Too much of a good thing...?

I probably wasn't the only one to be amazed that LEGO managed to keep details of Set 10218 Pet Shop secret until literally days before launch. There were longstanding rumours that the next Modular might be a Pet Shop, but these whispers weren't backed up by anything concrete, let alone the almost obligatory leaked images or set numbers from LEGO's online cache.... And then the official announcement came, and barely before we could draw breath the set was available at retail. I bet LEGO are delighted that they managed to maintain the suspense for so long.

Set 10218 Pet Shop - another "must have" modular building

Thing is, was all the secrecy really necessary ? It certainly didn't help the customer much - at around £120, this lovely set will make a hefty dent in most people's LEGO budgets and therefore needs to be planned for. And on top of this, lest we forget, the brand new Pirates of the Caribbean theme has just appeared at retail, with another new theme - Alien Conquest - hot on its heels, not to mention the Summer wave of City and Creator sets. And in a couple of weeks the Cars 2 sets will arrive, closely followed by the Summer Star Wars sets, not to mention the Summer Harry Potter sets..... I think a judicious Pet Shop-related leak or two a couple of months or more in advance would have helped people to budget and better prepare for the financial onslaught....

Cars 2 sets - coming to a shop near you.....

Of course, LEGO might well argue that while a lot of these sets are indeed appearing at retail at the same time, they are targeting a variety of different age groups. And they'd have a point, to some extent - the target market for the Pet Shop is clearly rather different to that of the upcoming Cars 2 sets, for instance. Except that regardless of the intended target demographic, a number of these sets seem to transcend any nominal recommended age range and potentially appeal to people of all ages. Take, for example, the new Alien Conquest sets, allegedly aimed at kids aged 8 to 14. That didn't stop me spending a good 5-10 minutes staring longingly at them during a recent visit to Toys R Us before eventually leaving with the top of the range Earth Defence HQ set under my arm......

Set 7066 Earth Defence HQ - Irresistible....

At the end of the day, however, these are all minor gripes. After all - nobody is forcing me to buy all these wonderful sets, and when I think of the dearth of decent LEGO in the dark days of the 1990s, the glut of superb sets over the past few years is really a cause for celebration rather than complaint. I just wish it was a bit cheaper.....