January 2003 sets found in Sweden

[Sweden]

Friday the 10th when I went to town I dropped by what many years ago used to be Sundsvall’s last and only hobby shop before they turned it into a pure toy store and discovered to my very big surprise that they had put the January 2003 sets on their shelf except the large AT-TE.

The way it have worked in the past is that we usually have received new sets here in Sweden around three to four months after you guys in the US of A get yours but this time LEGO Sweden were very fast gettting them out as I expected them in stores in February or March.

As the toy store “Lekplaneten” (English: Play Planet) is runned by two complete idiots and they usually sell sets at full retail price I didn’t buy anything from them and took the bus to a mall that’s located around ten minutes drive from Sundsvall to go to my favorite toy store.

When I got to Barnens Hus (English: The Childrens House) I discovered to my very big surprise that none of the January 2003 sets were to be found on their LEGO shelves and that the lady in charge of the LEGO department had her day off so I thought I’d go back home.

As I were about to leave I met a guy working there and that I new from my days working as a security guard at larger stores in Sundsvall around fifteen years ago and it turned out they had the January 2003 sets but that the LEGO lady hadn’t had time to put them on the shelves yet.

So he was kind enough to open up all the large cardboard boxes with the January 2003 sets and let me have a look at them as well as calculating the price on them as they sell the sets and all the other toys at that toy store at very good discount prices as it’s a low price store.

As that wasn’t enough he also put a lower price on all the sets in order not to over charge me for them as he didn’t have the exact price that only the LEGO lady has and on top of that he also gave me a “extra” discount as I got all the January 2003 sets as a package deal price.

So I got hold of following January 2003 sets:

4475 Jabba’s Message
4476 Jabba’s Prize
4477 T-16 Skyhopper
4478 Geonosian Fighter
4479 TIE Bomber
4480 Jabba’s Palace
4484 Mini Building Set 1: TIE Advanced & X-Wing Fighter
4485 Mini Building Set 2: Sebulba’s Podracer & Anakin’s Podracer
4486 Mini Building Set 3: Snowspeeder & AT-ST
4487 Mini Building Set 4: Slave 1 & Jedi Starfighter

The suggested full retail price on the Swedish LEGO Shop at Home webpage for these ten sets are 1780.00 Swedish Crooner (or around: $178.00) but I got them for 1500.00 Swedish Crooner (or around: $150.00) so I saved a little amount of money buying at this toy store.

I know that this maybe wasn’t so much of a saving as you guys in the US of A get a slightly better price on LEGO sets over there but LEGO sets here in Sweden are “VERY” expensive and it’s ever so incredibly rare to find them on sale if they ever are to be found on sale that is.

However, the toy stores here in Sweden is yet to receive the 4482 AT-TE set as it hasn’t been released here yet but I expect to see it here in a week or two or so but all in all I’m pleased with my purchase of the ten January 2003 sets that I got hold of at a pretty good price as well.

Kindest regards,


Lars “Sweden” Olsson in Sundsvall, Sweden.

[JediTricks]

That's not a bad savings. Those sets here in the US would cost $121 altogether, so the different market price issue taken into account seems like you did alright. I've yet to be able to afford ANYTHING from the Jan 2003 line yet, and I waited too long to use my coupons for $10 off $50 and $5 off $25.

[Sweden]

When comparing with the suggested full retail price that The LEGO Group put in their catalogue and on their Shop at Home website for 2003 I managed to save a few dollars but comparing to the price you guys pay over there I feel like getting ripped off real bad.

I feel that way when you say that you guys would only have to pay $121.00 for all the new sets while I’ve got to pay $150.00 for them and that’s $29.00 more and it makes me truly wonder what more I get then you guys are especially since it’s the same stuff over here.

What makes it worse is that if I had paid suggested full retail price for the sets I would have paid $57.00 more then you guys are and when I think of the fact that LEGO sets often go on sale over in the US of A unlike here in Sweden I’m truly being ripped off as a customer.

But it’s always been like that in the so called democracy and well fare country of Sweden as we don’t only pay “VERY” high income tax but also “VERY” high VAT (Value Added Tax) on imported merchandise, phone bills, electrical bills, insurance and food etc, etc, etc.

Here’s a “VERY” good example:

When I bought my Panasonic A112 DVD player at CostCo on Hawaii July the 5th 1999 I paid something like $240.00 for it and managed to get it through Swedish customs without paying any VAT but if I had bought it in Sweden I’d have to pay $480.00 to $720.00 for it at least!!!

Everything here in Sweden is at least in most cases two to three times more expensive then it is in the US of A and when I think how lousy my pay check from driving the taxi cab is with all the risks of getting robbed and murdered I truly wonder if I live in the right country...

Kind of makes me want to say: “God bless America.” In “SOME” ways at least.

Kindest regards,


Lars “Sweden” Olsson in Sundsvall, Sweden.

[JediTricks]

I think it's an economic thing, your country buys less product per capita and overall so Lego charges more to get product onto shelves. I'm not saying it's fair, just that it probably has a reason like that.

[Sweden]

JediTricks, you’re right in some ways but it’s not the whole truth though but a rather complicated political and economical mess here in the country of Sweden that people might not know of unless they live here or follow the news on TV or newspapers over here.

We’re supposed to be a democracy and a well fare state where everyone’s equal and where everyone can make a living and have a decent life as well as having a social security net that helps us if we get sick or unemployed but that died a very long time ago here in Sweden.

It’s always been said that we’re at least ten (10) years after the US of A in very many ways but our country is becoming more and more like your country as it’s becoming a more and more violent society as well as a country where the poor is poor and the rich is rich.

Our social security safety net is becoming weaker and weaker and more expensive as health care is becoming very expensive and people can’t afford to be sick or to go and see the doctor as health care is something that only the rich and beautiful sometimes can afford these days.

The politicians and large companies like Volvo becomes richer and richer as well as fatter and fatter while the foot people hardly can make a living and paying the bills as well as going to the dentist for example and I’ll give it a decade or two until we’re more like the US of A.

If you ever seen the movie “Roger and I” by director and writer Michael Moore you definitely know what I mean as the America he puts out in his movie is what’s happening right here in Sweden and no one ever thought it’d come to that in the glorious? country of Sweden.

Anyway... I could go on for hours but I just shared my thoughts on the subject.

And no... I’m not a communist. LMAO :D

Kindest regards,


Lars “Sweden” Olsson in Sundsvall, Sweden.