Will "Bulk Bricks" packs ever come back?

[Inzane]

I miss the days (e.g. 2000-2004) when you could browse your Lego catalog (or the shop@home site) and see the various bags of bulk parts you could buy. E.g. Misc. grey or yellow plates, bags of trees, bags of roof slopes, etc.

I know they pre-dated the pick-a-brick concept (both the wall in-store, and the brick-ordering function online), but there was a certain nicety about having a convenient package you could buy that targetted a bunch of elements in either a specific color and/or type.

The only thing ressembling this concept that appears to be available today is sets 6117 (doors & windows) and 6118 (wheels).

Does anyone know if it's possible that we could ever return to these bulk brick bags at the retail level?

[bartvdpoel]

The Architecture Studio (21050) set looks a lot like what you're saying. A roof set would be more than useful. I have a lot of red roof pieces, but other colors are much more interesting. Most Lego Creator sets often have a large collection of interesting parts. I recommend these often to people who just want to create new stuff.

[Inzane]

The Architecture Studio (21050)

Where is that set available? I see it on bricklink and ebay for very expensive prices (~$300). It's not listed on shop@home, at least not in Canada. Brickipedia listed it as coming out Aug 2013 with an MSRP of $150 (USD?).

Hmm.... it seems this was a US only exclusive, and might even be already out of production. Really??

Dang...

[bartvdpoel]

I actually came across it in a shop here in Belgium (FNAC) if I'm correct. It's brand new so I suppose it's still in production. They sell all architecture sets there for a strange reason (it normally sells books, cd's, DVD's and electronics gear).

[Off the wall]

I got mine at a Barnes and Noble store before the official release date. I see it's no longer listed on the Barnes and Noble website and shows as sold out on the Lego.com US website.

I bought it, opened it and decided it wasn't really meant for me. The book that comes with 21050 is great and if I had a child who was interested in architecture, I'd certainly buy it for her/him. It's a very good and interesting product.

Someday, when I'm in the mood, I'll probably list it on ebay. Until then, it's a dust collector on the shelf.

To keep on topic, if you want bulk, 21050 has bulk. Not much color, but bulk it has......

Edited December 12, 2013 by Off the wall

[Lego Otaku]

I remember looking over the bulk bricks in the 80's era catalogs. Seeing a lot of what I wanted to get without having to buy 20 sets just to get enough of the parts in color.

[CopMike]

I remember those packs also, I got me a bunch of the 3473 with 50 black 1x6 bricks ! Here´s a link to all the bulk bricks sets on BL.The twist here is that all but one of the 7 sets with Sand Red never been in a "real" set . The only exception is the 2x4 Roof Tile that was in 7314 Recon Mech RP.

Does anyone know if it's possible that we could ever return to these bulk brick bags at the retail level?

Lego never reveals what they´re going to do in the future so we´ll just have to wait and see.

The 21050 was a cooperation between Lego and Barnes & Noble. There were play sessions based on this set held at B&N. Here´s the full review made by JimButcher !

[fred67]

I bought a few of those - mostly plate packs; the more recent roof slope packs were always sold out, while a big pile of wheels sets languished on the shelves. I wish they'd bring them back, but money is the bottom line - they don't make as much money if you can easily get what you want in a bulk pack.

The architecture set is not an exception - great parts pack, but the price was extraordinarily high unless you were also interested in the book.... in which case it was just ordinarily high.

[ShaydDeGrai]

I think the closest (in spirit) surviving relative to those old bulk packs of slopes, arches, etc. can be found at the LEGO Education site under spare parts.

http://www.legoeduca...and Accessories

The offerings are heavily biased in favor of Technic parts and, to be honest, the prices really aren't that competitive compared to Bricklink or filling a cup at a PAB wall, but if you need a bunch of part X and don't want the hassle of trying to track it down an make minimum order sizes from a dozen Bricklink vendors, this is an alternative.

The Architecture Studio is a good, readily available, bulk pack if you like white (and the book it comes with is pretty interesting ); personally, though, I wish they had something like the Architecture Studio (same number and variety of parts but without the book) available in a line of core colors (Black, White, Light Bley, Dark Bley, and Tan come to mind) one color per case at a price more in line with a "Creator" brick bucket than an "Architecture" set - I don't mind paying a premium for the nicer packaging and PerfectBound infobook/building instructions if I'm actually building a specific model like The White House or The Imperial Hotel but I thought the "Studio" was a tad pricey for a generic collection of commonly available parts and a couple of cheap sorting trays.

Edited December 13, 2013 by ShaydDeGrai

[Hrw-Amen]

I also recall buying boxes of just one color. They were great. Personally I wish they would do a set like the wheels / doors-windows / roof, ones but with train wheels and buffers/magnets. That would be a really good choice for train enthusiasts without them having to release different carriages etc that everyone on the train forum would like but know are virtually never going to get. It would just fill that gap. I did send it to them a while ago as a suggestion when there was a link for some feedback at one point.

