The Batman Scarcity Issue

Posted by admin on May 3rd, 2009 | 0 comments

I was at Toys R’ Us this weekend, and picked up an Indiana Jones Motorcycle Chase set (7620). My thinking was that it was reduced in price, and that it has an Indiana Jones minifig in it. I’m not one to speculate Lego-wise, or buy sets simply to hold and resell, but my recent attempts to find a reasonably priced Batman set has left me stunned.

The sets are not in production, not available from Shop at Home, and unless you’re willing to pay insane amounts of money, Bricklink and ebay are not your friends either. The Harley Quinn Hammer Truck set is going for over $100 USD, The Batcave for $150(no minifigs), and Arkham Asylum between $200 and $300.

I’ve had no luck in sorting out why Lego no longer stocks or carries Batman sets, or whether it’s a license issue, but a total lack of Batman last summer with the success of “The Dark Knight”, and the Lego Batman video game seems ludicrous. And Lego, if you’re reading this (you’re not), If you could see your way clear to even sell the minifigs from the Batman line on Shop at Home, I could make a 5yr old very happy. Daddy is currently not willing to spend over $10 per minifig.

So I bought an extra Indiana Jones, and am thinking hard about buying multiple sets if and when they start dropping into clear-out pricing. It doesn’t seem like too much to ask for a few sets in the line to be available, especially for a perennial favorite like Batman. As far as I can tell, the video game sold very well. I’m a bit baffled. I’m interested in hearing from other AFOL, or others as to whether they have thoughts on the “Batman Scarcity issue”.

****Note, Eurobricks has a message board concerning this topic. It can be found here.