Answers.Body: <p>Most of sets doesn't contain unique elements, however there are exceptions. This (uniqueness) is especially common with minifigures or limited edition/availability sets.</p>
  
  <p>The easiest set (polybag) to confirm the fact that only some sets have unique parts is to take 624210, which consists of 6 pcs. of iconic 2 x 4 bricks in Red, which were available in numerous sets. Another option, of a boxed set, is to take any set consisting of basic bricks, like 5576. Parts included in 5576 are widely available and can be found in multiple sets. </p>
  
  <p>However if you take something exclusive, like 41999. This set contains some unique parts available in this set only.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-04-14T18:22:32.450Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-04-30T12:49:11.803Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-04-30T12:49:11.803Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Alex
Answers.Body: <p>Flicking through Sets on BrickLink, sorted by number of parts (and ignoring small-scale items such as "Advent Calendar" models), I identified the 61-part set <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=4736-1&amp;name=Freeing%20Dobby&amp;category=%5BHarry%20Potter%5D#T=I" rel="nofollow noreferrer">4736-1 "Freeing Dobby"</a> from 2010, which included no new parts - and, as such, no <em>unique</em> parts.</p>
  
  <p>The rarest part of the set appears to be <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3069bpb132&amp;idColor=2#T=C&amp;C=2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tan Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with HP Sock Pattern</a>, which appears in <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=4866-1#T=S&amp;O=%7B&quot;iconly&quot;:0%7D" rel="nofollow noreferrer">two</a> other <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=4840-1#T=S&amp;O=%7B&quot;iconly&quot;:0%7D" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sets</a></p>
  
  <p>This then proves that <strong>not</strong> all Lego sets include unique parts.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-04-27T12:36:48.130Z
Answers.Text: How did you figure out that Freeing Dobby has no new parts?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ryan
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-04-29T12:21:40.827Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-04-29T12:21:40.827Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Chronocidal
Answers.Body: <p>I really doubt that every single Lego set on the planet has at least one unique piece, and besides, I think that's up to <strong>you</strong> to decide which pieces are “unique” and which are not. Every single set that I try thinking of seems to have a unique piece, but I bet the real reason for that is because I have just never seen how many sets have that same piece, therefore I think it's rare when it's really not. One group of sets that is always guaranteed to have rare pieces is the Lego Minifigures series.</p>
  
  <p>So the short answer is most likely no.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-04-29T11:13:32.073Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-04-29T11:13:32.073Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Answers.Body: <p><strong>Degrees of uniqueness</strong></p>
  
  <p><em>Unique molds</em></p>
  
  <p>A special mold is the most expansive form of uniqueness that involves a lot of investment by the LEGO company. Really unique molds are rare, but they occur, e.g., in licenced sets, as minifigure parts or accessories. For a long time, the One Ring from one LoTR LEGO set was unique, until recently revied as a wedding ring in the Brickheads series.</p>
  
  <p><em>Unique colourings</em></p>
  
  <p>This kind of uniqueness is somewhat more frequent: You can have known element in a unique or rare colour for some model.</p>
  
  <p><em>Unique prints</em></p>
  
  <p>Even more frequent are unique prints on known elements of known colours, including the bodies, legs, and heads of minifigures, or special printings bricks.</p>
  
  <p><em>Stickers</em></p>
  
  <p>Stickers from sticker sets are really often unique. It is not unusual for them to contain a sticker with the official set number.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-04-30T13:16:14.777Z
Answers.Text: Perhaps it would make more sense to change "Unique colourings" to something like "Color and form/mould combination"?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Alex
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-04-30T16:48:47.387Z
Answers.Text: I think this is understood; I haven't heard yet that LEGO created a unique colour only to use in a single model.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sir Cornflakes
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-04-30T13:01:24.403Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-04-30T13:01:24.403Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sir Cornflakes
Answers.Body: <p>The question of uniqueness has already a lot of answers, I will concentrate on this question from the text</p>
  
  <p><em>If I had 100 lego sets would I be able to fully build a lego set that I didn't have?</em></p>
  
  <p>There is another factor, namely <strong>time</strong>, to consider. While the basic LEGO bricks remain unchanged over the decades, other items are retired and new ones are introduced. The style of doors, fences, and windows has changed considerably over time, and you need sets covering a certain period to rebuild another period set. 100 sets of the 1980ies will not help you in rebuilding a modern model, and 100 contemporary sets will not be sufficient to rebuild an original Black Seas Barracuda from 1989 because <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=4088&amp;name=Brick,%20Modified%201%20x%204%20x%202%20Center%20Stud%20Top&amp;category=%5BBrick,%20Modified%5D#T=C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this brick</a> was phased out in 2007 and in yellow, it was last seen in 2002.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-04-30T12:22:23.970Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-04-30T12:37:14.040Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-04-30T12:37:14.040Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sir Cornflakes
Answers.Body: <p>My understanding is that it costs Lego quite a bit to create a new mold, so it's in their interest to reuse their pieces a lot.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-04-15T15:06:23.920Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-04-15T15:06:23.920Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Monte Gardner
Body: <p>If I had 100 lego sets would I be able to fully build a lego set that I didn't have? Or would it always be impossible due to each set having at least one unique piece?</p>
  
