24 Lego Sets Worth Way More Than We Thought
LEGO has come a long way since its launch by Danish businessman Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932. Originally a maker of wooden household products, the company shifted to making children’s toys to survive the Great Depression.
LEGO fans can now enjoy epic architectural sets that are a far cry from early sets such as the 1952 LEGO tractor. Its fans are also very accustomed to the often eye-watering prices attached to the latest sets. But still, some have recently taken us by surprise.
Here’s a look at some set prices that shocked us at the LEGO US store. Our criteria are based on size, complexity, and prestige. The level of detail in some of these models is stunning and will surely explain why they cost so much.
Eiffel Tower
No one would be surprised to pay a premium for the LEGO Eiffel Tower. Standing tall at 59 inches, it’s a fantastic recreation of Gustave Eiffel’s unforgettable and iconic vision that changed the Parisian skyline forever.
But, we weren’t expecting to see $629.99 on the price tag! As one of the most expensive LEGO sets available, you’ll be tasked with putting together over 10,000 bricks. It features trees, elevators, observation decks, and a French flag.
Travel Moments
The “Travel Moments” LEGO set is a fun concept where you place bricks in locations you’ve visited on a Lego world map. Relatively flat and easy to build, you’d think it would be in the lower price range – wrong.
Priced at $149.99 the Travel Moments is high in the LEGO price bracket. Thankfully, you’ll get 1231 pieces to play with including LEGO photo holder elements and a small plane inspired by the winning build from the Season 4 finale of LEGO® Masters (US).
McLaren P1
LEGO Technic sets are known for being slightly more complicated and detailed than their regular sets. That’s the case with the McLaren P1 hypercar set. But would you expect to pay $449.99? Because that’s what it’ll set you back by!
With 3893 pieces, this set creates an impressive brick recreation of the British sports car brand’s flagship model. Despite being quite expensive, this set is still a lot cheaper than the $1.1 million you’d have to pay for the real deal.
Millennium Falcon
Very much a bucket list purchase for any Star Wars and LEGO fan, we expected a high price. But still, the LEGO Millennium Falcon’s $849.99 price tag makes it the most expensive LEGO set in the US store currently.
You’ll get nearly 2,500 bricks less than the Eiffel Tower set, but I suppose you’re paying for the prestige and, frankly, very complicated build. There are removable hull panels to reveal interior sections, sensor dishes, and a cockpit for an authentic recreation of the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.
Hogwarts Express
Priced at $500, the Hogwarts Express is frankly a lot of money for a LEGO train. For reference, the LEGO Orient Express train is $200 cheaper.
However, you will get to recreate four classic Harry Potter scenes, play with over 5,000 bricks, and recreate the engine, coal tender, and 3-room passenger car. Best of all it comes with some LED light bricks for the all-important mood lighting.
Home Alone House
It’s a house, but not just any house. I guess that’s why you’ll have to fork out $299.99 if you want to build the classic Home Alone House in mini-figure detail.
There are booby traps, zip lines, modular vans, and LED fireplaces to bring an interactive approach rather than just a display piece. Yes, expensive LEGOs you can actually play with. You can even put a flame on Harry’s bald head. Fun fact: the set was designed by LEGO® Fan Designer Alex Storozhuk.
Nintendo Entertainment System
The NES is an icon of video game consoles. It revolutionized and saved the industry. People love it enough that LEGO made a scale replica in brick.
Priced at $269.99 you could actually buy yourself an original, fully functional NES. But we get it, the fun is in the building of 2646 bricks. It even comes with a small retro CRT 80s-style TV and an interactive Super Mario Bros game on screen.
Mercedes-AMG W14 F1 Car
LEGO sells a small $27 version of the best F1 car on the grid (yes, I’m a Lewis Hamilton fan), so how much would a slightly bigger version cost? $219.99. That’s a bit of a shock because the McLaren F1 car costs a bit less.
Granted, the W14 is an impressive LEGO Technic version with 1642 pieces, steering, suspension, a realistic 6-cylinder engine, and a functional DRS rear wing. LEGO advertises it as “for adults”, but as a kid, I would’ve begged for this (even if this particular Merc car never won a race in 2023).
Concorde
Elegant and pointing towards the sky, just like the real deal, the LEGO Concorde is an impressive 2083 piece build with an adjustable nose, cute interior seating, and a plaque at the bottom of the stand.
But it’ll cost you $199.99! Maybe I should learn my lesson by now. With a length of 42 inches, this is far more of a display piece than a LEGO set you’ll be playing with.
Captain America’s Shield
I thought a shield would be fairly straightforward, but with over 3,000 pieces it’s no surprise Captain America’s Shield is priced at $199.99. It measures over 18.5 inches in diameter.
It’s a great gift idea for Marvel fans and comes with a cute little Captain America mini-figure too. But be warned, this kit is advertised as for adults only due to its complexity!
NASA Space Shuttle Discovery
A bit like the Concorde model, the NASA Space Shuttle Discovery is a display piece with detail, style, and authentic features amongst 2354 bricks. This shuttle was in operation from 1984 to 2011, the third of just six to be produced by NASA.
There’s a payload bay with the Hubble telescope, a robotic arm, a flight deck, and an adjustable center engine. If you can’t resist the thought of taking a LEGO space walk, get saving!
Jaws
Although rather detailed, I feel the Jaws film prestige pushes the price tag of this LEGO Jaws set up to $149.99. It is worth noting that LEGO stresses, “This boat does not float!”
