pwcorgi2000 good for you, but others buy these like crazy

[@zekkie54]

literally could not have worded it better. i wholeheartedly agree

[@Cobainlive4ever]

My family never could afford Lego's, and that's probably the reason I spent so much money on them now.

[@EastonSzulwach]

A lot of the 18 plus sets I love the look of but almost never buy them because of the price.

[@firebirdbricks]

Yeah it’s unfortunate that they are so expensive :/

[@maxs-lz4pn]

I've just started trying to get back into Lego and it's insane that the average set is almost 100 bucks. Even the little kiddie sets are crazy expensive. It was definitely considered expensive when I was a kid but this is out of hand. There are so many sets that are a whole paycheck for the average person

[@joshuamueller3206]

Same. The list of wants is always much higher than haves.

[@Quick-Silver206]

You just described the entire collecting Lego process.

[@realnerdethan]

Honestly that's the answer right there. Who has $200-$800 to spend on Lego when groceries have gone up like 20% in two years?! I think the sets are cool but I can't ever buy them unfortunately.

[@michiganbricks2088]

I've always wished Lego would make smaller sets that could be combined to make a big one! This would work so well!

[@firebirdbricks]

I love collecting models that combine together. Always a good time!

[@zedvee2668]

Castle sets in the 80s were like this, you could get a blacksmiths workshop, etc… to extend the castle walls.

[@Ordos_Repeating_Blaster]

Where you born yesterday?

[@Red_Steampunker]

I know there was a marvel Spider-Man no way home diorama set that does. Sandman was seperate. Theres also that pyramid that needed to be bought twice for a full pyramid. That was like hundreds lol

[@t3hrobzlqx]

This reminds me of the Life on Mars theme. I had the Aero Tube Hangar, and it had these dock gates for two of the mech sets, and there was a third mech that came with its own dock gate that could be added to the hangar. Themes like that where there was genuine and intentional interactivity between the sets were the bee's knees!

[@mrblond750]

Lego has recognized that nostalgia sells and 30+ is where the nostalgia is at.

[@FastCarNascar]

No 20+

[@blakearius]

@@FastCarNascar Nah bro, 20+ people were growing up during lego's bad years or purely star wars fans(which are any age) 30+ people like myself invested in castle, pirate and space are where the nostalgia bucks are.. Its criminal how expensive getting an old pirate ship or castle is.

[@Skankhunt668]

@@blakearius disagree dude 20+ had the best creative lineups

[@blakearius]

@@Skankhunt668 There are dozens of sets from the 90's I'd kill to have from the castle, pirate and space lineups. You think Rock raiders compares to Ice planet.. your insane. All the 2000's had was bionicle and star wars its the only reason the company didn';t die. and the star wars stuff all has newer more detailed replacements. Show me a set worth buying cause i'm curious..

[@Skankhunt668]

@@blakearius lego ultra agents, pharoahs quest, atlantis, power miners and many more

[@BouwerBricks]

Wow.. Never thought we needed more playsets in a child-focused brand, but you have a point. Bring back cheap playsets lol

[@firebirdbricks]

Bring em backkkkk

[@JosiahFickinger]

I mean, just like pixels in an image, the more Lego bricks, the more detailed of a set

[@JosiahFickinger]

@@diogenemj9406 Lol, too bad Lego doesn't make micro-scale bricks like some other competitors

[@CatalystBricks]

I never really thought about it but you’re honestly 100% right. I remember back in 2013 me and my brothers all getting different play sets to build the entire geonosis battle. Now the best you can hope for are 2 or 3 sets from a recent tv show and another xwing or tie fighter. I do feel like they’ve almost lost touch with their audience and at this point I don’t buy sets unless they have good minifigures like you said.

[@Lastclonestudios]

Yooo catalyst

[@firebirdbricks]

We need more mid sized playsets!

[@arbitrary2868]

2013 was a fantastic and very affordable year. I have an old catalogue from that year and the reasonability of the prices just blows my mind.

[@stalinzd2580]

My boy the piece amount has increased a lot. youre comparing 100 dollar 500 pieces to 500 dollars 5000 pieces. yall are dumb af

[@mathewcurtis8484]

@@arbitrary2868 I mean in terms of how prices look today yeah it appears that they were affordable but since 2013 global prices across all markets have gone up 42%, so the prices would match up decently well for today’s lego environment

[@berrevanriest7686]

The biggest problem is the quantity, pumping out multiple 100-500 dollars set every month is putting ppl off from buying them.

[@monkeyrun]

yeah, one or two expensive sets a year would feel special, now it's back to back.

[@berrevanriest7686]

@@monkeyrun it feels like every week a $200+ set gets announced, if it was one a month it would already be a lot but now it's even more! I feel like one big set every 1-2 months would be ideal, still a lot but a major improvement over what we have now.

[@Shamilscorner]

Even smaller ones are getting too expensive when they know is adults who are going to buy them, the new xmen jet has less pieces than the old one and sells for like double or more of the price, the new smaller batwing that came out around the same time is like 30 something and it has like 3 to 4 less pieces and the jet is like 350 something for almost 85$ is absurd, lego is becoming greedy and it will make them lose money

[@thomas.thomas]

@@Shamilscorner Lego did become greedy, but you also have to account for inflation which is 44% ($ 2010 to 2024)

[@alphaenterprise2232]

@@thomas.thomas that's just an excuse, lego simply has a monopoly in this niche market and they can retail their products for as much as they want because there's no concurrents to contend with them.

[@owenbourque1016]

The main thing I don’t like about the focus on 18+ sets is that they just don’t promote creativity like smaller play sets do. Building Mocs has always been central to the Lego experience, even for adults, but no one is ever gonna dismantle a $500 display set to make other stuff with. Instead, it’s gonna sit on a shelf collecting dust until the end of time, defeating the purpose of Lego as a re-buildable, re-useable expression of creativity.

[@EduFirenze]

Ironically that was the plot of the Lego movie

[@jamesmunn576]

Totally right man!

[@cccpredarmy]

re-buildable, re-usable and RE-PLAYABLE expression of creativity. LEGO should remain a TOY in first place and a display model somewhere down the line, for those who want to display it.

[@mikeymike7431]

This is my problem with Lego aswel. But I dismantle my sets after around 2 months so I can enjoy building them again later.

[@keanoshea4033]

They still have those sets, nothing stopping people from that.

