LEGO Movie Sets and Minifigs Arrive at Target

My local Target didn’t have too many 2014 sets (no Star Wars, which is what I was hoping for), but they seemed to have a full selection of LEGO Movie Collectible Minifigs and building sets.

The minifigs were two aisles away, near the action figures:
LEGO at Target

On the other end of the action figure section, they had a LEGO Movie endcap display:
LEGO at Target

Here are the LEGO Movie sets in the regular LEGO aisle:
LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

And LEGO Movie merchandise:
LEGO at Target

They had an okay selection of Hobbit and LOTR sets, plus TMNT and Castle:
LEGO at Target

Castle – and monkey!
LEGO at Target

Some City:
LEGO at Target

Creator:
LEGO at Target

A very cool Creator plane:
LEGO at Target

More City:
LEGO at Target

Chima:
LEGO at Target

Star Wars:
LEGO at Target

LEGO at Target

Waiting For 2014 Sets To Arrive

A lot of 2014 LEGO set videos are hitting YouTube, and LEGO blogs are reviewing them, so I figured I would see what my local Toys R Us had in stock…

First off: they have a TON of LEGO:
LEGO at Target

Plus an enormously long display at the front of the store:
LEGO at Target

Ah-ha! LEGO Movie sets, plus the collectible minifig line:
LEGO at Target

Endcap display, a mix of sets:
LEGO at Target

Older collectible minifigs:
LEGO at Target

One random Halloween polybag:
LEGO at Target

And one random Thanksgiving polybag:
LEGO at Target

A mix of new and old Ninjago. What?! No red boxes?
LEGO at Target

Chima Chima Chima:
LEGO at Target

Star Wars:
LEGO at Target

Funny how many box designs there are now for Star Wars:
LEGO at Target

Still a big display of Monster Fighters!
LEGO at Target

Castle:
LEGO at Target

Hobbit and Lord the Rings. And check this out: Tower of Orthanc!
LEGO at Target

Why on earth would they have two of these sets in stock?!
LEGO at Target

TMNT and Lone Ranger:
LEGO at Target

City and Technic. Glad to see that LEGO has a full fire station and full police station available now:
LEGO at Target

City:
LEGO at Target

And more City:
LEGO at Target

Couldn’t not notice the huge display of LEGO books:
LEGO at Target

A New Year, Without LEGO

So last year, in various small phases, I got rid of most of my LEGO. What I kept were the sets I appreciate most, and that I can actually display. For the most part, it is the modular series, plus a bunch of minifigs such as Star Wars, etc. There are other small collections I have yet to part with – one each of the Harry Potter series, all unopened, as well as some classic castle sets, with their boxes.

For me, it became overwhelming to try to store all of the LEGO I bought. The truth is that OWNERSHIP was not the most engaging part of the hobby, but rather: THE HUNT. I loved scouring the forums for good deals at retailers, searching ebay and second-hand markets.

And that drove all kinds of dream-collections, such as wanting to army build in too many different themes: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, classic castle, etc. If I had unlimited space, I could perhaps consider this. But I’ve decided I want to spend more of my time appreciating LEGO, and less time dusting LEGO.

Will I buy any LEGO this year? Maybe a set or two. But not any more than that one extra shelf can handle.

As I have said in earlier posts, there are two other motivations for me behind this decision:

  1. LEGO is simply making too many amazing sets to reasonably collect the ones I like. The just announced the Simpsons set, which looks amazing, all of the themed stuff looks fun (TMNT, LOTR, Hobbit, Star Wars, etc) and even many of the other themes have so many cool elements and colors, such as Chima. Even the new LEGO Movie sets look really neat. And this is without considering the HUGE sets – from the Star Wars UCS stuff (amazing stuff) to something like the Opera House. It’s simply too much of a good thing. I am not complaining, I am just recognizing that it forces me to have strict limits.
  2. I’ve grown bored of the idea of LEGO as investment.

All this said, I will continue the blog because I continue to be a huge LEGO fan! I still frequent a lot of the fan sites and follow lots of YouTubers who review LEGO stuff. It’s still very much a part of my day-to-day life.

Thanks.