Queries for BrickHeadz collectors
Posted by Huw,
It is perhaps somewhat surprising that 4 years after their retail debut during 2017, BrickHeadz are still going strong and this year we are expecting at least 13 sets to be released which will take the total to over 110.
If you've been reading my reviews of them you'll know that I am rather fond of the blocky characters and, while I certainly don't own them all, I do have most of the numbered ones.
So, thought I'd create some queries to help organise my collection and perhaps fill the gaps which, if you're a collector too, you may also find useful and interesting.
(The queries discussed are linked to on the section titles)
Numbered BrickHeadz in numerical order
The majority of BrickHeadz have been allocated a sequential number, although they have not always been released in numerical order.
I've added the numbers to the set notes in the database in a way that they can be sorted numerically, and the query lists them from number 1, 41585 Batman, to 40443 Budgie, which contains numbers 124 and 125, the highest currently known.
Most were sold at LEGO.com and thus could have been purchased by anyone who wanted them, but unfortunately there are exceptions which are problematic for those who wish to be 'numbered BrickHeadz complete':
- #13-16: contained in two sets that were available only at SDCC during 2017, 41496 Supergirl & Martian Manhunter and 41497 Spider-Man & Venom
- #27-28: 41498 Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite which was only available at NYCC the same year
- #57: 40316 Geoffrey which was never produced owing to Toys R Us going bust before its release.
- #88-91: four LEGO Movie 2 figures that were offloaded in Walmart and Target after LEGO decided not to release them globally as a result of the film underperforming at the box office.
- #102-103: 40412 Hagrid & Buckbeak, which was available only as a gift with purchase during September last year.
Unnumbered BrickHeadz
The majority of BrickHeadz have been allocated numbers, but not all. There are three groups of them that have not:
- Those that allow customisation: 40383 Wedding Bride, 40384 Wedding Groom and 41597 Go Brick Me
- The four sets that were produced for SDCC 2016 prior to the theme's retail launch the following year
- Brand store exclusives and other promotional sets
Those in the second and third categories are rare and expensive on the secondary market and most of the promotional ones are not particularly desirable, so you may choose to omit them from your collection goals, as I have.
Time available at LEGO.com
LEGO saturated the market with the blocky characters during 2018, releasing over 40 sets.
Consequently, many had a very short shelf-life, particularly in the UK and Europe, where some such as 41630 Jack Skellington & Sally and 41631 Newt Scamander & Gellert Grindelwald were available for less than a month at LEGO.com.
At the other end of the scale, 41601 Cyborg, which must rank as one of the ugliest BrickHeadz ever produced, was available for 2-and-a-half years.
Secondary market price
Unsurprisingly, rarity and time available at LEGO.com influence secondary market prices. The comic-con exclusives are the most expensive, commanding hundreds of dollars each at BrickLink, putting them out of reach of most collectors.
The four LEGO Movie 2 figures are also expensive: each one will set you back at least $50, and even some that were available at LEGO.com, such as 41625 Minnie Mouse and 41612 Steve & Creeper, fetch a similar price.
Many of the seasonal ones can be acquired for less than their retail price, as can the particularly unattractive and undesirable 41594 Captain Armando Salazar from Pirates of the Caribbean.
If the lists are of use to you, you can bookmark them on 'My Menu': Click on 'My Menu', then on 'Add this page to my menu' and you'll be able to access them easily in the future.
Brickset's query system enables members to construct complex queries on the sets database, execute them and save them for later. If you've not yet tried it, give it a go.
Have you been collecting BrickHeadz? Do you have them all? Perhaps you can help me fill the gaps in my collection...
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34 comments on this article
Bonus question: how do you cope with all those cold, dead, soulless eyes gazing down at you...?
For some reason after not being interested in Brickheadz when they first came out, after picking a few up at heavy discount in the last days of Toys R Us out of curiosity, I now am an avid collector with 80 of the box sets, mostly missing some of the early dozen or so and the exclusives. The really weird thing about that collection is that I have never built one, it's one area of Lego that the compulsive collector in me can go mad without completely breaking the bank, but I have no space to put them so have never got them built. Perhaps I should stop buying them and invest that money in some good therapy lol!
