Has the LEGO group released too much 18+ sets this year?

[JintaiZ]

The LEGO group has released a total of 19 sets for adults in 2020.

https://brickset.com/sets/tag-18-Plus

Now, a popular discussion is that is there way to many 18+ sets released and why?

Comment your thoughts below!

Edited September 6, 2020 by JintaiZ

[Toastie]

@JintaiZ

the link to the 19 sets is https://0.0.0.19 - any chance to point to the 19 sets?

Also, with regard to your 4 poll entries: Does 18+ mean $$$, 16+ mean $$? Or are there other criteria to decide?

Best
Thorsten

Edited September 6, 2020 by Toastie

[JintaiZ]

18 hours ago, Toastie said:

@JintaiZ

the link to the 19 sets is https://0.0.0.19 - any chance to point to the 19 sets?

Also, with regard to your 4 poll entries: Does 18+ mean $$$, 16+ mean $$? Or are there other criteria to decide?

Best
Thorsten

I've edited the topic.

18+ means $$$$
With the exception of Star Wars Helmets and The White House

16+ means $$$$
With the exception of Ideas sets.  Imperial Wallet Destroyer is $$$$$$$$$$

14+ means $$$

12+ means $$$
With the exception of the Liebherr...

11+ means $$

10+ means $$

9+ means $

I guess you know the pattern now...

Edited September 7, 2020 by JintaiZ

[Toastie]

Ahh - this is about money. Yes I am getting it now. Thanks for clarifying!

Regards,
Thorsten

[jxu]

The distinction is silly. Any set an 18 year old could build, a 16 year old could build (especially the small one, Bespin Duel). Plus the naming of 18+ makes it sound like some kind of sexually explicit or violent set only for "adults". 

Anyhow more big complex builds is always welcomed by me. (The mosaics don't count.)

[Vindicare]

I would say yes & no...which I did. I voted Yes it’s impossible to keep up over on Brickset but answered No, you don’t have to get all of them here. 

Just this year, I got the Haunted House, NES, and DA. I’m pretty much going to not be buying any LEGO for the rest of this year(with a probability of getting the WV) because early next year comes the Modular & then Ninjago Gardens, and possibly Mos Eisley Catina. While I don’t play the piano, I would love to get the Grand Piano(past sets like Treehouse & Barracuda Bay), because it’s a beautiful set & the play feature is brilliant. But, I could easily live without it compared to the ones I bought, or plan to buy early next year. 

[MAB]

More sets means more choice, which is good. The only people that will find a problem with this are the ones that think they must buy all of them and cannot choose for themselves.

[ArneNielsen]

When the half year financial report was published, the LEGO CEO in an interview at Danish TV noted, that 20% of sales now went to adult fans of LEGO.

Which might explain the increasing number of 18+ sets...!

 

[JintaiZ]

15 hours ago, Toastie said:

Ahh - this is about money. Yes I am getting it now. Thanks for clarifying!

Regards,
Thorsten

I have to mention that the Imperial Wallet Destroyer is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...

6 hours ago, Vindicare said:

I would say yes & no...which I did. I voted Yes it’s impossible to keep up over on Brickset but answered No, you don’t have to get all of them here. 

Just this year, I got the Haunted House, NES, and DA. I’m pretty much going to not be buying any LEGO for the rest of this year(with a probability of getting the WV) because early next year comes the Modular & then Ninjago Gardens, and possibly Mos Eisley Catina. While I don’t play the piano, I would love to get the Grand Piano(past sets like Treehouse & Barracuda Bay), because it’s a beautiful set & the play feature is brilliant. But, I could easily live without it compared to the ones I bought, or plan to buy early next year. 

Well, brickset is about D2C sets, but this topic is about 18+ sets.

[MAB]

18+ sets can also be significantly cheaper than some other large sets. For example, the SW helmets are $60.

7 hours ago, jxu said:

The distinction is silly. Any set an 18 year old could build, a 16 year old could build (especially the small one, Bespin Duel). Plus the naming of 18+ makes it sound like some kind of sexually explicit or violent set only for "adults". 

Making it 18+ also suggests to adults that it is recommended for them. Whereas making it 16+ suggests is it for older teens. The distinction for 16/18 + is for marketing, not for complexity of build.

I reckon a 12 year old could easily put the Mickey and Minnie sets together. However, I don't think a 12 year old would enjoy those sets as much as other LEGO sets that can be played with once built, as the Mickey and Minnie are essentially display dolls that cannot move. Similarly the Crocodile train could be put together by a kid that is used to building LEGO, but there is not much play fun in a set that can be pushed about 5cm on the track provided. It makes sense that these are shown as suitable for adults rather than a playsets, with a younger recommended age.

