What’s LEGO Going to Cost You? (January 2018 Edition)

As we ring in 2018, the time has come for that most important of questions… Which LEGO sets will you buy from the first wave of the year? The January 2018 catalogue arrived in the mail not too long ago, and I have had a chance to pour through its pages in depth. I have already picked my top 5 sets, you can read about them by clicking here. But, it was hard to choose because there are 128 advertised sets in the Canadian version of the catalogue, featuring 19 different themes. The most featured themes were Creator, Star Wars, and Friends.

The Average Cost of a Brick = $0.12 (CAD)

From the end of 2016 until the Holiday catalogue of 2017, there was a trend towards an ever increasing cost per brick in the LEGO catalogues. I noted its climb from $0.11 in 2016 to $0.14 in the summer of 2017. The holiday catalogue showed a drop back down to $0.13 per brick, and now we are seeing another drop to $0.12 (this analysis does not include the Mindstorms and Boost robotics sets since they are not standard brick kits). City remains one of the most expensive themes per brick, and was tied this time around with Disney. I included both the Disney Princesses and the Disney Castle in the same category. However, if you look at just the Disney Princess collection on its own, it will actually cost $0.17 per brick, making it the most expensive theme in the catalogue.

 

Average Brick-to-Minifigure Ratio = 199:1

When I review and rate my LEGO sets, I think it is important to look at ratio of bricks to Minifigures. To get an idea of what a good ratio is, I look at the LEGO catalogues. The super hero themes generally come with a pretty good ratio of bricks to Minifigures, and this catalogue was no exception. You will note that Mighty Micros has the best ratio (the lower the number in the chart, the more Minifigures you are getting in your brick count). But, keep in mind that Mighty Micros Minifigs come with those dopey expressions and stumpy legs (neither of which I am a fan of, but to each his/her own). This ratio is a little worse than the overall for 2017 (189:1), but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything as the ratio tends to fluctuate a lot from catalogue to catalogue. Of interest in these numbers this time around is the fact that the Classic theme now has sets that include Minifigures, which I thought was a great idea.

Average Number of Minifigures Per Set = 4

Another way to look at Minifigures is the actual number that are included in any given set in a theme. Ghostbusters comes out on top in the diagram below, but keep in mind that the number is only based on one set, and not an average. The LEGO Batman Movie, Creator, and Ninjago sets tend to come with the most Minifigures.

Average Cost of a Set = $93.08 (CAD)

This time around, the average cost of a LEGO set is $93.08. This is a little lower than the overall average for 2017 ($99.81), but, again, that doesn’t mean much. The average cost of a set depends entirely on what sets LEGO has chosen to advertise in the catalogue. It actually fluctuates a lot from catalogue to catalogue. I like to look at it for fun, and also because it can show trends over several catalogues. BrickHeadz and Mighty Micros were the cheapest sets advertised, and they all cost the same amount. When buying one, you might want to do a quick calculation of the cost per brick to see which ones are actually the best value. Again, Ghostbusters was an odd-ball here and shouldn’t be considered to seriously since it is only one set.

So, what does all of this really mean? Not much. Most of us pick our LEGO sets based on a variety of different factors. But, I have been in the LEGO Store before, torn between sets. In those cases, my little catalogue review has helped me to pick one set over another. So, hopefully it will help you too or, at the very least, entertain you mildly. As a closing thought, if you wanted to buy every single set in the January 2018 catalogue, it would cost you $11,913.72 in Canada. You would get 109,402 LEGO bricks, and 345 Minifigures.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Until next time,

-T.N.B.