Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research Institute

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Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research Institute

Post by Toys N Bricks » Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:56 pm



Within 6 days of release, both LEGO Ideas sets (21110 Research Institute and 21109 Exo-Suit) are now listed as "Sold Out" on LEGO Shop at Home. After August 1st (the day of the release), The Exo-Suit set was listed as backorder and also had a limit change from 2 to 1. That lasted for another 5 days. Today, it recently just got a new status as "Temporarily Out of Stock". If your wondering what all the fuss is about the Exo-Suit set, you may want to check out our featured review for the set. Its a really good set so its no doubt that everyone wants it. For 21110 Research Institute, staff atmail35 will be reviewing that set in the coming weeks so stay tune for that.

LEGO Shop at Home usually has a few types of availabilities and it usually progresses from Available -> Backorder ->  Sold Out/Temporarily Out of Stock for newly released sets. It appears that both sets exceeded demand. I believe they have a cap on the number of backorders they take prior to changing the availability status. There's been rumors circulating that the Exo-Suit set will only get 1 production run. This rumor probably helped drove the demand even higher.

The following online merchants carry the Exo-Suit set. All of them are also now showing the product as out of stock. For those living in Canada, there's been reports that the set was available at Toys R Us stores in Canada. It is not listed online.

LEGO Shop at Home
Target (USA) - listed as $39.99
Toys R Us (USA) - listed as $24.99; this might be an error as no one has seen it instock before, correct me if I'm wrong

If you don't have the set, your chances of getting the set would be to check your local LEGO Brand Store. Best way to do that is to call your store to check on availability and then ask them to reserve the set for you. Sometimes, LEGO Shop may take more backorders in the future such as 21104 NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover. However, it was only available briefly before being listed as sold out again.



Hopefully, LEGO decides to produce more of these popular LEGO Ideas sets! Brand-new just released sets that are sold out within days usually never get produced again. Occasionally, they may be available again at a later point in time such as 7666 Star Wars Hoth Rebel Base. This was a hot set released back in 2007 during Christmas because it was one of the first sets in a while featuring Echo Base and Snowtrooper minifigures. Available only at Toys R Us and LEGO, it was sold out prior to Christmas and prices doubled/tripled in the aftermarket. Fortunately, they did re-release the set again later in 2008 due to the high demand.

Did you manage to get a copy of the new LEGO Ideas set? The Research Institute set was a bit easier to obtain as it lasted for 6 days (with available status) but the Exo-Suit set lasted really only just 1 day. Let us know!

Article Link: http://toysnbricks.com/lego-ideas-exo-s ... ty-update/
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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by brickster90 » Wed Aug 06, 2014 6:00 pm

I saw it as in stock early morning of August 1st (about 6am, on the East Coast) and ordered 3 copies at that price. The tracking number says it'll arrive tomorrow, so I'll type out an update then.

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by bea » Wed Aug 06, 2014 6:08 pm

I don't recall where I read this, but I think someone said they found the exo suit at TRU in NY Times Square.

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by SpaceNinjaDino » Wed Aug 06, 2014 6:45 pm

Wasn't the first Minecraft set supposed to be one production run as well? They did several runs and it was even so popular, they made several more sets. Hopefully this follows the same pattern!

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by that guy » Wed Aug 06, 2014 6:57 pm

Here's my thoughts on the back-orders and why they had them when you would think it should've just gone to "sold out" right away. I'm convinced for any number of reasons that this is the process that occurred assuming that the set is indeed a One And Done production run.

- Set goes on sale 12:01am EST Friday morning

- Every reseller (and regular customer) who knew to stay up ordered them IMMEDIATELY

- Set goes into "back-order" status within hours

- Lego begins "scrubbing" orders for people who are blacklisted (like me) and tried to slide orders in

- Lego takes the collective amount of canceled orders and fulfills back-orders up to the point they run out

- Anyone who placed a back-order but Lego didn't cancel enough orders to fulfill them is out of luck

- Resellers no doubt ordered more during the "back-order" time frame

- Those orders will once again get scrubbed and cancelled causing one more rubber band effect of the item coming back into stock

- Process repeats itself until the item is truly out of stock

End Scene....

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by MrMonsieurGreen » Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:07 pm

Its a shame that the Research Institute had such a short life. This set was a set for men and woman that took a step away from the friends line. I feel this should not have been a limited edition set because it is a good inspiration to younger female builders. I looked up some news on this set and I found out that there was a 7 year old pleading to lego for female mini figure set. Thats what we got... for 6 days. Really! C'mon!

