Which LEGO sets do you now regret having bought?

UKtsumi

We've all done it, bought something we thought would be worth selling at a later date only to find out it depreciates. Of couse it goes without saying, that the bonus with Lego is you can always just open it and play with it.

Moved to Collecting:YC 4-23-12

Oldfan

From my wallet's point of view, that first Star Wars set in 1999: that purchase brought me out of the dark ages, and I can't stop spending to this day...

Bumblepants

the 7664 TIE Crawler. Half of the set was tank treads and it was a boring build. And of course worthless on the re-sell market for those same reasons. O well, at least I got it 30% off so it wasn't too much of a waste.

Duchessa

When I woke up from my dark age (around 2000), I bought lots of Lego that I wouldn't have bought today. 12 years later I spend more money on Lego, but I make more informed purchases. I buy stuff online and on sale, so I get more for my money, and I just buy the sets I really want.

hoyatables

Back in the mid-2000s, just as i was coming out of the dark ages, I bought a few sets on eBay, including the second-generation international jetport (I already had the first airport back home as a kid) as well as a bunch of the "Paradisa" series. I also bought the 2005 Police Station, which is, frankly, a kid-oriented set that doesn't fit in with the more interconnected Modular and current City stuff.



Looking back, wish I had invested in some Star Wars, Trains, or other city stuff.

UKtsumi

For me its the
10215: Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter
I did get it when it was reduced , but it still doesnt look like it was a great buy!

AvengerDr

^ me too, I hope that this next Christmas, there will be a sudden desire for those sets.. Anyway on BL it's at ~£95.. not that anyone is buying it at that price for now but well at least I bought it at half that price..

LegobrandonCP

Got is for $30 so it isn't that bad. But at regular price, I would of have been really pissed.

joee

The Toy Story 7597 Train Chase is my regret. I bought it for my son who was too small for it and the front engine is just poorly built. Looking back at all the sets I could have spent the same amount on at the time makes it even worse.

bluishgrey

A lot of the Star Wars sets. They're just not that great; especially some of the Clone Wars stuff. Things like Republic Swampspeeder and any of the Jedi Starfighters come to mind. I still haven't opened the new Geonosian Cannon and T-6 Shuttle I picked up on sale...... meh.

y2josh

I don't know that there's any set I've bought that I outright wish I hadn't. Even disappointing builds like the SSD and Cafe Corner serve some function. But if we're talking strictly being disappointed with the official LEGO model... I'd go with one of those two.

monkey_roo

I think for me some of the city sets over the last few years, 7208, 3648, 4642 spring to mind. Not bad sets but nothing that interests me and as it turns out they don't really interest my daughter, who wanted them on sight but just never played with them, especially now there is the friends line, they just live in a box now.

Venunder

Lots of Bionicle sets bought in sales. I'm not quite sure why I bought them. LoL

They just don't "fit" with the rest of my lego.
Although I could use them to stage a large "alien" invasion of my city.

vwong19

Hero Factory for my son.... Now he loves collecting them. At least I buy them on sale and it keeps him from manhandling my proper Lego collection.

The_Brick_Builder

Green Grocer and Market Street. I still regret not buying them when they first came out, or when I saw a Green Grocer for $385 shipped on eBay a few months ago.

prof1515

6565 Construction Crew is the worst Lego set I ever bought. I was simply looking for something with a construction theme and didn't really examine the box. I was shocked and disappointed when I opened it and discovered what a juniorized piece of crap the set was. I'd have put a sailor to shame with the obscenities that came out of my mouth to describe that monstrosity of a set.

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6565-1

The_Brick_Builder

Green Grocer and Market Street. I still regret not buying them when they first came out, or when I saw a Green Grocer for $385 shipped on eBay a few months ago.

Oops! Misread the thread title. I regret buying the 7938 Passenger Train. I got a little caught up in the bidding on eBay (shame on me). When I received it and built it, I realized this wasn't as I expected it would be. Didn't like the overall look of it. Ended up selling it.

LegoFanTexas

Green Grocer and Market Street. I still regret not buying them when they first came out, or when I saw a Green Grocer for $385 shipped on eBay a few months ago.