[@jalapenoofjustice4682]

this reminds me of what happened to superhero comics. In the 90s companies like Marvel and DC started targeting older audiences with a lot of their comic books, and nowadays the vast majority of their output is aimed towards them with almost nobody buying them anymore because they haven't been attracting new fans

[@hawktalon7890]

The most recent DC reboots have been pretty bad. It's telling that I could only afford to get into comic books recently and yet I mostly read things published before 2015....which at the time of writing this comment is nearly 10 years ago!

[@vast9467]

it doesn’t help that the actual quality is also going down and nobody wants to read them anyways

[@thomas.thomas]

@@vast9467 That wouldn't even be that big of a deal. They could just reprint old issues for an affordable price. I bet many children would love to read cool comics but they are extremely expensive, especially compared to just watching youtube or netflix all day

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

The toy industry be that way too

[@maydayfigs]

walked into my local lego store and the entire shelf was just massive black boxes 😅😅I do really enjoy when they launch sets together like the $15 Land Rover with the technic Defender.

[@HIIMPIEZ]

Wild mayday spotted

[@mattd2026]

​@@HIIMPIEZyou love to see it

[@firebirdbricks]

I miss diverse box art!

[@bloodymarvelous4790]

One entire shelf was just massive black boxes. The other side of the LEGO store were playsets you weren't interested in.

[@MrAwesomeSolos]

Adults don’t want creativity, don’t be ridiculous!

[@hejotobroto]

I agree, I’ve wanted a LEGO castle since I was a kid but could never afford one. I finally got my hands on the Lion Knights Castle, but that was after saving VIP points for years to bring it down to a price I could afford haha. I love the 18+ sets but they’re so inaccessible for the average Joe now.

[@firebirdbricks]

100% - I would love to see more affordable sets for Castle

[@InsaneSeishiro]

Hey there, grown adult with adult money here! Recently tried getting back into lego since I was looking for hobbys that got me away from my PC. Since I'm a huge LotR fan the Riverdell(or "Bruchtal" as it's called in german)-set immidiatly stood out to me but I was hesitant since I expected a set that big to cost more than 200€. My jaw literally dropped when I saw it was 2x that. Even with adult money, most of these pricetags are just unjustifyable expenses to me, so I'm messing around with some legaly distinct knockoff legobrands that r basically indistinguishable from the real thing but cost 1/3-1/2 the price. It's a shame that thats the way it has to be but actual legos are just an upper class toy now :(

[@jamesmunn576]

I've been really enjoying WholeFun as an alternative. Same boat, kind of. I'm just getting back into Legos after 30 years and having my 90s sets in bins. I'm building a large MOC and have spent way too much already on the pieces. It's my year-long project, but never again will I spend that much again on Lego.

[@mocsmore1308]

@@jamesmunn576 we will see about that lol, good luck to you

[@jamesmunn576]

@@mocsmore1308 😉

[@tycotrucking101]

Really though, Lego hasn’t ever been cheap. A big mid-80’s set was somewhere around $50, which is about $250 today.

[@MarineMike]

The only “Lego adults” left are the scammers that grab up all the stock and resell it for double the price.

[@bruceballygar4880]

Lego is more about selling models to adults rather than promoting toys to develop children’s creativity. They’ve diverged heavily from their original vision.

[@Mick0Mania]

I think there has been a shift in media in general to target the adult collector demographic at the expense of kids. I think we see this with Video Games too, as I doubt most kids had access to a credit card, yet almost every major game shipped with tactics to try and get people to spend money on games continually, rather than a one time purchase a parent would provide.

[@benjwgarner]

That's the main reason that LEGO Universe failed. They didn't understand that kids don't have credit cards and that their parents weren't going to drop $10 per month on an online game subscription.

[@orka5352]

My big issue is that they refuse to go back to old base plates and raised base plates. So you'll get this castle set that has hundreds of pieces of gray rocks as a foundation that just allow for a 100$ price increase. I loved the old tacky raised base plates that cut down massively on pieces and by extension price.

[@RoninCatholic]

I'm a big fan of large wall pieces too. I think the 1x5 footprint for "normal" Castle walls was weird, but the 1x6 for the wooden pallisade wall used in Western and Ninja was great. Bring back that piece and add a brick texture one and maybe a riveted steel panel one and we'll be golden.

[@Boltscrap]

The large baseplates and wall pieces also meant that you don't need to spend as long disassembling sets to customize them, unlike with the million uselessly small piece builds that are unwieldy for anything but display.

[@nyekomimi]

As person who recently went out of Lego as hobby, I must admit that the raised baseplates were peak. Alone, with friends... They sparked so many ideas.

[@martinhill9561]

From what I’ve seen and experienced the baseplates (the raised/ “special” ones) are almost guaranteed to collapse under their own castles weight if you make your own. I switched from the baseplates to brick to save the plates for smaller projects.

[@ZachBobBob]

When I was a kid too the raised baseplates really ignited my imagination and were super fun to play with and build on top of

[@KZP2009]

Another aspect of the store-shelf debacle is, if you are a parent you’re not taking your 7y/o to the Lego section anymore. There’s no way to explain to small kids a wonderful castle or a pirate island TOYS are not for them, but adults. And that’s not even mentioning the unreal price. I’ve noticed recently some Toy Stores in my area don’t put the adult sets on shelves anymore - they are on order only… but that means the Lego section has shrunk, because the other lines don’t really have that many sets anymore.

[@kapiteinlulhaas7612]

@@KZP2009 store shelves are basically 90% Star Wars lego where i live.

[@Wingspan_5]

Lego's prices are INSANE. At the end of the day it's just injected modeled plastic. And their quality control has not been the best in the last few years. Really don't see how they can justify these prices.

[@Wingspan_5]

I'm sure a big part of it is the crazy prices of retired sets and rare minifigs on the secondary market. I'm sure Lego want's a bigger piece of all that disposable income from nerds with tech jobs like me (which is why they bought Bricklink of course).

[@firebirdbricks]

@@Wingspan_5I wonder what conversations go on behind the scenes now that they’ve owned bricklink for a while. I’m sure it has to be quite interesting!

[@sirw7630]

@@Wingspan_5 most monopoly driven move they ever made. Brilliant business move. Terrible for consumers.

[@DK-lz7kg]

Lego has dipped in quality from my childhood, but their bricks are still way better than knockoffs. I was helping my nephew build a knock off set and it didn’t come close to legos fit and finish and it was frustrating trying to get the pieces to fit because of bad tolerances

[@jacobelmslie3862]

Yeah I do not think any of my vintage bricks had stickers.... my nephews has plenty.

[@althechicken9597]

Just because im over 18 doesn't mean i have $500 to drop on a castle

[@lukestarkiller1470]

In regards to minifigures you have to keep in mind that they’re trying to sell these displayable sets to people who aren’t already big fans of Lego. For someone who just wants to buy a displayable helmet or small scale ship they have no use for a minifigure. They’d have to find somewhere else to put it because it’s not part of their display piece. I’m also just against the idea of buying an entire set for one figure. You should only buy a set if you want the actual set. I think that was made very clear with all the people who bought the UCS Venator just for an “exclusive” Captain Rex that turned out to not be exclusive, and everyone threw a fit because apparently the only reason they bought that $600 set was for one figure. They still have $600 worth of Lego and the minifigure that they wanted but instead they act like it’s worthless just because the figure isn’t rare anymore. The set was the UCS Venator not the UCS Captain Rex that comes with an entire 3.5 foot long Venator as a bonus. They all got exactly what they paid for

[@VestedUTuber]

Yeah, people MASSIVELY overvalue minifigures.

[@Jimpiedepimpie]

Well it's an "investment", isn't it? You're never going to break even selling the pieces the ship is made from but if the guy goes for $200 you could keep it on your shelf for years and still get ahead.

[@lukestarkiller1470]

@@Jimpiedepimpie well most people who buy a thing don’t immediately try and sell that thing. And yeah the pieces alone aren’t going to make the money back, that’s why you sell the whole set all together. You’d have to wait for it to go up in value, but most resellers don’t want to wait, they just want to make a quick buck by selling a 5 piece minifigure for hundreds of dollars, which is just a dick move and I’m really sad that anyone actually spends that kind of money on something so small and unimportant.

[@Jimpiedepimpie]

@@lukestarkiller1470 Whenever they open Pokémon cards on my shorts the reveal comes with little dollar signs, there are plenty of people who only buy toys and the like to sell for a profit. "Buy in threes, one to use, one to store mint and one to scalp" is a joke from a ~2000s cartoon so it's not a new thing either. If there wasn't a chance to sell that minifigure for a huge profit I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those big LEGO sets stayed on the shelf the same way Magic the Gathering boxes without potentially valuable cards do.

[@roelhendrickx4302]

I routinely prefer the minifigure sized playsets over the equivalent "adult sets". For Star Wars there is often the option to choose: X-wing, Millennium Falcon, Slave I, etc: all are available in playsets and in UCS versions). Same for Batman, etc. Same for Speed Champions cars over the Bigger Ideas or Icons or Creator Expert vehicles (although I like those for the number of alternative builds that are available). I just feel like the playsize sets are better value for money and a nicer build: an hour or 90 minutes and done! Great for a quick fix of lego relaxation. Besides, I often admire the design better in smaller sets: I feel it is more of a challenge (and achievement) to create something recognizable with 200-300 pieces, than the same with +2000 pieces.

[@Goldfyre]

Fantastic video! I've felt the same for a while now. As someone who makes videos about LEGO Castle one of the most common sentiments I see is that people would love to get into Castle but the high prices are locking them out of the theme. There are no entry level or affordable sets to get new fans interested and it's a shame. This obviously is seen most in kids and young teenagers that can't afford to spend $100 just to get the cheapest set currently available. If battle packs, small playsets, and others were on shelfs like they were for nearly 35 years every Castle fan would be able to enjoy the theme but that sadly isn't the case.

[@firebirdbricks]

I want another castle battle pack so bad…

[@noahmolchain]

Totally agree with you, I want the Lion knights castle but can’t afford it, also you got me back into castle lol I ordered a bunch of parts for knights from Lego pick a brick!

[@MT-jt5uo]

Man I really want the Lion knights castle, hope I can get it before they retire cause no way can I afford spending 800-1,000 2nd hand. Lotr and old castle prices 2nd hand are insane.

[@johnreynolds4213]

I agree, I want to start building castles after doing architecture sets and I have to wonder how many $500 Harry Potter castles they really sell.

[@edwardmemwah1610]

As someone who grew up with the LEGO "System" of the 1980s, I think the undercurrent of all of the points made in this video is that the vast majority of LEGO sets today have completely strayed from the core idea of LEGO as a modular construction toy. LEGO today is mostly extremely expensive models that are meant to be put on a shelf with many tiny elements to add superficial details to those models.

[@mantisbog]

Keep crying.

[@LutraLovegood]

They have tons of specialised pieces now, which almost caused their downfall at one point, but most of their system sets don't really make use of those pieces to make interesting builds, and they're not pushing their creative books much either. Their flora and fauna themes are the most interesting they've made in years.

[@byDzign777]

As an older LEGO enthusiast who had LEGO as a kid and loved the original Pirate theme, I have been observing LEGO in more recent years and I see a big problem which I believe adds to your point about LEGO’s focus on adult sets. I have observed that LEGO is missing something or more accurately has lost something. When I was a kid, I remember getting that featured set that I had my eye on. I couldn’t wait to get home and get started building that set. But there was something on the boxes of every LEGO set of those days. and it was simply this; LEGO featured ideas of what could also be made with that set but did not include instructions. In other words they were inspiring creativity! LEGO has forgotten this and only showcases the featured item. They have lost the idea of inspiring creativity in kids and adults alike.

[@ROMANTIKILLER2]

Right! I used to love those alternative construction suggestions on the back, even though I could rarely pull them off!

[@Kins_things]

Lego has got round that by labelling one range as “3 in 1” sets. Proving that they are very aware that most of their set boxes can only be used for one specific purpose..

[@ghostbricksters7445]

They stopped that because too many people complained there weren't instructions for those builds :( For me the fun was figuring out how to build them without instructions

[@byDzign777]

@@ROMANTIKILLER2 I was the same way. At the time I wished I had the instructions, but I now realize that I was learning how to be creative with the pieces I had. I would get tired of trying to figure it out, so I would go and make my own creations. That was the inspiring part that LEGO created in my opinion.

[@byDzign777]

@@ghostbricksters7445 I would try and build those, but would get board. So, I went and built my own creations. That is where the inspiration aspect kicked in.

[@MKMBrick]

I definitely agree with you! It's pretty crazy how pricey sets have gotten now. I think LEGO is starting to realize their pricing model needs to shift a bit. We saw that last year with a lot of the 18+ sets going on sale soon after release.

