In 2003 LEGO released 1 Basic sets. The largest Basic set from 2003 was
4038 Fun Flyer with a piece count of 30 and a retail price of $1.49. The current estimated value of all these Basic sets from this year is about $14.89 which represents a 999.3% growth.
The LEGO Basic theme, which began in the 1970s, was designed to be a more general, non-thematic series of sets. Unlike the themed sets that revolve around specific stories, characters, or concepts (e.g., space, city, or pirates), the Basic theme provided a collection of standard LEGO bricks and pieces, often in a variety of colors. The goal was to encourage free building and creativity without the confines of a specific theme or narrative.
2003 LEGO Sets
While 2003 proved to be a financial disaster for LEGO we did see a number of signification events that set the tone for future LEGO recovery and investments. Most important, LEGO introduced new realistic minifigure skin tones that affected licensed themes including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Basketball, Ferrari and Spider-Man, but kept yellow skin tones for all other minifigures. In 2003, the LEGO minifigure celebrated its 25th birthday with just under four billion minifigures being produced. LEGO that year introduced a number of new themes including Clikits, Designer, Sports which consisted of hokey, basketball and Gravity Games, World City and 4 Juniors which replaced the Jack Stone theme.