UPDATE: I’ve reviewed the Winter Soldier polybag, check it out for better pictures of the minifigure and my thoughts on it!

It’s happening! The UCS Shield Helicarrier is now available for pre-order on the Australian LEGO.com site. It’s a little odd that it’s a pre-order and not a pre-release sale like what our US counterparts are enjoying. Looks like it’s no longer a preorder as the site now says that the Helicarrier is “Available Now”.

If you feel like dropping $500 on the largest LEGO Marvel Super Heroes set yet, you can do so on the product page. Do note that you have to be signed into your LEGO VIP account to see and pre-order it.

When I added the Helicarrier to my cart, I was greeted by a small surprise – I found the LEGO Winter Soldier promotional polybag added to my cart. There seems to be no indication of this offer on the LEGO.com site and through a bit of experimenting – you only seem to be able to get the Winter Soldier if you purchase the Helicarrier. Well played, LEGO marketing team.

More details are now available on LEGO.com about the Helicarrier VIP Early Access – the window to receive the Winter Soldier minifig is only until the 28th of February.

Here’s a blurry leaked photo of 5002943 Winter Soldier polybag which was featured on FBTB a while back. Curiously, this offer only seems to be available to Australians. Yay? It’s now available to customers in Europe as well.

Additionally, you will also receive the February promo – Demolition Driller for spending more than $45.

Anyway, I can’t wait for my Helicarrier to arrive. I’ll worry about where to display it later.

Oh and if you’re on the fence on this, I recommend not waiting as the SHIELD Helicarrier is already sold out/on backorder in the US of A.