Celebrate 25 Years of LEGO® Star Wars™!

Did you know it’s already been 25 years since LEGO® started collaborating with Star Wars™? Yeah, time flies. In honor of the anniversary, let’s take a look at how Star Wars™ and LEGO® have worked together over the years, and how the value of LEGO® Star Wars™ sets has changed over time.

History of LEGO® Star Wars™

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… in the year 1999, LEGO® began its first movie and TV-based licensed collaboration with Lucasfilm alongside the release of Star Wars™: The Phantom Menace (Episode I). The movie hit theaters in June, and the first LEGO® sets became available to customers in November of the same year. Just for context, in 1999, LEGO® also embarked on another legendary franchise - Harry Potter™. It was quite a wise choice in both cases.

Star Wars didn’t join the LEGO® Group during its finest hour. By the mid-90s, LEGO® was experiencing a decline. Profits began to wane, and in 1998, it posted its first-ever loss of £23 million. That same year, the company laid off 1,000 employees. Fortunately for LEGO® enthusiasts, the company eventually rebounded and survived. For those interested in a more in-depth financial and historical account, I recommend reading Licensing and Media Tie-Ins Saved LEGO® - Fact or Myth?

LEGO® Star Wars began with 8 sets focused on Episode I and has since expanded to include almost all the favorite scenes, characters, and ships from every movie and series in the Star Wars universe. But LEGO® didn’t stop there. In recent years, LEGO® has released the so-called Ultimate Collector Series (UCS) for adult builders, featuring unprecedented detail and much more advanced building techniques.

LEGO® Star Wars™ sets in numbers

The data presented in this article come from Brickset.

As of today, LEGO® has released 950 sets released under the Star Wars™ brand - an enormous number! Just for comparison, LEGO® has released 169 Harry Potter™ sets.

LEGO® Star Wars™ holds several top positions among all the other LEGO® series:

Most expensive LEGO® sets

Out of the 10 most expensive LEGO® sets, 5 are part of LEGO® Star Wars™. What is even more interesting is the fact that they would easily make it to the top 3 if we did not include the SERIOUS PLAY theme, which is basically a huge bunch of bricks meant for workshops.

Most expensive Star Wars™ sets are:

1. 75192 Millenium Falcon (2017)

2. 75313 AT-AT (2021)

5. 75252 Imperial Star Destroyer (2019)

8. 75367 Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser (2023)

10. 75331 The Razor Crest (2022)

I’m including all the sets that made it to the TOP 10 for reference.

The average price of a Star Wars™ set is the 8th highest of all licensed sets. However, there are a huge number of sets under the Star Wars™ license, from really cheap to the most expensive ones.

The following price breakdown supports my previous statement. You can see that most Star Wars™ sets (575) cost less than 100 USD. Does the last barely visible column on the far right look suspicious to you? It represents the sets that cost 800+ USD and the only representatives there are the already introduced Millennium Falcon (2017) and AT-AT (2021).

Biggest LEGO® sets

3 LEGO® Star Wars™ sets are also in the top 10 biggest (largest number of pieces) LEGO® sets. Namely:

5. 75192 Millenium Falcon (2017)

6. 75313 AT-AT (2021)

7. 75331 The Razor Crest (2022)

And as before, here is the whole TOP 10:

LEGO® Star Wars™ as an investment?

How good of an investment are LEGO® sets? Historically, LEGO® Star Wars™ values have increased at a rate of 7.15% annually. Sounds impressive, right? Better than gold. But context is important in this case.

If you start comparing LEGO® Star Wars™ with other themes, you will find out that Star Wars™ is only in 46th place! Stranger Things’s 22.24% annual growth outperforms everything. But themes like The Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Super Mario, Minions, Minecraft and many others have performed much better in terms of historic annual growth.

Let’s see if we can identify features that drive the LEGO® sets’ ROI.

Nothing pops out, right? I will make conclusions at the end of the article, though.

Speaking of LEGO® Minifigures

The world of Minifigures is a bit different. It's much harder to get oriented in it, but in the end, LEGO® Star Wars™ Minifigures are among the top searched and sold. Many LEGO® fans focus solely on collecting LEGO® Star Wars™ Minifigures.

Conclusion

All the above suggests that collecting LEGO® Star Wars™ sets for investment purposes isn’t simple. The mere fact that Star Wars™ sets are the most expensive ones just isn’t enough.

First, there are many sets from the Star Wars™ universe. As an illustration, the Millennium Falcon has been released more than 20 times, so there have been enough opportunities to buy it, if someone has had such a desire.

Second, the Star Wars™ sets have been produced in large quantities for a long time, prolonging their shelf time. Again, this increases the chances to buy them from official channels instead of seeking a peer-to-peer exchange.

As my favorite Star Wars™ character Yoda says: “See the bigger picture, we must. Only then, understand the reasons why, we will.”

Would you like to learn more about LEGO® Star Wars™ and LEGO® sets in general? Check this interactive dashboard and get answers to questions such as:

• How many Star Wars™ sets are being released every year?
• What are the largest Star Wars™ sets?
• Which sets have the most minifigures?
• What is the heaviest Star Wars™ set?
• Are Star Wars™ sets getting more and more expensive?

All the dashboards and visualizations were created with GoodData. You can try it yourself with the free trial!

Disclaimer

This site is not endorsed by Lucasfilm Ltd. or Disney and is intended for entertainment and information purposes only. Star Wars and all names and pictures of Star Wars vehicles and any other Star Wars related items are registered trademarks and/or copyrights of Lucasfilm Ltd., or their respective trademark and copyright holders and are not affiliated with or owned by GoodData Corporation.

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site.

The information provided herein is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information provided and shall not be held liable for any losses incurred as a result of using this information.