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Lego price per part over the years

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Re: Lego price per part over the years

#141

Post by iakov »

4ggr0 wrote: post #138
vr46 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen how much attention Lego puts into designing and making their bricks and sets, as well as their general outlook, so combined with their better quality, fake Lego bricks is not something I want polluting or diluting my/my kid’s Lego.

Why are you so sure that the other bricks are of lesser quality?

Empirical evidence. I've tried some fake brick sets, most of them were obviously not as good. The QC is worse for sure, but it's the little things - sometimes it's weight, sometimes it's texture, sometimes it's color that is slightly "off".

Those "other bricks" are quite useful when you want something that Lego won't produce. For example gimp figurine for your Pulp Fiction diorama.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#142

Post by 4gotunameagain »

makeitdouble wrote: post #99
hermitcrab wrote: post #26

Top tip. Buy used Lego cheap from ebay (or similar) and stick it in the dishwasher in a string bag. Try to avoid Lego from a smoker's house or that has been heavily gnawed. And keep the dishwasher heat low, unless you want Salvador Dali Lego.

Another tip: the quality difference between a Lego brand piece and its doppleganger from an AliExpress shop exists, but is usually negligible. I never saw a piece that doesn't fit, and the difference was mostly color and durability, where the no-brand technic bricks would fail earlier than the Lego ones when (ab)used for mechanically straining purposes, like a coat hangers, cup holder etc. The more interesting part:…

How about regulations on plasticizers and chemicals that your kids will put in their mouth ?

Or the environmental impact, for which an EU company will care much more and be regulated for ?

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#143

Post by yard2010 »

aacid wrote: post #118
sharkweek wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any advice for someone developing a problem? But seriously, the cost is so worth it for me. As someone who has attention span challenges from time to time, LEGO puts me into a flow state like almost nothing else. I love a good 2-3 night session putting together a big set.

It doesn't work for me, I do have ADD and lego puts me into flow, but after that I kust feel bad that I spent time and money on something without actual value. Thinking I could have spend that time on chores, home improvement or side projects...

But what do you mean without value you said it makes you feel good that's the best value ever.

Money is not like time - if you don't spend money you get to keep it. If you don't spend time, you waste it. You can't do chores all the time so instead of just doing nothing why not doing something that makes you feel good just for the sake of it

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#144

Post by bluetomcat »

jangxx wrote: post #139
bluetomcat wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, their brick quality isn't on par with Lego. The clutching of Lego bricks is finely weighed and consistent. The colouring is brighter. They don't have nasty toxic smells and paints. The set catalogues are more diverse with many more themes. Set designs are original and matching the age group. There is also historical significance and nostalgia for certain sets and themes, and they can be re-released as new…

Is this based on your own recent experience? I recently got into the mood to build some LEGO again, after not having done it since childhood, but I recoiled at the prices of current LEGO sets. Got something from BlueBrixx instead and am really happy with it. The bricks look great, feel satisfying to put together and I can't tell a difference from how I remember it from all those years ago. I definitely remembers seei…

I don't have any experience with BlueBrixx. It looks like a German brand on the higher end of the price scale. It's not available in my country.

I have some recent limited experience with Chinese knock-offs like Lepin and Panlos, and they are bad in the ways I described.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#145

Post by mythhabit »

phil21 wrote: post #87
robinson-wall wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps set size is a contributing factor? I've bought two sets over the last few years, and both of them have had a piece missing. One was 1969 pieces (no prizes for guessing which set that is!) and the other 1222 pieces. Both occasions the pieces weren't structurally important, and were small decorative elements.

I've put together probably 50 sets over the past 5-6 years. I pretty much only buy the largest sets they make, especially Technic. I doubt I have many sets under 1500 pieces. I've yet to find a single missing piece so far. Many times we thought a piece would be missing, only to find it trying to escape somewhere. The plastic bags carry a pretty heavy static charge in dry winter conditions, and the tiny pieces love to…

I have the exact same experience as you. I have build 50+ sets, 10 of them 1500+ piece sets and a few over 3000. I have never had a missing piece. I have had small pieces that was hiding or I dropped on the floor, but never missing. There is always some additional pieces in the set, and I assume it's because they err on the side of being sure.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#146

Post by jangxx »

bluetomcat wrote: post #144
jangxx wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this based on your own recent experience? I recently got into the mood to build some LEGO again, after not having done it since childhood, but I recoiled at the prices of current LEGO sets. Got something from BlueBrixx instead and am really happy with it. The bricks look great, feel satisfying to put together and I can't tell a difference from how I remember it from all those years ago. I definitely remembers seei…

I don't have any experience with BlueBrixx. It looks like a German brand on the higher end of the price scale. It's not available in my country. I have some recent limited experience with Chinese knock-offs like Lepin and Panlos, and they are bad in the ways I described.

