Brick Update

I stopped by a local Wal-Mart the other day. Their LEGO selection is always kind of sparse (half of one aisle) and usually picked over.

This was strange: in the clearance section they had a tag for the brand new Lloyd ZX on sale for $9.97. Look at the red price tag, it says: “Ninjago Lloyd 9574.” Of course, there were no Lloyd’s in stock because they are one of the hottest LEGO toys out there right now, going for $20-30 on eBay. But they did have some other minifigs:

Okay, let’s check out the regular LEGO aisle. Ninjago sets:

The Ninjago Booster Packs seem to sell well:

More Booster Packs:

It’s still interesting to me that Luke’s Landspeeder is still in stock. Great little set for the price, although the minifigs are starting to look older, as some have been updated since this came out:

Lots of Star Wars Planet sets and Battle Packs:

Overall, I think they had 2 of the summer 2012 wave of Star Wars sets on the shelf:

Super Heroes and Lord of the Rings in stock, right up front:

Monster Fighters and Hero Factory:

City:

Series 8 Collectible Minifigures:

Tons and tons of battle packs in stick, including lots of Mandelorian packs:

These photos are from a trip to the LEGO Store back at the end of August. probably the last visit before all the advent calendars hit the shelves, and the 4 month buildup the holidays begins.

I stopped by an extra-large Toys R Us last weekend to check out their LEGO. They had tons of stock, even boxes and boxes high above the shelves.

I stopped by the LEGO Store Rockefeller Center today, and saw that the advent calendars are now on the shelves. Star Wars advent calendar:

Friends advent calendar

City advent calendar

Evidently, this guy is a pretty big deal. He wasn’t supposed to be released until September, but Amazon keeps getting him in stock, and quickly selling out. Others have reported seeing him in stores recently as well.

Some are saying that the Lloyd ZX set will be one of the hot toys of the holiday season, that they only other way to get him is in the expensive $120 set, Epic Dragon Battle, and that every kid wants to be the Green Ninja, who is a kid as well.

Amazon was going through their stock super quickly, and folks are getting $20-30 for theirs on eBay. I couldn’t resist picking some up. This is half of my order:

A closeup:

The back of the card:

I had a 20% off coupon for Toys R Us, so I took another trip over there this week. In the end, I didn’t use the coupon (which was valid for a single day only), but snapped some more shots of displays and LEGO products I missed earlier in the week:

Here is the new Monster Fighters display case. Different from what Target had in terms of how they display minifigs, but they are still front and center. I’m just noticing the QR code on it promising a mini-movie if you scan it. That I COMPLETELY missed this in the store is, to me, another indication that QR codes have not caught on yet.

A closeup of the Monster Fighters characters:

They had a big Star Wars display featuring Jabba’s Palace and the Desert Skiff:

Watch your step…

They brought out more Frodo polybags, and shoved them into this little display:

At the very end of the LEGO aisle they had not only a couple boxes of series 7 Collectible Minifigures, but also a box of series 6 with a handful of packs left:

“Clearance” for the LEGO Stereo CD Boombox:

The LEGO Friends display keeps moving further and further back in the store. When it launched it was front and center, 10 feet BEFORE the LEGO aisle, then it moved to just before LEGO aisle, and now it is 10 feet beyond the LEGO aisle:

More Friends. I have to say, they never seem to have an excess of these – they do seem to sell:

You can see how big Ninjago branding is here – both sides of the display aisle:

I don’t think I had noticed the City Garage in stores before. nice set:

The LEGO mining display:

Here is everything I know about Minecraft: it exists. Okay, well since LEGO came out with a Minecraft set, I figured out it is a video game. Anyhow, these had sold out quickly, and were going for crazy money on eBay (around $150 for the a set that retails for $35), and then LEGO began to catch up with demand. They are still hard to come by, and tend to sell for something like $70 on the aftermarket. Amazon got a few in stock, and I grabbed one at $35 just to have it as part of my collection. I really have no interest in building the set, but it is unusual.

With their ominous black packaging, LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 8 have hit the shelves at Toys R Us. Mine had four boxes, two unopened:

A box of series 7 still hanging out as well:

This week TRU was giving away the Frodo polybag from the Lord of the Rings lineup:

The Ninjago endcap

New Star Wars sets:

The long LEGO aisle:

Some new displays appeared in the LEGO aisle at my local Target. First up, the big Monster Fighters Display. Notice the images of minifigs at the bottom (kid eye-level) with the phrase “collect them all”

I believe this is a Target exclusive, set 9465 The Zombies:

A pretty large Monster Fighters section, but that is to be expected given that Halloween is coming up:

This is one of the new minifig displays, really pushing them as huge selling point in buying sets (which we know they already are):

Two of the bigger Monster Fighter sets:

Super Heroes had the same type of minifig display. I’m sure this drives kids nuts, as it must parents. A kid who wants just the Hulk minifig realizing he has to buy some big set to get it. That said – this is a nice way to make LEGO a bit more like action figures in the toy aisle, since most action figures are behind a clear pastic bubble:

Up close:

A mix of sets: Lord of the RIngs, Ninjago, and Hero Factory:

Ninjago. This stuff seems to be wildly popular. I am just now starting to pay more attention to it:

The $20 training set, displayed as an action figure would be:

A Ninjago Booster Pack:

City, Dino and Creator:

That Pirates of the Caribbean ship is still in stock everywhere:

More City. Bank Transfer is still in stock too:

LEGO Star Wars:

More:

Finally, some of the Summer 2012 releases:

Blurry, but good:

The Skiff:

The new Star Wars display. Kind of underwhelming, especially when you realize that the one ship costs $90 by itself:

I stopped by a local toy store the other week, and saw they had received a big shipment of LEGO Star Wars summer 2012 sets, along with Monster Fighters: