i would like to know how many different lego sets there are ever made
and how to buy them? i know they have different sets so i want to know
all of them. but only the sets that were for sale at one time and are
for sale now. date back as far as you can and let me know how to find
them. i want to know ever set and subset. thank you!!

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Clarification of Question by anonymous777-ga on 19 Dec 2003 15:29 PST

how is the answer coming?

---

Clarification of Question by anonymous777-ga on 19 Dec 2003 18:31 PST

hi again. i dont need any of the bionicle theme legos but i want every
set from every theme ever sold. thanks. and for a good tip please keep
me updated , thamks.

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Request for Question Clarification by missy-ga on 19 Dec 2003 18:34 PST

Wow, Johnny!  You're back!  How have you been?

Someone else had your question locked earlier today, but it looks like
it's open now, so I'll have a go at it.

I think I should make sure I'm clear on what you want, though, because
you've asked for a real whopper, and I don't believe your exact specs
can be met.

You want to know:

1) How many Lego sets have ever been made (*all* sets)
2) When each set was made (frex the "Chopper Cop" set, part of Lego
System, was released in 1998)
3) Which sets are still available for purchase (either new or through
the secondary market)

Is this right?

Here's where the problem is:

You're asking for "all".

I've located a database with what the maintainers call an "incomplete"
list of past and present Lego building sets - the list runs 178 pages,
and gives the stats for **4,873** Lego sets.  Note the word
"incomplete", though.  It's clear that some sets are not listed, but
it's unclear how many:

-- Although Lego bricks were first sold in 1939 (only in Denmark), the
earliest manufactured sets list in the database are dated 1957.
-- Other sets listed are known only by their set number, and have no
title or release date.

Another database breaks set production down by number of new sets
created each year, from 1949 - present.  Though this database lists
**6,265** different sets ever produced, not all information for each
set is available:

-- Some sets do not have a known release date.
-- Titles and set numbers are only available in this database for sets
that have been "inventoried" by users.

A great many of these sets are just *not* going to be available for
purchase anywhere, for any price, others might be available, but could
be tricky to obtain:

-- Current sets are obviously going to be available through the
current Lego catalogue
-- Older sets may only be available through the secondary market -
auctions, user groups, newspaper classifieds, collector shows, yard
sales.  There is simply no way to find *all* older sets available for
purchase.

As your question stands now, you could wait a week or more for an
answer, and there's no guarantee that it would include "all" sets. 
Scrounging up the vitals for between four thousand and six thousand
sets is a time consuming task, and it won't bear fruit for each
production year.

Can we narrow this somewhat?

What I can do *for certain*:

-- provide number of different sets made, by year
-- point you to several databases with set lists and release years
-- point you to an illustrated guide, by year, for *selected* Lego sets
-- point you to an illustrated guide for 5,517 different sets and accessories
-- point you to several buying resources for both currently available
sets and secondary market sales
-- provide you with information for obtaining the current Lego
catalog, which will list all sets currently in production
-- provide you with information about Lego user groups and related
Usenet fora, which may help you track down obscure sets that you find
yourself interested in

Will that suit your purposes?

--Missy

---

Clarification of Question by anonymous777-ga on 19 Dec 2003 18:50 PST

all of those things that you have listed that you can do for certian
is perfect! my goal is to turn my 2 basment into one big lego land.
ever since i was 3 i played with different lego sets and wated to
ceate a world. i need to know all the different thems lego has so i
could create one big world! i dont need legos  that are not legos. i.e
bionicle! that is not a "real" lego set! please get me what you can
tonight as far as the lego sets that are avable now. but can i still
but a lego theme set  that was out in 1995?? 0r 1985?? thanks ! you
know i tip well.

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Clarification of Question by anonymous777-ga on 19 Dec 2003 18:54 PST

when i mean lego theme set i mean "castle" spiderman "harry potter"
"island" .... but i am sure there were other theme sets out 10 years
ago. what were those and how can i buy them?? go as far back as you
can.

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Clarification of Question by anonymous777-ga on 19 Dec 2003 19:15 PST

hi missy! i dont want any lego "make and create" sets either because
they are not theme set systems. i want to collect all theme sets and
put them all togethere. the orient theme, the castle theme, the harry
potter theme.....i just need to know all the different themes from 20
years ago or as far back as u can go. i remeber there being a
victorien theme and a police theme and so on. i hope that you
understand what i am now looking for and i hope this makes things a
bit cut down and specific. thanks!

---

Request for Question Clarification by missy-ga on 19 Dec 2003 19:22 PST

Gotcha, chief!  I've also found a listing of Lego theme sets by year,
so that ought to help considerably.

