Beware of the looming LEGO Star Wars price hikes

If you’re in the market for a new LEGO set, now may be a good time to buy as sizable price increases for a number of sets, including those from the Star Wars universe, are on the way.

Back in June, LEGO announced, via a press release, that it would be raising the retail prices of approximately a quarter of its sets due to increased costs of raw materials and operations. Those increases, mostly around 10-20%, were set to arrive around August or September, yet it appears that Barnes & Noble has become the first retailer to already put these adjustments into effect.

While LEGO has yet to specify what sets will be impacted, credit to StoneWars over in Europe for compiling the changes that appear to be coming while Jay’s Brick Blog has identified those already in effect in the States. You can read the full list for yourself, but here are some notable inclusions:

• 75257 Millennium Falcon
• 75300 Imperial TIE Fighter
• 75304 Darth Vader’s Helmet
• 75309 UCS Republic Gunship
• 75313 UCS AT-AT
• 75318 The Child
• 75327 Luke Skywalker (Red Five) Helmet
• 75328 The Mandalorian Helmet
• 75329 Death Star Trench Run
• 75330 Dagobah Jedi Training

If some future releases seem a little pricier than usual, this increase is the reason why. Look to the Ambush on Ferrix (75339) at $70 and Cad Bane’s The Justifier (75323) at a whopping $170. The trend will only continue in the future.

Now, this news will not come as much of a surprise to many. LEGO has always been a premium product, and the global supply chain issue is not disappearing anytime soon. That being said, LEGO has been getting more expensive over the years, and these increases are hitting some of the most already-overpriced sets the hardest. Take the new dioramas as an example. They look fantastic, but I, and many others, could not even consider purchasing them because of the pricetag. Now, matters are even worse.

I say that, however, in light of the record-breaking profits LEGO celebrated earlier this year. The adult market, especially Star Wars fans, is willing to spend, and LEGO has begun to recognize that. As a result, this move, unfortunately, feels like LEGO taking advantage of an overzealous consumer base more than anything. No matter how expensive things become, their most valuable market will still be willing to spend.

Hopefully, the full picture is more complex than that, and as global crises dissipate, these price changes will too. In the meantime, the best advice is to avoid jumping to purchase sets and wait for discounts, as most mid-range sets have their prices slashed by 20% shortly after release. And if you’ve been waiting to purchase one of the sets on this list, best to do so before it is too late.