What’s LEGO Going to Cost You? (Summer 2017 Edition – Part II)

I’ve already posted my usual review of the latest LEGO catalogue (click here to read it). But, this time around, I thought I would expand on that a little, and provide some more information. Hopefully this will help someone out there in making some of those hard budgeting decisions. I have been particularly looking forward to some of the new City sets, so I thought I would start there. As I mentioned in Part I of my catalogue review, I was a little disappointed that all of the new sets were not included in this catalogue. In fact, out of 13 new City sets on the market, only seven are in the catalogue. So, I have included the other new sets here too, since I am pretty excited about some of them.

City makes up about 8% of the advertised sets in the Summer 2017 catalogue. The average price of a brick in theme is an astronomical $0.19, which is five cents above the average across all themes in the catalogue. If you are trying to get the most bricks for your buck, City is not the best theme. But, like I said, I have been looking forward to a number of these sets, as I am sure many others have too. So, here are the new City sets from worst to best brick value.

Seven:

The worst value set coming out this summer is City People Pack – Fun at the Beach [60153], which costs $49.99. Each brick in this set clocks in at $0.30. Even at the usual 20% off sales, this set is still a terrible value. The plus side is that it has a phenomenal brick-to-Minifigure ratio of 1 Minifigure for every 11 bricks.

 Six:

The Sea Rescue Plane [60164] costs $29.99. It will put you back $0.21 cents per brick. Like Fun at the Beach, it also has a great brick-to-Minifigure ratio of one Minifig for every 71 bricks.

Five:

Up next is the Coast Guard Headquarters [60167]. The set itself costs $149.99, and has a per-brick cost of $0.19. Despite the bad value, it also has a pretty good brick-to-Minfigure ratio of one Minifig for every 113 bricks.

Four:

There are five sets tied for fifth place: Bus Station ($59.99), Heavy-Duty Helicopter ($74.99), Jungle Mobile Lab ($74.99), Jungle Exploration Site ($149.99), and the Coast Guard Starter Set ($12.99). Each of these sets has a value of $0.18 per brick. Generally speaking, they all have pretty good brick-to-Minifigure ratios, and buying the Jungle Exploration Site will also get you one of the new big cat figurines! The Coast Guard Starter Set has a brick-to-Minifig ratio of 25:1, the Bus Station is 56:1, the Heavy-Duty Helicopter is 104:1, the Jungle Mobile Lab is 107:1, and the Jungle Exploration Site is 116:1.

Three:

Two sets are tied for third best value: the Jungle Cargo Helicopter ($29.99), and the Jungle Starter Set ($12.99). Both of these sets will cost $0.15 per brick, but you get a better brick-to-Minifigure ratio with the Jungle Starter Set (29:1 with three Minifigs as opposed to 101:1 with two Minifigs).

Two:

Tied for second place is the Cargo Terminal ($99.99) and the 4×4 Response Unit ($44.99). Both sets will cost $0.13 per brick, which is one cent below the average for the summer 2017 catalogue, and on par with the January 2017 catalogue.  However, as the value of individual bricks increases, the brick-to-Minifigure ratio gets worse. Neither one of these sets has a bad ratio (Cargo Terminal is 185:1, while the 4×4 Response Unit is 116:1), but they are not quite as good as some of the other sets earlier in the list.

One:

The City set with the best value this summer is the Jungle Halftrack Mission, which costs $44.99. Each brick will set you back $0.12, and it has an ok brick-to-Minfigure ratio of 189:1. It also comes with one of the new LEGO big cats, making this not only the cheapest set to have one, but also the best value.

That concludes my value analysis of the City theme for summer 2017. As always, feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below. Be sure to check back soon for more about the summer 2017 LEGO catalogue!

Until next time,

-T.N.B.