If you’re buying loose elements from LEGO Pick a Brick online, then here are some handy tips to help you make the most of the powerful service.
LEGO Pick a Brick offers fans the chance to order parts for custom builds and original creations, as well as minifigures. The service allows for both small-scale ordering and bulk purchase, with some unexpected goodies often available. If you are building a model and need the parts to start, or if you have already built something and need a few elements to finish it off, Pick a Brick is incredibly useful.
You may be family with Pick a Brick walls in LEGO Stores, where you help yourself to bricks like at a pick and mix sweet shop. The advantage of the LEGO.com version is that there is no space limitation – the options are much, much broader.
The choice can be overwhelming though and it takes a bit of getting your head around. Here are five tips for getting the most of Pick a Brick (PAB).
Overwhelming choice of LEGO pieces
The first time you visit PAB online, it can be overwhelming, even if you’ve used aftermarket sites such as BrickLink before. When you see a five-figure available parts count, the possibilities can cause serious decision paralysis. Any part, in any colour, to make anything? Where to start?
Taking time to get to know the Pick a Brick system before you start is essential. Learn the difference between Bestseller and Standard pieces, and their associated service charges. Learn how to sort by part family, part type and colour. Get used to checking and unchecking the ‘Show in-stock items only’ box. Understand what narrows the selection to the type of elements you need. Then you can get really specific.
Making searching for LEGO pieces easier
One of the trickiest things to get your head around is the vocabulary. When first entering the LEGO hobby, learning the jargon can take time: the “plate” has studs, but the “tile” is smooth? 1 x 2 x 2/3 Plate W. Bow? YouTube tutorials where the presenter casually rattles off part names aren’t helpful.
PAB can often hobble itself by reducing part names to dry, generic titles. When the part type “Torso, Boy, W/ Arm” can refer to more than 70 different print and part colour combinations, that makes finding the exact one you want harder. It doesn’t help that the filtering system doesn’t discriminate between minifigure and mini-doll, and neither does it separate torsos from legs, so when searching for common parts, be prepared to put some time in.
If you’re looking for a piece from a specific LEGO set, then ‘Search By Set Number’ will make things easier, as will being able to enter the element number (the part type) in the search. But if you’re seeking something you half-remember from a set whose number you never caught, then a more natural-language search on a site like BrickLink will be a better place to start.
This can also work the other way. If you see an element you like, and want to know what sets it comes in, then using the element number (the unique part/colour combination) to search database sites like Brickset or marketplace sites like BrickLink will help you find that information fast. This is especially useful when identifying parts that don’t have accompanying images.
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Buying extra LEGO pieces
As with real-world shopping, going into Pick a Brick without a shopping list can get you into trouble. You only went in for bread, but here you are with some rawl plugs and a Bounty – and no bread. Again, the temptation to graze – to page through the catalogue, adding interesting things to your basket, ad infinitum – can be hard to resist. A printed tile, a head, 37 dark red masonry bricks…
On one hand, it’s harmless window shopping. Maybe you’ll be inspired to try a new colour combination, or maybe you’ll build a cool new sigfig. Or maybe you’ll look at your basket full of random plastic diluting the things you actually want and feel a bit queasy about the amount of money it represents. Those extras can certainly add up.
Having a specific list of parts you need for a project can help ameliorate this habit, whether it’s building a MOC or picking up this year’s Monkie Kid figures, without making you feel bad for accumulating unexpected treasures along the way.
Watching out for LEGO elements coming and going
When you learn that LEGO parts and sets have an expiry date, especially licensed ones, the FOMO cannot help but intensify. Again, this can cause you to make rash spending decisions.
When it comes to Pick a Brick, the problem is complicated by the knowledge that while some parts are removed from the service – and knowing what and when is often an irritatingly opaque aspect of the LEGO hobby – there are always more parts being added on a regular basis. So what do you do? Do you place an order today, or do you hang on for the next batch of new elements and see if they add that part you’ve been after? If the set your parts come from is retiring at the end of the month, does that mean you’ll lose those parts from your order? Well then you had better buy them now.
Promotional events – double Insiders reward points or threshold-baiting gift with purchase sets – can make waiting an attractive prospect. But as with grazing, prevaricating can lead to bad decisions. Parts can sit in a basket for so long they either retire, or worse, lose their lustre in the face of the churn of new additions. Decision malaise, as much as decision paralysis.
Again, the best way to combat this is to know exactly what you need for any given project and stick to it. If parts go out of stock, then that’s all right, too – you can always come back later to complete the order. And when parts do leave PAB forever, they will almost always be available on the aftermarket. There’s almost never any need to rush into an order.
Keeping some LEGO pieces secret
One thing that will both surprise and thrill you as you get deeper into the LEGO hobby is that sometimes, just sometimes, pieces from licensed sets will turn up on Pick a Brick. This isn’t guaranteed, by any means, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself ordering a bag of heads from the cast of Stranger Things (twice because you accidentally threw the first lot in the bin) or a Duplo Green Goblin figure. There is an illicit thrill to finding licensed elements on PAB, especially when parts from licensed sets can often be set or theme exclusive. Am I really supposed to be able to buy Jim Broadbent’s head? Will anyone tell him? Will I get into trouble?
The price of LEGO pieces from Pick a Brick
Buying LEGO pieces from Pick a Brick has several advantages. First, because they’re coming more or less straight from the factory, parts are far less likely to need the kind of inspection and cleaning you might give to parts from marketplace sellers (never feel bad about washing second hand LEGO bricks; also, washing loose LEGO elements you buy from the LEGO Store doesn’t hurt, as those parts might go through a lot of different, potentially sticky hands before they reach your own). Additionally, there is a nebulous but undeniable thrill of drinking straight from the source. A LEGO brick is a LEGO brick, yes, but a LEGO brick plucked ripe from the vine is… still just a LEGO brick.
The main disadvantage of buying from Pick a Brick is that, as cheap as the elements can (sometimes) appear on the screen, when totted up in the basket, the price can easily shock you. While Insiders reward points can offset the cost in part or completely, it can simply just be cheaper to buy from the marketplace, especially if you keep an eye out for discounts, which PAB never offers.
The mass of orders piling up at the LEGO Group’s warehouse, especially at peak ordering times (Christmas, Black Friday, May the Fourth) can also mean a slow turnaround. Deliveries can take up to nine days for Bestseller parts (Poland to UK), but actually picking out the parts and compiling the order can take a lot longer, especially if parts prove popular and go out of stock. Fortunately, LEGO Customer Service are good at letting shoppers know when this happens, and refunds follow apace.
It may be the case that if you’re on a deadline with your order – buying figure parts for a birthday present, or elements for a MOC you want to take to a LEGO User Group – then buying from a home-based or small business marketplace seller will prove faster, even if not cheaper. You won’t get to amass or spend Insiders points, but you will get the LEGO bricks you need to build the LEGO brick things that make you smile.
