Lego released the UCS Millennium Falcon set early on Thursday morning, but the entire experience was a tire fire.
After less than a month of hype and anticipation — both of which was sky high for Lego fans — the UCS Millennium Falcon was finally released. Well, kind of.
It wasn’t the official release. That’s still happening on October 1st. Lego initiated a pre-sale event that included a limited amount of UCS Millennium Falcon sets, and they flew off the shelves like ice water on Tatooine.
But overall the experience wasn’t one of joy, it was a nightmare for anyone trying to order online. From site crashes to glitches with your cart, the general feeling from Lego fans regarding the ordeal was not good.
The whole situation can be summed up in a super scientific Venn Diagram. Imagine on one side you have the people who were lucky enough to get the set, and the other side is folks who were shut out. They both meet in the middle with a terrible shared experience, no matter if you were able to get the set or not.
That, right there, seems to be the consensus.
There were also people who purchased the set but saw added charges to their original $799 agreed upon price tag.
Hey @LEGO_Group MY UCS Millennium Falcon Order is order is over $950! I am not getting free shipping and Taxes are more than they should be.
— Crzypengu (@Crzypengu) September 14, 2017
Overall it seems Lego just wasn’t full prepared for the pre-sale and exposed the whole thing as a gimmick meant to boost early sales. From the site crashing to not being able to add the purchase to bonus rewards programs, the whole thing was a giant disaster.
@LEGO_Group so disappointed. Clearly lego was not prepared, after teasing the UCS Millennium Falcon, for the rush of sales.
— Steve (@Libretto66) September 14, 2017
So I finally got my order placed for the Lego UCS Millennium Falcon. But Lego Shop wouldn’t allow saved points to be applied to my order.
— Dan Veesenmeyer (@dveese) September 14, 2017
Things like this really bring down the whole experience. The UCS Millennium Falcon was clearly something that fans were excited about. There was no need to rush to a pre-sale, the demand and interest was already high and was only going to build as the October 1st release date approached.
Instead, Lego decided to get greedy and the whole thing has now blown up in its face. It’s unfortunate, as it mares what could have been a pinnacle event in the company’s history. Fans were chomping at the bit to get their hands on a UCS Millennium Falcon, and now many — far too many — people are going to remember this entire experience with a sour taste in their mouths.