REVIEW: 40308 Lester

[WhiteFang]

Hello everyone,

During my recent holidays to London in late May 2018, I had managed to visit the largest LEGO brand store in the world which is located at Leicester Square. I was pleased to be greeted by this iconic first-of-its-kind, LEGO mascot - Lester in his Union Jack outfit. The store experience was pleasant and you can find more of the store images in this Flickr folder, if you are interested to view my UK LEGO store experience. I went there a few times, but the experience is best enjoyed when you are at the store at 1000hrs so you can take nice pictures in-store. 

This is where the exclusive polybag is found. There is absolute no rush to get it as there are plentiful of stocks, retailing at GBP 5.99 each. I had to grab one and add it into my collection. The Lester minifigure was initially released as exclusive promotional minifigure and is limited to 275 copies and was given away during their store opening in December 2016 (if memories serve me right). There were skyrocket prices in the secondary market and a change of fate, the Lester minifigure was reported to be available in store for purchase without any buying conditions other than the restrictions in October 2017, as reported by Brickset. This immediate release crashed the resale market, especially there were nil notable differences between the two minifigures' design. 

Without further ado, let me share my simple thoughts in this review.  

Name: 40308 Lester
Theme: LEGO Miscellaneous / Promotional / LEGO Brand Stores 
Year: 2017
Pieces: 5
Minifigs: 1 minifigure
Price: USD NA, GBP 5.99, EURO NA, SGD NA
Resources: Brickset, Bricklink

An original polybag image of the 40308 Lester


Back view of the original polybag image of the 40308 Lester

Meet Lester and he is the mascot of LEGO Leicester Square in-store exclusive

As mentioned above, I am elated to be able to own this wonderful exclusive minifigure in my collection, especially able to get it at the largest LEGO Leicester Square Brand Store. This will make an excellent LEGO gift souvenirs for your AFOL friends back at home as there is simply no other place to get it other than there. You may also consider buying some of the other promotional item such as the 40220 London Bus. Otherwise, you can also simply waltz your way to Hamleys Toy store, located at Regent Street to get the other LEGO exclusive in London known as the 5005233 Hamleys Royal Guard. One important thing to note, the building above is not part of the polybag and any guess which building that's from?  

The LEGO building content

The polybag contains five building parts to build Lester minifigure and he is equipped with an accessory. 

Lester - all-rounded view inclusive of back printing

Lester is a cheerful looking minifigure with his dark blue three-piece suit with the union-jack design as his iconic waist coat. The minifigure comes with back printing and equipped with an uncommon black umbrella which had made six appearances till this date including the Penguin from the LEGO Batman Movie. The black bowler hat is quite a British icon and is pretty uncommon too. Till this date, it had only made seven appearances as well. 

LEGO London exclusives

Visiting the Buckingham Palace with his new found friend

To conclude, this is an above average polybag for its special exclusivity value in it. It is very iconic and at one glance, you can easily identify the origin of this minifigure. It also comes with an folded umbrella accessory. More importantly, it is not restricted to 275 copies worldwide when it first launched. I totally welcomed the mass release and making this polybag readily available 24/7 all year round in LEGO Leicester Brand Store. Time will tell how long this polybag will last before it ever goes out of production. As of now, this had made it very easy for us to gain access without the fear of running out of stock. 

Summary review
Playability: 8/10 (Nice minifigure and a great mascot to add into your City setting and in my case, I placed it near my Ferris Wheel display.)
Design: 8/10 (Minifigure design is pretty nice and a British icon.)
Price: 8/10 (Though some might find it expensive, but I find GBP 5.99 very reasonable for me to part my cash away and hopefully for others to buy them within this reasonable price range.)
Overall: 8/10 (You must get this polybag no matter what especially if you are great fan of LEGO plus it will put smiles to friends back at home who are into LEGO as well.)

I gave it a "4" based on my Review Score Card. What about yours?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Flickr.

[JopieK]

I really like it as well! I'll probably try to get some from Bricklink.

[MOMAtteo79]

nice minifig a little bit overpirced.

[Legoginge]

I liked this figure although I think using the exact same design as the 275 special ones was a mistake. There should have been some difference. 

As for price, yes it’s expesive but then again it’s now an iconic figure and in my opinion worth the price. 