Image of the 7 year old's letter to Lego:
http://img.priyo.com/files/201406/lego-640.gif

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by vynsane » Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:17 pm

Being that both sets are not only sold in LEGO Stores (unlike 21104 MSL Curiosity Rover) but online as well and that other venues also have them for sale, this is a different situation completely.

The Danbury, CT LEGO Store still had a handful of both sets yesterday when I took my daughter to the MMMB and I've heard that other stores have been restocked. They may not last as long as Minecraft, BttF or Ghostbusters, but I think we'll see them around for a lot longer than Curiosity and we will see more in stores.
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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by brickster90 » Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:19 pm

Man, Research Institute sold out? I missed that. :( If anyone could hook me up with a copy, I'd be more than willing to pay or try and work out a trade. I definitely wanted that, but had to prioritize at the time.

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by Ogre21 » Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:23 pm

I managed to score two Exo Suit sets but, missed the Research Institute (only have so much coin)...but, with the rumours of 'limited run', etc., it got me to wondering: perhaps the 'limited run' is only for the original 'LEGO Ideas' winner purposes?
Then, LEGO cranks out more sets, sans the 'LEGO Ideas' tag on the box (and other identifiers), like was done with Minecraft.
That way, the 'collectible' aspect is maintained for the original run BUT, nobody actually loses out on getting these cool sets (in the long run).
Pure speculation, of course but, I wouldn't be surprised.
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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by that guy » Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:18 pm

Lest we also forget Lego pays out a percentage of every set to the winners and they may just be cutting those payouts short since they obviously appear to be cranking out Ideas (still the dumbest name) sets like rabbits.

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by Marcus70 » Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:25 pm

Ordered an Exosuit this morning (for my birthday present to myself) at S@H with my free shipping code :). I'm sure it will take a few weeks to process as the expected ship date was August 21.

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by Brick & Blue » Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:46 pm

What's the point of having Cuusoo or Ideas when it takes forever for a set to get to 10,000, then forever and a day for LEGO to make it an official set and then sell them FOR A DAY?!

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by gev » Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:30 am

I picked up one of each at the local LBR on the 1st, then again on the 2nd after ordering one of each on S@H. the S@H order says that order shipped on the 5th except for the ExoSuit which is on backorder.

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by MrVEP » Thu Aug 07, 2014 5:52 am

Brick & Blue wrote:What's the point of having Cuusoo or Ideas when it takes forever for a set to get to 10,000, then forever and a day for LEGO to make it an official set and then sell them FOR A DAY?!
Exactly this.
Come on LG really what is the point??
If you have a set that is popular but stays on websites and on shelves (Ghostbusters, Back to the Future) after months, then you may want to limit the number of production.
But if you have a great hit like the Exo-Suit that sells out in 1 day at Shop and about 4-5 days everywhere else, then you will be dumb not to make more.

Maybe is a licensing issue with the other sets but to me, TLG should make more Exo-Suit as long as the sales are good.
They will be missing a golden opportunity if they not.
It's classic, it's awesome and it's selling like hot cakes end of business analysis.

More please I need about 4.....

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by Mantisking » Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:12 am

Brick & Blue wrote:What's the point of having Cuusoo or Ideas when it takes forever for a set to get to 10,000, then forever and a day for LEGO to make it an official set and then sell them FOR A DAY?!
MrVEP wrote:Exactly this. Come on LG really what is the point?? If you have a set that is popular but stays on websites and on shelves (Ghostbusters, Back to the Future) after months, then you may want to limit the number of production. But if you have a great hit like the Exo-Suit that sells out in 1 day at Shop and about 4-5 days everywhere else, then you will be dumb not to make more.
They may have had to produce a certain number of the Ghostbusters and Back to the Future sets either due to contract stipulations or need to produce a certain amount for the sets to be profitable because they are licensed. The Exo-Suit and Researcher sets were probably pure profit and they could get away with smaller production runs.

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by MrVEP » Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:18 am

You may be right.
But if I'm a company that makes a product for profit and the first run does extremely well, why should I stop?
They make sets that don't sell well, even on clearance.

I think we will see more of The Exo-Suit.

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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by vynsane » Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:54 am

Huh, guess I was reading too fast and missed the part about RI being labeled as 'Sold Out' - I thought it was also on backorder. That does not bode well for its resurgence. I know Exo-Suit has been restocked, but haven't seen any evidence of RI. I'm glad they still had them at Danbury when I went on Tuesday, then!

It's interesting to note how demand for the sets seems to far outstrip the threshold for support. There are obviously more than 10,000 people out there who want each of these sets, particularly noted in the release of MSL Curiosity Rover.

