Final 3 Ultra Agents sets will be unavailable in Europe

obi_g

not sure where else to put this - sorry if it's in the wrong place or is old news!

just found out that the final three ultra agents sets will not apparently be released in Europe. The only place to get #70171, #70172 and #70173 is the U.S... Your only European options are eBay or Amazon.com where prices are already rocketing!

disappointed, but if anyone fancies helping me out, that would be awesome!

TheBigLegoski

How do you know they won't be released in Europe?
I don't know when, and how often this has happened in the past that certain sets are not released world wide, but it seems really weird for TLG to not release those sets here in Europe too!

obi_g

Spoke to local shop. Because of new sets / lines and the lack of popularity, they won't be released. This is also why they've been reduced! I'd love to be proved wrong, but my source has been 100% reliable so far!

TheBigLegoski

@obi_g
What country are you from / residing?

obi_g

I'm in the UK, @TheBigLegoski

CCC

Which shop does the contact work in? Does he have info about all stores / or is this decision lead by lego?

Huw

I believe this is true. They are not available from [email protected] and we have heard from staff in a brand store that they are not going to be stocking them.

drdavewatford

I fear that my next Brickset review might end up rubbing salt in the wounds, then.....

Shib

This is something that LEGO need to be really careful of. We are in an age where we regularly comunicate with peopke around the world, i understand that not all markets are the same but people talk, and giving one market something and not everyone else really creates bad feeling and division. Shame if true, that those sets look really good.

@drdavewatford - best change your review to say how totally pants the set is ;-)

BACbrix

Out of topic but I would happily purchase and post to anyone in UK. 

TheBigLegoski

@Shib
You put it very mildly. I am very disappointed with TLG's decision. I was really looking forward to the latest sets. Especially the ship #70173 and the aircraft #70171 . I think TLG should reconsider their decision. I wonder if the theme is really more popular in America than it is Europe, but even if this is so, it is ridiculous to not release those sets in Europe, especially since they are produced here.

I am also puzzled, as @obi_g stated, why this theme is not popular. The designs are good, the minifigs excellent. The sets offer plenty of play value for kids I believe. They even released some sort of video game to be played on a tablet. How can it be a flop?

If I was still a little kid I would have no trouble using the Ultra Agents sets together with either the Star Wars and / or Ninjago theme, or together with Lego city sets etcetera. Ultra agents is a scifi theme that is not too off-world not to be integrated in City, and futuristic enough to be able to be integrated into other themes. And as just parts packs the possibilities are endless.

The only thing I can think of, if Ultra Agents really are a flop,  is that TLG just is releasing too many sets, and too many themes simultaneously.

If I have to import the sets from the USA the sets will become way too expensive, and unaffordable.

ps.
Also if [email protected] has another sale on Ultra Agents, and sells them all at a 30% discount they are still making a profit, and not a loss. They probably make less profit on all Lego sets that are being sold to all the consumers via all the third party retail channels such as all the regular toyshops, giant supermarkets, department stores etc. then when sold directly at 30% discount.

CCC

Maybe they just want to fuel resellers shipping from one continent to another.

TheBigLegoski

Well I just think it is utterly preposterous!

77ncaachamps

Do you all think this situation means a lower production run for these three sets?

obi_g

@rdavewatford grrrrr! if you dont want the set after review, can i call dibs? ;)

obi_g

@TheBigLegoski i honestly think that TLG didnt know how to market the theme. the same with monster fighters (which was also awesome)

@bacbrix i'm sure we'll talk after pay day... :)

RomanticWarrior

I am in the U.S. and also willing to help out anyone living elsewhere.

Pitfall69

Looks like some sets might be traveling to 666 Legoboy Lane ;)

obi_g

@drdavewatford pfft to you and your set review... I want these sets even more now! ;)

#justkiddingbutistillwantthesets

drdavewatford

I feel your pain, @obi_g - I might have the ship, but I'd also like the other two summer Ultra Agents releases.