My sons were just in here to see what I was doing, and flipped when
they saw "Lego" as the subject.  We're up to our eyebrows in the
things!

I most likely won't be finished with your answer until tomorrow
afternoon at this point - I'll let you know if I run into any delays.

--Missy

---

Request for Question Clarification by missy-ga on 19 Dec 2003 19:44 PST

Mmmpf, I just saw that you're looking for a completed answer tonight.

I'll do my best, but I'd really much rather make sure I've found as
much as possible, and that usually takes some time.

--M

Hi Johnny!

It?s nice to see you back here in Answersland!

Wow.  Legos.  My siblings and I practically drowned ourselves in these
things as kids, and I?m still swimming through them (and doing the ?I
Stepped On A Lego In My Bare Feet? dance at least once a week) now as
my sons build ?em up, tear ?em down, and create new things every day
with their own Lego sets.

Lego bricks were first produced in 1939 in Denmark by the LEGO
company.  Sold only in Denmark as ?Automatic Binding Bricks?, these
were the precursors to the Lego bricks of today. (The ?Automatic
Binding Brick? name was dropped in favor of the now very familiar Lego
name in 1953.)

Lego bricks weren?t sold outside of Denmark until 1953, when the LEGO
company chose to begin exporting to Sweden.  The toys rapidly gained
popularity, spreading quickly to Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium,
and eventually to the US (in 1961).

In 1958, the original Lego design was improved, and the current Lego
design was introduced.  The design was further improved in 1963 ? the
original cellulose acetate composition was scrapped in favor of the
tougher ? and sterile! ? ABS plastic still used in the production of
Lego bricks today).

[ See:  LEGO Timeline http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=timeline ]

But what about sets?

Sets were introduced in 1964, and the number of sets produced each
year since then has increased immensely!  By 1986, LEGO had produced
6,067 different sets:

" Maybe it was the quaint Tudor design or the barmaid figure that came
with it. Something about Lego's 6,067th set, the Legoland Guarded Inn,
struck a chord with kids and Lego collectors alike. When it was
released in 1986, the shoebox-size medieval tavern became one of the
best selling kits of all time. It was discontinued in 1990, and in
2000 collectors at online auctions paid as much as $300 to get their
hands on one."

Your Customers Are Talking. Are You Listening?
http://www.informative.com/news/newsArticles/article_smartBusiness_020102.html 

Themed sets gradually joined the original playsets (in 1978), and now
include favorites such as the Castle, Star Wars and Harry Potter
themes.

Since themed sets are what you're most interested in, let's start with
some theme resources to help you track down what you want:


Theme Guides
===========

A very well organized, comprehensive theme guide:

Brickset Theme Browser
http://www.brickset.com/themebrowse.aspx
[ Select a general theme, then a sub theme, then a set or sub set ]

For the Technic theme only:

Technic Set list
http://www.chem.sunysb.edu/msl/LEGO/technic.html

Fibblesnork Lego Guide has some theme sets listed by theme and year of
release, and it?s illustrated.  *Way* cool:

Space
http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/guide/space/

Castle
http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/guide/castle/

Pirates
http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/guide/pirates/

Aquazone
http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/guide/aquazone/

Wild West
http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/guide/wildwest/

Time Cruisers
http://www.lugnet.com/fibblesnork/lego/guide/timecruisers/

A more complete (but slightly less organized) theme guide, by Theme,
Subset, and year:

Theme Guide
http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/browse.cgi 
[ Note that the themes listed are by division, theme, and subset. 
This guide also includes standard playsets, but you can skip right
over those, as the themed sets are rather obvious. ]


When tracking down older or rare sets, it's helpful to have catalogs
and databases when verifying what you need:


Catalogs and set list databases
======================

TheBrickshelf library offers full scans of complete catalogs from
Denmark, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and Germany:

The Brickshelf Library Catalog Index
Complete catalogs from 1965 ? 2001
http://library.brickshelf.com/scans/catalogs/index-aa.html

They also offer an instruction archive for many sets, organized by
series and set number, which may help fill in missing set numbers:

The Brickshelf Library
Archives
http://library.brickshelf.com/scans/ 

Peeron?s Set Inventory Database lists how many sets were created for
each year from 1949 ? present, and indicates that there were also 528
sets created whose release dates are undetermined.  Helpful for
determining if you?re missing pieces from a given set:

Peeron?s Set Inventory Database
http://peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/reports/invyear.cgi 

Peeron?s database is quite nifty, in that it is cross referenced with:

LUGnet Set Guide
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/

?AND ? if you find a set through the Guide and look at the entry, you
can see who on LUGnet is looking to sell that set!  For example:

I searched on Harry Potter, clicked the category link, and selected this set:

The Chamber of the Winged Keys
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/4704

Five people want to sell this set.  Neat, no?  I'd make this my first
stop when trying to find a discontinued set.

