Fun little tip for anyone who loves Star Wars or LEGOs, or both.

I can't remember if I mentioned this here or not, but I thought it might be worth posting about.

A couple of my nerdy interests collide. I love Star Wars. I love LEGOs. I had a huge interest in both since I was a little kid, and I've never let go. And for some years now, there are Star Wars LEGOs, so it's double awesomeness.

I can still remember as a little kid playing LEGOs w/my dad (he was always building cooler stuff and stealing all the good pieces!), and over the years I accumulated a 5-gallon bucket and a 3-gallon bucket completely full of LEGOs. Lots of garage sale finds and a few random sets over the years. Unfortunately for me, when I asked my mom for them when I was about 26-27 years old, she had JUST given them all away to a family friend with a little boy. *facepalm*

Alas, I started building another collection about 10 years ago. For me, it is a fun little stress reliever. I'll put a set or two together a few times a year. Around the same time I started buying LEGOs again, I started noticing that discontinued sets go for big bucks online. Especially the Star Wars sets. So I started saving every set I bought. Once I put it together once, I would save all the pieces and instruction book in their own separate Ziploc bags, and put them back in the box. At one time I had 8-10 sets accumulated and packed away. After 6-12 months, LEGO usually discontinues sets, so they start rising in value after that. This was all around the same time we decided to get Stanley. So I put those sets up on eBay to generate the cash to buy him. Every single set I had packed away sold for (after deducting for eBay fees and shipping) at least a little more than I paid for them. Most sets sold for 150-200% of what I paid for them, even ones that were only a year or two old.

So since then, any time I buy a big set, I save it and pack it away for later. Many of the Star Wars sets are now selling (as long as you have the original box, though they don't have to be unopened) for 4-8x what they originally sold for. Some of the bigger sets (largest Death Star and largest Millennium Falcon, many iterations have been released over the years) sold for $200-300 several years ago, and now are reselling for $2000-5000 online. Now I am kicking myself for not getting any of those, even though I considered it!

Anyway, I just wanted to throw it out there for any LEGO or Star Wars fans. I basically view buying them as "free" if you are willing to store them and resell them in a year or three. If past performance is any indicator of the future, the medium to large sets (800+ pcs) should end up consistently selling for at least 3x what they were originally priced at after 4-5 years.

So if you are nerdy in the same direction I am, food for thought. Buy toys, enjoy, make money!

If there is interest, I'll try to dig up some specific links and pics to the sets I'm referring to, including a couple I currently have.

 

Here is one. I think most can identify what it is...

 

Here is another project I recently put together.

 

I can't even imagine the amount of revenue generated by those two brands together.

 

ugh this license agreement gives me headaches.

 

The FedEx guy just stopped by....









Paper towel roll is for size reference. These things are freaking huge!

 

Do you remember which one?

I've seen some of the older Star Wars sets for as high as $5k. And that is for a set that sold for $300-500 just 5-7 years ago.


The ones I just posted I plan on putting together, then reboxing up and storing for a few years in the basement. At some point I'll resell them and use the cash to buy more.

 

Yeah, the first one I usually see for around $4500. The second for a little over $2000. There is a big Death Star from around that same time that is usually $3-4000.

I'm kicking myself now for not buying any of them back when they retailed for $300-500.

That is a big part of why I bought the two above I just posted. It's like a savings account you can play with.

 

Here are a couple I have packed up in the basement:











Also, last night I finished the Sandcrawler:








Here is Jabba's Barge, which I did a week or two ago:

 

I've got the Death Star about half done. The thing is huge.


But maybe not this huge:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RadluR8vbDI

 

Yeah, I can imagine it'd be a challenge to keep sets together with a couple kids.



Check this out:

Boy, 13, builds Braille printer with Legos, starts company

 

About 2/3 or 3/4 of the way done.
For reference, it is about 16.5" across. And so far, around a foot tall exactly.








The bowls are what I use to divide and sort pieces, which is pretty necessary with a set this big.

 

Death Star is done as of this weekend.

I'll try to put the figurines in the right places and snap some pics soon.