(Written by Mark H. Avery)
I’ve been watching too many LEGO-related videos on YouTube lately. A recurring theme I found is people talking about LEGO regrets, specifically, LEGO sets that they didn’t purchase for some reason while they were still available at regular retail price. I thought that this would be a perfect topic for a blog post as it allows us to discuss our own LEGO regrets. I will start first by sharing the sets I missed, and then you can share in the comment section below the sets you wish you had/ should of/could of purchased but didn’t. I should note that with the help of the Internet, and with enough desire, time, and money, we can still purchase just about any old set. And, if you don’t need the box and original instructions, you can always assemble sets by purchasing pieces on BrickLink. So, without further ado, here are my top ten LEGO regrets plus a few more honorable mentions (images and links from the Brickset database).
1.) The #540 LEGO Swiss Villa dates back to the 1972-1975 era when I first became interested in LEGO. I saw it in catalogs, but I don’t think I ever saw it in a store. It’s far out of scale of current LEGO City and LEGO Creator sets (way too small), but I wouldn’t mind having it on a display shelf. The same applies to the #560 LEGO Police Heliport and the #555 LEGO Hospital from that era. I do have the #580 LEGO Brick Yard and the #357 LEGO Fire House from back then. There are also several train-related buildings from that era that I think never made it to the states: the #165 LEGO Cargo Station from 1978 and the #149 LEGO Shell Fuel Refinery from 1976. The latter I’ve recreated with larger doors, and it sits in the industrial area of my town.
2.) Any of the 12-volt motorized passenger trains from Europe (#7725 or #7740 or #7745). I’m not about to set up a 12-volt rail system, but it would be nice to have a classy looking passenger train from back then.
3.) The #6542 LEGO Load & Launch Seaport. I think I do have the #6541 LEGO Intercoastal Seaport, which was a smaller version, but there is nothing like a large seaport as a centerpiece of a town industrial port area.
4.) The #10133 LEGO Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Locomotive with its unique colors is one of the classiest LEGO train engines I have come across. I was just too cheap to buy it at the time of its availability. In retrospect, a big mistake.
5.) The Santa Fe grey passenger train cars (#10022, #10025). I did purchase two of the #10020 LEGO Santa Fe Super Chief engines, but never got around to buying the two cars. (You needed four to build them in different configurations. Another big mistake on my part.)
6.) The #7637 LEGO City Farm set from 2009. I wasn’t (and am still not) a big fan of the set, but so far it has been the only large farm set available. Myself and a lot other townies keep hoping for a farm series. We are getting teased by LEGO with various farm trucks, but until an extensive farm building set comes out, the old one stays on my regrets list.
7.) The #6769 LEGO Fort Legorado is another big set I didn’t have money or space for. The set came with 687 pieces and 10 minifigures for a price of $85. I own plenty of brown log bricks, so, some day I hope to build my own “wooden” fort. I think it will go well in my town as either an anchor part of an amusement park or as the “original building” in town.
8.) The #10219 LEGO Maersk Train from 2011 (and/or several other similar LEGO Power Function freight trains). Money was just too tight those days to buy such big sets. I also wasn’t eager to switch to LEGO Power Functions from 9-volt. Instead, I ended up buying several smaller sets during that time period. The combination of trains and containers would make a great addition to my port area.
9.) The #725 LEGO Basic Building Set with 420 pieces from 1990. I’m sure I have pieces lying around from multiple copies, but still I’d buy a dozen more at the old list price today. For the money, I think it was the best Basic/Freestyle/Universal/Classic building set for those who were into LEGO town building, with many window, doors, roof pieces and wheels. None of today’s LEGO Classic sets come close for a city builder.
10.) The #10193 LEGO Medieval Market Village from 2009. It would go great in my “old town” section. It was a bargain at $100, but I kept waiting for a 20% off sale, and then it disappeared from the market. Two nice size buildings plus lots of accessories. Probably my greatest regret.
11.) I would list the #6399 LEGO Monorail Airport Shuttle from 1990 as the first honorable mention. Everyone knows about this great set. It’s only on the bottom of my list because I had it at one time (along with some extra track pieces). I still have many of the pieces lying around. One day I should try to re-assemble it, but it might take up way too much space in my already crowded city.
12.) For second honorable mention I would list the LEGO Paradisa series. I like it much better than LEGO Friends, although it obviously was much more limited in scope. I did purchase several of the sets when they were available, but the pieces got mixed into other projects. Although most of the sets can be recreated, the raised baseplates are difficult to find these days.
13.) The last on my honorable mention list is going to be the straight metal train tracks and points. I purchased lots of them when they were available, but you cannot have too many. I plan to build a train yard to store (and display) my trains. I’ll probably end up having to use plastic tracks and points for the yard because of limited metal tracks. (It would also be nice to get some of the rare double cross-over plastic tracks (#7996).
