Is LEGO an expensive hobby?

This article is part of a series of editorials written by the community of Brick.is, an online community for AFOL’s.

For some, an investment. For others, nonsense. For many hours of pleasure. LEGO, how much you force our wallet to open, our accounts to decrease…. Sometimes I find myself thinking that being an adult and playing with Lego has a lot to say.

Sometimes I find myself wondering if I’m a collector, hoarder, or just investing in a toy that I know will in the long run give me some extra funding. Sometimes I find myself wondering if it’s really worth it, in certain months, to make an extreme sacrifice just to buy half a dozen sets. And it is. No doubt it’s worth it.

Whether from my collector’s point of view, whether from an investor’s point of view or even from a hoarder’s point of view, Lego is and always will be one of the most valuable and valued toys ever. I started collecting Lego in 2016.

Since that day, December 8th, my life has changed. For the sake of the collection, sometimes an extra sacrifice is made here at home so that that set or set of pieces that I so yearn for reach us. When I submitted myself to write about the topic: “Lego, an expensive hobby?”, I realized that it is an extremely difficult question to answer.

As you would ask someone who is addicted to something, the addiction always takes precedence over the real value of the addiction… the minutes of pleasure that any Legomaniac or any addict (whatever it may be) mean more than the amount invested.

Coming back to earth and analysing the values proposed by the brand, it is possible to perceive that this, realized late, but realized that the main target audience is adults. For decades, LEGO has geared themes and constructions towards children. For years and years, huge sets of the most diverse themes, whose main purpose was to play, passed by us. However, slowly the brand launched sets of the most varied themes, with more complex, more detailed, more realistic and even more nostalgic constructions, aimed at this adult audience who are the main holders of capital, capable of spending sometimes, be it the value whatever it may be, to satisfy the craving and addiction of this fantastic toy.

More and more realistic minifigures appear, more complex sets, with or without purchased licences (as is the case with Disney, Marvel, etc.), and the values accompany this evolution and offer that Lego has offered us.

Of course, there is no mention of some discontinued sets that reach values 5 and 6 times higher than the retail price applied by the brand in previous years. As I write this text, more or less opinionated, more or less a reflection, but with a specific theme, I try to put myself in an impartial position, which allows me to assess the price of sets today. This impartial position will always have two answers.

The answer of a collector who doesn’t believe that the values are that high, even though it weighs on a family’s monthly budget. And the answer of someone else who only sees Lego as a toy, expensive by the way, for being just a toy and not an essential good.

Therefore, in my opinion, Lego is not an expensive hobby, as I am a collector, passionate about the brand and creator of thematic constructions in the castle, pirates, western and city areas. And thou? Do you think Lego is an expensive hobby?