How many themes do you collect?

[Sid]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed lately, if it has feel free to add to the existing thread..

About me: I collect a lot of Star Wars (mostly PT), and I mean a lot. I don't have a lot of shelf space left but I can squeeze in a little more if needed. I currently have about 2/3 of my SW collection on display and all my HP, Trains, and TECHNIC put away in bins.

Now.. I'm thinking about buying and possibly building a small "army" of the Kingdoms figs/sets. TRU is having the BOGO sale this week so I could take advantage of that and buy the first 2 big sets of the line. I know that once I start this I'll have to finish it off, as well as buy the fall SW sets, and HP sets.

This is going to hit my wallet AND shelf space. So I'm wondering if it's too much. I've never had the opportunity to have a decent Castle line so it's a little tempting right now.

How many different themes do you AFOLS "juggle"?

[JCC1004]

Currently one one. I have the complete Indiana Jones collection. I'm only missing the Lions Castle from the 2010 Kingdoms then I'll have that complete collection as well. I also plan of collecting the new Harry Potter line coming up. I also collect Star Wars OT. I do pass on some sets that are either too expensive or don't suit my taste. I don't mean since SW started but from 2006 through present is about right.

Best regards,

JCC

[Sid]

Thanks for replying JCC, how do you like the Kingdoms sets? I almost took home the castle and prison tower tonight but I decided to leave it for tomorrow and do a little research first. Do you display all your collections? My problem is that I still have about 4-5 SW sets waiting to be built.. not to mention about 16 of the Clones battle packs.

[LegoDad42]

My collection is mostly Star Wars but I started out with the Indiana Jones sets which I actually enjoy the most (love the traps especially). I also love and collect all Space Police and Agents for the vehicle designs. Looking myself to expand into the Castle themes. Only have Dwarve's Mine (great set) and Siege/Prison Tower, plus Troll Assault Wagon. Definitely will be adding to this line for my collection as I love the whole look and feel. I also started collecting mini-models since I got the BrickMaster Subscriptions. They're very well done and look cool displayed.

With that said...shelf space is a major problem for me right now. I have about 10 sets still in box due to this. I gotta' get to Ikea and get some storage and nice shelfs with lights above to better display the kits. And have to pick up a couple of those LEGO storage/carrying cases for displaying all these cool looking new mini-figs.

[Lego_Hero]

I may be atypical on this board, but I don't collect a specific theme. I'm really in it for the minifigs, so whatever set is the best value minifig-wise is the one for me. Even then, it's under $20 sets only.

I like Kingdoms/Castle the best and pick up all their under $20 sets. Other than that specifically, I like the diversity of picking from all the themes.

If Adventures returned with more sets from the 30's/40's, that would be my theme. I was out of the loop the first time they came out. I think I only picked up a handful of sets.

[JCC1004]

Thanks for replying JCC, how do you like the Kingdoms sets? I almost took home the castle and prison tower tonight but I decided to leave it for tomorrow and do a little research first. Do you display all your collections? My problem is that I still have about 4-5 SW sets waiting to be built.. not to mention about 16 of the Clones battle packs.

I love them actually. The Prison Tower is beautiful in my opinion. I'm just glad it's knights versus knights again and not skeletons and trolls. The sets make a nice castle theme and all the sets easily go together. I do display all of my collections. The rest of my LEGO is stored away. I do display my mini figures too. I have half of them on two plates and the other half in 2X3 bags that are taped nicely on the wall. Pictures soon. I actually have a whole room for LEGO. It's quite nice. I feel I'm getting off-topic and going to to storage discussion. I'll stop now.

Best regards,

JCC

[The Green Brick Giant]

I normally do City and Castle. However I now just go by what is on sale. I try to buy at least one small set in every theme just to have the different minifigures and special parts to the theme.

I mainly only buy a few City sets a year, and they need to be special. I loved Castle (Fantasy- Which isn't all LEGO fantasy?), but can't stand the boredom of the new Kingdoms sets.

Edited July 14, 2010 by The Green Brick Giant

[Artanis I]

This is going to hit my wallet AND shelf space. So I'm wondering if it's too much. I've never had the opportunity to have a decent Castle line so it's a little tempting right now.

