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Found 69 results

  1. Official Press release 18.01.2013 10232 Palace Cinema (Available March 1st. 2013, for VIP Customers 14th. of February!) US $149.99, CDN $199.99, DE 139,99€, UK £119.99, DK 1,099.00 DKK Build a grand premiere at the Palace Cinema! It's premiere night at the Palace Cinema! Illuminate the night sky with the spotlights as the child star arrives in a fancy black limousine! Gather the crowd on the star-studded sidewalk, then head into the detailed lobby with a concession stand and ticket area! Take the grand staircase into the theater with a large screen, movie projector and reclining chairs for 6 minifigures. Introducing the latest addition to the LEGO Modular Buildings series, the highly detailed, 2-story Palace Cinema corner building. This collectable model features a sidewalk of the stars, brick-built entrance doors, posters, sign frontage, a tower with spires and rooftop decorations. Includes 6 minifigures: child actress, chauffeur, female guest, male guest, photographer and cinema worker. Includes 6 minifigures: child star, chauffeur, female guest, male guest, photographer and cinema worker Features brick-built entrance doors, posters, sign frontage, tower with spires and rooftop decoration, lobby, concession stand, ticket area, staircase, big screen, projector and reclining seats for 6 minifigures Vehicles include classic-style limousine Hard-to-find elements include a red baseplate and dark tan, dark red, and gold pieces Seat a 6-minifigure audience in the reclining seats! Play on the star-studded sidewalk, in the detailed lobby or in the big-screen theater! Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO® Modular Buildings collection: 10224 Town Hall, 10218 Pet Shop and 10211 Grand Emporium! Palace Cinema measures 15" (38cm) high, 10" (25.5cm) wide, and 10" (25.5cm) deep Limousine measures 1.6" (4cm) high, 5.9" (15cm) long, and 1.9" (5cm) wide Images link to HR pics +7000.pxl Download Designer Video in HD (29.7 MB) Enjoy! :classic: VIP members may purchase the set starting on February 14th. S@H and Lego Brand Stores!
  2. The First Architecture set for 2013 will be: 21017 Imperial Hotel Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright from 1916-1922, the Imperial Hotel of Tokyo, Japan was commissioned to bridge the divide between the Western and Eastern worlds. This modern masterpiece exemplifies Frank Lloyd Wright's imagination and genius, designed in the shape of it’s own monogram logo and strong enough to withstand Japan’s frequent and devastating earthquakes. Today, the main entrance and lobby are all that remains of this icon, displayed in the Meiji Museum in Nogoya, Japan. This highly detailed LEGO® model, co-developed and designed by LEGO architects, captures all of the distinctive features that made the Imperial Hotel an architectural landmark for generations. The assembled Imperial Hotel model stands over 11" (28cm) wide on a base with printed name label. Set includes a booklet with facts about the building, its construction and its history. • Replica of real-world architectural landmark • Booklet included with details on design and history (English language only) • Explore advanced building techniques • Collect all of the LEGO® Architecture series models • Measures over 4" (10cm) tall, 11" (28cm) wide and 9" (24cm) deep Pictures link to HR images 2500+ .pxl! 1188 pcs. and range in the $90-$100 I can only think this will be Frank Lloyd Wright hotel in Tokyo which has been sadly demolished! 21015 The Leaning Tower of Pisa (From TLG official website) March 15th. 2013 The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Torre pendente di Pisa) took almost 200 years to complete and has stood beside the Cathedral of Pisa for over 600 years. Thanks to its famous tilt, it has become one of the world's most recognizable architectural landmarks. The story behind the bell tower spans over 800 years of European history and provides a fascinating glimpse into a miracle of medieval engineering. While the Tower of Pisa is most known for ”leaning”, it would still be a remarkable architectural structure without this famous feature. Constructed at a time when there was very little building of this kind being carried out in Europe, the intelligent use of columns and arches demonstrates an in-depth understanding of weight and load characteristics that was way ahead of its time. What the architect overlooked however, was the clay-based soil and the need for a foundation capable of supporting a bell tower that would eventually weigh 16.000 tons (14.500 metric tons). The eight-story tower was built with limestone and lime mortar, with an exterior covering of marble. Interestingly, the limestone is probably why the tower has not cracked and collapsed – the rock is flexible enough to withstand the pressures placed on it by the tilt. The bottom story of the tower is an arcade of 15 closed marble arches. Each of the following six stories contains 30 arches, while the final story, or bell-chamber, has 16 arches. Facts Location .....................................................................................................Pisa, Italy Architect .....................................................................................................Various Date ............................................................................................................Started 1173 – Completed 1399 Construction type .....................................................................................Bell Tower Architectural style .....................................................................................Romanesque Tower/Gothic Bell Chamber Materials ....................................................................................................Limestone, Lime mortar, Marble exterior Height .........................................................................................................8 stories, 185 ft. (56.4 m) Diameter of base ......................................................................................50 ft. 9.6 in. (15.484 m) Weight ........................................................................................................16,000 tons (14,500 metric tons) Angle of tilt .................................................................................................3.97 degrees 12 ft. 10 in. (3.9 m) from vertical Designing the Model As an Architectural Artist, my desire is to capture the essence of a particular architectural landmark into its pure sculptural form. I first and foremost do not view my models as literal replicas, but rather my own artistic interpretations through the use of LEGO® bricks as a medium. In an attempt to appeal to the vast admirers of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, our specific aim was to ensure that it could be both afforded and constructed by anyone looking to enjoy displaying a miniature Pisa they can call their own. To do so, I needed to adhere to a minimal element/part pallet, which would affect the model’s scale, level of detail and construction techniques while maintaining structural integrity.' Adam Reed Tucker 21018 United Nations Headquarters Not much info on this yet! but........ HR images added 21.06.2013 Enjoy! :classic:
  3. Hello everybody and let me present my version of a modified 42005 Monster Truck. It was my second set after my "dark age", that I've bought many years ago, after 42029 as supplementary set with a lot of useful pieces and planned to use for a live axle suspension and some other features for 42029 model. However, I liked the set as a simple and functional model and re-assembled it several times. Here is the model and later I'll provide the all details: A month ago, when I tired of infinite attempts to turn 41999 into a Muscle Car (the chassis isn't rigid enough, but I already did a great progress and hopefully will share it once) I returned to this model and set the task to motorize it adding 4WD, but keeping 4 wheels steering and current suspension (keep the original construction as possible as I can). First, I've analyzed the all existing attempts that I could find over EB, Rebrickable and YouTube and it happens that there were several MODs by different authors: First of all, it's @Splat’s MOD with all steered and driven axles (see topic here). I see no reason to duplicate its description, so let me just note that he saved the necessary features with adding Servo + L-Motor mounted under the hood and trunk. The chassis configuration is 4x4/4 or 4WD-4WS. It’s the best motorized model, I think, because of amazing simplicity and performance, but unfortunately it has a kind of “articulated” steering that isn't real, so was trying to made a "real" 4WD-4WS version, using this model as reference. Another one is Jan Dvorak’s (is he on EB?) MOD with all original features supplemented by on-axle L-Motor that drives the rear wheels and Servo for the 4WS. He added an additional 5X7 frame with differential that provided a necessary rigidness. The chassis configuration is 4x2/4 or RWD-4WS. Personally I don't like such a long axle sub-frame. However I've found a good idea of vertical gears inside the central shaft. The third one is @codefox421's MOD, inspired by Splat’s version, with the original front axle and non-steered custom rear axle with on-axle L-Motor. His custom rear axle, based on two portal hubs, is a quite compact and simple, but has no steering. The chassis configuration is 4x2/2 or RWD-FWS. It looks trial-ready with the portal hubs, but it's nearly impossible to add the steering here, so I got nothing from this model. An unusual @Tommy Styrvoky's MOD with an interesting feature: he modified the front axle, not the rear one, by adding a solid drivetrain with worm gear and on-axle M-Motor, so result is a front-wheels driven Monster Truck with oversized fake engine. The chassis configuration is 4x2/4 or FWD-4WS. Very aggressive! WRRRRR Daniel Wirasantosa’s (is he on EB?) MOD that differs from the previous ones by using of chassis-mounted L-Motor that drives the rear axle (that has a bit low ground clearance due to the 5x7 frame) and, moreover, he used a custom steering shaft that comes directly to the steering rack. The chassis configuration is 4x2/2 or RWD-FWS. Starting this version, I got a more or less defined plan: 4WD with off-axle (chassis-mounted) L-Motor that drives the both axles through the existing “drivetrain” (former steering shaft) and the off-axle Servo that steers the both axles through the custom steering shaft above the driveshaft. There were two more versions: Michael M’s stretched one and LEGOTechnic360’s solid-chassis version with no suspension, but they didn't help me with any new ideas. Nothing personal, guys, if you're reading it, I just had a full and consistent vision of my further MOD: Hull - the original with no changes. Axles geometry - original. I tried to save the all things like the wheels location, suspension mounting points, ground clearance, steering angles (that are even bigger a bit now)… And I still can't believe that made it, after a thousand tries! Suspension - original, with no changes. However I put the hard shock absorbers in the rear end, as the default ones were too weak to keep the BuWizz battery. Wheels - original. I decided to keep the original wheels and tires with no giant crawler ones or even Claas, that are too big even for a Monster Truck. Frame - mostly original, but possibly modified since it will have an L-Motor and Servo mounted above the axles (right under the cargo platform and hood). Drivetrain - it must be the ex-steering shaft that comes through the cardans inside the "big" ball joints to the both axles, connected to the L-Motor via the set of normal and clutch gears. Steering - for the all wheels, like in the original model, but the steering shaft comes above the drive shaft, in parallel with it and can slide a bit while the suspension moves. Enough the words...The most interesting part starts here. Following my plan, the bigger challenge was to modify the original axles - I tried several options, even trial-like with solid axles, but 4WS provides an amazing maneuverability due to big steering angles, so axle diffs are likely vital for such model (solid axles were making a permanent clicking noise in the transmission even with motor stalling sometimes) and I decided to make a fast Monster truck, not a slow crawler with a high torque. The drive train. There you can see how I did it: L-Motor rotates a set of 8T and 16T normal and clutch (required for the steering shaft) gears and then the main horizontal shaft, that were used for steering in the original model. After that the shaft rotates the 12T double bevel gears (ex-pinon gears from the original model), than 20T gears below, single-bevel 20T and the differentials. As result, the gearing ratio is 1:1.667 X 1:1.4 = 1.2334, and provides about ~100 RPM with 15.12 N.cm torque. The wheels connected by a wheel hubs, since I wasn't able to use the universal and CV joints with affordable steering angles, wheels position (I kept exactly the same position as in 42005) and rigidness. The steering. Here you can see the servo (mounted upside down in order to provide more space for the battery block above, steering shaft that goes above the driveshaft, 12T gears (pinions) and 13L racks joined to the wheel hubs. In order to allow the suspension travel, the gears has 1/2L offset from the racks and slides together with the shafts along the mounting points when the suspension compresses. It's a fully legal, but still allowed in LDD and works like a charm! The only mistake that the hubs must be from Claas, but they aren't presented in LDD unfortunately: Just to explain why I used the clutch gears (but with no gearbox actually, ha-ha ), the drive and steering systems intersects so hard, so followed TLG way and used the same solution that they did in the official models (42029, for example) - passed the one through the other. Green is a drive subsystem, blue - steering. The Axles. Here you can see how the steering shaft slides by 0.5L (notice the gap between the 12T black gear and LBG liftarm) - it provides about 1L suspension travel for the both axles. Other images, the story of a modified hull (by Phil), LDD file and instruction in PDF are coming soon...
  4. I would like to present my motorized and remote controlled (IR) version of this year's Monster Truck set (42005). My first goal was to keep the overall look and dimensions the same as the official model: The wheels, chassis and body are in the same positions, Only the axles, inner workings, and battery box have changed. My second goal was to somehow get the vehicle to have both steering and 4WD: As you can see above, I achieved the steering by making the entire front and rear axles turn via the use of gear racks and 6L links, while the drive goes through the ball joints, differentials, and portal hubs. Steering is handled by a PF Servo Motor, while drive is handled by a PF L motor. It is powered by a PF Rechargeable Battery, and a PF IR Receiver V2. My third goal was to increase the vehicles clearance as much as possible: And my last goal was to maintain a good amount of articulation: I had to modify the suspension attachment to allow an extra degree of movement to allow the suspension to operate smoothly. It runs quite well over small obstacles, however it is very top-heavy, so it does roll over quite easily. This isn't helped by the fact that as it turns, it leans outwards (opposite to how a skateboard works). Here are the parts (guts) that I had to remove from the original model: All pictures can be clicked on for larger versions at Brickshelf (once moderated). Here are some more pics: And last but not least, here is a link to the LDraw file: 42005_motorized_monster_truck.mpd Overall I am pleased that I was able to get this motorized given that there was only a small space to work with, and the model is very sturdy. I hope you like my motorized and RC 42005 Monster Truck. Any and all feedback/constructive criticism welcome. Edit: I have submitted this MOC to Rebrickable. Edit: I have created a quick video: Sorry about the audio quality - it was a very windy day!