[Lucarex]

17 hours ago, Legoginge said:

I liked this figure although I think using the exact same design as the 275 special ones was a mistake. There should have been some difference. 

As for price, yes it’s expesive but then again it’s now an iconic figure and in my opinion worth the price. 

A mistake? I don't think TLG see it like that, only the 275 owners of the original lease.

Lester has also been available in parts form at B&P online.

[makoy]

Thanks for the review! I have this polybag too.

On 6/18/2018 at 8:35 PM, WhiteFang said:

I totally welcomed the mass release and making this polybag readily available 24/7 all year round in LEGO Leicester Brand Store. Time will tell how long this polybag will last before it ever goes out of production. As of now, this had made it very easy for us to gain access without the fear of running out of stock. 

This sums up my feeling about this minifigure. 

 

18 hours ago, Legoginge said:

I liked this figure although I think using the exact same design as the 275 special ones was a mistake. There should have been some difference. 

As for price, yes it’s expesive but then again it’s now an iconic figure and in my opinion worth the price. 

It wasn't a mistake. The way I see it, the marketing arm of LEGO learned something valuable about the sentiments of collectors and even casual buyers.

In my eyes TLG just wanted to make Lester more available to more people and it's fundamentally the reason why TLG is producing toys.

[MAB]

20 hours ago, Legoginge said:

I liked this figure although I think using the exact same design as the 275 special ones was a mistake. There should have been some difference.

 

There is a difference, in both the packaging and the umbrella. Anyone with the original set as an investment is hoping the packaging is worth about £1000.

 

[Good Old Dude]

Awesome review!

[WhiteFang]

Thanks everyone. I am pleased that this Lester minifigure is not restricted to just 275 fans. Everyone should have at least a chance to own it somehow. By restricting it in one store with ample supply, I think it is very fair to have a chance to get into the game. 

On 6/20/2018 at 9:33 PM, MAB said:

There is a difference, in both the packaging and the umbrella. Anyone with the original set as an investment is hoping the packaging is worth about £1000.

I am not aware there’s a difference in the black umbrella. 

[julesvincent]

The difference is that there IS an umbrella in the polybag. The Store Opening blister doesn‘t have an umbrella at all. 

[WhiteFang]

Just now, julesvincent said:

The difference is that there IS an umbrella in the polybag. The Store Opening blister doesn‘t have an umbrella at all. 

Oh my. I thought the umbrella was included as part of standard offering. Thanks for clarifying my doubts. 

[makoy]

53 minutes ago, WhiteFang said:

I am not aware there’s a difference in the black umbrella. 

Because the first one didn't have one. :P

[MAB]

That's right. Polybag has umbrella, original doesn't. The torso has (and still is currently) been available on bricks and pieces, so it is easy to get hold of one even if you are not in London.

[treffer21]

inormally i did not collect minifigs, but hamlet and lester i own now. i think they will make a good figure near bigben

[AmperZand]

On 6/20/2018 at 12:10 PM, Lucarex said:

Lester has also been available in parts form at B&P online.

Indeed. Even though I can make it to the Leicester Square store fairly easily from where I live, I just ordered the parts I needed as part of a B&P order a while ago. I already had a suitable head; it's not exactly the same but pretty close. So all I had to do was order:

• 6218242 torso assembly
• 4162916 hip/legs assembly
• 6210307 bowler hat
• 6171840 umbrella.

Total cost (excluding head): £2.08. Even if you add a bit for the head, it's still less than the RRP of a CMF, so not terrible value for money.

There was also P&P of course, but that wasn't much and it was part of a larger B&P order anyway. 

[Lucarex]

49 minutes ago, AmperZand said:

Indeed. Even though I can make it to the Leicester Square store fairly easily from where I live, I just ordered the parts I needed as part of a B&P order a while ago. I already had a suitable head; it's not exactly the same but pretty close. So all I had to do was order:

• 6218242 torso assembly
• 4162916 hip/legs assembly
• 6210307 bowler hat
• 6171840 umbrella.

Total cost (excluding head): £2.08. Even if you add a bit for the head, it's still less than the RRP of a CMF, so not terrible value for money.

There was also P&P of course, but that wasn't much and it was part of a larger B&P order anyway. 

Exactly what I did. 

[carebear]

thanks for this great review!

- it's a very nice figure

Greetings!