parchioso

Eurobricks Vassals
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  1. Thanks all for the comments, it is great to see that the set receives very positive rating, as it is indeed a very impressive and high quality SW set. By the way, here is a picture I have on the pink bar (good that I have the picture taken before, the set is already packed and hidden away from my family, who would complain about me playing lego): http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/42445 ? The part and color used for this item in the new set is different from 7171, but would a transparant neon orange technic beam make the podracers look even better?
  2. Set name: Anakin Skywalker and Sebulba's Podracers Set number: 7962 Year of release: 2011 Parts: 810 Minifigures: 5 - Anakin Skywalker, Sebulba, Wald, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Watto Many of us have probably missed 7171 Mos Espa Podrace and I would say this new Podracer set is truly excellent and not disappointing. Compared to 7171, here we got only two podracers without Gasgano's, but aside from that (and the use of stickers instead of printed plates), there are improvements in all areas: 1. Larger podracer body with excellent details For Anakin's podracer, there are more details at the engine, which makes it more solid, and the cockpit also has a small flipped wing, but the biggest improvement comes in Sebulba's Podracer, the main engine is composed of Arm with Clip, Rods and wheel cone, which not only gives more details and size to the podracer, but also power and contour, the four solid side engines are more sophisticated, the use of more slopes and curves all over the podracer make it look wonderful, although there is no more printed parts, the stickers mix well into the model. The buzz saws! The beams connecting the cockpits to the engine is now transparent, while I feel that it may look better with colored beams, I read about some writing saying that the transparent beams would create a sense of electric current, what do you think? 2. The stands One of the caveat of the old podracers has got to be the way it is made to stand, using a few bricks to elevate it is too plain, now there is a nicely crafted stand, and the use of transparent bent beam makes the display look great, I wish the base stand are all transparent parts as well. This is a sample that perhaps we can use for setting up display for models that cannot stand naturally like the pod racers 3. Minifigs Sebulba is now in color and not monochrome, which makes the old minifig not appealing at all, the same happens with Watto, this set includes two of the rarest Lego Starwars minifig, I can still recall people selling Watto at very high price in local market (I think the Bricklink price is still very high), this is a great opportunity to get these figures, the better ones too. But this also raise an interesting topic, with a better and general available new minifig around, would it have any impact on the selling price of the old minifig? Another goodie would be Wald, although this is not a super character but I think it is his first appearance in Lego. And you also get the old good Obi-Wan, it is not something special but it is a bonus too. Anakin has also great surprises, the head is a two sided one, and the helmet has nice pattern, I like this new version a lot! 4. Price I think this set is reasonably priced, with two bigger, better and nicely designed pod racers, and all the wonderful minifigs coming with it. 5. Packaging of Finished product The design actually allows you to pack the finished podracers into the box with qiute some free spaces! A nice design for people with limited storage space at home. No doubt this is a must get set, and I think Lego has done a wonderful job this time. Reviewed by: Parchioso (www.brickand.me)
  3. parchioso

    Is it worth it to get 6209 at a high prize today?

    If I buy 6209 at USD 200 today, I don't think I can sell it for any real profit in the future, in this thread many prefers 8097 and I think they have points.
  4. parchioso

    Is it worth it to get 6209 at a high prize today?

    Thanks to all for the feedback, look like there is a common opinion that is helpful for me to understand how 6209 is "valued" today. I think I collect some old sets like many do, but not exactly a collector as I would see myself, Slave I is a great vehicle so I think there is a compelling drive to have all versions of it, so perhaps I would get that expensive set along with a new one, and try to build 6209 out of the new slave before opening the box.
  5. I found a box of 6209 in a local store, with the new Lego 8097 Slave available, is it worth it to get the 6209 set today, which will cost me around USD200? Which model do you think is better? Personally I don't like the red color base of 8097.
  6. parchioso

    Review: 8128 Cad Bane's Speeder

    May be the Bane minifig can still be further improved, but I am already quite impressed by this version, it does bring out the character's essence quite well.
  7. parchioso

    DK Brickmaster Starwars book Review

    The ISBN# 978-1-40535-622-0 Please check out the Amazon link for reference too.
  8. parchioso

    DK Brickmaster Starwars book Review

    Thanks all for the remarks. I understand that not all the models would look great to each individual, but it is quite impressive that all these models can be built from a same set of bricks, the cost is especially good. But one caveat in this set is this extra "part" that I found: A warning sign of Lego quality control?
  9. It happens again that a brick master book arrives unexpectedly in Hong Kong, but this time it is a super great one which I think is the best brick master so far. I think it is great not only because it is Starwars, the designs are really excellent! The set includes 2 minifigs to depict a clone trooper vs Battle Droid confrontation, and each of them have 4 vehicles to fight under the following scenarios: Battle on Christophsis This set of models uses up all the bricks, you get a AAT Battle Tank and a NU-Class Attack Shuttle. The battle tank is simple but nicely scaled, the shuttle has good playability and looks quite cool, but it is not designed well for stand display though. This set is also not minifig scaled. Ice Encounter This is a very simple set, not much sophistication on the STAS (Single Trooper Airspeeders) and the LAAT (Low altitude Assault Transport). Desert Raid The Mobile Missile Platform in this set is very interesting and innovative in my opinion, the mountable blaster cannon is very cool. The S-Wing Speeder bike is also excellent with the red/yellow patterns. Forest Fight This is actually my favorite among 4, the VTS (Varied Terrain Speeder) looks like a firepowerhouse with good agility, while the AT-RT walker is definitely a formidable foe. With so many good designs from 240 bricks, the price that I got at USD 20 is truly a bargain! This book is so great and I think a review may not be that useful really, as most of the folks here sure will grab one no matter what others say, just hope that it arrives soon at your cities. My blog entry for this review: http://brickand.me/2...erBookEver.aspx
  10. parchioso