Yea, that sounds cheap now, doesn't it? :) I recall at the time moaning and groaning thinking "I'm paying HOW much for this darn thing?!?"

Wish I'd bought 10 of them...

dmg111

The ones I just bought, since I have no money... D:

ringleheim

When I saw the title of this discussion, I thought "Great topic!" But I now realize the original poster and I are not on the same page. The intention here seems to dwell on Lego as financial investment with an emphasis on unfulfilled potential resulting in disappointment.

I find it much more interesting to simply discuss "bad sets" that did not deliver fun in the build or final product, or were disliked Lego kits as kits... not investments.

If that is the topic, my answer right now would be the new Town Hall modular building. My immediate impression of the kit was negative, as I simply did not like the orangey brick color or the overall slab-sided, boring architecture of the building. I bought it anyway! And I found the build to be very good and enjoyable. For a while I was quite happy I actually got it. But now that a few months have passed, I have come full circle. I'm back to disliking it. It does not fit in the street of other modulars, I still don't really like it's appearance, and I don't "play" with these things. I build them, put them on a shelf, and look at them. And I just don't enjoy looking at Town Hall.

I'm sure it will go up in value over time, but I wish I had sunk the $200 into bricklink parts for my pirate ship MOC instead.

LegoFanTexas

^ Following up this idea...

MMV was very disappointing to me... I know other people like it, but to be honest, it sat on the shelf for a week half finished, I was not motivated to complete it. After building the modulars, MMV seemed, well, like a kid's Lego set...

It is impressive with all the parts, it is detailed, there are good parts of it, but the sum is not equal to the whole of its parts.

I do think it would make a great "parts kit" to build MOCs with, and for that, buying several of them would make good sense.

UKtsumi

@ringleheim

When I saw the title of this discussion, I thought "Great topic!" But I now realize the original poster and I are not on the same page. The intention here seems to dwell on Lego as financial investment with an emphasis on unfulfilled potential resulting in disappointment.

I find it much more interesting to simply discuss "bad sets" that did not deliver fun in the build or final product, or were disliked Lego kits as kits... not investments.

As the orininal poster, the disussion was open to everyones personal interpretation.
There are many avenues for this topic, personally as a financial investment the 10215 was a minor regret for me. A disappointing build set was the Cafe Corner, and recently I might have to add Tower Bridge as its so big I will have to pack up all my modulars just to have space to make/display it.
I have only been a Lego fan for a few years now and its interesting to hear other peoples opinions about past sets, good or bad, financially or aesthetically.
:)

roguetrader1987

A fair few small sets when I was younger (couldn't tell why I had instant reservations about them):
6102: Too many guards?
6611: Another 'Go-Kart'.
6016: Poor castle cart.
6502: Sub standard buggy.
6528: Sub standard buggy.
6530: Silly car.
6536: Silly microlight aircraft.

Almost all Police sets past my original and favourite station 6384 - what a greedy child! (must have had 'police state' OCD).

6194 My Lego Town & 5933 Airport Building Set
bought 2 of each instead of 1 for extra bricks -too many unadaptable primary coloured 'blocks' such parts do NOT help an AFOL MOC project much.

A few CMFs: No place for a pink fitness instructor in my layouts!

9349: Fairytale & Historical Minifigure set:
Some brilliant fairytale MFs but with a lack of historical parts to make sound pirates and castle characters.

CCC

^ There's another idea for an interesting thread right there. Alternative names for sets. Would you buy this sub standard buggy? Or yet another go-cart?

bellybutton290

7879 hoth echo base, a simply bad set with a bad build and I will probably get nothing like what I paid for it when I sell it. All for the tidy sum of £90!

tamamahm

I think most sets I have purchased have been good choices.
I do have some
Star Wars
Castle
Prince of Persis
stashed away.

