May the Fourth promotions confirmed

It’s a shame the 5x VIP is only in store. I had planned to buy two of those sets.

The reward to spend 100 points for a 20% discount code just isn’t as good value. And we don’t know which sets the discount can be applied to either yet.

My initial plan was four orders but it’s down to two already.

One of the other new sets is the unannounced but leaked 75348, and at $100 that can get most of the way to the rewards. I won't be doing that though, because my Target put it on the shelf early and sold it to me. I'm planning to get 75346 and 40623, though I'm not sure if the latter counts for a reward, and I don't plan to get any of the dioramas right away.

You know, I just did some shopping yesterday and got 40588 as the freebie add-on. I didn't really plan to go out of my way to get it--I just decided to get three sets I was going to get anyway (the new quinjet and two GOTG sets) and decided, what the hell, I can give the flowerpot to my daughter, as she might dig it.

40588 is 292 pieces, which is close to the piece count of the DS2 (280some pieces). So maybe Lego's mentality is that 300 pieces = $150 threshold? Beats me. The flowerpot "feels" bigger to me--I thought it looked pretty small until I actually saw it in store. It's pretty big. The DS2 looks comparatively small, which is why I'm not nearly as impressed by it.

(Aside, I'm annoyed I didn't get the free off-road ambulance. The store appeared to be out of them. Boo.)

@sjr60 said:
" @ItisNoe said:
"$150 threshold for just a mini Death Star sucks. Should be more like $100. "
Lucky it's not then. The $150 threshold is for the Death Star, plus the Coin, plus the X-Wing"

Ah! Based on my post above, I'm quibbling with this. Thresholds stack, but they're still separate thresholds per item. I spent $150 yesterday and should have gotten the Spring Fun Pack, the Off-Road Ambulance, and the Flowerpot. The store only had the Flowerpot left and that's all I got.

@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
" @sjr60 said:
" @ItisNoe said:
"$150 threshold for just a mini Death Star sucks. Should be more like $100. "
Lucky it's not then. The $150 threshold is for the Death Star, plus the Coin, plus the X-Wing"

Ah! Based on my post above, I'm quibbling with this. Thresholds stack, but they're still separate thresholds per item. I spent $150 yesterday and should have gotten the Spring Fun Pack, the Off-Road Ambulance, and the Flowerpot. The store only had the Flowerpot left and that's all I got."
Which is a good reason to buy online. I’ve rarely had a good experience in a LEGO store. At least one item is usually unavailable, as well as GWPs.

The mini X-wing is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

@Doctor_Hugh said:
" @ResIpsaLoquitur said:
" @sjr60 said:
" @ItisNoe said:
"$150 threshold for just a mini Death Star sucks. Should be more like $100. "
Lucky it's not then. The $150 threshold is for the Death Star, plus the Coin, plus the X-Wing"

Ah! Based on my post above, I'm quibbling with this. Thresholds stack, but they're still separate thresholds per item. I spent $150 yesterday and should have gotten the Spring Fun Pack, the Off-Road Ambulance, and the Flowerpot. The store only had the Flowerpot left and that's all I got."
Which is a good reason to buy online. I’ve rarely had a good experience in a LEGO store. At least one item is usually unavailable, as well as GWPs.
"

I was passing through Delaware, and there's no sales tax in that state. Made more sense to take a chance and buy in-store.

@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
" @sjr60 said:
" @ItisNoe said:
"$150 threshold for just a mini Death Star sucks. Should be more like $100. "
Lucky it's not then. The $150 threshold is for the Death Star, plus the Coin, plus the X-Wing"

Ah! Based on my post above, I'm quibbling with this. Thresholds stack, but they're still separate thresholds per item. I spent $150 yesterday and should have gotten the Spring Fun Pack, the Off-Road Ambulance, and the Flowerpot. The store only had the Flowerpot left and that's all I got."
True, but that's when 'while stocks last' comes into play. Leaving a wanted special offer too long has its risks.
Certainly I've seen a threshold for the same GWP change depending on whether it was stacked with others, or on it's own (one of the cars I think).

For $150, it’s tempting to get the DSII both online and in-store. I wasn’t even thinking about the X-Wing, but I guess I should have expected it. Polybags seem to be the new low-threshold May 4th GWP, and it’s the only one I know of so far this year. I just bought a second copy, but parts is parts, I guess.

