Lego Backlog
Halloween is officially over and the holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas is on the horizon. Besides family gatherings, holiday parties, and gift giving, the holiday season also brings massive sales on anything and everything, which includes some of the best sales of the year on Lego sets. If you have a set on your wishlist, there is a good chance it will be on sale within the next couple months. If a set on your wishlist is also retiring, now is the time to buy, even if you won't be able to build it right away.
As a frugal Lego collector, I regularly buy Lego sets when they are on sale, even if I have no intention of building right away. I will add the set into my ever growing backlog with the intention of building it in the future. In my current situation of adulting, I seem to be adding sets to my backlog faster than I am able to build them. This got me thinking of how other AFOL’s handle sets on their wishlist while juggling all their adult responsibilities and trying to find time for their favorite hobby, Lego.
This is the first time since coming out of my dark age in 2022 that I have had to take a serious look at my backlog as it is getting out of control. Here is what I am facing at the moment.
How many sets are in my backlog?
41
What set has been in my backlog the longest?
From 2014, 76023 Batman: The Tumbler from the Dark Knight
How many sets have I lost interest in building?
6
I conducted a small survey with a few friends asking the same three questions above. Here are the answers I received:
How many sets are in your backlog?
3 to 37
What set has been in your backlog the longest?
21302 The Big Bang Theory (2015)
71044 Disney Train and Station (2019)
75252 Imperial Star Destroyer (2019)
42125 Technic Ferrari 488 GTE (2022)
10185 Green Grocer (2010)
How many sets have you lost interest in building? 0 to 8
Thank you to those who participated in the survey. Its good to know I’m not the only one with a huge stash of Lego sets that need to be built.
My Backlog Strategy
Yes, this is a thing. Yes, I’m a dork…
With Christmas approaching, holiday sets in my backlog now move to the front of the line. My holiday set backlog/priority list is as follows:
40700 Winter Holiday Train GWP from 2024
40806 Gingerbread AT-AT Walker
40642 Gingerbread Ornaments
40820 Up-scaled Santa Minifigure
75429 AT-AT Driver Helmet (Top set in my non-holiday backlog)
40801 Stranger Things Brickheadz (Final season dropping soon on Netflix)
Come January, if I do not complete all of the holiday builds, they will move to the back of the line, sitting for another year while other non-seasonal sets will move up.
How’s your backlog looking? I would love to hear about how many sets are in your backlog and what set has been there the longest.
Do you have sets in your backlog that you have lost interest in? It may be time to consider selling or donating those sets and replacing them with something you want to build right now. Personally I have a hard time parting with sets in my backlog. This comes from experience as I have sold some sets then regretted it later and am reluctant to pay aftermarket prices on retired sets.
As I’m writing this, Target's early black friday sale got me adding several sets to my backlog….
Until next time AFOL’s….