I've posted a question in the Ambassador Forum asking whether the rumours that we won't be getting the sets in Europe are true; I'll let you guys know what if anything LEGO come back with.

CapnRex101

@drdavewatford - They certainly aren't being stocked in European LEGO stores as they do not appear on the shelving plan.

Fauch

and the boat is one of the coolest looking sets this year. it will probably cost an arm and a leg to import from the US...

ryjay

I think the boat is the best of the series.  The only other UA set I thought was worth the time was #70170.

@Fauch....don't worry, I'd be happy to ship a set to Europe at just the cost of one arm, you can keep your leg :)    Personally, I thought these sets would do better in Europe then in the US.....I always think generic ideas don't go over as well here....but then again, I just buy what I like and usually just walk buy the UA sets.

ModulaR

Without any data to go on, my hunch-based gut feeling is that this theme may be on the "one too many" bubble for Lego. It certainly has some great ideas and builds, and potentially versatility to fit in with other themes, but on the other hand, I imagine that it may be slipping through the cracks. Neither a high-profile license, nor a "classic" theme, so I don't imagine that it is the first pick of many consumers (even in the US).

But it is certainly disappointing when a product is not offered at least for online purchase, in all regions.

BEEKUZZ

Hmmmm,guess that answers my question about why this set 70173 is not in the BrickLink database at all.

drdavewatford

BEEKUZZ said:

Hmmmm,guess that answers my question about why this set 70173 is not in the BrickLink database at all.

It is in the Bricklink database, has been for a while, but there's no inventory as I discovered to my dismay while writing my set review! Given the set's availability in the U.S. I was surprised not to see an inventory, particularly as there are inventories for the other 2 summer Ultra Agents sets.

Bumblepants

I imagine if you don't mind getting the set unboxed with just the sealed bags, shipping trans-atlantic wouldn't be too terrible. If the first couple volunteers get overwhelmed I will also be happy to pass these across the sea at cost

BEEKUZZ

Well, now [email protected] US site keeps crashing.  Wondering if by tomorrow all UA sets will be gone.  No idea if this is why, but am suspecting it.  The only other time I see it crashing consistently is on the first of the month or the day something new for VIP's are allowed to purchase.  

Also, I agree that there are too many themes coming out all at one time.  Being new to Lego, they are bombarding us with too many "have-to-haves".

I have one and will try to get my hands on a couple more --- but maybe a good opportunity to trade for something REALLY good that I missed out on before??

TheBigLegoski

@Bumblepants
Do you think unboxing sets will make that much of a difference?

I am wondering if the set won't be released here in Europe, and someone in the States would be willing to send it to me 'person to person' (after of course financially settling the score) as opposed to 'business to consumer', it might very well mean none of all these ridiculous customs taxes and levies will be imposed by the Dutch government. Though I should check that. After all, the time I mailed some gifts to friends somewhere on the other end of the world, no extra levies were raised either. Though that may depend upon the country etc. ?!

MissKittyFantastico

That's a darned shame, I was looking forward to the boat (Australia's apparently part of Europe, you learn something new every day).  I suppose I can understand how the theme would underperform though - in terms of content it's more or less competing with Marvel and DC (swap the heads for skin tones and UA could easily be SHIELD or the Department of Metahuman Affairs or whatever they're calling themselves), but lacking the superheroes.

Then again, I wonder if a weakness of the theme was that it didn't compete directly enough - there were no real 'superheroes', just agents with tech.  The villains come across strongly in terms of visual personality: toxin, fire, eldritch some-other-dimension power, mecha-spider (of the ones I got).  I don't have a clue who they are, but they make an impression.  The agents just have different haircuts and maybe a bionic leg or something; I find the only one who really sells a personality with her appearance is Hydron, the scientist from the truck set.  Maybe real heroes with themed powers - or at least tailor-made appearances for particular specialities, like GI Joe used to do - would've worked better.  Of course it may not have been desirable for UA and Heroes to be butting heads like that, but perhaps it's a case of if you're going to do UA, do it right, or think up some other theme.