[@firebirdbricks]

The current pricing model excludes a whole demographic of people. Hopefully that changes.

[@altairibn-laahad1309]

though the question is, is it actually lego dropping the prices or just the seller? i rather often see sets in toy stores and retailers with 30% off or more but i am pretty sure thats the retailers sale and not an official lego sale

[@daftmell5237]

I refuse to believe the castle theme doesn't work. There just aren't any licences for it so lego doesn't wanna sell it.

[@DarksaberProductionsOfficial]

Wow, I haven’t really thought of this before. I do agree that these 18+ sets are taking over, Lego might want to chill out a bit.

[@firebirdbricks]

For real haha

[@legoman2313]

I hate the ungrateful for what is available so we just have to deal with it argument. LEGO is a multibillion dollar corporation that just wants our money. We need to decide with our wallets with what we want, the issue is LEGO has such a rabid fanbase that they keep making money before they’ll make a difference. I’m a huge LEGO fan so I understand both sides of the argument but yeah way too pricy I don’t buy as much LEGO as I used too

[@jasonmonks8423]

We need to speak with our wallets and stop buying the damn sets, it's the only way to get them to listen

[@RB-ll8qc]

You articulated my thoughts on this perfectly. Ive struggled buying a lot of new sets for my son because of the lack of affordable options and the lack of original lines with smaller sets. Ive turned to ebay more often now to buy things from a few years ago because the options just arent there anymore. Lego makes the best product by far, but to pretend that their main target audience is still kids is a lie.

[@Bosthian]

It's getting insane, with all that prices and "adult sets only". I also don't see a reason for price hike. LEGO had almost 2 billion net profit in 2023, so it's all about greed in the end. So yeah my family stopped buying LEGOs.

[@pbailed8007]

I just think it’s crazy that people think it’s reasonable at all to spend more than $200 on any LEGO set

[@Gregory11811]

Adults can’t afford LEGOS. Adults can barely afford food and shelter these days.

[@GravityTrash]

The problem is that Lego is too busy with making their sets look like an "art piece" rather than being a fun toy to play with, customize and display. Bionicle is, ironically, the best example of a toy marketed for "kids", but is so easily displayable and customizable that even adults are fond of it. There's also so many unnecessary pieces are shoved into sets nowadays to artificially boost the price. Also the black background on boxes is DISGUSTINGLY boring, and with so many of them on a single shelf, it looks painfully average. Ninjago 2023 had some of the coolest hand-painted box art ever, even if I didnt really care for the sets. At this point its much easier to collect minifigures than anything else, and even those are costing an arm and a leg

[@snafu4696]

Back in my day Lego Star Wars used to be play sets first, now they just make display sets. Just look at the latest gunship for example, those used to be packed with features, now it just focuses on looking good on a shelf to satisfy afols. Feels bad man.

[@firebirdbricks]

Yeah it’s interesting to see how Lego is handling the split between making sets for adults and kids. Kids need to be the focus though.

[@InfiniteGameReviews]

I'm amazed about the explanations that "we don't need a new castle set or space set, they won't sell well" since there are SOOO many fans out there CRYING for such sets and buying whatever they can get their hands on, both old and new sets (whenever Lego decides to publish a few sets of them every second year or so). So HOW is it that Lego thinks there is NO demand for those themes when there clearly IS a huge demand for it, at least among established fans? Sure, kids today might not know or understand the old castle and space sets...but we have the new NASA-themed and more realistic space sets, and they seem to sell just fine? What I think is the real reason is this: A new unrealistic space set would compete with the Lego Star Wars sets. We know that theme literally saved Lego at one point, and they want to keep their license but those sets are unrealistically expensive due to the licensing fees. We new space set would cost less, and if grandma is buying a spaceship set for her grandson, she will surely pick the cheaper set, and which set is that? Well, it sure isn't the set with the expensive licensing fee...so introducing a new space set would decrease the sale for the overpriced Star Wars sets (ie all Star Wars sets). Same goes for castle...Lego has the Harry Potter license now and those sets are almost as overpriced as Star Wars. New castle sets without an expensive license would be cheaper, and would decrease sales for Harry Potter sets, so... ...so Lego deciedes to make a claim that there is no demand for a new space theme or castle theme. And I say "yeah right", while totally ditching both Lego Star Wars and Lego Harry Potter, because even though I LIKE those franchises, I want them to stay the way they are...Star Wars should be Star Wars, Harry Potter should be Harry Potter, Marvel should be Marvel...WITHOUT LEGO! And Lego should be Lego, WITHOUT licenses that make the sets horribly overpriced!

[@cryptidbug]

i’ve been thinking this for a while, small, cheaper sets aimed towards the impulse buy would create more fans. using star wars as an example; imagine a small $20 diorama that has a lightsaber duel or just recreating a scene with 1-2 minifigures. 18+ should also be it’s own individual theme that does not take away from play sets and such.

[@firebirdbricks]

Absolutely! Those impulse buys are what get people into the hobby to begin with.

[@joncarroll2040]

Lego needs to learn the lesson of superhero comics: appealing to adults is one thing, but alienating the core kid audience will only cannibalize your core audience and lead to reduced sales overall.

[@mrfld]

Licensing and royalties. As a kid, legos were exciting because of the limited number of piece shapes. Now they just make new pieces as needed. Complexity = cost

[@drowningin]

Newest console, or a single Lego build? That price is insane. Lego’s weren’t meant to be the big ticket item on Christmas. If a box cost 500 I never would have got them as a kid. It’s plastic, and dye. There is no reason for it to cost so much

[@manuxx3543]

If they want to make 18+ premium sets, PRINT ALL Stickers for a premium causes problems down the years, and in the secondary market its a big gamble Theres a few sets with all prints and its awesome looking 18+sets in store is great, it means -30%/50% discount

[@firebirdbricks]

Getting those sets on clearance is definitely a benefit of them being on store shelves.

[@manuxx3543]

@@firebirdbricks Not even clerance a few stores put good 30% promo when the set is only 2 or 3 month old Or the blackfridays in store or easter promo

[@ganymedehedgehog371]

I agree that it’s egregious when I spend hundreds and I get sheets of stickers with a handful of printed pieces.

[@N5hot]

You should NEVER feel grateful towards a company. You don't owe them ANYTHING. They have an obligation to provide a high quality, high value product.

