@Huw, looks like the database image for Bricks Bricks Plates has the preliminary confidential watermark on it still

Bright bluish green wasn’t back yet when Ninjago City was released. Understandable mistake, though.

That "sets with the most different elements" chart reads like a list of the most popular and fun-to-build larger-size Lego sets of recent times.

Love your analysis. Thanks!

Really surprised Ninjago City didn’t end up in your first list, but I suppose many of its more “unique” elements are shared with other Ninjago sets.

Very interesting article! Love Diagon Alley :)

No surprise to see Ninjago City first or second on two of these lists! That’s why I love it so much, and what makes it such an interesting set and build!

This is a fascinating study… thanks for putting this together, Huw!

I just love databases :)

I do wonder though to what extent the results would change when stickers (or stickered parts rather) are taken into account. This is a way that is used (or abused) a lot to make for unique elements!

last weeks, just about *everything* tells me to buy those chinese seasonal sets ... :-/

Good decision, Huw, to build 80105 Temple Fair. It is one of the best sets of the year in my opinion.

Thanks for this great article. :-)
Nice to see 21322 on a list as well — definitely my favorite set of the year.

Hmmm....I wonder about this analysis. Does it look at the number of unique pieces UPON release? Obviously, now that its almost 1 year on, lots of other sets have now released using pieces initially released in the Chinese new year sets. I wonder whether a comparison could take into account the number of unique pieces at the time of release. I love the Chinese new year sets. One of my favourite themes!

It might be tough set up, but what if Brickset had some sort of automatic inventory checker to keep these charts up to date as new sets are released? Could be fun little stat on the home page

I’m happy to see Diagon Alley so high up on these lists! I just finished building it, and it’s really an incredible set. Can’t wait to see how the list changes in the future.

Could this be filtered / resorted minus the minifigures? Just did a quick glance at a couple, and it seemed minifigure heads / torsos / hairpieces / legs made up large portions of the totals.

Does Diagon Alley also win in the set with the most stickers category?

Love your "useless trivia" Huw! More please any time :)

@MeganL said:
"Not surprised to see an Elves set on the list of sets with the most colours. One of my favourite sets, too. I miss Elves.

Interesting that there are three Friends sets in there, and none of them have a pink colour scheme."

RIP Elves

Regarding your question: What else would you like to know?

I would like to know which are the largest sets by weight or volume.
Taking in consideration there are large sets (by the amount of pieces) that have a lot of small pieces. So they are a bigger set then others, but just in the amount of pieces, not on the volumen or weight.

Highly fascinating analysis.

My main takeaway is that I really need to finally open and build my Chinese Temple Fair set that has been sitting in my LEGO storage room for way too long. :-)

@Huw said:
" @Msanders said:
"Hmmm....I wonder about this analysis. Does it look at the number of unique pieces UPON release? Obviously, now that its almost 1 year on, lots of other sets have now released using pieces initially released in the Chinese new year sets. I wonder whether a comparison could take into account the number of unique pieces at the time of release. I love the Chinese new year sets. One of my favourite themes!"

As noted in the article, it's as of now, not when the set was released. That would be very difficult, but not impossible, to determine."

Absolutely great article! Thank you @Huw.

At the risk of adding complexity on top of complexity, it would be very interesting to know not just unique pieces on release but knowing on release:
1. unique pieces excluding unique prints, and
2. unique pieces excluding unique prints and unique recolours, i.e. only unique moulds...
...in a) absolute terms, b) relative to the set’s piece count, and c) relative to the set’s $ price controlling for inflation.

I suspect that (2b) would be dominated by CMFs.

I would love to see some plots of colors and parts in circulation through the years. We know that there was a big increase from late 90's to early 2000's before "the great reduction". Now I get the feeling it is another golden age of colors and parts. Just this year we have 4 new colors? Teal was "killed" and then revived, vibrant coral is recent, and new moulds are a dime a dozen these days...
Huw, work your magic!

@Minifig290 said:
"If I've counted correctly that set has 65 extra pieces, which includes many prints and the epic Statuette figures. Which out of 1664 piece is about 1% in extra pieces."

Your counting might be ok but your maths needs some work ??
1% of 1664 is 16.6
65 is 3.9%
Of course extras aren’t included in the piece count so you could argue it’s 65 out of 1729 or 3.7%

@jsworpin said:
" @Minifig290 said:
"If I've counted correctly that set has 65 extra pieces, which includes many prints and the epic Statuette figures. Which out of 1664 piece is about 1% in extra pieces."

