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

Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code FIREBIRD for an extra 3 months free at surfshark.deals/firebird Thanks for watching - more coming soon!!

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

I noticed this a few years ago. The local LEGO shops, one whole wall is taken up by sets aimed at adults. Too many sets are 'build and display', not build it, tear it apart and put the bricks in with everything else, too many parts that can only be used one way

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.

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 :(

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Really good points - particularly about pricing kids out of buying Lego sets. I remember being able to buy small sets like minifigure packs or a space scooter with pocket money and those sorts of sets don't seem to be available as much now.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

If there are not many interesting and affordable playsets available, the next generations of kids might not have a chance to experience the joy of Lego building during childhood. It's those formative early experiences that turn ordinary children into lifelong Lego fans who will probably go on to buy more sets in the long run. If Lego wants to stay popular and relevant in an era of increasingly pervasive digital entertainment, they're gonna have to make products that are accessible to kids and affordable to their parents.

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.

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

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 !!!!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Imo Harry Potter is the best theme when it comes to this. You get occasional 18+ display sets like the Expecto Patronum deer, the Micro Scale Hogwarts or even that Hedwig statue that came out a while ago (2 of these have minifigs too!). At the same time you get a ton of affordable playsets, with amazing minifigs, and really good looking builds you can display.

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.

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.

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.

Bro no one’s talking about them because everyone embraces these and don’t see any problems with it.

I think the reason they're selling so many 18+ sets in stores specifically is that people will often travel a pretty long way to go to a lego store, and so it just makes sense to sell the expensive sets there. In other stores that sell lego, this isn't really a problem

I'm a millennial who played with Fabuland, Pirates, Paradisa and Belleville series lego as a kid, and now raising kids who love Friends and Ninjago lego and I agree with what you are saying about the moderate price playsets being pushed out.. but I wanted to add there is another big change, which I think stems from an increased adult audience across all Lego series and that is build complexity in all series- in my era, there were sets that had pressed plastic formed bases, which obviously simplified the build, but also reduced piece count which assisted with price point. We have a friends lighthouse from 10 or so years ago that has so many blocks just to build the base terrain, and I can't help but wonder why that was necessary. It does add to the enjoyment of building the set, but it does not enhance playability after assembly. Some sets are so complex that the kids worry about playing with them because reassembly if they bumped them apart, seems daunting.

price is definitely an issue... i'm curious how they decide the price... sometimes I feel there's unnecessary pieces that are used to increase the piece count to "justify" the cost.

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

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.

Such valid points! Totally agree all display builds should have at least one fig.

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

I agree with much of what has been said in this video I would also like to add that wanting the massive sets as a kid and finally being able to afford one is a great feeling, but lego is releasing too much that even the most dedicated fans can’t get some sets they would want, I personally love play sets and think they are awesome. Lego needs to build itself a strong future by investing into children now

Firebird don t miss !!!! Absolutely agree that 18 plus has taken over slots for playsets that could be cheaper and more accessible very well said!

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.

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.

Yup my 2 main issues are, 1- too expensive and 2- a majority takes to much spaces.

As a child, I couldn't afford the bigger sets. With the little money that I could save, I bought plenty of small sets, and medium-sized ones occasionally. Now that I think about it, had those shelves been full of big sets, I would not have gotten into Lego in the first place. The only reason I buy expensive sets now is because Lego was very relevant through my childhood. I can see this trend becoming a huge problem in the long run, Lego has to address it ASAP.

I haven't been interested in Lego for a long time, but for Christmas I got a licensed Yamaha Mt-10 motorcycle intending to give it to my father, and a technic shelby mustang for myself. In the end, I ended up building both sets myself over the course of days, and now that they're done I fear taking them apart again as putting them back together would take way too long and wasn't fun during the latter part of the process anyway. Meanwhile I found a forklift in a bag in a bargain bin at a grocery store, and I have had a far more enjoyable experience with it. A small, cheap set that I'm not worried about potentially misplacing parts of, that's so simple I was able to build it without instructions, made entirely out of parts universal enough to have plenty of alternate builds available for, that's what the essence of Lego is for me, and I would want that market to be much more prevalent that it is, as from what I understand Lego only releases one technic set in a bag in a year? Which is not enough.

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

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

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!

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.

