Community LEGO Blogs
LEGO Blog Articles Submitted by the Brickpicker Community
259 blog articles in this category
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Looking at CAGR return rates are great over a decent length of time, but for the purposes of shorter more accurate timeframes I feel that metric can be a little blunt. CAGR takes the current price and shows you the annual percentage growth rate that starting from purchase price that gets you to there. Typically we use the retail release year as the start point, all the Brickpicker set pages do so. This is fine if you purchased it in that same year but if you bought it the year after or even 2 or
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You've heard of it on the news, in the papers, and online. It created overnight millionaires while making others broke. Governments are afraid of it and the public is confused by it. But it is here to stay. What am I talking about, you ask? Crypto-currency In 2009, an anonymous online entity, going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, released a tremendously well-researched and thought out paper;explaining how an online, peer-to-peer, currency which would not be regulated or backed by any governmen
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For decades, the problem with collectible toys has been degradation of the materials. For most toys made in the past 40 years or more the main component is ABS plastic. ABS plastic breaks down and changes color as it ages. This process can be accelerated via exposure to UV rays (sunlight or fluorescent bulbs), Heat, and chemical reaction to other plastics. Most collectors have fought a losing fight to prevent their lighter colored plastics from turning yellow (or green if there is a blue
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While lurking in the shadows of this site I've read many differing takes on the ins and outs of investing in LEGO. The majority of those opinions center arround either long term investing or short term flipping and which sets are best suited for either. While those are both worthy endevours and I would not discourage anyone from either pursuit one angle of investing seems to be overlooked in most of the posts that I have seen. The missing strategy is buying LEGO in bulk. Where to get it, what to
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We are in the midst of one of the best clearance times of the year for several retailers, including the two biggest and well known Lego retailers: Target and Walmart (I'm ignoring you TRU because you seem to think that clearance is a 5% discount on a set overpriced by 30%). A lot of people post the great deals they find in the forums. Unfortunately we see a lot of people saying they never find these deals. Well, while its true that not every Walmart or Target in every area puts clearance items
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Hello. My name is Elaine, and I am a Lego addict. I have often said this in jest, but I’ve started to realize that it is not a joke. I woke up this morning, and the first thing I did was check Brick Picker for the deals buzz. As soon as I had put the kids on the bus, I started planning my buy of the day. Since I went to see “The Force Awakens” (again) last night, I was feeling like I needed some more Star Wars sets. I took to the web, and made a plan to go to TRU (since it was Thursday) t
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Hello guys, My second article will discuss Architecture Sets! As a reminder, the first one summarized my experiences with buying second hand lego sets and bulk. Even though the conclusions were probably predictable to many veteran BrickPicker, for me jumping in the water of the secondary hand lego market was the best way to learn where the culprits are of this trade. For those who are not interested in discovering the tips, I can summarize by telling you I live by the NICHE rule now: Net Incomin
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Lone Ranger Lego... Just wanted to let those three little words sink in for a second. Most on this site would agree that this line, with a couple exceptions, is not among the best of choices to place your investment dollars. I tend to agree with that sentiment. I am also a fan of building sets and as such this line is pure gold. The sets are reasonably priced, have great builds, and come together as a group nicely. For the record I have grabbed a few of these sets at an extreme markdown
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The Art Cleaning LEGOs Here's a topic we haven't seen here yet, and one that's near and dear to our heart... the Art of Cleaning LEGOs. After all, the difference between what looks clean, and what IS clean, isn't always black and white... but it is how parents keep their peace of mind. So, you found that awesome used LEGO set on eBay for a fraction of the cost. Good for you! But, you don't need to be a germ-a-phoebe to know that you probably have some other, very small visitors attached to them.