Your counting might be ok but your maths needs some work ??
1% of 1664 is 16.6
65 is 3.9%
Of course extras aren’t included in the piece count so you could argue it’s 65 out of 1729 or 3.7%"

Hmm, yes my maths does needs quite a bit of work there XD

This kind of “useless” trivia is the sort of thing I still come to brickset for :) really great exclusive content

@tallblocktoo said:
" @MeganL said:
"Not surprised to see an Elves set on the list of sets with the most colours. One of my favourite sets, too. I miss Elves.

Interesting that there are three Friends sets in there, and none of them have a pink colour scheme."

RIP Elves"

I know how you feel. I'd like to see another non-Friends, non-Disney minidoll theme.

@huw i was wondering the other day if its possible to check which set in a given year has the most pieces in given colour in your database? I was looking through this year's sets to find one with the most brown pieces to expand my collection.

@blogzilly said:
"Hey @Huw...since many of these sets are incredibly high in piece count number, it’s natural that they would have the ‘highest’ number of uniques as far as pieces, colors, etc. By highest I’m talking quantities. So my question is this...how would you determine a percentage of uniqueness? Is that possible with the data as you all correlate it?

If so, then could, say, a set with around 200 pieces have a shot of having the most Unique Uniqueness as an overall percentage relative to piece qty in the set?

If this makes no sense, I apologize! :D"

I usually am not this stupid. Usually. Weird day.

@Zander said:
" @Huw said:
" @Msanders said:
"Hmmm....I wonder about this analysis. Does it look at the number of unique pieces UPON release? Obviously, now that its almost 1 year on, lots of other sets have now released using pieces initially released in the Chinese new year sets. I wonder whether a comparison could take into account the number of unique pieces at the time of release. I love the Chinese new year sets. One of my favourite themes!"

As noted in the article, it's as of now, not when the set was released. That would be very difficult, but not impossible, to determine."

Absolutely great article! Thank you @Huw.

At the risk of adding complexity on top of complexity, it would be very interesting to know not just unique pieces on release but knowing on release:
1. unique pieces excluding unique prints, and
2. unique pieces excluding unique prints and unique recolours, i.e. only unique moulds...
...in a) absolute terms, b) relative to the set’s piece count, and c) relative to the set’s $ price controlling for inflation.

I suspect that (2b) would be dominated by CMFs.
"

No, it would be dominated by Galidor (no joke!)

No, the Maersk Container Ship had more (140 pcs.) but most could be left out if you wanted generic containers without Maersk logo. The Diagon Alley set on the other hand relies solely on stickers (109) to make it a HP set.
By comparison Ninjago City had only 54 and the recent Ecto-1 has 51 stickers.

> That would be very difficult, but not impossible

Sounds like a possible New Elementary collaboration? I for one would love to see the speed of uptake from each of the major sets above

Some chart or compound number showing
how many other sets and in how large numbers,
the new sets and colors from when ie NINJAGO Coty was introduced,
have been used

Guess could make a “database snapshot” mode of sets after a given date,
Then save up a view or new table for new parts, new color at release,
With data for just the big sets...

All in all, another great lazy morning read as the kid occupies the PlayStation

Isn't it interesting how a dark looking set like 75810 The Upside Down makes into the list of sets with the most colors?

And, I own 10 of the sets mentioned in this article. Not sure how to interpret this information...

If you exclude all the minifigure parts, which set then holds the record for the most unique parts?
Diagon Alley and Ninjago city are ranked so high due to the unique mini figure selection.

@Norikins said:
"No, it would be dominated by Galidor (no joke!)"
Good point. I try to forget about Galidor (no joke!) and sometimes succeed :~D

Wow! Yet another incredibly well-researched article, courtesy of Huw. I can't wait for the next one!

Wow! In the first category, I have three of those sets. 75978, 71043, 21306.
In the second & third I crack in just two... but still! 75978, 71043.
And I haven't even had the time to build them yet.

I'm Chinese and I really enjoy the Chinese New Year sets. This Theme is very well designed and thought out and they sell well in China. They actually go well with Ninjago city, dock and temples

@Huw , I'd love to see a data analysis of which current sets make for the best parts pack, as defined by highest percentage of "rare" parts (which is already in your database). This would be an awesome service to the community!

@MeganL I, too, pour one out for Elves. I'm working on a MOC Season 5 to keep the flame alive

I’d be interested to see numbers of unique new molds as that would mean it is truly a unique brick.

Of course I think it would be interesting to also see these numbers as percentages as it would make this less of a list of the largest Lego sets out there. I was shocked to see that Sesame Street ranks so high in many categories given its smaller brick count. But you of course would need to have a minimum threshold of say 100 bricks so it isn’t just CMF.

@Huw, rather than 'Unique' elements, I'd be curious to know about the most debut appearances. - being released early in the year gives the new elements the chance to be rapidly assimilated into other releases for the year.

At least one Technic set has managed to get in these lists. :)