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Lego price per part over the years

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Re: Lego price per part over the years

#111

Post by NilsIRL »

ivanech wrote: post #105

5 years ago I did a similar analysis of price per part because I remember there being a big controversy around the price of the new Star Destroyer set. I analyzed price per piece but also price per gram, estimated in a few different ways. I was surprised to see that price per gram was stable through the 2010s on an inflation-adjusted basis and that it went down fairly significantly over the 1990s. I did this before I…

> I did this before I learned how to finish projects

Very curious about this. As do many people I struggle to finish projects.

How does one learn this skill?

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#112

Post by irrational »

dsr_ wrote: post #76
samstave wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Epic! thank you! I loved going to Valley Faire Mall in San Jose and scooping parts by the pound. I didnt see any of the lego store by-the-pound model. An interesting method for sus-ing up what parts they had would be looking into the shipments to-from lego entities in NL and USA - sea shipping bills of lading can be found on import yeti (now obviously unless someone has digitized historic bills of lading, etc (and we…

Part existence probability changes every couple of months, probably not enough time for you to be able to make good estimates. LEGO tends to get hoarded, resold or donated, not thrown away. I believe I have more than 99% of all the LEGO I or my parents ever bought, going back to 1976 or 7.

Tell that to my Mother. She threw away all of our 1970s and 1980s legos, transformers, Star Wars, He-man, etc. toys after we left home. Didn’t even donate them - straight to the landfill.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#114

Post by oaiey »

brazzy wrote: post #84
ryukoposting wrote: post #47

I made a script last year that scraped LEGO pricing data from their website. Besides finding out that the Bugatti Bolide Technic set is a pretty good deal as a parts bag, I found that there's only a weak correlation between set size and PPP. The Dots sets throw a wrench in things, of course, and large Technic sets often have expensive electronic and pneumatic parts that must be considered. My conclusion was that PPP…

> large Technic sets often have expensive electronic and pneumatic parts that must be considered. On the other hand, Technic sets contain large numbers of pins, which are basically worthless.

Exactly. And motors are massively overpriced compared to what is in them.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#116

Post by TheAceOfHearts »

sharkweek wrote: post #106
dclowd9901 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had no idea this was even a thing. I always just think “would this set make me $x happy to have?” Of course, the answer is never “no” so I think I probably am not very bargain conscious when it comes to LEGO. And I may have a problem.

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.

If you want to experience true frustration, try buying one of those 3d metal kits which require a set of pliers to assemble. The instructions are incredibly sparse and an incredible amount of precision is required.

If you want a bit of an increased challenge, Gundam models tend to be a bit more difficult than Lego while still feeling stimulating and fun.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#117

Post by crooked-v »

seanvelasco wrote: post #115

What happened with Legos? They used to be simple. Harry Potter Legos, Star Wars Legos, complicated kits, tiny little blocks. I’m not saying it's bad. I just wanna know what happened.

Extremely profitable licensing happened. They're much better these days at making everything reusable than they used to be, though, and it's rare for anything beyond prints/stickers to be set-specific. Even prop pieces like Harry Potter wands or Star Wars blasters regularly get reused in unrelated sets as part of the bric-a-brac.

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#118

Post by aacid »

sharkweek wrote: post #106
dclowd9901 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had no idea this was even a thing. I always just think “would this set make me $x happy to have?” Of course, the answer is never “no” so I think I probably am not very bargain conscious when it comes to LEGO. And I may have a problem.

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...

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#119

Post by Biganon »

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.

I feel like low heat would be beneficial to bacteria, instead of killing them...?

Re: Lego price per part over the years

#120

Post by sandreas »

ryukoposting wrote: post #47

I made a script last year that scraped LEGO pricing data from their website. Besides finding out that the Bugatti Bolide Technic set is a pretty good deal as a parts bag, I found that there's only a weak correlation between set size and PPP. The Dots sets throw a wrench in things, of course, and large Technic sets often have expensive electronic and pneumatic parts that must be considered. My conclusion was that PPP…

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 double the parts of the lego one for the same price.

Many of the newer manufacturers are 100% compatible and provide near double the part count for a similar set. Even if some of them are shameless rip-offs and illegal to have in some countries, most of them are smaller companies with great part quality, prints (no stickers) and innovative designs (see CaDA® C61503W AMG One).

There is also the world of Trains or Tractors, where LEGO tends to fail every time.

There are

  - CaDa
  - BlueBrixx
  - Cobi
  - fischertechnik
  - Unico
  - Mould King
  - burgkidz
  - Wange
  - Sluban
  - Q-Bricks
Just to provide you some alternatives :-)

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXphWMPWsZw

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