LEGO and Brickset in 2000 vs. 2025
Posted by CapnRex101,
As you may have seen, today is Brickset's 25th anniversary! We have quite a few articles and activities planned to mark the occasion over the coming weeks and I thought it would be fun to start by looking at the sets Brickset was keeping track of when it was founded, in contrast to those today!
Unsurprisingly, there have been some significant changes to the LEGO product range since 2000, with a few highlights in this article.
The number of sets
Around the time of its creation, the Brickset database contained 1959 sets, at least according to a screenshot of the website in 2000. There were actually at least 4632 sets released before the website was launched, but Brickset originally focused on those produced after 1978, which are generally easier to keep track of.
Today, the database contains 21,995 items, so over ten times the original total! Of course, that includes many sets released before 1978 and adding others we were initially missing, but also shows how production of LEGO sets has increased dramatically over the past 25 years. There are often nearly 1000 new items released each year nowadays, so the Brickset database grows by as many sets as it started with every couple of years.
The biggest sets
Bearing in mind that only sets released after 1978 were initially included, the biggest set in the Brickset database in 2000 was 9452 Giant LEGO Topic Set, a 2165-piece brick box created in 1991. However, brick boxes are not necessarily traditional sets, so an argument could instead be made for 5571 Giant Truck as the largest set by piece count in 2000, with its 1757 pieces. Either way, 3450 Statue of Liberty would take that title just a few months after Brickset was launched.
By contrast, the largest set by piece count today is the 11,695-piece 31203 World Map. 5571 Giant Truck has tumbled to 320th place on the list! Taking all sets produced before 2000 into consideration, the biggest was 7100 Samsonite Large Education Set from 1963, including a remarkable 3250 pieces. Even that is only good enough for 90th place today.
Another way of looking at the difference is by the number of sets featuring over 1000 pieces. Taking absolutely everything released pre-2000 into consideration, including brick boxes and Education sets, there were 28 sets containing over 1000 pieces released before Brickset was launched.
As of mid-July, there have been 80 such sets released this year alone!
The rise of licensed sets
The turn of the millennium was a vital period for LEGO. The company was struggling, with the arrival of BIONICLE still a year away, but had released two licensed themes for the first time a year earlier, with Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh.
On that basis, there would have been 41 licensed sets in the original Brickset database, along with many sets produced in partnership with other brands like Shell or airline companies. Even so, they were a tiny minority of the whole range.
By my count, 292 licensed sets have been released so far this year, not taking things classified as 'Gear' into consideration. 277 sets are not licensed, so there is a roughly even split between licensed and non-licensed products.
One thing, at least, has not changed
This would be the opportune moment to write something trite, like 'Brickset's dedication to its users remains as firm today as it was in 2000'. That may be true, but it is not really a fun fact!
Instead, I am going to mention something I noted earlier today, in the screenshot of Huw's post on Lugnet to announce the launch of Brickset.com. The first set featured as an example of how sets could be found in the database was 6876 Alienator, a Blacktron set released in 1988.
Huw clearly has a fondness for the Alienator because the set remains an example used in the comments on every article today, showing how set numbers can be prefixed with a # to create links to the relevant database entry!
You can view everything released in 2000 here.
How has your LEGO collection changed since 2000 and what other statistics would you like to see us delve into over the next week or two? Let us know in the comments.
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54 comments on this article
Man, happy 25th birthday Brickset.
Happy anniversary to Brickset. I've only been around for 15 of those 25 years, but Brickset has been a most helpful resource all these years. Looking forward to the next 25 if I live that long!
Nearly 1000 items released annually.... I'm not sure if that's a "fun fact" or a scary one!
I was going to say it was almost the year I owned the least sets from, As I think that's when my interest declined after Space Lego disappeared, disappointingly I missed Stars Wars round one but then I seem to have collected more sets year on year until 2016 when every year has been more or less the same. I will ask though according to the Database Sets by Year it says I own 15 sets on a graph. My sets says 22. I did think It may have missed out Gear but I have 7 Gear......
