2012

2012 was yet another great year for LEGO collectors and investors. 2012 saw a staggering 525 sets released, not including gear or books, with 104 promotional and not for retail sets.

Based on the 525 sets released for that year, the retail value was $13,182.15 with a current value of $77,503.64 for the combined new/factory sealed sets. As of present, the best performing theme for 2012 is currently The Lord of the Rings which has seen an average annual growth of upwards of 15% to date. All together 2012 saw the release of sets covering 26 themes and 84 subthemes with Minifigure Series having the highest release count of 73 sets.

2012 was a very important year for LEGO license themes, namely, the contract with Lucasfilm was renewed to extend Star Wars sets until at least 2022. The LEGO Group also celebrated its 80th anniversary in August of that year. 2012 also marked the year for one of the largest number of new and important themes being released which included The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Marvel Super Heroes, DC Super Heroes, Monster Fighters, Friends and LEGO Friends. With the introduction of all these new themes LEGO did discontinue a number of beloved themes in 2012 which included Alien Conquest, Atlantis, Pharaoh's Quest, Kingdoms and Harry Potter which did make a return six-years later, thankfully.

Some notable collectable sets for 2012 include Town Hall (10224-1), the Monster Fighter's Haunted House (10228-1) and the Sungnyemun (21016-1) from the Architecture series that has seen growth of well over 1000%.