[@LuluCasper-yg6jc]

True however if nobody can afford the high quality high-value product it's not going to be bought and they're not going to make money I think that's what he's trying to say you are also not going to have anybody buying your product for nostalgic reasons because they grew up with it and it brings them a sense of Joy if they never got to play with it in the first place because it was too much money

[@LuluCasper-yg6jc]

Who's gonna buy the product if it's to expensive though. Your also not going to have people buy it in the future because of the nostalgia factor if they never got to play with Legos because they could never afford them

[@Huntanor]

This is a false argumemt because these​ set sell out over and over both in shops and online. Lego doesn't need to sell to you to have a valid market. It just has to sell to someone. You don't have to buy it. But if you don't buy it and someone else does thats all lego needs.

[@RedDesertRoz]

Yep, our kids stopped buying Lego (and we stopped buying it for Christmas and birthdays) because you can't get a good set for a reasonable price anymore. They love Lego, it isn't that they aren't interested anymore, but Lego has priced itself out of their reach so their money goes on other toys and games instead. To be fair, we have a LOT of Lego already, so it's perhaps a mercy that we can no longer afford to buy it. My husband and I both have our own collections as adults, but again, we stopped buying in recent years. Rivendell, Medieval town square, castle, these are themes we would buy but not to the tune of Australian $400-$800 each. Something smaller and affordable and we would have been in the market, but we've all abandoned our Lego hobbies now due to affordability.

[@GordonFreeman307]

Yea well some of us don’t mind saving up for a set that’s more realistic in terms of scale to the mini figures. Some of us never got castles when we were kids and now we have the option of buying one 5 times bigger than the 90s versions.

[@notenoughmemes1847]

1:35 Even as an adult with a bit of disposable income $500 dollars for a single set is just blatantly stupid. I thought model kit building was an expensive hobby but I could literally buy and build several kits and all the supplies necessary to detail them for far cheaper. I’d rather spend $500 on like a pc part or a car expense than a lego set.

[@Lamentably]

So what I’m hearing is that we’ll get a nostalgic Bionicle re-relaunch in 2031? Please Lego…

[@Bionicleforever]

lego doesnt care about bionicle, maybe a ucs toilet build

[@davidbeer5015]

Just reminding me that back in the day, while Lego and inflation were at different points then, the theme was super approachable with small and canister sets ranging from $5-8 for a figure. They went up over time, but that’s a wild price point to think about.

[@technobladeleakedclips1827]

They already did a bionicle relaunch forever ago and it failed

[@micahnike18]

I'm a simple man who likes to get lots of minifigs in small sets because I love minifigures. I rarely care about most 18+ sets and that's one of the reasons I've been buying less and less Lego lately. I hope Lego starts prioritising affordability again

[@firebirdbricks]

Yeah… I hope they do too. I don’t see it happening if people keep buying so much 18+ though.

[@gasonfeist7238]

For starters, most adult collector items at premium prices from other brands don't have stickers...

[@mrrandom1265]

That's why people buy alternative bricks from China: they are affordable, there are thousands of sets available online and they don't retire as long as they keep selling.

[@xakosme]

And brands like CaDa are already getting official licenses from car brands and other. Something that was just not happening when I was a kid, all the “alternative” bricks were super low quality but now I am considering trying some out.

[@GordonFreeman307]

Let’s see how those Chinese bricks look in 20 years. Probably in the garbage long before that

[@Goddot]

lego is premium-priced rather than premium. I've had more and more often lacking or broken pieces, wild colour variations, and scratches. Premium-priced and Premium quality would be Cobi.

[@ganymedehedgehog371]

I’ve always had great quality but the prices still outpace the quality especially when they’re cutting corners on minifigs.

[@LutraLovegood]

Ironically I'd love to have more variations in my pieces. Cheap way to make walls and co look more interesting with little effort.

[@ianism3]

with regard to the thing where you could make a huge hogwarts set by buying the little sets one by one... there`s a bunch of problems with that (for both Lego and consumers) vs buying a large castle. a) profit margins are smaller on smaller sets, as there's usually a lower ratio of small pieces and many small sets together have more packaging than one large one. b) consumers will have difficulty collecting all of them, which is costly and annoying. c) a lot of consumers won't even be aware that collecting them into one big set is possible, so they won't try.

[@fluxflaw]

the problem with making the large hogwarts castle when you eventually had all the sets was it looked rubbish when they were all put together, i know as i got them all and was so disappointed when i got them all out on display

[@BrickBuiltLabs]

Hmm, not sure I entirely agree about there not being sets for kids. I'm not sure why you put the arbitrary range of $50-100 for # of kid's play sets, if you include $1-$100 then there is a plethora of sets.... all the battle packs, the juniors sets, yoda's star fighter, obiwan's starfighter, etc. And that's just viewing the sets with the blinders of just the Star Wars theme. Once you look beyond that, you have City, Dreamzzz, Ninjago, etc that's almost entirely kid's playsets. So I have to say I kinda of disagree with your viewpoint.

[@8bitphilosopher286]

Agreed. A kid's not going to care about helmet holes, or the fact that we're getting mechs instead of microfighters, and while, as adults, we can just throw down $50 or $100 on a set we want and not think much of it, a kid would likely have to spend weeks or months saving up for a single set in that price range. Because children have less means to buy sets than we do, their demand is also going to be less. Ironically, I think the oversaturation of "adult" Lego sets actually hurts the adult collectors more than it does kids

[@bloodymarvelous4790]

@@8bitphilosopher286 And kids generally ask their parents for LEGO sets. They don't go out to buy them themselves. Yeah, the number of massive, expensive, 18+ sets has skyrocketed over the past years, but not at the expense of children play sets. There are almost 500 different children play sets available, ranging from $10 to $200, or even $300 if we're talking NINJAGO, but AFOLS aren't looking at many of those sets, and you're not seeing many KZbin videos on them either.

[@Studebricker]

Exactly. Dude just made this video to get clicks and peddle surfshark. He has no real argument.

[@jeffc4862]

Some of his financial examples don't really hold up, but I get where's he's coming from. If your a kid and want a Castle oriented set - there isn't anything... if you want a Lord of the Rings oriented set - there isn't anything... and I think with the Dagobah example was a good one. Lego COULD make a more affordable set/design, but they've amped it up and increased the price. You mention City, Dreamzzz, Ninjago etc... but that's kind of an example of an adult projecting and spinning... When a kid looks at Rivendell or the Lion Knight's Castle and gets excited, they're going to want that theme. Years ago, their were affordable Castle, Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit sets covering a variety of price points, and that did the trick. Now, we have the Medieval Town Square coming out for 229.99 and that's it.... another pricey model that COULD have been split in half just like the Harry Potter sets have been to make an affordable option available. Lego needs to have products in that 20.00 to 50.00 price point that coattails on themes that are getting attention from the adults, and are being pushed in the adverts, catalogs, and are featured in emails and on the website... (that the kids are seeing just as the adults are).

