If you are following the saga of this latest LEGO VIP Rewards hype, then you’ve probably felt the frustration of many LEGO fans on this side of the planet earlier today. I understand LEGO’s intention of providing incentives to loyal LEGO fans through VIP rewards points, but this latest debacle of the LEGO NASA Ulysses Space Probe VIP Reward was met with a lot of site glitches and a good number of upset LEGO fans.
I have to admit that I was never really a fan of LEGO VIP rewards for the obvious reason that this customer rewards system is not available in my region. On top of that, I have a certain bias against the “exclusivity” of certain LEGO sets which should be otherwise be made available for all LEGO fans to enjoy. I would rather have the offer of GWPs or gift-with-purchase sets than having these exclusive VIP freebies.
If you recall, the intention was to release the LEGO NASA Ulysses Space Probe to attract and draw attention towards its latest LEGO NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (10283). Though the latter was smoothly released without any problems or shortage of sets since the start of this month, the launching of the LEGO NASA Ulysses Space Probe was met with plenty of site glitches and hair-pulling loading errors as shared by LEGO fans across the internet. And in a matter of 15-20 minutes, the entire thing is already sold out over at VIP Rewards Center.
The experience of getting this relatively unattractive LEGO freebie in my opinion truly frustrates and perplexes me. I would like to echo the frustration of most LEGO fans since as I’ve mentioned earlier, I’m not really a fan of these “VIP-only exclusives”. And second, having LEGO, a highly respected and established company with all the means and resources at its disposal to ensure a smooth digital transaction for LEGO fans, to fail big time in making this set accessible to LEGO VIP fans, truly leaves me scratching my head.
If LEGO opted for the GWP route on the LEGO NASA Ulysses Space Probe and has it as a tie-in specifically for the LEGO NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (10283), then this LEGO VIP Reward tragedy could have been averted. I know I might sound harsh about this, but the truth of the matter is, such marketing promo just left a lot of legitimate LEGO fans disappointed with only those uncaring scalpers having a field day over at eBay. Just look at these outrageous prices for such a tiny LEGO set.
As far as I can remember, this issue of scalping for such rare LEGO sets has always been decried by the LEGO fan community and I do hope that LEGO will somehow be proactive in addressing this issue. And in my opinion, it can start by having these kinds of sets available for all LEGO fans to enjoy and perhaps re-evaluating the value and necessity of the LEGO VIP Rewards system from the perspective of the LEGO fan community.
For now, I’ll just be looking forward to that next LEGO project that I am itching to build. After all, that’s what got me into LEGO in the first place – the freedom to creatively build and to freely select the sets that interest me.
