Results: What is your favourite set, minifigure and theme of 2019?

Although I love Batman, I voted for the Mustang as best set.

I am very surprised Hidden Side was among the top 5 in themes. I mean its an interesting idea, but overall I just think the AR and LEGO mix does not work that well. And from what I see at my LEGO store the Hidden Side sets don't sell that well. But that could just be my area. Star Wars being on top doesn't seem all that surprising. 2019 was pretty much the final year for the main SW storyline and the 20th-anniversary sets seemed to have attracted many fans, new and old. Tantive IV was decent and the ISD (if you don't compare to various ISD MOC's) is decent as well. And it's a giant grey triangle space ship. How do you expect the build of it to be like some rainbow rubbish. But I do agree overall the choices for SW sets have been pretty much the opposite of what many SW fans would want. At least its not like Marvel.... Well the Infinity War sets were ok and terrible like how it usually is...

@XenonX : you know, I do care very much for SW, both in general as well as in LEGO form. And it's precisely because of that that I am so angry at the way both are developing. As far as LEGO SW is concerned, yes, the minifigures are getting better and better, but for me the main draw is not the figures, but the sets themselves (ok, I might be the only one there). And the sets to me have been mainly let-downs this year and indeed for several years now. There are one or two highlights each year of course, but the vast majority are just meh at best, plus often highly overpriced at RRP. These sets wouldn't see discounts of 30 to 50% right from the beginning if they were fairly priced or if they sold well. Stuff that sells well doesn't need to be heavily discounted.

Same goes for Technic, which has been my greatest disappointment for several years running. I used to love Technic, it was my favorite theme by far. Nowadays I buy CaDa sets because they offer what I look for in Technic. Isn't that the real shame, having to go to some Chinese (non-knock-off mind you) brand because the real deal is such a disappointment?

Hey, all of my picks were in the top 5! (Ideas, Lenny, and the Ford Mustang)

Glad that the Treehouse won as i own the set and it really is awesome! Because of that, was glad Ideas made it to the top 5! Also, Ninjago made 6th place!

@Chilis_no said:
"Pink Lenny was no suprise the winner of the minifigs but the fact that "Welcome to Apocalypseburg!" and "The Upside Down" didn't made it higher was a big suprise.. Disclaimer: They're my two favourites ;)"

Mine too!

Theme: The LEGO Movie 2 (2019)
Minifigure / Character: Sweet Mayhem
Product: The Upside Down (75810)

@im2cre8tiv You can see for yourself, simply go to the year (2019) and sort by most owned set. In this case it is 70841 Benny's Space Squad with 10699 owners.

@AustinPowers said:
" @haldir : you say this was a strong year for the SW theme. Again I ask, why? Which sets make it "a strong year", other than perhaps the new, improved Tantive IV? Almost the entire rest was either mediocre or overpriced rehashes of old sets."

I agree that most of the sets are rehashes, but that was the point of the 20th anniversary wave. Personally, I am already content with my Lego Star Wars collection, so like you, I do not have a need to buy another AT-ST, a smaller Slave I, or an x-wing/y-wing in new colors. In fact, the only SW set I bought this year was the Tantive IV. However, I do realize that the design quality shows improvement from previous versions, and for someone just starting their SW collection, this is a great year to begin.

Personally, I voted for Ideas, as it had a few really excellent sets. But clearly SW won, so I’m just trying to hypothesize why.

@ J0rgen I have to disagree with you on this one. The quality of a set is certainly important, but it is not the only factor in how popular a set becomes. Most people wouldn’t buy a set just because it is designed well, they to have at least some interest in the source material or the concept. For example, the Ideas Pop-Up book was a creative idea that was executed to near-perfection, but the set did not sell very well (at least in the US).

I think that just because Star Wars isn’t as good as it has been, doesn’t mean that it’s not still a good theme. The continual remakes is definitely frustrating but I still think that each wave comes with at least one or two really good sets. You also have to consider that LEGO Star Wars would be popular because of the huge hype in the lead up for the new movie. Personally, I voted for Star Wars because it’s really the only theme that I like right now. It was more of an automatic choice for me rather than a full assessment of the year. And I’m sure it was like that for many other people too

As a Lego Star Wars fan 2019 was a pretty uninspiring year despite the 20th year anniversary. I imagine the anniversary sets are what probably propelled it to first. Given that in the top sets there are only 2 in the top 10 (9th & 10th) and only 1` Minifig not even in the top 10 overall kind of indicates the lackluster of Star Wars. I didn't even vote for Star Wars.

I just hope the summer/fall waves of 2020 Star Wars are better than the recent wave

Wow. ALmost onli licenced things. :/
THANKS LEGO... I mean FANS!

@lordofdragonss said:
"Wow. ALmost onli licenced things. :/
THANKS LEGO... I mean FANS!"

