Blog And News Articles

The LEGOLAND Discovery Center Arizona, opening Spring 2016, is holding a contest to find their new Master Model Builder. On January 30 and 31, they will be holding a competition in the Arizona Mills Mall food court. Applicants will asked to build themed creations. They will be broken up into groups to build for 45 minutes. The winners of each heat will move on to the Second Round consisting of 40 contestants divided into 2 heats also of 45 minutes each. The top 10 builders of those heats will return for Round 3 on Sunday. The winner of Round 3 will be awarded the job of Master Model Builder. Spectators are encouraged to come and support the contestants. It shou…

Welcome to Week 4 of the Top 10 Best Selling LEGO sets as listed by LEGO S@H. How does this Blog work? While the LEGO Shop at Home best sellers list is updated weekly, we will be updating it every Wednesday. The list includes only sets. Minifigures, keychains, Pick a Brick and other products are excluded. If not enough sets are listed on the S@H Best Sellers page, the weekly entry could be shorter than 10 sets. I will comment only on those sets that are new to the list, or that for whatever reason may stand out on a particular week. For example, if a set has been on the list for 10 weeks in a row, then it may warrant a commen…

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/28/464688159/lego-will-unveil-a-minifigure-in-a-wheelchair-in-a-first?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160128

In a scene from the gut-busting movie History of the World, Part 1, Mel Brooks, playing the role of Moses, brings 3 stone tablets received from the hand of God down Mt. Sinai to the people of ancient Israel. As he takes the final steps of his harrowing trip, Moses steps in front of an assembled throng and proclaims in a booming voice, “I PRESENT TO YOU THESE FIFTEEN…”, accidentally drops one of the three tablets he’s holding and quips, “Oy, ten…TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR ALL TO OBEY!” As God himself gave his fifteen laws to Mel Brooks, veteran Brickpicker members have bequeathed their own investing rules to the rest of the Brickpicker faithful. These rules can be found dotted t…

Where Are They Now? is an ongoing blog series dedicated to analyzing specific high-profile Lego sets that have been targeted for investment and sold out / retired a year or more in the past. The idea is to review and summarize a wide range of investment factors surrounding the set a few months before, during, and after it stopped becoming available at retail prices... then look at the financial performance of the set thus far, and perhaps discover a clue about future growth and/or similar sets yet to retire. I absolutely have to begin with the Lego exclusive set that blew the doors off the investment world in Fall of 2014: Town Hall. Released: March…

"Follow the White Rabbit" I compare my experience emerging from the LEGO dark ages two years ago to Neo's experience after taking the Red Pill in 1999's The Matrix. I vividly remember the night in early 2014, when I accidentally stumbled across an Amazon listing for a 10185 Green Grocer selling for something like $800. At the same time, I was amazed, shocked, amused, confused and most importantly, hooked. It was literally life-changing. Simply put, I had a whole new perspective on my favorite childhood pastime. Previous to that night, I knew nothing about LEGO brand stores, Lego Shop@Home, Exclusives, Star Wars UCS, sets with RRPs over $150, AFOLs, Brick Pickers,…

So, you've stumbled across brickpicker.com and are overwhelmed by the number of different threads, blogs and sets. First, welcome to this community. Lots of users will happily welcome you, others, maybe no so much. Especially if you populate different threads with a variation on 'what should I buy' or 'is this a good set to invest in'? I'd argue both of these questions (other than gifs and sarcastic rejoinders) form the basis of every single thread, so instead of asking about a particular set, check out the thread dedicated to that set and start at the beginning. I can almost guarantee that some posters like it (some will even give logical reasons why) as an inv…

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) to buy a First Order Tie Fighter, using the Walmart price (20% off) plus another 10% through TRUTH and 8% back in rewards. It was only 9 am. I spent the next hour itching to buy as my loca…

I'm going to take a detour here and review something that is not a set. It's the only item that I got this week for myself that's LEGO related. I want to talk with you about the book LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy by Vesa Lehtimaki. First, the technical information: TITLE: LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy AUTHOR: Vesa Lehtimaki FORMAT: Hardcover Pages: 176 LIST PRICE: $24.99 PUBLISHER: DK First, let me say that if you're looking for a reference book of any kind, this is definitely not the book for you. There is no set information, random minifigures are thrown int…

