Over the last few months the LEGO Group have released a number of highly sought after sets, which have been limited to certain regions, a few examples of these are the Bricktober sets, The LEGO® Movie 2 BrickHeadz and the Chinese New Year sets. More recently these have been joined by the Vader Bust. With the sets only being available in selected countries, LEGO fans worldwide have been rather irate at not being able to add these sets to their collection and in the case of the BrickHeadz, complete their collection. Well the LEGO Group have listened to our feedback and from May 1st, the practice of limiting sets to certain countries will be no more. Sets may launch first in a particular region or retailer but they will become widely available from LEGO retail channels a few months later. It’s great to see LEGO have listened to the customers and that LEGO fans globally, will be able to enjoy building the latest sets, regardless of where they live. It’s unclear if any of the exclusives listed above will become more widely available.
Here’s the full statement from LEGO:
Dear AFOL Community,
It has become apparent to us at the LEGO Group that you are dissatisfied with the recent launches of regional exclusive products. We’ve received a lot of feedback on the LEGO festival products to mark the Chinese New Year (sets 80101 and 80102), the LEGO The Movie 2 Brickheadz (41634, 41635,41636 & 41637) in the US as well as the LEGO Star Wars 20th Anniversary Darth Vader Bust (75227). Because of this feedback and concerns from you, our dedicated and most loyal fans, we have decided that regional exclusives launched after May 1, 2019 will become widely available via LEGO Brand Retail stores and LEGO Shop at Home after a limited period of time (3-6 months) of the initial launch.
In the following areas we will still be launching products, which will have a certain limitation to availability and production runs:
- Pilot projects, such as Forma, to check out markets and opportunities without being able to make them widely available.
- Gift With Purchase campaigns through LEGO Shop at Home and LEGO Brand Retail.
- Products only sold in certain experiences (for example LEGOLAND, LEGO House & LEGO Brand Retail stores).
- Special Event Sets (Comic Cons, LEGO Inside Tour)
24th April 2019
This is much appreciated.