Scrum to grab News Of The Worlds today

 

  • Scrum to grab News Of The Worlds today

    Posted by Huw, 15 May 2011 06:56. Filed under Shopping (UK).

    30131: Jack Sparrow's Boat
    Pirates of the Caribbean, 2011
    More details...
    ©2011 LEGO Group

    Today's free set is perhaps the best of the bunch so I made the effort to get to WHS early today. As it was a nice morning I thought I'd cycle there (10km, half cross-country) and get there in good time for 10am (for those of you not in the UK, most shops are only allowed to be open for 6 hours on a Sunday and open 10am-4pm).

    I arrived at 9:45 only to see a queue about 30 people long outside the shop! By time I'd chained my bike and got to the queue it was about 50 people long. I'm sure WHS isn't used to this on a Sunday morning!

    Once the doors opened, well, I've never seen anything like it in a WHS! People were grabbing armfuls of the paper, handing them out to others then rushing to the queue for the till. I grabbed 4, paid, got my sets, then put the papers back on the pile. I didn't actually want to read the rag!

    15 minutes later I returned only to find the shop was back to what you'd expect on a Sunday morning and of course there were still boxes of sets and a huge stack of NotWs left, so it was all a bit unnecessary. I couldn't resist getting a couple more, though...

    Like others who have commented here, I can't condone buying 'hundreds' to sell on eBay but grabbing a few extra to trade is perfectly acceptable in my book.


    91 comments, latest one posted 24 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by ensign_dave in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 07:39

I experienced the same thing. Got there 10 minutes before opening time at WHSmiths and there was already a queue. As soon as the doors opened people went straight to the till. I had to enter what felt like a rugby scrum with my 3 kids to grab a newspaper first and then take it to the till. Madness. Who'd have thought these promo's would become so big?

Posted by jonboy2000 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 07:52

EXTRAS?!! Shame on you! : )

Posted by Markey in Belgium, 15 May 2011 07:53

It was a mad rush at oxford WHSmith as well. My local one was closed today so had to go there. I got 6, and they were strict about crossing out the coupons.

Posted by matt666 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 08:10

I got one from Toys R Us in Stockport at 11.05 this morning. They had all gone (200) by 11.20. I had been stood at the Customer Service desk whilst they got me a General grevious Starship (15 in stock, all in the back which was odd) with the 20% off voucher that was kindly posted on here. I have never seen so many people flood in. Even when they were all gone, there were still lots and lots of people coming in asking.

Posted by legoboy12345678 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 08:12

Wow I must be lucky, because were I live my whs had about 150 suns yesterday not even touched, and when you when topay for them their was about five boxes of X-wings. Nobody was Even botherd about the lego, And also they have about 5 boxes full of lego collectible minifigures series 4.

Posted by Hob in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 08:18

I got to my local WHS about 15mins early and there were a few people then loads arrived and the Que was massive. I got 4 and so did the wife. We checked and the vochures weren't crossed through so went off to TRU at Brislington and got 4 more each. I don't intend to sell them on ebay (well not yet at least) but like other people have done to trade at a later date.

I don't feel bad for double dipping. Although the TRU manager had to be asked if i could have 4, he said well it's supposed to be one per customer and then said why not. It was funny all the people queing went in and went out in about 2mins. Plenty there getting more than one. Don't expect to get any later today.

Good luck people.

Posted by MinifigureMan in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 08:19

I got one at Winchester today, it is a great mini set! I am tempted to get another bottle and put in some food colouring and a clear stud to hold it in! :P Anyway, highly recommend it, it is great! Got the Sun, got the Sparrow then binned the paper thus saving my dignity!

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 08:20

At WHS Eastbourne this morning they had a rule of 5 per customer, but the staff didn't really enforce it so people were getting away with 10 or more of the things, I got 2 mainly just for the bottles!

Posted by atkinsar in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 08:52

I must live in an area where LEGO is none too popular. I've never seen a queue for any of these newspaper promotions at my WHS, guess I won't be getting a LEGO brand store in my town anytime soon :-)

Posted by DOLEGO1986 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 08:53

Went down to my local corner shop. Bought 4 News of World papers. Then me, Mum, Bro & Sis went to Toys R Us in Swansea. Each of us entered into the shop one at a time and got the 4 Captain Jack figures! There were loads of people going to get them. The shop was open early but the tills couldn't trade until 11am. We got there at 10:30am. As for the Captain Jack figures, I'm Keeping one for myself. My brother is also having one. So, might have two spare to keep sealed safe somewhere for the time being.

