Buyer's/seller's remorse: what are your experiences?

[Martin_B]

I'm not sure how often this has been discussed before, but I think it might make for an interesting thread...

Since I'm now getting back into buying Lego regularly again, I've been looking back on what I've acquired over the years. There are some pre-Dark Ages sets that I've rebuilt recently for nostalgia's sake, and despite remembering them being awesome on some long-past Christmas/birthday morning I'm not so impressed with them now. One or two make me think, "why did I buy/ask for that?"

The Blacktron II 'Alpha Centauri Outpost' for instance had cool flashing lights that really *worked*, and I loved Blacktron II as a child. And yet, looking at it today it's not all that impressive for some reason. The same goes for a lot of my Space sets, which can't really be displayed alongside my Town layout.

In contrast I paid what seemed like a crazy sum for the old Airport Monorail a couple of weeks back, but when I put it together I realised that it's in nearly-new condition so I don't feel so bad about clobbering my credit card for it! I think I can build an entire layout around it so in that sense it's not a set I regret having at all. Similarly, the Western Fort Legoredo was a christmas gift that unfortunately happened just before my Dark Ages so I never really got much use out of it. In terms of playability and parts though I'd say it's an awesome set.

So yeah. There are a few sets I own that I don't care for while I'll hang onto some others forever, be it sentimental reasons or the fact that they're really cool in their own right. Who else has some sets that you regret buying, or only bought because there were useful parts for MOCs?

Second half of the question:

I'm tempted to sell my unwanted ones but I'm worried that I'll later regret letting them go. Unlike, say, books, DVDs or music equipment (the three other big money sinks of mine), Lego sets are collections of parts rather than 'whole' items so even if a set isn't all that great overall, I might find use for the pieces. Have any of you got 'seller's remorse' and wish you hadn't got rid of something, or did a set that's in itself disappointing contain some pieces that you've found numerous alternative uses for?

Edited November 10, 2012 by Martin_B

[Notorious Guf]

Cool Topic!

I can't say for sure that I have many purchases that I regret. The only ones I can think of are Licensed sets I've bought cheap, then realised that not only can't I use most of the parts, but the set is nearly worthless & I've wasted my money. It hasn't happened often & I'll most likely give them away as gifts.

I have on the other hand looked at acquiring old sets, particularly some Space Themes that I remember loving as a kid, so that I can build a large MOC. I've held off as when I look at the photos, I'm not nearly as impressed by what I see as I was when I had them as a kid, so I'm frightened of ruining what I remember as an awesome set. I have purchased a couple of New Minifigs from those sets & that got me excited when I received them, so I think I'm likely to give the set buying a go as well.

[ShaydDeGrai]

I can't say that I've ever regretted buying a particular set. I've certainly regretted NOT buying certain sets at certain times; usually when I returned to a given store intent on correcting my oversight only to discover that the store was sold out or the sale had ended and the price had gone up. Like the boy in the Emerald Knight video (elsewhere in this forum) I can relate to saving up for that really big kit only to discover that, by the time I could afford the set, it had been discontinued and all the stores were out of stock.

I can understand looking back on many of the older set and thinking "what was so special about that?" Put the old Yellow Castle next to Helm's Deep or Hogwarts and some would say it's like comparing cave paintings to fine art. Still, when _I_ look back at my old Samsonite LEGO kits from 40 years ago, I don't see a dated toy or a novelty collectable, I see a reminder of how I grew up and the circumstances I had to deal with to get where I am. I grew up poor in an immigrant family where my mom stayed home with the kids and my dad worked construction by day and went to school part time at night. I subsisted on the most disgusting meals the public school breakfast/lunch program could provide, and even when writing my "wish list" to Santa I was reminded not to "sound greedy" (code-speak from my mother to keep the list short and try not to go over $10 total) LEGO kits, any LEGO kits, were a luxury and I knew it. If I got one as a gift, it meant the family would be eating pasta instead of meat. If I bought one for myself, it wasn't a casual treat, it was six months of delivering papers or shoveling snow or raking leaves for the neighbors. Every kit I got meant that I either worked for it, or somebody sacrificed something to be able to give it to me. So no, I don't regret having any them; they may not look like much, but they mean a lot to me.

Today, LEGO has become my vice of choice. Maybe it's my take on a mid-life crisis ;-> I probably spend more in a month or two now than I did in my first 10 years combined and while all kits are definitely not created equal, I can't say that even in this period of increased acquisition I really regret any particular purchase, at worst, I just break the model down and use it for parts. It's shocking to realize how things add up from time to time (as my wife once pointed out - "Do you realize that for what you spent on LEGO last year, we could have spent a week at a spa in Hawaii?") but the same could be said for any given spending category (dining out/Scotch/wine/automobile expenses/etc), for what we spent on groceries and heat last year I could buy a new car - it's just a question of priorities. The only difference is that LEGO introduces the added complication of long term storage that you don't encounter with luxury vacations or fine dining so one's spending habits become more visible over time.