  5. Being a fan of the Ninjago theme, and having enjoyed the TV show, I could not pass getting at least some of this year's sets. I started with two of the smaller ones, the Kai Mech, which I chose for its design, and the Warrior Bike, which I picked of the figs and parts. In fact, though the TV show version of the latter is somewhat cool, the actual LEGO bricks version did not stuck me as overly nice. Let's see if building it and having it in my hands made me change my mind. Theme: Ninjago Set name: Warrior Bike Set Number: 70501 Price: 19.99 $, 17.99 £, 19.99 Euro Pieces: 210 (+ 10 extras) Minifigures: 2 Year of release: 2013 Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset The Box Front The box is rectangular, almost three times as big as the Kai Mech one, and sports the new Ninjago style, with a mix of last year's green background and yellow-gold rays originating from the Golden Ninja's aura. LEGO and Ninjago logos dominate the upper part of the front, along with the Golden Ninja himself holding a (golden, of course) katana, which he really has no reason of using given his powers. The middle of the front has a shot of the set in action, with Jay flying around in his jet-pack and the stone warrior shooting missiles at him from the Warrior Bike. The age range and set number info complete this portion for the European version; I expect the North America version to have more writings as usual. In the lower right corner, an eye catching text box, circumfused by golden light, informs us that this is one of the sets from the 'Final Battle' stage of the Ninjago story. As we now know, this battle is not final at all, since a return of the Ninjago theme as been officially announced for 2014. Back The back shows the set's play features: shooting missiles, loading the missiles in the Warrior Bike shooing mechanism, having Jay battle the Stone Warrior after parking his jetpack against a nearby rock. The corners of the back are very interesting as well: the lower left corner sports a 'collect them all' list of the Element Blades, while the lower right one is used by Sensei Wu to advertise the Ninjago site; lastly, if we take a closer look at the upper right corner... We can see the TV show version of the Warrior Bike, which sports different tyres and has a lower, more elongated overall shape. Sides The upper side of the box shows Jay, with name tag, approaching a nameless Stone Warrior, while the mug-shot depicts Jay himself at 1:1 size. The lower side, as we can expect, bears the usual LEGO legal and safety info. Contents Inside Upon opening the box, we find an instructions booklet, a rubber thread, two big hard plastic tyres, two long technic bricks, and four un-numbered bags of parts. As you can see, though most of the bigger parts are either Black or Dark Bley, Red, Blue and Lime accents liven up the set. New pieces New parts included in this small set are: Minifig, Weapon Ice Sword with Jagged Edges and Marbled White Pattern, and most of the minifig parts (more on those later on). Re-coloured parts Re-coloured parts in this set include: Dark Bluish Gray Brick, Round Corner 3 x 3 x 2 Dome Top, Red Propeller 1 Blade 10L with Bar, and Red Tread Large, Non-Technic (36 tread 'links'). Rare parts Parts collectors and MOCers will be interested in the following rare parts also: Red Dinosaur Tail End Section (making its first apparition in this colour after 12 years), and Red Hero Factory Weapon - Claw with Clip (only in a HF set so far). Spare parts The usual mix of spare parts includes a cheese slope, some techinc pins, half pins, bushes and half bushes, a round 1x1 stud, a lever, and, following this year's new weapons tradition, two katana. Minifigures Both minifigures are new in all parts except Jay's head and hood and the Stone Warrior's helmet, which we'll see later on. The new design for the Ninja kimono/suit is just great and is what made me want this set most of all. I love the detail in the torso, and I wanted a blue version to complement the red one from Kai's Mech. The Stone Warrior's armour is equally well designed and quite menacing with its spike-y protrusions. The more I look at his/its(?) face, the more I think he could also work as a clan mate for Darth Maul and Savage Opress in Star Wars MOCs. The two minifigs sport back printing of the torso, but not the heads. I really like how TLG designers went of bigger version of the Ninja elemental symbols on these figs. Here we can see the two warriors all geared up and almost ready for battle. Notice the new armour piece on the Stone Warrior. Though not as protective as most other armours or as eye catching as the skeletons ones, I find this part very nicely designed to fit the Stone Army aesthetics. Furthermore, it helps in widening the warrior's frame and keep the mouthpiece from looking over-sized for him/it. Not really minifig, but minifig-related, the Element Blade. I've read that people tend to dislike the excessive size of these blades. Now, while I can agree they are bigger than what could be reasonable in a real world setting, or even bigger than their TV show counterparts, I still think TLG designers achieved a good compromise between detail level, ease of use and size. In the end, they are not much bigger than a katana, and the hilt takes it almost 1/4 of the total size. Instructions The instructions booklet is nicely thick, and fortunately not divided into part 1 and part 2 like other small sets these days. The cover shows the exact same composition of the front of the box, except for the age range and 'Final Battle' text. The background uses a tan shade that does not distract the eye nor prevents colour or parts' recognition. In this detail shot you can spot what I suppose to be the faded Temple of Light reproduced in the upper right corner of some pages. The parts count cover two pages. Again, you can notice the dominance of Black and Dark Bley, with brighter colours' accents. The last page shows a collection of the Ninjago 2013 sets, with the star of the show, The Temple of Light with its big Golden Mech in the middle. Building Start We start off by building Jay's jet-pack. The design is new, since the other similar vehicles in the Ninjago line (and as far as I can recall, other themes) were different from this one. It uses two golden katana parts as wings and two cones as thrusters. Nothing mind-blowing, buts still a nice effect achieved with few parts. You just have to pay attention when putting it on Jay via the neck bracket: since the jet-pack is so heavy for the minifigure, you'll have to rotate the blades and have them touch the ground to support part of the weight. Now for the main model The Warrior Bike itself starts with a bunch of technic beams and pins connected to few bricks and plates to provide a building surface for the upper part of the model. Here you can see the firing mechanism in place. All revolves around the rubber band and the technic lever serving as a trigger for the (yet to be built) 'firing pin'. With the use of those big dome parts, we build up the bulk of the cockpit and provide good armour for our Stone Warrior driver to stand behind. The big tyres should provide a good propulsion power to this vehicle, though I'm confused as to their use in a tread driven 'bike'. Could this be a '3x3' model? Again, we have a passage where two 4 x 2 plates are used instead of a 8 x 2 one. I suppose we'll have to let is pass this time, though, as there does not seem to be a 8 x 2 Lime plate in the LEGO palette yet. Adding the 'forehead' of the samurai design on the bike, we complete the rear part of the vehicle. Notice the red technic pins: yes, as most will have imagined, those are to be used to connect the tread to this part of the build. And here we have the treaded portion. Not much more than a couple of technic beams supporting the wheels and rubber tread, but TLG designers tried to add as much detail as they could. Nonetheless, this is my least favoured part of the build. By adding the missiles' magazine, we get to the... Finished set ... the complete set, with its two minifigures ready to take on each other and/or zip around on the jet-pack and bike (as soon as the Stone Warrior finds a place to store his/its weapons). Front The bike looks very steam-lined and quite aggressive from the front. I for sure would not want to face one of these, with all its claws, spikes and turning tread. Back As with ho so many LEGO vehicles, this one too suffers from lack of love (and parts) in the rear quarters. the build is sturdy enough, thanks to the techinc parts, but not so good form an aesthetics point of view. Ready, aim, fire! The firing mechanism works pretty smoothly, and I suppose kids will like it. For myself, I've never been a big fan of this kind of play features, so I don't have much to say about it, apart for the fact that I tried it and, no matter how much force or speed I use, the missiles will only go as far as the length of the bike itself. Not really effective in actual combat. Final comments Overall, this is a nice set for its value. The figs are great and the part selection includes some interesting bits. What bugs me is in the aesthetics of the bike, though I recon it is not an easy model to transport in brick form. Design & Colour scheme – 6/10 (TLG designers did their best [apart for the rear quarters] and made a good job in capturing the colour scheme and Stone Army feel; Too bad the shape was distorted in the transition.) Minifig – 10/10 (As with most of these year figs, and the Ninjago figs over time, the design and level of detail are just great.) Parts – 8/10 (A little too much technic for my taste, but some interesting bits are in the mix nonetheless.) Playability – 7/10 (The jet-pack, the bike and the weapons grant for hours of play by children. The limits of the firing mechanism are the main reason I lowered the score here.) Build – 8/10 (Nothing too complex, but some efficient solutions are used, to create the samurai face design and for the jet-pack itself.) Price – 10/10 (20 Euros for 201 pieces plus spare parts is good, especially if you throw in two splendid minifigures and a bunch of really big parts.) Overall: 8.2/10 Very good As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome! If you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy:
  6. LOTR 2013 Line-up (Release: June) Warning all pictures link to HR versions which can be up to +6000.pxl all pictures posted from GRogall 79005 The Wizard Battle S@H 113 pcs. US$ $12.99, $15.99 CDN, DE 14,99 €,UK £11.99 Recreate The Wizard Battle at The Tower of Orthanc, as Gandalf the Grey takes on his mentor and old friend, Saruman, who has fallen under the influence of Sauron while gazing into his palantir. Saruman will stop at nothing to deliver the One Ring to his new master and serve him by helping to conquer Middle-earth. Avoid the spinning palantir’s spell, cast powerful staff magic and send Saruman flying from his throne! Stay away from Sauron’s mesmerizing gaze or risk being enslaved yourself! Includes 2 minifigures with staffs: Gandalf the Grey and Saruman. 79006 The Council of Elrond S@H 243 pcs. US$ $29.99, $34.99 CDN, DE 39,99 €,UK £29.99 Build the majestic Elven city of Rivendell, home to Elrond and his beautiful warrior-princess daughter, Arwen. Call Gimli and Frodo Baggins to The Council of Elrond to plan the destruction of the One Ring and the defeat of Sauron. Place the Ring on the podium and recreate this classic scene from The Fellowship of the Ring! Send Gimli flying with the launch function when he tries to destroy the Ring with his axe. Beware the Eye of Sauron, as he draws closer to the Ring that will lead to the fall of Middle-earth! Includes 4 minifigures with weapons: Elrond, Arwen, Frodo Baggins and Gimli. 79007 Battle at the Black Gate S@H 656 pcs. US$ $59.99, $74.99 CDN, DE 89,99 €,UK £59.99 Fly the Great Eagle high above the Black Gate of Mordor where Aragorn and Gandalf the White must distract the Eye of Sauron. Use them to stage a scene while Frodo Baggins and his friend Sam throw the One Ring into the fiery depths of Mount Doom and destroy it forever. To reach the Ring’s final destination, you must defeat the Mouth of Sauron and the Mordor Orcs positioned high in the spiked gate walls. Then breach the gate and lead the attack on the enemy! Includes a Great Eagle and 5 minifigures with weapons: Aragorn, Gandalf the White, Mouth of Sauron and 2 Mordor Orcs. 79008 Pirate Ship Ambush S@H 756 pcs. US$ $99.99, $129.99 CDN, DE 99,99 €,UK £89.99 On the shores of Minas Tirith, Sauron’s Mordor Orcs prepare to greet their allies aboard the Pirate Ship – but all is not as it seems. Pull up alongside them, drop the anchors and lead a surprise attack with Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas Greenleaf and the Army of the Dead. This majestic Corsair ship features 3 large sails, removable rear section with dungeon and Pirate of Umbar prisoner, firing crossbow and loads of armor and weapons! Capture the Orc catapult and lead the glow-in-the-dark King of the Dead and his soldiers into battle at the War of the Ring! Includes 9 minifigures with weapons and accessories: Aragorn, Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli, 2 Mordor Orcs, the King of the Dead, 2 Soldiers of the Dead and a Pirate of Umbar. 10237 The Tower of Orthanc S@H 2359 pcs. US$ 199.99 Finally, collect one of the most instantly recognizable and iconic buildings of The Lord of the Rings™ trilogy: The Tower of Orthanc™! Build all 6 highly detailed floors filled with fascinating movie-related details including the attic, library, alchemy room, Saruman’s throne room, entrance hall and dungeon. This exclusive model stars in some of the most iconic scenes from The Lord of the Rings movies. Swoop down with the Great Eagle and rescue stranded Gandalf the Grey from his tower-top prison after his defeat at the hands of the white wizard, Saruman. Build the powerful, tree-like Ent, with poseable limbs and cool swinging arm function, then attack the Uruk-hai and Orc Pitmaster while Saruman and his servant Grima Wormtongue take refuge high in the tower. The Tower of Orthanc is a must-have model for any The Lord of the Rings collection! Includes a Great Eagle, buildable Ent figure and 5 minifigures with weapons: Saruman with kirtle outfit, Grima Wormtongue, Gandalf the Grey, an Uruk-hai and the Orc Pitmaster. All pictures are © 2013 The Lego Group The Hobbit 2013 Line-up (release December) 79011 Dol Guldor Ambush $19.99 79012 Mirkwood Elf Army $29.99 Lake Town Chase $49.99 79014 Dol Guldor Battle $69.99 Image first posted by LOTR343 -Sci
  7. Official press-release 13.07.2013 All pictures link to HR version which can be up to +5000.pxl 10235 Winter Village Market Ages 12+. 1,261 pieces. US $99.99 - CA $129.99 - DE 89.99€ - UK 79.99 £ - DK 799.00 DKK Available Beginning of October at LEGO Brand stores & S@H Collect and create a fun festive scene with the Winter Village Market! Bring home the holiday spirit with the Winter Village Market, continuing the popular LEGO® Winter Village Series. Turn the handle and take a ride on the rocking horse as the carousel spins! Visit the carnival booth. Fill up on holiday and fair favorites including a pie, pretzel and croissant at the baker’s stand, chicken and sausage at the grill stand or sweet treats at the candy shop. Celebrate a holiday season full of traditions and building with the Winter Village Market! Includes 9 minifigures with accessories: 3 females, 2 males and 4 children. • Includes 9 minifigures with accessories: 3 females, 2 males and 4 children • Features functioning carousel and operator’s booth with moving bucket challenge, baker’s stand, grill stand, candy stand, 2 streetlamps, 3 trees, a bench and 3 tables • Accessories include cups, teddy bear, a cat, scarf, purse and lots of food elements • Carousel horses feature new ornamental headwear design • Turn the handle to make the carousel rotate • Take a ride on the carousel • Watch the carousel horses really rock! • Fill up on holiday treats at the bakery, grill and candy stands! • Carousel and operator’s booth measure 7" (19cm) high, 10" (25cm) wide and 6" (16cm) deep • Booths measure over 3" (9cm) high, 3" (8cm) wide and 1" (4cm) deep • Combine with 10229 Winter Village Cottage for an even bigger winter scene! Minifigures Accessories Designer Video staring Astrid [/url]Enjoy!
  8. For several years now, CREATOR has carried the flag for LEGO housing; CITY dwellers are presumably meant to sleep in their caravans or fire engines unless they are lucky enough to have a Modular Building for a domicile, or only sleep in buildings that have snow on them. I suspect this is a deliberate move by The LEGO Group; the CREATOR 3-in-1 mantra provides versatility in design, and might perhaps provoke multiple purchases to enable a bit of variety in one's Town layout, or at least an affordable source of house parts. The last bona fide CITY residence was 8403 City House in 2010; this year's CREATOR range will boast no less than three minifigure-scaled dwellings, if you include the rather offbeat 31010 Treehouse; let's take a look at the first to be released, the modestly-named Small Cottage. Review: 31009 Small Cottage Set Information Name: Small Cottage Number: 31009 Theme: CREATOR Release: 2013 Parts: 271 Figures: 1 Price: GB £19.99 | US $24.99 | EUR 24.99 - 27.99 | AU $39.99 | CA $29.99 | DKK 299.95 Links ... Shop@Home ... Brickset ... Bricklink ... Peeron (not yet listed) The Box Click for a larger full-frontal image The CREATOR logo shamelessly obscures part of the model on this square box; the set itself is captured from its best angle. The usual blue CREATOR background is enhanced by faint bushes and trees, framing the cottage and setting the 'countryside' scene indicated by the official set description; it wouldn't otherwise be obvious. Two insets in the CREATOR yellow don't even try to frame the two alternative models. The box 'feels' like good value; it is larger than similarly-priced sets from many other themes, and weightier, though the latter may be due to the instruction manuals. More bushes flank the alternatives, which are showcased with their features on the box rear: Click for a larger image The box artist has done well to show all three distinctly without overlap; the space has been used very well. You'll notice that Thumbs are required to open this box. I used a knife; but, to be fair, this still required thumbs. Despite the inclusion of a minifigure, it's a three-part lantern that decides the scale on the box top: The troublesome gradient behind the inventory persists: why do they put the light-coloured parts in the light corner, and the dark ones in the dark corner? Of the other sides, the left-hand is the most interesting: The two lesser models feature here, with a multi-lingual explanation of '3 in 1' if it weren't already clear. Unusually, the 'Small Parts' warning features on the right-hand side rather than the bottom. Out of the box fall four polybags, three instruction manuals ... and a 16x16 full-thickness plate in Bright Green. It's shown here because I forgot to include it in the Parts section. The Instructions Three smart manuals each have shiny, quality covers; no indication is given as to build difficulty or order, either on the covers or inside. The only information inside the front cover is the new 'sort your bricks!' cartoon. I've assumed that the model order is the primary build, the Small Cottage on the cover; then the Windmill; then the other house, which is called a 'Skater's House' in the official blurb which also uses this order. There's no other indication that this is the 'correct' order; in fact the box art might suggest the smaller models should be reversed; but for clarity and consistency I will refer to the models and their respective manuals as 1, 2, and 3 in this order. The other two manuals are similar: Click the thumbs for larger images More monochrome bushes feature on the covers; different in each case reflecting the change in perspective. The steps are clear and simple. Piece call-outs ask for an average of three to four parts per step: I only encountered one point where the placement of a brick wasn't clear, which will be indicated later; it was of no consequence in any case. Advertisements for other CREATOR sets feature prominently; book one promotes the excellent 7346 Seaside House and 31004 Eagle on their own pages, akong with a composite of several sets on the back cover; I was a little surprised at the choice of 31008 Thunder Wings for the full-page treatment at the back of book three, considering it has what I would consider a rather different market than the houses might attract. Manual one also contains the inventory; see page 1 and page 2. The Parts Hope you weren't expecting Technic. Actually, there are two Technic plates, but otherwise the inclusion is mostly basic bricks and plates. There is great selection of dark blue roof slopes: not quite as good as 5891 Apple Tree House (which, incredibly, is still available, in the UK at least) but still most welcome. Door and