I think people as a whole have cut WAAAAYYYY back on buying Lego in general. All the Lego stores near me(4 within an hour drive or less) have all been fully stocked with everything including all the StarWars clone sets ever since the price hike. I have also noticed many Lego channels have stopped posting videos. Seems like the community has been cut in half
The price hike certainly killed a lot of interest I had in getting new sets, especially because it was retroactive. Sets released a year or more before the hike happened are now 20% or more, which is way more than USA or EU inflation. Sure the old price is still common on third-party sites and stores as "sale" price (probably because they had the same stock before the increase) but that also means sales mean less than they did.
For me Lego became my Corona hobby. And now that things are mostly back to normal in most places I'd imagine a lot of people like me cut back on the hobby or quit entirely
The price increases and Lego shifting towards overly big and expensive sets made it harder for a lot of us to justify buying as many sets as we used to
Not going to lie I have cut back in LEGO and that’s because I own all Harry Potter sets and most of the Starwars sets It’s just the price it doesn’t match the vibe😂😕
Yeah i personally had to take a step back and actually look at what new sets I need because the prices are insane now. Going forward, I'm being very picky about what I get and don't get. For example, I really really want Namors throne set but $35 is just way too much. I'd much rather wait a few months until someone has it on sale
There are still Kmarts in the world? In 1999 I went with my friend to Kmart shopping for a leash for her ferret. An employee asked if we needed any help, I pulled the ferret out from underneath my shirt and said we’re looking for a leash for this. We were in our twenties and didn’t think to go to a pet store. I regret not buying more of the TIE fighters while they were cheap, I’ve always wanted to build a star destroyer hanger MOC. One of the problems with the Clone Wars is, do you heavily invest in phase 1 or phase 2 clones, or both? Between 2005 and 2015, I wanted to build Clone Wars MOCs, but trying to scale the vehicles down is sometimes difficult!
First and only lesson for 2022, wait for the sets to go on sale. I have payed full price for some sets and then ... 20%-35%off by only being patient. Just wait !
Lol I thought I was the only one with half build set and the other half still in the bag! I build a lot of my own creations but I have really cut back on buying bricks and pieces this year with the crazy LEGO price hikes, it getting to expensive to buy sets just for the certain bricks now to so a lot of my ideas are on hold.
One thing I have learned is to stop watching too many Lego youtubers, because then I keep thinking I have to buy things I'm not otherwise really interested in. I don't open/make things as quickly as I used to, so I've managed to return many sets I paid too much for at Big W this year, only to rebuy them on sale.
Your Snow Troopers can all skate at the Lunar New Year Ice Festival. 😅I only have a 2 set rule even with battle packs. My regrets is buying retail price sets of any kind(Clone sets got me good this year) & Walmart delivery for the first time ever on Galaxy Explorer, they wrapped it in a bag for shipping and murdered the box. It was the same sale for $75 but now my local Walmart has them everywhere for that price. And I drove out to get Vader's Meditation Chamber for $40 with discount (at least) but my same local store got them in again magically for $50. My new years resolutions is gonna be buy only on discount & x2 vip/gwp buys going forward for sure. LEGO too too expensive these days. Need more patience.💀
I agree with most of the comments on here. I have only bought sets that have been discounted and from stores that I have vouchers for. Groot cost me £20 and Sanctum cost me £145. The prices have gone crazy.
The only good thing about the price increases for me is that it's reminded me how much better it is to wait and try find a good deal. I still hate the fact it even happened though
I regret not making a purchase a couple of years ago when Lego.com had a 1 day only deal for £100 off Betrayal at Cloud City…..and I STILL didn’t buy it!?!?
I really regret buying the Dumbledore’s Office set. I got it to get the staircase promo, but now it just sits there and is ugly. The mini figures were nothing special either. There’s a store near my house that has some of the 1999 Star Wars sets and I may box up the Office and trade it to get a discount on those
I used to buy everything. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like there is a HUGE difference psychologically between a 299 price point and a 400 price point in US currency for Lego. If the castle would have been released at 299, I would have bought it immediately. Now I don’t want to buy it just out of principle, because the 400 price point seems so greedy to me. These bigger sets are just getting out of control in price. 7-800 for a Lego set is insane.
My problem was they released the GWP staircase days later after I already purchased all the sets and did not pay attention to you guys on this and I purchased another duplicate to get the GWP and I have done this so many times just wish I would stop but it’s Lego so I do.