I left Warhammer cause of the price and was excited to get into Lego until I saw the prices. I can't escape 😭

I know I’m late here, however me and my sister were talking about this. Most of the bigger sets are all display pieces now. Lego doesn’t really make playsets anymore for a reasonable price.

Corporation greed is a major stain on this earth. Look at some of the fake lego sets out there like the Porsche RSR, they retail at a fraction of what lego charge for what’s essentially the same product just unbranded.

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.

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

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.)

It's not that I don't want them or that the marketing is falling flat, it's that I'm struggling to just make ends meet.

I'll start by saying I'm not a fan of Lego Star Wars so it is easier for me to pass on sets I want to have. The reason Lego is making bigger sets is because it works for them. Someone is buying those sets. I try to avoid all the drama and follow 3 conditions: 1. I don't buy a set until I know all the sets available for that year so that I prioritise 2. I don't buy a set unless it has a 30-40% discount (and if it never has, I'm okay with never buying that set) 3. I don't spend more in total than what I agree to every August (this is the month when I plan my annual budget), which in my case is ~ $300

Hmmm in near lego stores we have max 30-40% taken by 18+. Most of the shelf are taken by friends, city, harry potter and others. 18+ have own shelf and most expensive has only one box.

As a 90s kid a $79 set was the best thing you could ever hope to own.

I thought their biggest problem is that you can buy the knock off sets on temu for a fraction of the cost, and the only difference is there's no Lego logos on the packaging or the bricks.

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.

I've been talking about this in regards to the castle theme, It's amazing that we got the lion Knights castle and I love the set. But I really wish we would get a regular play scale series of castle sets again

I bought and built that super expensive huge orange Porsche. After that, every time I go to a hobby/toy shop, I look first for these memorable sets.

What got me back into Lego was the $200 Tower of Orthanc. Great set and not super expensive.

lego peaked when we had a lot of different unique themes such as power miners, space police, agents, castles, etc.

LEGO has the greatest sets ever in the last years. But their prices are absurd.

I was going to say cost and size but as an adult fan alot of those are the sets i lean towards but not quite desire as well. So for example, the sets like rivendel or ucs ships and vehicles is that they are major investments in space where if all you have is a table the set will use it all. I had not thought as much of the possible playsets at that range being pushed out or the troop packs that are being hiked in price to put them on a display. My legos now trend to army building and avaliable space is a premium so for even adult fans while cost may not be an issue size would be.

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.

So true, when I was younger I’d see sets range from $6-$120, now it’s $25 sets idrc about and the themes I like are priced at $125+ starting

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

One major issue with display only/primary for display sets is that how much space they take. LEGO somewhat expects that everyone has that huge basement/room full of shelves, which are just meant for LEGOs. Another major issue is that most of them won't go well together in one space. One somewhat minor issue, which in some cases can also be somewhat good thing as well, is that some of them are made for very specific audience.

Even though I'm not a kid, I am an adult that likes getting a small-medium Lego set to help cope with the dips in my manic depression. I was especially fond of the medieval sets as a kid, so it would be nice to get back to castle building. However, the only attention that classic theme has gotten lately is two $300+ sets and one $100 set a few years before. I just wanna build castles when I'm sad Lego! Gimme some cheap options, and all those knockoff castle sets on Amazon would look less appealing.

As an adult with a kid who loves Lego with about 70sets himself I have bought 1 18+ set so far for myself and that was the tallneck from horizon. I can also see the fatigue setting in for him that now everything is starting to be bigger and bigger builds that are just set pieces

Some of those price points have to do with the Licensing Fee Paid to Disney, which, if you compare sets between Lego owned product lines and Disney owned Product Lines comes out to 20-35% with 35% for the higher end stuff. So if you're looking at a 90$ Star Wars set and saying a 65$ dollar price point would be nice, you're right! And that's what a lego set would be if they weren't paying overhead to be able to put the name STAR WARS on the box.

It's called inflation. Its not just plastic, its the salaries of world class designers, factory equipment, fuel, shipping, etc..

Totally agree I’d rather have cool ship for 40-60 bucks that both me and my kid can enjoy than a 100 dust collector…

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.

lol. I sit here building the Batman animated series backdrop with the daily bugle on a shelf next to me. All the while being like “ yea man, shits too damn expensive you right. “

I have the most nostalgia for the sets I couldn’t afford as a kid so I feel like this is actually just going to make the issue of having to go back and pay hand over fist for the retired sets even harder for future generations