Two sets I desperately want, Rey and Kylo double box set and boba and han in carbonite. I think they are the only Star Wars ones I need?
Hi Huw
I would say your list is pretty definitive
The only ones you didn't really elaborate on were the Store Opening ones which are mainly Asian
I have nearly all of them bar the super expensive CC Marvel/DC version
Also Nonnie. Which I have never seen on Ebay
Huh? What's wrong with Cyborg? Sure, he's not particularly interesting, but ugly? Ones like Salazar and Sally are definitely uglier imo, although that's kinda by design.
I stopped collecting when they started to really oversaturate the market. Even though there were some that I really wanted, like the Disney, Star Wars, and BTTF ones, but it was just getting too expensive for me.
Reminder for those that are new, I've created Bricklist which have them organised in numerical order, @Huw maybe you could take the list off my hands, it's becoming tedious to keep it updated.
https://brickset.com/sets/list-21991
Thank you for maintaining that Adeel, It's pretty much redundant now that the numbers are in the set notes.
Why did you remind me of the Geoffrey giraffe BrickHeadz
@legodimnico said:
"Two sets I desperately want, Rey and Kylo double box set and boba and han in carbonite. I think they are the only Star Wars ones I need? "
They are hard to find & expensive! I gave up & bought the single Kylo & Ren sets and the Kylo / Sith Trooper double instead...
Confession: my Brickheadz ended up eating a lot of room in the house and I ended up selling most of them. I largely got my money back for them. Which is fine--hopefully they made some other collector happy.
I do still have my Emmett and Lucy, although they're slightly damaged because the delivery guy left them in the driveway and my wife drove over them with the car. (argh)
Hey Huw, another unnumbered Brickhead to consider is the DC Super Hero Girls Wonder Woman, which I believe was an in-store build. DCBHZ .
I'm chuckling because 41594 and 41601 are among my only Brickheadz. I got them for 50% off, and any LEGO at 50% off is going in my shopping cart. Thought they would be nice just for the parts, then I actually built them and they've been displayed for a couple of years now, as Theme Ambassadors lmao :)
I don’t have a good rationale, but these “pets” Brickheadz just aren’t the same to me. At all.
I love the brickheadz and have them all except the SDCC ones. I keep them all MISB but it’s becoming difficult to display them all. Geoffrey the giraffe is the only set that’ll ever be in my “want” list.
@bananaworld said:
"
Bonus question: how do you cope with all those cold, dead, soulless eyes gazing down at you...?"
Funny! I’ve always thought they were ugly. An interesting article just the same.
@Huw, I don't understand what you don't like about Cyborg at all. Personally, this is my only Brickheadz and I am very happy with it - it has a lot of nice bricks and is nice on its own.
As for Salazar, your 2017 review said it's great, and here you write the opposite!
CapnRex101 reviewed it back in the day, not me: https://brickset.com/article/27169/review-41594-captain-armando-salazar
I only have 40351 and plan to take it apart soon anyway, mainly just got it for the parts.
41597 looked very interesting , and looked at it for parts for a while, but that set retired super fast.
@Mr__Thrawn said:
"Why did you remind me of the Geoffrey giraffe BrickHeadz"
Geoffrey is easy to build with spare parts. I did - and I used stickers from another Geoffrey set to create the bricks with stars. It now stands proud and tall in the middle of my Brickheadz collection.
I would really love that (Inside Tour) Nonnie, though...
It would be interesting the see the own vs want data as a proportion. 1000 people wanting something 5000 people own is one thing. 1000 wanting something only 500 own is quite another. On that basis I wonder which BrickHeadz have the most enduring popularity? My 2p is that I suspect it’s only a matter of time before we see a carbonite Han rebuild. But I doubt we’ll see the original bright blue Superman again. Nice article Huw - thanks.
Good timing just as unofficial images are been released of 40495: Harry, Hermione, Ron & Hagrid
"one of the ugliest" and "particularly unattractive and undesirable"
Cyborg and Salazar are translated very well in brickhead shapes. It is not their fault that they look that way.