Sets have become too expensive and with the inflation going up like this and me running out of space it’s too hard to keep up. Also, here are my thoughts about this year’s releases: City: Incredibly underwhelming and disappointing, it truly seems they’re putting less and less effort into making exciting builds. Star Wars: They’ve actually released pretty good ships and vehicles, but not great sets under $50. Every set they’ve released this year that tries to recreate a specific scene of a movie or one of the shows feels so basic. Creator 3 in 1: Incredible ideas… all of them over $50+, haha. Just can’t afford them, so sad. Avatar: this a pretty interesting addition to the Lego family, I’d like to give it a look, actually. Icons: They all look freaking beautiful, and they all seem to be worth it, but I’d rather save for them, although I know it’s going to take a while. 🙃
The only set I truly regret buying (both at full price and just overall) is Optimus Prime. It cost sooo much for very little payoff... I just have no emotional connection to the franchise.
I regret not buying the Daily Bugle when it first came out. I was gonna wait till it went down in price, but instead Lego went up in price and now its £300. FFS!
Spent a lot less on lego. Only bought a few speedchampions and the technic john deere so far. I mean lego has gotten more expensive, and thefe also wasnt rlly any affordable sets that catched me. Feels like lego focuses on the 200€+ section this year
Hello Holly. How much would you sale the ice festival set for Sean it for $99 I got all the Chinese New year's sets. I had to sale my elf club house and Fier station mini ginger bread house Mr and miss claw s brick heads and reef. 🤩 Oh well I get them again one day when I got kids to desplay them to cee. I not run outta room I just don't have much room in my city left to desplay them and got few other set s to desplay like Diagon ally .gold mind an so on
And here I'm thinking the Tiger New Year sets are some of my favorite, probably because I am Year of the Tiger. So I Went out of my way to get those, including the damn butthole tiger. I didn't add the flower though. --------- Sadly, the second half of 2022 onward marks the end of my lego collecting hobby. I simply ran out of space, lol... I have to work through making mocs instead of just buying new sets. I'll still buy any Ninjago City /cyberpunk themed sets, but beyond that, I've not buying anything. At least all this money I'm saving is going into my computer hobby. I built a whole new computer this year from the money I normally would have spent on Lego! Now I'm eying which graphics card to buy, but gonna see what AMD does this year first.
If I had to say I think my biggest regret for me this year was probably the dark trooper hallway scene. NOW I know that the mini figs are great AND THEY ARE but the build is horrendous if you showed that to me without the mini figs I’d have no idea what I’m looking at. Overall I think it’s a great set for mini figs but the builds terrible.
I'm sorry i've gone to the Dark Side and bought knock offs, the minifigures are better these days and the prices are competitive for what you get. I did buy the AT-ST in Lego because of the minifigure scale probe droid :D I've been very frugal with 2022 Lego so i don't really regret any luckily.
army building is amazing but also bad and addicting i bought SEVEN 501st Battlepacks b/c i was worried i wouldnt be able to army next year ps: cool vid
I bought the AT-ST primarily just for the probe droid, which is the best realization of that buildable character that Lego has ever put out. Not regretting it... yet.
I used to think about lego as a collector, only my buying sets just to add to my collection, but this year I’ve started thinking about buying lego more so the way a painter would think about buying paint. I only buy sets or bricklink stuff that serves to add more detail or complete my ongoing MOCs
I’ve cut back a lot on my toy (LEGO, DC Multiverse, Star Wars Black Series) purchases due to lack of space, rising costs and for Black Series terrible distribution. That being said, I also usually wait for some type of sale or promotion before buying. The one time I panicked and actually preordered a LEGO set was when 10497 Galaxy Explorer was announced. I could’ve sworn it was going to sell out and I thought it would be a LEGO exclusive so I preordered 2 from Shop@Home (nearest LEGO store is 3 hour drive away), planning to keep one sealed. When I got my sets, both boxes were damaged in shipping and had creases on the front and dents on the sides, the back of both boxes look great 🙄. To make matters worse, shortly after receiving the sets I see them in Walmart. To really drive in the pain, Walmarts here in the US have dropped the price from $100 to $75, 25% off. When I saw the lower price, I picked up a copy thinking I’ll buy one to keep sealed in a pristine box, but decided against it. My second set I plan to open eventually and build the middle sized alt build from the online instructions LEGO provides.
I think my biggest regret was buying small cheaper sets instead of saving up for larger sets that I think I would've ended up liking a lot more. I'm going to try buying sets that I really love, not just because they're cheaper or on sale. I ended up spending more on 'cheap' sets than I would've if I just saved up for the two big ones I wanted.
I think i've spent the least on Lego this year than I have in any other year since getting back into it in 2017. Price hikes have made me become super strict on only buying sets I love, and I'll wait a few months until after they release to see if i trulyyyy want them. I think you've convinced me to start selling some of my old sets though that are just sitting there collecting dust and that I couldn't care less about.
None really from this year, but in 2020 my biggest regret was not buying all 5 of the 501st Legion Clone Troopers sets i saw at my closest Big-W. I got the Razorcrest first.