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One of the biggest draws of BrickPicker.com is the online Price Guide that is free to all registered members. In this tutorial/article, we will figure out how to search for a set, and interpret the data that is provided. Looking Up Sets On nearly ever page on BrickPicker is a search bar in the upper left corner. In this search bar reads “Enter LEGO Set Number...”. You do not have to enter the set number, and you can enter in a key word such as “truck” or “plane”. After you have typed more than
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I have never liked Chess as a kid or as a teenager. It was just one of those games that looked boring and bland. A game for nerds. However in the past several years after buying my first iphone, I could not find a app that suited my needs. Ultimately I needed an game that required some strategy and would never get boring. A game that I could improve on over time and a game that would pass time while I was playing it. That game ended up being Chess. At first, I was VERY BAD at Chess, and in some
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Modular buildings. Considered by some investors as the gold standard of LEGO investing along with the UCS line of Star Wars, have been around since 2007, when LEGO decided to release the first one of the line, the coveted 10182 Cafe Corner. The story of how this line of sets became a reality is a very interesting one, and very different to what usually happens when LEGO decides to produce a new theme. Let’s go back a few years and see how this really popular line was conceived. Most of you prob
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When I left Lego behind, I left it for something way more rock ‘n’ roll: rock ‘n’ roll. The move from primary school (elementary school) into secondary school (high school) marked the graduation from the precious toys of my childhood to the world of the pop charts. Here in the UK in the nineties, the battle was on betweenthe two biggest ‘Brit Pop’ bands of the time; Oasis (from Manchester) and Blur(from London). As a cash-strapped teenager you followed one – for me it wasOasis (although my fi
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If like me you’ve ever struggled with the temptation that having a closet or room stuffed with shiny new Lego sets for investment presents in terms of building and playing or displaying them, this short blog may help! Rarely have I succumbed to this temptation. I tend to try and keep my collecting hobby side of the Lego game separate from the investing side. There is occasion where I have dipped in to the investment pool to provide a last minute gift for a young lad or lass, or when I really j
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Many Lego-related blogs are written about modern sets. This especially applies to investment-related blogs. In a series of articles I try to generate enthusiasm for some of the more interesting vintage Lego sets. We enjoyed building them as kids, whereas probably more often we jealously admired them in our best friend's collection or in the Lego catalogue we devotedly picked up in the toy store. This is primarily a blog of nostalgia. However, investing in vintage Lego can be an interestin
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I just graduated in spring 2013 with a mechanical engineering degree, and the sole purpose of this blog post is to weigh in on the famous Lego vs. Mega Bloks debate with my "professional" opinion. I remember recieving a Mega Bloks monster truck as a child. About half way through the build, a few pieces would pop off when I pressed a piece on. It was very frustrating, and I put it away. When I was a little older, I tried to put it together again. This time i only needed to place one or two more
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The LEGOLAND Discovery Center Arizona is set to have their grand opening on April 22, 2016. They are located in the Arizona Mills Mall 5000 S. Arizona Mills Circle. Tempe AZ 85282. Tickets are $22 for a single day admission, and you have to book a time for entrance. An individual annual pass is available for $65, or $60 per person for a family of 4 or more. The incentives for the annual pass holders include a 10% discount in the LEGO retail store and a 20% discount in the cafe as well as skippin
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When I first joined this site it seemed like there were a lot of people here talking about investing in Legos by buying sets and storing them until they are worth a lot more money. Basically a long-term investment. When I hear the word “investment” that is normally what I think of; buying or tying up capital in something and then waiting until it is worth more money than you paid for it. After a while though, I saw people who were mentioning how they make money on Lego by using the quick flip.
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Disclaimer: All references to tax law refer to US tax law under the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Posts are my thoughts only and should not be taken as authoritative statements of the law. I once held a CPA certification, but it is no longer active. Please do your own research and consult a licensed professional for all legal, tax, and accounting matters. It's been said that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. The tax implications from selling your LEGO can vary dependi
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If you have taken a look around BrickPicker's home page you have probably noticed a tab that reads Theme CAGR. What you will get by clicking it is a list of every major LEGO theme in order of highest to lowest CAGR, that unlike for individual sets encompasses the whole product line of a specific theme. We can use that list as a proxy for theme popularity and overall investment performance in a variety of ways. However, I want to take that list and twist it a little bit to get some different insi
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When I first got into LEGO as an AFOL I was looking at all of the Star Wars sets that I had missed and how much they cost. It became necessary to figure out a way to get the sets cheaper or make more money. I knew that some people must be making money buying bulk lots and taking out the stuff they wanted and selling the rest. That seemed like 2 birds with one stone. I looked at the bulk lots on Ebay, realizing that most of what I would get from these guys were common pieces. So I started
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Okay so back in the 80's I used to work for a top advertising agency in the UK. This agency did very controversial adverts, one of which was the Carling Black label campaign's That always ended with the phrase "I bet he drinks Carling Black label!" We were asked by Lego to do an advertising campaign for them. This campaign was to run in all the national newspapers and also on tube stations billboards etc. After much deliberation with the creative and design departments of the agency, It was deci
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The best of the best. The Millennium Falcon is the biggest Lego Star Wars set ever produced to this date. The set has 5,195 pieces in the set. The set has 5 minifigures with it. That is a rare feature. I have only seen a few UCS sets that have minifigures. This is my favorite set. I have built this set. It took me a really long time to build it and it was really fun. Here is the Lego.com description of the set: Build the ultimate Millennium Falcon™! This is it - the biggest, most spectacular LEG
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This is just a quick tip if you want to dust off your Lego sets without worrying about taking them apart and running them through the dishwasher, or meticulously wiping them with a cloth. So, I just got my Jedi Defender-class Cruiser the other day, and completed my Old Republic subtheme collection. However, my two Republic Striker-class Starfighters and my Sith Fury-class Interceptor had quite a layer of dust built up on them. They looked pretty lousy and unpresentable, so I decided to try out t
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For as long as I can remember, people have been puzzled by my interest in many things that were “for boys”, and I have been equally puzzled by why toys have a gender at all. As much as I am genetically and physically female, I have never been one to adhere to the likes and behaviors deemed appropriate to my gender. I am a builder and a creator. Both of my parents worked as computer engineers (although I used to think they worked on a train), so my brain and its nurturing were focused heav