2000 must have been about the start of my dark ages. I remember having a droid fighter and the original b-wing, and Luke on the second Death Star, but I'd stopped collecting space with UFO and probably most sets, to be honest. Rebrickable (which I don't keep up to date) shows some sets from 99 and then a gap until 2007 with Modulars, but I didn't acquire them new, so it's probably more like 2012 when I started again?
Anyway, it says 120k pieces, so I guess I've been busy in the last decade!
The stat I want to see least is how much I've spent since I restarted this! :P
Very interesting article! I’m looking forward to the next ones!
Congratulations Brickset! I’ve been here for just over half (13 years). I arrived as I came out of my dark ages and my kids were discovering how amazing Lego is. I had dug my old sets out in an attempt to consolidate my collection and happened upon Brickset as an invaluable tool. I’ve been here ever since and still love the platform. Thanks!!
Brickset.com has been the best resource for me to keep track of my collection as far back as 2000 until now. Never give up, never surrender!
Is there a list of features that were removed from Brickset? Just curious...
There was a time when one could aspire to being a "true" Lego completionist. I highly doubt that even the most ardent and wealthy fans can claim that title today.
6876 is an excellent choice. Hey, and it still works! ;)
Happy Birthday BS and Happy Bastille Day from Paris!!
In 2000 I barely had a collection. I had just graduated from college and discovered Star Wars LEGO was a thing, so every paycheck was picking up something from that line. I somehow ended up with Mars Mission sets, too.
Today I have an insanely huge collection. A lot of it also belongs to my kids, who I hope will pass it on to their kids. I don’t even know if Star Wars sets are the bulk of the collection anymore. I’m sure if I went purely by sets per theme, Star Wars wins out. But throw everything else in there and I’m sure it’s just a fraction of the collection.
At some point I picked up a used Alienator from Bricklink, because that’s a set I had as a kid! It still sits in a proud place on my desk, under the shadow of two Slaves-1.
Wow... If I'd seen the junk that Lego was producing in 2000 I would never have come out of my dark age (and been a lot richer!) How things had changed by 2015!
I have the exact set 6876 in my collection.
in 2000, I was definitely in the middle of the "dark ages" of not collecting. I had basically phased out 10 years prior. Flash forward to 2017 or so and I'm sucked back into it. I joined brickset in 2018. Looking back at my collection, I have catalogued about 84 sets before I hit my lull. Now I have just passed the 1000 sets owned mark - so I've picked up at least 900 sets over the past 7-8 years now. Yikes. No wonder there's no more room in my basement!
and yes, 6876 Alienator is proudly in my collection along with other Gen 1 (and some 2) Blacktron sets. :)
Congratulations on your 25th anniversary!
Apart from the abovementioned sets, 2000 already had some nice sculptures like the UCS Tie Interceptor, the UCS X-Wing, buildable minifig, the Statue of Liberty, when that was a thing, the RCX and a lot of nice Technic sets!
2000 or 1999 was when my dark ages ended. I'm sorry I only discovered Brickset in 2016 :-S
In 2000 I could at least see the pictures of the sets on this website...
@955561976 said:
"In 2000 I could at least see the pictures of the sets on this website..."
That issue will hopefully be fixed tomorrow.
@CapnRex101 said:
" @955561976 said:
"In 2000 I could at least see the pictures of the sets on this website..."
That issue will hopefully be fixed tomorrow."
Good news - thanks!
I always love a LEGO data deep dive - huge congratulations to Huw, Rex, and the whole Brickset team! How would I keep track of my LEGO collection without you!?
The average amount of minifigs per set might be interesting, 2000 / 2025. And if easily compiled - the amount of unique minifigs produced in these years. Not Duplo or dolls tho! :o)
Unrelated... Several new offers for Lego Insiders days.
e.g. 75380 Mos Espa Podrace Diorama for less than Amazon
Ideas for articles: How many unique parts then versus now, and how many new ones are introduced (or retired) each year. Same idea for Lego colors.
