The AT-TE LEGO set is arguably the most anticipated set of the year, everyone was so excited about its release but it didn’t release with the rest of the summer wave, in fact, the North American release has been delayed until further notice.
The 2022 LEGO Star Wars summer wave has been the most anticipated in recent years, it includes sets from Kenobi, Andor, Return of the Jedi, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Jedi Fallen Order, The Bad Batch, and The Mandalorian.
LEGO sets from all kinds of Star Wars media being released in a single wave is a rare occasion. This is why many of us were extremely excited about it. As of today, every set was supposed to be available, but less than a month before the release date of the last three remaining sets (BD-1, The Justifier, AT-TE) LEGO announced that the AT-TE would be pushed back.
From what I’ve seen on social media, many people (including myself) weren’t aware of this. I thought there was some sort of mistake on the LEGO site but I confirmed it wasn’t a mistake when the employees of my local store said that it wasn’t shipped with the rest of the sets.
I’m not saying that it’s impossible to get one, some big LEGO channels and creators already received theirs.
Perhaps even small shops have a few in stock, but the people that have no other option than to buy the AT-TE on LEGO’s official site are not receiving it anytime soon.
The reason behind the delay has only been addressed as “delivery challenges”. The supply chains are still recovering from past events.
I wouldn’t mind if they’d announced it from the beginning, setbacks happen to every company and that’s understandable but I doubt that they weren’t aware of this situation weeks before the official update.
It could be just a few weeks or even months. I’d say that September-August is a “reasonable” date. I’m not sure how much they can delay it before it reflects on the company’s image or sales.
We can only be patient and keep an eye on LEGO’s site so it doesn’t take us by surprise when they finally release it.
The fact that it was delayed only in North America automatically discards any production issues or last-minute changes. At least LEGO builders from other parts of the world can buy it now.
I’m a little worried about the availability when it eventually comes out. If LEGO stores and official distributors aren’t properly stocked it’s going to be an absolute nightmare to get our hands on the AT-TE set. High demand plus low availability would only encourage scalpers to “do their thing”.
LEGO sets are already very expensive and let’s not forget that some of their prices are increasing very soon, the Star Wars LEGO community shouldn’t have to worry about paying an absurd amount of money to someone who bought five sets and plans to resell them to make some easy money.
I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but Star Wars fans aren’t new to this type of news. The Kenobi series was delayed for a few weeks, and a couple of days ago we also learned that Andor would suffer a three-week pushback.
Star Wars: The Old Republic players have experienced this multiple times in the past twelve months and now it’s the LEGO enthusiasts that join the club.
Whether it’s games, series, movies, toys, or collectibles; highly anticipated Star Wars products have been suffering from this for quite a while. I really hope that LEGO is able to ship enough sets so that anyone can buy them without worrying about anything else.
For now, we must be patient and keep an eye on LEGO’s site for any updates. Hopefully, it’s going to be just a few weeks before the AT-TE is on shelves.
If you are still undecided about which set you should get, here’s my review of the BD-1 LEGO set. It might help make up your mind.
What are your thoughts on the topic?