We will have to see if these were good choices. I suspect my ds will enjoy playing with most of these, but he is not a big Star Wars fan, so those may be questionable buys. I had a hard time passing up the Turbo Tank.I have 2 other Star Wars sets.

ktmo

I guess one of my regrets was Space Skulls. It was super cheap on Lego.com and I thought why not. It sits at the bottom of the stack still not opened. But, I do think that it was the first set that I bought when I was coming out of my Dark Ages, so because of that, I can't regret it too much.

brickupdate

My favorite quote here: " I wish I had sunk the $200 into bricklink parts for my pirate ship MOC instead." @ringleheim

As for builds, while some are disappointing, nowadays, I am very selective about which sets I build, so I have few regrets. Also, because of the thriving aftermarket, or use of parts for MOCs, it's easy to just unload an underwhelming set, or part it out into the "collective."

Thanks everyone!

Bumblepants

@prof1515 you are right, 6565 is absolutely wretched. My brother is ten years younger and unfortunately grew up during the bleak period of the early '00s and was given that along with many other of those lousy jr-ized sets.

mathew

^ Following up this idea...

MMV was very disappointing to me... I know other people like it, but to be honest, it sat on the shelf for a week half finished, I was not motivated to complete it. After building the modulars, MMV seemed, well, like a kid's Lego set...

So you regret buying those 50 MMV sets that you have sitting in your closet? ; )

Kidding aside, it seems that once you build a modular all other Lego sets with possible exception to the USC Star Wars sets pale in comparison. OTOH, I actually quite like MMV because the buildings have all the charm and detail of the modulars but at a 1/4 the size. Especially the little blue inn. It's cute how you can hold it closed in the palm of your hand.

sonsofsceva

I am in the same boat with @LegobrandonCP. I came out of my dark ages last Spring and the World Racers were going on clearance. One pair of guys with flaming skull jackets is cool, but one can get those on the cheaper sets. Even though I bought it at 1/2 off, the Blizzard Peak still feels like a waste of money.

Also, @joee makes a good point about the fall-apart engine of the 7597 Toy Story Western Train Chase. That set just sits and is almost instantly forgotten.

peterlinddk

I don't regret many sets, because I tell myself that I'll always have the parts! But the 9747, Mindstorms 1.5 is filled with regrets.

I bought it in late 2001 - I think - Mindstorms 2.0 had just been released, and I was trying to come out of my dark ages. Unfortunately there were so many juniorized products at the time, that I didn't feel it was LEGO at all. But when I saw the older Mindstorms set at nearly 50% off (at LEGOLAND Billund, in a french/german version) I had to have it. It was the most expensive LEGO set I had ever seen, let alone bought.

And it sat on a shelf for nearly 8 years. It didn't work properly with Windows 98, Windows 2000, or even Windows XP when that came out. I "lost" (have since rediscovered) the german cd, and couldn't understand a word of the french one. And then the whole Mindstorms NXT came and made my set even less useable.

I should never have bought that set!

But some months ago I tried to build a simple robot, learned to program it in one of the unofficial languages - and have just bought three additional sets ... (They don't sit on the shelf - they are packed away under the bed)

Yellowcastle

Though the OP's initial choice was listed for investment purposes, this topic indeed crosses over into playabilty, value, quality of build, relevance to theme, etc.

After buying the 7633 Construction Site during a B2G1F sale, I regretted it almost immediately. I ended up returning it, though, for the Fantasy Castle so it is technically no longer a regret.

Thus, my regret 'of record' will be my "repurchase" of the 7140 X-Wing back in 2001 via eBay. I had unfortunately left mine behind after a breakup and wanted to re-procure it. Though it certainly wasn't much of an expense at that time, I ended up never actually opening it. And now, 67 X-Wing designs later, it's easily my least favorite. So it sits in my Gorm shelving every day, mocking me. :o)

LegobrandonCP

@sonsofsceva Zellers? I got the. Blizzard's peak and city corner at 50% off. Should of have gotten a secon city corner.

legocrazy1234

Prob some of the clone wars sets. Got caught up in the moment reduced prices etc Just bought em cos they was cheap. Still boxed up unopened.
Also Disney Cars.
Bought all the Toy story sets also and now they seem to be worthless, don't get it as I thought they where good and I still enjoy them in my display.

BeardedCastleGuy

Shrugs, it's all parts in the end, although I DO sometimes see the box or instructions to a set and wish that I had perhaps gotten something more in-line with my current focus.... Then I actually shrug and think 'If wishes were fishes.....' Then I go on.

sonsofsceva

@LegoBrandonCP - That one was Target. I don't have Zellers in the midwest US. Is that Canadian?

