Narrator: This thief is stealing $1,500 worth of Lego,
according to the store's owner.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
In the past decade, there have been a slew of Lego thefts,
including one totaling about $300,000.
But why are thieves around the world targeting a toy?
Well, one reason might be that the most expensive Lego sets
cost more than an iPhone 15.
That's why this guy was trying really hard
to reach the top shelf.
Justine: These went from around $120
to overnight selling on eBay for several thousand dollars.
My friends and family don't actually know about this room.
I think they'd probably be quite shocked
if I ever opened the door and they saw all the Lego
that was in here.
Narrator: But it wasn't always like this.
In 2006, Lego's most expensive set was $270.
So how did we get here?
How did Lego go from a children's toy to a collector's item?
And why is it so expensive?
Today, Lego is the world's largest toy company.
But its story didn't start
with plastic bricks.
It started with wood.
While Lego found success with wooden toys,
the company's first major turning point came in 1949,
when its founder took a gamble
and started manufacturing plastic bricks.
Plastic toys were cutting-edge technology at the time.
But Lego wasn't the first to pursue this idea.
Here are two patents
by a company called Kiddicraft from 1939 and 1945.
And, well, you can decide how much inspiration Lego took.
Plastic bricks didn't click right away.
Lego had to stick with the product
and innovate to pull kids away from wooden and metal toys.
And to understand the price of Lego today,
we have to rewind to its very first set.
It was just a box of bricks without instructions.
Some of the earliest gift sets cost 25 Danish krone,
about $60 today.
But in 1955, Lego released the Town Plan,
a simple version of the sets we have today.
Kids built buildings and combined them
to create little Lego cities.
With this release, Lego solidified
what it called the System in Play.
Its guiding philosophy would be that every brick
should fit together and stand the test of time,
allowing kids of all ages to build in unlimited ways.
And we can't not mention the "reasonably priced" line.
Then, in 1958, Lego perfected its bricks
with the stud and tube method,
an interlocking design that enabled large yet stable builds.
Lego uses that design for its bricks to this day.
Dave: Lego is brilliant.
Pieces that were built from the beginning of Lego
interact with pieces that were built today.
Narrator: With just a few exceptions.
Do you know about brown?
There were some brown bricks that were made
like, during a certain period of Lego
that were more delicate than others,
and if you try to build with some of those bricks today,
they are a little brittle.
But 99.9% of all Lego that has ever been made
is designed to stand the test of time and is awesome.
Narrator: By the 1960s, plastic bricks were a hit,
and Lego made them its full focus.
But at the time, Lego's products were still pretty simple.
Aside from reinventing the wheel in 1962,
its builds were blocky and predominantly used
the classic rectangular brick.
Lego's second major turning point came in the 1970s,
when it started to release more creative sets,
like the 1978 Space Cruiser.
It had 170 pieces and cost $10, or about $48 today.
Lego referred to these themed sets
as the system within the system.
They added new pieces that expanded the Lego palette,
like colored transparent parts and thrusters.
For builders like Dave,
these pieces expanded the possibilities of Lego.
Dave: It's really fun to have other options,
because it's not like drawing,
where you have unlimited possibilities.
Like, your limitations are the brick that exists.
So every time a new piece
or a new color gets added, it's exciting.
So builds that I built like 10 years ago,
I would build totally different now,
because there's an expanded palette
of what's available to build with.
Narrator: Throughout the '70s,
Lego transformed from a toy into a creative medium,
releasing dozens of new parts, sets,
and even debuting the iconic minifigure.
The company experienced huge success
and worldwide growth in the 1980s,
Commercial: Hour after hour, day after day,
year after year, Lego changes.
There's no end to Lego.
Narrator: But much like those brown bricks,
cracks were starting to show.
By the late 1990s, sales slumped,
and the company was losing money
for the first time ever.
Lego had grown rapidly and spread itself too thin,
investing heavily in theme parks,
media properties, and merchandise.
Meanwhile, sales for its original focus,
the brick, were slipping.
Lego released sets that required less building,
ignoring what fans loved about the toy.
Take the Galidor theme,
which barely resembles a Lego product.
Commercial: Every dimension needs a hero.
Every hero needs a special power.
in Galidor, it's glinching.
Narrator: Glinching was not going to save Lego.
Sets like those had one-off pieces
that didn't fit into the Lego system.
They cost more to manufacture and were less profitable.
An executive would later say,
"We had actually seen a decline in profitability,
yet we continued to invest
as if the company were growing very strongly.
We failed to realize that we were on a slippery path."
The company's annual report described 2003
as a "very disappointing year" for Lego Company.
Executives were also concerned
that physical toys might not keep up
with the exploding video game industry.
One of the few things that kept Lego afloat was Bionicle,
the company's best seller for four years straight.