[@8bitphilosopher286]

@@jeffc4862 I guess the thing I'm not sure about is: do kids these days care about Lord of the Rings? I really hope so, because Lord of the Rings was a huge part of my childhood and is very near and dear to my heart, but it's been...a decade, I wanna say? (correct me if I'm wrong) since the last Hobbit movie. I still think they should make Lord of the Rings playsets, because adults will still buy them, but I honestly don't know if kids would or not

[@Shorjok]

I do miss the days of action-packed boxart for every theme, original IPs, and of course, affordable lego. I agreed with everything you said here. I'm a huge castle fan but there's nothing for me because I don't want to spend 1/4th of my monthly income on a toy.

[@mihailos8701]

As someone who wasn't a fan Lego's modern approach to adult sets from the start, because it seems like mostly just an excuse for the company to make more of expensive sets, I wanna say thanks for the video. I'm happy that you have pointed out the prices, and other problems these sets are bringing.

[@JumbleJammyJokes]

A great idea would be for LEGO to have small waves of sets dedicated to updated versions of old themes (Alpha Team, Rock Raiders, Knights Kingdom for example). That way it appeals to both the imagination for children and the nostalgia for adults.

[@Gangdump]

SOOOO expensive. It cannot be understated what a huge barrier this is for consumers. LOTR set is amazing, but way way way too much.

[@8instantramen]

God thank you for talking about this annoying habit with LEGO lately. They've already pushed everyone in the building block industry out of retails and now they're just wasting it with these sets no one would buy except for collectors. Pretty sure I bought LEGOs for the cool theming and fun sets, not these luxury set pieces.

[@samtripp5476]

Totally agree with you! As a massive AFOL you can not deny the Nostalgia value of growing up playing and building with legos. Kids today are not going to grow up with that same nostalgia when their parents can not afford to buy them these sets. Thanks for calling a spade a spade!

[@himbeertoni08]

I'm happy, LEGO isn't the only company making brick toys and collectibles. There's a fine selection of affordable alternatives often with higher quality for both, kids and adults out there. Only the minifigure is remaining unique. But what's the point, if LEGO is not putting them into their sets anymore.

[@whyisaac]

Key issues are 1) AW sets are not getting any special supercomplicated builds - fans want that 2) too many AW sets 3) continuing balooning rise of set size 4) nostalgia sets are now mainstream, so therefore no longer nostalgia inducing 5) AW fans who took to the theme originally now have no shelf space left

[@viks4an]

Just a note about the lego store - they don't ship to a bunch of countries and let me tell you, it's an extreme pain to get your hands on a set like the lions castle.. you'll either have to deal with scalpers or hope you can find someone who knows someone that knows someone that has something to do with the shipping routes from Europe to the US. I wish all sets would be made available via retail. So there's that angle too.

[@LordShrub]

Yeah, exclusives suck. Some of them are timed exclusive for 3m or 6m. But some are permanent like the entire Monkie Kid and Lunar New Year lines. Even in countries where they sell them it's pretty bad because there is no competition on price.

[@connormccleary587]

Exactly, and a lot of other countries that have LEGO stores don’t even have insider points, which can save you a ton of money in the long run and may incline people to spend more money knowing they could get something back

[@MinifigJez]

You can’t complain that you didn’t buy the $500 LOTR set because it was too expensive, when you are sitting right in front of your $850 UCS AT-AT set !!!!

[@RoninCatholic]

You can if you can say "If the AT-AT was 300 dollars I'd have been able to afford a $150 to $200 castle, but I'd used all my toy budget on the one set and couldn't buy another". Money does in fact work like that.

[@MinifigJez]

@@RoninCatholic Yes, I agree entirely. But... that's NOT what he said. He can't use the word "unattainable" when it clearly IS attainable for him. He just has to make decisions on what he wants to buy. I do in fact understand that Money works like that, Brickset is telling me that I currently have 4302 sets and all those sets have been a choice. I'd currently like to buy the Titanic, but I'd prefer to get the whole wave of 2024 City space sets instead, so I would therefore never say that meant the Titanic is too expensive, I just chose to buy something else. Likewise, he has bought an $850 set, so a $500 dollar set is NOT too expensive for him because e.g. he has electricity and gas bills to pay, has has just chosen to buy something else instead.

[@bionodroid547]

He’s clearly talking about most people. He also acknowledged his position as being unusual near the start of the video to emphasize that someone with his collection is the rarity, not the norm. Half the reason he can own something like that in the first place is that it’s part of his job.

[@MinifigJez]

@@bionodroid547 Yes, I agree with all you've said, but I was specifically commenting on 1:40 "I haven't bought it yet, because of how expensive it is" eg, saying its expensive, sitting in front of a much more expensive set. and just a lot of his logic is flawed, focussing on the $50 - $100 sets for some reason, when there are literally dozens of sub-$50 sets, that are exceptionally popular and affordable for a HUGE amount of people. and... unfortunately, if the mega expensive sets didn't sell, Lego wouldn't keep pricing them higher and higher, out of the reach of so many of us. It's sad for us, but true.

[@bionodroid547]

@@MinifigJezit's a strange thing to fixate on, though. he probably had saved a substantial sum to buy the at at, and probably cares more about star wars than lord of the rings.

[@peterpolus5272]

I agree with you on all 5 points! I think that going back to producing more sets for kids while also improving on minifig quality consistency and quantity per price across themes (star wars😉) would solve a lot of issues.

[@scottdavis_34]

Great vid Caleb and agree! One other thing I’ll mention is the box art. On each set by itself I’m a fan of the black boxes. However with multiple like sets on a shelf it does kinda create a negative contrast to the brightly colored Lego stores and the boxes all seem to blend into one another and not in a good way.

[@firebirdbricks]

Yeah, they definitely look nice but they lack personality when you see them all together.

[@LaSprigattio]

Not only that but even these smaller sets are more expensive now. Remember the early 2010s ninjago sets? Most of them were selling for 30-60$. Nowadays they would cost 50-100$. You could get a whole truck with 4 minifigs for 60$. Good ol times...