I have to say, I'm getting rather irked by how TLG handles these things. Curiosity and now Research Institute will apparently go down in history as total failures of planning. They both obviously had a lot more demand than the supply could meet.

The only thing I can think that will bring RI back for another production run is the backlash over the gender battles in the press. I'm hoping some feminist blogs start to take TLG to task for this, honestly, as it really looks like they're simply playing lip-service to all the accusations lobbed their way re: Friends. Not that I agree with all their assertions about Friends - but I do acknowledge quite a few of the criticisms. I do like how this newest "Jungle Rescue" wave really gets away from the "shopping and lounging" sub-themes, although the largest set recently released is the mall (ugh!). But, really, there's room for both on the shelves! I'm sure Alatariel is none too pleased at how small an impact her set had.

We managed to get the RI set on Tuesday and my daughter hasn't yet even built it, but it's the first time she's been inspired to build her own thing - and she wants to post it on Ideas! I will say, Friends has not sparked in her this level of inspiration and enthusiasm for creative building.
Ogre21 wrote: perhaps the 'limited run' is only for the original 'LEGO Ideas' winner purposes?
Then, LEGO cranks out more sets, sans the 'LEGO Ideas' tag on the box (and other identifiers), like was done with Minecraft.
No, I don't think this is the intention and I'm pretty sure it would be against the agreement laid out by the Ideas platform, effectively breaking the contract.

Note that, while the subsequent Minecraft sets released (The Village, The Nether, The End) were NOT labeled as Cuusoo sets (and TLG reserves the right to do so), the original one is still branded as Cuusoo and displayed on the Ideas page at Shop@Home. The set number (21102) has not changed nor has the packaging, so the 1% of profits from sales of that set are still going to Mojang (and, in this case, on to their chosen charity).

In the case of, say, BttF, if TLG entered into a new licensing agreement to produce more sets based on the movie franchise, those sets would not be part of the Cuusoo/Ideas agreement but the sales of the original set would still see 1% of profits go to M.Togami.

If they decide to produce a second run of Research Institute, by contract it will be required to have the Ideas branding on it and 1% of profits will go to Alatariel. If they decided to produce a second set, with a different set number, that would follow in the same theme but have different contents, it would be outside of that agreement with Alatariel and she would not see the 1% profit from that set - UNLESS TLG decided to collaborate with her on development of the second set. In that case, however, that's a closed agreement between the two parties and not bound by the stipulations of the Ideas platform.
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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by hatcher » Thu Aug 07, 2014 7:56 am

I heard a news article about the Research Institute on the radio a couple of days ago, and they said that LEGO promised it would be available again shortly. Take that for what its worth.

I get the point of limited editions and short runs, but this set has been hyped in the media so much they must have known it would be popular. Is 1% to the designer really that big of a hit to LEGO's bottom line that they would really let this thing just disappear?
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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by vynsane » Thu Aug 07, 2014 9:09 am

To clarify the original post, the Exo-Suit is currently listed as "Temporarily out of stock" - not "Sold out". Research Institute, however, is listed as "Sold Out".
hatcher wrote:I heard a news article about the Research Institute on the radio a couple of days ago, and they said that LEGO promised it would be available again shortly. Take that for what its worth.
Interesting, hope it's true! I'd like to see this set have a long shelf life!
I get the point of limited editions and short runs, but this set has been hyped in the media so much they must have known it would be popular. Is 1% to the designer really that big of a hit to LEGO's bottom line that they would really let this thing just disappear?
I highly doubt it's the 1% profit sharing that's the issue - I think it's the market research (or lack thereof) as to whether or not the product is viable at. Normal themes/sets have a lead-time of about two years for marketability testing and development. While the Ideas sets are seemingly taking a long time to go from approval to production, they're actually moving through the internal processes a LOT faster (roughly by about 50%) than TLG is used to, and I think they're partially hedging their bets by starting with relatively small production runs in order to basically market test in the field. Of course this is all conjecture, but it makes sense to me!
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Re: Availablity Update for LEGO Ideas Exo-Suit & Research In

Post by warhev » Thu Aug 07, 2014 11:30 am

Just a heads-up. Amazon US is showing the item as In Stock, but may take an extra 1 - 2 days processing. This is 11:30 am Pacific on Thurs, Aug 7. this is for the Exo-suit, and is the regular $34.99 with free shipping over $35.00, provided by Amazon. Placed order for two, will let everyone know what Amazon does with my order. *fingers crossed*!

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