It has become a Christmas tradition that LEGO employees receive a very special set from the company. These exclusive sets have been particularly noteworthy in the past three years, as they are quite substantial with unique models that aren’t released to the public. While most of these sets remain the treasured possessions of LEGO employees, some of them make it to the secondary market like eBay and BrickLink, where collectors eagerly grab them while they are still available. 🙂
In 2014 LEGO employees received the #4002014 LEGO HUB Birds with 487 pieces to build five beautiful birds; one for each national bird from countries where the LEGO hub offices are located. They include a Robin from Britain, a Red-Crowned Crane from China, a Crimson Sunbird from Singapore, a Swan from Denmark, and a Bald Eagle from the USA. This set is especially interesting, as the #21301 LEGO Ideas Birds set was released shortly after – LEGO designers must have been really into birds that year! You can still find the set on eBay for around $150-$200. Here are some of the current listings: LEGO HUB BIRDS ON EBAY
In 2015 LEGO employees received the #4002015 LEGO Borkum Riffgrund 1 with 559 pieces. The set commemorates the opening of the sixth offshore wind power plant by Siemens, which supplies 320,000 German households with eco-friendly electricity (you can read more on Siemens’ website). This set is also available on eBay for around $150. Here are some of the current listings: LEGO BORKUM RIFFGRUND 1 ON EBAY
LEGO employees in 2016 must have been really good, because Santa brought them the largest gift of all; the #4002016 LEGO 50 Years on Track set with 1141 pieces. It includes smaller replicas of six different trains from the long history of LEGO locomotives on brick-built tracks; a Motorized Train Set from 1966, a Western Train from 1976, a Metroliner from 1991, a sample of the Monorail Transport System from 1987, the Emerald Night from 2009, and the Winter Holiday Train from 2016. This set is a must for LEGO train fans and collectors, as it brings back some of the most popular trains from LEGO’s history. And it’s not just the trains; the box itself is a beautifully designed commemorative item. I’m not a fan of keeping sets in boxes, but this might be worth keeping intact, as it is unique in so many ways; the largest LEGO employee gift to date, a tribute to 50 years of LEGO history, and it got six trains! It is available on eBay for around $250-$300. Here are some of the current listings: LEGO 50 YEARS ON TRACK ON EBAY
If you would like to add something exclusive to your LEGO collection that not many people have, or even know about, the LEGO employee gifts are definitely worth to consider. While the prices are higher than normal LEGO sets, they are not unreasonable given the rarity. From the three sets the one with commemorative trains is the most special, so if you can only get one set, I would recommend that one. But all of them are very unique, nicely designed, and beautifully boxed, so I don’t think you would be disappointed.
What do you think? How do you like the 2016 LEGO employee gift? Do you have any on them from previous years? Which one is your favorite so far? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
Considering that all I got was a $25 Target Gift Card (which I’m not complaining about;-)), I’d say that’s rad! But is this given as a gift or each employee has the option of “buying” it for a discounted price?
They are gifts to LEGO employees. They have been getting something each year, but it has only been in the last few years when it is a full-on exclusive large set. I’m jealous of your $25 Target Gift Card. Those are awesome to get and spend on some LEGO. 😀
Yep, that’s exactly what happened! My wife and I were shopping there the other night and she spied the Lego Batman Batgirl CatCycle Chase and she simply had to have it! I got a bag of Halls Breezers…lol.
LOL! Yeah, that sat is fun! 😀
The first time I looked at the 50 Years on Track set’s picture on Brickset, I thought it included the actual-sized models from the original sets – that’s how good these replicas are. It’s nice that brick-built track was included for each train. Those LEGO employees get all the best stuff…. 😉
Also: http://brickset.com/article/25854/lego-message-boards-closing-down I never used the MBs, so I can’t attest to their worth, but I know that lots of people (mostly kids) used them and thus will be sad to see them go. I guess LEGO will make something better, although it’ll probably be that LEGO Life app thing, which I hadn’t heard of before this. 😕
We talked about LEGO Life when we discussed the Nov-Dec Issue of the LEGO Club Magazine: http://thebrickblogger.com/2016/11/lego-club-magazine-moana-more/
And yes, it is what suppose to be replacing the Message Boards. I did visit the boards occasionally as many of our younger readers use it and refer to it, but the discussions were so often off topic I don’t think it was worth it – well, at least not for older kids and adults. And remember that it had to be fully moderated, so you always had to have some adults around to approve each message. That’s a lot of work with not much benefit. LEGO Life is endeavoring to be more focused on the hobby, so hopefully the discussions won’t go so off rail, while still allowing younger fans to interact with each other and with LEGO moderators in a safe environment.
