10 best retired LEGO sets and where to buy them

Alas, LEGO sets don’t stick around forever. The LEGO Company retires sets after they’ve been around for a few years to make way for more sets.

Unfortunately, that means that some of the best LEGO sets in the world are hard to get hold of now. But never fear! This handy list will tell you where to get some of the best retired LEGO sets.

LEGO World Map

The granddaddy of all LEGO sets and the largest one of all time. The World Map is huge and beautiful, and once you’re done, you’ll have a gorgeous piece of art for your wall. It cost $249.99 when it was first released, but is more than that now. Still, no diehard LEGO collector would rest easy without the World Map hanging somewhere in their house.

Ghostbusters Firehouse

Who you gonna call? LEGO Ghostbusters! This set gives you everything you need to build the iconic firehouse headquarters, plus you get a TON of great minifigs. In fact, you get Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, Dana, Tully, Zombie Driver, Library Ghost, Pink Ghost, Blue Ghost, and Slimer. Arrange them around the firehouse to your heart’s content!

Ewok Village

If you can’t get enough of Star Wars sets, you need to get your hands on the Ewok Village. Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, it’s worth it! It comes with a whopping 16 minifigures, including Ewok Village Leia, which is Leia in her brown dress and long hair. There are plenty of Ewoks, too, of course. Reenact your favorite scenes from Return of the Jedi with this set.

App-Controlled Cat D11 Bulldozer

If you’re a fan of construction equipment, and why wouldn’t you be, then this is the retired set for you. Once you build it, you can control it with the LEGO CONTROL+ app and move things around like you would with a real bulldozer. (Please don’t try moving real dirt around with it, though.) It’s a complicated set, and not really suitable for younger LEGO builders, but you’ll have so much fun carefully putting it all together.

Roller Coaster

LEGO roller coasters are always a delight to behold. This immensely fun kit is the perfect addition to the LEGO fairground in your LEGO town. You definitely have one of those, right? This was one of the largest LEGO sets ever when it was first released and guarantees you hours of fun. Once you’re done, put the minifigures on the roller coaster and have them ride.

Welcome to Apocalypseburg

Remember The LEGO Movie 2? It wasn’t as good as the first one, but it was still very entertaining, and naturally, a whole lot of LEGO sets were released to coincide with it. The “Welcome to Apocalypseburg” set is 3,178 pieces and is fabulously detailed. You can even kick the chair over in Scribble Cop’s office, and give the characters little cups of coffee!

Friends Central Perk

Have you ever dreamed of having the famous coffee shop from Friends on your shelf? Then look no further! This LEGO recreation of Central Perk comes with all six of the Friends, plus Gunther, and they all hold their own little accessory. For example, Monica has a muffin and Phoebe has her guitar.

Bookshop Modular Building

How’s that LEGO town coming along? It needs a bookshop, right? Luckily, there is one! The Lego modular bookshop is so pretty you’ll wish it existed in real life. It’s 2504 pieces and features all sorts of fun details. For example, in the front window, there’s a copy of “Moby Brick”!

Bro Thor’s New Asgard

Bro Thor was a fun part of Avengers: Endgame (though of course, his backstory was desperately sad) and you can celebrate him with this retired but inexpensive Marvel set. Bro Thor sits in his sad apartment with Korg, Miek, and a newspaper titled “5 Years After The Blip.” Poor Thor!

Big Ben

If you want to remake a famous landmark, look no further than LEGO. The LEGO Architecture range allows you to build your own Big Ben (yes, I know, Big Ben is actually just the clock and bell …) and display it on your shelf. As with all the Architecture builds, it comes with a booklet that tells you all about the history of the building.