That's good to know, then I'm gonna avoid those two for now.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#147

Post by noneeeed »

I wonder how much the trend towards smaller pieces has affected this. There seem to be many more very small detail pieces in the kits now, which makes for lovely detailed models, but increases the part count without increasing the size noticably.

One of my frustrations with trying to get my kids into lego is the proliferation in these one and two stud pieces in relatively small kits that are otherwise perfect for kids. Those tiny pieces can be pretty hard for smaller children to put in place properly, and make the build instructions harder for them to follow on their own. They result in higher detailed models at the end of it, but both my kids found them very frustrating when they were smaller.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#148

Post by ragazzina »

Triphibian wrote: post #66

I didn't see any mention in the cost of licensing impacting the price of sets. That's a huge factor. Kits from Lego's own IP such as Ninjago, etc can offer a better PPP value because they aren't cutting in Disney or some other media brand.

> Observation 4: Licensed IP isn't always expensive...

> Piece count and part size have a much larger effect on PPP than licensing royalties. There isn't a huge difference between licensed themes and Lego's own internal themes. This makes a bit of sense- Lego is big enough that their own IP can command markups on a similar level as big-name entertainment franchises. Ninjago and minifigs are great examples of this.

> Observation 5: ...except for Star Wars

> Despite averaging over 1000 pieces, Star Wars sets rank near the bottom in PPP. Every theme below Star Wars features low piece counts and/or lots of electronics. Long-time Lego people already knew the Star Wars sets had a heavy markup, but it's interesting to see how Star Wars compares to another Lucasfilm franchise, Indiana Jones.

From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39760878

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#149

Post by bluescrn »

bluetomcat wrote: post #127
sandreas wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LEGO is indeed pretty expensive these times. Not every set is that bad, but the most cars are not only expensive, but not even the best sets on the market... There is a lot of comparisons, but the most convincing one maybe the LEGO Ferarri (42125) vs. CADA Italian Super Car (C61042W) video[1] of "Held der Steine" (german youtube channel). The LEGO is "parts only" - the CADA is remote controlled with led lights near d…

In general, their brick quality isn't on par with Lego. The clutching of Lego bricks is finely weighed and consistent. The colouring is brighter. They don't have nasty toxic smells and paints. The set catalogues are more diverse with many more themes. Set designs are original and matching the age group. There is also historical significance and nostalgia for certain sets and themes, and they can be re-released as new…

They really aren't that far off these days. Certainly no 'nasty toxic smells/paints'. Brick fit/clutching can be a bit sub-par on certain parts, but is generally not far from the real thing.

Lego does a much better job of instruction books than the 'fake Lego' sets I've seen, though. Also, Lego has higher standards for the model designs themselves, whereas some of the 'fake Lego' model designs can be rather more fragile than anything Lego would release, which adds to the impression of poor brick fit/clutching (e.g. the Xingbao Xenomorph)

(Haven't seen any of the Technic clones, though. They're likely to suffer more from loose or poorly-fitting parts)

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#150

Post by bluescrn »

breuleux wrote: post #11
bleepblop wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a new metric when it comes to lego kits these days. How many stickers are in the kit? And honestly it's too damn high. I have been pretty vocal to lego about this in the past and current times. If they can mass produce an uncountable amount of minifigs with detailed paint schemes; they can do the same for bricks in the set. I have a hard time believing it's nothing more than a cost cutting measure. And to add…

How many sets do you buy per year, out of curiosity? I got into Lego during the pandemic and bought around 50 sets in the past three years. Over that sample, the number of missing pieces was precisely zero.

I've probably spent £3000+ on Lego over the last decade. Mostly fairly large sets. Mostly Technic, Creator Expert, and Star Wars. Zero missing pieces.

(Also zero shelf space left to display any more Lego...)

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