The White House is 18+, but Trafalgar Square is 12+. Same range just a year apart. They are both similar sized and priced, White House slightly more in both. It is not that the White House is more challenging, or more expensive, just that Architecture is somewhat boring for most kids (not all kids, some will enjoy it) and also likely to sell better overall if flagged up as sets for adults to buy. Buying a set for a 12 year old is off-putting to some adults. Whereas say it is for adults, and it becomes an adult building set. LEGO are continuing from Forma here, testing how to market their products to adults. 

 

[dr_spock]

Sales numbers will tell if they released too many 18+ sets.  They are going after those folks with better disposable incomes.

[JintaiZ]

42 minutes ago, dr_spock said:

Sales numbers will tell if they released too many 18+ sets.  They are going after those folks with better disposable incomes.

More sets always means more sales.

Edited September 7, 2020 by JintaiZ

[JintaiZ]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

18+ sets can also be significantly cheaper than some other large sets. For example, the SW helmets are $60.

Yes, but there's many expensive ones: Piano, A-Wing, Lamborghini, Nitendo, Haunted House, and more...

[MAB]

13 minutes ago, JintaiZ said:

Yes, but there's many expensive ones: Piano, A-Wing, Lamborghini, Nitendo, Haunted House, and more...

Yes, they have a range of sizes and costs, just like every other range. It is wrong to categorize every adult targeted set as expensive as you did here:

18 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

I've edited the topic.

18+ means $$$$

16+ means $$$$

14+ means $$$

12+ means $$$

11+ means $$

10+ means $$

9+ means $

I guess you know the pattern now...

 

[JintaiZ]

8 minutes ago, MAB said:

Yes, they have a range of sizes and costs, just like every other range. It is wrong to categorize every adult targeted set as expensive as you did here:

I've edited my comment.

[hagridshut]

How many people or parents pay attention to the age ratings?  I never did, and neither did my parents 25-30 years ago.

I built an Intergalactic Command Base by myself at age 4-5.

I think many parents will sort of know what level of building complexity their child can handle.  The age ranges are general guidelines, nothing more.

Edited September 7, 2020 by hagridshut

[MAB]

26 minutes ago, JintaiZ said:

I've edited my comment.

 

18 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

I've edited the topic.

18+ means $$$$
With the exception of Star Wars Helmets and The White House

:

12+ means $$$
With the exception of the Liebherr...

 

I guess you know the pattern now...

What is your point then? Of course all the sets are expensive if you remove the cheap ones, and sets are all cheap if you remove the expensive ones.

Adults are more likely to be impressed by and also have the disposable income to spend on larger sets. However, there is still a range of prices for 18+, as there are for 12+.

 

 

 

[JintaiZ]

35 minutes ago, MAB said:

 

What is your point then? Of course all the sets are expensive if you remove the cheap ones, and sets are all cheap if you remove the expensive ones.

Adults are more likely to be impressed by and also have the disposable income to spend on larger sets. However, there is still a range of prices for 18+, as there are for 12+.

 

 

 

18+/16+ sets are more expensive in general.

1 hour ago, hagridshut said:

How many people or parents pay attention to the age ratings?  I never did, and neither did my parents 25-30 years ago.



I built an Intergalactic Command Base by myself at age 4-5.

I think many parents will sort of know what level of building complexity their child can handle.  The age ranges are general guidelines, nothing more.

Some 16+ sets, like Roller Coaster and Hogwarts Castle, has greater complexity than many other sets.

[jxu]

6 hours ago, MAB said:

Making it 18+ also suggests to adults that it is recommended for them. Whereas making it 16+ suggests is it for older teens. The distinction for 16/18 + is for marketing, not for complexity of build. 

Still, I don't see the difference between older teens and adults in terms of build preference. Older teens aren't playing with toys usually.

[JintaiZ]

28 minutes ago, jxu said:

Still, I don't see the difference between older teens and adults in terms of build preference. Older teens aren't playing with toys usually.

Adults play toys even less...

[KotZ]

15 minutes ago, jxu said:

Still, I don't see the difference between older teens and adults in terms of build preference. Older teens aren't playing with toys usually.

There's not, but you have to look at it as an adult (and by adult I am not meaning the general legal age of 18, I'm meaning 25+). 25+ are currently getting into the workforce and starting to have disposable income. They can spend money on that trip to Vegas, Thailand, etc. They can start to splurge on TVs, furniture, etc. They're getting their own apartments houses, etc. Of course, this varies by region, city, job, etc, but generally people as they get older in theory are supposed to have more income.

So what happens when there are these people that used to play with LEGO as kids do as they get older? They hold onto them for various purposes or sell them. "I'm too old to play with LEGO!" But TLG says "au contraire," and releases sets, both display ones and "display" ones to these people that have the money to spend on a luxury item. Sure they're not "playing" like they would as a kid, but they're building (or playing as some other people would say) and purchasing sets.

