Go big or go home is a moto I went by when I first started investing in LEGO. In fact, the first set I purchased for investing was Star Wars R2D2 10225.
Let me call out up front that a lot has changed since then, and my business model now revolves around small and medium sets for the most part. I don’t usually buy large sets, but there are many LEGO investors out there that are still only interested in purchasing large set.
There are always a few large sets that catch my eye, however. Here are a few that I currently like for investment purposes.
21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay
I have always wanted to add a large ship to my inventory and the Pirates of Barracuda Bay set is a no-brainer. It is a beautiful looking ship that has only been out since April so there is plenty of time to add numerous sets to your inventory.
Due to its high demand this set has already reached over $350 on the secondary market, so it is a proven “winner” and will more than likely have a higher ROI once this set is eventually retired.
This set is popular with children and adults and should create great family memories when putting this set together. Another reason why this set interests me is that it is almost the same size as LEGO Movie 70810 Metal Beard’s Sea Cow. There seems to be about the same excitement online as the Sea Cow as well.
Technic Land Rover Defender 42110
This set is great for many reasons. It has been out for almost a year so if you were wanting to add a large quantity to your inventory, now would be the time to do it.
This is a luxury vehicle, so the adults that own the real Land Rover will have plenty of money to spend on this set once it has retired and the value starts to rise. In addition, because of the high demand for this set and possible supply chain issues, this set has already sold at over $400 on the secondary market.
The good news is that whenever this set is in stock there is at least one online retailer that discounts it 20% off which immediately improves your future ROI. Another thing about this set that makes it unique is that this is the Technic themes first SUV. Technic has historically only made sets that revolve around sports cars and heavy equipment machinery.
Creator Fairground Haunted House 10273
Every Modular city that AFOLs create needs a haunted house, and this is the one to add.
This set is large and towers over the previous Monster Fighters Haunted House 10228 set. In addition to this set doing well around the holidays there is also a strong market for this set in October before Halloween. There is a five year span from when the last haunted house was retired and the new one was released so if that’s the case this time, you should have more than enough time to liquidate your position after the set retires.
The only challenge I see to this set is making it a large position in your LEGO portfolio. Even though LEGO has not given this set the “Hard to Find” label, it is currently on back order for at least the next 60 days. If I recall this was a similar situation to the previous Haunted House as well.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, this isn’t a set that I plan putting a large position into my inventory but I would be crazy to not try and at least have three sets on hand, one for personal build and the other two to potentially resell.
Nintendo Entertainment System 71374
This set has not even been released yet so there isn’t that much historical information on past performances, but when LEGO announced that they were going to release this set, there was an immediate mania.
I had people coming out of the woodwork telling me how excited they were for this set and none of them currently build LEGO.
The $229.99 RRP is pretty steep for me to invest in for a theme that has no history, but if you consider that there have been over 750 million NES’s that Nintendo has sold, this set is definitely an opportunity worth considering.
There are also rumors buzzing that LEGO may release other “game” sets like Super Mario to put inside the TV set which would add value to this set. Like the Haunted House set, I have no plans on purchasing large quantities of this set, but I do see myself purchasing a few to see what might happen on the secondary market.
Star Wars AT-AT 75288
Star Wars has always been a tricky theme for me to invest in but the one thing I love about LEGO in the Star Wars theme is that they really know how to build iconic sets that are centerpieces to the movies. Slave 1, Millennium Falcon, and the AT-AT is also one of those sets.
This set won’t be available to purchase on LEGO’s website until September 1st, but the previous AT-AT sets gives us a glimpse of what kind of performance this set could have post retirement.
These types of sets have always excited AFOLs and first-time adult builders. The previous set, Star Wars 75054 AT-AT only had a 15 month production run. It would be difficult to see this set only being available for the same amount of time, but anything is possible. It is yet to be known if this set will have the opportunity to be discounted but since the $159.99 is a reasonable price for me, I can see myself having five to ten of these sets in my inventory.
Go out there and get it!
Even though I do not make large sets a big position in my LEGO portfolio, I cannot help but still be interested in what LEGO releases and what the potential RIO could be.
Large sets do not perform the same way as they did five years ago but there are some very strong candidates that will do very well. It is always important to have the correct balance of small, medium, and large sets and make sure that you are comfortable with what you have.
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Do you prefer buying large sets or smaller sets? Post your thoughts in the comments below!
