Just a heads up that if you’re a VIP member and logged into your account on LEGO Shop@Home, you can now purchase 10232 Palace Cinema to add to your modular building layout. If you’re not logged in, the above links will lead you to the home page. If that happens, just log in and click on “What’s New” in the navigation bar and you should see it as the first item listed. The price is $149.99 USD and it comes with 2,194 pieces.
If you have patience though, and wait two weeks you can score the MINI Republic Frigate set as well as free shipping starting March 1. If you have even more patience and like the idea of Double VIP points over free shipping, you’d have to wait until March 25th.
Okay, this is strange. ToysRUs.com is listing 30242 Gauntlet for sale for $3.99 with no quantity limit. No picture is provided, but all previous reports point to the mini Republic Frigate as 30242, which is also the Shop@Home promotional polybag set for March that we previously reported on, which is very odd since having TRU sell this set would defeat the purpose of the promotion. Checking Wookiepedia for the name, the most logical match would be Pre Viszla’s personal starfighter, which is set number 30241. So either the Republic Frigate is also named Gauntlet, or the name is wrong in the listing, or the number is wrong in the listing. Very strange. I just placed an order so I’ll find out soon enough.
Thanks to Margot for the tip.
Update: Sleuthy Solo points out that the description for the item describes 30241 Mandalorian Fighter aka Gauntlet, relevant bit bolded:
Product Description
Fly to the stars in the sleek LEGO ® Star Wars ™ Gauntlet ™ starship with articulated cockpit as featured in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars ™ animated TV series!
Finally. A discount. I’ve been monitoring this set since around November hoping to see it at a nice discount, but it never dropped more that 14% and that was to coincide with the DVD release. But now, you can pick up 6869 Quinjet Aerial Battle at a pretty nice discount: down 20% from MSRP of $69.99. It is now priced at $55.99. Pretty nice!
The last of the set videos to included Erik Varszegi’s demonstations cover the new Lone Ranger theme. When I first saw these sets I was underwhelmed to say the least, but after seeing them in person with Erik’s demos I’ve changed my tune. These are the rootin’-est, tootin’-est, explodin’-est, horse on a hot train roof sets I’ve seen and I want them all. On the same note, based on all the great play features and the thought of all these wild west explosions on screen, I have even less interest in seeing the film. Watch the videos and see for yourself.
Here are a couple of quick video looks at the the new 50011 Lord Of The Rings: The Battle Of Helm’s Deep and 50003 Batman games. I’m really stoked to get both of these and the inclusion of Nightwing and Batgirl as characters makes me hopeful of near future minifig releases. Erik and I both agreed she’ll need a new molded helmet with red hair sticking out the back. Groovy.
Well, more of a wimper than a roar really as my time with Erik was unfortunately short and by the time we got to Chima, I was being scooted out of the booth. I did get this quick vid of 70010 The Lion Chi Temple and a closer look at the 50006 LEGO Legends Of Chima. I’ll bet the Lion Temple will be popular with the kiddies and I’m sure folks will we disappointed that there’s no video of the Gorilla Mech. I know I am…
If you’re like me, you did not get a fancy Valentine’s Day gift in the mail from LEGO Shop@Home. But luckily, Tohst did and he scanned the little insert that came with it. First thing though, about that red chrome minifig keychain: I have it on good authority that the one of the main criteria in selecting who received the gift was based on the frequency of VIP account activity, and not necessarily on dollar amount spent, during the year 2012. So say you made two very large purchases, you would not have reached the proper threshold for receiving the gift. That being said, I would strongly advise against calling LEGO Shop@Home begging for one, or worse complaining about it. They are under no obligation to do these types of special programs and giveaways for members, and if all they hear are complaints they will more than likely just cancel the whole thing. For those of you lucky enough to live near a Brand Retail store will remember that they used to have grab bags that were cheap and packed with random parts from the pick a brick bins, store models, customer returns, etc. You wanna know why they cancelled the grab bags? Because someone complained. And LEGO just decided to pull the plug on that. So, please, do us all a favor and be grateful that such a program exists to surprise and delight some customers instead of complaining about not being lucky enough to get one.
Anyways, moving on. The flyer you see above was included with the keychain gift, and in it we see a bunch of goodies for VIP members. The most relevant piece of information is that we now know the distribution channel for one of the previously announced 2013 Star Wars polybag set: 30242 Republic Frigate. You get this set for free with a minimum $50 purchase from March 1 through 31. There are a few other noteworthy promotional periods:
Early access to 10232 Palace Cinema: Feburary 14 through 28. That starts tomorrow!
Free shipping from March 1 through 15.
Double VIP points from March 25 through April 8.
Usually, during promotional periods like this, there was one day where free shipping would overlap with double VIP points. It doesn’t seem to be the case in March, however.
10511 Skipper’s Flight School
$39.99 USD / $39.99 CAD
53 pieces
Available August
I don’t know. On one hand, this theme was one of the sets that was under embargo at Toy Fair. On the other hand, there’s no watermark protecting this image from the retailer’s catalog. Then there were other sets in the catalog that have the watermark, but were available for photography on the show floor. So I have no idea what the deal is. In any case, here’s the one pic that was available from the catalog. There are two other sets listed but no pic and no name. Here’s the info from the other two sets:
Item #10510
$24.99 USD / $24.99 CAD
40 pieces
Available August
Item #10509
$14.99 USD / $14.99 CAD
16 pieces
Available August
With LEGO’s propensity to make vehicles, I’m a little surprised that there isn’t a regular System line in the works. Yet. Maybe. I love me some LEGO air vehicles, and I would have been soooo on Planes.
Last year’s Toy Fair saw the debut of the Disney Princesses line. This year, it’s the boys’ turn to get toys and it’s based on the Disney Junior cartoon Jake and the Never Land Pirates. There are three sets including a fun little pirate ship. There are a few other Duplo sets, and no new princesses, though.
Continuing our flood of leftover Toy Fair coverage: the new Lego CITY assortment is ready to go. Almost half the sets include an aircraft and you can’t seem to go near the water without getting attacked by a shark so clearly things are as exciting as ever. There’s a new large prefabbed cockpit section in two of those which the boxes highlight as a positive aspect on account of the easier construction, and a new large floating boat hull for those that love to take their sets for a swim. Also, nearly a decade after it was last included in any sets, the white shark is finally back!
Notably absent from the entire lineup are buildings in any form.
Obvious spoiler alert for anyone planning on getting the Advent Calendar: you’ll probably want to avoid that last gallery.
