May The Force Be With You: LEGO Stores May 2010

I was taking a second look at the US LEGO Store May calendar, and there's a lot of good stuff happening:

• Shop online for a exclusive mystery item with any LEGO Star Wars purchase
• On May 11th and 12th there's a BOGO half-off on LEGO Star Wars magnet sets in stores
• May 24th thru 27th you get 50 bonus VIP points if you buy set 10198, Tantive IV
• If you purchase $50 or more in LEGO Star Wars swag and have the coupon, you can get a Count Dooku key chain for free
• Even the LEGO Club meetings this month are focused against Star Wars. $25 dollars will get you into a meeting on either the 8th, 15th or 22nd, a t-shirt, and a bag of bricks. The monthly build is a 'droid'

So how might you work this all to your advantage? Well if you want to take a risk and wait until Monday to try and order new items like Toy Story 3 and Collectible Minifigures (assuming Shop@Home will be offering them), any purchase of a Star Wars item will get you the exclusive. There may even be an small, outside chance that the sets now on sale via Amazon.fr will also become available!

Although the coupon doesn't state the offer is good for in store only, you might also score the Count Dooku key chain if your Star Wars purchase online is above $50. Keep the coupon handy just in case. I don't see an online coupon code, though.

If you do order online via Shop@Home go over to Toys N Bricks and grab the Brickmaster code for $5 off online orders. This may or may not cover shipping, but at least it takes away a little of the bite.

The long awaited and error-ridden Admiral Ackbar magnet set might be available by May 11th. There's no mention of limits on the BOGO offer, so you could score this new magnet set with 25% off to boot! If you spend more than $50, have that Dooku coupon handy assuming they haven't sold out.

I leave it up to you to decide if the Tantive IV offer or the LEGO Club meeting swag is worth it. 50 VIP points in the US equates to around $2.50 if my calculations are correct. You might be better off waiting until the holidays for better deals.

As always 'buyer beware'. If you wait until the 3rd to order things like Toy Story 3 and Collectible Minifigures, and they don't offer them online (I don't have any hard evidence that says they will, only a hunch), then you might miss out via other retailers if they sell out. The exclusive might be a little 'meh' too.

Good luck and 'play well'!