[@pink_ice9454]

Completely agree. I like the 18+ sets, but as a young adult myself, I actually prefer the more affordable play scale sets. They really remind of what I grew up with, which is why I keep coming back to them. Like the new City space wave for instance. I really think Lego should invest in more things like that, where there are still bigger and more expensive sets, but there are also really good affordable options for people who want a good toy but don’t wanna drop 80-90 plus dollars on a Lego set.

[@picivyvortac2641]

Here's my pitch: lego starts a service where you can buy any lego piece. Then they can sell retired sets as a sort of "print on demand". My understanding is that they are already affiliated with bricklink. Would be easy. Just do the math for a preferred profit margin/piece and sell them at that rate. Ps. I know they cannot practically produce all pieces at the same time, but they can print the ones they need in reasonable quantities, then rotate through as some pieces become sold out. This wouldn't have to come at the cost of their FOMO business model either because they could keep non-generic mini figs and certain unique design aspects as exclusive to the sets.

[@Dinoknight-to5oy]

It feels like Lego is just like "okay guys, I have an idea for an awesome set. Make sure to use as many pieces as possible!" A few hours go by, "Okay the set's perfect, but there are still some pieces we didn't use. Let's use them to make a crappy playset that cost $10k, even though it's worth -$183,485,394,485,495,449,294,954,145,409

[@farhadnikzad1514]

Thanks for this great video. My first Lego sets were 1695 and 1696. To this day after all these decades, I haven't forgotten the joy they gave me. That's why small Lego sets have a specific place in my heart, particularly Pirates and Castle. No massive overpriced Lego set could have or can have done that for me neither then nor now.

[@deskfulloftoys]

I expressed this exact concern to my wife recently. I am an AFOL as well as having a son who loves LEGO. I am completely priced out of sets that fall within the themes I am interested in, and it is even difficult to find things for my son. Every new set he sees that he likes is at least $200+. LEGO is becoming unaffordable even as a big Christmas or other holiday gift. If LEGO continues down this path, they will not have AFOL in 20-30 years.

[@Glass-Eye25]

Man I miss Knights Kingdom 2. Growing up, the earliest LEGO set I remembered getting was Sir Jayko and Sir Santis. My brothers got Sir Rascus and Sir Danju. One of the sets had Lord Vladek. They were so much cheaper back then. We weren’t able to get a set with King Mathias. After that, I’ve always wanted castle sets, but we couldn’t afford any more LEGO. Now that I’ve grown up, I can finally get my own LEGO, but the Castle and Kingdoms sets/pieces are WAY too expensive these days. I hope they bring these themes back!

[@Pacmail]

I think the problem for LEGO is: the kids are not playing with LEGO anymore so they have to push the Adult Line more. In the 80s and 90s nearly every kid was into LEGO which is not true today. Without the adults LEGO would be broke I guess.

[@timrosswood4259]

@@Pacmail that's not true. Kids still love lego, it's just isn't as affordable for parents anymore.

[@cliffcampbell8827]

If lego is posting profit gains year over year...what would be their motivation to change their business model?

[@kapiteinlulhaas7612]

Short term vs long term profit. Adults that buy lego today played with lego when they were kids. If kids today dont interact with lego, 30 years from now nobody will buy lego.

[@justinAclark2075]

The idea anyone would need "adults welcome" written on a box before they decide "I'm an adult, I can do whatever I want." Poor, sad folks. Legos made me an adult when I was 12

[@Etienne.6329]

They could take example from (or acquire) rebrickable : design a nice cheap play set and sell an upgrade box to turn, for example, a city building into a modular. It would be a complete overhaul of their design process(they already do somewhat that with 3in1) and line but it'd work.

[@JigglyPKMN]

Living in Japan, Lego is really out of touch with apartment sizes. Most of the adult oriented sets are too big to buy.

[@firebirdbricks]

Interesting point but that totally makes sense!

[@matthewelliott1834]

I've always wondered about this situation in nations more urbanization like Japan where the majority of people live in small apartments! Definitely not something Lego seems to take into account for these sets!

[@ravenspurplebeats5412]

true seen few apartment video's of japan and there tiny compared to price you pay to live in it.

[@YoyoTanya]

As a kid, Lego are too expansive as a toy for my parent to buy it for me, so I want to buy it myself when I grown up. After I became adult , I find out it still to expansive for me...

[@ElectricianTS]

It's also hard to find some of the new assorted bricks sets. While the stores are flooded with only four of them, the other more interesting sets (11035, 10703 for example) seem rare and /or sell out fast.

[@Slider712]

They're too expensive...period. Even the kids sets prices are insane

[@jameswarden2691]

The black boxes are what got me into Lego a couple years ago as an adult. From there, it was into modulars and I'm now building my first big MOC. That's an anecdote, but it worked for me. In addition, the prices are much more varied once you look beyond the branded sets. My 6 yo never has trouble finding a set at the $20-$25 price point. Finally, I've found the 18+ are as much about marketing as skill level. Aside from a step here or there, my kid is generally able to do any besides the Technic sets.

[@thatonepossum5766]

Wait, this is a thing? My local Walmart has an entire isle dedicated to Lego, and only a small portion is black box. A lot of it is still expensive, but there’s something from most major themes available at an affordable price. And the unlicensed (non 18+) sets tend to be much more affordable. I was in there just earlier today, and had to choose between several appealing sets in my very low price range ($15). Ended up spending $10 on a 3-in-1 spaceship set, with 144 pieces.

[@floydforthought9998]

It’s like the recent Batcave for 500 dollars. Crazy price. I’d rather have a $100-200 Batcave set that would give me the same amount of fun.

[@firebirdbricks]

For real! It’s a cool set but man, haha

[@SuperIvanGrozni]

I always loved small/medium sets like Adventurers and pirates... and you had so much to do when you had a few of those sets, so many possibilities

[@bathbrickers]

Really good argument here - agree with your points. There's a lot of heavy lifting being done by Lego's own IP themes (Ninjago, Friends, City, and Dreamzzz more recently), but it would be great if there were more smaller set options for other IPs (most obviously Star Wars) and some of the older themes (castle, space etc.)

[@cyristroy9795]

I've been a fan of Lego all 48 years of my life, I remember buying those little sets, building up towards a holiday when I could get that pirate ship or castle. I miss those little sets, I wish like star wars we had more pirate or army building type sets even varied forest or castle theme

[@DanielSmith-zo1db]

Lego abandoned their audience when they chose to price and market their products as collectibles rather than toys.