window parts are always useful. The bright green 6x6 plate hasn't been seen since early noughties Belville. The smaller part collection is dominated by basic red bricks. We used most of ours building a Toadstool, so I'm not complaining. I got very excited by the inverted bracket when I reviewed the new UCS X-Wing, not knowing I had one in this set which I've owned, unopened, for at least two months. Otherwise, the tiles will always be useful, and I appreciate the inclusion of earth blue cheese slopes. The Minifigure CREATOR houses have included figures since Log Cabin in 2011; they are rarely anything to write home about, and this one is no exception: I'd sooner have had a classic smiley, but I expect TLG have done their market research and presumably kids want more expression. Rather surprisingly, the face isn't that common: appearing only in a couple of basic brick sets, a seasonal CREATOR, and the Winter Village Cottage, along with a few promotional minifigure collections. The entire figure, replete with skateboard, is found the Watford UK store opening set. I'm going to call him Chet. He has an American Preppy look. Not sure if Chet is an appropriate name for a skateboarding, sausage-sucking, drink-spilling preppy, but Chet it is. Model 1 - Small Cottage The primary build is quite a beauty! A surprising amount of detail has been crammed into this cute little cottage. The colour scheme is pretty, with stripes of white and light bluish-grey adding texture and the appearance of height to the red walls; the dark blue roof is smart and features an attractive gable. The yellow door provides a further splash of colour, and is set off nicely by the dark blue cheesy awning. A SNOT-mounted lantern, tiled step and flowerpot - the last typically formed from colourful 1x1 rounds in CREATOR style - add a welcoming aura to the entrance. Note the dark tan plate with rail forming a neat sill under the gable window. I'd like to have seen the roof apex 'finished' with double-slopes - like on the venerable Apple Tree House - but the studded top does help to round it off in a more 'cottagey' style, I suppose. Another window sill sits under the double-height window on the right-hand side; this wall is otherwise featureless ... ... except for the plate-hinges which suggest an opening section for access to the inside. Click the picture for a straight view. The opposite face is far more interesting. Big full-length French windows are the main source of light into the modest internal space, and one slides open - in one of the rare instances of the 1x8 plates with wide rail being used for their intended purpose. We'll see the barbecue in more detail later, but this is a good moment to point out the chimney. Dark bluish-grey and tan are used to add texture to the stone, and slopes gradually angle the flue; the stack sits just off the centre of the roof, but the slopes imply that the chimney is continuous. It's rather pretty; sure, it doesn't use headlight bricks and tiles to add depth like we see on the Winter Village sets, but for a little CREATOR set, I think it's been done quite tastefully. The back of the chimney is squared off nicely, and forms the boundary to the opening rear wall: The dark grey plate with vertical pole forms a little handle, which allows the whole - and otherwise plain - wall to open. You can also see that there's another gable window - replete with sill - on this side. The wall swings back, allowing Chet to sit in his swivelly chair ... ... and preventing adult hands from having to squeeze through the narrow space afforded by the sliding window. In the opening corner is a little table - rather optimistically called 'drawers' in the promotional text - with a lamp of unusual design. It's basic, but at least there's furniture! Though I hope the chair is comfortable, as Chet doesn't appear to have a bed. If the opening wall isn't enough, the whole roof comes off easily: This is great for play access to the interior, even if there isn't that much to do in there. I'd quite like to have seen a bunk bed, or something. Sadly, there is too little space in the roof structure to add any features up there; this is partly because larger bricks have been used than is strictly necessary, in order to allow for the alternative builds. Maybe Chet sleeps in the garden; certainly the little pond obviates the need for a bathroom. The pond is incredibly simple, but still rather effective; the slopes and green plates are somewhat successful in providing an illusion that the pond surface is lower than that of the lawn. I do like the fence. Barbecues seem to be an essential feature of CREATOR houses: Seaside House, Hillside House, Log Cabin, Beach House, and Lighthouse Island have all featured outdoor cookery in various guises. The tradition continues: Chet enjoys his sausage with a cup of something. I'd have appreciated a little clip to attach sausage or 'fork'; you can clip the fork to the plate with bar under the grille, but then there's nowhere to put the sausage. I guess Chet can just hold it while he goes 'boarding. Cottage Verdict: This is a remarkably pretty little cottage, designed to look very smart despite a limited part selection. The opening door, window, and wall section; swivel chair, barbecue and skateboard provide minor play features, but it is in the creation of a beautiful house and garden scene from very simple parts and techniques that this model excels. Model 2 - Diminutive Windmill Hats off to the designer's imagination for including a windmill among the alternatives, even if the execution is a little too simplistic. To be fair, this isn't its best angle; the mismatched colours of the opening side look a little jarring here. I do like the design of the chimney flue, though. Not so on the opposite side with the door; the double white stripe continues above the door here. I'm not so keen on the use of red 1x1 round plates in the central stripe, but at least they are used symmetrically; I'd rather see normal 1x1 plates even is it would result in square flowers in the other builds! The big windows aren't used in this build; instead, four small windows let in some light. A 1x2 brick with frictionless pin - not used in the other builds - allows the windmill to spin ... ... which it manages to do for less than the eight second exposure of this shot. It might have helped a little if I'd built it correctly - the white tiles and red plates should have rotational symmetry. Of course, an effecive windmill would have sails that capture the wind; these barely extend beyond the face of the mill. I do like the minor landscaping detail which, coupled with regularly spaced tiles, makes an attractive path up to the door ... ... beyond which we see a hint of some inside detail. From the front, note again the dark bluish-grey brick which looks a little out of place, and the rather-too-short sails: The back is more interesting than you might imagine: here, the dark tan rail-plates make a little ladder - spaced a brick apart using a technique which might be instructive to less experienced builders - even if it doesn't really lead anywhere. Again a red round plate looks a little incongruous, but not nearly so as the trans-orange one at the bottom of the ladder. Again, the back opens, revealing the inside detail and a eyebrow-raising blue floor: If you don't like the floor, there's a bright green plate you can use instead; maybe blue is better. The white cones are, I presume, bags of flour, although you'd be forgiven for thinking they are milk bottles. It isn't clear from the instructions how exactly to place the SNOT 2x2 round brick onto the wall; I've chosen to use its centre anti-stud as it is a better connection, even though it's now off-centre to the other 2x2 round brick. Like the primary build, the windmill's roof is detachable: The roof section is a very uncomplicated stack of bricks. I'd have thought the black plate with bar at the top of the opening wall section would have been better facing out, at the top of the ladder. Windmill Verdict: A novel idea, though a little disappointing in the flesh. This is by far the weakest of the builds, though its spinning sails might appeal to younger builders. Model 3 - Modest House The final build is another cottage, but this one is long and thin, and there's a good reason for this: it folds! TLG calls this a 'skater's house' - that well-known phenomenon. We'll see why it's call that in due course (and not just because of the skateboard. ) With the house folded out like this, the chimney forms an attractive buttress adding to the 'cottagey' feel. In this and the first view, you can see that the large windows form the end walls; they are topped by the 1x4 arches, which I guess form an architectural feature, but it isn't entirely successful. I'm not sure why the arches were included in the set; apart from introducing a little variety to the red bricks, they don't really add anything to the designs at any point. From the front, you can see how again the wall-mounted lantern welcomes you, and this time there is a little garden tap, though it's a little close to the ground. I'm not sure why the doorknob is a dark blue cheese slope; there are plenty of black 1x1 rounds to do the job a little better, but maybe this is due to show that other parts can be used for this in your MOCs in the unlikely event you've run out of rounds plates. Now for the money shot: Closing the house brings the two large windows together; they look great, but this emphasises the oddity of the arches. I wonder if the blue 'pond' plate might have been better placed in front of the further window. The plain wall formed by closing the model again suffers from an incongruous round plate in its construction. The light bley bottom layer is nicely continuous; the chimney bley intrudes a little far into the wall, but I can live with this: it looks suitably rustic. Chet retains his swivel chair to warm his feet by the lounge fire, but he still doesn't have a bed. This time he does have somewhere to keep his fork (if that's what it is there), but it's all for nothing, because he doesn't have anything to cook. Not a sausage. And that's because his sausage has been employed elsewhere: Nice part usage!! the sausage forms the stem of an angled desk lamp. Super! Shame it's a red light. What do you get up to in the evenings, Skater Boi? Anyhoo, in daylight, he likes to practice his skateboarding tricks, and the house has a means to help him: The plate with rail is a ledge for him to do that thing that I've seen skateboarders do on MTV. Apparently, according to TLG, this is called 'grinding'. Who knew? Skater's House Verdict: There's something refreshing about this little house, which achieves far more than just the folding mechanism would imply. It's cute, it's quaint; it's ... somehow familiar, reminding me quite strongly of some old classics: Here we have the Skater House next to veteran sets 6370 Weekend Home, from 1985, and 376 Town House, from as early as 1978. They're really not too different. Stick a moulded tree and some flowers onto 31009, and you've got a Classic Town set in all but name. Conclusion You know, I really like this cute little set. It's simple, unpretentious; it looks great, with a pretty colour scheme, and there's a bundle of useful house parts for creating your own little town buildings, from homes for your myriad CITY workers to trackside structures for Train fans (I can see an opportunity for a signal box, though you might not want a blue roof). There may not be much in the way of technicality in the build, and play functions are little lacking; the skateboard probably appeals to the kids in this respect, but I'd rather have had a bicycle. As a standalone, it might not compete so well with the slightly cheaper 'action' CREATOR sets; however, it fills a niche that's been lacking now for years: an affordable home that will fit into any Town layout. Design & Build 8 A pretty though simple set, it lacks a little in the build compared to other CREATOR sets, but it's great to look at. Not so much the windmill, perhaps. I'm impressed with the effect of the simple landscaping to create garden features and gradients, and the smart use of colours in the two house builds. Parts 9 Dark blue roof pieces, including corner slopes; large and small windows; and a variety of basic bricks and plates in useful colours make this a great parts pack. I'd consider buying mutliples of this to make a big house. Figures 6 Chet isn't the most exciting dude to be included in a LEGO set. He has a rare-ish face, but I doubt you'd be buying this set for the figure alone! Playability 7 There are a number of good play features; I suspect this set might appeal more to girls than boys, unless they are all entranced by Friends; the somewhat anathematic skateboard might have been included to swing this appeal the other way. Couple the set with some CITY and the playability multiples. Value 10 Part for penny, the CREATOR range is always good value; at £20 for 271 useful pieces, this is a bargain. Couple it with two attractive houses, and ooooh so much potential, and it's a no-brainer. Overall 80% My Score 9/10 Classic Town lives on, in a modern CREATOR-fied form. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review. Please take the time to comment! Rufus My flickr Set Other CREATOR House Reviews 4954 Town House by Siegfried 4956 House by alex54 4996 Beach House by def 6754 Family Home by Matn 5891 Apple Tree House by def 5766 Log Cabin by The Brickster 5770 Lighthouse Islandby Pandora 5771 Hillside House by Rufus 7346 Seaside House by Pandora I you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy:
  9. I’ve always thought that the Legends of Chima theme won’t appeal to the AFOL in me considering it is primarily targeted to kids, but surprisingly one new set in the second wave of this theme suddenly captured my interest – the new 70008 Gorzan’s Gorilla Striker. We’ve seen lions, crocodiles, eagles, ravens, and wolves before, and now the second chapter of the Legends of Chima introduces us to the newest tribe in the world of Chima – the Gorillas. For some reason I find these new Gorilla characters/minifigs really appealing, they look so adorably ‘brute and cute’. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the set includes a great-looking gorilla mech – probably one of, if not, the best Chima vehicles released. So let’s take a closer look at this set with this review… Set Information Set Name: Gorzan's Gorilla Striker Set Number: 70008 Theme: Legends of Chima Year: 2013 Pieces: 505 Minifigures: 4 Price: US$49.99 Links: Brickset | Bricklink (not yet listed) | LEGO Shop@Home (not yet listed) The Box One of the best aspects about the Chima sets is their ‘customized boxarts’ depicting the main character each set, in this case it’s Gorzan’s face prominently displayed in the upper right corner beside the LEGO and Chima logos. The main boxart presents the set with a battle scene between the Gorilla tribe with their Gorilla Striker mech versus their lone Raven opponent. One minor nitpick with the graphics is the way the mini-tree build was photoshopped in the background looks ‘a bit off’, it’s as if it was just plastered directly on top of the trees. The back shows the obligatory play features of the set, on an slightly more organized layout than usual (the panels are properly aligned compared to more random placement in other themes’ set boxes). Another unusual detail are the text describing the play features in all the panels (in six different languages), which we don’t normally see with other sets. An image showing the face-off between Gorzan and Rizzo on the upper right corner gives a nice touch to the relatively subdued blue background. There is an ad on the lower right corner for the LEGO Chima Game online, which provides another interactive play platform for Chima fans. I haven’t played the game, nor I have the intention to, but it’s good to see TLG adapting to the current age of mobile online technology, as evidence by the iPad/tablet graphic on top. The top of the box displays the minifigures of the set and the 1:1 panel. The box is so long that there are lots of unoccupied background space. The minifig display at the top of the box has full body action shots of the minifigs while the one in front of the box shows the ID profile shots with the respective character names. I like this variation in presentation unlike in other themes (i.e. the Lone Ranger) where both minifig line-ups have the same poses. The main character of this set, Gorzan, is shown in the 1:1 inset. The Contents Four numbered bags of LEGO, three loose pieces, an instruction booklet, and a small sticker sheet are what we get from this set. The Instruction Booklet The instruction booklet has the same coverart and horizontal orientation as the box, though the booklet is meant to be read vertically inside. The instructions have a conservative plain light bluish background and lack the faint images detailing on the pages that other themes’ instruction booklets have. I also noticed some pages have a lot of steps like the one pictured above, dividing the page into two sections. AFOLs probably won’t have problems with this, but younger kids may have to be careful when reading the instructions so as not to miss any step. Click the image for hi-res version I was a bit surprised that there was an ad midway through the booklet (first time I encountered one) and I thought that I may have gotten an incomplete instruction booklet. But it was just a centerfold (that is meant to be taken out of the booklet if one wishes to) showcasing all the Chima character minifigs including the new ones from the second wave. The Sticker Sheet A small sheet of stickers for added decorative detail on the set is included. The Pieces Bag #1 All the minifig parts are contained in the first bag, along with the pieces needed to build the Raven tree/vehicle contraption. Love the dark red foliage pieces. A brick separator is included too. Bag #2 The medium azure pieces stand out among the sea of the usual blacks, greys, and browns. Bag #3 There are a lot of interesting parts on Bag #3: a. Bananas! You get 7 of ‘em. Yum-yum! b. There are several huge pieces in this bag, particularly those 3x3 and 6x6 quarter circle round corner bricks (first time in black) and the medium azure octagon plates. c. Lots of multiple pieces in this bag! (17 x brown round plates, 8 x black round bricks, 8 x black dome heads, 8 x mechanical arms, etc…) Bag #4 The are still multiple pieces in this bag but not as much as in the third bag. The colors are consistent with the black-brown-grey-medium azure general motif of the pieces. Interesting Pieces Since this set is not yet listed in Bricklink I don’t have the exact piece names, but these are the ones that was interesting for me: The black technic part, the 1x2 curved slope, the hammer head piece and knuckle hand accessory. The 2x3 curved slope also seems to be a new part (first time I’ve seen it). The Minifigures The highlight of the minifig line-up is obviously the new Gorilla characters: Gorzan, Grimloo, and G’loona. I like the fact that despite being part of the same animal tribe they have unique colors and detailing (just like the other tribes). The Rizzo Raven minifig isn’t new and has been released in two previous sets before. Gorzan The main gorilla character of Legends of Chima is Gorzan, a black gorilla and a great warrior of his tribe. He is armed with a giant hammer and sports a battle armor with a Chi crystal. There is a slight discrepancy with the head markings from the TV show character, but I presume this minifig is the “battle version” of Gorzan having different “war face markings”. Gorzan’s fierce expression is fit for a great warrior of the Gorilla Tribe. The light green war face paints goes well with his black skin/hair color. Removing the armor the full print details of both the front and back torsos can be clearly seen. Gorzan has a double-sided head showing a battle-raged angry face on one side and a happy and relieved expression on the other. Grumlo Having a lighter grey skin/hair tone, Grumlo looks less fierce than Gorzan with his more laid-back mouth expression in his gorilla head. The white hair on the cheeks indicate that he’s probably one of the older Gorilla tribesmen(?). Grumlo has the same laid-back facial expression on both sides of his head. Also, gotta love those two bananas tuck in his waist at the back! G’loona A young female brown gorilla, G’loona can’t be anymore ‘girlier’ with all the floral decorations on her head and body. She has a child-like expression on her gorilla headpiece emphasized with her buck teeth and pimpled cheeks. Her weapon of choice is a pair of “giant clobbering fists” (for lack of a better term). She has a similar expression in her head like the one in the headpiece, while the other side has a slightly pissed-off look. The printing of her front and back torso are consistent showing her leaf brassiere with flower decors. Rizzo The scavenger of the Raven Clan, Rizzo sports his signature