Bumblepants

TheBigLegoski said:

@Bumblepants
Do you think unboxing sets will make that much of a difference?

I am wondering if the set won't be released here in Europe, and someone in the States would be willing to send it to me 'person to person' (after of course financially settling the score) as opposed to 'business to consumer', it might very well mean none of all these ridiculous customs taxes and levies will be imposed by the Dutch government. Though I should check that. After all, the time I mailed some gifts to friends somewhere on the other end of the world, no extra levies were raised either. Though that may depend upon the country etc. ?!

The long rectangle boxes of the larger sets usually drive the price up with the dimensions of them being too long or whatever. There is often quite a bit of air space in a Lego box you can eliminate.

It is also possible (but perhaps not adviseable) to take all the parts of a set and stack them together into a brick shape that barely fits inside a Flat Rate Box while watching Netflix for several hours and ship a set across the pond that way.

xiahna

I just got off the phone to Lego, it's true. Australia isn't getting them either. I got told to send an e-mail off, not sure if it will do any good or not but you can bet I will be voicing my displeasure on this. it's a GLOBAL market, and as such #brickequality needs to happen!

VorpalRyu

To those offering to ship them O/S, I thank you in advance for such generous offers. I for one will probably be in contact at some point soon.

VorpalRyu

Though, does anyone find it strange that its claimed often TLG hates resellers, then they go & do this? They had to know this would feed the reseller market big time.

Xefan

So they release a theme, it's relatively sub-par, no one cares, then when they finally fix the theme by producing decent sets that people want they don't do a global release because the theme wasn't popular.

Shame, these sets did look rather good, apart from the surveillance truck the ship and the platform are clearly the stand out sets of the theme IMO.

I think TLG needs to work harder at market research and understand that you can't push sub-par sets in a sub-par theme, but if you push awesome sets, people will forgive the theme. I fear that if people are being asked to e-mail TLG with their thoughts though that they'll now realise this too late in this case.

Shib

Well if there are any good deals on #70172 to be had at any point I'd love one of those, but don't really want to pay the RRP - in all honesty I just want the mini figures and the giant robot shark, but would have been watching the set for a good price point. Anyone in the US sees it for a decent price and can help out I'd really appreciate it. :-)

goingdeepe

any one from across the pond be willing to trade a used 100% complete #4184 or #4195 for a new 70173?

Fauch

VorpalRyu said:

Though, does anyone find it strange that its claimed often TLG hates resellers, then they go & do this? They had to know this would feed the reseller market big time.

don't they do it often? or how comes most of licensed sets like superheroes, star wars or LoTR are almost exclusively available from sellers of north america on briclink? seems like stocks may have been severely limited for other parts of the world.

Shib

As far as I'm aware (living the UK at least) there haven't been any Superheroes/LOTR sets that weren't available to other markets than the US, what you're noticing is probably just more a trend for where resellers who stocked up on them tend to be based, nothing to do with LEGO's distribution.

The exception to this being promos and polybags.

VorpalRyu

@Shib, tell me about it, when they had the 30162 Quinjet polybag out, I managed to find a seller on Amazon, so I got eight for what worked out to $6.00 each with shipping, enough for all the kids in the family to have one. With the 30304 Avengers Quinjet, no such luck. The worst thing is, over here I've never seen any of the Marvel polybags with the exception of the toy stores that specialise in Lego & they tend to want $12-18 AU depending on the character/build...

Vindic8ed

goingdeepe said:

any one from across the pond be willing to trade a used 100% complete #4184 or #4195 for a new 70173?

I will send you two new 70173 for both, haha.  I've been wanting to get those for a while.

TheBigLegoski

@Fauch
Maybe you should widen your scope?! I am sure that there are plenty of other sources in France, or elsewhere in Europe, where you can buy all those themes you just mentioned. Not only on Bricklink, which you told me once is your primary source for buying Lego, but also from other online retailers/sellers. I hardly ever buy anything from sellers outside the EU.