Oh, I must have missed that part of that post. Thanks for the link. Having read it and inspected the LEGO Life site, it does look more interesting than the MBs, and definitely fully LEGO-centered. There’s quite a few rules, I note, but at least it will be “safe.” It will still need moderators, though, so I don’t see how that’s any different from the MBs.
BTW, did you see the new Creator Expert LEGO Micro-site: https://www.lego.com/en-us/creatorexpert?icmp=COUSFRCreator Pretty neat. They also fully redid the normal Creator site. This must have been done this past week, as I only just noticed it.
I think the difference is that LEGO life is going to be more LEGO-centered in the topics and discussions. At least that’s how I see it. But yeah, full moderation will still be needed, however by being more LEGO centered at least there is some benefit to LEGO (you know, kids may get interested in a new product or game, or something like that). We will see…
Wow! That new Creator Expert site looks gorgeous! I really like how they used black & white images for the retired sets. I should note that they used a similar black & white image to line up all the Modulars on the last page of the instruction book that came with the Assembly Square. But they really messed up the size of the buildings and they are not to scale to each other. I thought that was weird.
The new LEGO Creator site looks nice too! It was definitely something they must have done in just within the last couple of days because I visited the LEGO Creator site very recently. Nice find! 🙂
Ok that is absolutely amazing. I thought the birds set was neat but this is a whole new level. I guess it is now a straight choice between this and the new modular given in the UK there is little difference in price. Maybe if we are really lucky the instructions will be released so we can have a go at making them ourselves rather than spending £160 on 1000 pieces
None of these even sniffs 2012’s 4000007 Ole Kirk’s House.
Although it is definitely a nice looking set, I did not mention Ole Kirk’s House as it was not exclusive to LEGO employees. It was also given out for LEGO Inside Tour participants in 2009. Also, while I don’t want to curb your enthusiasm for the set, it is just a very simple red house with a red roof that is not meant to be removed. It is basically a shell with nothing inside. The set definitely has historical value as it is a fairly accurate replica of the original house, and it looks okay on display, it doesn’t really offer much to builders or those who like to play with their sets. But sure, if you like it, enjoy it! 🙂
Valid points and that is probably why my secondary market 4000007 is still in the box. But then one could make the same case against 4002016 since the trains are smaller-than-minifigure-scale display pieces, meaning these smaller trains are ‘shells’ as well. I actually like 4002016 very much but since it isn’t to scale I don’t really have use for it.
At the end of the day, I could always use another building. My 4000007 will probably never be opened, and I’ll just MOC a larger modular version to be truer in color and fit the Winter Village theme. I’ve never been to Billund and probably never will, but I also think 400007 would pair well with http://thebrickblogger.com/2016/02/featured-lego-ideas-project-lego-factory/.
I also don’t think it matters that 4000007 was given away at the LEGO Inside Tour because there are so few attendees who seem to hold on to their sets – just look at 4000022 given away in 2016, boasting an asking price of half the Inside Tour. So I don’t think giveaways at the Inside Tour impact the employee secondary market much.
A properly sized Ole Kirk’s House would definitely go well with the LEGO Ideas factory set. And I also like your idea of adding it to the Winter Village series. Perhaps LEGO feels that there just isn’t enough interest in historic LEGO buildings. While this may have been true in the past, now with LEGO being a leading toy company, there may be more enthusiasm for sets like that. I think it will very much depend on how well the LEGO Ideas project does. It is a very well designed set so no problems there, and if it reaches 10K votes, it would be a good indication that people are interested. The project did have a good start, but it has been stagnating at little over 1K votes for quite some time now. So we will see… 🙂
These sets have been improving lately, though…
http://brickset.com/sets/2009-1/Heart
Yeah, for sure! 😀