The render looks very fan-made, I assumed this wasn't official.

Pretty cool but nothing too special, I don't have a problem with this being exclusive.

@Terreneflame said:
" @Lordmoral said:
" @DavidBrick said:
"Is LEGO now actively trying to annoy people?

The Roman freebie was recycled garbage and this looks like it has an exclusive print!"

The company is just after that sweet Chinese market at the expense of all other markets."

Its not “at expense of other markets”
Putting a special effort for one market does not equal actively not making effort with the others"

Really? Neglecting the time they spent making sure the Obi Wan and Anakin figures this year sure speaks volumes.

It does look nice - i’d much rather get it than the car

@Lordmoral said:
" @DavidBrick said:
"Is LEGO now actively trying to annoy people?

The Roman freebie was recycled garbage and this looks like it has an exclusive print!"

The company is just after that sweet Chinese market at the expense of all other markets."

Depending on who you ask, China has a middle-class population of about 300-700 million, that's AT LEAST about the total population of the United States. Companies exist to make a profit so yeah, there is a reason why so many companies are going after the Chinese market, not unlike why so many companies have been going after the American market for decades!

Even after LEGO actively pursuing the Chinese market for years, great majority of its products are still very much American centric and I doubt that will change any time soon. Even if it does, it just means American consumers will need to give LEGO more reasons to pursue us.

@Henry_D said:
"Looks great , but this profession man, its like a slavery"

If the rickshaw operator is doing it voluntarily, how is it slavery? A slave is defined as "a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them." Being a rickshaw operation is definitely manual labor, but then again so are many other professions that exist today.

At some point in the recent past, complaining about Lego's decisions seems to have turned into complaining about other Lego fans. It's not very fun to read.

@Yoda_to_do_or_do_not said:
"Lego in China: John Hammond approach(sparing no expense)
Lego in the rest of the world: Sparing pretty much all avoidable expenses

What happened to no more regional exclusives?"

I agree

I thought LEGO said they weren't doing this anymore? But, if this is a Certified Professional-type set, then I guess it gets by that rule, correct?

@dutchbrickdad said:
"I've had hobbies that involved buying from companies that truly only saw customers as money slaves."
Which is exactly what imho TLG has become as of late.

"I've stopped them because the frustration with the way they conducted business made me unhappy. If that same is true for you with Lego, my advise would be to look around for something that gives you energy, makes you feel good."
Which is exactly what I have done and why I have switched the majority of my brick budget to alternative manufacturers.
I do still buy the occasional LEGO set, but it has to be awesome enough to sway me to pay through the nose for it. Or be discounted so heavily that it becomes reasonable in the first place.

"*Plays everything is awesome one more time*"
You do realize that the use of the "everything is awesome" song was a satire about keeping people in control by making them ignore the fact that quite a lot of things in that city were not awesome at all and only in place to ensure Lord Business stayed in power?

By the way, I try to see the positives in everything as well, but with many of TLG's decisions in the past few years I have an increasingly hard time doing so.
Actually, thinking of every one of my last interactions with the company gives me a bad feeling, be it with our local LEGO store or LEGO customer service.

The only thing that gives me positive feelings for the name LEGO at the moment is Brickset, truth be told. If it wasn't for the great work Huw and his team put into this awesome site I would probably have lost interest in the products of the company years ago. I would still have cherished the sets I have from the past of course though, as those to me represent a LEGO company that really cared about its customers. Currently I get a very different impression.

LEGO will post instructions for this set in due course. That and/or some AFOL will put a build video of it on YouTube. Either way, in many countries, you will be able to get the parts through Bricks and Pieces or Bricklink and create this set for yourself. So no great shakes. It would be more of an issue if it contained unique parts, but I don’t think it does.
Edit: Ninja’ed by @CCC !

@PianoManDan said:
"The fact that lego offers FREE anything for purchasing to a certain threshold is pretty awesome..."
LEGO does not gift you anything and provides nothing for free. ‘GWP’ is a misnomer.

@dutchbrickdad said:
"But then again, maybe taking the blue pill once in a while keeps me a little saner..."
Viagra? :~P

My 2 cents here. The price of Lego sets in China are significantly higher than the US. Some examples of the upcoming sets:

Hogwarts Moment sets are 300 RMB (46 USD), Bonsai Tree and Flower Bouquet are 500 RMB (76 USD), the Modular Police Station is 1700 RMB (260 USD), and even the Spring Lantern Festival is 1000 RMB (153 USD). Yes the price includes tax but even if you consider that, it's till significantly more expansive than the US. While the average income there is still much lower than the US.

