2021 Bricktober round-up
Posted by Huw,
This year's Toys R Us Bricktober promotion is in full-swing now, both in Asia and Canada.
Asian branches of the store are offering four new fairy-tale themed sets while in Canada last year's fairground rides are available.
There's quite a contrast in the packaging as you will see after the break...
The fairy tale sets large packed individually in zip-lock bags but a box to store them all in appears to be available as well.
They each come with a booklet containing the fairy tale.
The box is made to look like a set of books in a slip case and, other than the lettering on the spines being the wrong orientation (normally the text reads top to bottom, right?) it looks very smart.
In contrast, Canadians get theirs packed in 'candy bags': a thick zip-lock plastic pouch in which is another ziplock bag containing the parts.
It's something of a let-down from the boxes they were packed in last year:
.
You can read my review of that set and its cool box here.
Thanks to OneIsLit for the Canadian pouch pictures and jasonord69a for the others. If you're in the UK and wish to purchase a set of four without import duty and customs hassles you can do so from Jason's store Brick-a-Brac.co.uk.
I hope to be able to review the Fairy Tale sets later in the month.
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23 comments on this article
Where are the fairy tale cases even from? Never seen them but look cool
^ I was hoping you'd be able to tell, me!
As I have noted before with how many prints the asian sets get: Lego is really putting that market on a higher pedestal. And the continent where it originates from gets bottom shelf
@DavidBrick said:
"I love LEGO not having regional exclusives!"
Oh do shut up. Just let Asia and Canada get something to themselves for once. It’s not like we get to enjoy standard retail poly bags (we can only acquire them as gift-with-purchases), or the ridiculously cheap LEGO prices you guys take for-granted. Seriously, everything is 10-20% marked-up here! With the money you save by living in the US, I’m sure you can buy these “regional exclusives” at eBay scalper rates, and still have Benjamins to spare.
And it’s not like there’s anything “exclusive” to these promotional sets other than the packaging, which is lacklustre to say the least (and a sticker that’s not even printed on LEGO’s standard material; they’re instead printed on normal paper). Bricklinking the pieces will probably only set you back a meagre five dollars.
Yes it would be best if LEGO made prices more fair all across the board, and got rid of regional “exclusives”, but as it stands, you’ve got the far better end of the stick.
You seem to have used the same set picture (different pictures but same set) for the Jack and the Beanstalk BT21-2 and for the Alice in wonderland BT21-4 sets
@Faryn said:
"As I have noted before with how many prints the asian sets get: Lego is really putting that market on a higher pedestal. And the continent where it originates from gets bottom shelf"
They aren’t prints! They’re stickers printed on normal sticker paper; not even LEGO’s standard sticker material! As somebody who bought the fairground sets, the quality leaves a lot to be desired.
@Huw said:
"^ I was hoping you'd be able to tell, me!
"
After some quick research, it seems like the boxes are specially given to news outlets for a better presentation because they are given all 4 sets at once. So us normal people can’t actually get them it seems
Adorable! Hope they make it to the US.
Text orientation may not be wrong. Some countries use orientation as pictured on a box.
Am I the only one who thinks it's a little odd to see Alice in Wonderland categorised as a fairytale?
I just got the roller coaster one from Toys R Us Canada....it's a really cute little build and display!
@TheRightP_art said:
" @Faryn said:
"As I have noted before with how many prints the asian sets get: Lego is really putting that market on a higher pedestal. And the continent where it originates from gets bottom shelf"
They aren’t prints! They’re stickers printed on normal sticker paper; not even LEGO’s standard sticker material! As somebody who bought the fairground sets, the quality leaves a lot to be desired.
"
I mean the Chinese new year line sets, those get so much new exclusive prints
@zux said:
"Text orientation may not be wrong. Some countries use orientation as pictured on a box."
Yeah, I was going to post that too! I’m bilingual and whilst all my English books are oriented from top to bottom, all my French books are bottom to top.