Anyway, it would be a good idea I think.

[LEGO Historian]

The "golden era" of LEGO parts sales were the 1960s.... In continental Europe not only did you have 138 spare parts packs to choose from... but you also had retailer boxes for classic LEGO windows and doors. You could go to your LEGO retailers, where they would have a retailer box for red and one for white windows/doors. Pick as many of whatever size window/door that you wanted directly from the retailer. I purchased a pair of these 375 piece boxes languashing on the shelves for 20 years of a bookstore in Germany in 1979 (brought me out of my dark ages)...

From my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide... chapter on LEGO retailer individual part sales.

[renedevereaux]

I remember buying those new, I loved them.

[LEGO Historian]

Back in the 1960s you could buy parts packs available by specific parts....

Then in the 1970s the more modern spare parts packs became available... where all different red bricks were available in one pack, ditto for blue and other colors...

[Inzane]

^^ Lego Historian, thanks for posting. That is very cool.

[Brandon Miller]

Might want to check out the clearance section at Lego Education. Some pretty good deals. I just loaded up on some plates.

http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/1_x_3_gray_plates_pack_of_25/2630&Clearance

http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/3_x_3_red_plates_pack/2418&Clearance

http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/3_x_3_brown_plates_pack_of_25/2628&Clearance

http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/2_x_4_wheel_suspension_pack/2416&Clearance

http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/2_x_2_x_1_3_black_plates_pack/2414&Clearance

http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/4_x_4_black_baseplate_pack_of_25/2600&Clearance

[LEGO Historian]

This image is from a 1970 USA Samsonite LEGO Retailer Catalog.... and shows the spare parts packs that were available from USA retailers as countertop displays....

[Lego Otaku]

there is a Samsonite store near me in Birch Run outlet. If someone can come up with a clean looking ad for Samsonite LEGO, I can take that in and see how long they spend scratching their heads wondering when they ever carried LEGO or if they still carried them. :D

[LEGO Historian]

there is a Samsonite store near me in Birch Run outlet. If someone can come up with a clean looking ad for Samsonite LEGO, I can take that in and see how long they spend scratching their heads wondering when they ever carried LEGO or if they still carried them. :D

Ah a neighbor! (St. Clair Shores here...) Samsonite last carried LEGO in 1972 in the USA, 1985 in Canada.... you won't even find anyone at Samsonite that will remember it....

Edited January 10, 2014 by LEGO Historian

[LiamM32]

I must be one of the youngest on Eurobricks, so I don't have these memories of getting parts packs in the 1900's. I do however remember browsing Shop-at-Home in the early 2000's (still in elementary school) and seeing these things, but I never got them as my parents were bad at online shopping. I would however appreciate some more, better parts packs available. Although we typically assume that parts packs don't sell as well, I once went to the Lego section of Toys-R-Us during school hours and noticed that there were many parents (without their children) who were looking at the part tubs wishing that there was a better selection of parts packs.

I would certainly like to have colour specific parts packs, with an assortment of mostly basic parts. There are two Cuusoo projects for this; Single Color Parts Packs and Speciality Brick Box. Both have disappointing support. As strange as this may sound, I think that a major cause of failure for them is to only use the American spelling of "color", while they should add the international "colour" to the tags. But anyways, you better damn support those projects.

Even though there are those ones already on the website, I have considered making my own project for colour-specific parts packs. I have my own idea for an implementation that might be enough to stand-out; My idea is that each pack would not have a fixed inventory of parts. Instead, they would be in polybags with a few hundred grams of random parts in that one colour. This way there could be more parts available (even if more difficult to find the ones you want), and even element/colour combinations never seen in sets. They should also make the parts more common that have a resale value (on Bricklink or Brickowl) much higher than the production costs.

Creator sets could potentially be good parts packs, but personally I have two problems; They focus too much on vehicles, and I want basic parts but also in rare colours.

[Lyichir]

While I don't foresee such packs ever coming back, if they did I would definitely hope for some of the new Friends colors. What I would do with hundreds of Medium Lavender bricks and plates... unfortunately for me, while a lot of sets have the parts none of them have both the variety and the quantity I'd need to effectively use them as parts packs.

[talos]

I would love to be able to buy a set of specific parts/colors. I look at S@H and all there is are a couple buckets of mixed small parts available to buy bulk. I remember my old Legos from the 60's and they were all white or red, with some yellow and blue. I could build all sorts of building with them. For now, I am using LDD to be creative, not actually building my own designs...

[Hypernova888]

Yeah, I'd love to see those kind of packs again. I'm actually considering putting up a rock-building parts pack and a tree building one of LEGO CUUSOO Ideas.