@Doctor_Hugh said:
"I’ve rarely had a good experience in a LEGO store. At least one item is usually unavailable, as well as GWPs."
Indeed. I'm about 10 minutes from a Lego store but have never even considered visiting. Surely they're just for YouTubers to video rows of shelves! Besides, I enjoy my frequent packages from Belgium. Like Christmas all year round!

@StyleCounselor said:
" @Doctor_Hugh said:
" @ResIpsaLoquitur said:
" @sjr60 said:
" @ItisNoe said:
"$150 threshold for just a mini Death Star sucks. Should be more like $100. "
Lucky it's not then. The $150 threshold is for the Death Star, plus the Coin, plus the X-Wing"

Ah! Based on my post above, I'm quibbling with this. Thresholds stack, but they're still separate thresholds per item. I spent $150 yesterday and should have gotten the Spring Fun Pack, the Off-Road Ambulance, and the Flowerpot. The store only had the Flowerpot left and that's all I got."
Which is a good reason to buy online. I’ve rarely had a good experience in a LEGO store. At least one item is usually unavailable, as well as GWPs.
"

Amazing! My experience is exactly the opposite. I'm still waiting on two online puchases that have been stuck 'in warehouse' for weeks (mostly PaB). Online customer service has become extremely uneven. I've had some incredible experiences, but then Lego refused to replaced misprinted minifig parts and crumpled sticker sheets.

In store, it's always great. Two weeks ago, a new sales kid threw in all the freebies even though I was about $5 short because he knows I'm "a regular." Just talk to people a little bit. It's worth it."

Years ago, a store manager pulled that Martian Manhunter polybag for me just because she knew I'd want one and I was a regular. So yeah, cuts both ways.

I should note that I don't "need" the Off-Road Ambulance. The FOMO effect is real on that one--if it had been a regular shelf product, I may never have cared. (The add-on fun-packs are also fun, but I'm not really dying for them. I do think Lego is making an odd choice in not offering them for sale.)

@StyleCounselor you do know PAB takes a long time right? I think the last time I ordered some took about 5 weeks to get it to me.

@Sethro3 said:
" @StyleCounselor you do know PAB takes a long time right? I think the last time I ordered some took about 5 weeks to get it to me."

You know that it shouldn't, right?! A huge company that sells plastic bricks should be better at selling and shipping bricks than some part-timer in Michigan. Yet, BrickLink sellers provide amazing quick and low cost service all the time that Lego can't come close to.

Besides, the GWPs ship separately. Moreover, the mystifying thing is the weeks of 'In Warehouse' as opposed to 'In Process.' Usually they ship out quickly once they reach Warehouse stage.

There's also one package that says it's shipped, but no tracking information for about a week. I guess I'll have to do more calling. Sigh!

Hoping for a discount on 75313.

@StyleCounselor said:
"There's also one package that says it's shipped, but no tracking information for about a week."
I'd love to know exactly where a parcel is when it gets marked as 'shipped'. There was a time when it went from shipped to the courier's tracking on the same day. Now it seems to stick between 'shipped' and courier 'expecting your parcel' sometimes for several days. Lego loading bay? Courier loading bay? Side of the road? Black hole?

@ra226 said:
"I guess I'll be passing. I don't know, anyone else feel like their interest in Lego SW is winding down? Not Lego as a whole, just SW specifically. I feel like at this point, I have everything I want and Lego hasn't been offering anything compelling."
That's describing me perfectly. Not just for SW but for LEGO as a whole.
No, I'll go even further and say for bricks as a whole.

I currently have over 1,500 LEGO sets, countless additional pieces I ordered from Bricklink, plus over a hundred sets from about fifteen different alternative manufacturers as well.

I have simply reached a state of oversaturation. Of course, there's still the occasional set that might tempt me, but they're few and far between by now.

@sjr60 said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"There's also one package that says it's shipped, but no tracking information for about a week."
I'd love to know exactly where a parcel is when it gets marked as 'shipped'. There was a time when it went from shipped to the courier's tracking on the same day. Now it seems to stick between 'shipped' and courier 'expecting your parcel' sometimes for several days. Lego loading bay? Courier loading bay? Side of the road? Black hole?
"

FOr orders to the UK: usually in behind the scenes customs processing. That's what shows up on my courier account.

