Lego, the world’s largest toy company, has built a reputation for being an expensive hobby. With sets costing over $300 since 2007 and some Star Wars sets reaching a price tag of $850, it’s no wonder that Lego has caught the attention of thieves who have stolen around $300,000 worth of the iconic bricks. The question arises, how did Lego evolve from a children’s toy to a coveted collector’s item, and why is it so expensive?
The video delves into the history of Lego, discussing its rise as a popular toy company and the development of the Lego System that allows for endless creative possibilities. However, Lego experienced a decline before experiencing a resurgence, catering to both kids and adult fans of the toy. Adult fans of Lego, known as AFOLs, have fueled the demand for intricate and expensive sets, leading to a booming resale market for rare and discontinued sets.
The video explores the various factors contributing to the high prices of Lego sets, including the intricate designs, premium quality materials, and licensing agreements with popular franchises like Star Wars. Additionally, the video examines the impact of Lego conventions and the growing trend of adults indulging in the hobby, driving up the demand and prices of Lego sets.
As Lego continues to innovate and expand its product lines to cater to both kids and adults, the question remains whether the company’s success will endure. With a strong focus on quality, creativity, and nostalgia, Lego has solidified its place as a premium and sought-after toy brand, but only time will tell if its high prices will be sustainable in the long run.
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Video “Why Lego Is So Expensive | So Expensive | Business Insider” was uploaded on 08/17/2024 to Youtube Channel Business Insider
That currency conversion at 2:15 is completely off. 30kr DK is only around 4,45 US$.
Economic moat company
What the video does not mention about the V-22 Osprey Technic set shooting up in value overnight is that it was pulled almost immediately after release when someone at LEGO Group realized it was a military aircraft and went against their policy of not making modern military equipment.
So not many sets made it to the street. It's a pretty rare item.
Im an AFOL and dave is like me…building mostly technic…build it once display it for awhile and then make my own creations….and over 1.5 million lego
So cool to collect the boxes and never open them😍😍
Imagine the feeling of owning a set and never open it
One thing I miss from this is a view on the competitors. They manage to have a PPP that is only half and as good quality. Some are even better quality or produced completly in the EU (Cobi) and they still manage to be cheaper per part than lego. Like with all big companies the brand is worth more than the actual product and the heavy focus on licenses also increases costs
there are alternatives! I love GoBricks…
Die haben doch lack gesoffen!
Dave definitely never got laid
My favourite thing is theres a similiar LEGOS from china that are bootleg. way way cheaper but yet still hold the same quality
Stop lying to us and defending greedy companies.
Sets are getting more complex?
No they don't – the opposite is true
Lego went up in prices because their customers are stupid enough to pay for it.
The quality goes down the same way the prices go up, Lego gives us half Towers, half pyramids, or even less.
Lego City and Harry Potter are prime examples for that.
Colors don't match, license models do not even come close to what they are supposed to resemble and give you a bunch of stickers for hundreds of dollars.
Mould King, CaDa, Bluebrixx are getting better as well and they don't rob their customers with horrendous price calls.
When I was a kid I remember thinking I would buy legos when I grow old cause I could probably afford it. I still haven't bought a lego as an adult.
This topic is stupid, its like saying why is Nike or any other specially advertise brand so expensive, we all know the answer, its a special brand that dumb people pay top dollar for so they can advertise it and other things all over whatever price they want.
The woman calling it Lee go is just legit annoys me. it's lego
Why is LEGO so expensive? Greed!
two theft incidents spring to mind from a while ago
1. A senior IT exec got caught running a reduced price barcode scam at Target – got 30 days in jail and fired from his very highly paid job (Made $30k from crime…)
2. A UK based fraudster made bank by using stolen credit cards to pay to buy lego from their US website that he had sold on ebay usa. very effective drop shipping. took lego 6 months or so to make buyers add a US phone number when checking out.
The elements have gotten much smaller over time. So the price per part ratio is off.
"2. It has to be reasonably priced." Guess they forgot that along the way.
