LEGO explains why Arkham Asylum doesn’t have a dedicated gift-with-purchase

The LEGO Group has revealed why DC’s first modular building 76300 Arkham Asylum passes up the opportunity for a dedicated gift-with-purchase.

76300 Arkham Asylum officially releases tomorrow at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores, but has been up for pre-order since it was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con in July. That excludes the possibility for a set-specific gift-with-purchase – such as 5009609 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Compass, which is free exclusively with 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship – as pre-orders are not eligible for GWPs.

Instead, anyone ordering 76300 Arkham Asylum on release day will receive 40769 SEGA Genesis Controller (assuming stock is still available then). It’s an unusual situation for the DC modular building given its recent Marvel equivalents have had set-specific GWPs: 76269 Avengers Tower was accompanied by 5008076 Taxi, while early adopters of 76294 X-Men: The X-Mansion received 5009015 Cerebro.

Super Heroes Team Lead Jesper C. Nielsen has now explained to Ashnflash that the decision to create a gift-with-purchase for a given set actually doesn’t rest with the Marvel and DC designers, but the LEGO Insiders team – who didn’t ask their Super Heroes colleagues to create a gift-with-purchase for 76300 Arkham Asylum. While Nielsen didn’t elaborate further, it’s worth noting that both previous Marvel GWPs have arrived in square, yellow boxes.

That’s significant because it’s the same style of packaging used for sets available exclusively in the Insiders Rewards Centre, which may explain why the responsibility for those yellow-boxed GWPs lies with the Insiders team – while the Star Wars team are behind 75419 Death Star’s exclusive gift-with-purchase 40771 TIE Fighter with Imperial Hangar Rack, for example.

Not all previous Super Heroes gifts-with-purchase have been in the same Insiders style, however: 40334 Avengers Tower and 40433 1989 Batmobile – Limited Edition both arrived in regular LEGO packaging in 2019, and the latter was even limited to purchases of 76139 1989 Batmobile. But those were a good six years ago now, so it does seem like current Marvel and DC GWPs are now under the purview of the Insiders team.

All this is to say that a gift-with-purchase for 76300 Arkham Asylum was apparently never on the cards. But anyone pulling the trigger day one will at least receive 40769 SEGA Genesis Controller, which is better than nothing…

76300 Arkham Asylum hits LEGO Stores and LEGO.com on September 9. It’s up for pre-order now, but as pre-orders don’t count towards gifts-with-purchase, you’re better off waiting until tomorrow to complete your purchase.

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