metal eyepatch and pegleg and armed with his dual-purpose blaster-axe. His overall appearance is the stereotypical “black villain look”. Like the rest of the Chima minifigs he has a double-sided head having an angry evil look and a surprised/scared alternate expression. Minifig Weapons Rizzo’s dual-function blaster-axe, Gorzan’s and Grumlo’s battering sledgehammers, and G’loona’s clobbering fists. The Build Bag #1 Build First to be built are all the minifigures and the tree-catapult contraption. I’ve been used to sets with the multiple minifigs not built from one bag, so this is something I haven’t seen in a quite some time. Bag #2 Build This is the starting point of building the Gorilla Striker mech. A gear mechanism inside will provide an important functionality which we’ll see later. The main body/torso of the mech is semi-finished at this point. Note the prominent use of brackets – this will be essential in the SNOT design of the mech. Bag #3 Build This stage of the build is where it gets repetitive as there are quite a number of multiple builds, like 8 x fingers, 2 x arms, 2 x shoulders. Kids may need more patience to get through this stage. An interesting part of build is the banana cannon weapon. Needless to say, the concept behind this cannon using banana as ammunition is crazy genius! We get a half-mech after the third bag build. From this you’ll already expect what would be the last part of the build is… Bag #4 Build The finishing touches are built from the last bag, namely the waist and leg parts. Attaching these to the main body and we now have the finished mech! I’d like to show the ‘segmented’ style of the build with this image – the whole build process is systematically designed to build the separate body parts and attached together in the end. The Completed Set Leftover Pieces Lots of the usual 1x1 spare parts, though I fear I might’ve missed a step after seeing that 2x2 round plate. The Set Features Gorzan’s Gorilla Striker As the ‘star of the set’, the Gorilla Striker mech is one huge, bulky, and imposing build. The overall black color scheme with medium azure highlights is based on Gorzan’s own skin/hair tone combo. The mech having long arms and short legs approximates those of real-world gorillas. And if by any chance you haven’t noticed it, the details of the “body” are actually parts of the face of a gorilla (see the eyes, nose, and two sharp teeth?). Quite clever design isn’t it? The back is less covered compared to the front, which actually provides unobstructed access to the various play mechanisms. Prominently seen on the side views are the wide curved shoulders of the mech – which is my one of my favourite aspects of the design as it gives the mech an imposing muscular brute appearance. There are also a pair of tubes on both sides going to and from the hand and shoulders, whose function I assume is a fuel link that provides power to those huge arms (yeah, I just made that stuff out ). There is however an noticeable flaw in the design – one of the drawbacks of having a large and heavy body and small stubby legs is there is instability in making the mech stand up. The mech has tendency to fall back when stood up straight, so one has to stoop it down a bit to stabilize the center of gravity (as evidenced in both images). Mech Movement If my count is correct there are 20 different points of articulation which allows for various movements of the mech’s limbs. These movements are mostly for play purposes, and due to the aforementioned instability of the mech, action poses are somewhat limited. The main action movement of the mech are the synchronized pounding of its huge arms controlled by a rotating knob at the back (remember the gear mechanism at the start of the build?). Here’s a video showing how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilZTZ5O-idk I really like this function! So simple yet so playable. I’m sure kids would enjoy this feature of the mech. Left: The mech seats one pilot at the top, but the space is very limited and there is some difficulty putting the Gorzan inside because of his battle armor. The banana cannon also sits atop the right shoulder of the mech, Iron Patriot-style. Right: There is a clip at the back to put Gorzan’s hammer while he’s operating the mech. A couple of studs in the shoulders allow both G’loona and Grumlo to hitch a ride on the Gorilla Striker. Flick-fire Missiles Flick-fire Missile lovers would surely enjoy this mech as it is equipped with not one, not two, not three… but SIX flick-fire missile hidden inside the mech’s body! There is an option to open only two flick-fire hatches, or you could go all-out with six missiles and destroy the opponent by opening the whole body cover. All flick-fires are fired by push-levers at the back. There is also a hidden crystal inside the body compartment. Rizzo’s Tree Catapult This build is composed of a tree catapult and a vehicle on top. This catapult works like any catapult would, or does it really? Well, I tried (look below): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYLaW9MdUms I guess you have to press the lever on the sides for it to work properly. Dumb Kiel There is also a miniature catapult beside the tree, where Rizzo could fire away anti-gorilla mech blackberry bombs. Here's a comparison of the Gorilla Striker with other LEGO Mechs: Click image for hi-res version LXF sources: 6862 - Tontus, 9448 - Zarkan, 60008 - CMS4, 8970 - prateek, 70500, 70505, 70704 - penguinz, 70708 - KDM Rating the Set Design – 9/10 I am absolutely impressed with the overall design of the mech – from the aesthetics, color scheme, functionality, etc. The only minor criticism for me is the instability of the mech for action posing purposes, but that wouldn’t be much of an issue for children I suppose. Parts – 9/10 It’s great to get a good combination of new parts, new colors of existing pieces, and a nice variation of colors from the usual blacks, greys and browns to colorful medium azure. The multiple number of several pieces will also be useful for future MOCs. Build – 8/10 While there are some several repetitive steps, there are a number of interesting building techniques particularly those involving SNOT. Minifigs – 10/10 What can I say I really love the new Gorilla minifigures – they’re colourfully unique and highly detailed. Even the villain Rizzo minifig ain’t bad either (no pun intended). Playability – 10/10 There will definitely no shortage of playability with this set – from the mech’s arm-stomping action, flick-fire missiles, banana cannon, tree catapult – kids will spend countless enjoyable hours of playtime! Price – 9/10 The price slightly lower than the 10 cents/parts ratio (9.899c), even with the large parts the $50 price tag is more than justified IMO. Overall: 92% This set is definitely worth the purchase – from the new gorilla minifigs to the Gorilla Striker mech itself – I recommend it to anyone who would like to try our the Legends of Chima theme. Parting Shot Thanks for your time reading the review! C&C’s are always welcome. :monkey:
  10. Hi, everybody. I submit to your attention the photoreview of a remarkable set of 79110 Silver Mine Shootout from the Lone Ranger series. Set details: Theme - Lone Ranger Year released - 2013 Pieces - 644 Minifigs - 5 RRP - £69.99 / US$69.99 Price per piece - 10.868p / 10.868c Age range - 9 - 14 Packaging Dimensions - 35.4 x 37.8 x 9.4 cm Weight - 1.34Kg Box of this set of very impressive sizes. And it is rather heavy. On the face, except the set, it is possible to see: - all heroes of this set - recommended age rating and the set name - company logo Disney, belonging the rights to "Lone Ranger" On the back party of a box are shown both game, and functional components of a set which in a set very much and there is a lot of! The face parties of a box - as scale here are represented... all minifigs of a set! Having opened a box, we see that she is almost completely killed! Its rather big weight also is explained by it. Box contents: - 7 big packages with details - instructions - are packed into packages and laid by a piece of cardboard that weren't rumpled! In the same place lie both falls imitation, and stickers. - Falls and stickers Instruction. In this set there are 2 parts of instructions. List of details: In a set there are many rare, interesting and simply necessary details! I want to pay your attention that the set justifies the name "Silver Mine Shootout" as here really there are a lot of silvery details! On a photo the part them is only small. Also in a set there are a lot of transparent details! And even there are rare Trans-Clear Tile 1 x 4! Minifigs. In a set of 5 minifigs, but all of them are interesting! - Chief Big Bear - the most remarkable minifigure of the Indian! Hairdress, torso, the head - everything in it is simply magnificent! The head at a figure the bilateral. Pay attention to a mouth - when it is closed, looks as though toothless and when it is open - all teeth on a place! The torso is also ornamented from 2 parties. The hairdress is executed from rubber. - Tonto - this Tonto differs a little from all other versions in sets of this series! The raven, hairdress (also rubber) and a tomahawk - all this meets and in other sets of "lone ranger". Distinction in drawings on the head, торсике and feet - all of them in dust \dirt! Ordinary Tonto's comparison with Tonto from this set: Thanks to sets of this series it is possible to collect quite good "army" of Indians! - Lone Ranger - this figure also differs from the standard ranger drawing on a face, a torso and feet. Comparison of rangers: - Kyle - quite interesting bandit. Hat, the weapon and scarf - all this already saw. And here a torso ornamented from two parties, quite interesting! Head, by the way, the unilateral! - Butch Cavendish - a figure remarkable and charismatic. But differs nothing from same in a set of 79111 Constitution Train Chase. Both the head, and a torso - bilateral. The hat with hair is uniform and executed from plastic. Bandits from all which are available for me, "Lone Ranger" sets! We pass to assembly. During assembly I will show you and functional features of a set. And them as you will see, there is a lot of! At first separate elements of a set gather. The cart car - is used for transportation of silver ore. Parts of mine which disappear at "manual explosion" Elements of a design and mine interior. Mine basis. Here the first function - car pushing. Function of "explosion" of a wall. "The second floor" mines. Function of "explosion" of the rock. "The third floor" mines. "Magic floor" function. One more feature of the "magic floor" function. Final part of assembly. Dynamite throwing. Firing function... cow skull! And so, assembly is finished! Let's consider mine on - in more detail. Let's "recover" mine, having added minifigs. In a set surprisingly there is a lot of spare details! Result: - Minifigures and a mine design in a set - are smart! In general, all sets of this series - ideal "revival" of the Western (IMHO)! I wait for your responses and comments! Also excuse for my bad English!
  11. SSchmidt

    Forest Ambush

    I have seen others recreating the sets from the 2013 Castle line. Here is my take on "Forest Ambush." I made a small recreation of it. Unfortunately, in mine, there is no gold cart, puppy, and the bad guys win And here is a link to my FLICKR to see the first picture in the photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/92878490@N03/12914198254/ There is also a story attached to this in my FLICKR, as it is a build for my character Silas in the Lands of Classic Castle found at www.classic-castle.com I tried to incorporate new tree techniques and small foliage in ways I had not totally seen yet. I would appreciate any comments or criticism on the build itself.
  12. montgocloud

    Top Films of 2013

    Hi, I didn't see a topic like this anywhere and thought it would be interesting to get everyone's opinions. I'm a huge film buff and 2013, in my opinion, was a pretty great year for the industry. My top favorites are: 1. Inside Llewyn Davis 2. Frances Ha 3. Nebraska 4. Persistence of Vision (Ok, technically this started touring in 2012 film festivals, but it came to Houston in 2013; I'm going to count it) 5. Her l also really enjoyed (in no particular order): Much Ado About Nothing, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Enough Said, Fruitvale Station, and Pacific Rim. So what are your favorite films of 2013? (Also, sorry if this topic already existed)
  13. LEGO's 2013 CREATOR range has brought quite a variety of new models; there may not be much in the way of innovation, but I'm sure the LEGO Group knows what sells. For many, the highlight of the new sets will be this latest foray into the realm small-to-medium size cars, last visited with 2010's 5867 Super Speedster. In many respects, 31006 is a follow-on to this model, as we shall see, and we'll get to compare the two later. Review: 31006 Highway Speedster Set Information Name: Highway Speedster Number: 31006 Theme: Creator Release: January 2013 Parts: 286 Minifigures: N/A Price: GB £14.99 | US $24.99 | EUR 19.99 | AU $29.99 | CA $29.99 | DKK 179.95 A note on the pricing: In the UK, Europe, and Australia, this set occupies the same price point as 31008 Thunder Wings, which has some 50 fewer parts; whereas in the US and Canada, the Highway Speedster is considerably pricier. 31008's pricing is as follows: GB £14.99 | US $17.99 | EUR 19.99 | AU $29.99 | CA $24.99 | DKK 179.95. I can only assume that TLG have done their market research, and consider this set to be a sure-fire hit that will sell despite the higher pricing - interesting because it's rather a European-looking car, in my opinion. Links ... Shop@Home ... Brickset ... Bricklink ... Peeron The Box Click for a larger full-frontal image The familiar blue-and-yellow CREATOR colour scheme is, on this box, enlivened by a coastal roadway-graphic context for the car. I appear to have - quite unintentionally! - mimicked this for the title picture. It's more than you tend to get on most CREATOR boxes, and I think flatters the car somewhat. It is interesting that the alternative model insets - given unexpected prominence on the box of Thunder Wings - are relegated to their usual position here. Over the back, the three models parade themselves on the same 'speckled' floor found in the lower half of 31008's box rear. Click for a larger image Here, the car's opening features are opened for your delectation. I like the way the bley studs on the side of the nearmost model have their LEGO logos aligned - something I tend to take care to do when building official sets - although it is quite possible that these images are digital renders, which are often used on box art, I believe. I have often criticised the CREATOR set inventories - found as usual atop the box - for having a background gradient that can make some of the parts difficult to see; I'm pleased to report that this problem appears to have been fixed. Click for a larger image It'll be interesting to see if this lighter background extends across the entire range. The wheel construction here provides the customary '1:1' reference; it gives you some idea of the depth of the box, which is considerably deeper than that of 31008 ... ... though both share the same frontal dimensions. I doubt the 50 extra pieces require the increased interior space; it may be designed to mitigate the price hike for North American customers. This paradox continues inside the box: only three polybags reside within, compared to 31008's four; one however contains a small foetus. Each model gets its own manual. In common with the rest of the standard CREATOR range, no stickers are included; I wonder if this habit is to change with the introduction of the CREATOR Expert range and its decals. The Instructions The primary model's booklet has a shiny, high-quality cover. Having a smaller height than the box, the car is forced to encroach onto the yellow surround, as if breaking out of the page. The other two manuals have covers of a similar quality to the inside pages. A plain blue surround makes the instruction steps clear. With about 4-5 pieces per step, the build nevertheless progresses at a reasonable pace. As you can see from this picture, the rear and of the model is almost complete before the front is more than a skeleton: There are a few small sub-builds, but it's largely brick-on-brick, with very few colour-differentiation issues. Two double-page spreads advertise the rest of the new range, and some CITY vehicles. It's nice to see that the new Small Cottage gets a mention here! Behind this lies the inventory; found complete with part IDs here and here. There's nothing in the second manual besides instructions; the third's rear cover advertises the LEGO Club, with its disturbingly-faced mascot: The Parts A few pieces of blue and red break up the black, white, and grey monotony of the larger parts bag and its smaller offspring. It's nice to see a number of trans-black parts. Trans round tiles and a number of white cheese wedges could prove useful; the large number of light bluish-grey 1x1 studs would be handy if you're a fan of Derfel Cadarn's medieval walls. The other two bags contain quite a collection of white bows, tiles, slopes, plates and wedges, all are welcome in my collection. I'm really pleased to see large numbers of 1x2 plates in various colours. The yellow plates might be a little surprising; we'll see why they are necessary in due course. The only new(ish) part is the 1x2 brick with studs on one side, which I highlighted in my Octan Tanker review. Model 1 - Highway Speedster The primary model is a curvy, 10-stud wide supercar with large, purposeful front air vents, wing mirrors, large 'low-profile' tyres, and a rear-mounted engine. Size-wise it is similar to 2010's 5867, and as we shall see, the two compliment each other rather well. The low roof, and wedge-shaped profile building to a higher rear end, gives the car a suitably sporty look. The use of this piece improves the look of the tyres, which otherwise would look rather chunkier than you'd expect for such a car. They do a reasonable job off imitating alloys; the pearl light grey colour looks a little flat and it would have be nice to see them in metallic silver. Better still would be new wheel parts with low-profile tyres, but that would undoubtably push the cost up, if it is even possible at this scale. I like the red and black recesses in the sides, which otherwise would be rather flat and blocky. The low front is dominated by the twin air intakes, lined quite effectively with wedges, cheeses and bows to create a stylish look. The trans-red 1x1 rounds are a little surprising, but their resultant look complements the other, rather subtle, red parts in the intakes, without being too 'in your face.' The back is simple but smart, and looks somehow familiar. Using 1x1 round plates to imitate exhausts is perhaps a little simplistic, but it does show the younger builders how to create complex effects with simple parts, I suppose. Bows and slopes have been used in this model to recreate sexy supercar curves to quite good effect, seen best in this rear oblique view: You'll note the transparent cover to the engine compartment: a realistic feature of many modern supercars. It opens, too, as we'll see shortly. The little red tiled spoiler is rather understated; it also serves as a handle to open the engine cover. A new feature in this latest supercar is the transparent roof, formed from a 1x4x3 window panel and a 1x4x1 wall element attached SNOT to a 1x4 brick. It isn't hinged, but lifts off quite easily to access to the interior. I think the smooth look is an improvement over the previous studded plate of 5867. There's no rear window, however: the driver would have to rely on his wing mirrors! No steering in this car! I doubt a steering mechanism could be added at this scale without losing much of the exterior aesthetic; I wasn't expecting any, so I'm not disappointed. Note that, unlike most previous CREATOR cars at smaller scales, the wheels are connected directly via a 'live' axle. A minor side-effect of this construction technique is that manoeuvring the car in small spaces (ie., doing a three-point turn) is rather more difficult than with independently-spinning wheels. There's a large cavity under the passenger compartment, the floor of which is mounted above the large blue chassis rails. I'd expect a 'real' car to have quite a low floor; this is something of a design floor flaw which will cause us a bit of a headache shortly. Now we'll take a little tour of the car's features. The front headlights make use of a minifigure neck bracket to attach indicator lights; it's a fairly common technique that I've used before, and can be very useful. I do wonder whether the parts should have been white, though. The top-right frame shows the little recess under a 2x2 white tile that contains a trans-red round tile at a half-stud offset. I'm not sure what it's for, but it gives the car a Knight Rider vibe. Now there's an idea... I've already pointed out the very attractive round rear lights, but let's look at them again. Opening the engine cover reveals that, unfortunately, the engine is a little disappointing, especially compared to the hinge-brick V8 from 5867. In what is, I believe, a first for CREATOR cars, the Highway Speedster features gull-wing scissor doors (thank you, SirBlake, for the correction). The bley stud acts as a handle to allow the door to be lifted more easily ... ... even if the resulting 'open' door looks a little lame. Lifting off the roof allows easy access to the interior, itself quite smartly laid out: The chairs are a little perfunctory. The dash can easily be modified for right hand drive. It's also worth pointing out the two black symmetrical wedge plates under the windscreen, which form an attractive rhomboid shape here. Here's the downside to the high floor of the passenger compartment: You can't sit minifigures inside, without removing the roof. Actually, you can, but it involves a bit of modding including removal of the steering wheel, and lying the fig down almost flat. To be fair, you're probably not going to be trying to squeeze this car through the streets of LEGO City! I actually prefer the look without the roof. I was pretty keen on 5867 Super Speedster when I reviewed it back in 2010. 