Planned wide release for LEGO 40712 Micro Rocket Launchpad fails take-off
The planned wide launch for the latest LEGO Classic Space gift-with-purchase has failed to take off, as 40712 Micro Rocket Launchpad is now completely absent from LEGO.com.
Available from February 16 to 18 exclusively for LEGO Insiders with orders above £180 / $200 / €200, 40712 Micro Rocket Launchpad was widely reported to be available to everyone at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores from February 19 to 25. But head to the official online store right now, and you’ll find that the only current offer is 30673 My First Duck free with DUPLO spends above £35 / $40 / €40.
So, what gives? There are two clear possibilities: one, the LEGO Group never intended to make 40712 Micro Rocket Launchpad available beyond February 18, and we’re looking at a classic case of the left hand not talking to the right (so that inaccurate information ended up circulating online). But an equally likely scenario is that the set has simply sold out way earlier than anticipated.
Despite the relatively high buy-in, 40712 Micro Rocket Launchpad is a love letter to multiple LEGO Classic Space sets, and includes two brand new space baby (or perhaps micro astronaut) minifigures. It’s also a pretty substantial gift-with-purchase at 325 pieces, explaining away – to an extent – that steep threshold. And those factors may have made it more appealing than the LEGO Group initially expected.
For it to sell out completely within three days is still pretty impressive though (unless the LEGO Group only made 100 of them), so we wouldn’t be surprised to see it return at some point down the line – even if it isn’t today as promised. Fingers crossed its next appearance overlaps with the debut of all the new LEGO sets available from March 1.
Update: 40712 Micro Rocket Launchpad is still available in Asia-Pacific territories such as Australia, where it’s currently free with orders above $320 AUD until February 25 (or while stocks last), suggesting it has indeed simply sold out in other regions (including the UK, US and Europe).
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- I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.
I was browsing towards midnight on 18th/19th and it was still available (UK) with the purchase threshold. So I don’t think it completely sold out.
Maybe it just sold out enough that a wider promotion would be very short before stock ran out. Was a pass from me as I am saving for medieval village and d&d releases later this year
Perhaps there is a delay in the U.S. since today is Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday, and it will actually be up when work resumes on Tuesday?
I was assuming that there was an allotment for Insiders and that was for 3 days and has sold old, but that a separate quantity was saved for the general public and will go live tomorrow. But again, just an assumption. If so indicates it was more popular than anticipated, but who knows.
I agree I acted fast and got two, but love the nod to my youth and sets from when I was a kid.
Aside from sets that have a listed production run, like SDCC exclusives, is there a way to know the overall quantity of sets produced? Or a way to find that out?
One spotted in a Lego shop in Italy. A GWP with a 200 euros threshold. So, they went outside of two days for Insiders on Lego.com as promised.
I was quite surprised actually when I saw your article as the only dates that were ever listed in the Canadian website were the 16th-18th. I personally made sure to snap up a couple in that time as after the 18th I knew I wouldn’t be able to. Were the dates different for different regions? I’m just confused as to where the extended dates came from if not from Lego?
I do see that most articles said it would have an extended release. I’m really just wondering where that information came from or it one person heard a rumour posted it and others followed suit. It is baffling for sure.
It was Lego itself that announced on its website the promotion (I believe worldwide) exclusively for insiders from 16 to 18 February (or until stocks last). For everyone else, the promotion would run from 19 to 25 February (or, again, until stocks last). Now… the 19th has arrived… it seems quite evident that Lego did not allocate two different stocks for the two phases of the promotion and that the entire production ‘at the moment’ sold out. In essence, for the company, the goal is achieved. Given how quickly it sold out, Lego might put it back into production. Or maybe not. Who knows?
Hi Chris, I appreciate your articles very much, but this time I totally disagree with the numbers in your assumption: “For it to sell out completely within three days is still pretty impressive though (unless the LEGO Group only made 100 of them)”.
Maybe you just wanted to exaggerate downwards, though….
According to the data published by the respective sources, over 650 brickset users and over 770 brickeconomy users got it.
From my statistics on some recent other sets of which the total number of copies produced is known (the bricklink sets), that sample of users can be multiplied by a factor of about 100. Which, in my opinion, would lead one to assume a production of at least 65,000 Micro Rocket Launchpads. Cautiously, I would say over 50,000, not 100.
Personally, I’m very glad I didn’t wait and got a couple of them. 🙂
There was a bit of tongue-in-cheek exaggeration in that number, yeah 🙂
😛
I hope it does return and that it overlaps with a release day for new products.
I’m a dedicated AFOL and spend a scary amount each year on it. I would have loved this set, but I tend to only buy my haul at the beginning of each month, especially when new releases are involved. This set coming out mid month with little to no warning, meant that I missed out. So purely from a selfish perspective, I would like it to come back lol