    REVIEW: 7573 Battle of Alamut

    This is a great set! Although it is the highest price set in the theme, in my opinion it is the lowest cost one in terms of overall value, I have done a quick analysis based on the local pricing and only 7570 The Ostrich Race comes close in "price-performance".
  11. After completing 8061 Gateway of the Squid, I would say the overall impression is not really that good, the minifigs, which includes the Squid warrior and divers, are quite impressive, especially the very cool Squid warrior, but the squids and the temple are disappointing. Very cool Squid Warrior, one consolation for getting this set! Model No. 8061 Name: Gateway Of The Squid Theme: Atlantis Year: 2010 Minifigs: 3 Price: HKD 498 = USD 63 The design of tentacles in one single long piece is not ideal but still acceptable, but the squid body and claw do not appear realistic to me, same for the smaller octopus, I understand it may not be easy to design these two sea creatures, but in such forms I just feel that they look odd, the octopus looks more like a white spider to me. The use of rubber band to open the gates is also a failure, wouldn't using technic parts provide a smoother movement? And yes, you get the blue key ring This set looks negative to me except the minifigs and the Squid Warriors, and the price in our geography is also very high and unreasonable (as usual for those sets that Lego sees as "demanding" ones), in comparison, a year 1997 second hand 6441 Deep Sea Refuge I got recently is much more impressive, wonder how come Atlantis sets cannot be designed with that level of quality. My 8061 review blog entry: http://brickand.me/2010/03/10/Lego8061Gate...quidReview.aspx My 6441 review blog entry - in case you wish to see how an 1997 set with undersea background was designed (A slightly incomplete second hand set though) http://brickand.me/2010/03/14/BetterExperi...pSeaRefuge.aspx
  12. parchioso

    Review: 8409 Spider Monkey

    Thanks to all for the votes and feedbacks, just like to share with you the result of a similar poll from a Taiwan based forum From Pockyland (Taiwan) - 95 votes Support 5.26% (5) Against 51.58% (49) Observing 22.11% (21) No opinion 21.05% (20)
  13. parchioso

    Review: 8519 Big Chill

    After I posted my last review on 8409 Spider Monkey, I found out that a lot of people were looking forward to this new theme, but most of the feedback were not really favorable to this new product line, to be fair and trying to take a second look, I opened the second box of Ben 10 set I purchased: 8519 Big Chill. Among the Lego Ben 10 sets I saw, Spider Monkey and Big Chill look more interesting because the spider monkey has six limbs, and Big Chill has a pair of wings, the other sets looks simple and feel like containing only a subset of the two I chosen. The parts inventory looks familiar after building 8409 By the way, the head is actually composed of two parts (just remove the screw) The building process is again, too simple, so I spent time in playing with it by making a few wierd postures. High kicks can be as good as Kung Fu masters like Bruce Lee Kung Fu training postures Another posture: I must say again that the flexibility of this design provides is really impressive, but for me, there are other things to think about beyond enjoy playing with this...toy. There is a poll related to the Ben 10 theme at the 8409 review thread, please visit to share your vote: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=38269 My related blog entry: http://brickand.me/2010/02/03/ASecondLookA...lSetReview.aspx
  14. Set No.:8409 Name:Spider Monkey Theme:Ben 10 Parts: 21 Minifigs:None Price: USD 14.99 Year:2010 I was not aware of this new theme called Ben 10 before I saw 6 boxes of these on display in local Toysrus, although I was not very interested, out of curiosity I purchased 2 boxes. Since I have already gotton some clues from the box, there was no shock. As expected, there are some Bionicle like big parts, the whole thing can be assembled in minutes, in Bionicle sets there are usually technic parts and bricks, but there is none in this set, there is no minifig, you build the characters of the series. A quick search over the web reveals quite some negative remarks about this series, I think Lego does this with a valid business reason, well, in the days of PSP, Wii and XBOX, the fans of the Cartoon series can be a promising customer source that Lego wish to target, and they may conclude that such design is best for the group. Now on to the set, 8409, this is actually the only set in the theme that I have some interest, in fact, the creature is designed to be very flexible, aside from the official posture, I tried to turn it into a spider and it works, as a toy the playability is great. The parts are not that bad actually, nice color mix, and like Bionicle parts, I think they are technic compatible, may be usable for MOCs. The torso can actually be further broken down into 2 pieces, the one with many connectors can be useful in MOCs Personally I am not in favor of such design, getting a box for fun is fine, but I hope this trend will not expand to the other theme, Lego as I see it, should be based on a design concept that focuses on building from small parts, with big flexibility for changes in very detail level, big parts simply is against such design concept. I really don't know how to do a rating here because of the mix feeling, really wish that I can create a poll to know your opinion regarding this design trend. Such as: accept/agree, reject/disagree, observing, or no opinion (don't really care), I am doing such a poll in a Greater China forum and the interim result is quite interesting. Review in My Blog: http://brickand.me/2010/02/01/LegoBen10840...nkeyReview.aspx
  15. parchioso

    Omaha Beach Invasion

    I have also read about this amazing creation from brothers-brick, I think it would be 10X the magnificance if we can double the size (to make it a square) Thanks for sharing this great work with us!