31006 is its natural successor; I've hastily rebuilt the earlier set so that we can see how well they sit together: 31006 shows up some of 5867's flaws. Its front fender is rather too deep; 31006's wheel trims make the chunky tires of 5867 look rather odd. 5867's curves, quite advanced at the time, look a little blocky, particularly on the wings; 31006's fluid contours are a vast improvement. On the downside, 31006's rather simplistic engine is a disappointment, and I've already pointed out the poorer turning circle; neither does the front trunk/boot cover open. I also miss the oblique-mounted doors of 5867 which greatly-enhanced its shape. However, the two sit quite nicely side by side, and this view reveals why I think the two sets complement each other. I remember pointing out that 5867's rear resembled a Lambourghini; the lovely round rear lights of 31006 are definitely saying 'Ferrari' to me. See here for a higher view. Model 2 - Highway Recovery The inclusion of a Recovery Truck as the second model in the set marks a pleasing contrast to the sporty primary model, and shows how a little lateral thinking can produce a very different creation from the same set of parts whilst sticking to the vehicular theme. Owners of 5867, however, won't be surprised - the second model in that set was also a truck, and even used the same SNOT technique for the windscreen. I would hazard a guess that the same designer is responsible for both sets (Morten, I believe). The use of tiles and slopes to provide a smooth upper surface for most of the truck is quite effective. You can also now see why the yellow plates are included in the set - they create a striped pattern along the sides, as you might see on an emergency recovery vehicle; it's a nice touch, if not exactly stunning. Trans-orange cheeses complete this image as emergency lights on the roof. The combined effect is perhaps seen better in this low view: Also apparent is the neat arrangement of inverted slopes along the underside, culminating at the front in a curved bumper. The arrangement of lights, radiator grill, and the centred 'badge' is a little messy, but it's probably the best that could be done with the available parts. The brick-built crane/hook assembly combines a number of contrasting colours, and isn't exactly beautiful, but it is functional: The main upright doesn't move very much; the arm extends a little way, and the hook barely moves at all, being restricted by a small plate/cheese wedge spur. This is necessary to enable to hook actually to hook anything - otherwise it would just swivel uselessly. The protruding blue 3L friction pins spoil the look slightly; it couldn't have greatly altered the price of the set to include a couple of 2L pins, but then again I'm sure just about everybody has a few spares lying around, if the protruding pins bother you. An interesting shortcut is used to attach the crane arm to the body: It is simply skewered on the rear axle. Neat! Note that this model also has 'live' axles (indeed, all three models do). Here's the crane in 'action' - Cameron's antique racing car has broken down, again. The minifig bracket that creates the hook works quite well, provided there is a plate or brick underside that it can hook onto. You have to place the towed vehicle onto the hook by hand, and it might struggle to tow anything with a low ground clearance. The truck's interior is neat and spacious, and can seat a System minifigure with ease: However, the cab roof is quite securely attached, and it can be tricky to remove. This view also highlights what I think is one of the major flaws of this build - it's just a little too low to the ground; you would expect the wheels to be mounted a plate or two lower, perhaps. Model 3 - Highway Racing I wasn't desperately keen on this third model - a classic racing car - when I first saw its pictures, but having built it and spent some time looking at it in the flesh, as it were, I've come to like it quite a lot. Like the 'concept car' model in 31008 Thunder Wings, an ugly lump of bricks transforms during the latter stages of the build into a smooth and sleek racer. I particularly like the use of wedges to define the bulge around the cockpit; the array of lights at the front looks a little odd, but it might be the best that could be achieved with the parts. The sides are finished with a SNOT panel with a row of bley studs representing, I suppose, exhausts. See, I've aligned the LEGO logos too. It's profile is somehwat dull, but I like the bowed front and the little wings over the rear wheels. The wheel-hub inserts do well here to give the appearance of spoked wheels, though they are a little too wide for realism. The back end is also neatly bowed, and here you can see the beautifully-tiled cockpit interior: It is interesting that the steering wheel is mounted slightly to to the right - I would expect the car to be a single seater. There's a jumper plate included in the set, which I don't think is used elsewhere in the model, so this could be easily corrected. The car's size is a little too large for a System minifigure, but it looks to be the ideal scale for to fit a Fabulander. It's possible, but only with a minor modification: I've removed the seat backs here so that Gibson Goat can challenge Cameron Crocodile to a race! This is perhaps what led Cameron to break down. Click the links below for some alternative views: Conclusion LEGO CREATOR's latest advance into the territory of small-to-medium sized Supercars provides us with a sleek, sporty, powerful-looking roadster that builds on the successes of its predecessor. There is some superb usage of bows and slopes to define the curvy contours of the car; the simple addition of wheel inserts vastly improves the realism of the look. If you own 5867, you will be delighted to note that the two cars are the same scale, and will look pretty sitting side-by-side on the shelf, especially given the 'allusion' to real supercar brands provided by their rear ends. The two included alternative vehicles are good models in their own right, with sufficient variety to make them interesting and fun builds, and as always significantly increase the value of these CREATOR sets. Yes, there are a few minor flaws, but overall I think the designer has done a fantastic job here. Design 9 The aesthetic of the supercar is enhanced greatly over that of its predecessor, with a wonderful use of curves to depict the svelte lines of a luxury roadster. The two alternatives are imaginative in their variety, and attractive to behold; they can be inspiring in their use of the available parts to create a very different vehicle from the original. I'm not so keen on the rather simplistic engine of the main build, and if I were to change one thing, I would lower the floor of the interior. Build 7 The build process is fun if a little pedestrian; unlike 31008 Thunder Wings I didn't experience any 'wow' moments here, although there are a few neat little tricks used here and there. The highlight is seeing how the gorgeous curves take shape. Parts 7 Aside from the new 1x2 SNOT bricks, which are already becoming quite common, there are no rare or interesting parts; however, the overall part variety and colour palette looks to be more useful than many of the set's contemporaries. Playability 8 A few fun features enhance the experience, but primarily this is a set for pushing around the carpet or sitting pretty on the shelf, at both of which it excels. Value 10 I've scored here for the UK price point: at £14.99, this set is a steal. Less so, perhaps, in North America, where it seems to have been hit be a 'desirability' premium, or something. Or perhaps TLG has taken pity on the recession-ravaged UK, where clearly people can no longer afford luxury cars, even as toys! Overall 82 % My Score 9/10 A great set, at excellent (albeit location-dependent) value. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the review. I'm sure people will have a lot to say, particularly about the price issue. Fire away! Rufus Resources My 5867 Super Speedster Review My 31008 Thunder Wings Review LEGO CREATOR home page My flickr Set Endpiece Who needs steering, anyway?
  14. Artanis I

    REVIEW: 31007 Power Mech

    Not Review Academy approved! Read at your own risk! I noticed that this set has not been reviewed, so this will be the 2nd time (besides board games) I've bought a new* (this one not so new for some) set and had the opportunity. This time I have a better camera but unfortunately I was in a hurry to build and photograph so I apologise in advance for a few shots. I also forgot to crop the photos. Full Flickr set available here. CREATOR: 31007 Power Mech 223 pieces 381g MSRP/RRP: $19.99 USD, £14.99 GBP, €19.99 EUR, $24.99 CAD, $29.99 AUD, $39.99 NZD Usual fluff from TLG: Blast into the future with the Power Mech’s articulated arms, grabbers and leg boosters or rebuild it into a helicopter or pickup truck! Be king of the robots with this amazing 3-in-1 Power Mech! Make way for the mighty Power Mech! Suit up for futuristic battle with strong green armor, powerful arms, grabbing claws and leg-mounted boosters and launch into the sky! The Power Mech is a bright battle bot ready for anything! Move the arms and legs for realistic robot action. Then rebuild it into a fast helicopter with moving rotor or a heavy-duty pickup truck with rugged offroad tires. •3-in-1 model: rebuilds into a fast helicopter or heavy-duty pickup truck •Features green armor, twin antennas, articulated arms and legs, hand grabbers and leg-mounted boosters •Helicopter features moving rotor and large engines •Pickup truck features folding tailgate, detailed engine and rugged off-road tires •Move the Power Mech’s arms, legs and hand grabbers for realistic robot action! •Spin the helicopter’s moving rotors! •Rev up for a wild ride with the pickup truck’s rugged offroad tires! •Measures over 6" (18cm) tall and 5" (12cm) wide •Helicopter measures over 1" (4cm) high, 5" (15cm) long and 3" (8cm) wide •Pickup truck measures over 2" (7cm) high, 7" (18cm) long and 2" (7cm) wide Instructions for download: http://cache.lego.co...ons/6036599.pdf (mech) http://cache.lego.co...ons/6036296.pdf (helicopter) http://cache.lego.co...ons/6036298.pdf (truck) Bricklink | Lego Shop @ Home | Brickset This set caught my attention due to the lime green colour (I've always been drawn in by green ) and the appearance of the mech really reminded me of mid 80s Transformers, specifically the head. The colour particularly invokes thoughts of the Constructicons/Devastator. I have not seen this set in a shop, I assume it's one of those annoyingly limited availability sets you can only get at a particular retailer - and one I don't live near . As I was placing an order for the Tower Of Orthanc set from S@H, I decided to grab this one while I was at it. So, get on with it... Box: Not a huge box, because it's not a huge set. On the front, the main build (a six-fingered man?!? My name is Inigo Montoya... ) is featured prominently in somewhat of a wrestling stance, and accompanied by the secondary & tertiary builds of a small helicopter and a truck (roughly minifig scale) featuring a closed tray. Australian boxes are the western European ones, so they have as little text as possible because there are so many languages to cover. "3 IN 1" advertises the fact that there are 3 models that can be built in this set. I don't remember seeing anywhere on the box anything about you only being able to have 1 built at a time. (I know it's obvious to us, but you know, Nans...) We do however have a parts inventory on the box (top or bottom? I forget): On the back, a very simple illustration showing the majesty of the power mech, with his sidekicks already transformed and ready to roll out. A quick look at one of the sides. Nice 3D bevel effects there. Instructions: Three booklets, one for each model predictably. Because the bags are not numbered, the inside cover shows us that it's helpful to sort the parts into separate colours rather than a big pile. Instructions are set out as you'd expect, the same as most Lego themes these days with simple steps and part call-outs the whole way. Step 1 of the mech was too much for me, I had to give up. Doesn't look like many parts, perhaps I've been buying too many large sets lately. Let's have a squiz at those next. Parts: As I mentioned, these sets don't use the numbered bag approach. Obvious reason being: if you want to build the models in a different order. This time around, it's 3 bags of parts. Let's lay them out for a better look: All fairly common parts really, if you are into multiple themes you would've seen this all before. (We even get 2 standard 2x4 bricks.) I have heard that the lime 2x1 cheese slopes are rare, well here's a bunch of them. On to the models. Model - Truck: I chose to start with the truck. Simple build really. Didn't take long (each model took 10-15 minutes roughly) to build, and quite a few parts were left over: Depending on where you live, you may know this vehicle as a pick-up truck, perhaps some variety of lorry, or in Australia it would be known as a utility vehicle/truck but referred to as a "ute". This particular model is the type with sides around the tray to drop your goods into, avoiding the need to tie things down. The rear tailgate wall folds down as in real life, but there is no canvas cover in this instance. It's one solid brute of a machine, take a look at the bonnet (hood)! Big headlights to warn the deer/cows/roos of a fair fight coming, (although that grille is a bit susceptible, better throw a bull-bar in front) and big honking wheels. The walls are solid! Nice detail with the step to get up into the cabin, and it's good to see a rear window, that's very useful! (Except that there's solid brick on the inside...) Unfortunately due to the part restriction (all 3 models using the same parts) the cabin cannot seat a minifig. You may be able to see the 2x4 wedge plates that close in the space. Easy modification if you're that sort of person. Let's check out all the angles: Obviously if you were to clean this up (replace some parts with others not in the set) you would change the white cheese for lime green, and the hinge plates for standard 1x4 plates, and rearrange the cabin area to fit a minifig in. There are a few areas in the chassis where other parts would fit better than what is included. Model - Helicopter: Next up is the helicopter. Even smaller build this time, but some more interesting moments than the truck. Nice snot on the sides and rear, I liked how that fit. Many parts left over: Not a lot to say about this model, it looks okay but it does still look a bit blocky from some angles. The rotor spins freely which is important for toy helicopters, and the details show nice use of the parts available. The cockpit opens too, that's a nice inclusion. Let's get some angles: As with the truck, I don't like the white parts showing. Swap them out for lime green or dark grey and we're good. I was surprised by the use of 2 2x2 tiles with pin for the rotor, that was a bit different to the usual. Model - Power Mech: Robot, automaton, mech, whatever you want to call it. This Lego set really is a transformer triple changer. The build this time used most of the parts (as was expected), and was a lot more modular compared to the linear nature of the truck. No surprises, as we are building feet, legs, arms, torso etc. Lots of snot involved, with only very minor greebles. Leftover parts: He's pretty solid. Nice big but well sculpted torso, arms & legs. The shoulder joints look a bit exposed, as do the hips. By adding more chunk to those areas we would lose poseability, I fear. The problem with the parts used to connect these legs to the torso is that they aren't symmetrical, and if (as in this case) the brick part is a different colour to the pin part you get an ugly situation. One hip is grey at the front and back at the back, the other is black at the front and grey at the back. My primary concern about this model. The white is not so much a problem on this model, it looks fine, but I think I would've used grey instead. I like the use of the wheel arches, I would've liked to have seen the wheels used somehow, but that may have been a bit too Hasbro inciting. Looking at it from behind, it's very bare (normal for the underside of sets). Being a standing model, I think it should have something, either snot, inverted slopes or those new inverted tiles. Something to cover his back. I like the view of the off-square angles better than the straight-on front & rear. The lights on the chest are interesting, and the little rockets on the lower legs. Let's talk poseability. Head rotates 180°, but doesn't tilt up or down. To look up, he has to bend at the hips. There is no flexibility in the core at all, this is not a problem really, just makes it harder to look up/down. The universal joints in the shoulders mean that the arms can position just as well and even better than normal human arms. Despite not having wrists, the combination of the universal shoulders with standard elbows mean that the hands can take any normal position. For the legs it's not quite so rosy, having no rotation at the waist makes the walking, well, robotic. The hips can move backwards, forwards and sideways. The unfortunate thing is that there are no functioning knee joints and the ankles only tilt sideays. One leg forward and one leg back to walk means that the leg is straight and the foot is not flat on the ground. It doesn't look too bad, but it maybe could've been better. At least he can show sass with the legs a bit sideways, the feet sit flat in that instance. He has opposable thumbs but only 2 fingers per hand, they must be pretty strong. And now some vogue... let's strike a pose! "Say wha?" "Step aside, sir" Aghast! Nice balance Flexible sideways splits, and double jointed ankles? Stayin' Alive Crab or something... Yes, he does transform: into this... thing. (And yes, he does have an anus, thanks for sharing... why I don't know...) I like the look of this guy, I'm not into those Bionicle/Hero Factory style figures. They seem to have big holes everywhere, and don't use much in the way of standard bricks. They don't really look "Lego" to me either. This guy is made primarily from stuff you'd find in a normal set, with studs everywhere. The body parts are all in decent scale to each other. Often the arms or legs will be too short or something like that. The final word: I built this model last because I was expecting to keep this one built rather than the other two. This is only my 4th Creator set, the other 3 I bought because of the parts. One of those I bought 3 of, so I built each model from separate sets before dismantling into storage. This one might stay built though. I thought that the inclusion of 4 big tyres only used in 1 minor model was a bit strange. Was it worth buying/the money? That's the question everyone wants answered when they read a review. My answer is always another question: "Is any set worth buying/the money?" I enjoyed it. Don't know if I enjoyed it as much as it cost, I never really know that. I liked the look of the set pictures, and I don't mind the final model in the end. To be perfectly honest I feel like I'm buying outside of my normal theme interest when it comes to Creator. Score? X apples out of Y oranges. You can probably get the feeling of a qualitative score by reading this post. Hope you enjoyed the "review" and thanks for reading/looking. If you have any further comments on this set or review feel free to contribute, any questions or photographical requests go ahead. I don't have the smaller Creator set (31006 or 31008?) to compare that mech to this though.