How many different themes do you AFOLS "juggle"?

When I saw the title of the thread, I immediately thought "it depends how much money and shelf space you can part with".

I've stuck to Space, as I know if I touch any other theme my money is going to just disappear. If I did get into another theme it would be Castle... but there is so much of a back-catalogue it would cost far too much and I'm a "complete the whole lot" kind of person. I have considered limiting myself to figures (this would still be a large expensive venture) however. I had a number of Castle, Pirates & Town sets as a kid, these are all dismantled and many pieces have been scavenged for my Space collection.

I've also considered collecting Star Wars figures, but the price of some is putting me off from actually doing it quite a lot.

[Raphy]

Let's see, I don't collect a lot of themes but as far as I can remember I have bought/received sets from the following themes:

Racers

Space Police III

Star Wars

Creator

Technic

4+

Atlantis

Power Miners

City

:D

......and Bricklink. Dunno if that counts. ;P

[Peppermint_M]

I do not collect sets, I collect MOC parts. There are very few sets I buy on their own (few) merits. I do not keep them built for very long.

I purchase many sets for the parts provided and use them to build right off. No particular themes, unless it is an Action Theme, which often have features that make me want to buy all of the theme.

[Toth]

I collect:

Castle

Kingdoms

Space Police

Star Wars

Pirates

Atlantis

I buy a lot of sets (for pieces and cause they are amazing) from

Prince of Persia

Indiana Jones

Harry Potter

My son collects

Sponge Bob

Toy story

and I plan to collect soon

world racers

new harry potter line

+ I still buy old sets connected with space and castle theme i missed when I was younger.

too much good stuff done by Lego lately. I burn too much money every month.

Fortunatly, we live in Paris and our flat as most of the parisian flats is small, and soon I will have reach my space limit.

...so I think...that... we will have to move to a bigger flat soon! :D

Edited July 14, 2010 by Toth

[Sandy]

I too collect parts, minifigs and sets more than entire themes, but naturally there are themes that include more interesting elements than others.

Currently I have 142 individual sets (according to my Brickset list), and theme-wise they divide like this:

Castle (34 sets)

Harry Potter (24 sets)

City/Town/Paradisa (14 sets)

Orient Expedition (12 sets)

Pirates (12 sets)

Indiana Jones (6 sets)

Power Miners (5 sets)

Space (5 sets)

Western (5 sets)

Prince of Persia (4 sets)

And then one or two sets from various other themes, like Adventurers, Agents, Atlantis, Speed Racer, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Studios, Toy Story and Vikings.

My wanted-list includes sets mostly from Castle, Harry Potter and City, but also few from the other themes.

[Marckeyh]

I collect mainly Technic and 80's Legoland (most of it is town stuff, but I have some space sets as well.)

All with box and instructions, about 250 sets or so.

Besides that I have some sets of the Racers theme, Creator and a few Power Miners

I dont like SW, atlantis, prince of persia, toy story etc... they don't appeal to me at all.

EDIT: forgot to mention I also collect City, got the farm recently and it's great :)

Edited July 14, 2010 by Marckeyh

[Brickdoctor]

I mainly purchase Star Wars nowadays with some Castle or Pirates thrown in, but I've come to regret not getting some of the Technic.

Castle always has good pieces and a constant appeal from the fan base. It really depends on whether you plan to build in this new theme regularly or if you want the pieces to supplement your SW collection.

[prateek]

I don't collect themes at all. I just go for the sets that look cool to me.

[Blondie-Wan]

I don't make nearly enough money or have nearly enough space for all the LEGO I want to get, but I try my best to keep up.

Star Wars is the theme that pulled me out of my dark ages and it's the best-represented theme in my collection, but it's by no means my exclusive interest. I'm going to guess it makes up about 40% of my collection, though that number could be way off in either direction. I'd love to be able to get it all, but at the moment there's just no way I can, alas, so I focus on some intersection of what I'm most interested in - mostly the classic original trilogy) and what I'm most able to get (inexpensive stuff, sets on sale, etc.; I do have a fair number of larger, more expensive sets, but generally ones I've gotten at discount. The 10144 Sandcrawler is the largest and the highest-priced (original MSRP, not secondary market) Star Wars set in my collection, and the second-highest priced set of any kind I have (the top one being the original 9719 Mindstorms Robotics Invention System, though it neither goes for much money now as I understand it, nor did I pay much for it - it was recently given to me by a friend who was given one twelve years ago and never used it).