Good luck to the other members on here hoping to get one! :)

Posted by umptybagger in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:24

There was about 10 people queuing up when WHS opened here in Weymouth- everybody was dashing to the till, I was the first one to notice the other till was empty :)
(Just bought the one, though.)

Posted by Steno1234 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:26

The queue was as busy than ever in the trafford centre, it was about 1pm and they all were waiting to get one.

Posted by Doctor Leg O'Brick in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:28

Went to WHS in Sutton, my Dad got the last paper and three sets as they had one and a half boxes left. Then I saw a kid with his Dad looking for the paper so I gave one of the sets to him.

Posted by goldfish in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:36

Went in to WHSmith in Solihull, I bought a copy of the paper, then got the free figure, they had absolutely loads. My voucher wasnt asked for, so I might re-use it later to get a second. I wouldn't normally do this, but there are boxes and boxes of them behind the till, and there looks to be little chance of them running out like the X-Wing yesterday. The staff member confirmed this, and mentioned that demand was far bigger yesterday, which might be just heavier saturday trading.

Posted by MinifigureMan in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:36

@Doctor Leg O'Brick-That was nice!
@atkinsar-Yeah, as I guessed nobody was queueing for them in Winchester. A few people had them but there was no rush or queue.

Posted by mixtil in Switzerland, 15 May 2011 09:36

You are lucky in UK!!!!
someone want to sell me one? or make a deal (I have a lot of lego)?

Posted by goldfish in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:47

I have noticed that there is the odd ebay seller, with 100+ copies of this. I wonder what the score is there?

Posted by bluemoose in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:49

There were around 70 to 80 people milling outside the WHS in Milton Keynes this morning when they opened; like Huw reported there was a huge scrum for the papers & a long queue at the checkouts. Chatting to one of the chaps at the tils, they still had a load of X-Wings left over from Saturday & where honouring vouchers from Saturday's Sun; they wouldn't let me trade one of today's for an X-Wing unfortunately.

Posted by senatortombstone in United States, 15 May 2011 09:50

My goal today is to go to TRU and purchase the Queen Annes Revenge. After the discount and $10 off coupon, it should come to $102.52.

Posted by Bricknation.com in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:55

following on Goldfish comment - in description it says he will post them after 14/05. This must be some dishonest WHSmith or TRU manager as all he or she sells are the coming promo sets and most previous feedback comments are about old promo sets.

Posted by Pantboy in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 09:57

at my local TRU they are not giving them out at the till, you have to search around the store for a staff member with a rucksack (i think it was a dora the explorer one if you need to know) full of them :-)

Posted by burakki62 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 10:01

No matter how cool the set is I refuse to buy papers such as the news of the world or the sun, I just cant do it.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 11:05

^ Just do what I did and put the paper back on the pile...

Posted by avacadoturban in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 11:09

@burakki62: It's LEGO, dude (or dudette?), and it's 'Pirates' LEGO too! I pretend that I'm getting the paper to use as a liner for my rabbit's litter tray (which is where NOTW and The Sun are right now).

How popular does everyone reckon' tomorrow's set will be? As popular as today?

Posted by collect-that! in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 11:10

I asked the chap on the counter if he wanted the papers back to sell as I didn't want 'em and he said NO!

Posted by aquafreak125 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 11:32

Couldnt pick any up :(
Btw, has anyone noticed thetoyshop.com having the Queen Annes Revenge for £90?!?! Thats weird...

Posted by LukeSkywalker in Ireland, 15 May 2011 11:43

@doctorlegobrick that was a really kind thing to do! :)
@avacadoturban i doubt tomorrow's mini black pearl will be as popular, since it doesn't come with an awesome jack sparrow figure (or a cool little bottle), but you never know! since most people are back to work, there'll probably be less demand and more time to pick up the polybag.

Posted by Matthew in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 11:47

I managed to get 10 today - Toys R Us had run out, but W H Smith just around the corner had a boxful left! I just handed over 10 vouchers and they gave me the sets no questions asked - so much for 1 per customer!

Posted by brix in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 11:55

the WHSmith in canterbury had ran out of newspapers so we went up to the till and asked if there was any way we could have the LEGO. The lady at the till just gave us the LEGO for free, no problem.