2019 has been the year without much in-house themes.

No Castle, no Pirates (Metalbeard doesn't count), and LEGO Movie 2 had some (Classic) Space + City Space.

I mostly collected Creator 3-in-1 and City at the time.

Hopefully the upcoming rumored "LEAF" summer theme does as good if not better then Hidden Side, as well as the IDEAS Pirate Bay.

Star Wars was a big surprise. Even though it is my favourite theme, I thought Ideas or Creator expert had a better range this year. I voted for the former.

I voted for Mando in the minifig bracket. He was pretty cool, though I also liked Lenny.

Sets were difficult. I voted for Central Perk because I’m a big fan of Friends. I can’t believe it ranked 11th as it had a lot of nominations. I can understand why Treehouse was the victor though. Such a great set!

I know that we are voting on just one minifigure, but I'm really surprised that the '89 Joker is so low. Is it the lack of green hair? Would a different accessory have helped?

I do know that I was a bit disappointed that the Collectible Minifigure Dark Knight Returns Joker has the wrong color green hair to properly substitute for the fedora.

My votes are far from objective, because I buy mostly Star Wars and I'm not that familiar with other themes and sets. But I voted for Harry Potter theme, I really love the modular system of Hogwarts and the fact that we are getting relatively few, but very nice sets. I love Star Wars, but I feel it's now more about quantity and not quality. Nevertheless, my most favourite set of the year is Tantive IV :)

Not surprised that Star Wars won, but it’s disappointing that it only wins because It’s so popular. I’m not saying the sets haven’t been good this year, but there are a number of themes that have stood out more this year. Creator Expert, Hidden Side or Ideas are more worthy choices.

For the best minifigure, I’m surprised and frustrated that Lenny won. It’s literally just a pink recolor. The only reason people like it is for nostalgia, which isn't fair when judging the best minifigure of the year.

I’m surprised that the treehouse won as the best set, but I can see why it won, although the Ford Mustang or the Upside down would have been better choices IMO

I voted for The Mandalorian, but Lenny was my second choice. Glad he won. My theme pick was Ideas and set was Central Perk. Central Perk was my personal set of the year, I mean, come on. Over 1,000 pieces for $60, the set is basically exactly accurate to Central Perk in the show, and the minifigures are spot on(and there’s 7, so again, good price). It’s gotta be at least the best deal of 2019.

@TheWackyWookiee Wow, looking at the comments it looks like we voted for the same stuff. Nice picks! :P

Love that the treehouse won. It’s what Lego is all about. Creating. Here’s hoping that the Ideas theme keeps on getting better and better

The ACTUAL winners

Best Theme of 2019: Harry Potter or Creator Expert

Best Minifigure of 2019: Jack Skellington

Best Set of 2019: 1989 Batmobile (you know I mean the big one)

Sad to see lego movie 2 stuff so low. It was so interesting and innovative. Bringing different figures together and exciting new pieces and colors. I'm 100% with the treehouse being number one I loved it so much. The build was very enjoyable, the price was good, and it looks fantastic on display!

@haldir:
SW had a very strong post-Disney year in the simple regard that it had so many quite wonderful 20th Anniversary sets, three great Microfighters (including one that fills one of three voids left by past convention exclusives), the Death Star Escape and Death Star Cannon sets, the motorized droids, and the new ISD. Most of the rest of the year was plugged up with Disney Wars stuff and 4+ sets. While the latter are great for the age group they were intended for, they make for very poor display models. Harry Potter, on the other hand, has simply knocked it out of the park with every release, even maintaining a fairly cohesive sequential release tied into the movies while gradually building up what will end up being a large Hogwarts Castle at some point.

@XenonX:
That's an interesting point, and one that I picked up on in the first year of the theme. I was a regular reader of Rebelscum back in those days, and part of the action figure customization community that was tied to that site. With one foot in both communities, I was able to see very early on that there were a _LOT_ of people who only bought the sets because of what followed the word "LEGO", usually as a side venture to their Hasbro action figure collections (I, on the other hand, mostly abandoned action figures so I could concentrate on LEGO Star Wars sets, then Bionicle sets, and finally Batman/DC Superheroes). And if you really browse many LEGO forums, you might still be able to see significant traces of that split, such as noticing that there is usually a sub-forum set up just for Star Wars, and that there are usually a lot of people who don't venture outside of that one section.

@AustinPowers:
I haven't really noticed any huge price jumps (outside of CMF, obviously), but I know that US/EU pricing can vary quite a bit at times. I also know that North American sets always include a piece count on the box, which makes it very clear when a set steps outside of the 40-year-old price scheme that we still demand today. In Europe, don't they skip the piece counts? That would make it less obvious that the size of a given model is more due to the abundance of tiny detail elements than to a simple reduction in quantity of pieces used.