Like many Star Wars fans I'm also an Indiana Jones fan, and Indiana Jones is the theme I've collected most successfully / completely, though at the same time it's the one that's currently bringing me the most anxiety in collecting. I do have at least one of each "regular" set in the line, and two or more of each of them except 7623 Temple Escape and the Brickmaster set 20004 (just one of each), but I want additional copies of many of them for the parts and color palettes, army-building / crowd-filling (including animal groups), etc. With the last wave disappearing from stores now and the future of the theme uncertain (I really, really hope it resumes next year, but there's no solid indication yet it will), I'm having to scramble now to get all the ones I desperately want, and I may never be able to get another copy I can be sure is genuine from any of the first three waves. Still, I guess I should be glad I do at least have one of each of the 17 regular sets - everything except the ultra-limited Comic-Con set and some of the "accessory" items (magnets, keychains, DS cases, etc.), though I did also get four of the six (?) keychains as well, just for fun. I intend to acquire additional copies of some of the Indy sets from the last wave in a couple days, and I may have to leave it at that; if so, I think I can be mostly happy about what I did manage to get, though it continues to sting that I didn't pick up a few more of the some of the earlier sets.

While Indy is one of the few themes I'm managing to collect more or less to completion (the collectible minifigures are another, so far), there are other themes I do collect to whatever extent I can. I'm finding I really enjoy City, so I do try to get a bunch of City stuff, and I'm also fond of the various short-lived action themes, so I try to get at least a few sets from each of those (I'd get them all if I could, but I have to pick and choose). I do also try to get at least a token set from just about every theme, just to have it represented in my collection (so I have a Vikings set, a Western set, a Belville set, etc.). I love Toy Story and would like to try to get at least one of each set in the theme; unlike Indy, I don't feel I need multiples of everything, but I've decided I would like to try for at least one of each, so that is probably my next "completion" theme after Indy, though I have only a few of the sets so far - it's a good thing for me it's new and none of the sets are gone yet.

Of all series currently or recently in production and which I'm currently getting, these are the ones I'm focusing most of my efforts on:

Indiana Jones

Star Wars (particularly OT)

Toy Story

City (particularly "civilian," transportation and farm stuff)

Pirates

Minifigures

Power Miners

Castle / Kingdoms

I am very interested in the Prince of Persia sets (even if largely just to help fill out my Indiana Jones universe), but haven't actually gotten any of the sets yet so I don't know if I should count them, though I do intend to get at least one of each of them eventually. I have an interest in each of the three overall "classic / core" themes (City/Town, Castle, Space), but haven't been able to keep up with the recent "Castle" subtheme of Castle much; I hope to be able to pick up at least one or two more from this line before they're all totally gone. LEGO's Space in general interests me a lot, but police stuff tends to grab me a little less, so the current Space Police subtheme isn't demanding my attention right now as much as a more exploratory one like Life on Mars would. I do still want a few more Space Police sets, though. And I'm probably going to pick up one last Agents set soon if circumstances permit.

[Sid]

I'm glad this topic has gotten some attention.

I see I'm not the only one at all collecting several themes. I love SW and while I plan on getting the future sets, right now I'm a little "bored" with it (maybe it's time for a movie marathon). On the other hand.. I'm really liking this new Kingdoms line and will definitely be modding the castle as I've previously done with my HP collection.

It's too late (I think) for me to start collecting Indiana Jones + Pirates. One theme I always liked was the Ninja theme but I missed out on it.

Lately I've been thinking about taking out my Santa Fe (2 engines / 5 cars) and start building a nice town (Grand Emporium, Green Grocer, Fire Brigade). But this can get expensive very fast.

[-R8-]

In the past, I always used to take an interest in one particular theme and then try to complete it. Unfortunately this practice caused me to miss out on many other cool sets from other themes. Bionicle used to be the theme that I tried to collect in its entirety, but around 2005 or so is when I began to get more sets from System themes instead.

