by Daryl Bagley

Created on: May 20, 2009

What Lego set should I buy? Bionicle has different movable, rotating pieces, but Power Miners are popular and come with many collectable Lego pieces. Lego city comes with tons of Lego people and things they can hold. Creator sets are great for letting you build multiple vehicles with the same pieces. Mindstorms are great for building robots and can teach a lot about programming. Not to mention there are themed sets like Mars Mission, Star Wars, and Pirates. Would you like to know if your child would like a certain type of Lego set? Read on.

To know if your child would like a Bionicle set, ask yourself, would they like a collection that follows a story? Would they rather build monsters than buildings or vehicles? Bionicle is a set that allows you to build the characters in a short story that Lego designed. Currently, Glatorian is the Bionicle theme.

Then there is Creator. Creator sets are vehicles ranging from planes to motorcycles. Creator sets usually come with instructions to build more than one vehicle with the pieces they give you. That basically means that you get three sets at once. If someone enjoys Hot Wheel cars or likes to play with toy planes, then they will enjoy Creator.

City is a hard one. I like City because they give you lots of Lego people and things that they can wield. City is mostly buildings, but it also includes vehicles. Make sure that if you want cool vehicles with nice designs, you get Creator, because the only vehicles that you can get from City are things like fire trucks and cop cars. If you are going to get someone a City set, then make sure they enjoy building towers and other structures.

Mindstorms are another story. You want to make sure the receiver enjoys robots and technology. Mindstorms is where you can use an NXT or an RCX to program a robot. You also want to make sure that they will not have a hard time learning to program and will not get frustrated if they mess up once or twice. Mindstorms are one of my personal favorites because learning to program can be very helpful for a person's future.

If you are going to get someone a Power Miners set, then you need to find out if they enjoy having rare pieces or having the latest set. The thing about rare pieces is that each set comes with a different color monster and gem. Power Miners are currently the latest set, so anyone who wants the latest set should get this.

Finally, I have to tell you about the group that all the other sets fall under. These are the themed sets. They include things like Mars Mission, Star Wars, and Pirates. Even though they all have different benefits, they all go under the same group. The only reason to get these is because you like the theme. For instance, if you got me a Star Wars set, I wouldn't be as happy as if you got me any other set. The problem is that I don't follow Star Wars at all and don't know anything about it. Now you know why they have to like the theme, but there's a catch. If I did like Star Wars and had been in a Star Wars Lego club for 8 years, then don't get me a Star Wars set, simply because there is a great possibility that I already have it.

Lastly, I have a quick recap:

Creator:

Do they like cars, trucks, and planes?

Would they like a set with multiple things to build?

Power Miners:

Do they want to have the latest set?

Do they want to have rare pieces?

City:

Do they enjoy making buildings?

Do they enjoy playing with Lego people?

Mindstorms:

Are they old enough to learn to program?

Are they into things that are technology based?

Bionicle:

Would they like a story-based set?

Would they enjoy building monsters?

Themed Sets:

Are they fans of the theme?

Is it unlikely that they will already have the set?

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