Could it be possible that the LEGO Creator Ferrari F40 is already on it's way out the door? I am sure that most of you would say no. I would say no? How could it be, its been out for only a few months? Maybe it's an error on the LEGO Shop at Home website or maybe its a bad seller and LEGO didn't make a huge run. I doubt we will even know. If you do a quick query of 'retired' sets on LEGO S@H, you will see both the Ferrari F40 and the Mini Cooper listed there among the rest of the sets that are already retired. The Mini Cooper is no surprise, but the Ferrari would be if this is accurate. Of course it can just be bugs in their system, but why would…

Welcome to Week 3 of the Top 10 Best Selling LEGO sets as listed by LEGO S@H. How does this Blog work? While the LEGO Shop at Home best sellers list is updated weekly, we will be updating it every Wednesday. The list includes only sets. Minifigures, keychains, Pick a Brick and other products are excluded. If not enough sets are listed on the S@H Best Sellers page, the weekly entry could be shorter than 10 sets. I will comment only on those sets that are new to the list, or that for whatever reason may stand out on a particular week. For example, if a set has been on the list for 10 weeks in a row, then it may warrant a commen…

Note: spoilers are included within this article Season 2.5 Details Lego Rebels fans can tune to Disney (or one of the many mobile device apps) tomorrow evening (Jan. 20) to watch the first of ten new episodes. We have interesting story-lines ahead that will not only please regular viewers but should inject renewed investing focus into this Star Wars Lego sub-theme. All 10 episode titles and synopsis were published online yesterday but has been removed due to possibly being fake (see tweet below) Known Details as of Jan 19 Vader returns and is voiced again by James Earl Jones. A dual between Vader and Ah…

Issue 16 of Blocks Magazine is now with subscribers, and will be in shops on Thursday 21st January. Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, and what better way to declare your love than with LEGO? From Valentine’s hearts to brick bouquets, this month’s issue is packed with outside-the-box ideas to make this year’s celebrations a little more special. Elsewhere, we dive into our ‘Build It’ section to show you how to construct your own transforming Optimus Prime model, with step-by-step instructions and a guide to sourcing all the parts you’ll need, and find out how you can recreate long-retired sets without breaking the bank. There’s much more besides, as Danie…

INTRODUCTION The LEGO Group has developed numerous Star Wars sets over the past 16 years, but the most coveted, and generally most valuable, are those with the Ultimate Collector's Series (UCS) label. What exactly, defines the term Ultimate Collector's Series? Brickipedia provides this definition: "The Ultimate Collector's Series, or UCS, is a sub-theme of sets. UCS sets are meant to be more detailed and aimed at older builders. These sets do not generally include Minifigures, but since 2007, most have included at least one. Most are also not designed to scale with Minifigures, though there are some cases (such as 10195 Republic Dropship with A…

In this series of articles, I would like to take a look at the more expensive, most sought after sets of all time. Instead of reviewing the sets I thought I would address the parts of the sets that make them so rare and valuable. New collectors may wonder why they can't just build these popular and expensive sets out of the LEGO pieces scattered throughout their house. Inexperienced buyers may have concerns over what parts might be replaced in used sets that they are buying. People looking into bulk lots might want to know what clues in a lot would indicate that one of these popular sets are present. The first set on my list is 10212 the UCS Imperial Shu…

So the past few days have been exciting since LEGO finally slapped a "Retiring Soon" label on the list for the 10188 Death Star. Everyone should jump for joy and start yelling for the money to come rolling in right? Maybe, but it might be short lived or will it. According to the new database entry at Brickset, there is a new Death Star coming and it is listing as an Ultimate Collector Series model. So is this a totally new model, or another version of the old? Is it really "The Death Star" or "The Starkiller"? The new Starkiller base as it is referred to in Episode VII is described by the official Star Wars site as "An ice planet converted into a stro…

With the new year come a slew of new Lego sets included a new theme: Nexo Knights. Rumor is, that the Chima line is retiring and the Knights are to take its place. The Nexo Knights are not really a throw back to the Classic Castle sets, but they are not true Steampunk themed either. At first I absolutely hated the idea, but the theme is growing on me. Sets in the theme range from the 1140 piece Fortrex to these small 75 piece sets. The 75 piece Ultimate Robin is what I wanted to look at today. At MSRP $9.99 I was really curious on what one would be getting for their money. At first glance it looks like a glorified minifigure, but priced higher than a traditional …