Posted by wildcherryp3psi in United States, 15 May 2011 12:22

Thanks to my brother back in good ol' blighty I will be getting one sometime, my mum will probably bring it when she visits me in the US

Posted by lukehankenobi in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 12:41

Best free Lego day ever! Need I say mo! I have a couple to trade if anyone has some Mini Star Wars, though not the X-Wing.

Posted by MinifigureMan in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 12:51

If you don't have use for the paper just bin it, that's what I did!

Posted by burakki62 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 13:15

Im a dudette (o: I usually find someone at work gives me a voucher if its something im after but I dont work on Sunday. Im sure ill be able to get a set from someone I know anyway.

Posted by MikeyB737 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 13:41

My brother works at a WHSmith, so I was lucky enough to get one for free :L

Posted by legomatt in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 13:47

AAAAGGGGHHHH. ALL, and i mean ALL, my local WHSmiths were CLOSED on sundays. I had a 18 miles round trip to the next nearest and same story - closed on sunday. I phoned my sister, to check her WHS, yup, closed too.

IF i'm unable to get one, just one - that's all i wanted - tomorrow, would anyone of the lovely people on here who picked up dozens of spares be willing to post me just one (i mean, you'd still have all those extras, and they were all FREE if you were able to double-dip with the un-checked vouchers? I even bought the paper in the hope i could find just one open WHS.

I really hate the sunday paper giveaway, it's always the best model, and my stores are always closed. :o(

Posted by RtooDetoo in United States, 15 May 2011 13:58

@senatortombstone--where did you get a $10 coupon for TRU? I would also like to get a Queen Anne's Revenge, but would like to get one at under $100 before taxes.

Posted by flump in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 14:33

Went to cinema first thing with the kids in Maidenhead and wondered into the town centre around 1ish. Walked into Smiths of which they had boxes of the polybags behind the main counter. Unfortunately they didn't have any papers left and so they advised me to go to the Tescos Express to buy one and go back. I actually bought five copies and went back to Smiths. I laid the five papers on the counter, she counted out five polybags, but only crossed through one voucher. Having thanked her, I went back out into the mall, tore out the remaining four 'clean' vouchers and redeemed them at a different counter. A little crooked but I'm not going to say no thank you. During the two or three minutes I was in Smiths, even as late as 1pm I must have seen a dozen other people redeeming their coupons. Should anyone be able to get hold of a couple of Black Pearls tomorrow I'd gladly trade.

Posted by trax_3 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 14:39

I'm hoping to be able to get to a whsmith on the way into work tomorrow morning. Will do my best to pick up a few extra Black Pearls so to help others out who won't be able to get them.

Posted by The solitary dark in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 15:29

Went into Woking (Where there is a TRU and WH Smith's) - By 1 PM both had loads of sets, but Smiths had no copies of the paper left and refused to take my money for a copy of the paper anyway - Walked around the rest of the town, but nowehere elese had a copy of the paper either! WH Smith's staff actually said they received more sets than papers today.

Fortuately my parents had been out both yesterday and today early and so son and I werent disapointed, only wanted 1 each! They also gave him his character building Doctor Who toys from last weekend.
Really disapointing that there is no mailaway with this offer. I'm nowhere near a Smith's and the 2 TRU's nearby are a massive diversion.

Posted by Redbullgivesuwind in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 15:35

i wasnt interested in the set but my girlfriends sister was so we went and had a look for some in Woking. Nothing every single paper was sold :-(. However a very nice man at the counter gave me one as i was looking but still had boxes and boxes of them left. Thanks to that guy never read this but cheers. There seem to be much more than nessary as TRU had loads of them and was dissapointed to see only kids with them. But felt better when i saw a bloke with arm fulls of the ninjago sets :-D.

Wonder what they will do with the spare X-Wings could do with a squadron

Posted by JRDA0406 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 16:06

i only got one per visit to the counter, i didn't have the nerve to take multiple papers at a time. Toys R Us ran out today and yesterday by about midday. I'm glad its the Sun/NoTW and not that dogmatic tripe; "The Mirror"!!!

Posted by Jed in Ireland, 15 May 2011 16:28

Didn't get any. Both Tescos I went to had given them all away. Very disappointing.