I find it odd that the Canadian Bricktober set number is “FREE.” While nice to ‘have’ the set, it does seem like an afterthought to cheaply liquidate old stock. Truly a product for the LEGO collector who has everything.
The one-year lag is interesting though. I wonder if it will persist next year.
@TheRightP_art said:
" @DavidBrick said:
"I love LEGO not having regional exclusives!"
Oh do shut up. Just let Asia and Canada get something to themselves for once. It’s not like we get to enjoy standard retail poly bags (we can only acquire them as gift-with-purchases), or the ridiculously cheap LEGO prices you guys take for-granted. Seriously, everything is 10-20% marked-up here! With the money you save by living in the US, I’m sure you can buy these “regional exclusives” at eBay scalper rates, and still have Benjamins to spare.
And it’s not like there’s anything “exclusive” to these promotional sets other than the packaging, which is lacklustre to say the least (and a sticker that’s not even printed on LEGO’s standard material; they’re instead printed on normal paper). Bricklinking the pieces will probably only set you back a meagre five dollars.
Yes it would be best if LEGO made prices more fair all across the board, and got rid of regional “exclusives”, but as it stands, you’ve got the far better end of the stick."
I hope you know the mall, In’s point, in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. The prices there are on par, if not cheaper, than US prices and you don’t have to pay tax. Hong Kong Lego prices are incredibly cheap if you know where to go. I remember Pet’s Shop and Detective’s office were below HKD 1k (equivalent to $125 USD) there when I worked in HK back in 2016.
Hong Kong has one of the cheapest goods and services of all the first world countries. You guys have stay-at-home maids for $300-400 USD per month. Also the tax rate in Hong Kong is like nil while income is on par, if not higher, than the US. Please don’t complain about prices in HK other than real estate.
These mini builds might be collectible because they're "rare", but honestly I find them quite ugly builds. I liked the Bricktober mini figures packs better, at least you could do something with them.
These are not wroth a $75 purchase, maybe a $4.99 polybag impulse purchase.
@zux said:
"Text orientation may not be wrong. Some countries use orientation as pictured on a box."
Yes, it's typical for French books, as well as DVD and Blu-ray movies.
@Drauven said:
" @zux said:
"Text orientation may not be wrong. Some countries use orientation as pictured on a box."
Yeah, I was going to post that too! I’m bilingual and whilst all my English books are oriented from top to bottom, all my French books are bottom to top."
Same in Germany. When I was in the UK as a kid I always wondered why the writing on the spine of the books or VHS cassettes we bought was the "wrong" way round. Had never seen in from top to bottom in any other country before.
On the issue of title orientation on the spine of books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding Titling
I’d love to get the Bricktober sets, but the price for entry here (I feel) is too high- $100 is the threshold here in Aus, which while I’m alright with high priced LEGO, it’s kinda difficult to find $100 worth of LEGO that I’d want to buy each week…! I’d either be buying something like Ninjago City Gardens or the Mario ? Block, which are well above the price point, or I’m trying to round up $100 worth of stuff I don’t really “need” (given that I’m more or less up to date with my want list for this year) each week to get these exclusive sets…
It would be a lot easier if I could just go to the store once a week to buy the new Bricktober sets by themselves. Heck, while I’m there I might even impulse purchase a few other little things…!
You can get these same fairy-tale sets in Australia at the LEGO Certified Stores (assuming they don't run out of stock)
They are in the same bags as the Canadian options I believe.
@rick77 said:
"On the issue of title orientation on the spine of books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding Titling"
According to the Wikipedia article:
In texts published or printed in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, Scandinavia and the Netherlands, the spine text, when the book is standing upright, runs from the top to the bottom.
In most of continental Europe, Latin America, and French Canada the spine text, when the book is standing upright, runs from the bottom up, so the title can be read by tilting the head to the left.
As follows, the combination of English and from-the-bottom orientation is "odd".
The Fairy Tale collection is killer. Love the box!