Yesterday I was contacted by the website Tech Insider to help them list the Top 25 most valuable sets of All Time. It was good timing too since I did run the price guide numbers recently. With no real big surprise, Star Wars led the pack with getting 10 sets into the list. I think the one surprise is getting a set from 2015 in there with the Bat-Pod. No one is really sure how long that will remain in the list and if aftermarket builders will do a good enough job on the "fakes" to kill that market. Good old Mr Gold is still going strong after a few years and holding onto a value greater than $1,500. If you are lucky enough to have every set on this list, you …

No quiet "moo moo" noises being heard regarding the 70810 MetalBeard's Sea Cow set. It's quite impressive when any set increases over 40% from MSRP ($249.99) within only 2 months of "availability" *. Currently, MISB prices are $350 on average (bricklink, amazon, ebay, brickpicker) * note: availability varied by region and retailer. While most Lego collectors and investments were buying sets such as The Tumbler, Death Star, Pet Shop and UCS X-wing in the closing months of 2015, 70810 was quietly going in and out of stock before disappearing. Not everyone was ignoring this set or quite by surprise of it's recent performance. Check-…

Welcome to the second entry of the Top 10 Best Selling LEGO sets as listed by LEGO S@H. Given that this is only the second entry of the series, I wanted to take the time and remind our readers about what they can expect: While the LEGO Shop at Home best sellers list is updated weekly, we will be updating it every Wednesday. The list includes only sets. Minifigures, keychains, Pick a Brick and other products are excluded. I will comment only on those sets that are new to the list, or that for whatever reason may stand out on a particular week. For example, if a set has been on the list for 10 weeks in a row, then it may warrant a comme…

NEXO Knights is Lego's replacement for the Chima theme. This latest "kiddie" theme is returning to television on Monday January 11 on Cartoon Network. The 2-part pilot and new NEXO Knights episodes will be shown each weekday until January 22. Check your local listings for showtime (e.g. shown at 5:30pm in the EST time zone). Will you be watching? Wikipedia: "The series describes the adventures of five young knights: Clay, Aaron, Lance, Macy, and Axl who protect Knighton from Jestro, the Book of Monsters and their army of lava monsters. They also help the Monarchy, Merlok (sorcerer) and Robin." TV advertisement. While over…

I'll dive right into this article by discussing the investment potential of the "comes in black" 76023 Lego Tumbler set. It appears production was stopped for the $199.99 76023 Lego Tumbler set months ago about the same time Lego slapped the infamous "retiring soon" tag. European and US Lego Shop At Home websites have either sold-out (red font for those who track that) or removed this set's page entirely. In the US, only Amazon and Target have stock currently. According to Brickpickers who try to track inventory like @trekgate502 , the current inventory at those 2 online retailers could be gone by the time the 4th NFL Wild-Card game finishes this Sunday. Regardless o…

Would like to share and also want to hear your experience.... I started investing in Lego in Jan, 2013. I don't remember where I read this in Brickpicker forum. However, I remember some experienced member wrote something very similar to the title, "in order to sell $60,000 worth of Lego in one year, you should have $180,000 in inventory". Because I read that, I decided to actively sell for one year starting late Jan, 2015 to see whether that was true or not. According to the Brickfolio, current value of my inventory is $ 183,597.18. After almost one year of active selling, I have had $ 59,485.52 in sales, minus all the fees/shi…

In last week's Summer 2016 rumor news, we mentioned that one "insider" thought we would be getting a Vader's Tie Advanced refresh. It now appears that upcoming 75150 Death Vader TIE Advanced is based on the Rebels television show. Take a look at the screen grabs below. A low resolution image was uploaded to Twitter and imgur.com earlier today. I do believe the leaked images (if true) are prototype boxes as 3 of the 5 images have 442 listed as the element count. The $99.99 (brickset.com price) set is #75150 and will include an A-Wing plus 4 minifigures. An A-Wing pilot can be seen on the box image as well as Sabine (no helmet). The im…

Major Update below from the comments sections, looks like the set will contain BB-8, Flametrooper, Poe wearing Finn's jacket (well, it's Finn's jacket now) and a 4th minifigure which might be Max Von Sydow's character Lor San Tekka. It looks like set 75102 "Poe's X-Wing Fighter" will be getting a wingman to help battle First Order Tie Fighters by the Summer of 2016. Lego reviewer and insider Just2Good recently published information on two rumored Lego sets and a X-Wing set is among them. A smaller Jakku-themed set is the other set. My thoughts... We can probably expect a white / light gray with blue them…