Posted by historynut in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 16:40

I was in Oxford St Smiths at around lunchime and was told they had plenty of Jack Sparrows but no news of the worlds left so they could not give them away. He suggested getting the paper at the tesco metro on dean st...so i went there and some random elderly woman bought the last 10 news of the worlds cut all the tokens out and left. Somewhat dejected I walked the rest of Oxford street looking for somewhere to buy a news of the world (there are a remarkable lack of newsagents in central london these days). Eventually got one in a sainsburys central and went back to Smiths and got my Jack :-)

Am a happy bunny

Posted by TheKingOfBuilding in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 16:51

Why is everyone chucking away the newspapers? They might not be interesting but surely recycling is a option?
Also, like many people, I highly recommend getting this set - for the minifig and the new style bottle piece!

Posted by LukeSkywalker in Ireland, 15 May 2011 17:20

@Jed You could chance asking if they have any left at Smyths tomorrow (if there's one near to you), they're giving them out too. My local Tesco only got one box and they ran out by 1pm, but I tried Smyths afterwards and they still had a box and a half, worth checking anyway.

Posted by kurttkrueger in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 17:24

I was a bit dissapointed this morning. I made my way to our nearest WH Smith (M6 J10ish services), only to find out that the motorway services WH Smiths didn't carry such stock.

I had family things to do this morning, and for most of the day today, so missed my chance :(

Posted by themightywebb in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 17:40

Went to Woking and picked up 10 sets and then took the vouchers to Toys R Us who would only give me a few, so went back to WH Smith and picked up the rest. I will be picking up the rest of the stuff this week and would like to swap with anyone for Batman minifigs! Rest of it will end up as pass the parcel prizes at my son's birthday party!!

Posted by Delatron in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 18:13

Got to Derby TRU at 10.35 and people were already queing out of the door. Having 2 small kids with us we wondered whether to go and get shopping first or wait for 25 minutes, but while we deliberated for a few minutes about another 50 people joined the queue! Glad we waited in the end, they walked down the queue counting and I saw a few people getting cross with a manager so I figure they missed out. My wife and I got one each, then went to use the 20% voucher (thanks for that guys!)- got both my kids birthday presents for next month and the AQ tripod set for me so happy day.

Will probably not bother with the mini black pearl but try for the ninjago sets on the way home from work tues, wed and thurs.

Posted by legocrazy1234 in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 18:13

I could not be bothered to go and cue just incase I missed em so opted the eBay route instead. £4.50 Inc p&p and I didn't loose my dignity.

Posted by minimacwomble in United Kingdom, 15 May 2011 18:26

For those whose WHS is closed on Sundays, if this promo works the same as the Mirror ones you can take your Sunday tokens in on Monday and the store will redeem them then. Our local WHS is closed on Sundays and I have never had any problems picking up the sets on Monday, will let you know how I get on tomorrow but it is much less stressful than having to travel miles to one that is open.

Posted by C-Fish in United States, 15 May 2011 21:50

Wow! I didn't know Legos were THAT popular! :D

Posted by kempo81 in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 03:36

so... monday morning, set #3 of the Sun/NOTW giveaway. no crazy queue's outside WHS Swindon, i was able to just stroll in and bag myself a couple of sets without a wrestling match!!

Posted by Andhe in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 04:44

My nearest WHSmiths had sold out of NOTW on sunday by the time I got there, but they sold us they figure for a £1? Not quite sure of the legality of that, but hey, I got my figure, and didn't want the paper anyway!

Posted by mumto2legofans in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 04:51

I e-mailed customer services at the Sun as we do not have a WH Smiths near us or a Toys r us. Nearest one of either is a good 60 minute round trip. They said to send a letter to customer services with my token, only one token per envelope giving my address and postcode and stating that we did not have WHS or TRU near us and a limited number of sets would be available on a first come first served basis. No guarentee could be made to availablilty. Just to play safe, my sister bought a couple of sets on ebay. One seller had 112 Jack Sparrow and taking advanced order for all the others promising to send out the day of the promotion so either he has a back door deal to get a box full or his branch let him buy 112 papers - ha ha !

Posted by mission_zed in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 04:57

Avast me hearties. Pirate zed managed to plunder some free booty. How ? I strolled into Smiths about 2pm, picked up three papers. At the till, the girl said she'd give me three for the price of one paper ! They had piles of papers left, and each till had a handful of sets. Weird how some Smiths are so strick and others so chilled ...