I’ve also seen on instagram that you can get prints of Lego X-Wings or Boba Fett with VIP points. Not sure how to get them or if they’re just fake internet posts.

Well, I have a good number of sets in place for the order but we shall see what comes out of it.

Incredibly underwhelming

@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
" @sjr60 said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"There's also one package that says it's shipped, but no tracking information for about a week."
I'd love to know exactly where a parcel is when it gets marked as 'shipped'. There was a time when it went from shipped to the courier's tracking on the same day. Now it seems to stick between 'shipped' and courier 'expecting your parcel' sometimes for several days. Lego loading bay? Courier loading bay? Side of the road? Black hole?
"
FOr orders to the UK: usually in behind the scenes customs processing. That's what shows up on my courier account."
Yes, all the electronic customs clearance, transit, and actual customs clearance show up on the tracking but there's often a 3 or 4 day gap between a parcel supposed being 'shipped' and any action whatsoever being tracked.

@ThunderCracker81:
I would love the Artoo, but even sitting on mid five figures in points, I’m not going to blow them on a percent of a percent of a percent chance at winning. If they offer one free entry on either, I’ll do that, but otherwise…

@Doctor_Hugh:
Every store is different. My LUG has a great relationship with our local store, and some of us have been able to pull minor favors now and then. The original store manager (who passed away a few years ago) pulled the vintage cop CMF out of a box in the back room after I went through the entire bin and it was the only minifig I was missing for a complete set.

@StyleCounselor:
Online PAB from the Bestseller selection should arrive within a week. If it’s the other stuff, yeah, it’s slow. Aside from the fact that it has to be packed to ship via air, and go through Customs, I think the delay is just due to the sheer volume and size of orders. When things get too backed up, they do shut down Standard orders until they get the backlog down. Five weeks seems typical most of the year, and probably 6-7 weeks if you order right before they shut down new orders.

You won’t get tracking numbers for Standard parts, since they’re processed outside of the US. I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe tracking numbers aren’t assigned until it arrives in the US.

And the difference you’ll get with some Bricklink orders is that might be the only order that Seller receives that day. It’s pretty easy to get preferred treatment when you’re the only customer. But I’ve also had some bad experiences through Bricklink, and not all of them were the Seller’s fault. But it’s rare to find a BL Seller who will cut you a full refund, or resend your order if the original shipment gets lost or damaged. Most state that your dispute is with USPS, and good luck managing a claim with them.

As for price, they’re different business models. Some stuff’s cheaper on PAB, and other stuff on BL.

Good for lower price points on GWP, just a shame that it will be a struggle to meet those conditions.

Nearly all sets can be bought elsewhere 30% cheaper, and the UCS X-Wing is the second remake of it.

@FoolECK said:
" @mrforcepower said:
"Do we know which sets will have X5 VIP points?"

Not officially but rumored sets are 75323 The Justifier, 75325 Mando's N-1, 75334 Obi vs Vader, 75343 Dark Trooper Helmet."

Thanks!!

Saw this after I just woke up, and thought it read ‘May 4th Promotions Cancelled’. It took me a second.

In past years has there been a general Double Points event (not just SW) around this time of year?

Wasn't planning on getting Star Wars for May the 4th, usually don't, but three GWPs going on at once is nothing to scoff at. $150 is more than I'd pay, but still a fun deal.

@legoapprentice:
Around May 4th, promos are pretty much strictly about Star Wars. There may be double points a bit earlier or later, but I don’t pay enough attention to them to be able to list likely times.

@DoonsterBuildsLego said:
" @sjr60 said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"There's also one package that says it's shipped, but no tracking information for about a week."
I'd love to know exactly where a parcel is when it gets marked as 'shipped'. There was a time when it went from shipped to the courier's tracking on the same day. Now it seems to stick between 'shipped' and courier 'expecting your parcel' sometimes for several days. Lego loading bay? Courier loading bay? Side of the road? Black hole?
"

FOr orders to the UK: usually in behind the scenes customs processing. That's what shows up on my courier account."

Usually, it shows up immediately (for me in the US) on the courier site with details about where it currently is. I've only had the 'black hole' experience about 4 times. All but one had a happy ending. The one, was my Lego/BL Designer Program order (kakapoo and safe). It eventually showed up on the courier page as delivered. It wasn't- and I've never had a package go missing from the stoop. I got a refund, but they can't replace BLDP.

