What’s in the box? LEGO 5005704 Star Wars Mystery Box [Review]

Back in December, LEGO Stores in the US and Canada launched a Star Wars box promotion that featured 5 rare polybags. Earlier this month, it became available in the UK and select European countries, where it was again marketed as a Star Wars Mystery Box. (Specifically, the countries included Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, France, and Belgium.) While both region-locked promotions are over, we’re here to have a quick look at what we found inside, though it should be noted that not all the boxes are the same. What’s in the box? Is it worth it? Let’s take a quick look first at what we found in our box and the promotion details.

Details on both regions’ promotions can be found here in our news announcements for the US and Canada (promotion period December 2018) and the UK and select EU countries announcement (promotion period 11 April – 15 April 2019)

What’s in the box?

This box came right out of the Leicester Square Store in London. It seems LEGO is viewing it as a good way to get rid of inventory while boosting sales around a promotion.

The contents are a little disappointing–or, well, it depends on how big a collector you are in the first place. Star Wars fanatics would likely already have most, if not all, of the gifts inside. Particularly for me, I’ve already have the R3-M2, DJ and the Darth Vader Pod. The Finn keychain and the U-Wing Fighter are the only things not already in my collection, and that’s because they’re things I’m not really interested in.

Is there a complete list of mystery box items?

The mystery box isn’t exactly a mystery if you paid attention to the gallery of images in the product listing. The contents of my box and several others shared in social media confirms that the European boxes consist of 5 randomly selected items the 12 pictured below.

The full description is as below:

5004408 : Lego Rebel A-wing Pilot polybag (2016)
5005376: Darth Vader Pod (2018)
30611 : Buildable R2-D2 (2017)
40298 : DJ  (2018)
40268 : R3-M2 (2017)
30496 : U-Wing Fighter (2017)
40288: BB-8 Polybag (2018)
40176 : Scarif Stormtrooper (2017)
40300 : Han Solo Mudtrooper (2018)
Finn Keychain
Rebel Pilot Keychain
Rey Keychain

The US/Canada page listing for the promotion is no longer live, but from the images that we’ve seen, here’s the stateside assortment that we are aware of. We did notice that the US/CAN promotion was not listed as a ‘mystery’ box, but instead a Star Wars Box Promotion, hence the fixed mini figures being distributed. If you received something else in your North American box, be sure to let us know in the comments.

5001621: Hoth Han Solo (2013)
5002938: Stormtrooper Sergeant (2015)
5002947: Admiral Yularen (2015)
40176: Scarif Stormtrooper (2017)
40298: DJ (2018)

The Big Prizes!

Well, I must say I caved into the gimmick of lucky draws and sweepstakes. Guilty as charged, the primary reason I overspent on this Mystery Gift was to get that one chance to enter the lucky draw for one of the Platinum or Sterling Silver R2-D2’s. There’s also a signed TC-14 minifigure in the sweepstakes. The TBB team noticed that for the US/CAN giveaway, no purchase was necessary, but for this UK/EU draw, the rules are quite stringent. Every card printed has a unique code at the back (redacted for the image below) that will need to be entered in the online form. The fine print says winners of this contest will need to show proof of purchase to claim the prize, so you may want to keep that receipt handy so you don’t lose out big time!

The prizes, especially the R2-D2s, are especially unique, with only 5 platinum droids ever produced and 10 for the Sterling Silver. I’m still curious about whose signature appears on the TC-14. John Fensom donned the costume, while Lindsay Duncan provided the character’s voice in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The signature is a scribble that I cannot decipher. Perhaps a keen-eyed reader can let us know in the comments who it is. (Update: reader Erik E. has tracked down that it’s John Fensom’s autograph.)

What are the prizes worth?

In the official rules for the UK/EU promotion, the following are given as the approximate retail value for the items. It’s pretty clear that these are likely to be the costs associated with producing these items, not their true value as collectibles. The likely reason for these prices is that these might need to be declared by the winner for taxation in some countries. From what we know about the US/CAN draw, it simply says win one of 5 and the possibility includes one of the items below. While the prizes are the same, the distribution is unknown. We well know that the secondary market for these items is definitely going to be astronomical in value (a solid gold C-3PO minifigure from 2007 just sold on eBay for $65,100).

Summary

For the savvy collector, it pays to pay attention to the small things. While this promotion is over, it’s likely that LEGO will run similar ones in the future. Pay attention to how contests in different countries are customized according to different laws. The US Promotion was listed as a Star Wars Box, whilst the UK/EU one was listed as a Mystery Box. While both have the same grand prizes, the quantity differs. The gifts in the US promotion had some older polybags whereas the UK ones had more recent polybags. The gifts in the boxes this time are not going to make anyone jump out of their seats, especially fans that keep a close tab on exclusives along the years. But for the casual shopper, these may just be additional goodies that add some play value.

3 comments on “What’s in the box? LEGO 5005704 Star Wars Mystery Box [Review]

  1. squidy74squidy74

    This was not something that was available in Australia (not uncommon, most S@H GWP’s don’t make it here and we don’t have any Brand Stores, just Certified stores) so will be interesting to see if under the new non regional specific guidelines things like this will make it to Australia as well.

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