I even attempted to read the paper, but it got binned before I reached the bus stop.

Posted by avacadoturban in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 05:13

Scored 4 Black Pearls this morning - and no queue/crass/mad-cap behaviour from a frenzied crowd. Just Friday to go now!

Posted by Markey in Belgium, 16 May 2011 06:05

It was very quite in my WHSmith this morning, only one person there that got a few sets. She didn't cross out my coupons, so I'm gonna trade them in at TRU later if they have sets left. The two most populair sets were this weekend, so the mad rush must be over now.

They're cheap now, at only 30p/set!

Posted by infernalbrick in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 07:16

well it seems everyone got lucky with getting more than one set!

My TRU was very strict, one per person. So I got my wife and child to go and get a couple more for me!

Unfortunatly on saturday I only managed to get 1 X-Wing. its a great little set

Posted by jezzatheshed in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 12:44

Got to laugh at the ques..W H Smith in Rushden is closed on Sunday so no jack for me...I got the daughters boyfreind to get one from Corby, gave me the paper and the figure and the token wasnt cancelled so I cut it out anyway. Went to Rushden this morning to get the pearl and found a big que outside. They had Jack set too so I got another set, the lady never took the coupon so I gave it to another lady in the que who didnt know she could collect Sundays figure on Monday, so I have a keeper and an opener and a RAOK from £1.00!..Result.

Posted by roxio in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 13:30

my whs smiths not open sundays but let me buy multiple pearls today, but would only give jacks out with a token from sundays notw

Posted by voyanui8768 in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 14:25

My mum went to WHSmiths this evening to get my Black Pearl, but they had run out of newspapers. Behind the till they still had a box of sets. She went to the counter and asked the woman on the till if she could just pay 30p for the set, as she didn't even want the paper. The woman said NO and that she had to go to another news agent and buy the paper. She really wasn't happy with the cashier. My mum went to every newsagent and supermarket in our town and none of them had the paper. My mum gets very determined about things like this so she went all the way to the service station just off the motor way, bought the paper and took it back to Smiths. The woman handed the set over and now I'm the proud owner of a Black Pearl :)

The service was much better when the deal was at Tesco, because when the Racers promotion was on I went to the store and the security gaurd on the door just handed out the set from the day to any kid who walked in. As you can tell, I walked in lots of times :D

Posted by Doctor Leg O'Brick in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 14:27

My WHS had five boxes left of this set (as they are closed on Sunday) and where giving them away for free.

Posted by minimacwomble in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 15:05

Don't be to hard on the WHS staff, our local branch are usually very helpful, letting you look through boxes of mini-figures etc. I went in as I was passsing at the end of the day to see if they had any Black Pearl sets left and the manager was manning the till as they had run out around mid-day today and they had had a lot of trouble with disappointed customers swearing at staff and abusing them both today and on Saturday. She said she has put in an official complaint with her area manager because they had been under sipplied with newspapers and she said they had never seen anything like it with any of the previous Mirror Lego promotions. She has upped her order of papers for tomorrow, lets hope other stores that have run out early have done the same.

Posted by pitfall69 in United States, 16 May 2011 15:39

I don't know how bad the economy is in the UK, but it's pretty bad here across the pond. People are doing whatever they need to do to put food on the table. The only way I condone buying many of the same set to sell on Ebay, Brickset etc. is to support yourself and your family. I've seen some terrible things happen at places where there is either an exclusive item at a store or a new shipment. To wrestle an item from a child is despicable.

I also wanted to know if any of you feel that the U.S.A. gets more exclusive Lego products than the UK or the rest of world?

Posted by Darth Vader 92 in United Kingdom, 16 May 2011 16:01

I went to my local WHS With JS (Sunday's) voucher in a head they are closed on Sunday got the the desk to hand the voucher over, the man said we are not open on Sunday's so we have not got any. not very helpful so I wonder what's happend to them.

Posted by Jon_Brick in Canada, 16 May 2011 17:58

It's nice to live in Canada where most people aren't crazy for lego, of course this means the selection is more limited an there are never any promotions in the newspapers.

Posted by pitfall69 in United States, 16 May 2011 20:13

That was the point Huw was tring to make. It's ok to grab a few more to trade with peole that don't get the chance or live in the country with the promotion.

Posted by pookie in United States, 16 May 2011 21:10

For those of you who grab a few extra I'm up for a trade. I have the POC Jack Sparrow 30132 will trade for POC 30131.