Needless to say, I've been ecstatic over this year's BLDP deliveries (BLDP year '22) especially since they took so long to get here (about 4 weeks ago), that they are already worth more than double what I paid, which just occurred because they don't bill until shipment.

The NamelessOne is partially correct. BaP orders in the U.S. from Billlnd/Mexico/wherever standard parts shipments don't usually get their own tracking number. Best Seller BaP shipments do. Unfortunately for me, I've had no luck getting either quickly (nothing near a week).

I put in 3 separate large BaP orders about 3 weeks ago. I've received the GWPs for 1 order, no parts. Another order says the GWPs have shipped, but it's in a black hole. The 3rd is Backordered. No parts (Bestseller or Standard) have shipped. Two orders have been In Warehouse for over 2 weeks.

When anything happens, I'll just try to pretend, as one illustrious commenter suggested, that it's Christmas. God! I hope it doesn't take till Christmas! ;)

@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"
As I'm getting older, I've developed a notion of "content saturation"--that a pop culture mythos can only hold so much story before it just becomes crusty and redundant."

This is a fair point, but I wasn't really calling out the Star Wars franchines but rather Lego SW in particular--I think for me, I'm happy with the UCS models I have. The recent new X-Wing is fine, but I don't really see it as much of an improvement over my Red 5 X-Wing, certianly not enough to purchase it. And the minifig scale stuff has actually gone backwards in recent years--which I get, I really do. I appreciate that they're scaling down the minifig sets to make them more affordable, but as an adult fan, that's not really what I'm looking for. So I'm left with a collection I'm quite happy with and little reason to add to it.

But again, I don't want to detract from non-SW. Optimus Prime, the video game consoles, Starry Night, Jazz Quartet... we've gotten amazing stuff lately!

@FoolECK said:
" @mrforcepower said:
"Do we know which sets will have X5 VIP points?"

Not officially but rumored sets are 75323 The Justifier, 75325 Mando's N-1, 75334 Obi vs Vader, 75343 Dark Trooper Helmet."

25% off the Unjustified isn't bad, especially considering you get all 3 promos at that price. If my priorities weren't with the AT-TE and 2 trench run dioramas I'd consider this.

This is rather disappointing, I really loved the dioramas. A mini-Death Star isn’t too exciting unless I want Wicket to shoot it down with his bow and arrow. On the bright side, no need to pay full price for sets this year!

@ra226:
Remember, at least in terms of the X-Wings, the most recent iteration finally took it from pre-schoolers playing in their parents’ Speed Champions X-Wings to adults gearing up to get in their World City X-Wings.

@PurpleDave said:
" @ra226:
Remember, at least in terms of the X-Wings, the most recent iteration finally took it from pre-schoolers playing in their parents’ Speed Champions X-Wings to adults gearing up to get in their World City X-Wings."

I'm not sure I follow you here, but I think we agree. 75301 is great for what it is, but 75218 is the pinnacle of minifig-scale X-Wing (with a 60% higher price-tag...)

@ra226:
@CapnRex101 did an article some time back where he explained that 75301 is almost perfectly to scale with minifigs and 10179/75192:

https://brickset.com/article/62976/minifigure-scale-star-wars-vehicles

So, no, I don't think we do agree. The X-Wings going back to 4502, were such an improvement in overall shape vs 7140, that I think most of us just assumed they got the scale right at that time (also there's the fact that stuff tends to be undersized when it's not to scale).

@PurpleDave said:
" @ra226:
@CapnRex101 did an article some time back where he explained that 75301 is almost perfectly to scale with minifigs and 10179/75192:

https://brickset.com/article/62976/minifigure-scale-star-wars-vehicles

So, no, I don't think we do agree. The X-Wings going back to 4502, were such an improvement in overall shape vs 7140, that I think most of us just assumed they got the scale right at that time (also there's the fact that stuff tends to be undersized when it's not to scale)."

I think it was just your speed champions/world city lingo that confused me, then. I guess I'm just more impressed with the detail they crammed into 75218's scale, and willing to forgive that it's a bit big. My impression was they scaled down to make them more affordable, not to actually bring them into scale. If so, then the price drop is an added bonus. Either way, 75301 is still fantastic and more accessible, even if it's not my preference. (Aside: I sure do love the long-form articles done here!)