  15. Fire-themed sets have been a staple of the LEGO Town and CITY themes (along with the Police subtheme), recurring in a few years interval in the past several years with updated versions of the Fire set ‘regulars’ (i.e. Fire Station, Fire Trucks, etc.). 2013 marks another year where we get a new line-up of Fire-themed sets. So how do these new sets look like? How do they compare with previous releases from the past years? Let’s take a closer look as I review three sets from this 2013 line-up in this Triple Review Special. Up next for review is the 60002 Fire Chief Car. Normally, minifigs with relatively high positions in the service, like the Fire Chief of a Fire Department or a Police Chief of a Police Department, are exclusive to large sets such as Fire Stations or Police Stations. But this year, no other than the Fire Chief himself is included in the second smallest set in the 2013 CITY Fire product line - along with his personal Fire Chief Car! Now how exciting is that? Name: Fire Chief Car Number: 60001 Theme: CITY | Subtheme: Fire Year: 2013 Pieces: 80 Minifigs: 2 Price: $11.99 Links: Brickset | Bricklink | Peeron (not yet inventoried) | LEGO Shop@Home The Box Even if the car is clearly the 'star of the set' and is even prominently placed in front of the boxart for maximum exposure, I can't help but enjoy the sight of the Head of the Fire Department helping a poor lady get his attention-craving pussy cat from the tree using a fish... Whew, can you just count the weird things I said in that sentence? Weird but True Story (with Barney Stinson impersonation). The laugh trip continues at the back of the box, since it seems the boxart designers really had a hard time putting the 'interesting features' of this set at the back that it had to resort to a three-panel silent comics, showcasing how the 'Knight in Shining Gold Helmet' 1) arrived, 2) saved the Damsel in Distress's poor kitty, and 3) had to leave Milady as duty calls and destiny will tell if they shall meet another day... Enough of the making fun of the boxart alright. Mr. Fire Chief is featured in the 1:1 minifig panel, and looks like his dashing debonaire looks not only works for the ladies but for felines as well... (sorry can't help it! ). The Contents (Yes, thank heavens no more boxart to joke about!) We get three un-numbered bags of LEGO, an instruction booklet, sticker sheet, and the car chassis as the loose piece. For a set with such a small piece count, it's head-scratching why the parts had to be bagged separately. Seriously, less plastic usage/consumption = more environment-friendly right? The Instruction Booklet The instruction booklet came in folded condition, but not really an issue for me. Same boxart-instruction cover art = nothing new. Sample Page I'm trying to remember if the blue background with white streaks is new or is it just been a while since I puschased some CITY sets? Anyways, the instructions are legibly printed, color differentiation is easy and the overal progress of the build was easy to follow. Sticker Sheet The sticker sheet contains five decorative decals for the Fire Chief Car. The LEGO parts Quite a colorful selection parts - all the primary LEGO colors (red, blue, yellow, green, white, black, grey, brown) are interestingly represented among the parts of this set. Pieces of Interest: There are three interesting pieces in this 80-piece selection: (1) Quad Curved Wedge roof piece which was only introduced last year and the red variant being exclusive to this set; (2) "Wedge 3 x 4 x 2/3 Cutout" which can only be found in two sets; with this set being the only regular set where it can be found (the other is the 2012 Luke Skywalker's Chibi-Landspeeder ComiCon giveaway) (3) Metallic Gold fireman's helmet which is exclusive to only three sets (previously found only in the Fire Brigade modular building). The Minifigures Technically, there are only two minifigures in this set, but I decided to include Ms. Pussy Cat Pants since she's an integral part of the presentation of this set's storyline. Fire Chief The Fire Chief wears the new 2013 Fire outfit, which seems to be the common get-up as the Fire Motorcyclist from 60000 also wears the same. Judging by his expression, Mr. Fire Chief seems to be an approachable good-natured person, something you rarely see in persons of high positions (TRUTH!). But the main star of this minifig is none other than the shinin' shimmerin' metallic gold fireman's helmet. Note that the Fire Chief appears in another set, in the larger 60004 Fire Station, in his office attire - which, honestly, is a better-looking variant of the Fire Chief (hence, the reason it's exclusive to that big set ). Ms. Cat-lover While the parts of this minifig aren't something new, it is always a welcome addition when female civilians are included in regular sets. Honestly, I simply love the overall look of this female minifig - from the the blonde hair to the medium blue torso, even the pairing with plain white legs - it all works for me, even if she's just a 'supporting minifig' in this set. Pussy Cat As one great dragon said, "Animals are people too!". Hence Ms. Pussy Cat is part of the cast. Meow! Purr.... The cat is just the usual standard white faceless printless feline we're all familiar with. The Build For all intents and purposes, excluding the minifigs and the highly-creative 3-part tree, all the build is focused on the Fire Chief Car. In about 23 elementary steps you'll be finished building the vehicle. Let's take a closer look at the finished product: Gotta admit the car has some nice sleek overall look made possible by the effective combination of curved and sloped parts. The only questionable part is the uneven finish of the hood. I assume the designers were trying to replicate the slightly elevated portions of the hoods of modern cars, though it doesn't translate to LEGO well. It's actually not that bad, just noticeable - but still passable. This is probably the closest real-life Fire Chief car I've seen in the web, a Dodge Chysler Fire Chief car, that is similar to the 60001 model. Though the 60001 Fire Chief car clearly isn't patterned from a Chrysler, it still resembles the overall smooth finish, and even the two-level white body strips seem to be identical. Different Views of the Fire Car One minor detail I like about this car is the use of the hinge plate finger as the side mirrors - not a new technique but still gets a star on my book. The side view is also my favorite as it shows the overall sleekness of the car. The set number is also stickered at the sides and acts as the Car Unit Number. For some reason the car loses its sleekness and suddenly looks stubby when viewed quarterly at the back. Despite the car's sleekness when viewed at other angles, such trait is absolutely absent in the front and back views, as the car looks like painfully squarish (but not blocky). Interestingly, the set number is also inlcuded in the license plate together with the set designer's initials "CL". Set Features Left: The stickered control panel located in front of the steering wheel - with gauges, buttons and a two-way radio prints - is a pretty neat detail that I did not expect but was pleasant surprise. Right: A small storage rack is located at the back of the driver's seat, where a fire extinguisher and radio can be stored. Left: The quad curved wedge roof allows for the Fire Chief to wear his precious golden helmet even when inside the car. Right: One gripe I have about this car (or for almost any vehicle that don't have this), is the lack of functional doors! Poor Fire Chief have to squeeze his way through the windows just to get inside! Ok we're back to where we started, poking fun once again at the pussy cat-saving scenario "playability feature" of this set. Surely, even a kid would get tired saving the woman's cat over and over again. But then again let's not kid ourselves, the main play feature of this set is the car, so everything else is just icing on the cake so to speak. One last thing, I shall recite a short poem in honor of the award-winning design of the majestic tree: I think I shall never see A thing as oversimpified as this tree A tree with trunk as straight as Big Ben And as smooth as bald old men. The Completed Set Rating the Set: Design – 8/10 The car is nice but would've been better with doors (-1). The tree is also hilariously oversimplified (-1). 8/10 is a decent overall score for the design of this set. Build – 6/10 If not for the car this would have been a Perfect 10 if I judged the intricacies of the complexity of the tree's building techniques. Parts – 9/10 Three relatively new and uncommon parts in a small set notches a high score on my grading system. Minifigures – 9/10 Loved the Fire Chief's golden helmet, while the female civilian minifig is even more lovable. Playability – 6/10 The set designer probably struggled mightily justifying saving a cat as a playability feature. At least there's always the car to rely on as the main play feature of the set. Price – 7/10 A $0.15/piece ratio is less than ideal, but I guess having two minifgures kinda justifies the price. Overall: 75% Thanks for taking the time to read this review! Next up is the final part of this Three-Part Review Series, the 60002 - Fire Truck Review. You could also look at the previous 60000 - Fire Motorcycle Review if you haven't seen it yet. 60000 - Fire Motorcycle Review 60002 - Fire Truck Review
  16. CM4Sci

    2013 Galaxy Squad

    All of the 2013 Galaxy Squad sets! Warning all pictures link to HR versions which can be up to +6000.pxl all pictures posted from GRogall Spring Wave 70700 Space Swarmer The evil alien buggoid is buzzing around in his Space Swarmer. Don't let him capture the Galaxy Squad robot sidekick with the ship’s grabber mouth! Help him to blast away from the buggoid's sonic gun with his jet pack! Get to safety, then aim and fire the blasters to stop that swarming space critter! Includes 2 minifigures with weapons: alien buggoid and robot sidekick with a jet pack. 70701 Swarm Interceptor An armed and dangerous alien mosquitoid is speeding this way on a space flyer! Stop that creepy crawler with blue team leader Solomon Blaze and the split function Swarm Interceptor! When the action gets too hot for one Galaxy Squad ship, split the Swarm Interceptor into 2 fierce fighting machines: an agile flyer with detachable guns and a powerful turret with hidden flick missiles! That pest doesn't stand a chance against the split-function Swarm Interceptor with Solomon Blaze at the wheel! Includes 2 minifigures with assorted weapons: Solomon Blaze and alien mosquitoid. 70702 Warp Stinger Stop the angry alien mosquitoid behind the wheel of the fearsome Warp Stinger! It's using the Warp Stinger's shooting function to attack the Galaxy Squad heroes. Go after it with red team leader Billy Starbeam and his speederbike! Watch out for the Warp Stinger's sticky cocoon trap! Fire the detachable blasters and team up with his robot sidekick to save the world from those overgrown bugs! Be ready for a serious bug battle against the Warp Stinger's cocoon, moving wings, detachable gun and shooter function. Includes 3 minifigures with assorted weapons: Billy Starbeam, robot sidekick with jet pack and winged alien mosquitoid. 70703 Star Slicer The Star Slicer is creeping along on its locust legs out to capture the blue Galaxy Squad team. Stop the alien's Star Slicer before he gets Solomon Blaze’s sidekick with his stinging claws! Split the Galaxy Squad vehicle into an armored car and agile flyer to take the fight to the aliens! Stay away from the Star Slicer's shooting function and its sticky cocoon! Includes 3 minifigures: Solomon Blaze, robot sidekick and an exclusive red alien buggoid. 70704 Vermin Vaporizer The alien scorpion is on the rampage with a cocoon to capture the green Galaxy Squad heroes! Help green team leader Chuck Stonebreaker and his robot sidekick to bust the buggoid in the awesome Vermin Vaporizer! Tag team the alien invader when you activate the split function to turn the Vermin Vaporizer into a mighty mech and a battle buggy! Fire the mech's dual flick missiles and powerful cannons with Chuck Stonebreaker in the opening cockpit! Then attack the aliens in the battle buggy to save the day – the Galaxy Squad way! Includes 3 minifigures: Chuck Stonebreaker, robot sidekick and alien buggoid, all with assorted weapons. 70705 Bug Obliterator The deadly alien dragonfly is trying to capture the Galaxy Squad orange team heroes in a cocoon prison. Soar into battle with orange team heroes Jack Fireblade and Ashlee Starstrider in the Bug Obliterator! Hit the button to transform the Bug Obliterator into a rugged armored rover and a swift attack ship that can battle those bugs from the sky! Launch the hidden flick missiles and fire the laser guns to send those alien bugs crawling back to where they came from! Includes 4 minifigures: Jack Fireblade, Ashlee Starstrider, Robot Sidekick and winged alien mosquitoid with weapons and a cocoon. Summer Wave 70706 Crater Creeper Take Galaxy Squad green team leader Chuck Stonebreaker on a mission to exterminate the alien’s Crater Creeper! Jump into the hero hovercraft and chase after the bug-eyed buggoid in the Crater Creeper with insect legs, chomping jaws and flick missiles. Fire the hovercraft’s flick missiles, bring the Crater Creeper crashing to a halt and win the battle with the Galaxy Squad! Includes 2 minifigures with weapons: green team leader Chuck Stonebreaker and an alien buggoid. 70707 CLS-89 Eradicator Mech Get back into battle with the bugs with the split-function CLS-89 Eradicator Mech with rapid-fire missiles! Help orange team leader Jack Fireblade and his robot sidekick raise the mech’s powerful arms, load the rapid-fire flick missiles and aim the laser cannon to stop the alien abductoids! When the battle heats up, activate the Eradicator Mech’s split function, lower the wings and take flight in the super-agile galaxy jet with hidden bay door and deployable bomb. Stop the bugs from trapping the Galaxy Squad in cocoon prisons! Includes 2 minifigures with weapons: orange team leader Jack Fireblade and his robot sidekick. 70708 Hive Crawler The alien mantizoid is on a mission across the galaxy in the creepy Hive Crawler with moving legs. Stop it from laying insectoid eggs and spreading the alien threat! Deploy Galaxy Squad red team leader Billy Starbeam and his robot sidekick in the split-function hero speedster! Dodge the double-rotating venom guns, razor-sharp legs and pinching mouth! Then launch a deadly double attack by splitting the hero speedster into a sky speeder for air assaults and a planet speeder for ground combat. Don’t let the insectoid eggs hatch! Includes 2 insectoids and 3 minifigures with weapons and accessories: red team leader Billy Starbeam, robot sidekick and an alien mantizoid. 70709 Galactic Titan Send in blue team leader Solomon Blaze to exterminate the creepy alien caterpillar and hive tower. Only the split-function Galactic Titan can stop the alien army from hatching more eggs. Rescue blue team pilot Max Solarflar e from his cocoon prison. Move the Galactic Titan into position with its rubber quad tracks, rotate the double shooter into position and fire at the creepy caterpillar. First, disable its moving joints and dangerous pinching jaws. Then initiate the Galactic Titan's split function to deploy the deep space destroyer with removable cockpit, rotating wings and flick missiles. Use it to destroy the hive tower's insectoid egg shooter and cocoon prison. Defeat the alien bugs once and for all in this fierce final battle. Includes a flying insectoid and 5 minifigures with weapons: blue team leader Solomon Blaze, robot sidekick, Max Solarflare, an alien mosquitoid and a mantizoid. All pictures are © 2013 The Lego Group Toy fair coverage by: atamall.tv
  17. Following on from my review of the 42011 Race Car, I now present to you my pictorial review of the 42010 Off-road Racer. All pictures can be clicked on for a larger view, and are viewable in my Brickshelf folder (once moderated). Set: 42010 Name: Off-road Racer Theme: Technic Year: 2013 Pieces: 160 (+7 spares) Price: US $19.99, CAD 24.99 Links: Lego Shop@Home (US) Lego Technic Website Lego Technic Instructions Brickset Bricklink Rebrickable Pictures: Brickshelf (once moderated) The Box A fairly standard looking Technic box, measuring 26cm x 14cm x 6cm (10.25" x 5.5" x 2.4"), which is slightly thicker than the box for the 42011 Race Car which was 4.5 (1.8") thick. The back of the box is exactly the same as the box of the 42011 Race Car, and shows you how you can combine the two sets together to create a Dragster. The left side features French (translated as 'The off-road buggy') and Spanish (translated as 'Off-Road Racing'). Front and back: Top and bottom: Left and right: Boxes from both 42011 and 42010: The Contents One small bag of pieces One medium bag of pieces One larger bag of pieces What looks to be a new pull-back motor for 2013, the same as in 42011 Race Car Four Tire 43.2mm D. x 26mm Balloon Small loose in the box One sticker sheet A supplementary booklet (12 pages) A single building instruction book (48 pages) New and/or Interesting Pieces Four of the new smaller panels, numbered 21 and 22. The Lego part numbers for these in blue are 6022764 and 6023035 respectively. Close-up pictures of these parts can be seen here and here What looks to be a new pull-back motor. I don't have any previous ones to compare, but it looks similar to Pullback Motor 7 x 5 x 3 (Motor 6) or Pullback Motor 8 x 5 x 3 (Motor 6a), although it has different mounting points. What looks to be a new Technic, Gear 8 Tooth, as shown in my 42011 Race Car Pictorial Review. Six Dark Bluish Gray Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Hub with 2 Axles. While not new, these were released in 2012 and have only appeared in four other sets so far. Two Black Technic, Panel Fairing Small Smooth Short #1 and #2, but I wish that these were blue instead Two Black Technic, Panel Fairing Small Smooth Long #3 and #4, and again, I wish that these were blue instead Four Black Tire 43.2mm D. x 26mm Balloon Small One Light Bluish Gray Technic, Gear Worm Screw Blue pieces! While not a whole lot of them, it is nice to see beams in a colour that isn't LBG, DBG, Black, Red or Yellow. The Blue Technic, Liftarm 1 x 9 Bent (7 - 3) Thick is quite rare, having only appeared in one other set before, back in 2002. As the chassis of the Off-road Racer is blue, the seat in this model deviates from the standard blue seat, and is red. The full list of parts can be seen on the inventory page of the instructions, or on the Bricklink inventory page. Sticker Sheet There are eight stickers on one sheet. The sticker sheet is 10.5cm x 8.3cm (4.1" x 3.3"). I did not apply the stickers to my model. Supplementary Booklet The booklet has 12 pages, and shows a few 'play' situations together with the 42011 Race Car, some pages showing other sets in the 2013 line-up, and the back page shows how the two sets can be combined (similar to the back of the box). This is the same booklet that was also in the 42011 Race Car set. Click the images if you want to see larger pictures of the pages. Building Instruction Book The building instructions are fairly standard, presented with part call-outs and the typical light blue background. We get the new graphics on Page 2 reminding us to sort our pieces, which was was also seen in the 42011 Race Car Pictorial Review, and we still get the GEWINNE! kid on the back page. Only some pages are shown here (there are 48 pages in total), and the instructions can be downloaded in PDF format from the Lego website, although the resolution of the PDF is quite poor. Page 7, Step 2: Here we have a mistake in the instructions, but hopefully my copy of the instructions were just part of an early batch and this will be fixed soon. It was easy enough for me to guess what was supposed to happen, but I hope kids in the target 7-14 year-old range don't have too many problems with this. The PDF instructions that are downloadable from the Lego website do not show this error, which suggests that TLC is already aware of the error. Page 17, Step 14: Half way through the build process. Page 43, Step 28: The completed model. Just like the 42011 Race Car, there are two pieces shown left over in the last step of the instructions, one Worm Gear and the new 8 Tooth Gear. Page 46: The inventory page, showing all of the parts and the Lego Element IDs. The Race Car Apart from the pull-back motor, the only other feature of this model is that the cage at the top can open up. Spare Pieces There are seven spare pieces, but just like in the 42011 Race Car set, the only two gears in the set are spare pieces (one Worm Gear and the new 8 Tooth Gear). They are shown in the last step of the instructions, and I can only imagine that they are used when combining this set with 42011 Race Car. The rest of the spares are fairly standard pieces. Conclusions This is only a small Technic set with 160 pieces (two more than the 42011 Race Car), but it is just in time for Christmas so I can imagine this set ending up in lots of kids hands on Christmas morning. With it's slightly larger wheel diameter, this set travels further than the 42011 Race Car: 9.60m (31.45') vs 7.85m (25.75') on low-pile carpet, and 11.50m (37.75') vs 8.55m (28.05') on smooth tiles. The larger diameter wheels also mean that this set takes slightly more space to pull-back than the 42011 Race Car: 1.07m (42') vs 1.02m (40'). So which set is better, the 42010 Off-road Racer, or the 42011 Race Car? Aesthetics: Personally I think the 42011 Race Car looks better, but this is a very subjective opinion, and your opinion may vary. I am glad that we are seeing some more pieces in blue though. Performance: The larger diameter wheels on the 42010 Off-road Racer clearly enable it to out-perform the 42011 Race Car in all of my tests. Functionality: Both sets have the pull-back motor function, although the 42010 Off-road Racer also has the cage at the top that can open. Parts: Both sets feature a very similar set of parts. The 42011 Race Car has two extra panels (Red Technic, Panel Fairing Small Smooth Short #1 and #2), whereas the 42010 Off-road Racer has six of the Dark Bluish Gray Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Hub with 2 Axles and blue beams. It is a close call, but personally I like the 42010 Off-road Racer just a little bit better. Unfortunately TLG hasn't released the building instructions to make the Dragster by combining the two sets yet, but I look forward to building it and seeing how it performs once the instructions are available. Update: The building instructions to make the 'Dragster Combi Model' are now available here or here or here (thanks DLuders). Update: My 42010 + 42011 Dragster Combi Model Pictorial Review is now available. Hopefully I have covered most angles, but if you want any more photos or info, just let me know.