LEGO is now becoming the cool, acceptable version of model trains and planes. Usually, you'd see only "nerds" or "weird people" or "old people" purchasing and doing that. Not everybody did that as a kid, especially because that stuff is expensive. So you maybe do Warhammer minis, which are maybe considered nerdier, and are also ludicrously expensive. LEGO? Just about everyone can purchase that in the first and second world.

It's all marketing. There's a big difference in the brain between 16 and 18, 16 and 20, etc. But tendencies might still be the same regarding "I'm not going to play with a toy." LEGO is capitalizing on this nostalgia thing that seems to be sweeping the millenial generation (Yes, Mos Eisley is from a movie from before millenials were born) that seems to have this idea of reclaiming childhood and youth. If anything, in the States, it seems like an effort to go back to pre-9/11 times. I always see people saying "If you're a 90s kid..." Yes, a good half of the licensed Ideas releases are from post 9-11, but they're still in that range where 9/11 is an early memory that they might not know and really just remember being a kid.

Yes, that is an incredibly American-centric point of view, but it's a possibility. If anything, the release of the original The Lego Movie has a bigger impact on the 18+ sets. That movie showed a character (a bit of a silly, buffoonish man) who build LEGO sets and MOCs and all that stuff, while then eventually having him interact with his kid. If Will Ferrell (or an character played by him) builds this stuff, why not the common man? Terry Crews is an AFOL. Patrick Kaleta (not as well known, but Let's go Sabres) is an AFOL. David Beckham and more. Adults can now see LEGO not as a kid's toy, but a way to bond with the kid, but if they don't have kids or do, they can say "this is my set." They can display it and tinker with it like with trains.

[MAB]

Exactly. Marketing. 16+ means it is a toy. 18+ means adults can buy it without feeling it is for kids.

Anyone that bought the Forma set via indiegogo may remember the surveys about how Lego was marketing sets / ideas to adults. 

4 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

18+/16+ sets are more expensive in general.

Larger sets are more expensive in general, and adults tend to be impressed by larger sets, as they feel more model like and less toy like. Plus adults tend to have a higher disposable income than kids.

But there are still cheaper 18+ sets like the helmets, that help get new to LEGO adults drawn in.

[Toastie]

9 minutes ago, MAB said:

Plus adults tend to have a higher disposable income than kids

I believe this is less of a tendency but rather mostly the case. In the world of so-called developed countries. Partly at least. Let's make that "hopefully".

(Well, there are many, many countries in this world, where kids do generate income - for the family. But in most cases they are not that much into LEGO. More into food and the like)

I look at the XY+ number solely from the money perspective. As @JintaiZ has outlined. I believe that there is no set that needs to be 18+ - building skill wise. None.

Best
Thorsten

 

 

[JintaiZ]

@Toastie@MAB, let's be clear.

18+ = No playability

16+ = Very Little playability

14+ = Little playability

12+ = Some playability

11+/10+ = Lots of playability

9+/8+/7+ = Even more fun for kids

Duplo sets = No playability for adults and teens but playable for babies

On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 8:54 AM, MAB said:

just that Architecture is somewhat boring for most kids

I enjoyed Architecture a lot when I was a kid.

On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 5:01 PM, Toastie said:

I believe that there is no set that needs to be 18+ - building skill wise. None.

Best
Thorsten

Agreed. In fact I find the Star Wars helmets easier to build than the D-O droid.

On ‎9‎/‎7‎/‎2020 at 3:08 PM, jxu said:

Still, I don't see the difference between older teens and adults in terms of build preference. Older teens aren't playing with toys usually.

But seriously, older teens are going to have a blast building 18+/16+ sets. They probably won't care much about playability.

Edited September 14, 2020 by JintaiZ

[Toastie]

Define playability

Example: I got the Crocodile (#10277, declared as "18+") when it was released - and played with it, as I haven't done in a long, long time.

Closely followed the mods/improvements here and elsewhere. Sat in front of my tens of boxes of pieces and tried to figure out how to improve it myself. Arrived at my preferred personal taste design. After hours and hours and days of playing. Then got word about Legoino - which - it was such a relief - allowed me to get rid of that ... weird ... PUP app on my cell phone - formerly required to run the Crocodile - then spent hours and hours - weeks to program a cheap microcontroller to do that job, I wanted it to do: Run the Crocodile back and forth - with well-defined acceleration and deceleration points on the track.

Personally, I'd define the playability of #10277 (18+) as the one of the greatest, I have experienced in many years

Best,
Thorsten

Need to add: I now frequently sit in my chair and watch the Crocodile going back and forth. It negotiates "Paris" (architecture) and soon also "London" - I purchased a couple of days ago on eBay - from a first year student. He asked for €25. I found that not appropriate - and added some value before sending the money. For me, that is playability at best.

 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Toastie