An attempt to catalog every Lego set produced, including Promotional
themes, is here:

Lego Sets, by Set Year (tab delimited, suitable for export into a
spreadsheet program)
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/list/byyear.txt

Pause Magazine?s Set Lists
http://www.brickmeister.com/pause/lists.html



Shopping
=======

The Brickwise Shopping Guide breaks down what?s available now, by
series, set, and retailer.  If you know the ID number of the set
you?re looking for, just click on the series (0000, 1000, etc.) for a
list of what?s currently available and where:

The Brickwise Shopping Report
http://guide.lugnet.com/shop/?q=0xxx

Current Lego Sales at Amazon, via Peeron?s Reports
http://peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/reports/simple.cgi?mode=sales

Request a current Lego catalog
http://shop.lego.com/TermsPolicies/request_catalog.asp 

For older sets, you?ll have to hit the auction and collector sites. 
You can browse, or search on the set name and/or number to get quicker
results:

AuctionBrick ? All Legos, all the time
http://auctionbrick.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.pl

eBay
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/all/category18998/index.html
[ Check out the 19 set Star Wars theme for $747!  Whoa! ]

BrickLink
http://www.bricklink.com/
[ Buy, sell, list sets you?re looking for. ]

Yahoo Auctions
http://search.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/search/auc?alocale=0us&p=Lego&auccat=

Amazon Auctions
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/search-handle-form/ref=a_h_lb1_01/103-0036663-6438277

LUGnet Marketplace
http://news.lugnet.com/market/
[ Buy, sell, trade, services and brickshops ]

OldLego (sorted by theme)
http://www.oldlego.com/

LegoRebuilders
http://www.lego-rebuilders.com/Items%20for%20sale.htm 

BrickDirect (temporarily closed for upgrades, back soon)
http://www.brickdirect.com/

Lego Buying and Selling Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/legobuyingandselling/

Another way to find specific sets for sale is to Google on the set or
theme name.  For example, I searched on [ lego orient expedition ],
and found:

Hobbytron- Orient Expedition
http://www.hobbytron.com/orient.html

It's also sometimes helpful to search on [ lego "set or theme name"
sale OR purchase ]  Just be certain to replace "set or theme name"
with the actual name, and leave the quotes!


Other Lego collector resources
======================

The International Lego Users Group Network
http://www.lugnet.com/

rec.toys.lego ? USENET discussion
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&group=rec.toys.lego
[ Don't forget to read the FAQ:  http://www.multicon.de/fun/legofaq.html ]

Pause Magazine
http://www.brickmeister.com/pause/index.html 

Lego Maniac's Guide
http://www.adequate.com/lego/

Lego Collectors Hangout
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/legocollectorshangout/

Lego Trivia
===========

Peeron?s Reports has statistics on:

Most common part
Most common color
Least common color
Most parts in a set
Least parts in a set
Most parts per dollar
Least parts per dollar
Part made in the most different colors
Most colors in a set
Least colors in a set
First sighting of each color
Parts without any pictures
Number of sets inventoried, per year

Peeron?s Reports
http://peeron.com/inv/reports

How Lego Bricks Are Made
http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=bricks 

I hope you have fun gathering your Lego collection!  You've chosen an
ambitious project to take on, one that is certain to be entertaining
as well as challenging.  When you've completed it, you'll come back to
us with pictures of your Legoland, right?

I trust these resources will aid you in your quest.  If I can be of
further assistance, please just ask for clarification.  I'll be happy
to help.

--Missy

Search terms: [ lego set lists ], [ lego collectors ], [ discontinued
legos ], [ rare legos ], [ lego collectibles ]

---

Clarification of Answer by missy-ga on 21 Dec 2003 09:56 PST

Hi Johnny!

I wanted to let you know that I've seen your new question, and I am
working on it.  Someone else has it locked at the moment, but I expect
that will be resolved later.  I'm leaving the note here because I know
you'll get a notification.)

If you're having trouble with the GA interface, you might find Chris
Wu's Guide helpful:

What To Do After You've Asked A Question At Google Answers
http://www.christopherwu.net/google_answers/answer_guide.html

In the meantime, I'm glad you liked the Lego answer!

--Missy