  18. WideWiiLover

    City Advent Calendar 2013

    I'm Back!! After forgetting to finish last years advent calendar after Day 18 or something like that, I came back! This year I will try my best to be punctual and get everyday in there! .... I hope .... Anyway, let's get started: Day 1: We have a police officer with his standard cup of joe. Baseball hat inclueded. Spares (Not pictured): Extra Black Hat Extra Red mug Oh, and i forgot to include a picture of the instruction sheet that just wanted to tell me about choking hazards and winning!
  19. To all hello I Bring to your attention the review of one more novelty of 2013 - 60007 High Speed Chase! Little general information: Theme - City Subtheme - Police Year released - 2013 Pieces - 283 Minifigs - 3 The box of a set of time in one and a half is more than boxes from 60017 and 60018! On the face the set is represented: Also here it is possible to see an inscription about existence in a set of an exclusive minifig and a code for game! On the back party of a box too there is a lot of information! Functional and game features of a set: Also there is information on where to find a code for the game City Undercover as to use it and that it gives in game: Face party of a box: Let's pass to box contents! Having opened a box, we find out that it is filled on only two thirds! We find in it: - three packages with details - three parts of the instruction - stickers In instructions there are some interesting pages! These are new police sets of the beginning of year: Game City Undercover advertizing for Wii: The next information on a code for game: It is a little advertizing of sets of City: We pass to minifigs. Them in a set of only 3 pieces - on one on each HARDWARE! - the police officer on the motorcycle - new торсик very much pleases: both a bullet-proof vest, and "police" inscription on it, and a handheld transceiver and in general new colors! The only thing that very much isn't pleasant to me is a sticking-out part of a yellow body in area a breast throat! Also please feet - pockets, various fasteners! The torso is ornamented from two parties! - exclusive minifig - in what I didn't understand its exclusivity, probably in a hairdress? ! But all the same - a minifig excellent! - the bandit - at last updated this minifig! The new torso became more gloomy - dark colors dominate. Also on a torso you can see a rope and a belt! The torso has drawing from both parties - the part of a rope, various keys and master keys is behind also visible! Also the bandit had a new physiognomy - with short moustaches and a mask on a face. Why that it reminds me the Frenchman?! In a set are available new details are rare also: Assembly of a set is divided into three parts - according to instructions and packages! At first we collect the motorcycle and obstacles! Pay attention that at the motorcycle the design of fastening of a handheld transceiver and handcuffs changed! Sticker I didn't begin to paste since they can it is useful in other homemade products! Both we more than once saw the motorcycle, and protections! The following stage - assembly of the jeep which is very similar on Hammer! The jeep is built! Well to tell... On the picture it looks where it is better, than alive! At such huge sizes in it there isn't enough place - everything "is eaten" to cubes 2х4! What for?! To put in a cabin of 2 minifigs - it is unreal! Even doors aren't present, and after all not difficult to put them (see below)! General view of a car: In comparison with a minifig: To put a minifig inside, it is necessary to remove a roof again: Let's consider Hammer in all its aspects: It is possible to put at most 2-3 handheld transceivers in a luggage carrier, 2-3 couples handcuffs and pair of guns - all! Agree - for Hammer it very little! Now a comparative photo together with the motorcycle! Also you know... they look harmoniously and on a substantial scale! Assembly of a sports car of the bandit goes the last - the third - a stage! At assembly I was discouraged - so the car was colorful! But the final version was pleasant! The design of a car isn't difficult, but the total option was pleasant to me - reminds remotely any sports race car, something like Ferrari! In comparison with a minifig the machine turned out tall for a sports race car! But when the minifigure sits inside - everything looks perfectly! In a set there are a lot of details "money" and only one gold ingot - and all this is offered to be sent in a car! Also there is a strip representing thorns! But the sports car can't pass on them since it has very low landing! The set is built! After assembly there were many extra-details! Let's consider all set assembled! By the way, all three cars nearby look very much even harmoniously! The set makes ambiguous impression - on the picture and even all assembled looks well, harmoniously - any complaints! But separately is something unclear: such feeling that the motorcycle is added for show, the jeep strongly isn't finished, a sports car too big! As a bonus I will show as I made doors and I changed minifigs! Addition of doors which here on not to obvious reasons aren't present! Though to add them it is structurally possible very much even easily! Change of minifigs: On it all! I wait for your comments! PS: Excuse me for my bad English!
  20. Legonardo

    MMhitehawk Vic Viper

    Vic Vipers are cool! Sci-fi, because Nick and Simon told me too. Here is my first vicviper and creations for charity donation, ill paste a link when it shows up in the store. stickers are from lego universe sticker book, many thanks to Sean and Steph! larger versions can be seen on my flickr (link in my signature) Well simon? :P David
  21. My home LUG - CoWLUG, the Colorado-Wyoming Lego User's Group - was asked to put up a display at the Laramie Train Depot Open House two weeks ago. Our setup took two and a half hours, and we ran the show more or less all day over the course of the weekend. Stuart of lifelites.com was this show's organizer. He hacked together some PF IR receivers and a couple of barrel connectors as an experiment. What we ended up with was an awesome fully remote-controlled layout for both 9v and PF trains. This allowed us to not have to take shifts in the center "pit" where all the regulator gubbins were at. In addition, we also had interactive arcade buttons set up that allowed the visitors to control various functions in the layout. This was also the button's first outing and we plan to have more functions at the next display. This year, one button controlled the track power for the elevated Chicago-style trains, another controlled the pumpjack on top of the Steampunk district, and the third controlled the steam plant for "Peter Piper's Pickled Peppers Plant". The buttons also helped keep the kids from glomming onto the trains as they went by. Of course, now you'll want images I suppose. *sigh* ok Cows are indeed a running theme, considering how the name is "CoWLUG". Hide yo' kids and hide yo' cows. Grumpy Thor is grumpy. Lego displays = srs bsns (CoWLUG displays =/= srs bsns, however). This is where the real fun happens. I feel my camera car is especially graceful. Just look at that low profile! Did I mention Stuart also had a CNC and engraved bricks for a while? It broke though and he hasn't gotten it working again yet. So there is a use for those Dino Attack pieces, at least. I still think the squid in the lower middle is the best bit of this picture. Among other things not pictured, there was a Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. skyscraper (from the show Phineas and Ferb of the Disney Channel) and a prison complete with prison riot. There were guards dual-wielding bananas in one hand and tommy guns in the other. Ostriches were involved. Well, that should about wrap it up. Feel free to ask questions! Edit: D'oh, I forgot - I'll be posting my custom trains that I built for this event in their own thread. Look forward to that, I know I will Edit2: Oh snap, I forgot another thing. My mom took the pictures, which is why they're so good. Thanks Mom!
  22. New licensed themes are always a welcome development to our beloved hobby, but let's admit it, LEGO has been churning out new licensed themes lately at a pace that has become increasingly difficult for us FOLs to 'follow'. Good thing I'm a non-completist selective buyer, so I normally just pick up the best, or two, sets of the theme. So when the new licensed theme Disney's The Lone Ranger came out this year, the set that stood out among the rest for me and the one that really got my interest was the 79108 - Stagecoach Escape - for a variety of reasons: a great-looking minifig line-up, a good selection of new parts, and a visually-appealing stagecoach build. So how does the actual set meet my initial expectations? Join me in this review as I find out. Set Information Set Name: Stagecoach Escape Set Number: 79108 Theme: The Lone Ranger Year: 2013 Pieces: 279 Minifigures: 5 Price: $29.99 Links: Brickset | Bricklink | Peeron (not yet inventoried) | LEGO Shop@Home Product Description Make a famous Lone Ranger Stagecoach Escape! Look out for the bandits going after Red Harrington’s valuable silver locked in the vault in the Stagecoach Escape! Launch the baggage off the back to slow the bad guys down! Then jump down onto the galloping horses, detach them from the wagon and help the Lone Ranger and Tonto to chase the outlaws off before they steal the stash! Includes 5 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Red Harrington and 2 bandits, Jesus and Barret. • Includes 5 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Red Harrington and the 2 bandits, Jesus and Barret • Features opening doors and roof, baggage launch function, opening vault with silver bar, mailbag with letter and 2 detachable horses • Also includes bandit’s horse • Weapons include 3 revolvers, rifle and 2 knives • Accessories include a pocket watch decorated element and dynamite • Detach the horses and chase the bandits away! • Launch the baggage and send the villains tumbling! • Battle to protect the silver • Open the stagecoach roof and doors to play inside • Stagecoach measures over 5" (13cm) high, 5" (14cm) long and 2" (7cm) wide The Box The boxart for this new product line comprise of a top yellow motif with the obligatory logos of LEGO, Disney, and The Lone Ranger, along with the image of the Lone Ranger as he appears in the upcoming movie. The brightly-colored packaging seems a bit of a clashing contrast with the predominantly subdued earth-toned, steampunkish hues evoked by the movie source material. I like the action-packed scene depicted in the coverart, with all the characters and elements of the set involved in a seemingly high-speed Wild West chase, the details of which we won't know until the movie comes out in August. The usual minifig line-up appears at the bottom right corner (which we'll look at more closely later), and the rest of the standard set details complete the front of the box. As what we've all been accustomed to, the set features are presented at the back in separate panels surrounding the main image of the complete set. I do feel however, that most of the so-called 'playable' features of the set are kinda 'forced' and seems to have been thrown in there as "space fillers" (like Tonto holding a compass pocket-watch, and Red Harrington somewhat distressed with a letter?). I may be just saying this since I don't know the importance of these particular bits in the actual movie, so I'll try to give these the benefit of the doubt. There are two images of the minifig line-up shown in the box: the 1:1 actual size image of the minifigs at the top and the half versions in the front (lower right corner) with their descriptive names of the character. The font used is a nice touch consistent with the Wild Western theme of the movie. Now I'd like to highlight a significant mistake in the minifig line-up: the "Barret" shown is actually Kyle from 79110 Silver Mine Shootout (thanks to 8Brickmario for this info). Probably this was a last minute change in the minifig line-up (Kyle was supposed to be in this set until Barret was included instead). The Contents There are three plastic numbered bags containing the pieces of the set, along with a single instruction booklet and a sticker sheet. No loose parts are included. The Instruction Booklet The instruction booklet bears the same coverart as the box minus the set details and the minfig line-up, which allows you to appreciate more the minute details of the artwork, like the realistic sand drift dust effect. The Sticker Sheet There is one small sticker sheet included in the set, which provides the decorative printing of the stagecoach. It's interesting to see the slight gold metallic sheen in the stickers. The Parts Bag #1 Contents As the starting point of all LEGO sets, the first bag contains the initial parts needed for the base of the build - in this case the stagecoach's base, comprised of the greys, blacks, wooden browns, and the wagon wheels. The two new black horse molds are also inlcuded in this bag, as well as the first two minifgs - Lone Ranger and Jesus. Bag #2 Contents Black and red dominate the parts selection of the second bag, which will expectedly be used for the body of he stagecoach. The Tonto minifigure parts are in this bag, and note that the hairpiece comes in a separate plastic packaging, signifying it was produced or printed in a different location from the rest of the parts. Bag #3 Contents The last bag contains the finshing pieces for the build, together with the two remaining minfigs of the set - Red Harrington and Barret. The third brown horse of the set is also part of Bag #3. Interesting Pieces This set has several new (but not exclusive) pieces: like the Dark Bluish Gray Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Pin Hole, Black Technic, Pin Connector Perpendicular 2 x 4 Bent, and the new hand pistol pieces, in flat silver and pearl dark grey colors. (My apologies if I have inlcuded the Black Hinge Plate 2 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger on Top, which is new to me but is acually a 2-year old piece already. ) The compass pocket-watch piece has some nice detailed printing on the 1x1 tile, and the exclusive headpieces with detachable accessories are also something to behold. The Minifigs Consistent with the marketing strategy of sets nowadays, this set offers a sumptuous treat of beautiful-looking and highly-detailed minifigs of five of the characters in the movie. Aside from the aesthetics, another good aspect of this minifig line-up is the balance between the protagnosists (2) and the antagonsits (2), and one in between (1), plus the fact that the two main characters in the movie - the Lone Ranger and Tonto - are included, makes the set even more tempting to get. Now let's take a closer look at these lovely minfigures individually: The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger minfigure may not be as flamboyant as Tonto or Red Harrington, but it certainly succintly captures the look of the movie character. It has leg prints and back prints, though no alternative facial expression. Comparing it with the actual look of the movie chracacter, one would easily notice that the minifig is a clean-cut (shaven!) version of the Lone Ranger. The holster was also curiousy missing on the leg prints. But overall, the minifig is a pretty good representation of the Lone Ranger in LEGO. Tonto Thanks in part of being an eccentric Johnny Depp character, the Tonto minifig has 'lots of personality' on it. From the highly-detailed hairpiece with the dead crow accessory to the face-painted head to the intricate native American printing of the torso and legs, this minifig is as colorfully weird as it gets! The Tonto minifig has an alternative nervous/scared facial expression. Removing the hairpiece reveals the front hair and tribal necklace printing and the simple back muscle print details. The minifig is quite accurate with the source material, though IMO it would've been better if it had a more serious facial expression like the ones pictured (and from the trailers I've seen so far) as compared to the slight smile of the current one. And it seems the designers decided to give the minifig a dash of bright olive green accent on the hairpiece, which is clearly not found on the actual Tonto. Red Harrington Bright red dress, white stockings on one leg, curly orange hairdo with small green girly hat, quite a flmaboyant minifig isn't she? And using a short cape as a skirt piece? Brilliantly clever! (first time done on a minifig from what I know). The Red Harrington minfig also has a second expression - a scared damsel-in-distress facade. As mentioned earlier, the hat is detachable from the hairpiece, which makes both pieces useful in minfig customization. What's a Johnny Depp movie without Helena Bonham-Carter right? I think the three little facial line prints of the minifig is convincing enough to depict a middle-aged woman. The torso and leg prints seem to be accurate (the stocking can be seen in a scene in the latest movie trailer), but the hat is violet in the pictures shown (though she could have worn a green one in the movie - we still don't know yet). But personally, this the minfig I like the best in this line-up. Barret One of the two bandits in pursuit of Red Harrington and her silver-containing vault, the Barret minfigure is as Wild West Outlawish as it gets - a dirty villainous mug (unshaven face, evil sideburns, maniacal eye-bagged stare), unruly outfit and the signature black hat and gloves. Jesus I would go on a limb and assume the character's name is not pronounced as Jesus (Christ) but rather as Hey-sus (Mexican pronunciation). Now that is cleared, we could focus on the minifig . I like the fact that he has a completely different look than Barret even through they are scum buddies - different hat mold and color, different outfit color and print design, and he even has a bandit handkerchief. We don't know how important these characters are in the movie, but if they aren't, then it's an added bonus to get different variations of torso, legs, heads, and accessories considering minor roles in the source material. Here's a group shot of the protagonists: ...and the bad guys: Like I said, I love the variation of the minifig elements and accessories, which is very useful in minifig customization. Horses Well, horses aren't