We went WAY too hard on clearance here in the US and Marketplace local deals. I’ve tried to focus on not buying clearance unless it was something I wanted at full price. It’s not working…but I tried!
I’m more of a squad builder. Bought 1 clone blister pack and was happy to just find it in stock. I love the feeling of opening a new set and would get so bored buying the same one over and over. Never mind the fact that I can hardly afford LEGO at all these days.
I regret most that I do not find the time to build all the sets I purchased, sigh... ^^ I enjoy most that I bought most sets on sale. Amazon often has some 30+ percent off prices if you wait a bit.
I'm glad the Clone Teooper Command Station was out of stock constantly. I would have bought too many even though I already have a lot of Phase I clones.
I've bought 6 sets so far this year and I don't regret them. I bought the Dark Trooper Attack and Duel on Mandalore during spring break, then Dagobah Jedi Training, The Armorer's Forge, and Mandalorian Starfighter to get the May 4th promo, then I got the $40 Batman Tumbler set this summer. I'm planning on getting the Daily Bugle once I finish this semester of school, as a reward for myself for finishing with an A in every class.
The staircase gwp should have been sold regularly. Ive tried being more careful when buying lego this year. Hopefully when inflation comes back down, Lego prices will come back down.
I regret buying all the harry potter sets from 2020 onwards they're terrible I'm hoping to sell soon , I love the 2018 great hall and the knightbus set and the burrow and hagrids hut but all those other open castle sets awful wish I never bought I do love the minifigs it's just such a shame when you regret buying stuff
I have been really disciplined this year and narrowed my purchases to a minimum. I just found the HP castle poly bag and bought it and felt no guilt. 😂😂
Mine is that I bought the dark trooper set. I bought it because of the iconic scene, but once I got it and built it I was really underwhelmed. Plus it doesn't look great on my Mandalorian shelf.
Alot of the sets you regret I purchased also, but I waited for a sale, and was buying it for the parts, sell the minifigures. Thors hammer for example. and every single harry potter set with a cat.
This was my first year getting back into lego and I have some regrets. I didn’t know that sets usually go 20% off and I bought most of my sets full price and I should have focused on sets retiring this year. Now I know this stuff and I’m looking forward to next year
The most recent ATAT would be a good alternative to the UCS, if you still want to keep the snow troopers I'm not the biggest Potter fan, but I liked the carriage. You can always put a normal horse in place of the kestrel and reuse the wings for a moc monster or batman. Like you Lego is pricing me out so I am definitely cutting back. It's perfectly normal to look at your finances and react accordingly. I remember stopping all purchases when Overwatch and Lego DC had really bad skin colored prints. The weak/faded prints were enough to make me stop buying any lego for a couple of months. And your insight on space is something that has been echoed here in the comments. I'm hoping that youtube can supplement your income so that you can purchase more sets. I'm making sure to play you once as background noise and then later again when I can actually watch the video :) Keep up the good work
My buying habits have changed to where I almost exclusively go for bulk. Give me that tub of mixed stuff for $1 per pound! I can sort it all myself just fine. :)
I've definitely spent way less LEGO this year. But my main regret was tuning in a ton of Whatnot streams. Especially grabbing stuff I don't even care for.
I don’t regret my purchases this year per say because I love everything I have. I just wish I would have had money in 2014 so I could have paid retail for the lotr sets. Buying retired sets for the nostalgia of seeing them in a magazine but never being able to obtain them is an addiction for sure..
Taking in consideration that I don't/can't buy a lot of sets per year, I carefully consider every purchase, and don't have any that I regret of. But I do regret getting Harry Potter Advent Calendar at fool price, as I don't care for the micro builds and wanted only the figures. And a spontaneous buy for me was Winnie the Pooh set after seeing your review, but I do like it very much. Also, definitely the biggest purchase of the year for me was The Diagon Alley, and I love that set!!!!
Buying Lego sets due to some temporary excitement, at full price without second thought? Damn, that's scary. What I always do to avoid that is - imagine you already have that set you 'kinda' wanted and then what would you'd do with it. Do you have space for it? etc. Works for me 😄
I agree. Thor's hammer was always a hard pass for me. But then I only collect Minifigures and minifigure scale sets, so I'm not big on the buildable objects or ridiculously large sets. 🙂
I actually luckily haven’t regretted anything this year. I hate shopping online so I don’t impulse buy and the closest Lego store is in the mall in the next town over from me so I don’t often go there. But when I do, I have a set in mind that I really want like the starry night or the fiat 500.
