Recently I’ve been contemplating the costs and space confinements associated with collecting LEGO sets. Specifically, I was thinking about whether or not to buy into the smaller themes that run for half of a year to two years and(for the most part) have minimal storytelling. The ones like Ultra Agents and Galaxy Squad and Dino.
In the past I’ve collected Pharoah’s Quest, Exo-Force(to a degree), and Galaxy Squad(non-completionist) as well as bought a few select sets from various other playthemes along the way.
But for the last few years I’ve put more of my money, and more importantly, space into larger IPs such as Ninjago, Chima, and (this year)Bionicle. As such, I’m getting a little tight on shelf space, and my budget for lego is running thin. I keep ending up with scenarios in which I would normally buy a few of the playtheme sets, but instead decide to save the money and shelf space for the inevitable Ninjago set that I’ll want. Playthemes just end up getting shoved to the side.
But that’s also annoying because we keep ending up with more and more interesting playthemes. For instance, I really would like to get into the ultra agents stuff; I really love both the aesthetics of the agents’ gear and the use of non-conventional weaponry on the villains’ side. However, as much as I’d like to put a 20 inch long ship and an evil oil rig lair on my shelf, stuff like past Chima sets and the space reserved for the Morro Dragon are in the way.
So what do you guys do with Playthemes? Do you buy into them selectively? How do you deal with displaying them? What do you think I should do about my dilemma?