minifigures but I'd just like to highlight that the set gives a rare opportunity to get three of the new horse molds, with the two black horses exclusive to this set at the moment (different from the black Nazgul horses). When was the last time, and what was the last set, to give at least three horses in a set? (and a relatively small set to boot). Heck, even the large LOTR sets didn't give this much 'horse love'. The Build Bag # 1 Build The base of the stagecoach is solidly built from the first bag of parts, and unlike the initial builds from other sets, this could actually be ridden' and taken into action already, right? (the horses are ready, the wheel mechanism is soundly attached to the base, there is a space for the driver's seat - this one is ready to go! ) Bag #2 Build This is one minor repetitive step in the Bag #2 build - the sides of the stagecoach body. But other than that, almost all steps are unique and non-repeating. The majority of the stagecoach body is built from the second bag of parts, along with the Tonto figure. There is one interesting bit I noticed when building at this stage (though not pictured): 1x1 bricks with holes were used as regular 1x1 bricks, which I think is a clever cost-saving move (since the holed 1x1s have less plastic than the regular 1x1s but provide the same use). Also note that at this point, there was no instructions yet to add this build to the previous build from Bag #1. Bag #3 Build I deviated a bit from the instructions since I wanted to show the elements built from the third bag of pieces (those were actually meant to be added together with the two previous builds to form the final product): these include the curved base of the stagecoach body, the detachable roof, some decorative tiles and the baggage (mail, vault). One thing I noticed is that the four brown 4-L bars could've been already added to the body of the stagecoach built from Bag #2, so I don't know why these had to be added on the last part(?). The Completed Build Combining all the individual builds from the three bags and we'll end up with this lovely-looking stagecoach complemented by the five minifigs. Quite a nice array of elements for a pretty solid set isn't it? Leftover Parts There are a couple of those new pistols and the compass pocket-watch-printed 1x1 tile from the leftover parts. A closer look at the Stagecoach Despite how great-looking this stagecoach is the main criticism about it is it's insanely absurdly oversized. Wth this view, it is very clear that is indeed signficantly larger than real-world stagecoaches, like these ones: Now one could argue that this stagecoach is based on a fictional movie where there are machine gun-wielding Wild West trains or a man resurrected from the dead, so an over-sized stagecoach isn't a far-fetched idea right? In any case, the inherent beauty of LEGO is we could always modify builds according to our liking, so I'm pretty sure with the proper amount of inspiration and parts this could be easily 'modded' to approximate the size of real-life stagecoaches. Here's a couple more views of the stagecoach: Set Features Left: The driver's box comfortably seats one person, and it is accurately high as real-world stagecoaches. Right: The front wheel mechanism is cleverly designed in such a way that it could turn left or right and even adjust up-and-down in response to the motion of the horses. I think this is one of the brilliant aspects of the build and the designer's really went out of their way to give us a working wheel mechanism that is far better than the standard fixed wheel-hub set-up. The rear wheels are fixed by the way, but it has a certain 'fragility' that realistically captures the instability of horse-drawn carriages/coaches. So how does the passengers get on to the stagecoach? Owing to its ginormous size, one has to exert extrat effort to ride this baby. But seriously, the passengers can be put inside by removing the detachable roof and putting the minfigs inside (right). Ironically, despite its gigantic size, the stagecoach only accomodates two passengers inside, though a third could probably be squeezed in there and several more could hitch a ride at the top of the roof or at the sides using handrails. Getting out of the stagecoach is as problematic as getting in for minifigs. Now I know why Red Harrington had that scared alternative expression Good thing our ever-reliable duo are ready to help a lending catching hand. There is a storage compartment at the back of the stagecoach that has some sort of baggage-launching mechanism to "send the villains stumbling" as the S@H description says. All you need is to open the cover, push down on the technic knobs and the briefcase will flip away, though I'm not so sure about its accuracy against villainous bandits (haven't tried it, sorry! ). This vault is the primary reason why the two bandits are chasing our heroes in the stagecoach - it contains Red Harrington's valuable silver! Little do they know it's a decoy as it's just made of ABS plastic! Kidding aside, the vault is nicely built and serves its purpose - though we still don't know its accuracy until we see the movie. There are several more features that I wasn't able to take pictures of, like the detachable connection of the horses from the stagecoach (and apparently you could ride them that way as shown at the back of the box ), the detachable roof and the storage space above (though it can be seen from the other pics), and the 4-L bar and even the tan 1x2 modified plates at the top of the stagecoach windows which could be used as handrails. Rating the Set Design – 8/10 The stagecoach is a visual eye-candy, it's a gorgeous build with a nice balance of aesthetic beauty and working functionality (wheel mechanism, storage compartments, passenger interior) - well that is until it is placed side-by-side with standard minfigs and horses. I would've wanted to give this a perfect score, but its oversized stature simply cannot be ignored, so I'm rightfully bringing the score down a couple of notches. Build – 9/10 I was very pleased with the technic-based wheel mechanism, I thought it was a pretty neat realistic feature that required extra effort by the designers instead of giving us the old and tired fixed wheel set-up. It was also refreshing to see a conscious attempt to use less plastic in builds (using 1x1 bricks with holes for regular 1x1 bricks), that garners a plus point for me. Parts – 8/10 There was a good number of relatively new parts, though I'm impressed the most by the three horses provided by this set. Minifigures – 10/10 Normally, I try to not make the minifigs as the sole reason why I buy sets, but this turned out to be better than I expected as I bought this set mainly for the stagecoach but the minfigs made this a much more rewarding purchase. The wildly beautiful Tonto and Red Harrngton figs with exclusive pieces and accessories, the useful and interchangeable cowboy parts of the Lone Ranger and the two bandits, this minifig line-up is certainly a winner! Playability – 7/10 The designers tried their best to put in extra features like the baggage-launcher at the back of the stagecoach, but I still think the only playability this set offers is the "chase role-playing" between our heroes and the baddies. Though even if it's the only real play value, I think kids would still pretty much enjoy their playing time with this set. Price – 9/10 I think this has a great value for a US$30 set: well-designed stagecoach, five minifigures, three horses, and a good selection of parts, can't really complain about that - except that I live in that part of the world where its SRP is 250% more expensive (US$75) and even if I got it at 25% discount it still is god-damn expensive. Lucky Americans! Overall: 85% So did the set meet my initial expectations? I'd say it did, and it passed with flying colors! It's not a perfect set, but it's certainly a great-valued purchase. If there's any set that a casual FOL would like to buy to 'try' or 'sample' this new Lone Ranger theme - I highly recommend this one. Parting Shot Mix-and-match fashion isn't for everybody... And to get you excited for the upcoming The Lone Ranger movie, here is the latest trailer (the third one released so far I believe): Thanks for taking the time to read my review! Comments are always very much welcome! .
  23. Well again for the Holidays LEGO will be giving away 2 Holiday sets with a purchase. These sets will be available through S@H as well as official Brand Stores But only in those countries where a LEGO brand store exists! The First set will be available from the 14th till 31st of October! 40082 Holiday Set 1/2 (Winter Village Tree Shop) Celebrate the 2013 festive season with a limited-edition buildable LEGO® set, featuring a Christmas tree shop, gate, 3 trees and 2 minifigures! Christmas 2013 will be one to remember with this limited-edition LEGO® set. And it all starts by picking the perfect tree from the festive Winter Village Tree Shop! Features an easy-to-build shop with hinged shutters that open and close, 3 trees, tool rack with axe and broom and 2 minifigures: shop owner and customer. Plus, red and green “ornamental” LEGO® bricks and money elements to get you in the holiday spirit. Makes a great gift or seasonal decor for home or office, especially when combined with 10235 Winter Village Market. • Includes Christmas tree shop, gate, tool rack, axe, broom, money elements and 3 trees • Also includes 2 minifigures: shop owner and customer • Hang a “string” of festive red and green LEGO® bricks from the shop roof! • Close the shutters at the end of the day! • Chop down the perfect Christmas tree! • Sweep up any needles that fall with the broom! • Makes a great gift or seasonal decoration! • Combine with 10235 Winter Village Market for even more holiday spirit! Warning main image links to HR version which can be +5000.pxl 40083 Holiday Set 2/2 (Available on "Brick" Black Friday in November!) Instructions for the two sets! 40082 Black Friday 2013 No. 1 Brick-based Specials 40083 Black Friday 2013 No. 2 Brick-based Specials All images ©2013 The LEGO Group and used here with permission! 2011 Holiday Sets 1/2 2/2 2012 Holiday Set Enjoy! :caroler:
  24. Hi, I haven't found any information regarding participation of Eurobricks Members in the Legoworld event in Utrecht (used to be in Zwolle). http://www.legoworld.nl/ Are there any EB activities? EB members going?
  25. I've been wanting to get the funny lettered tiles for quite some time now, and this year, with little interest in other theme sets, I decided the time had come to explore this 'Office & School Supplies' section of the LEGO S@H website. I must admit the set did look a bit too colourful and childish at first glance, but the price was good, and it had a nice pieces selection. So, let's see how the set grades fro parts, appearance and 'playability'. Theme: Gear/Office & School Supplies Set name: Business Card Holder Set Number: 850425 Price: 14.99 $, 11.39 £, 12.99 Euro Pieces: 151 (+ 1 gear) Minifigures: 2 Year of release: 2012 Links: Bricklink and Brickset The Box Front Matching the set name, the box has a pretty clean, business-like design. The almost plain yellow background is split in the upper portion by a wave-y white line which separates the LEGO logo and set name from the rest of the info. I suppose this is a standard box for all countries (contrary to usual sets which have regional differences between NA and European versions); in fact, the set information include age range, pieces count and the words 'Building toy' (in three languages), just like the North American standard. On the other hand, the set number is conspicuously absent from the front of the box, probably due to the fact that this is a 'Gear' set and is sold in a different category from the normal themed ones. The size of the box is approximately that of a medium-small standard set. Back The back is quite bare as well, with only the set name (in 5 new languages this time; of course, Italian is not there!) and a shot of the minifigs and business card together with the parts callout. LEGO designers really wanted to keep things simple in this design. Sides Not much to say about the sides. The upper one (the only I photographed), sports a 1:1 mug shot of the smirking male minifigure, the LEGO logo and the usual info about production. Apparently parts in this set come from Denmark, Hungary, Mexico and China. Surprise! You may have notice the standard 'Put your finger here to open the box' spot on the back of the box. Well, that's a totally useless addition, as this box comes with not-glued side flaps and can be open normally, without any need to indent the back side. I can only suppose the box designers simply used a common template and did not bother to check the actual product they where working on... Contents Inside Inside the box, we find three thick polybags, one for the instructions and business card, one of the lettered tiles and one for the other pieces. All the polybags are made of recyclable plastic, but the bigger one includes some more ink for the usual LEGO safety warning in a plethora of languages. The parts' selection isn't spectacular, for the normal bricks, but includes ever useful parts in a number of colours. Of course, the raison d'etre of this set are the printed tiles, and there's plenty of those! New pieces The new pieces include all the special characters and number tiles (all of which in Black): Tile 1 x 1 with Silver '-' Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver '.' Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver '@' Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver '_' Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 0 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 1 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 2 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 3 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 4 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 5 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 6 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 7 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 8 Pattern, and Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 9 Pattern. I'd also like to notice that , for some reason, the set includes (or, at least, this particular one does) 3 Q tiles, whereas the parts list only shows 2. It's also interesting that you cannot write a whole web address with these tiles, as there are only 2 W there... Maybe next version will include a special 'www.' tile as well. Instructions Upon opening the instructions and card polybag, I felt a rush of nostalgia for the old times, as the instructions 'booklet' is no booklet at all: it's an old style folded sheet. Now, I'm well aware we get plenty of these in polybags of all themes, but I haven't see something like this in bigger sets for a very long time. The back of the business card has blank spaces where to write your name, address, e-mail/web address, phone number and (I suppose) birthday. The instructions have a nice and relaxing light-blue background, almost no pieces call-outs (see next picture) and are easy to read and follow. Again, as on the back of the box, the last part of the instructions sheet is dedicated to the parts list. Minifigures Nothing spectacular in the minifigs compartment. These business couple sport some plain overalls, very common in the City theme nowadays and cured bill red caps, probably to give them a window-cleaner or bill sticker look to either make you feel as big boss or movie star. The faces, too, are very common, with the smirking male and soft-eyed, cherry-lips female. Always an useful addition to ones collection, but definitely no news at all. The back printing of the torso is no surprise even with such simple designs, nowadays. And, of course, the heads do not sport back printing, since the caps could not cover them. Building We start off by building a sort of small swimming pool-like, tiled box with a rainbow-ish back wall. We go up until al the 2x1 and 1x1 coloured bricks have been used, and top both sides with the 1x12 white plates. Do not worry, though: you won't have to look at the mix-matched wall for long! In fact, the business card will cover up most of the build and you will be able to rest your eyes on those smiling minifig faces (or your own personal info) for as long as you'll wish. Speaking of the two workers, they will have their personal stands to be impaled, well, stand on, while... ...they'll guard your bill-board yellow 6x10 plate. Here, I used up all the Es for the first word, so had to resort to a flipped 3 to complete the second word. Bonus images Let me introduce myself It's quite funny to browse through the tiles to pick up your letters and compose bill-board announcements and such. Just be aware of the limited number of letters at your disposal. Again, I had to resort to a little trick (photoshop, in this case), to complete the second word, having used all the (2) Rs in the glorious Eurobricks name. I would advise people to buy a second copy of this set if you think you'll need many of the same letter for your compositions. Final comments Overall, this is a nice little set, with pretty unique parts and a fine number of more common, ever used bricks and two generic worker minifigs. Design & Colour scheme – 8/10 (Very well proportioned and efficient. The only con is the somewhat too childish colour scheme, considering the business-oriented look of the set, as shown on the box.) Minifig – 8/10 (A happy working couple to set up our business card holder and guard the bill-board. Minus points for the very common parts, though.) Parts – 9/10 (All useful parts here, with the big plus of the printed tiles. The new special characters are an interesting addition, and the letters will be useful in any collection.) Playability – 6/10 (From an AFOL's point of view, this set is pretty poor in sheer playability. I mean, there isn't even a secret compartment of flick-fire missile! On the other hand, I suppose kids can have lots of fun with the little workers setting up and tearing down the bill-board.) Build – 6/10 (Very very simple and plain.) Price – 10/10 (Considering almost half of the parts are printed, this is a very good set price-wise.) Overall: 7.8/10 Very good As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome! If you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy: