Ever since we saw the three LEGO Iron Man 3 sets revealed several months ago, fans have been asking non-stop: “Where’s the LEGO Iron Patriot Minifigure?!” Many fans feared the worst: that the Iron Patriot LEGO Minifigure would end up as a hard-to-get and expensive store or convention exclusive. Well, it turns out that those fears were warranted: the Iron Man 3 LEGO Iron Patriot Minifigure is in fact going to be a store exclusive requiring a LEGO video game purchase…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last month, you’ve probably heard about this “Iron Man 3” movie that just set a bunch of records internationally and is about to open in the United States this week. Iron Man 3 is pretty much a merchandising juggernaut–I haven’t even seen the movie yet, and I’m already burned-out on talking about its merch, as I’ve written what seems like countless articles about Iron Man 3 products on my Marvel Toy News blog this month.

One of the most prevalent and striking things you’ll see in most any trailer for the Iron Man 3 movie is the new Iron Patriot armor. Basically, Tony Stark redesigned the War Machine armor seen in Iron Man 2 into the War Machine Mark 2 armor, and that armor will get a patriotic color scheme and become known as the Iron Patriot.

Everyone–everyone–who’s a LEGO collector and an Iron Man fan is going to want this LEGO Iron Patriot minifigure. And they can have it–just so long as they pre-order a copy of the upcoming LEGO Marvel Super Heroes video game at Walmart while supplies last. No, really–that’s the one and only way to get the Iron Patriot figure without going to the secondary market for it.

This strikes me as a pretty bizarre and obnoxious move for LEGO, making the Iron Patriot LEGO Minifigure a pre-sell bonus exclusive. There’s a LEGO War Machine minifigure in a mass-release Iron Man 3 set, and the War Machine armor won’t even be seen in the Iron Man 3 movie! Making the Iron Patriot minifigure an exclusive is just plain aggravating, but even so, I know myself and many other LEGO collectors will now be placing a video game pre-order at Walmart to obtain the Iron Patriot minifig.

You can pre-order the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes video game from the online Walmart website or your local store now, and you’ll be able to get your LEGO Iron Patriot minifigure when the game becomes available.