There you have it. My top regrets in my thirty years in the LEGO hobby. The sets I wanted to purchase, but didn’t. There are other kinds of regrets as well. For example, I’m sorry I didn’t buy the early LEGO Modular Buildings, but only because I could have resold them and made a significant profit.
Then, there are many sets where I like the main models, but have no interest in the side builds or minifigures (just about every recent police and fire set fits the category). I would have purchased a lot more sets just for the structures, but I was discouraged from buying them because I did not need any more police officers, firemen, helicopters, and fire engines. The #76041 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Hydra Fortress Smash and the #10228 LEGO Monster Fighters Haunted House fits into the same category – great buildings, but no use for the minifigures and other extras. The same could be said about some of the new LEGO Hidden Side sets like the school, the train, and the school bus, as well as the LEGO Stranger Things Upside Down building. I’m attracted to them, but would it be easy to convert them and add them to a regular LEGO city? Would it be worth the price if I’m not using some parts of the sets? And I could ask similar questions about all the sets that have nicely detailed interiors (LEGO Friends, for example).
What do you think? What are your top LEGO regrets? I’d love to hear about them! And what do you do when you like only part of a set? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 1 (introduction)
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 2 (building a large LEGO city)
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 3 (rebuilding the city)
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 4 (LEGO city layout)
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 5 (LEGO set purchases)
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 6 (LEGO city transportation)
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 7 (model railroading)
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 8 (LEGO company interactions)
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 9 (LEGO shopping)
- On the LEGO Trail: Visiting LEGO Train Shows
- My LEGO City: A Personal Story – Part 10 (collecting LEGO catalogs)
I feel your pain. I always make the same mistakes every year. I say ” I’ll get that set later” and what happens is new sets start arriving and I focus my attention on that. Thinking in the back of my mind of that set that I should have gotten now instead of later. I can`t really list them all, but, one in particular was the lord of the rings ship. It had the dead king and I just waited too long. Of course now I just miss the 50 dollars and under sets .( aim Big lose big, aim small lose small.) I do remember not getting some of the alien conquest sets but, I managed to get them on Amazon cheap. There are times that some sets are just too expensive to get and I just learn to move on . In in actuality if a set is too expensive and I can’t afford it then it’s easy just to walk away from it. Like the $ $800 Millennium Falcon set. I also keep in mind that new sets that just have come out I know I have at at least two years time to get one of the new sets . That is of course if I don’t get sidetracked with in the two years. Ah, the temptation of choices and the trouble gets us in. Lol!
I know the one you mean, I believe it was called Pirate Ship Ambush.
Legorado, farm, and medievel village make my list. Also all the Indiana Jones sets.
Great topic! My top regrets are not getting the Imperial Flagship, a couple of the smaller Pirates of the Caribbean Ships, and the Maersk Train.
Mine is basically the same; trains and ships. Sometimes you can purchase partial sets on ebay, which can help with keeping the cost down. Like when you don’t care for the minifigs and only want the parts.
The exo force sets! I would love to get those! And some of the earlier bionicles too. They had such cool pieces. The later bionicles were so much simpler.
The super star destroyer, monster fighters mansion, the original carousel, and the newest Pirates of the Caribbean Silent Mary.
The fantasy castle sets. We haven’t had a proper castle for ages! The Emerald Night would be nice to have too. With extra cars.
My top regrets:
The Monster Fighters Haunted-House
(I’m a huge fan of horror and monsters and this was right up my alley but I didn’t grab it at the time due to other responsibilities)
The Lone Ranger Constitution Train Chase
LEGO Movie Benny’s Space Ship Space Ship Space ship!
LEGO Movie Metal Bears Ship
All the Wild West sets
Simpson’s House
My biggest regret is not keeping my childhood sets. They were simple, and I didn’t have much, but the sentimental value is there. I especially miss the knights.
The Monster Fighters Haunted House. It was such a great set. And of course the trains and ships. I don’t even want to think about it and I resigned myself to the fact that I will likely never own them.
The UCS Slave 1. I’m hugely fond of the UCS Star Wars series and while this model wasn’t the highest on my list, I’d not have minded having it in my collection. It was a finances situation. Oh well. It’s a Star Wars UCS model, it’ll probably be re released again. 😉
Some of the big Technic sets. I couldn’t afford them when they were released, but the prices are even worse now. I was hoping for a break, but it never happened, or I missed them.
I can relate to what others are regretting, but what I miss the most is not getting more 9v train tracks. Everything else I can live without, build on my own, or replace with something similar.
So several of your sets made my list too:
Fort Legorado
Lego Farm
Lego Medieval Village
Lego Monorail Airport Shuttle
All the Lord of The Rings Sets
The Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion & Headless Horsemen set
Lego Town Square
Probably the biggest regret is the discounted original UCS Millennium Falcon. I had a chance to buy it on sale for $150 off retail at the LEGO store but it was still more than I had ever spent on a single set so I passed. Probably I have more regrets of letting go of sets than of not buying them. Probably next would be the LEGO Train Set 7722. Can’t remember if it was Lionel Play world or Toys R Us, but they had it and I thought it was on clearance but it wasn’t so I didn’t buy it. It would be about 15 years before I ever saw it again when I discovered eBay
For me I’d say I regret not getting the Grand Carousel given how much I love the fairground sets. Plus, I wish I got into the modulars sooner than I did. I ended up brick building the early ones but that wasn’t fun to pay for.