@Weepy_Donuts:
TDKR Joker is a tricky one. On the one hand, Bright-Green might have been a better match to the original TDKR artwork (as well as being a more agreeable color for other Joker minifigs). On the other hand, I'm not sure they picked the right hairstyle, either. The closest he came to having his hair styled like that still had a significant cowlick hanging down in the very front. At other times he had very rumpled hair that looks nothing like this. Oddly enough, there really isn't any officially released hairstyle in any shade of green that really looks like TDKR Joker, either.

@The_Rancor:
They could release sets that are extremely accurate to Battlefield Earth, but that doesn't mean anyone would vote for it. Or feel that they're worth paying MSRP.

@Virgilnz:
Easy to forget that Bionicle had a lot more to do with saving LEGO than Star Wars. Bionicle was the top seller at that time, and I think the next three according to materials they handed out at NYTF were Harry Potter, Creator, and then Star Wars in fourth place. Bionicle was selling so much product that, at a time when the company was losing money, they had to add a new production line just to produce enough Bionicle parts to meet demand, and they basically paid for it by just raising the price on six Toa sets by $1 each. But a lot of people refuse to remember how big a part Bionicle played in keeping the company afloat for the simple fact that they hated everything about it and still refuse to admit it's actually even LEGO.

Also, you're conflating anti-Star Wars with anti-Disney Wars.

Thank goodness for both themes keeping the company afloat because I was pouring all my Lego money into Bionicle AND Star Wars around the time TLG were hitting financial difficulties. (Actually I also bought a lot of Knights Kingdom too but people don’t rave much about that). I regret selling my Bionicle collection now.

For the record, because I didn’t mention it in my last post, I thought Lego Movie 2 was the best theme in 2019. Fantastic, really colourful set and minifig designs, fun play features, melding of minifigs and mini dolls, velociraptors, post-apocalyptic Mad-Max sets, what more could you want? Even the prices were pretty fair!

Nice to see Hidden Side getting some love!

Well there we are. I voted for Star Wars , Lenny and Upside down so two golds and a bronze for me :-) The best thing about this, although not necessarily for Lego is the best set voted for by a pretty good cross section of the audience (Bricksetters) is one designed by a fan.

@Zander said:
" @Toc13 said:
"(I don't think Lenny was good, just nostalgic )"

@Jman007 said:
"For the best minifigure, I’m surprised and frustrated that Lenny won. It’s literally just a pink recolor. The only reason people like it is for nostalgia, which isn't fair when judging the best minifigure of the year."

If nostalgia were the reason for the winning minifigure, then we would expect the white or yellow spacemen from Benny's Space Squad to win because those are more nearly reproductions of spacemen from the CS era. Pink astronaut minifigures did not exist in the '70s and '80s.

And even if we accept that nostalgia played a role, we cannot rule out other possible reasons without further research. Perhaps the minimalism/design consistency of CS was a factor that made some people think it was 'good'. "
/snip for some brevity

Nostalgia for Classic Space with excitement of 'here's a new bit for it'
That help?
It also explains why there's already excitement for the upcoming orange one.

As a minifigure in & of itself, it really isn't new, different or exciting

Kinda surprised really on the star wars side of things how the slave 1 did so well??
when really its just a re hash of a previous set while Darth Vaders castle on the other hand is at least unique with it being the first time lego has actually produced one.

I wish re made sets wouldn’t get so many votes considering that set will probably be back in a few years unlike ones like vaders castle

On the whole the star wars theme is really falling into an inescapable void at this point. Unless lego either improve the quality or put the prices down then I cant see how this theme is going to survive in the future. Lego really should think less about money if it wants fans to stick around

I LOVE star wars, BUT I kinda want to see these top ten lists again without the non-Lego IPs as an option. Batman and Harry Potter will be loved just for being Batman and Harry Potter. I'm interested in what Lego exclusive characters and sets and themes everyone else is into!

Since Bricklink decided to eat a comment on me again, let me sum up.

Star Wars has a lot of repeated topics becuase there are new buyers. I'm really very bothered by the "well, I got mine a decade ago, so the newbs can go screw" that I see from people. But it does explain why Star Wars and LEGO go together so well- a (hopefully small) group of loudmouths within the fanbase who hate the rest of the fanbase and the very thing they claim to love.

That being said, I agree with @chuckschwa , I would like to see these without non-LEGO IPs. Particularly the minifigure. A pink nostalgia spaceperson isn't a terribly imaginative design, but both the people packs from 2019 had some really nifty figures. I"m thinking in particular of the little girl with the tiger stripe face makeup.

@chuckschwa said:
"I LOVE star wars, BUT I kinda want to see these top ten lists again without the non-Lego IPs as an option. Batman and Harry Potter will be loved just for being Batman and Harry Potter. I'm interested in what Lego exclusive characters and sets and themes everyone else is into!"