I never got into the craze of Brickheadz. I bought a few of the create your own box for our LUG to draft. And I've bought a few regular series that were on sale for parts.
It is interesting what is now rare because of availability because I recall coming across most/if not all of them in the store at one time or another but since I had no interest I didn't buy them. Now I wish I would have to sell. Gotta feed the beast somehow.
I am surprised they are still around and people like them (same surprise as Funko pops in general). But to each their own.
Since I mainly collect SW OT, these are my Brickheadz: Luke & Yoda, Leia, Boba. I did not really like Vader or Stormie, and Han & Chewie are technically not OT. I'm a bit surprised that there're not more from the OT, we get 800€ sets but no R2 / 3PO Brickheadz? No Lando, Jabba or Palpi? No Scout Trooper or Wedge?
Also: I need some Ewok Brickheadz!
@yamaki said:
"Since I mainly collect SW OT, these are my Brickheadz: Luke & Yoda, Leia, Boba. I did not really like Vader or Stormie, and Han & Chewie are technically not OT. I'm a bit surprised that there're not more from the OT, we get 800€ sets but no R2 / 3PO Brickheadz? No Lando, Jabba or Palpi? No Scout Trooper or Wedge?
Also: I need some Ewok Brickheadz!"
I built Chewie a bowcaster to replace his rifle, and I gave Jack Sparrow's shirt to Solo's Han so that I could get the core OT cast. Hopefully the BrickHeadz vote will lead to Obi-wan and Threepio.
I have nearly every mass retail BrickHeadz release, but I prefer modified or MOC designs to off-the-shelf. I like them as an alternative to Funko, not as a plain substitution.
The Brickheadz theme is good overall, but they do feel slightly repetitive.
Brickheadz actually got me back into Lego collecting. Pretty sure that wasn't a 'good thing'. But I don't collect all of them. Not a fan of the pets versions, but I just ordered both Minions sets today. More because of the Minions than the main characters.
But, unlike most of my collections, I go out of my way to actually destroy the boxes and so on after I build them. I didn't want them to become Funko Pops where 99% of them stay in their boxes. *shrug*
@yamaki said:
"Also: I need some Ewok Brickheadz!"
I have 0 interest in brick heads, but if they released some Ewoks I would be getting them at midnight on release day.
I’m really hoping that they kick off May the 4th with a surprise Battle for Endor collection.
@ALEGOMan said:
"i loathe funko pop, and this is just Legos cash in of the latter"
Gotta admit though, they're doing well out of it!
I hate the homogeny of Funkos and Brickheadz so could never collect them.
I got the Santa and Mrs Claus set on sale in 2019 and they only come out as Christmas decorations. That's the most I can do.
I was tempted to do the "brick me" ones for me, my wife, and my kid, but ended up doing brick sketches instead which I vastly prefer!
What I don’t understand is why so many of these brickheadz were limited to one production run while some like 75317 keep coming coming back. They have a clear winner on their hands with theme but it seems like they don’t want to sell more. Their limited release window made me stop buying them, I missed out on more than I didn’t and I refuse to pay $50+ each.
I predicted Brickheadz would become a failed theme when it launched. I was wrong. Still I don’t like them, they’re very static and repetitive.
Not all the BrickHeadz are for me - I generally give them a miss. But every so often, they have a few that are just too cute to pass by. And they are priced at a level that makes them great gifts (when you aren't looking for a *big* present), or small things to add to an order to bump up into free shipping or to secure a GWP.
When you do find one that you connect with, it's not that surprising that they are still around, and long may they continue.
“...so you may choose to omit them from your collection goals, as I have.”
Blasphemer!!!
:D
BrickHeadz are a prime example of how beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
While I personally don't like them very much, at least I bought some out of curiosity and some as parts packs, usually at a nice discount.
The only ones I actually bought because I wanted them were the Lady Liberty and the non-limited Boba Fett.
BrickHeadz are ugly. I really don't understand how anyone can buy this crap...