All three LEGO November sets come with their own exclusive GWPs, with some going down better with fans than others.
Set-exclusive gifts-with-purchase are nothing new for the LEGO Group, and all three November set releases has its own one this month. 21363 The Goonies comes with 40773 The Walshes' Attic (until midnight tonight only), 10366 Tropical Aquarium will release with 5009823 Fish Tank Filter & Fish Food, and 40768 Type-15 Shuttlepod is due to launch alongside 10356 USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.
While having three set-specific freebies in one month makes it impossible to stack the trio of sets, it does drive home an easy comparison between the three. That helps to highlight a growing resentment that some fans have towards certain GWPs, turning the promotion from a fun addition to frustrating FOMO.
40773 The Walshes' Attic sits at one end of the spectrum. It's certainly a tempting addition that might pull in hardcore Goonies fans, but it's far from an essential part of the set. It sits quite apart from the Inferno pirate ship ruins and is essentially an extra diorama, although not one that can actually blend in with the rest of the set.
The only real exclusives are the minifigures (although not made from exclusive parts you couldn't find elsewhere), the 'LEGO The Goonies' plaque, and the painting with the nifty gap for Mouth to stick his tongue 'through'. Again, those are nice to have for extreme fans, but not essential for enjoyment of 21363 The Goonies.
Next along the spectrum is 40768 Type-15 Shuttlepod. Ro Laren is a tempting minifigure, and a favourite character for some, but unlikely to be seen as a must-have minifigure – and certainly not at the expense of any of the characters who made it into the main set. The ship itself is well-built at a minifigure scale, which is different from the LEGO Icons model.
That means it doesn't feel quite as integrated as 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack did with 75419 Death Star, for example. This smaller ship is not meant to directly integrate with 10356 USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, although they do work nicely together side by side. Considering that the main set is not minifigure scale and doesn't open up to include a bridge, this is your only chance to have a LEGO Star Trek minifigure-scale set.
That has frustrated some fans in a way that 40773 The Walshes' Attic largely didn't, with one commenter on our Facebook page deeming the inclusion of the GWP in marketing materials as 'false advertising'. It begins to cross the line from something that would be a nice but not essential addition, to simply feeding pressure to buy the set in the first few days.
As one redditor described 40768, such GWPs are perceived as "more pre-order exclusive DLC to force would-be buyers to not wait for a sale" than an extra advantage for hardcore fans, as we saw with 40773.
Not everyone is displeased, of course, with many still seeing 40768 Type-15 Shuttlepod as an entirely separate entity from the main set.
"It stops it feeling like something that should have been in the main set and more like its own thing, unlike some of the LEGO Group's other recent GWPs," wrote crusherdestroy3r on reddit. "Plus there's not many Star Trek ships you can realistically make in minifigure scale, so it's nice to get one for the crew."
The same cannot be said for 5009823 Fish Tank Filter & Fish Food. Now, far at the other end of the spectrum, the GWP for 10366 Tropical Aquarium is a virtually integral part of the set, in a similar way to 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack.
10366 Tropical Aquarium has a lot of empty space with the controversial inclusion of the black tank frame. While some like that it transforms the set from a diorama to the illusion of an actual tank, it does mean it takes up a lot of pieces and shelf space for essentially...air.
However, you can fill up that air and complete the look of a real tank with its GWP, with the filter hooking onto the frame. Any real-life tank needs a filter, so if you're after an authentic brick-built aquarium, this is a must.
Therein lies the issue that many have with GWPs like this one. Comparing 5009823 Fish Tank Filter & Fish Food to 40773 The Walshes' Attic, the latter is made up of non-essentials, while the former can really make or break the look of the set. Fans don't want to feel like they have to buy a set early to get the full experience – which is the territory 10366 Tropical Aquarium is veering into.
Of course, that's the whole point of a set-exclusive GWP, but 40773 The Walshes' Attic and even 40768 Type-15 Shuttlepod are proof that it can be done in a less pressured way. As with anything, it's all about striking that balance. In November, the LEGO Group has released GWPs throughout the spectrum – which is arguably a balance of its own kind.
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