Because there are only a handful of LEGO Batman sets released each year, there are actually still quite a few collectors out there who own every LEGO Batman set every released! But life is about to get a whole lot harder for any completists left out there, because a new set has just been announced that you can’t buy–because you have to try to win it! It’s the limited-edition LEGO Bat-Pod set, limited to just 750 pieces produced!

LEGO catches a lot of flack for the excruciatingly difficult-to-get convention exclusives it releases each year, but now they’ve come up with an exclusive set that’s going to be even harder to acquire: the LEGO DC Super Heroes Bat-Pod set!

For those who don’t remember, the Bat-Pod is (of course) Batman’s motorcycle of choice from Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises” movies. I don’t believe the Batpod itself has any aesthetic differences between the two films, so you could pass this off as the Bat-Pod from your personal favorite among those two films (which, let’s face it, isn’t “The Dark Knight Rises” for anybody).

Here’s the deal: 750 LEGO Batman Bat-Pod sets are being produced, and they cannot be purchased directly for any amount of money. The only way to obtain one of the Batpods is to be a LEGO VIP member and to submit an entry (or many entries!) to win in June 2015.

Starting June 1st 2015 and continuing until June 30th, every LEGO VIP Member will automatically be given an entry into a random giveaway for a LEGO Batman Batpod set each time they make a purchase at the online or physical LEGO Store. In addition, you can enter purchase-free once per day by sending in an E-Mail with your contact information. If you’re not already a VIP Member, no worries–you can still sign up now or any time after the contest begins and still be eligible!

And then in July 2015, the winners of the exclusive Bat-Pod LEGO contest will be announced and sent their prizes, totally free of charge! I believe this type of contest is totally unprecedented, and I know the tens of thousands of Batman fans out there are going to be rabid to get their mitts on this set!

The advantage to this method of distributing a limited set is that all VIPs can enter, and not just those who can afford to attend a specific convention. And hey–if you win, you don’t even have to pay for your LEGO Batpod!

The disadvantage is that, no matter how bad you want one, you can’t increase your odds of winning this set other than by entering every day. With con exclusives, impractical as it may be, collectors could buy plane and con tickets and wait many hours in line to guarantee a set. With this method, it’s totally random who will and will not receive a Batpod.

What do you think of this way of releasing LE sets, Batman fans? Do you prefer these totally random contests to convention exclusives, or would you rather LEGO cut it out with all these nearly-impossible-to-get sets altogether?