LEGO has been experimenting with adult-oriented sets in the past few years, and while the sets are amazing, they are also raising some concerns. Most of the sets in the adult line are very expensive, they are mostly meant for display with no play-features, and they take up shelf space from sets that are more affordable and more appropriate for younger builders.
In the past, I have only seen adult-oriented sets at official LEGO stores, Toys’R’Us, and the Online LEGO Shop. Other retail locations like Walmart, Target, etc. carried smaller sets for children and a couple of medium-size sets for special occasions like birthdays and holidays.
I don’t know how it is at other locations, but walking down the LEGO aisle at my local Wal-Mart or Target is now much different than a decade ago. Instead of the colorful smaller sets, now I see a lot of big black boxes with display sets meant for older builders. Sets like the LEGO Star Wars Helmet collection, and LEGO Botanical sets. There are still a few smaller LEGO City and LEGO Creator sets in between, but definitely much less than it was years ago.
It looks like others also noticed these changes judging from the conversations I have seen on LEGO forums and on social media, and I even stumbled upon a video that pretty much summarized my thoughts. You can watch it below.
What do you think? How do you like the adult-oriented sets? Would you like to see smaller sets in the adult line, or do you prefer larger and more detailed display sets? And do you feel like adult sets take away space from lower-priced and kid-oriented sets? What do you think the future holds for the LEGO hobby? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!
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I agree with most of this. But it seems they are making changes. This year, we have a number of adult sets around $50.
As far as what stores carry, I don’t know how that works. How much is controlled by the store itself.
I recall hearing recently that toy sales from adult collectors finally surpassed toys being bought for children. Certain other action-figure type toy lines don’t even have their more expensive releases showing up in toy isles, you have to order them online. That this problem, as you describe it, exists, just shows there is an incredible market for large, expensive Lego sets with no “toyetic” play value. It’s no surprise that brick and mortar retail stores want a piece of that action. The question for the toy industry at large is how much can the adult collectors be catered to without cannibalizing the products aimed at kids, and indeed, if the product lines aimed at kids suffer, will the toy companies even care as long as their sales stay high. It’s a significant paradigm shift that I’m sure nobody saw coming even just a few years ago. Adults have always had their collections, coins, stamps, even some youth-focused products like baseball cards and comic books have long been accepted as something with a heavy adult collectors market, but toys?
It’s inevitable – I have been collecting LEGO for 64 years, since my first little red and white set in 1960. So the adults may now outnumber the children, and LEGO knows their customer base.