My biggest regret is not having the patience to leave enough stuff I want for vip weekend, the promos for that are looking amazing. Also the double vip points. If the rumors are true though then I'll certainly be picking up the x5 vip points on the loop coaster
I for one, regret watching certain RU-vidrs and then feeling like I HAVE to buy a set, especially if it's retiring. I was getting a little out if hand, and now I'm sitting on unopened sets I don't really love. I'm slightly happy that the price increase happened though, as it has really forced me to take a step back and reevaluate what's important. Both in Lego, and in life. Some of these prices are just bananas....and for what? A plastic model that will eventually be caked in dust lol. I've actually packed a lot of built sets away for now, and am extremely picky as to what I buy now. I genuinely feel bad for the Bricksie's of the world where it ultimately just ends up as hoarding. At least Lego doesn't depreciate I suppose, but some of the fun factor and my love towards it certainly has.
My only regrets would be not waiting until sets go on sale. For example, the inquisitor scythe was £90 when I bought it, but can easily be picked up for £72 now.
I regret getting some of the regular CMF series. I normally only get minifigs that I want to add to sets I already have or make MOCs with, but I got some of the Series 23 ones because I guess I was in the holiday spirit and now realize I don't want them. I love the nutcracker figures though.
I'm definitely cutting back on buying sets for 2023. I still got a small backlog, and should have a proper layout first before getting anything new. Cleaned out my Brickset wanted list and started from scratch!
I love how the Harry Potter sets can combine into a much bigger set. The Snake area can combine with the bathroom set, the infirmary set, Dumbledore office, Fluffy set, the prison set. Can't wait to combine these sets.
I pretty much just buy every Lego star wars set. The big expensive UCS sets are pretty much always great so no regrets there, and if a smaller set turns out not to be that great then usually worst case you’re out of pocket like… £100-£150, probably with some cool mini-figures and parts as well. Only regrets I have are from buying used sets that aren’t in as good shape as advertised. Don’t really buy any other themes though, one is enough.
the only thing ive really regretted buying is the at-te since it got the zaavi 15% discount so soon after release. I did regret not buying the blacksmith set before the price increase
I did the ratio calculations of heights of the UCS ATAT and ATST and unless my math was awful, Im pretty sure they are actually to scale relatively and to minifigs, making it an excellent display piece alongside the ATAT
Same here. To my best knowledge, AT-AT is considered minifig scale same as, say, Millenium Falcon - and comparing all renditions of AT-STs, the Hoth one is the most accurate in terms of scale
Hard to say if I have any regrets with purchasing LEGO in 2022, but my motivation being to catch up on 2021 sets has resulted in the Avengers Endgame: Final Battle, Encanto Madrigal house, Medieval Blacksmith, two of the Eternals wave, three of the 2021 Stuntz bikes, Skate Park, Bro Thor's New Asgard, Batman Classic TV Batmobile & Shang-Chi vehicle set in my collection. There were some 2022 purchases as well that felt satisfying to me like the Avengers Endgame minifigure accessory pack & the Guardians of the Galaxy advent calendar. Not only that, I hopped on the LEGO Friends & LEGO Monkie Kid bandwagon & made solid choices for both themes & I managed to complete the Series 21 & Muppets CMFs without getting duplicates, with the same progress applying to series 22. Overall, I don't think I have any 2022 regrets.
I’m addition to things getting more expensive and people having to cut back on spending, I think a lot of people who got back into the hobby during the pandemic are just running out of space. A lot of people I know (including myself) are becoming very selective about what they get whereas in previous years I picked up most everything I thought was cool.
I have made the mistake of buying Lego for full price a few times, but most of them were speed champions. These sets I cannot resist and I have around 50 of the cars so I feel like I must buy them when they come out.
Like a lot of people, I have cut back on what I spend on Lego because of their price increases. One set I initially planned on getting was 12 Grimmauld Place, I but couldn't justify the $120 price tag. I've also been waiting for a good sale to get either the buildable Harry and Hermione set or the Mustang (or possibly both) but with the price increase being retroactive that never happened. They actually got more expensive.
I have definitely cut back on buying big lego sets compared to 2020 or 2021, so most of my "regrets" are basically down to saying "damn, I should have gotten this on sale", it happened with the Bad Batch shuttle in 2021 (I got it in pre-order) and this year I saw it on sale all the time. My only short-timed regret was buying Mando's N1, I walked out of the Lego store thinking "why did I do this again?", but after tinkering with it for a month I've come to love the way I've made it look and I've enjoyed the feeling of actually playing with a Lego set as I did when I was a child, which is a feeling many sets I have on display haven't given me.
The set I regret getting most is the Attack on New Asgard. I knew it was a bad set and I got it anyway on impulse (mainly because I wanted the Mighty Thor figure to do a cute photo of Darth Vader (from the duel set this year that I do actually love) being stunned by Padme’s return return, but I never ended up doing that.) The minifigures are okay (specifically Mighty Thor and Gorr, even though he should have come with a hood), but the build was just really bland and didn’t really appear in the movie either. I know it wasn’t an expensive set but that’s still $25 CAD that I could have spent elsewhere.