Best toy i've ever had, i would build a tower, and it would get big enough to tumble and woble, i would do it until i ran out of pieces.
I stopped playing with Lego when I became a teenager in the 90's. I saw the brand drift away from the lines I loved in my childhood, and kept the nostalgia deep in my heart but it never occurred to me to buy another Lego set.
Then my son was born, and I rediscovered Lego as a way to bond and connect with him. There's no bigger joy than your child becoming engaged with a toy you know how to play with, and can teach him.
Today, I choose the sets I buy mostly based on his preference, but I can say with pride that I am (and always will be) an AFOL.
28 minits and you didnt answer the question of the video. This is why I disliked it.
I used to buy lego but its got too expensive now, the last set I got was the VW cumpervan, I wanted the animal crossing sets but they are just far too expensive for what they are. i hope the bottom falls out of the market soon and lego stop being so greedy.
Two patents from 1939 and 1945,yep not too much relevance behind the years to take note of.
seriously its to expensive ?
The Osprey set is a special case, since it was pulled from the shelves pretty fast. There is a whole lucrative (for some) side market for selling Lego, though, yeah
Some plastic for $200. Wow! Fun!
lego is sooo expensiv because the company is one of the greediest and worst on the planet who always test how dumb their consumers are by raising the price of sets while simultainiously lowering the quality so far beneath the industry standart and people keep buying their shit
It shouldn't be. It's plastic.
just get the chinese replicas lol
Dislike.
They didnt give an honest answer to the question in the title.
brown would be perfect if you were making a realistic chocolate build
the Star Wars atat…
I really wonder how this will survive the generation change. In short, now set are more expensive cause are more complex cause they target an adult audience that grown up playing lego and now can afford to buy anything they want.
But… when these will grow old, will they replace by newly grown children if the price became increasingly inaccessible?
I hade several set as a kid. My friend kids today, maybe 1 or 2. For them, lego is not so important as it was for me.
The wonders of AI generated scripts.
Congratulations – you just watched a 28 minute advert
Once my father was worried about my brother’s coin collecting. He was worried that he was “wasting” his money. I simply said; would you rather he spend his money at a bar? Look at the world’s cruise lines, vacation homes, jet skis, collector cars, private jets, yachts, etc. Wealth disposal systems are important to anyone who has a few extra bucks. AFOLs have nothing on golf enthusiasts.
Stop buying this junk and prices will come down😂
so why is lego is so expensive?
Weil die Lack gesoffen haben.
The what? 20:42
Why doesn’t Lego make more 18+ sets of different sizes instead of mostly giant ones?
Lego seeks to maximise its profits and uses nefarious methods to achieve this.
The best example is the half Cheops pyramid. All pictures on the package give the impression that you get a complete one. However a lego critic on YT showed the finished piece from all angels. You get a pyramid split in half.
On prices. You compare the price per piece over the years. You totally omit that over the years the production costs for a piece have surely fallen significantly. Or why can competing firms offer complex sets for half the price of one from Lego?
This video is a pure marketing video and does not adress the true reason why Lego has ruined its reputation. I vowed to never ever again buy a set again.
Also Lego is mostly not made in China unlike most other toy brands.
Ninjago is way more expensive nowadays
thing about lego is it may be expensive but you get what you pay for. especially when so many products are effectively designed to fail in 2 years.
7:47 WISE WORDS!
Bro the Duplo Set is ofc more expensive per brick since the duplo brick is much bigger
still impressive video thx
lego is the best
I didnt even think about looking at comments until i heard her say “AT AT”
at this point I only buy non-LEGO brick sets to build and enjoy, because these ar not only cheaper but most of the time far better in quality and also deliver on themes that Lego abandoned a long time ago for all their cheep licence crap, wilst enjoying the fact how much my Lego collection from the early 80s up to 2021/22 is up in value. -but these times are generally over, for now at least, too many investors, poor set quality, especially with non-adult sets and Lego capitalizing on the adult collectors market by re-releasing top sellers like the big millenium falcon, witch actually dropped in value since it was discontinued 2/3 years ago, much unlike the previous version from about 10 years ago.