Over the last ten years or so, LEGO has been producing sets that contain hundreds or even thousands of pieces more – and cost a lot more – than what we can find in their normal product ranges. The company refers to these sets as LEGO Exclusives. This year LEGO released an unusually large number of LEGO Exclusive-size sets, so I thought to take some time and research the largest LEGO sets of all time, compare them, and share the results with you. So what exactly qualifies as a LEGO Exclusive set? There are actually a number of potential factors, such as large piece-count, high price, limited production, special licensing, etc. For this article, I chose to focus on the piece-count and the price. U, I was able to narrow down my search to sets that contain more than 3,000 pieces, or have an original retail price of $300 or more. It turns out that as of now, LEGO produced 15 sets with more than 3,000 pieces. The top ten of these are listed below: While this list is very straightforward, it does not take into consideration how the sets compare in prices. L
ooking at the Brickset database again, we find that LEGO released twelve sets with an original retail price of $300 or more. So to get a combined list, I added the positions of each set from both lists together. To complicate things however, some of the $300+ sets did not contain more than 3,000 pieces, and some of the sets I listed above did not retail for over $300 (both of which are due to LEGO’s inconsistent pricing). This of course greatly alters the results. Taking everything into consideration I ended up with the following list of what can be called the eleven largest LEGO sets of all time. The list shows the set’s name and number, the piece count, the original retail price, and the year it was released. As you can see, the order of the sets in the second list changed greatly from the first. This is mostly because of the extra-high prices of the licensed sets. Looking at the year of release, it is interesting to note that five out of the eleven sets are from this year! F
ortunately all five are good sets, and in a wide variety of themes, so there is something for everyone. Our wallets may not be so happy however. There is one slight issue with my final list however. There are three LEGO sets that should be on the list, but are not. These are the #200430 LEGO Serious Play Identity and Landscape Kit, the #2000431 LEGO Serious Play Connections Kit, and the LEGO Serious Play #2000409 Window Exploration Bag. These three sets retail for $790, $755, and $485 respectively, making the first two the most expensive LEGO products in history. Why are they not on the list? I chose not to include them because they are not standard retail sets. According to LEGO’s own description, they are designed to enhance business performance through building with LEGO bricks in timed workshops. That’s not quite the same as what the #10188 Death Star was designed for, but if you are interested to check them out, you can find them at the LEGO Serious Play section of the Online LEGO Shop.
While the #10179 LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon continues to occupy the first place as the largest standard retail set, keep in mind that these lists can and probably will change in a few years, as LEGO releases more massive sets. You can find the current selection under the LEGO Exclusives section of the Online LEGO Shop. So what do you think? Do you agree with my criteria for making the final list? How many of the largest LEGO sets of all time do you have? Fee free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉 And you may also like to check out the following related posts:The newest addition to the grand list of Coolest Things Ever is being unveiled in New York today: the Lego X-Wing, the largest Lego model ever built. The model of the classic Star Wars fighter being unveiled in Times Square has a wingspan of 44 feet and comes complete with R2-D2 and a full range of sound effects. It’s a super-duper-sized version of Star Wars Lego starfighter set #9493 and was made with 5,335,200 Lego bricks.
That, according to Lego, makes it the largest model ever built, eclipsing the Lego robot at the Mall of America by some 2 million bricks. This replica of the Rebel Alliance dogfighter is 42 times the size of the Lego version we’ve all built and a bit bigger than a real X-Wing. (Yes, yes, we know they’re not real. Just go with it.) The X-Wing Luke Skywalker and his fellow rebels flew was about 41 feet long, 2 feet shorter than this Lego masterpiece. The X-Wing was built at the Lego Model Shop at the company’s facility in Kladno, Czech Republic. It took 32 “master builders” (Note: This is a real job, and we’re preparing our resumés.) 17,336 man-hours to construct the X-Wing. Plans for the model were created using Lego’s proprietary 3-D design software, and the construction team had to work with a team of structural engineers to ensure that the model was safe, master builder Erik Varszegi told Wired. “This has been a wild and exciting project for us, and it’s taken an international team of designers, engineers, structural consultants, model builders, and logistics personal over a year to bring this model from a conception to reality,” Varszegi said in an email.
“In one respect, designing it was the ‘easy’ part, as we were creating a scaled version of an actual toy construction set.” Once completed, the model — which weighs 45,980 pounds — was broken down into 34 pieces to be shipped to New York by boat (the voyage took two boats two months to complete). Lest the West Coast feel left out, the starfighter is coming to Legoland California after its tenure in Times Square and will remain there until the end of the year. Twenty-three tons is a whole lot of anything, especially Lego bricks, but much of the model’s weight lies in the model’s steel skeleton, which it needed in order to withstand the vibrations from the subway that runs beneath Duffy Square in Manhattan and any seismic activity it could face in Southern California. While a slightly larger-than-lifesize Lego X-Wing would be awesome even if were made for no particular reason at all, the model was built to celebrate the forthcoming premiere of the latest Lego Star Wars series The Yoda Chronicles — a three-part animated miniseries launching on Cartoon Network next Wednesday.