I took an extended break in Adelaide over the weekend and managed to catch Marvel’s latest blockbuster Ant-Man in the cinemas. I’m a huge fan of Paul Rudd and thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of the movie. Unlike other Marvel films which usually focus on titanic struggles between the forces of Good and Evil, dueling to prevent utter destruction to Earth or the Galaxy, I really liked Ant-Man’s refreshing change of pace and lowkey setting.
There is no big bad guy threatening to blow up Earth, no immensely powerful cosmic foe out to exterminate the human race or even a super-powered nemesis to deal with. Ant-Man is a clever heist movie, relatively isolated (but still occupying the main Marvel Cinematic universe) from the feats of The Avengers or Thor in a very satisfying self-contained microscopic bubble.
Paul Rudd is as lovable as Paul Rudd can be, Michael Peña steals almost the entire show with his comedic genius and other than Marvel’s trademark move of serving of a very weak and uninspired villain, Ant-Man is more than capable standing toe to toe against some of Marvel Studio’s biggest hitters.
Anyway, apologies for digressing from the point of this post with my mini movie review. I left the cinema in light spirits and immediately my mind turned to the lone LEGO set that was released to coincide with the film’s release – Ant-Man Final Battle and how I was looking forward to building and reviewing it.
It’s almost August and the set is nowhere to be seen on Australian shelves, even though it was slated to be released in June according to the latest 2015 Australian LEGO retail catalogue. There have been well-publicized issues with the structural integrity and design of the set which caused it to be delayed in other territories. The set did eventually start showing up around the world after the issue was fixed but its absence has not gone unnoticed here in Australia.
I reached out to LEGO Australia to get an official comment on the availability of this set, and I have to be the bearer of bad news – 76039 Ant-Man Final Battle will not be ranged in Australia and will therefore only be available online.
As an Australian LEGO fan, I have to say that this is yet another disappointment since I’ll have to jump through unnecessary hoops to get my hands on this set. This follows a disturbing trend of a selected number of sets and themes that have simply not shown up in Australia at all. Ant-Man joins the illustrious list of:
- 10237 Tower of Orthanc
- The new wave of Ultra Agents sets
- 76022 X-Men vs The Sentinel
- 21109 Exo-Suit
- 21110 Research Institute
- 40158 Pirates Chess Set
- Nearly every other promotional polybag (the recent Gallimmimus Trap polybag for example)
LEGO Australia’s minimum order threshold of $200 for free shipping makes it particularly tricky when it comes to ordering single sets from LEGO.com.
If this is something that grinds your gears as much as it does mine, I urge you to share your thoughts in the comments section or write to LEGO themselves via their customer service channels to voice your displeasure.
This begs the question, what is the best way to buy Ant-Man Final Battle if you’re located in Australia? Here are your options:
1) Buy it from LEGO.com
Ant-Man Final Battle costs $40, so you’ll either have to be lucky and have 4 other friends who want to share the order to hit the free shipping threshold. Alternatively, you could always wait till 1 August 2015, when the Big Bang Theory set becomes available or bundle it together with the newly released Creator Ferrari F40. Unless you plan on getting any other sets, having to spend at least $200 just to get this set shipped to you for free is a bit of a hassle.
Total Cost for one copy: $70 ($40 + $30 shipping) or spend $200 and above to qualify for free shipping.
Pros: You get VIP points.
Cons: Expensive shipping costs if you don’t meet the $200 threshold.
2) Import it from Barnes & Noble
As an alternative, you can purchase Ant-Man Final Battle from US retailer Barnes & Noble who ship to Australia. The weak Australian dollar is not doing anyone any favours right now, but B&N have relatively affordable shipping rates and you can order a single set without having to shell out too much paying ludicrous shipping rates. Barnes and Noble have a pretty great policy on shipping rates for additional items – I believe it’s only about $5 per additional item.
Total cost for one copy inclusive of cheapest shipping option: US$33 (approx AU$47)
Total cost for two copies inclusive of cheapest shipping option: US$58 (approx AU$78.50)
It works out quite neatly if you’re looking to buy 2 copies from B&N, but it’s also not too ridiculous paying ~AU$47 if you’re only after 1 copy of this set.
Pros: You can order one set and not have to overpay for shipping.
Cons: Weak Aussie dollar pushes it over to the pricey side of things.
Note: I’m a Barnes & Noble affiliate, so I receive a small commission if you purchase anything from B&N using these links above. All costs go towards paying for the cost of running this blog and any support would be greatly appreciated!
There are also other ways such as buying it on eBay, or Bricklink but these 2 options I listed are the only ones I’m seriously considering and the most economical.
How will I be getting my hands on Ant-Man Final Battle? I’ll probably wait it out till 1 August and add it to my Big Bang Theory order to qualify for free shipping and use some VIP points as well. Under regular circumstances, I’d normally just buy it off B&N but I decided to wait it out this time hoping that it would eventually show up in Australian toy stores.
I’ve received many emails from you guys on this and I hope this helps quell any concerns about the retail availability of 76039 Ant-Man Final Battle in Australia. It sucks that it won’t be released Down Under but hey, as an Australian LEGO fan, we tend to get used to being sidelined every now and then.
