Polybag Exclusives ... how / where are they available?!

[bigospedros]

Since "Brickmaster" is no more, I wonder, therefore, how sets like 20021 or 20019 actually get distributed ?

I'm getting a little fed up of only seeing these sets available on the aftermarket for hugely inflated prices, especially when the sellers seem to have 10s of copies of the sets.

Why can't Lego start selling these to "joe public" especially in teritories outside of the USA ? Where do these resellers on ebay or bricklink get their stock from?!

The same query really applies to sets like 30053, 30054 and 30055.

[Draykov]

Referring to the non-Brickmaster sets you listed, I have stumbled across a lot my polybag finds at Target (in the US), particularly when it's close to some big holiday. They usually have them in the rotating seasonal/holiday goody area rather than the LEGO aisle.

I don't think Target has any representation outside of North America though (maybe Australia?), so that's probably not very helpful.

[Mister Ed]

Even at Target it is totally hit-or-miss. I've gotten some polybag sets there, but despite my going there fairly frequently, there are SEVERAL I have never, ever seen. In some cases I saw an empty bin where they PROBABLY were, but in others, not even that much.

[gomek]

See my rant on convention exclusives (and lack of VIP benefits)... I do see a lot of stuff on Ebay that I've never seen available to me, and I'm a VIP member who goes to the Lego store at least 3 times a month, if not every week.

Anyway, I think the least TLG could do is make these available to VIP members.

[Mister Ed]

I know I've been to TRU several times looking for the Bat-jetski set. They NEVER stocked it. It really sucks when a set is made an exclusive, and the store it is exclusive to doesn't even bother to stock it.

[sparkart]

Mister Ed, same story with me. I could never find 30160, either. When I saw a pile of them selling at Comic-Con, I half wondered if LEGO was employing the collection cartel tactics of DeBeers and Sideshow Collectibles, who deliberately limit supply to float higher prices.

I wonder who's idea is it for these store exclusives. I'm sure Target, Toys R US, and Walmart love to make quid pro quo agreements for exclusive merchandise to get people into their stores. Obviously, it works, I visited more than a couple of Toys R Us looking for that Batman set. But the only people getting more money from me are the gas stations.

I knew it. It's a ploy by the oil industry! They already get money for the production of petroleum plastic bricks, they get more money when we drive around looking for the sets that contain these little plastic pieces!

[crazybirdman]

It's usually the retailers that demand exclusives & chase figures. They know it will drive traffic to their stores.

[Mister Ed]

It's usually the retailers that demand exclusives & chase figures. They know it will drive traffic to their stores.

What good is the traffic if they never actually stock it? Especially at TRU. I can't be the ONLY person that never buys ANYTHING at TRU unless I CAN'T get it elsewhere. If they don't stock their exclusive, my traffic does them no good. At Target I might buy SOMETHING else while I was in the store, but not at TRU.

[crazybirdman]

I didn't say they thought it through, just that that is their initial thought. They KNOW people will come into stores looking for the exclusive/chase, and they hope that they will buy something else while they are there. Whether or not customers can actually get the exclusive doesn't seem to be a concern to them.
I've heard from several toy companies that claim they tell the retailers to buy more of the exclusives they are requesting, with no luck.