[@starwarsfan3]

So true. There is only one playset coming out for the Phantom Menace anniversary and there definitely should have been at least two if not three.

[@firebirdbricks]

Would love to see that!

[@juleksz.5785]

When i go into stores, there are very few expensive sets, most are below 40$. I mean, for local reality LEGOs are still expensive as duck, and that's probably the reason why 18+ sets are not not shelfs.

[@TonyMontanaDS]

The themes you like are not in production. Those are one off sets for collectors. There are plenty of other affordable themes. Ninjago, Dreamz, Friends, City, Mario, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Monkey Kids, Marvel, Disney and so on. Went to Toys R Us yesterday. Only 1 section with black boxes and 8 shelves of kids sets. My local Wal-Mart is the same.

[@JesusChrist-qs8sx]

Yep I wish they made more Castle sets because of the nostalgia but I also recognize it's just not popular with the main demographic for Lego: kids. In 20 years I'm sure they'll make 18+ $400 Ninjago sets just like they do for classic space, Castle and Pirates

[@landland9056]

Yesterday?

[@smitty_qw]

I mean as a kid, i always wanted the castle and pirates but they got rid of them before i could ever get any from the 2009 line and the 2015 line (while i liked the pirates) sucked because it was obviously simplified compared to the 2009 run while being more expensive! But hey, i guess i should have just liked star wars

[@timrosswood4259]

​@@JesusChrist-qs8sxof course it's not popular if they are not even aware of it.

[@Zachomara]

That boat from Fort Legorado would be awesome... I've been starting with pick-a-brick and bricklink instead.

[@maxd5007]

The fact they released the Venator as a $649 behemoth instead of a $199 playset really annoys me. Most people don't have the space to display it, and then the other problem is the price. That's my weekly mortgage payment i can't spend that on something that doesn't fit on my shelf.

[@VestedUTuber]

I mean, it _is_ a UCS set. They did that with the Executor, two iterations of the ISD, the Tantive IV and the Death Star II before. But what they could have done was release a more affordable, smaller-scale playset version alongside it.

[@ErikHendrix-hi9ft]

I will never spend more than 150 dollars on a Lego set. Period. I'm a huge LOTR fan, but there's no way I will ever be able to display such a gigantic piece. Forget about price, where am I supposed to find the space?

[@imposter-hero-2736]

This is probably the biggest reason why I choose to buy alternatives rather than going broke. I really wanted the DND set but I'm not spending 300-400 dollars for it so I ordered a similar DND brick set for 50 dollar from AliExpress.

[@djt08031996]

As an AFoL myself, I actually tend to enjoy play aimed sets that happen to also have display potential

[@draigon]

Lego has been suffering from short term vision for quite some time. I used be an avid collector of the castle sets, but Lego decided to go all in on licensed products, but not that some of those franchises are past their prime, they are scrambling to bring back old collectors. Problem is after more than a decade of no new sets I had moved on and the ever rising prices of sets has done nothing to tempt me back.

[@princessarah115]

My son is 8 and has been into Lego for the past 3-4 years. I don’t know if it’s his skill level improving or just the increase in prices but it seems like just in this time frame the sets that release are higher and higher price and fewer sets that are reasonable for incentives for a young child. If all the sets they want are close to $100 it’s crazy.

[@heyheyitsjae2475]

2:01 I second this. As a kid I always loved LEGO sets where you could slowly combine them and piece together a larger build. Harry Potter's castle system being both purchasable piece by piece and modular is great, let's you really balance your budget vs set size vs space. The Lion Knights Castle is so cool, but I still haven't managed to buy it. I think I'll finally pull the trigger this spring, but saving up for it has been a hassle. If LEGO were to make say, a Dragon Knights castle, that also had $400 worth of parts *but* was split up into 8-12 sets I'd find that much more manageable. I could get a new expansion to my castle every month and slowly build it up! The sad thing is, you don't even have to look big to see how high prices have gotten. Toa Tahu from BIONICLE was sold for just $8 back in 2001. The 2015 version was $20. Now the closest line up we've got to BIONICLE action figures are those Super Hero ones that go for $25-40 Something that's core design principle was being affordable with pocket money ended up doubled in price, and then it's replacements nearly doubled again!. Similar case to those Vidyo boxes that came out a while back. $20 for a gimmick set that would've gone for $10-13 if it were Ninjago or Chima. Even the small fries are getting bigger!

[@hexcellerateofficial]

I fondly remember LEGO sets being so cheap when I was a kid. Even back then, when I didn't have any money of my own, I still managed to have a decent collection of sets thanks to my parents. Now, I'm an adult with a full time job, picking the hobby back up after many years, and seeing the prices of these sets just makes me sad. The 18+ sets are several hundreds of dollars, and even some of the cheaper playsets are still overpriced for what you get, particularly in the Star Wars theme. I sometimes see people point to inflation for the high prices. While that is a factor at play, it seems like a lot of these sets are just expensive for no reason. I also see several people in the comments make the point that this will screw LEGO in the long run, and I agree. If they keep pricing kids out now, when they become adults they won't pick the hobby back up. Surely someone at LEGO has to see this glaring issue.

[@mattj809]

I think lego is losing it's way with children. There's too much focus on making huge $400 lego sets that are pricing a lot of people out of buying them. They need to go back to the simplicity and creativity of the 90s themes.

[@Cyberbrickmaster1986]

I do agree that LEGO needs to step down a bit from all these adult LEGO sets, and focus more on downscaling existing sets to reduce the price, so that more people will be able to afford them and therefore more kids will be able to experience them growing up. And by downscaling, I'm of course talking about the number of pieces used in these sets, not what they did with LEGO City at the beginning of the 2020s, or LEGO Town in the late 90s or the majority of their sets during the early 2000s or what they continue to do to this day with their 4+ range.

[@yung-chinchen2228]

As a LEGO fan and customer, I fully agree with the host. LEGO 's focus has been changed. They just want to make more and more money. I would say it is the most expensive plastics in the earth. The inflation of the price is faster than other stuffs. It is no longer affordable for kids and parents. I don't think their cost has been increased that significantly. The durability is getting worse. Pieces can break and color can fade. Nowadays these sets use so many special pieces. You can only put the set together following the instruction. It is hard to re-purpose the pieces to show our creativity.