The updated Jabba’s Palace + Rancor Pit. I didn’t have the money at the time, and haven’t seen indication that they’re making a new update anytime soon, but Jabba’s Palace is my favorite scene/setting from Star Wars. I managed to find the updated Sail Barge on ebay at a decent price, at least, and still have the original 2003 Jabba’s Palace.
Otherwise, some of the Islanders sets. I have a couple figures and always liked them as a kid, and they’ve been left out of newer Pirates series.
Missing out on the Master Builder Academy sets and the Architecture Studio set. Also the Ideas Curiosity Rover. And I wouldn’t mind a chrome gold C-3PO either.
I think I learned to live with the fact that there are some sets I will never own. Sometimes it’s because of money, sometimes space restrictions or both. There are certain themes I will never collect, even though I think they are cool. They just don’t fit in my current collection. Would I like to have them? Of course! Do I regret not having them? Not really. Some things I’m just not meant to have
While this was certainly not a formal or sizable survey, the question is whether sets that show up on most people’s regrets list should be candidates for re-release.
Some of the really old sets are too plain by modern standards and likely won’t sell well. However, sets from the last 10 years or so could be rereleased, like they have already done with the Taj Mahal and the Millennium Falcon.
I think the Imperial Flagship, the trains (Emerald Night, Maersk, etc.) are likely candidates. The earliest Modulars would probably need an upgrade for the interior as they were almost completely empty.
More than I would like a re-release, I would love to D2C sailing ship or steam engine done with today’s parts and today’s standard of detail.
They rereleased some sizable sets already, as Jeff said. A couple of other ones I remember are the Winter Village Toy Shop, the Star Wars Death Star, the Maersk Ship, and the Wind Turbine. And of course, many of the smaller Star Wars sets like the smaller Minnennium Falcons, AT-ATs, Sand Crawler, etc. So, based on this, I would say that it is very likely they will rerelease some other popular old sets.
There were also some rereleases that didn’t turn out so well. Like bringing back Bionicle. I think the Imperial Flagship is likely to come back at some point. The Green Grocer, Cafe Corner, and Market Street I’m not so sure about.
FYI for those who are looking for old sets for decent prices. You can often get partial sets on ebay. Some people only collect the figs and sell the rest of the set for a good price. And you can also buy sets with partial assemblies. Like for example, I’m sure someone will sell the Disney Train and Station separately. Or, sometimes a few pieces could be missing from a set that was built and displayed for a while. It’s really worth checking. If you don’t care for the box and instructions (you can download them from online), you have even more options. It may take a bit of time and patience, but ebay has some tools too that can help. Like subscribing to specific search alerts, sorting results by price, etc. Try it!
my comment didn’t go through for some reason.
Sorry about that. The server did have a hiccup around the time you were posting. Would you mind posting again? We would love to hear your thoughts! 🙂
I’ve managed to grab a number of sets I’ve always wanted from the past in the last 18 months or so for very good prices (BSB, 90% of both space monorails and a lot of classic space) but my regrets..
12v trains. Recently got 7740 but need to convert to PU as cost of 12v track/weakness issues means not cost effective
The black pearl
City monorail (I don’t even collect city but want it)
Kingdoms joust tournament set
More maersk ships/the train
More of the castle lines that I’m missing such as falcons etc
I just think these are magnificent display sets.
Then again reality such as bills/mortgage/kids are more important.
Hmm, space is generally too limited for me to have much deep regrets about anything, but possibly 7189 Mill Village Raid and 70816 Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! could qualify.
For re-releases, I could contemplate buying 6954 Blacktron Renegade,
6932 Futuron Stardefender 200, 6986 Space Police 1 Mission Commander, 6989 M-Tron Mega Core Magnetizer and 6981 Blacktron 2 Aerial Intruder. I guess many of those remakes are less likely due to retired special parts, though.
The LEGO Curiosity Mars Rover. I almost bought it the day it came out, but there was another set being release 3 or 4 days later, so I was going to buy both at once to get the free shipping. I should have paid the shipping on the darn thing, since it sells for at least triple the price now, and usually more. Current plan is to just buy the pieces from Bricklink or the Pick-a-Brick at LEGO, and I’ve already downloaded the instructions from LEGO.
I passed up 2007’s Hoth Rebel Base and 2008’s Tower RAID because they were given as gifts before my parents or myself realized I would be interested in LEGO. I turned them in for store credit, something I regret.
I find it a sign of a true enthusiast to keep such clear records of regret and missed purchases. As always, an interesting post