@jkb said:
"Is there a list of features that were removed from Brickset? Just curious..."
Tha',d be great for an upcoming article. I can only think of one such feature. Back at the very beginning, each set's database entry let you make comments on the set. I can still remember somebody in the comments on 8593 saying that they were going to buy one and then shoot video of themself burning it, because they thought it was such an awful set. I was looking at that, thinking, "Lego won't care if you do that, the store you bought it from won't care. They'll already have your money."
I'd be interested in seeing user demographics; how many join, how many drop out, how many come back, etc.
Also, which Brickset functionalities are often used and which aren't? How many folks used the hide comment feature and was at always for the same person? :o)
This is going to be very odd if no one sees the questions above, lol.
But the earliest screenshot shows the site won the Cool Lego Site of the Week in Dec 12, 1998
https://www.lugnet.com/cool/?p=site-162
happy birthday!!
I have used brickset since it was born, but I never registered and I don't know if I am really registered. Just in the year 2000, I came out of my dark age, struck by nostalgia for the town, castle, paradisa, and pirates sets of the 80s and early 90s. Also with some from the 70s that belonged to my older brother.Since then, I haven't stopped collecting...
@kyrodes said:
"But the earliest screenshot shows the site won the Cool Lego Site of the Week in Dec 12, 1998
https://www.lugnet.com/cool/?p=site-162"
I was a bit surprised that link even worked. That was the first time I'd visited Lugnet in probably at least a decade, I thought they might be defunct by now.
Happy 25! I hope there are many many more. Love the site, been a fan for years and it keeps getting better.
I recently bought a good sized Lego parts lot and among the sets I found was a 6876. That should give me three of them when I finish it.
I'm not gonna say licensed sets ruined Lego experience or anything like that, I frequently enjoy them, but they sure seem to take precedence over original designs.
Technically 2000 predates Bionicle and thus the main theme that got me through my dark ages, haha.
I do appreciate how useful the BrickSet database has been for me over the years, so thanks for still running it and all. :) Crazy how long it's been.
My LEGO collection has changed significantly too since 2000.
I just went through it here on Brickset thanks to the awesome collection management features, and found out that up until my dark ages (which started around the end of 1997) my entire collection totaled 93 sets. And among those were a lot of those small accessory packs from the Seventies and Eighties, plus quite a few road and crater baseplate packs I got for my layouts.
During my dark ages I somehow still managed to get another six sets, I guess most were Christmas or birthday presents.
I have no set from the year 2000 though.
Anyway, just shy of 100 sets before emerging from my dark ages.
Fast forward to the present day and I now have, according to Brickset statistics, over 2,000 sets, which to be fair contains quite a few CMFs, which are also counted as sets. But even without CMFs I have more than 1,500 sets now, and that is indeed a bit alarming, since I am running out of room.
Add to that my by now also quite large collection of alternative brand sets, mainly from BlueBrixx, especially over a hundred trains and train related items, plus several of their Star Trek sets.
I have begun to sell sets that feel surplus to requirements though, and will continue to do so until my collection reaches a level again that I feel comfortable with. And as for new sets, I will only add those that are beyond awesome imho and tremendously good value for money after discounts.
I've been here for 12 of those 25 years! I was coming out of my dark ages and had brought home a huge tub of my childhood Lego sets from my parents' house to sort through and rebuild. I did an internet search for a resource to help with this and Brickset is what I found. I'm glad I did! I have gotten on this website more several times a day, every day, for the past 12 years! Here's to 25 more Huw!
Happy 25th birthday, please keep on to be the backbone of the lego cimmunity.