Another bright spot was its licensed "Star Wars" sets,
first released in 1999.
These ranged in price from $6 to $90,
and they flew off the shelves.
Licensed sets would become hugely important for Lego.
But more on that later.
Outside the company, something unexpected was growing
all on its own.
It turned out that kids weren't the only ones
who thought Lego was fun.
Dave: Even in college, I was like,
my friends were going out
to the bars, and I was like,
well, but I could buy some more Lego with that money.
Narrator: Dave is what some people refer to as an AFOL.
Dave: Adult Fan of Lego, which, I don't know.
I mean, it's a term that we use somewhat endearingly,
but you know, it's also a little cheeky.
Narrator: His skill and passion for Lego
earned him a spot on the TV series "Lego Masters,"
which millions of viewers watch weekly for its competitions
between adults.
Dave: I'm like a superfan.
I watch like the international versions too. I love it.
Narrator: But the hobby looked a lot different
when Dave first started building.
Before the 2000s,
even Lego's most complex sets had young age recommendations,
like 9 and up or 11 to 16.
But that didn't deter creative people like Dave
from getting into the hobby.
Dave: This is like, 40 years of collecting Lego.
It's almost embarrassing to think about how much
the dollar value is of this Lego.
If I buy a set, I'm taking that apart.
I'm building it once to like learn the techniques,
but then I'm taking that set apart and integrating that
into this collection so that I can use the pieces
for my own ideas.
Narrator: By the 1990s, there was a growing group
of passionate fans like Dave
who had either played with Lego as a kid
or discovered it in adulthood as a creative outlet.
And they were spending a lot on Lego.
For enthusiasts, having a room or an entire basement
dedicated to Lego is a common practice.
Dave: Everybody has a different system that works for them.
It's in here somewhere. You just have to find it.
The system's always changing.
One of my favorite containers right here,
so I sold those three goats recently,
got croissants and bottles and eggs, chicken legs.
So this is a whole container that just has minifigure hair.
Maybe this is a little morbid,
but you could have a whole container
of just minifigure heads.
It's definitely more than 100,000 bricks
in this room.
It's probably somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000
just individual Lego elements in this room.
But like, some of them are really small.
I mean there's probably 10,000 pieces right here.
Narrator: Dave estimates his collection
is worth about $50,000.
Dave: There's lots of ways to have a collection to build up,
you know, it might be a collection of vacations
that you've taken over time,
and this is a collection of memories and builds,
and pieces from many, many, many years
of doing this.
I love it because it's a way to tell stories.
I can talk about or think about,
like, things that have been happening in my life
or things that are happening in the world
or tell imaginary stories.
I was like, you know, younger building
by myself in my apartment.
It's a very solitary thing, building Lego.
You're usually by yourself,
or maybe with a sibling or a family member.
It really can be for anybody,
because there's so many different ways to be with Lego.
Narrator: In the 1990s, the passion of builders like Dave
was quietly growing,
waiting for a spark that would forever change the hobby.
I'm at the center of the web.
High-tech illusion. Fantasy.
As someone can hardly turn the computer on,
it's all a bit worrying.
Dave: When the internet started to catch on,
people like me who had been building
discovered that there were other people like me.
And it was great to be able to connect,
to see that other people were building.
It wasn't just, like, building in solitude.
And that's really I think when Lego started
to become something else and not just a kid's toy.
Narrator: But Lego didn't always accept
or understand its adult fans.
One former executive said
that decades ago, Lego saw fans like Dave
as a source of irritation.
Another said Lego didn't think their adult fans had value.
One of Lego's former CEO said,
"We kept thinking that much more should be done
for the adult.
Most people on the management team
thought we should concentrate on children instead."
For a long time up, until the 1990s,
being a fan of something was not seen in a positive light.
Like, why are you wasting your time playing with Legos?
And so I can totally see why a company in the 1990s
would really want to project that.
Narrator: But the AFOL community's momentum
was not easily stopped.
It was growing not just online, but in person.
Dave: People from all over the world would come together
to be part of a convention.
Narrator: In the early 2000s,
conventions helped fans connect
and build a strong community.
It was also great marketing for Lego,
because enthusiasts would display giant creations,
like this 8-foot-wide "Lord of the Rings" build
that took 11 years to construct.
John: I don't know how much it cost.
It was definitely in the thousands.
Like, for me now, I'm done buying Lego.
I feel like I have enough here.
Julian: I've been playing with it since I was a kid.
And I got my first set when I was 4 or 5.
Good portion of the apartment is filled with Lego.
When we buy a house,
we'll very quickly have a Lego basement.
Paul: We often find the most powerful fandoms
and the longest-lasting fandoms come from the community.
They tend to be grassroots or ground-up kind of fandoms.