I am one of those people who don't collect Licensed so it would be nice seeing a list like that.

(even while LEGO Movie 2 was a complicated one with some sets with DC characters, and Wizard of Oz figures in CMF)

I might have still collected Star Wars or Harry Potter if they used yellow figs, but I was away from LEGO from 2001-2016 and I just am not interested in Licensed themes/figures (not even Lego Movie sets that had Batman in it).

I just started collecting Fire and Police in 2019, I can understand the repetitiveness over longer periods of time, but there'll be new people/kids getting into LEGO all the time.

I currently miss a Castle or Pirates theme for sure, after Nexo Knights ended, I don't really have a must-have theme, but I did certainly like the Benny Squad set as someone who grew up with having the Galaxy Explorer set in the family.

Other then that, the Creator 3-in-1 buildings, and City People Packs are my favorite set type

Hidden Side I have yet to get any sets, waiting for summer development of themes/sets, but I also like those 2 Chinese New Year sets for sure.

^^ I've taken to copying my comments before posting in case it eats mine, I know how you feel...

Anyway, was going to say this is all my fault. I voted Star Wars because I got the UCS Y-Wing this year and it's awesome. Then I realized that 1) that's a 2018 model and 2) I also got the Creator Expert Mustang and Lunar Lander, both of which are also awesome. Further, it's easy to make a great Star Wars set in this day, but both the Mustang and Lander are truly innovative. I should have voted Creator Expert, but alas, it was too late. Please forgive me, everyone!

Theme: I’m surprised since I just didn’t get excited about this year’s SW offerings. If there was a “want to trade away” tab, most SW purchases this year would end up with that designation. Scanning my 140ish Star Wars sets... this last year I only liked the dewback and Endor Microbuilds. I only earned the latter GWP by filling out my cart with crappy SW keychains for Xmas stockings. I will get the tantive & Endor GWP eventually.

Top theme of the decade: Star Wars.
Star Wars specific to 2019: wouldn’t make my top 10 list of themes.

Minifig: exclusivity doesn’t equal quality for me...(looking at you goofy, dustin and Batman). This Bruce doesn’t stand out from the dozens I have already, though there’s no denying the quality of the set it’s attched to.
Also, I’m a child of the 80s and yet have no nostalgia factor for Lenny. Never had a space set. I just thought him & his buddies were the go to gift for my Lego inclined nieces and nephews. I think I still have 2 copies.

Set: not surprised... tons of great large and d2cs this year. Treehouse and apocalypseberg top my current want list.
If I picked based on “part to time of enjoyment ratio,” wrecking ball would win (and I’ve never played Overwatch). I’m gonna go roll that guy down the hall now.

Also lost my previous comment it seems, unfortunate.

I got back into Lego through Star Wars. I was offered a few small sets, and I completed with Battle Packs. Those are great value, and that was around Christmas 2018, so I'd say early 2019 was probably decent for those still. But since, I'll agree that the sets haven't been too interesting, and I'm surprised people back this theme so much.

I'm also surprised by Creator Expert. I like the Corner Garage, but it is well known here to be one of the weaker modulars. So which sets got all the attention on Creator Expert? The Mustang? The Lunar Lander? It's a weaker year, although a fantastic theme if you go beyond that. And in that regard, Ideas seems to be the most innovative (and overlaps a lot with Creator Expert).

The Tree House fully deserves the 1st place for best set. I have almost all the modular displayed, and they're mighty impressive, and yet my guests always focus on the Tree House right away. It was a fantastic idea, and they really nailed it.

For the minifig, I feel like I missed something... Sure a lot of people here are nostalgic about classic space. But why Lenny? Why not Benny? Blue is much more nostalgic, was there ever any pink spacemen before? Or was there a social media crusade for the pink guy, just like there's one for pink Zane in Ninjago?

@Phoenixio said:
"But why Lenny? Why not Benny? Blue is much more nostalgic, was there ever any pink spacemen before?"

It's a new color, and a classic design, unlike Benny, who was basicly already seen in 2014 and still uses a different face, torso print, and cracked helmet.

I'd still love to see a regular blue and red spaceman in a small set with the same design as the white/yellow/pink figures for sure.

@Lordmoral said:
" @elangab said:
""Star Wars", really ? I don't get it. It's the same sets over and over again, lack imagination and creativity. "

As a SW fan I have to agree, the theme needs to bring back sets it hasn't done in a bog while and make new ones."

This seems like literally the fastest way to achieve "the same sets over and over again".................. AGAIN!! LMAO

@VerMonster I know it is cool to hate on Bricklink lately but blaming them for your disappearing comments on Brickset? LOL

@deejdave said:
" @VerMonster I know it is cool to hate on Bricklink lately but blaming them for your disappearing comments on Brickset? LOL"

Can't type! Ya'll know who I mean. :P