  <p>To further clarify, let's say I own every LEGO set except for one. Does the set I don't own always contain at least one brick/piece that can't be found in all the sets I do own? Of course color doesn't matter.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-04-14T16:10:35.637Z
Comments.Text: Welcome to Bricks.SE! It is hard to answer your question without more details or exact example of a set you wish to build from your collection. This is because your collection could consist of all small/large sets and you are willing to build huge/tiny set. So the answer can be both No and Yes. Some sets have also unique piece, so you could not build exact copy (or cannot build it at all) if you don't own needed piece. CMF are considered a set, so having 100 of those won't result in Police station. Please make your question more clear and explain what you are trying to understand.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Alex
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-04-14T18:03:24.757Z
Comments.Text: I just want to know if each bonafide LEGO set contains at least one unique piece that cannot be found in any other LEGO set.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Ryan
Tags: <sets>
Title: Does each LEGO set include a unique piece?
UserDisplayName: Ryan
ThreadText: # Does each LEGO set include a unique piece?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-14)
  
  If I had 100 lego sets would I be able to fully build a lego set that I didn't have? Or would it always be impossible due to each set having at least one unique piece?
  
  To further clarify, let's say I own every LEGO set except for one. Does the set I don't own always contain at least one brick/piece that can't be found in all the sets I do own? Of course color doesn't matter.
  
  **Tags:** sets
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Welcome to Bricks.SE! It is hard to answer your question without more details or exact example of a set you wish to build from your collection. This is because your collection could consist of all small/large sets and you are willing to build huge/tiny set. So the answer can be both No and Yes. Some sets have also unique piece, so you could not build exact copy (or cannot build it at all) if you don't own needed piece. CMF are considered a set, so having 100 of those won't result in Police station. Please make your question more clear and explain what you are trying to understand.  
  > **username_0**: I just want to know if each bonafide LEGO set contains at least one unique piece that cannot be found in any other LEGO set.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 6 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2020-04-14. Score: 4
  
  Most of sets doesn't contain unique elements, however there are exceptions. This (uniqueness) is especially common with minifigures or limited edition/availability sets.
  
  The easiest set (polybag) to confirm the fact that only some sets have unique parts is to take 624210, which consists of 6 pcs. of iconic 2 x 4 bricks in Red, which were available in numerous sets. Another option, of a boxed set, is to take any set consisting of basic bricks, like 5576. Parts included in 5576 are widely available and can be found in multiple sets.
  
  However if you take something exclusive, like 41999. This set contains some unique parts available in this set only.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2020-04-29. Score: 2
  
  Flicking through Sets on BrickLink, sorted by number of parts (and ignoring small-scale items such as "Advent Calendar" models), I identified the 61-part set [4736-1 "Freeing Dobby"](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=4736-1&name=Freeing%20Dobby&category=%5BHarry%20Potter%5D#T=I) from 2010, which included no new parts - and, as such, no *unique* parts.
  
  The rarest part of the set appears to be [Tan Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with HP Sock Pattern](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3069bpb132&idColor=2#T=C&C=2), which appears in [two](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=4866-1#T=S&O=%7B) other [sets](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=4840-1#T=S&O=%7B)
  
  This then proves that **not** all Lego sets include unique parts.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: How did you figure out that Freeing Dobby has no new parts?  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2020-04-29. Score: 1
  
  I really doubt that every single Lego set on the planet has at least one unique piece, and besides, I think that's up to **you** to decide which pieces are “unique” and which are not. Every single set that I try thinking of seems to have a unique piece, but I bet the real reason for that is because I have just never seen how many sets have that same piece, therefore I think it's rare when it's really not. One group of sets that is always guaranteed to have rare pieces is the Lego Minifigures series.
  
  So the short answer is most likely no.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2020-04-30. Score: 0
  
  **Degrees of uniqueness**
  
  *Unique molds*
  
  A special mold is the most expansive form of uniqueness that involves a lot of investment by the LEGO company. Really unique molds are rare, but they occur, e.g., in licenced sets, as minifigure parts or accessories. For a long time, the One Ring from one LoTR LEGO set was unique, until recently revied as a wedding ring in the Brickheads series.
  
  *Unique colourings*
  
  This kind of uniqueness is somewhat more frequent: You can have known element in a unique or rare colour for some model.
  
  *Unique prints*
  
  Even more frequent are unique prints on known elements of known colours, including the bodies, legs, and heads of minifigures, or special printings bricks.
  
  *Stickers*
  
  Stickers from sticker sets are really often unique. It is not unusual for them to contain a sticker with the official set number.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Perhaps it would make more sense to change "Unique colourings" to something like "Color and form/mould combination"?  
  > **username_4**: I think this is understood; I haven't heard yet that LEGO created a unique colour only to use in a single model.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2020-04-30. Score: 0
  
  The question of uniqueness has already a lot of answers, I will concentrate on this question from the text
  
  *If I had 100 lego sets would I be able to fully build a lego set that I didn't have?*
  
  There is another factor, namely **time**, to consider. While the basic LEGO bricks remain unchanged over the decades, other items are retired and new ones are introduced. The style of doors, fences, and windows has changed considerably over time, and you need sets covering a certain period to rebuild another period set. 100 sets of the 1980ies will not help you in rebuilding a modern model, and 100 contemporary sets will not be sufficient to rebuild an original Black Seas Barracuda from 1989 because [this brick](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=4088&name=Brick,%20Modified%201%20x%204%20x%202%20Center%20Stud%20Top&category=%5BBrick,%20Modified%5D#T=C) was phased out in 2007 and in yellow, it was last seen in 2002.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2020-04-15. Score: 0
  
  My understanding is that it costs Lego quite a bit to create a new mold, so it's in their interest to reuse their pieces a lot.
  
  
  ---
  
  