Benchmarks: LEGO Ninjago

This the second entry in a series of blogs that analyses some of the data we have available here on Brickpicker to provide some simple averages to use as benchmarks. Last time I focused on the Star Wars theme and this time it’s the turn of Ninjago.
My aim is to provide some basic stats for the theme mainly around averages for a few simple measures relating to set sizes and value for money metrics. I’m going to leave out investment return measures such as CAGR and the various ROI time periods we have available as I think they should be a different discussion and the fact that current retail sets often muddy the results when looking at theme wide averages.

This information should prove useful in writing other blog articles or set reviews. It also should serve as a benchmark to be able to compare a set against the averages for its theme, which may or may not be useful but the option is there. Over time as I hope to complete more of these blog posts we might also be able to compare themes against each other.

Basic Information

For the Ninjago theme I gathered data on 79 sets from Brickpicker set pages. I think I got most of them included but I can’t guarantee I didn’t miss 1 or 2 here and there. I excluded the bundles of sets that show up in the listings (they have no real data anyway) and just got proper single set only information. I’m also only going to look at US based information in regards to retail price etc.

Of the 79 sets only one set, the 850632 Samurai Accessory Set didn’t have at least one minifigure. Minifigures obviously rule here! For the Star Wars theme I split the analysis into sets with and without minifigures, but obviously I can’t do this with Ninjago. What I will do though is split the sets into two groups: Spinner sets and Other sets. Spinner sets are quite different to “ordinary” Lego sets and seeing the differences could prove useful, especially if you want to compare a one particular set to the averages within each spinner/other grouping. Totals will still give us the overall results for the whole Ninjago theme.

I can also tell you that of the 79 sets there were 5 with a retail price of $0 or being not available. These sets are some of the exclusive giveaways and promotional sets that are not sold at retail. As such these 5 sets are excluded from some of the later measures that require a retail price to be present.

It may also be of interest that of the 79 sets there were 71 sets that have had a Brickpicker review written for them, including all the 38 Spinner sets. Of these 71 the average overall review score was 8.29. The 38 Spinner sets average review score was 8.51 and the 33 Other sets averaged 8.04.

Pieces

The average piece count per set is 182 pieces. When split by Spinners and Other sets there is a marked difference with 31 and 352 average piece counts respectively. That is something you’d expect as the Spinner sets are not focused on a traditional Lego build and have few parts.

Retail Price

Of the 74 sets with an available retail price the overall average is $24.21. This is split to $10.12 for Spinner sets and $39.96 for Other sets.

The majority of the Spinner range retail for $9.99 with a few larger arena type environment sets at $19.99 and some $4.99 “Booster Packs” cancelling each other out. The non-Spinner set range from $4.99 up to the $119.99 mark for Fire temple and Epic Dragon Battle.

Another interesting piece of information is that of you pay an average of $12.34 per minifigure at retail price.

Price Per Piece (PPP)

Whether you like using PPP as a measure of value for money or not I have included it here as it has become quite a common metric for people to use. Personally I don’t put much stock in it and find it quite a blunt tool. The overall average for the 74 sets is $0.264 per piece. That seems very high compared to the conventional benchmark of $0.10 per piece. However the main reason for that is the PPP on the Spinner sets is $0.401, the Other sets have a more respectable $0.111 average.

Price Per Gram (PPG)

PPG is in my opinion a better indicator of retail value for money. It takes into account the amount of raw ABS plastic material you get in the box and should be a closer approximation to the cost of production of the set. For the 74 sets the overall average PPG is $0.089. For Spinner sets it is $0.112 and for Other sets the result is $0.063.

Minifigure Count

In terms of minifigures the average across all 79 sets is 1.94 minifigures per set. Spinners generally only come with 1 minifigure although the larger starter sets have 2, bringing the average up to 1.08 for the spinner range. Other sets average 2.73 minifigures per set.

It’s fairly obvious that the Spinner sets do not fit with the conventional comparisons to normal Lego sets. They aren’t really Lego sets in my opinion and sit within more of a play toy area alongside the Chima Speedorz. The usefulness of the metrics presented for them is really limited to benchmarking one of the Spinner sets to its peers rather than putting it up against other Lego sets.

Thanks for reading and I hope you find a use for some of these numbers either in your own writing or your own investment decision making.