• 10316: The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell has gone on sale in South Africa for R7 999.
• This price qualifies buyers for a gift with purchase in the form of 40586: LEGO ICONS Moving Truck.
• Overseas buyers instead get a less exclusive gift.

Recently we brought you the news of a grand LEGO set in the form of 10316: The Lord of the Rings: Rivendell which was just announced when we published. Now the set is available locally and those with deep pockets can score themselves something extra.

As a recap, the Rivendell set comes with 6 167 pieces and 15 minifigures, encompassing the entire Fellowship plus extra characters. Pricing overseas is €499.99, $499.99 or £429.99 depending on where you live with the South African sticker printed at R7 999, available only from the Certified South African LEGO Stores during this initial release window.

Those who are familiar with LEGO in South Africa – and those who have read our comprehensive guide here – will know that this store will occasionally give out free sets with qualifying purchases, known as a gift with purchase or GWP.

For Rivendell, buyers will unlock a GWP in the form of 40586: LEGO ICONS Moving Truck. This isn’t locked to Rivendell, but instead anyone buying sets to the value of R3 500 or more also qualifying. It’s worth mentioning here as Rivendell is one of the most anticipated sets of the year, and this is the GWP which is live during the release window.

This set is officially valued at R479 but that isn’t entirely true. This is because this set cannot be outright purchased, but instead can only be given away as a gift with the aforementioned high price. This has raised the value on the secondhand market where the average price of the moving truck at the time of writing is R641, not including the huge extra expenses of overseas shipping.

At this point there may be some confusion even with LEGO aficionado, so let’s clear up some things.

Firstly, you may see some mentions of a jazz club in the description of the moving truck. This is referencing another large set in the form of 10312: LEGO ICONS Jazz Club. The jazz club is part of LEGO’s modular building subtheme that usually launches with an accompanying GWP in the same style as the main building. For the jazz club the moving truck was released late, so the pair weren’t launched at the same time. Again, any spend of R3 500 or more qualifies for the moving truck GWP, so this is another reminder to get these two if you are so inclined (and can afford it).

Secondly, buyers overseas will get a different GWP with Rivendell, this time something actually from The Lord of the Rings. That is 40630: BrickHeadz Frodo & Gollum. The big difference here is that South Africans are getting the better deal. Whereas the moving truck can only be obtained as a GWP, ignoring secondhand options, the BrickHeadz is instead a regular retail set anyone can buy at any time.

In South Africa the BrickHeadz costs R299.

So what to make of all of this? There’s a lot of numbers in this story and we always aim to offer some buying advice, even for luxury items like LEGO.

If you were always planning on buying Rivendell, you can’t wait for a sale and you like the moving truck, then now is time to pull the trigger.

If you were always planning on buying Rivendell, but you don’t like the moving truck, wait for another GWP to come into stock. This will almost certainly happen before Rivendell gets any kind of discount and a new GWP is usually launched every couple of months.

If you are on the fence about Rivendell and a GWP doesn’t factor into that, especially because of Rivendell’s price, wait for a sale or for used copies to become available.