The bar for this GWP is 2000 RMB (306 USD) and I'm pretty sure if Lego put this threshold for a GWP with 168 pieces in the US market, people will complain even more.

So please stop...

Price is irrelevant, as the entire concept of region-locking items is to be able to have different prices in different regions.

Exclusives are annoying to AFOLs who might like to collect all of a given theme regardless of where they happen to live. If Lego produces it and ships to the country in which you live and the item doesn't break some sort of silly law your country might have, you should be able to purchase it. Period. Looks like big companies like Lego are headed toward repeating in the CN market the same artificial limitation blunders they did with other markets in the past.

The rickshaw looks fun, and seems easy enough to build from spare parts etc- so that's a win!

@dutchbrickdad said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Yoda_to_do_or_do_not said:
"Lego in China: John Hammond approach(sparing no expense)
Lego in the rest of the world: Sparing pretty much all avoidable expenses"
I've been criticizing just that for quite a while now, but I am only getting attacked for it by the usual fanboys. Someday, at least the average buyer is going to notice. "

I try to see the positive in every situation. Not because I don't see downsides, quite the opposite; my natural state is that if a slightly perfectionist smartass that's cynical of those in power. But that doesn't help me, especially in the part of my life that is supposed to calm me down, my hobby. So I see Lego as a company that truly listens to her fan base when switching the policy to 'no regional regular sets, but we still hold the right to do promos'. I don't have an unlimited budget or storage space anyway, so less options makes making choices a little easier.

I've had hobbies that involved buying from companies that truly only saw customers as money slaves. I've stopped them because the frustration with the way they conducted business made me unhappy. If that same is true for you with Lego, my advise would be to look around for something that gives you energy, makes you feel good. Life's too short to spend it on bad vibes.

But maybe you're right. Maybe this community is full of fan boys that are so blinded by their love for Lego that they don't see the nastyness of not releasing a promo in our regio. But then again, maybe taking the blue pill once in a while keeps me a little saner and this ever so slightly makes the world a happier place. If that labels me a fan boy, fine.

*Plays everything is awesome one more time*"

The problem is not with Lego doing "regional exclusives" - Lego is a privately owned company and can do whatever it pleases. The problem is with Lego doing "regional exclusives" while explicitly saying that they won't do "regional exclusive" anymore.

@CCC said:
"Lego ships to European addresses from a European distribution centre. Similar situation for NA. If these are only produced in China and are only in the Chinese distribution centre, then they cannot ship to Europe or NA. "
Amazing how other companies manage to ship products from China to Europe even though said companies are also based here but produce there.

@HOBBES said:
" @dutchbrickdad said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Yoda_to_do_or_do_not said:
"Lego in China: John Hammond approach(sparing no expense)
Lego in the rest of the world: Sparing pretty much all avoidable expenses"
I've been criticizing just that for quite a while now, but I am only getting attacked for it by the usual fanboys. Someday, at least the average buyer is going to notice. "

I try to see the positive in every situation. Not because I don't see downsides, quite the opposite; my natural state is that if a slightly perfectionist smartass that's cynical of those in power. But that doesn't help me, especially in the part of my life that is supposed to calm me down, my hobby. So I see Lego as a company that truly listens to her fan base when switching the policy to 'no regional regular sets, but we still hold the right to do promos'. I don't have an unlimited budget or storage space anyway, so less options makes making choices a little easier.

I've had hobbies that involved buying from companies that truly only saw customers as money slaves. I've stopped them because the frustration with the way they conducted business made me unhappy. If that same is true for you with Lego, my advise would be to look around for something that gives you energy, makes you feel good. Life's too short to spend it on bad vibes.

But maybe you're right. Maybe this community is full of fan boys that are so blinded by their love for Lego that they don't see the nastyness of not releasing a promo in our regio. But then again, maybe taking the blue pill once in a while keeps me a little saner and this ever so slightly makes the world a happier place. If that labels me a fan boy, fine.

*Plays everything is awesome one more time*"

The problem is not with Lego doing "regional exclusives" - Lego is a privately owned company and can do whatever it pleases. The problem is with Lego doing "regional exclusives" while explicitly saying that they won't do "regional exclusive" anymore.

"

GWP are specifically excluded from that promise though. That was very clear in the press release.

Not as bizzare of a decision to make The [Manchester] United Trinity a Chinese exclusive.