There are three mini-figures and the shark from the film, among nearly 1500 LEGO pieces. Far from an easy build, it is quite a big set, but again it is more of a display piece than a play piece. Personally, as LEGO goes, I don’t think “you’re gonna need a bigger boat”.
Fender Stratocaster
A real Fender Strat could cost you over $1,000 and more. But a LEGO Fender Stratocaster is only $119.99. That seems a lot at first, but it does include a nice, detailed Fender amp, guitar strap, and stand. The amp has interior LEGO electronics, while the guitar has strings that you can tighten and loosen.
There are over 1074 pieces and it’s certainly not an easy build! I personally own this set and found it to be one of the most detailed LEGO kits I’ve ever built. Thankfully for my bank account, it was a gift.
AT-AT
I presumed the Star Wars AT-AT would be at the top of the LEGO price range, and I was right. It’s $849.99, equal to the Millennium Falcon as the most expensive LEGO set in the US LEGO store.
With a mammoth 6,785 pieces, nine mini-figures, and a cable for Luke Skywalker to enter the AT-AT with. You can play with this one or display it, with posable legs for the perfect set-up. There is also a fully posable cabin.
Identity and Landscape Kit
A bag of random bricks, mini-figures, and DUPLO pieces shouldn’t be that expensive, right? Well, this 2808-piece set is priced at $789.99! That puts it in the top five most expensive LEGO sets. Largely marketed as a set for team-building, it could also be used for playing and building imaginary worlds.
LEGO says it has enough bricks for 10-12 people to play with at once, including wheels, windows, animals, ladders, trees, mini-figures, base plates and even sorting trays.
Liebherr Crawler Crane
This detailed recreation of one of the world’s most powerful and impressive cranes costs $699.99. That’s a lot of money, but it is undeniably a thing of LEGO Technic beauty. Why? Because you can control it via a smartphone app.
The Liebherr Crawler Crane is amongst the largest of the LEGO Technic builds, standing tall at over 38 inches! We’re quite impressed by the authentic tank steering system and rotating turntable.
Diagon Alley
For a set that is effectively four LEGO houses, $449.99 is a lot. But if you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll get your money’s worth with over 5500 pieces building a cute and authentic representation of Diagon Alley from the movies.
There are also 14 mini-figures and nicely decorated interiors that you can display or play with. There’s even a unique LEGO wand case built for this set.
Batcave
The Batcave is LEGO’s first-ever Shadow Box-style model (a box that showcases the interior to create shadows). It’s got a great aesthetic, seven minifigures, and 3981 pieces.
There’s also a Batmobile car which is interactive and frankly worthy of a set entirely on its own. You can illuminate the batsuit, raise doors, change the batscreen, and even play with a little mini figure Alfred!
With a $399.99 price tag, you don’t have to be Bruce Wayne to afford it, but you might just have to save up for it.
Arctic Explorer Ship
This is one set that I actually think is truly overpriced. $159.99 for a relatively simple, yet fun Arctic Explorer Ship. There’s no prestige or brand appeal attached to it, so it’s a lot for an 815-piece kit.
Having said that, it’s made to be fun for kids who want to imagine taking their minifigures to the most northern points in the world. It features a Viking shipwreck, sea helicopter, and mini-submarine.
Street Skate Park
It’s only a small skate park, how much would it cost? $67.99! With 454 pieces, this is a cute LEGO City Street Skate set that your kids can play with and customize with skateboards, scooters, in-line skates, and BMX bikes.
The modular ramps allow you to imagine your dream park or even recreate one from the Olympics. We recall as children there being a fake LEGO BMX set, so it’s nice to see LEGO providing the real deal for the kids (or adults) of today.
Fire Command Truck
LEGO was always expensive, but the $64.99 price of this fire truck shows how even the most simple sets have risen in price over the years. It must be said it’s a nice set though, with loads of functionality such as a firefighting drone, toy water foam darts, and flames to recreate disasters.
With over 500 pieces, four minifigures, and multiple accessories this is a great gift set for anyone looking to add to their LEGO city.
Ferrari Daytona SP3
Now this is an impressive set for a LEGO Technic collector! Priced at $449.99, you’ll get a beautiful recreation of the Ferrari Daytona SP3 with an 8-speed sequential gearbox with paddle shifter, V12 engine, butterfly doors, chrome painted rims, and a detachable roof.
It’s got rave reviews online and is a must-have for a Tifosi fanatic. For the LEGO enthusiast in your life who also loves cars or Ferraris, this is a great gift idea. This might be the closest they’ll ever get to playing with a real one anyway!
The Milky Way Galaxy
This beautiful Milky Way Galaxy LEGO ‘painting’ may be worth saving up for if you’d like to decorate your room with one of LEGO’s most expensive art sets priced at $199.99. We saw this in the LEGO store recently and can vouch that it looks even better in person than it does in the photos.
With over 3,000 pieces, you’ll layer the bricks to create a beautiful 3D effect and a “you are here” sticker placed at our point in the galaxy. There’s even a little Gaia space telescope, TRAPPIST-1 star, and crab nebula!
McLaren F1 Car
McLaren’s V6-cylinder engine F1 car is carefully designed in brick form for $199.99. Similar in size to the Mercedes-AMG F1 LEGO set, it’s even got suspension, differential, and moving pistons to please any LEGO technic obsessive.
I’d be building it as if it were for Oscar Piastri, the superior McLaren driver. I’d recommend gifting this to any F1 and LEGO fan; even if they’re not particularly keen on McLaren, as it’s just a stunning feat of LEGO engineering.