With regard to TLG hating resellers; I have often read people on forums claiming this, but I actually have no idea what TLG official position is on resellers? When people refer to 'resellers' I assume they don't mean third party retailers who order large shipments from TLG directly, and are thus 'official Lego dealers' but people like e.g.: LegoFanTexas (I don't know what happened to him btw, I hope he is OK). In the past when he was active on this forum, he often told how he went to this or that store, and bought all the Lego sets on the shelves in that particular shop, often when it was on special offer/discounted, in order to stash it. Wait for all those sets he bought and thought were a good investment to get discontinued, rise in value, and then at a increased if not utterly steep price sell them on to those who are both willing, and can afford to buy them at double or triple the original retail value from him. I remember there were quite a few people that resented his modus operandi, and his justification for it, which was something along the lines of: 'if little Timmy wanted that set, he should have gotten to the store earlier'.

It would not suprise me if somewhere on this forum someone posted TLG's official position on resellers like e.g. LegoFanTexas, but I have no idea where to find it?!

Shib

I don't think an official line on resellers from LEGO exists (except maybe among a few people in the marketing department) but I imagine the issue not to be with resellers in general, but with the type of resellers who cause problems like the recent exo-suit fiasco - where the initial run was probably about the right number to produce, but were quickly bought up by people working around buying limits etc for the sake of a quick flip, which meant a lot of people were annoyed that they couldn't get one, in the time it takes to get another production run sorted some submit to buying from a reseller so when the stock finally does come back they are even more annoyed about it.

When it comes to stuff that's widely available or on the way out of production anyway I don't think LEGO really care too much about who's buying them and what for. Of course that's just my thoughts on it.

Most of what people quote as anti-reseller policies that LEGO use seem to me more about stopping people cashing in on promotions - again I assume to be more in line with letting as many customers benefit as possible. 

TheBigLegoski

Yeah I guess that is the 'problem' (if you should refer to it as such), a lot of this is all pure conjecture.

VorpalRyu

@RomanticWarrior, @BACbrix or anyone else willing send the sets overseas, I'm willing to wait for the sets to go on sale (15%-20% off etc if that's likely), don't need the boxes just the contents. Shipped all together, or separately, whichever will work out cheaper...

TheBigLegoski

@everyone all over the world (outside the USA)
Maybe we should all just contact TLG, and let them know that we here in Europe, and down under in Australia etc. also want this set. Wouldn't that as a first option make more sense? Who knows maybe TLG will make these three latest UA available too outside the US market?!

xiahna

I rang them this afternoon. All I got was a confirmation that they weren't being distributed, send an e-mail off, thanks for your time. I also brought up the polly bag issue, you know coz Australia is constantly gipped on this issue too, it was a more or less, too bad, send an e-mail. I was not impressed.

xiahna

^Sorry, hit post instead of save draft... I have sent e-mails off before, apart from getting the response of "We'll pass on your complaint" There has been no proof of action. Maybe if everyone sent an e-mail it may get it out there that we're getting fed up with the b/s but I'm not holding my breath.
As for the resale market, I have spoken to someone from lego and they confirmed that the company doesn't like it. Although from where I'm sitting it seems like nothing more than lip service. Don't know how much longer I can justify letting my husband and son buy as much as they are. Mr 6yr old just asked why they weren't being sold here, he doesn't get it, and how can I explain it to him when I don't understand it either?

Shib

It's a fair point actually that if you don't point out your problem directly to the company you can't expect anything to change, but to be honest I doubt it will change anything. I've shot them a quick email, only takes a couple of minutes so it's not like it hurts to do it.

Bumblepants

Just checked TRU, Amazon, Walmart, and Target. None of these are carrying the final Ultra Agents sets in the US either. So the only discount possibility is clearance prices on [email protected] which may or may not happen. I am guessing it will not happen, especially as word on the limited availability spreads.

obi_g

@shib what email address did you use? i was thinking of going the old fashioned route and sending them an actual letter...