Posted by mission_zed in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 04:56

Aaaaaaaaargh !

Just popped into the WHSmiths at Euston Station, near my work, to pick up today's Ninja Glider, only to be told the Lego is available at "High Street Stores Only" ! Never had a problem with the Daily Mirror promos ! Oh well, off to the WHSmiths store locator ...

I'm not a happy bunny ...

Posted by beegeedee in Ireland, 17 May 2011 05:14

I've been stopping in by the local tesco which happens to be a fair size and they had loads. The lady even threw me a few doc who figures (they sucks) from a promotion the previous week which was nice. They insisted on cutting out the coupons though. They also had very few newspapers. and I was there 10 minutes after opening. I doubt there was a rush as I picked up the jack sparrow at 11am Sunday and they had loads left.

Posted by Johnny Cogs in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 06:15

Hey. I've been reading the comments on this thread and think some of us got pretty lucky where others didn't. So I have grabbed a couple extra Jacks and Black Pearls that I am happy to trade. Happy to trade internationally too. Send me a message if you like. JC

Posted by yihchyn in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 07:27

staff in whsmith in sheffield high street are bad.

Posted by PocasNuckie in Portugal, 17 May 2011 08:08

@Johnny Cogs - How do I send you a message if you "don't want to be contacted!"?? LOL

Cheers ;)

Posted by Darth Vader 92 in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 08:36

It's difficult on one hand staff at TRU and WHS should know what to expect when Lego promo are on. But on the other hand people who get Lego promo to sell on ebay and I don't mean 1 or 2 ( someone who's got 122+ are selingl sunday's for 7.99) spoils it for every one. Lego or someone should set up a trading post. Rather than having to buy the promo Lego on Ebay.

Posted by mission_zed in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 08:42

Aaaaaaaaaargh again.

I decided to run down to WHSmiths Oxford Street to look for Gliding Ninjas. 11am: No papers and a little sign next to the til stating they're out of Sun promotional Lego. Gonna have make extra stops on the way home to check out random WHSmiths ... then hit Bricklink.

Very chessed bunny ..

Posted by MvdS in Netherlands, 17 May 2011 10:32

Also disappointed here in The Netherlands.
Did not fully get the promotion. Thought if you bought The Sun you would get the LEGO minifigure. But... there is a 'ticket' inside, so you can get to WHSMits or Toys 'R Us to trade in the ticket for the free LEGO promo.

Bought a few of them on eBay, for an average of 4,50 GBP.

Whene are these promotions going to The Netherlands?
It is always UK and/or USA.

Can anybody help me to a LEGO Jack Sparrow Voodoo???

Thanks and greetings,
Marcel

Posted by richselby in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 11:26

Oh dear, oh dear. It was all organised so much better when the promotion was with the Daily Mirror.

I can confirm the previous reports of dire availability in central London. Most branches of WHSmiths are in main line stations. When the promo sets were given away with the Daily Mirror last year, the station branches had plenty of stock. Now TLG has shifted allegiance to The Sun, the station branches, don't receive a single item. Why?

"Go to the High Street," they told me. There's two high street branches of WHSmiths in central London - Holborn (by Chancery Lane tube) and Oxford Street. I checked Holborn branch this morning at 9:15am, and the store lady said she'd never seen anything like it, a big queue formed for store opening time at 8:30 and they were all gone 15 mins later. As for Oxford Street, mission_zed says they were out by 11am today.

With The Mirror, you were able to send off coupons in the post. No such luck with News International.

Request to TLG - revert to the Mirror next time, would you?

Posted by NCoyle in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 11:45

I can also confirm the dire availability in central London.

Yesterday, I swung by the Oxford street branch on my lunch hour around midday, only to find that they had all gone. The Holborn branch is a bit out of my way, but I went there before work and manage to snag a ninja glider. This was about 08:45 or 08:50. I had already got my Sun as I bought it elsewhere, but the lady behind the till made me wrip out the voucher and handing it to her before claiming my prize. They seemed to have a few more behind the till, but seemed to be fast running out.

The lack of stock in the stations does seem a bit of an oversight. But maybe the demand for this promotion was completely underestimated. This is my first experience of such a promotion and I have to admit to being surprised by how popular it is.

