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RE: LEGO® JANUARY 2026 LAUNCH

TL;DR (Short Version)

LEGO® failed to send Bricknowlogy the vast majority of our January 2026 launch order in time for release day on January 1st.  LEGO® stated the product would arrive early and actually made us agree that we would not sell any new product prior January 1, 2026.  LEGO® only sent us 16% of our order – excluding Star Wars™, CITY, and Speed Champions and many other highly anticipated new products.  LEGO® acknowledged there was some “issue” on their end, yet made no effort to mitigate or remediate the situation.  Indeed, LEGO® has not even responded to our emails.  LEGO® knows how much hype is generated for Launch Day. Every other (major) retailer in the valley – including the LEGO® corporate Brand store – received their product, and some are selling it early – apparently with no consequences.  Through their actions and in-actions, LEGO® is demonstrating their contempt and disregard for Bricknowlogy and all our customers – which are also customers of LEGO®. We hope to receive our full order by January 4th or 5th.  As the owner of Bricknowlogy, I sincerely apologize for the frustration and delay.  I don’t want to disappoint or inconvenience you – our loyal customers – by coming out to our store and not having the product you rightfully expect us to have.  I will provide updates as the situation becomes more clear.

Thank you all for your continued support of Bricknowlogy and other small / local businesses.  It is very much appreciated.

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For those interested in the full story and the deeper implications…

LONG VERSION

I placed Bricknowlogy’s January 2026 Launch order on November 14, over two weeks before the deadline.

On November 17, 2025, LEGO® sent out a message to “Undisclosed Recipients”, including Bricknowlogy, stating that January 2026 products would be sent “earlier than usual, allowing [us] to receive it before the official launch date of January 1.”  We were also told that any information related to this product was considered “confidential until the official launch date” (despite all of the pictures, pre-orders, and details available on their own web site as well as that of most other retailers) and that we were to “refrain from putting them on sale until the designated launch date”.  The message went on to say that “compliance with this timeline is mandatory and any other action different from this… will be consider[ed] a breach of our contract and a violation to the LEGO Group confidentially process, and as a result, we will no longer be shipping future product prior to launch to you.” Aside from the poor grammar, it was very clear that product would be arriving early, but that it was to be kept off the shelves – or face strict consequences. If we wanted to receive our product early, we were forced to agree to these terms. Bricknowlogy immediately agreed to these terms. I have no idea if any other entities also received this message.

One month later, when it became increasingly apparent that we were unlikely to receive our product early as we were promised – and forced to agree to – I proceeded to alert LEGO® of our concern. On December 17, I sent LEGO® an urgent message stating that our order still had not shipped and I stated very clearly that it “needs to ship by Friday, December 19 in order for [the product] to arrive in time for the January 1 launch”.

The next day, on December 18, I received yet another message to “Undisclosed Recipients” – addressed as, “Dear Valued Partner”. The message went on to say that there was an “internal error related to our January Novelty Orders that were scheduled to ship in December”.  We were told to “rest assured that [LEGO® is] aware of this issue and [is] actively working to resolve it.”  Furthermore, LEGO® stated that they “understand the inconvenience”, and “sincerely apologize for any disruption”.  It should be noted that in the past, LEGO® has made every effort to rectify any situation where they were at fault. In one case just last year, LEGO® hired a private van to personally deliver our entire May 4th order to make sure we got our products in time for that event. Fast forward to the present day, and Bricknowlogy was offered no such remediation or compensation for what will be a significant impact to our business operations. And no acknowledgement to you – our customers and their customers – that this was a terrible mishap of which they would take ownership and rectify.  To LEGO®, the inconvenience and impact to you – or to us – is of no concern… the product will be purchased somewhere, sometime, somehow, by someone.

Later that same day, December 18, LEGO® emailed me directly to inform Bricknowlogy that only 16% of the order would arrive on time, and the rest of it would ship on December 21. I strongly reiterated that was two days too late and that it needed to ship the next day, on December 19. I also stated that they needed to expedite the shipping at their expense in order to fulfill the obligations and get my order to the store on time. As of this writing on December 29, I still have heard nothing more from LEGO®. However, on December 16, LEGO® did find the time to inform me of an improper use of the LEGO® Minifigure® on a Bricknowlogy web post from 2021.

The order did not ship on December 21 as LEGO® stated it would. The order did not ship until December 26. I still have not heard anything from LEGO®, and despite my efforts to try to expedite the shipment now that it’s en route, it is not scheduled to arrive until January 4. We will miss the January 1 launch date and the entire launch weekend on January 2nd and 3rd. By the time our product arrives and we’re able to get it onto the shelves, it will be January 5, the earliest.

It should be noted that every other store in the valley has received their January 2026 release product. Some of that product is already out on the shelves, in direct violation of the terms that we were forced to agree to at Bricknowlogy. Apparently, those rules do not apply to anyone else. I’m including one photo I personally captured where the product is already out for sale here in the valley (and moreover, below the LEGO® minimum price rules). Other stores are taking pre-orders or starting to sell product early as well. Some of our customers are bringing product to the store to show us what they already have in hand from the LEGO® 2026 launch from other stores. I would wager my entire inventory the LEGO® corporate-owned brand store just down the road from us will have all their product on January 1 as well. Everyone but Bricknowlogy.  Why?

For those of you that have pushed through and read this entire message… thank you. I would like to make a few points. First of all, and most importantly, I appreciate your time and attention to this matter. My primary reason for sending this message is that I want all our customers to know that we will not have product as we typically would on January 1st. I do not want you or anyone else to make a special trip to the store only to be disappointed. This is the first time in 12 years that we have not had product for launch – and that is both disappointing and infuriating. My sincere apologies.

After all the loyalty that Bricknowlogy and all of us LEGO® fans here in the valley have shown to the LEGO® brand, it is very sad and unfortunate they have no concerns or qualms that the single largest retailer here is not going to have product on launch day. Zero concern for the impact to our customers.  ZERO.  We know that some of you travel a great distance to get here – some 90 minutes or more – and yet there is no urgency or remediation efforts on the part of LEGO® to take care of their customer base that we have helped establish over the past 13 years. And we are their customers too – which apparently makes no difference either. Absolutely no concern for the disappointment, the disruption, the time wasted, and the expense incurred by this gross negligence.

Secondarily, I want to make it clear that there is another issue with play here – a much broader and darker issue that I will expand upon and communicate over the coming weeks and months. I have been silent for too long, and I am no longer going to refrain from speaking out. Nor will I continue to cover for LEGO®.  There are some very disconcerting practices taking place that I wish to reveal and share with you at a later date. In the interim, I understand that everyone is excited to get their hands on some of the new product, so I would encourage you to shop anywhere other than a LEGO® corporate-owned store. Not because they are better than us, but because they are much, much worse.

Thank you. I will let you know when our product finally arrives.

Picture taken at Meridian Costco, December 27, 2025

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