LEGO has been around for a long time. Lots of us have cherished memories of receiving LEGO sets as gifts when we were younger, and then perhaps have less happy memories of separating ourselves from our collections as we grew older and fell out of love with building bricks. But increasingly, more and more of us are coming back to LEGO as adult fans – or AFOLs. This poses an interesting question. Are there LEGO sets for adults?

This piece has been born from a bit of a frustration of mine. If you’ve used YouTube in the past couple of years then you will have seen LEGO’s ‘Adults Welcome’ advertising campaign. You can view an example here: https://youtu.be/iYbDrDllxVs. Whilst the adverts themselves feet quite comical, I have to admit that they really annoyed me.

In my mind, they underpinned a stereotype that LEGO hasn’t traditionally been intended as an adult product. This feels like a miss-conception given how much adults spent on collectables during the pandemic. I think it’s clear to anyone who has considered buying LEGO before that an adult could build any of the sets available on the market, but in the interest of humouring LEGO’s rather ridiculous campaign, I thought today we would explore some of the key themes and LEGO sets for adults.

LEGO Architecture

I think that the ‘Architecture’ theme is probably the longest-running theme which has been created expressly with adults in mind. LEGO describe them as the best gifts for ‘architecture students, young architects aged 13+ and adults’, emphasising that they feel the same way! Architecture sets have always worked to capture iconic locations from our world, with places like the Taj Mahal or Himeji Castle currently available in the assortment.

I feel like this line was always traditionally pivoted more towards adults as it built on the idea that adults want something cool to display which is recognisable. Whilst there is going to be some truth behind this thinking, I do thing that is does a dis-service to adult fans who may have enjoyed iconic vehicles or characters from pop-culture licenses, or indeed, enjoyed buying multiple LEGO City sets to build their own creations. Don’t get me wrong, this line does have a place within the modern mix of LEGO products available on the market, but I am glad to see LEGO finally realising that adult fans want a lot more than just architecture in their collections.

LEGO Botanical Theme

Anyone who has read one of my recent blog posts will be familiar with the Botanical Theme, so we won’t talk about this too much. This theme does fill an interesting niche in the adult market, however, as I have noticed that friends who may not traditionally be into LEGO will buy a set from the Botanical Collection in the place of traditional artificial flowers. This line is an example where I think the ‘for adults’ moniker makes a lot more sense as these are clearly branded and presented as LEGO sets for adults. They are also clearly used as a way to onboard new fans and collectors who may not have otherwise collected LEGO sets, and seem to be doing a good job doing that!

LEGO Icons

The LEGO Icons line is quite possibly the most adult-focused line that LEGO have released. Self-proclaimed as being curated for adults, this line collects a variety of sets which sit within several different categories. There are iconic pieces of history memorabilia, modular buildings, ultra-detailed sets based on Castles and other structures, iconic vehicles, and large-scale sets based on popular culture like The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

These sets are the pinnacle of adult collectables – but, in my humble opinion, they aren’t a new occurrence. Sets like the Modular Buildings have always existed in one form or another, and large-scale sets for licensed brands have always been a thing. It just seems that in recent years, LEGO have pivoted to offer them more towards adults, realising that sets at this scale are unlikely to be built by younger fans. The 18+ branding and accompanying publicity is designed to make these feel like truly tailored LEGO sets for adults, but the truth is these are LEGO sets as they have always been.

With that said, I will admit that the Icons line has brought us some of the coolest sets we have ever seen from LEGO. Lord, please help my bank balance…

LEGO IDEAS

Next to the Icons line, LEGO IDEAS is quite literally defined as ‘LEGO sets for adults, made by AFOLs’. IDEAS has always been an incredible cool concept with the sets being created by fans of LEGO, often meaning that they are perfectly in tune with what AFOLs are likely to want. IDEAS in particular has brought many licenses to us – like Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Jaws and more. These are not licenses which will hold much cultural resonance with children today, but will absolutely connect with kids from the 80s and 90s.

Many of the ideas builds also use unique and complex building techniques. Take some of the build choices on the Biking Village set, or some of the unique angles captured in The Nightmare Before Christmas set. These are complicated approaches to achieving certain shapes within LEGO which make them much more fitting for adult fans. IDEAS takes the concept of the Icons line (things which are recognisable) and then hyper-focuses that recognition on nostalgia, making sets which really connect with adults familiar with them.

Trust me when I say IDEAS as a line meets the bill of ‘Adult LEGO Sets’ perfectly.

LEGO Art

The LEGO Art line is a unique line with few releases to date – but it’s something which is attempting to make a dent in a popular market. We all know that art is a commodity which people invest in and like to own, so LEGO have attempted to put their own spin on this by creating a series of buildable art pieces including paintings. If you’re anything like me then your immediate reaction might be the same. Why?

I can understand LEGO wanting to create products for specifically niches, but I am not sure that I see the correlation between a fan of art and a fan of LEGO. I could be completely wrong but I feel as though this is an example of LEGO making a product which they perceive to have value, but which is not necessarily likely to do that well. The products do tend to hover at the higher end of price categories too meaning these are clearly designed with collectors in mind, but why buy a LEGO set when you could get a piece from a recognisable artist which will accrue value?

Perhaps this is a market I simply do not understand, but this feels like the most curious addition to the list in my opinion.

So, there we have it – LEGO sets for Adults. Do you feel like there is value in the sub-lines we’ve discussed? Do you think these justify the big marketing push towards ‘Adults Welcome?’. I’m going to say something controversial. I think it is all a load of rubbish.

Adults have always collected LEGO. It is the reason why the term AFOL existed to begin with, and is also the reason why countless YouTube channels and Social Media personalities exist around the LEGO brand. There have always been adult collectors. LEGO have just seen an opportunity to make more money from them recently, and therefore have moved towards more openly discussing AFOLs and the sets they like.

This isn’t a new trend. Any LEGO set can be enjoyed by an adult. There’s no such thing as LEGO sets for adults as they are all for us. Anyone who tells you otherwise can…well, I won’t finish that sentence!