That sort of creative transformation
coheres a fan community, I think, stronger
than if a media corporation or a toy company says,
"Here's the way I want you to be a fan."
Narrator: But remember this set?
I bought two, I sold one,
and I think I'll hold this one
for a while and see where I get to.
Narrator: One huge aspect of the hobby
driven by the community is the resale market.
Lego retires its sets every few years.
After that, if you want to buy it
or need a specific piece,
your only option is to buy secondhand.
Because of this artificial scarcity,
some sets skyrocket in value.
And savvy buyers view Lego as an investment.
Justine: So this is my Lego storage room.
I'd say there'd be over 600 to 700 of them
stored inside this room.
My kids aren't allowed in here.
Probably could be stored better,
but I have an air vent for ventilation
and store a lot of 'em in cardboard boxes
to keep the boxes in good condition.
I know the retail value of the sets
I've purchased is over $50,000.
Secondary market value,
I would suspect it's a lot more than that.
Some of the sets alone are worth three to four times
what the retail price was.
I keep this nicely locked away.
That is not a set to play with.
Narrator: Justine says she collects Lego
not with the intention of reselling,
but because she wants to build each one.
Justine: Just lift to get it out. That's a big one.
Narrator: However, knowing many sets increase in value
gives her some pause in cracking open the box.
Justine: So I don't really have a strategy
or approach to buying Lego.
I buy what I like.
Unfortunately, I like a lot.
On occasion I have bought a set twice,
because I've forgotten that I purchased it.
There is one minifigure alone within that set, Harley Quinn,
that is worth $400, and the set itself is worth $1,200.
So I'd love to build it,
but at the same time, it's really hard to say I'll go,
you know, spend $400 overnight while building that set
and reducing its value.
My ratio of built Lego to Lego inbox
is probably a little out of whack.
Narrator: Prices on the secondhand market
can be eye-watering.
Dave: A minifigure like this could go for like $200,
because it's a very rare minifigure
that only appeared in one set ever.
Narrator: But not everything multiplies in value.
And this massive network of spare parts
is what empowers builders like Dave.
Dave: I probably ordered like 2,000 light saber rods
just to make this floor.
It doesn't even look like Lego anymore.
I'm putting them on their ends
and putting them all so close together
that they make that hexagonal tile.
Narrator: In the early 2000s, Lego's fans
were innovating more than the company was,
and in order to survive ,it needed to embrace AFOLs.
Lego recognized it was pursuing a losing strategy
while ignoring a key customer base.
To turn the tide, it cut costs, sold the theme parks,
and refocused on its core business of building with bricks.
And it was time to finally consider adults.
In 2004, Lego, now under a new CEO,
planned to fundamentally change the way it did business.
Over the next few years, its sought to improve its products
by developing what it referred
to as grassroots collaboration with its adult fans.
In addition to making sets more profitable,
Lego needed to recapture customer excitement.
And who better to ask for help
than its most passionate fans.
In its 2006 annual report,
Lego said it obtains inspiration
from the many independent homepages
and clubs for Lego enthusiasts all over the world.
In 2007, Lego released a $500 Millennium Falcon
with over 5,000 pieces
recommended for ages 16 and up.
This marked a jump in set complexity, price,
and target demographic.
To put this change into perspective,
the 1999 Star Wars Podrace set cost $90,
had 896 pieces, and listed an age range of 8 to 12.
Dave: They've also hired people like me,
who were Lego builders, to work for them.
The things that we kind of pioneered are now being pioneered
by the people who work at Lego, so it's much more exciting,
because the techniques in Lego sets
have become more advanced,
and you learn more when building a Lego set
than when you did when you were a kid
and the sets were simpler.
Paul: When fans are running the thing that they're a fan of,
they can expand it in ways
that they know other people will enjoy.
Narrator: This is the start of the company's
third turning point,
getting kids and adults excited about Lego.
To achieve this, Lego released bigger, more interesting sets
and expanded its licensed products.
Paul: Brand tie-ins in Lego sets work phenomenally
to get people interested in purchasing the set.
People that are fans of that particular brand
might purchase the Lego set
that wouldn't normally buy Legos.
Narrator: This strategy coincided with an explosion
of pop culture fandoms
and a growth of what's referred to as the kidult industry.
Paul: Kidult industries are industries that produce products
that we would associate with children
but aimed at an adult market.
And it's become a huge area of business.
Narrator: Lego released its first 18+ set in 2020.
And since then, the company has released
dozens of products each year clearly targeting adults.
Some of these sets like the "Star Wars" AT-AT
are complex, with thousands of pieces
and a price tag to match.
Others feature themes like dried flowers
that try to appeal to older builders.
These sets are also perfect to display
once you've built them.
