Regular readers of this blog - which, as far as I can tell, is just me - may recall that my Lego interest / hobby / addiction began back at Christmas 2012 when Mrs Boo bought me the Technic set 8070 Super Car (1) and then with some Christmas gift vouchers, I bought the Technic 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog. (2) Not long after that I discovered the website Brickset and its associated forum. (3) The Brickset site is one of the most popular Lego sites in the UK and holds its own on the global stage too, thanks to the unstinting efforts of owner Huw and a small but dedicated team. It produces news, reviews, articles and so forth, but also has a stupendous database sitting behind it. This database is a thing of wonder in its own right...
For starters, it gives you a huge amount of detail about each set. Which theme (and subtheme) any given set sits in, how many parts it has, when it was released (and, if relevant, when it ceased production), price (both new and used), price per piece - a stat beloved of Lego enthusiasts - and quite often, who designed it. It has a user rating, based on the thoughts of Brickset users and links to both any official Brickset review, and those of Brickset members. These can range from "It's really good!" to War and Peace style epics that go on for pages.
And just below that are two additional tick boxes. The first is "I want this set", and the second is "I own (number) of this set." (4)
I keep a spreadsheet on my laptop which details each set I own, when and where I bought it, how much I paid for it (5) and how much discount I managed to get off the RRP. But useful (and incriminating) as it is, it's not accessible while I'm out and about. Whereas, as long as I can get a phone signal, I can always check whether I own a set thanks to the Brickset database. Which has saved me a fair bit over the years. I'll pick a set up and think "I really like this - might have to have it." and then a swift check will establish that I've had this conversation with myself at some point in the past and have already bought it!
As we'll see, I should have done that on my recent trip out!
But the unusual situation that I found myself in, at just after 12.30 on the day in question, was this.
For the first time in nearly 12 years of collecting, my 'Want' list was empty.
Broadly speaking, any set that goes on the list is a considered decision. Since I lost my job, my acquisition rate has dropped off a cliff. Looking at the sheet, I have added ten sets in 2024, two of which were freebie 'Gifts with purchase'. Compare that to 2018, when - somehow - I managed to add 125 sets to the collection...
So these days, a set has to be something pretty special, or a set that I need (6) to complete a collection. Things like the Modular Buildings, which I know I'm going to buy. The large Ninjago City sets... These are the sort of thing that will only go up in price when they hit the secondary market once production ceases, so it makes sense (kind of) to buy them at RRP or, if I can get them from John Lewis, at a 25% reduction (thanks to me still having staff discount, courtesy of my wife).
But other sets... Up until recently I had the Lord Of The Rings set, 10316 Rivendell on the list. But restricted finances mean a set really has to justify itself. Rivendell looks beautiful, but it costs £429.99 and I don't have (other than a few polybags) have any other LOTR sets. So it was struck from the list.
The only two that were on the list, at the time of writing, were 76780 Wednesday Addams Figure and 76328 Batman : The Classic TV Series Batmobile. These are both new sets, only going on sale at the beginning of October '24, and both look fantastic. There was a version of the Adam West Batmobile released in 2021 which is on a similar scale to Speed Champions and it looks pretty good for a small scale set. But the new version is considerably larger, notably more detailed and for someone who grew up in the 70s, it was a must-have.
Wednesday, on the other hand, is a new theme for Lego. There are only a few sets available thus far, and they're based on the Netflix series starring Jenna Ortega as the eponymous anti-heroine. It's (the Netflix series) one of the best things I've seen in years (which other people seem to have agreed with, leading to a second series being filmed as we speak) and the set looks kind of cool.
It's not the sort of thing I'd normally pick up, but this one appealed. I'd have just left them on the want list for a while, but I was suckered in by the current 'Gift With Purchase', which is a neat little Halloween Pumpkin (40697) with a light brick. Trouble is, the Batmobile (which would have got me over the purchase threshold) has proved popular and seemed to be sold out online and in most stores. And the Pumpkin gift was only going to be available for a few more days...
Fortunately the Lego store in Westfield White City seemed to have some in stock, and a phone call confirmed it. Cue a horrible round trip, taking in such joys as the North Circular, the Hangar Lane Gyratory System and the Westway, roads which I would not wish upon my worst enemy.
But I got there, and while wandering around the store with the Batmobile under one arm and Ms Addams under the other, I had a look at what else was available. The new Star Wars UCS set, 75397 Jabba's Sail Barge, looked a little underwhelming, particularly given its £429.99 price tag. (7) There was a time when a UCS set was a day one purchase for me, but I haven't bothered with the last few and I don't think that's going to change with this one.
Another one that was tempting is 42172 Technic McLaren P1. I've been fortunate enough to have the last few large Technic cars - 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, 42083 Bugatti Chiron, and 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 I bought with my hard earned cash. 42143 Ferrari Daytona SP3 I was given to review - and in an ideal world I'd buy the McLaren too. But it's not the prettiest set, it's expensive and like the past few, you spend half your time building a gearbox that you'll never see again until you take the set apart. So it doesn't make the want list.
But as I headed for the till, I spotted a dinky little classic Land Rover Defender. It was less than £14 and looked very cool indeed. It went on the pile.
Of course, when I got home and added it to the spreadsheet, I realised that I'd bought it last June...
I'll think of something to do with it!
So now I'm curious as to what, if anything, will be the next set that does actually make it onto the want list. As we approach the end of the year, the rumours will start flying about the next Modular Building - hopefully something a bit more interesting than this year's 10326 Natural History Museum. That will have to go on the list. Maybe a future Star wars UCS set, if they decided to have another crack at the Sandcrawler (the 2014 UCS set 75059 is one on my list of 'the ones that got away')? And maybe if Lego take the Architecture theme back to actual architecture, rather than the 'gift shop catnip' that they've been churning out for a while. Sets like 21005 Fallingwater, 21009 Farnsworth House and 21014 Villa Savoye were iconic houses designed by legendary architects. Most sets these days are the 'skyline' series which are designed as novelty tourist keepsakes.
Still. While Lego keep turning out things I don't want, at least my wallet can rest easy.
For now.
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(1) Fun fact! 12 years on, I still haven't opened the box!
(2) Haven't opened that one either! Just saving it for the right time.
(3) The forum, due to running costs, was shut down a while back and has been replaced with a Discord. A Discord? A Discord server? A Discord forum? I'm not sure what the terminology is and if I'm honest, I don't much like the way it works, so I rarely visit, which is a shame, as the Brickset Forum was a thing of joy. Let's take a moment to reflect on its sad passing.
(4) It's not uncommon for AFOLs to own multiples of a set, whether they're army building, squirrelling them away in the hope of making a decent profit in the future or "I saw it at a price that was too good to ignore." Many AFOLs live by the mantra "One to build, one to keep, one to resell."
(5) I occasionally put a SUM function at the bottom of that column just to see how much I've spent over the years. It's a worrying figure.
(6) I can hear my wife now... "Need? Want?"
(7) CapnRex101, Brickset's resident Star Wars expert, disagrees, and other than wincing at the price, thinks that it's a particularly fine set.