Yeah for 6876 Alienator!! That's awesome, and I can't believe I never actually noticed what set was used as the example!
hmm, 2000 was right before my dark ages, which started with 6098 King Leo's Shack, but I was working at ToysRUs (which has also changed status into 'gone' in the US) and picked up 5 copies of 6093 at half off.
In 2000, castle was about 80% of my collection and I only had a few space sets (I didn't start getting Star wars until the A-wing came out), but now I have more SW and space and they are growing more rapidly (since they're aren't many castle sets released!!)
I love the 25th anniversary logo!
Would love to hear from @Huw why he chose 6876 back in the day :-)
I'm the same age as Brickset! (Well a few months older) That's weird.
I was collecting LEGO Star Wars back in 2000. Bought all of them. But after the licensed set flood, I stopped; and couldn't care less about Star Wars nowadays. Current collection - which is actually mostly my son's - is comprised of non-licensed stuff, old sets which were gifts from relatives (besides the two dozen I kept from childhood), and Mario. Also, most of my acquisitions from recent years are Creator sets. LEGO is still fun.
@domboy said:
"Yeah for 6876 Alienator!! That's awesome, and I can't believe I never actually noticed what set was used as the example!"
I think I once went, "So what set are they using as an example?" and looked it up.
@Lego_lord said:
"I'm not gonna say licensed sets ruined Lego experience or anything like that, I frequently enjoy them, but they sure seem to take precedence over original designs."
Of course...your profile picture is a character from a licensed Lego set?
@TheOtherMike said:
" @domboy said:
"Yeah for 6876 Alienator!! That's awesome, and I can't believe I never actually noticed what set was used as the example!"
I think I once went, "So what set are they using as an example?" and looked it up."
I also wondered why 6876 was special. I'm glad to know the story behind it.
Huw - one thing that has intrigued me about LEGO is its coding structure. I spent my entire working life in the computer industry so I am familiar with the need for items to have identifying codes. The LEGO code isn't just numerical (eg, ascending numbers, one greater than the previous item) but structured. Do you know what it is and could that be a subject of one of your excellent articles?
Many thanks for all your excellent efforts.
Man, there were a LOT of RUBBISH sets and parts-packs released by LEGO in 2000!
No wonder they almost went broke!
Even the Star Wars sets were mostly half-baked and uninspiring!
It’s telling that amongst the better - but still very simple - sets released that year were the Disney Mickey Mouse sets! At least the figures were cool.
@BrickAnomie said:
" @Lego_lord said:
"I'm not gonna say licensed sets ruined Lego experience or anything like that, I frequently enjoy them, but they sure seem to take precedence over original designs."
Of course...your profile picture is a character from a licensed Lego set?"
Touché, nice catch...
My first set was a 5th birthday gift in 1960, but when my collection grew to fill a third of a shipping container I gave it all to a charity. That didn't cure my addiction, I am collecting and building happily again in my retirement, although I am also exploring non-Lego products such as Lumibricks which are in many ways superior to LEGO
I’d be interested to see how set design/detail has changed over time please. Perhaps changes to the product selection? Which themes are returned to more often or less frequently?
I was a year into finally expanding my collection from just Space (started in 1979 to 1995, then found discounted stragglers here and there) to diving headfirst into LSW with the release of the first wave after visiting the Lego store at what was then called Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs). Collection has definitely blown up since then, over 850 sets, and many more themes covered. It's been much easier to track than just by paper and Excel since I registered in 2017, and easier to get news, info on older sets and reviews than I had ever gotten before. So Happy 25th, and hoping to stick around for the next 25, and beyond!
How about comparing 2005 vs 2025, 2000 was such a strange time for lego and very many lows with them trying stuff. Trains though was great with build a train and would like see it comeback.
Your example of how you use 6876 as an example in every article: I wish more people paid attention to it. Seems like I've been seeing more and more people neglecting the hashtag. I mean, it's not the end of the world if I have to scroll up or tab to another Brickset page to search for that number so I can see what set(s) people are talking about, but it's still an interruption.