Paul: I display my "Doctor Who" Legos,
because I want people to know
that that's an important part about who I am,
and I'm proud of that.
Previously nerdy things and hobbies
and fandoms are absolutely a part
of mainstream popular culture today.
Narrator: Now, Lego's website even says "Adults Welcome."
This strategy allows Lego to cater to a customer base
and a price point it couldn't reach
if it only focused on kids.
Justine: I personally don't set myself a budget for Lego,
because if I did, I'd just blow it.
Narrator: Lego also acquired BrickLink,
the largest Lego resale marketplace, in 2019.
At the time Lego's CEO said,
"Our adult fans are extremely important to us. ...
We have worked closely with the community for many years
and look forward to deepening our collaboration."
Paul: We've seen just how much money
that sort of thing makes
that gives it seriousness.
But I think also because we've just kind of normalized
weirdness in a way that makes me really happy.
Dave: I really never cared what the age was on the Lego set,
because I was like, I want the pieces.
I just want the pieces to build.
But it's good messaging I think from Lego to say like,
this isn't just a kid's toy, this is for adults too.
And for me, it didn't matter,
but I think for a lot of people it is welcoming.
Narrator: And Lego's plan to save the company worked.
Two decades later, the company boasts nearly 10 times
the revenue.
But amid this success,
profits weren't the only number going up.
Walking down the toy aisle and seeing Lego sets
priced at hundreds of dollars can be alarming.
But is Lego actually more expensive than 10 or 20 years ago?
To answer this question, let's look at price per piece.
That's the price of a set
divided by how many pieces are included.
It's not a perfect measurement,
and it doesn't include minifigures,
but think of it as a broad look at the value of a set.
Remember that 2007 Millennium Falcon?
That had a price per piece of 10 cents.
A decade later, Lego released a new Millennium Falcon
with over 7,500 pieces for $850
and a price per piece of 11 cents.
That's just 1 cent higher,
and adjusted for inflation, it's actually 1 cent lower.
Some set themes are more expensive than others,
but the price per piece has remained surprisingly stable
over the past 20 years.
Ironically, some of the worst-value sets are ones designed
for young children, like Duplo.
This set has a price per piece of a $1.30.
So why are sets more expensive?
They're much more complex.
This chart shows an increase in average set prices
since 2014.
But it aligns with an increase in average pieces per set
since the same year.
Paul: They could do a Millennium Falcon for 30 bucks,
and it wouldn't look as good, and it wouldn't be as big.
But they know that they can do this big one
because there is a market for it.
Narrator: So if you're walking through Target
seeing high prices and thinking that Lego is expensive,
you're not entirely wrong.
Since 2020, Lego has released significantly more sets
that cost over $300.
But it's also releasing more sets overall,
about twice as many annually as it did in 2008
and about four times the amount it released in the 1990s.
Dave: You can have unlimited pieces,
but it's also fun to, like, just build with what you have.
And sometimes the limit of what you have is more challenging
than building with unlimited pieces.
Once in a while, I'll be working on something,
I'll be like, well, is it worth it
for me to go buy more of this,
or can I find another solution for it with what I have
so that I don't have to buy more of something?
That's really what Lego is about. Creative problem-solving
is like, can I solve it this way?
Is there another way to solve it?
Or is there a third way
that I haven't even thought about yet?
Narrator: Going all in on the brick
helped Lego beat the one-hit wonder problem
many toy companies have.
But it also created an ecosystem
and a creative medium
that has endured nearly 70 years of competition
and shifting pop culture.
Dave: My mom tells me
that she got me my first Lego set when I was 4 years old.
I don't think I could have predicted where Lego would go.
I love Lego because I feel the nostalgia
from when I was a kid.
You know, it brings me back to those moments
of sitting on the rug, building that set,
being young and enjoying that.
And I like the way that it connects generations,
that adults can play with the same toy with their kids
that they played with when they were a kid.
Paul: It's continually new, and it's continually refreshing,
and that's in its DNA.
I don't think we're ever going to see a fandom for Lego die
in the way that we might for a media text
which waxes and wanes over time.
Dave: My hope for the future is that it will continue
to be more accessible to people,
whether that's through having representation
of different people in their sets or price.
I think price is a block for a lot of people.
How can we make it an entry point
that is accessible to everyone?
I would hope that people
who watch this think when they look at Lego
and they look at this,
they're like, oh, you have to have that much Lego
to be an amazing Lego builder.
It's not really about that.
The coolest techniques I've come up with,
or that I've seen other people use,
are when they have constraints.
It's not really about like
how much you have. It's about ingenuity.
It's about trying to find different ways to solve problems.
So I wouldn't ever be intimidated by seeing something huge.
It's OK to just put a couple pieces together
and have it be something amazing.