As for seller's remorse, I must have the ultimate case of Sellers-remorse-a-phobia. I'm so convinced that if I sell any part of my collection I'll regret it, that I never sell anything. I'll occasionally give stuff away, but in those cases I take consolation in the notion that I have shared the joy of LEGO with others.

[Speedboat]

All of my old childhood sets are still at my parents' place, but I have no particular interest in any of them anymore. I had a lot of pirate and city stuff and some M-Tron, but my interests have shifted over the years, and after my Dark Ages I focussed mainly on Star Wars and Castle-related sets. I wouldn't want to mix my childhood LEGO with my new stuff, I don't really know why. Just a feeling...

There's only one set I sold before my Dark Ages and that is the Black Seas Barracuda. Guess what, I haaaaaaate myself for selling it! I remember playing endless hours with that ship together with my brother, and sometime in the future, I plan to get another one. But it won't be the same as my old ship. That's the only regret I have.

[CP5670]

I think as a kid, I put a lot of thought into all my big set purchases and still think those are great sets. Probably not so much with the small, sub-$10 ones though.

There were one or two sets that I thought looked great in the catalogs and bought, but was disappointed right after I built them. The 8458 Silver Champion comes to mind. It was huge and looked very realistic, but was quite limited on functionality given its size and very high price, and was a major disappointment compared to all my earlier large Technic sets.

The Blacktron II 'Alpha Centauri Outpost' for instance had cool flashing lights that really *worked*, and I loved Blacktron II as a child. And yet, looking at it today it's not all that impressive for some reason.

Yeah, that one is pretty mediocre. I thought that set looked really cool in the catalogs, but at that age essentially every big set looked cool to me, so it was a matter of what was more cool. I still got a copy a decade later for the rare parts and the ship it comes with, which is much better than the base itself.

[Hrw-Amen]

I have never sold any LEGO sets. I have given some away, but these have been reasonably small ones that I have purchased over the last two years specifically to give to people as gifts for whatever occasion. I have also given the odd bit away to other AFOLs but then in turn they have supplied me with a part I want for something so it is a bit of give and take and depends if I have a lot of the parts they need or not.

I do however agree that some of my old space stuff does look a bit dated, whilst at the time of buying it looked great. But then I guess you could say that about most things, for example I remember having a ZX81 and Commodore Vic 20 but compared to this laptop I am using now they are rubbish. Still I keep them and occasionally hook them up to play old games on just because it reminds me of my youth.

To be honest a lot of my Blacktron 1 & 2, M-tron, Space Police, UFO, Insectoid and Ice Planet sets I bought myself when I was in my mid twenties and when I bought my first house. Maybe that is kind of odd for some, but my dark age only came when I was about 28'ish or so having continued right from childhood through. There was certainly a change though as growing up my parents could not afford big sets even at Christmas or Birthdays, I just got the mid range and cheaper ones. Still my father enjoyed building LEGO as he was into railways and bought me all the blue 4.5V stuff he could afford (Which I think was really so he could play with it as well.) and we spent ages playing with it and building together. He taught me my basic maths skills using LEGO by asking me for a 2X3 plate or 2X4 brick etc, so those old bricks have a certain sentimental value.I can definately say though that even the space stuff I bought myself later on was an awful lot better than the models I got in the late 60's through to 80's, but compared to now even they don't really stand up. That does not in itself make them bad sets though and I would not get rid of them. I recently dug out of the attic some old Blacktron and Space Police sets and was pleased to also find some of the original space sets with the white and red spacemen. I think those were amongst the last sets my parents bought for me before I started work and bought them myself. I can recall going to the toy shop with my father and buying some, I think he was as excited as me to get them. I would have been about 14-15 then.

Somewhere in the parents attic I to have the Blacktron base you speak of. Really though all of those bases, the Spyrius, Ice Planet, Blacktron were not that good looking back on them. They were basically a large raised baseplate with a few little men and large trans parts that made up the canopy and maybe a small vehicle. I seem to recall the Blacktron 2 one came with a space ship though that itself was what made me get it rather than the base itself. I actually still have the Ice Planet base that I have never built still in as new condition never taken out of the box. Will I sell it, probably not.

One thing I have done a lot of though was to buy extra sets for parts. Sometimes the reason was I wanted extra minifigs and the parts were just an afterthought especially with the pocket money sized sets. But even then I used to do a lot of MOCing as I had quite a stash of ordinary bricks. Things got built taken apart and rebuilt into something else. Towards the end of my initial phase though I think I started to get things together that I wanted to keep as a large number of these turned up with my official sets in the attic. I thought to myself, 'I can remember building this.' So even though it is a MOC it is still of sentimental value.