Posted by BIONICLEGuy in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 11:52

Congrats, dodgy eBay sellers who buy fifteen Sun papers at a time. You just made my second cousin (aged five) burst into tears.

Posted by Matthew in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 12:10

^ Which one do you need?
If you still have the token this is an extract from an email to the Sun 'You can send your token to us and we will, subject to availability, despatch the toy to you. Enclose your token in an envelope and include your name and address and please state the local store(s) you visited.

The address to send the token to is:

Lego Promotion
Customer Services
3 Thomas More Square
London
E98 1RL

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST ONLY ENCLOSE ONE TOKEN PER ENVELOPE. MULTIPLE TOKENS IN ONE ENVELOPE WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.'

I just went into Tesco, bought 2 papers, then went around the corner to smiths, to be told they had run out by 10 am, but I was given one of Sunday's instead. I'm going to contact the sun now with my 2 vouchers...

And is it really appropriate to advertise a children's toy, and have children asking their parents to buy the sun, with the content that's on page 3?

Posted by Jonny 2 Scarves in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 14:49

I think that your success often just depends on who is on the counter at the time - I went into my local branch at lunchtime to get today's Lego (Ninja glider). I thought I saw some Jack's boats sets still in a box behind the counter so I asked if they had any sets left from the weekend to which I was told they had all gone and they only had Black Pearls left. I came back later with a coupon for the Black Pearl, spoke to a different lady on the counter who said they did not have any left, they only had Xwings, jack's boat and gliders! She then handed me one of each for free and said not to bother with the coupons! It's crazy!

Posted by trax_3 in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 16:25

For anyone trying to get the sets in central London try the small whsmith in Baker Street. They still had sets at 8.30 this morning but they were going fast. The guy on the till told me that the sets were going very fast and that some people were getting 15-20 each!

Posted by mission_zed in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 17:35

Aaaargh ! Part 3

As my last ditch effort to get a Ninja Glider, I went to Toys R Us. No luck, all gone. I tried to blag one of tomorrow's sets, but they said they don't have them yet, as they get delivered overnight. So they let me exchange todays token for a leftover Jack's Boat ... which I already have three of ! Will see if anyone at Bricklink will trade with me ...

Never thought I'd miss the daily Mirror ...

Posted by mklego in United Kingdom, 17 May 2011 18:02

Hi,
New to the site, but been collecting the sets this week. Like JohnnyCogs, I have a few extras to trade if anyone is interested?

Happy to post abroad and looking for Star Wars mainly but will consider any really as not been collecting long.

Contact me through the site if you're interested, with what you have to trade!

Cheers

Posted by BIONICLEGuy in United Kingdom, 18 May 2011 02:07

@LegoCoastGuard Thanks, mate. Two ships (one for me and one for cousin) plus a glider which I have the voucher for.

Posted by BIONICLEGuy in United Kingdom, 18 May 2011 02:08

It really is quite mean putting the paper back because I was forced by the woman at the checkout to buy the paper with no set.

Posted by Matthew in United Kingdom, 18 May 2011 03:14

^^ Send the tokens to

'You can send your token to us and we will, subject to availability, despatch the toy to you. Enclose your token in an envelope and include your name and address and please state the local store(s) you visited.

The address to send the token to is:

Lego Promotion
Customer Services
3 Thomas More Square
London
E98 1RL

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST ONLY ENCLOSE ONE TOKEN PER ENVELOPE. MULTIPLE TOKENS IN ONE ENVELOPE WILL NOT BE PROCESSED.'

Posted by Delatron in United Kingdom, 18 May 2011 04:27

Missed the Ninja Glider by 20mins at Smiths yesterday and they were gone in an hour at TRU :( Apparently it's lines of grandparents outside waiting when they open up!

Anyone with an extra Ninja Glider, I have a spare Jack from Sunday's offer which I would be happy to trade 1:1 - contact me if you are interested, UK only please.

Posted by Rich69 in United Kingdom, 18 May 2011 08:07

@Delatron

I have a spare Ninja Glider and would be willing to trade. I am in the UK.

Quite new to brickset, I am registered but not sure how we exchange details.

Posted by Delatron in United Kingdom, 18 May 2011 08:58

^ I've sent you a message. Thanks for the offer, hope we can swap!

Posted by lukehankenobi in United Kingdom, 19 May 2011 05:44

@Bionicleguy - Contact me I might be able to help your 5 year old cuz.

Commenting has ended on this article.