Today, after weeks of speculation, leaks and teases, LEGO announced the forthcoming release of Creator Expert Set 10258: London Bus. With over 1680 pieces, this is the largest London Bus set released to date.
The set will be physically unveiled at the five LEGO Brand retail stores in the London Area on 1st of July, and launched at the online store on 1st August 2017. Early Access will be available for VIP customers from 17th July. The Australian price is will be $199.99.
So I recently placed a shop.LEGO.com order, primarily because the small London Bus 
40220 was being offered as a free gift with purchase over $AU120. And I am glad I did. It cannot be a coincidence that there has been a rush on nifty London based sets appearing this year. Any Day Now (well… November 17th) will see the opening of the LEGO Flagship Store at Leicester Square. This promises to be quite a store, indeed one of the largest in the world.
So in 2016 we have seen the Creator Big Ben (10253); Buckingham Palace in the Architecture range (21029) and now the iconic Double Decker London Bus (40220) has made an appearance, along with the teasing images of Lester, the minifigure mascot for the new store.
Double VIP points.
Free Gift with Purchase over $AU120
Free Shipping on purchases of $AU200.
This is what I was hearing from the shop.LEGO.com banner ads as October 2016 got underway. Should these statements affect whether or not I go to the online LEGO store? I sat down to work out a solution to this conundrum, and who knows, it might just influence my behaviour in the future…
[Editors note: the principles of calculating the best value time to purchase from shop.LEGO.com, or your local LEGO store are consistant, however individual thresholds for shipping and the value of special offers vary between markets. You should always make your own decisions regarding your own money. The LEGO Group is sure to release something else that you wish to buy in the future, so don’t worry if you can’t spend all of your money at once. Now read on…]
The shop.LEGO.com promotion for October, if ordering from Australia, was the London bus set (40220). Initially revealed around the same time of the ‘Big Ben’ Creator set, it instantly appealed to me. Decidedly smaller than minifigure scale, it reminded me almost instantly of the sets available in my childhood. In those days, many ‘LEGOLand’ vehicles were 4 studs wide, whether they were a go-cart, family car, a fire truck, and earthmover or a semi-trailer. This is a set that I was terribly keen to get my hands on.
And it got me thinking: What should encourage me to make a purchase from shop.LEGO.com, when many of my local major retailers regularly offer 20% purchase price? Continue reading
