Exclusives are Rubbish

OK, time for a bit of a moan.

As a LEGO Star Wars collector, I get really irritated when new LEGO Star Wars sets or items are released which I'm prevented from getting at a reasonable price merely by an accident of geography. It's just not right.

So far this year, I can think of at least 5 LEGO Star Wars items which up until now have only been made available, or will only be made available, to people attending certain events overseas or living in certain countries. There were the Clone Wars Edition Cube Dudes (only available at this year's San Diego Comic Con), the Bounty Hunter Cube Dudes (only available at Fan Celebration V), the white Boba Fett minifig that I blogged about recently and a couple of Brickmaster sets (Set 20016 mini Imperial Shuttle and the yet-to-be-released Set 20018 mini AT-AT) only available to folks in the U.S. via a Brickmaster subscription.

The very cool Bounty Hunter Cube Dude Set, but you can't have one....

I'm really hoping that the Brickmaster sets and the white Boba Fett will appear on this side of the pond at some point, but the Cube Dudes are I believe all gone, so it's a case of paying over the odds on Ebay or Bricklink or just doing without. It's frustrating knowing that these interesting and desirable pieces of the LEGO Star Wars jigsaw are out there, but also knowing that I need to jump through hoops and cough up lots of cash in order to ensure that I can add them to my collection.

This isn't a new phenomenon - just check out the resale prices of the 64-piece 2008 Brickmaster exclusive mini Clone Turbo Tank if you want to see the kind of pain that collectors outside the U.S. have to endure, and there are numerous other examples of desirable LEGO Star Wars exclusives which give collectors sleepless nights. Chrome gold C-3PO minifig, anyone ? We should certainly be grateful for the existence of Ebay and Bricklink which at least mean that these rare items are attainable - I have Ebay to thank for my shiny gold C-3PO. It's just a pity you need a second mortgage to afford them !

Huw on Brickset reported yesterday that Brickmaster will be winding down at the end of this year. While that's a big shame for U.S. subscribers, it's one less source of 'exclusive' sets which aren't available to the rest of us. It's demise also raises the possibility that whatever replaces it might be a global rather than U.S.-only initiative which would be fairer, although I'm not holding my breath.

So I'll end with a plea to the LEGO company (who are obviously not reading this, but please just humour me anyway) : I implore you to stop producing limited edition LEGO Star Wars items for the chosen few. It benefits nobody except the Ebay scalpers and puts me in a bad mood.