LegobrandonCP

^ Yep. I had no idea Target also had the City Corner at $30.

mrseatle

Bought a couple bionicle sets on sale. But I just can't get into those big weird dudes. I thought the parts would be good for making "Mechs", but am so far uninspired by them.

Stormsworder

Some of the lesser Space Police 3 sets which I now can't get rid of.

jadedanc

# 7985 DO NOT TRY to move this set anywhere! LOL Mine fell apart like 5-6 times so I finally got ticked off and threw the small bit that was left put-together on the floor

CCC

^ I like City of Atlantis. OK, mine got converted to a Roman temple, but the original was nice. Just make sure you build it on a board!!

Robb

Yeah, City of Atlantis is very flimsy. It's a good parts set, though, if you can get it 50% off or more. My son loves the sub; he always uses it when playing with the Batman Funhouse set: Batman gets the Batbike, and Robin gets the sub. I wish LEGO would make a DC superheroes Aquaman (a la 1980s Superfriends TV show).

soundczar

Stay with me here, but I say the 10030 UCS Star Destroyer. It took a long time to build and was so flimsy that when I had to move it off the dining room table it fell apart. I spent a whole afternoon fixing it, then as I was placing it for display it slipped out of my hand and smashed on the floor. It now sits in bags in a banker's box in the closet. It's only saving grace for me is that it is an amazing parts pack.

jadedanc

@CCC that is what I originally bought three sets of it for. Just got distracted designing a much bigger MOC at the moment so the Roman Temple has to wait lol

LegoFanTexas

Stay with me here, but I say the 10030 UCS Star Destroyer. It took a long time to build and was so flimsy that when I had to move it off the dining room table it fell apart. I spent a whole afternoon fixing it, then as I was placing it for display it slipped out of my hand and smashed on the floor. It now sits in bags in a banker's box in the closet. It's only saving grace for me is that it is an amazing parts pack.

I found you cannot really move this set as one part, you need to take the bridge off first and move that separately. Then you have access to the main center spar to carry it with, which is the only part strong enough for the job.

If you tried to carry it completely built, I'm not surprised it fell apart, it isn't really movable once completely built. Thankfully, the bridge is easy to put on and take off. :)

This is where Lego did such a better job with the SSD, they built that one solid, so in that regard the new set is a major improvement. But hey, keep in mind that 10030 was built at a time that TLG was having a hard time just existing, and their sets from that era were all terrible. :)

DaddyDeuce

Cars 2 sets. Neither me nor my kids enjoy the theme that much, and they don't have the resale value I was hoping for.

yys4u

I'm kind of surprised to say this, but I kinda regret buying the Alien Conquest stuff. I got caught up in the clearance sales and go all but the helicopter sets on sale. I intended to get the helicopter set later to complete the theme, but now that I have it on display, I feel like it doesn't fit any of my collection. I mainly collect pirates, castle and modulars, and it just stands out like too much of a kids toy on my shelf. I liked them at the time and enjoy building them, but on display its almost an eye sore. I think I'll be taking them apart and storing them in bags.

zjygkmatt

The only set I second guessed myself on buying was the most recent naboo fighter. I looked forward to it for so long, and then when I got it, i noticed how thin and small the box was, and how little pieces it had for $50.

I was pretty let down with the Arc Fighter, I didn't like how the cockpit had open spaces on each corner, and stickers on windshields make me cringe. They should have never started that.

pvancil27

7957 Sith Nightspeeder.

Basically spent 25 bucks for one Minifig, the model itself sucks for display.

I'd also put the 8088 Arc Fighter as it displays poorly and is very badly designed froma stability standpoint.

The 8085 Fresco Speeder and 8128 Cad Bane's Speeder are both pretty poor too, but at least both of them I got for half off which makes it easier to swallow.

LegoFanTexas

I was pretty let down with the Arc Fighter, I didn't like how the cockpit had open spaces on each corner, and stickers on windshields make me cringe. They should have never started that.

They started that a long time ago...

7191 - UCS X-Wing, has stickers on the windshield...