If you have any strong feelings on this, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section!
Jay I know this is an old article but I had to share the news. Was coming back from Malaysia on a flight today and in the international arrivals terminal of Sydney airport guess what I found?? A bunch of these Ant-Man sets for $40 AUD!!! Had to pick one up for myself and just thought I’d share the news…surprised and glad to own the set I never thought I’d have!
Hey Karrot, thanks for the update. Whoa, I definitely did not expect it there. Good pickup at $40! Airport LEGO is usually notoriously overpriced. Have you built the set yet? What do you think of it?
Just finished the build tonight. The set itself is really cool, and when I added an extra white plate for the “mini/normal” sized lego bricks to stick on, they looked really good when stacked against the larger stickered versions! It was a really cool effect and idea by LEGO to have the extra large LEGO bricks. And the ant really surprised me (Antony!), it has a really nice colour scheme (blue on top, nice red on bottom) and the eyes weren’t as bad as I thought. Even the pink brick at the abdomen was unnoticeable. The best bit of the ant though has to be the wings…they way they’re angled and bent is amazing and in person they are MARVELous. I can’t wait to see the next Super Hero sets, and this Ant-Man set has got me excited for what LEGO will do in 1 Doctor Strange set next year. Hopefully everything will be available in Australia though…
Wow! I didn’t even know there was an Ant-Man set!!! 😀 Is it just me, or did Marvel hire the same guy that made the helmet for The Star lord from Guardians of the Galaxy as they did the Ant Man helmet? :/
Thanks for this confirmation!
What’s really odd – I have seen the placeholder for this set on the shelves in Kmarts all over Brisbane for the last few weeks, and questioned when they would be receiving it.
Their answer was “The LEGO rep tells us what’s coming, so we get the shelves ready”
The price tag was $49.95 or $59.95… I can’t remember because it was covered by the ‘temporarily out of stock’ tag that is covering all the new sets (even though half are already on the shelves)
I’ll be writing to LEGO (again again again again) to express my disappointment……..
Hey Gareth
Hmmm that’s quite interesting that you saw the placeholder tags. Normally, you’d think that Kmart wouldn’t put up those tags for a set that isn’t coming here. Maybe LEGO Australia changed their mind and ended up sending a shipment over? I’ll keep an eye out of my local stores. Would be very interesting if the Ant-Man sets pop up…
Gareth, Its Rach Tapper.I miss you, can you please message me xox
I feel your pain. I’m in New Zealand, so whatever you don’t get, we don’t get. I believe we’re lumped in the same basket. But this lack of sets comming out down here is getting ridiculous. Especially, sets that were listed in the catalogues. No second wave Chima, no second wave ultra agents, no polybags. We also missed the brainiac attack set. And there’s been at least 1 set from each wave that hasn’t come out here this year. And as far as I can see from my local stores, Lego sells incredibly well in this part of the world.
Hey Elliot
Thanks for sharing your story. I’m quite surprised that you guys missed out on Brainiac Attack! It was a Myer exclusive here. This whole state of affairs is quite sad and yes, the fact that shelves are almost always wiped clean after a sale or new release should be a good indication that ANZ has an increased appetite for LEGO.
Do you guys get sets released late as well?
Hi Jay,
Yeah we get sets on the same schedule as you guys. I believe ANZ is looked at as the same region in Legos eyes.
Actually its probably more that we’re tacked onto Australia. What gets me the most is no Official Lego store in this region. There’s nearly 30 million people in ANZ and not one store?.. Madness.
Fairly certain I saw that Lego set in my local toy shop last week. It’s not s big brang store and just orders in bulk off Lego so they get around the exclusive sets. Fairly sure it’s there.
Oh really? Whereabouts are you located? It may be that they bought it online or sourced it from overseas and are selling it on there own.
Sorry this reply has taken so long. The toy shop I shop at is really good, numbers the blind bags on Lego minifigures so we don’t have to get duplicates (thankfully half the time). It’s called my toy Kingdom or toy Kingdom and is located in Lismore. It has a Facebook page that replies to messages.
Anyone interested in getting together and buying this set off Lego.com so we hit the $200 free shipping? I’m interested in this set and Big Bang Theory but that only brings my total up to $130. I’m in South East Melboune
Hi Dlim. I am in Ocean Grove and have only just found this article. I am looking at buying both of those sets as well, and would be more than happy to buy together. Have you already bought them?
Well, I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. I live in Canada, so it was on the shelves at Toys ‘R’ Us. And I tell you, it does NOT disappoint.
Sorry about this problem, Jay.
Lucky you indeed! It’s not that big of a problem, I’ll get my hands on this set eventually. I’m just peeved it’s gonna take longer than expected!
Thanks, man. It’s alright, you’ll get it soon, I hope.
Shop for me has it for 49.95 too
Oh cool, thanks for the heads up. That’s still a little pricey since you need to hit $150 for free shipping.
I haven’t seen it anywhere here in stores either (I have yet to check the official LEGO stores). makes me wonder if Malaysia is also left out of the loop.