Nowadays I usually only build things I want to keep anyway as my main thing now is LEGO Trains. They do go through a lot of rebuilds until I am happy but once they are done is pretty much it unless (As happens sometimes.) I think I can do better having thought of another part to use, then I will update them, but still keep the overall model. Back in the olden days even when I was working an bought the sets myself there was no internet, so no Bricklink or PAB on LEGO website, it never existed so the only way to get extra parts was by buying extra sets. Now if I need bits I won't rob another MOC I'll just Bricklink it or order a PAB on-line and wait for it in the post as it usually is only a day or two. Then once it is built it is built.

I am pretty sure if i tried to sell anything then I would really regret it, although I have thought about copying some of my railway stuff and selling those, but I cannot be bothered really. Maybe i might do that if I was unemployed and needed a way of getting some money, I am not sure I'd have to think about it. But even then I would just buy all the bits for the kit rather than sell the original. But even oridinary 2X4 bricks that are only pence I will not sell as many a time I have come to something and needed just one brick in a certain colour. So my advise would be, even if you do not really want to keep the old stuff made up still do not sell the sets as the bricks will be useful in MOCs at some point in time.

(i think this is the longest reply I have ever typed!!)

[Vindicare]

Since getting back into LEGO I don't have any buyers regret. Since I don't MOC and only collect sets for what they are, I have only ever bought sets I like.

As far as sellers remorse, I have enough to rocket me to the moon... I sold all my childhood LEGO in my teens. And I had A LOT! Classic Space(pretty much all factions, including monorails), Castle(again, all factions), Town, Adventurers, just about everything TLG had to offer in the late 80's-90's. I've since bought some old again, but decided to focus on the new instead.

[charlieboy]

Ooooh great topic! I certainly have regrets, the biggest was giving my little sister my entire childhood Lego collection when I moved out at the age of seventeen. At the time girls and cars were the only things that I really cared about so my Lego didnt get a look in.

That huge collection of mine was then passed to our youngest sister and eventually it made its way to my son about five years ago. Sadly over the years many parts were lost and whilst I have no proof, i'm sure Mums hoover swallowed its fair share!

That said, had I not given my sister all of my Lego it may have gone elsewhere and my son may never have enjoyed playing with it from such a young age and in turn I may never have come out of my dark ages. I have my son and the Agents sets to thank for that, since then our collection has spiralled out of control and taken over the house almost!

As for recent Lego regrets, I have a few like selling almost all of my Star Wars minifigs and selling my MMV but the one that plays on my mind most is selling my complete Space Police 1 collection, I still dont like to think about how stupid that was.

[HawkLord]

I regret selling a few Star Wars sets. Back in '07 when I got back into Lego thru Star Wars, I picked up a couple sets to try a build up a new hobby for myself. I noticed that there weren't alot of SW coming out and some of the ones weren't all that interesting so I sold the few I had and thought I was out of Lego. Well, in '09 I got back in hardcore and have stayed in ever since. So, aside from all the stuff I had as a kid, which I know I'll never get back, I regret getting it out Star Wars Lego in '07.

Moral of the story? Hang onto to it until you are absolutely positive you don't need it. Basically, when it's no longer a question, then it's ok to let it go, but if you're just alittle unsure, you should keep it.

[CP5670]

Somewhere in the parents attic I to have the Blacktron base you speak of. Really though all of those bases, the Spyrius, Ice Planet, Blacktron were not that good looking back on them. They were basically a large raised baseplate with a few little men and large trans parts that made up the canopy and maybe a small vehicle. I seem to recall the Blacktron 2 one came with a space ship though that itself was what made me get it rather than the base itself. I actually still have the Ice Planet base that I have never built still in as new condition never taken out of the box. Will I sell it, probably not.

I got all the bases later on off ebay but think of most of them as merely a starting point for MOCs. The raised baseplate is not necessarily bad, but those sets used it in place of traditional brick construction. Even the bases on standard baseplates were hit-or-miss, with only 6987 and 6958 good enough for me to keep built without wholesale modifications.

[legotractorpullinguk]

There is 1 set that I do regret buying:

the new tractor, released in 2012. I spent £25 on it and wasn't all that pleased.

Yet, I wouldn't sell it because:

1.I can't find most of the bits because they are in various MOC's,

2.I would never get a lot of money for it anyway, so there would be no point in selling it on unless someone made a good offer

[Zeya]

By far, my biggest issue is finding the time to build. It seems these days that it's all I can do to find the time to put together new sets, leaving no time to do any free building / MOC'ing. As the sets and parts pile up, I do feel some remorse that this money is being spent on little pieces that will later get squirreled away and probably never used.

That remorse is worse with sets where the build isn't particularly stunning. (For example, a set I bought for some parts, an impulse set, or a set I bought to be a completist for a theme I like.) But other sets with awesome design, such as a modular building or Imperial Flagship where I really enjoy just having them around and built, I don't feel hardly any remorse.

I know I can't be the only one with time crunch-related remorse. Right?

[naf]

I hear you on the time crunch issue, it sucks being an adult sometimes! I have a plan though, I'm going to sort and build up my old Lego sets with my kids. That way I get quality time with the children, my kids can experience some of the toys I played with when I was their age, and I'll get to build a lot more!