Nowadays, I try to buy sets from a diverse range of themes and get a "taste" of mostly everything, instead of focusing on one theme and buying every set in it. I tend to lean towards LEGO's own themes rather than licensed themes (with the exception of the Star Wars theme, which I am an avid fan of). However, my decision for buying a particular set or not is heavily based on how much use the pieces in the set have to me, as well as the kinds of minifigs included.

[Plastemaurer]

I only collect Atlantis and the Collectable Minifigures at the moment but I also like City and if there is set that appeals to me, I buy it. But I wouldn't say that I collect City in the sense that I have to have a complete collection.

I did collect and complete Mars Mission, Agents and the latest Pirates and although Indiana Jones ended my dark ages, I only managed to complete the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" line and then lost interest in the theme.

In my pre-dark ages-era I tried to collect M:Tron and Blacktron II but only got a few sets. Completetd them only recently thanks to a well known online auction platform.

[Carbohydrates]

Collectible minifigs, modular houses and Western. I don't buy a whole lot of sets, honestly. I do almost all of my MOC designing digitally and then order the parts to realize them through Bricklink.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Carbohydrates

[XimenaPaulina]

My collection is mostly Star Wars + City with a couple of Licensed and Space themes on the side. In terms of percentage, this is how my collection looks like:

Star Wars = 41%

CITY = 39%

Licensed = 9%

Space = 7%

Pirates=2%

Castle = 2%

Action/TECHNIC = 0%

I don't buy a whole lot of sets, honestly. I do almost all of my MOC designing digitally and then order the parts to realize them through Bricklink.

Same here, I haven't bought a lot of sets lately since I've been busy with MOCing. I just bought the needed parts from BL for my projects.

[Sergiu]

At the moment I only collect Technic sets, but I only buy the best set of the year because I started building MOCs, which is a lot more expensive than buying sets.

In my collection I have mostly Technic sets and a few sets from other themes like Model Team, Town, Mindstorms and others which you can see here.

[Cammy]

Although my very first LEGO sets were a few small Orient Expedition promos and other assorted promo packs, and my first real set was a Harry Potter house, it wasn't until Mars Mission came out that I really started to collect LEGO. I nearly completed the whole Mars Mission line, only missing out on the original ETX Alien Strike (but making up for it by getting an extra ETX Alien Infiltraitor which is better anyway) and the MT-201 Ultra-Drill Walker, which I still REALLY want to get! I continued on to collect Space Police after Mars Mission finished, and I'm only missing the Max Security Transport (which seems very hard to find) and the Container Heist, which I'm hoping to grab for a good price before they're all gone too. I really love LEGO Space, and hope it continues on with another compatible theme (I have my Space Police and aliens living amongst the Mars Mission team, since I figure they've started colonising the place by now).

My second main theme is LEGO City, which I don't necessarily try to get all the sets of, just the ones I really like or the ones I find for a bargain. I like to mix Creator Houses, Collectible Minifigs, and eventually Modular Buildings once I get some with my City. Off the shore in the ocean is a small island and some boats with Pirates on them. I'd like to collect more Pirates, but the sets aren't easy to come by since they're not bringing new ones out. Occasionally I'll get a random set from one of the various other themes and mix them with my City or Space scenes. Currently I'm working towards a Halloween display in my LEGO City. I have also recently picked up a couple of the new Kingdoms sets, and I'm kind of in love. I guess my LEGO City will have to have its own medieval attraction with authentic knight actors, I only wish I had managed to pick up my layby of the Medieval Village set before Christmas Eve last year, I'm so bummed I missed out on that.

[Sid]

I have also recently picked up a couple of the new Kingdoms sets, and I'm kind of in love. I guess my LEGO City will have to have its own medieval attraction with authentic knight actors, I only wish I had managed to pick up my layby of the Medieval Village set before Christmas Eve last year, I'm so bummed I missed out on that.

Smart way of incorporating the Kingdoms sets into your City. It could be like "Medieval Times" with its own authentic castle and everything. You can still pick up the Village, I picked one up today.

I guess I can officially say I've added Kingdoms to my collection.

[Artanis I]

I guess I can officially say I've added Kingdoms to my collection.

...tempting...