On Discussion: Gifts With Purchase

Instead of a week two review, I thought I would take the time to write this review on the state of set specific Gifts With Purchase (GWP from this point forward), and my distaste with how so many of them seem to be handled right now.

GWPs are a fun idea: spend so much money, get gifts included. Buy a set at launch, get a special gift. Inherently, there is no issue with this concept and I have no issues with GWPs as a concept; however, I do take issue when the GWP is set specific and missing out on it means missing out on a unique and sometimes fundamental aspect of a set.

Let's start with an implementation that I think works and makes sense, and that is the non-specific GWPs. These are the ones that are general GWPs, included for spending so much money on a purchase. Generally, these are not tied to anything except, potentially, a theme. Some examples of this are the Year of the Horse GWP that ran until the eleventh of January 2026. This was included for spending $70 or more, and wasn't tied to anything specific. This is the ideal GWP in my mind.

Sometimes, though, GWPs are tied to certain sets. Some examples of this are Captain Jack's Compass, WSQK Radio Station (Stranger Things) and the Tie Fighter with Imperial Hanger Rack. One of these was done perfectly, whereas the other two are, to me, sets that are meant to be part of the main set and missing means missing out on a fundamental part.

Captain Jack's Compass was the GWP with the Captain Jack's Pirate Ship (aka Black Pearl, I hate the rename but that's for another day). Simply put, it is just the compass from the movies and other than that has nothing to do with the set it was included with. It didn't include any exclusive minifigure, or attach to the set in any way. This is fine, if you missed out on it you just missed out on a, in my opinion, cool set but one that doesn't impact the main set in any way.

Let is pivot now over to the other two sets that I mentioned, and the ones that inspired my rant towards GWPs that are specific to sets.

The Tie Fighter with Imperial Hanger Rack was released alongside the UCS Death Star set in 2025. This set was meant to attach to a portion of the Death Star, which means that it is tied to the set build itself - by missing out on the Tie Fighter, you are missing out on a part of the build, even if it's not something essential. This is not how GWPs should operate - there should never be a part of a build that is "missing" because you didn't buy a set on Day One or within the first week (if that is even possible, see the next portion...)

Then we have the WSQK Radio Station. This was the GWP with the Stranger Things: Creel House set that released to Insiders on January 1st, 2026 at midnight eastern time. The set sold out extremely quickly and never came back into stock, even with the general public sale was set to begin. Missing from the base set is Joyce and Hopper, who are conveniently the two figures that come with the Radio Station. This means that if you were not online at midnight to buy the set, or unable to get to a LEGO Store, or were unlucky enough to get to a store that only had a few sets in stock, you missed out on two minifigures that are now reselling for over $100 (I've seen them going for $120-$160).

The Tie Fighter and Radio Station are perfect examples of how a GWP should not be handled. Do not lock things behind a GWP that should otherwise have been part of the main set. I don't mind the Radio Station itself being a GWP, but there is no reason that Joyce and Hopper should only have been part of this and not in the main set.

Or the Tie Fighter - you literally built a spot into the Death Star for this to be included, and then made it a GWP that most people will now never have without spending excess on the aftermarket to obtain (I don't care that the Death Star is $1,000 and anyone buying it has the money to buy the GWP aftermarket, that is not the point).

So that wraps up my discussion and rant on GWPs - usually fine, but LEGO also royally screws them up with certain sets. Keep the GWPs fun side acquisitions that are just that - fun little bonuses, but that don't ruin main sets if you miss out on them.

Thanks for reading, we'll return to normal reviews next week.