Ritz Brick

Now time for the review of the Tie Bomber and Asteroid Field. Let me start off by saying this set/idea/minifigure is awful. Just so you won't be surprised later on. Set Information Name: Tie Bomber and Asteroid Field Number: 75008 Theme: Star Wars Year: 2013 Minifigures: 1 Pieces: 60 Price: $12.99 CDN $9.99 USD 9.99 GB Front of the box shows our typical stuff, information and a picture of what an asteroid field is supposed to look like. The back shows how to suspend the model and the other planets in the line. Our contents include the planet, instructions and a ball of pieces. If you are not aware, the pieces almost seemed vacuum sealed to fit into the planet. The fact both halves are the same is just ridiculous, have you ever heard of two asteroids being the same? All our pieces layed out, nothing interesting other than the printed windscreen piece and the grey astromech dome. As opposed to every other name plate pieces, the printing on this one is atrocious, there is a faint grey line around all the lettering, and everything seems grainy. Nothing new about the minifig so far. The helmet is a bit different, the mouth grille looks different and a little more extra details, as well as the eyes being farther apart. and the helmet is the same except that it has a CRAAAZY silver stripe on the top, look how impulsive they were. This hardly warrants putting another Tie pilot in the planet line. I mean, they've only made 9 so far, they couldn't have thought of something else? Yoda makes a random cameo in the book. (Very hard to take a picture of these super glossy instructions. Main body built, easily noted that it isn't symmetrical. The wings, this design has been used in other mine/midi scale Tie bombers I've seen. Completed, doesn't look to bad other than the connection of the wings to the body is very loose and wobbly. From behind, some round trans blue 1x1 make it look much better. A scary sight if you're a rebel.... or an asteroid. The front The wings can be folded to create the Imperial Snow Plow The whole shebang, very black. Now here's the big problem, the planet doesn't line up in any way and the asteroids look like cookie crumbs. Rating: Design: 6/10 The typical way of creating a mini scale Tie bomber, nothing special. Parts: 7/10 The round grey pieces are nice, nothing else really stands out.[/b] Minifigure: 1/10 Rehashing a minifigure that was used in the first series, a little extra printing hardly makes it different or unique. Build: 4/10 Took about 5 minutes to build, nothing else to say. Playability: 6/10 Could be combined with the Interceptor and the X-Wing . Price: 6/10 Overpriced but complaining doesn't do anything. Overall: 3/10 The only reason I picked this up is because a series isn't a series with one missing, meaning I only bought it because I felt I had to. The printing on the planet is sloppy, as well as the printing on the name plate. The whole concept of the asteroid field is terrible, plus the fact it just looks more like a dark planet. The Tie Bomber pilot is just the same recycled minifigure. If you aren't like me and just want certain planets or figs. No need to get this one.

You never fail to impress. Looking forward to your progress.

Hopefully it doesn't end up being to heavy for the motors. Still awesome.

Should probably be here. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=52175&st=2675

Following the annual tradition of Star Wars Advent Calendars, I present to you the second iteration, set 9509. Set Info Set Number: 9509 Pieces: 234 Age: 6-14 Price $49.99 CDN Minifigures: 9 1/2 Year of Release: 2012 Theme: Star Wars A brief introduction to this. To me it feels like TLG is going to be releasing one of these every year for the next 4 years. I'm hoping that as these progress the minifigures and mini-builds become a bit more... regular. As in instead of a random assortment it follows the theme. The first year was a bit of a mix of Attack of the Clones and A New Hope and some other randoms, this year is mostly The Phantom Menace and Empire Strikes back with a few more randoms. These Advent calendars are VERY lacking in design and quality of builds so that is why I seem to be very harsh with the criticism. I paid $50 for 234 very small pieces which aren't necessarily rare, and a couple unique minifigs. Just remember, this is aimed for kids and they probably don't care as much as I would. Anyway- The box, at first glance the view from the front of the box is similar to any other Lego box, but the remove some tape and the front flap will lift off to reveal doors of joy in no particular order. Optionally you can cheat and open the sides of the box and pull out the trays, each tray has 1 individual polybag with the pieces. With the exception of Darth Maul who gets a cape box in his bag. The back of the front flap shows a sort of frozen pond with snow around it. I think I have it facing the wrong way, but it's an overhead view so no one should care. All the instructions are printed on the inside of the doors, but since each model is at the max 15 pieces, you can figure it out yourself. MANY extra pieces included. Almost every bag has them. Day 1: Gungan Sub Not a fan of this, the tail at the back just seems to wrong, not much could fix this, I would prefer a different ship or what not. It's recognizable but anything with 'Gungan' just reminds me of the worst character in SW. (The next door isn't much better). Day 2: Gungan Really? This is it? One 3 piece minifigure with no accessories, no weapons or anything. and the worst part is, is that it's just a Gungan soldier, I own about 10 or 12 of these now from all the Battle of Naboo sets I bought, this one is nothing special, same prints and everything. At least make it Jar Jar, the kids know him better and he was an actual character in the movies. Day 3: Catapult and weapons This to me is just pure laziness on TLG part, they just throw this in obviously as a place filler when they could have easily just gave the Gungan from yesterday the shield and spear. Not a good start. Day 4: Imperial Star Destroyer Hey Hey, things are picking up, we've moved off from the theme of Phantom Menace for now and moved onto ESB. I have a thing for Star Destroyers and this is no exception. Parts are nothing SUPER special, but they make a nice and simple recognizable model which looks good and serves a purpose. This set is really lacking stuff like this. Day 5: Trade Federation MTT Back into Phantom Menace we have a vehicle we see for about 10-15 minutes but served the biggest role. Partswise we get the black brick which are fairly common in these calendars and have a variety of uses. It's just so little and tiny it's pretty neat you can tell what it is for only 8 pieces. The Gungans should have no problems dealing with these, although Jar Jar will probably still mess it up. Day 6: Security Droid Garbage, last year we got a pilot and this year we get a security droid. I'm taking guesses from what will come next year.... Similar to the Gungan, this droid is defencless and printless. Droids on the march. Day 7: Naboo Starfighter The colours should tell you right away what this build will be. A quaint little ship which is the ship of Phantom Menace. The tail is a bit odd though. Day 8: Droid Starfighter Something for our Naboo Starfighter to battle with. It's nice using the axle piece to allow for the wings/legs to rotate. One of the challenges working with such a small scale is avoiding having weird looking things come up, much like the head portion of this sticks out like a sore thumb. Day 9: Imperial Officer/ General Veers TLG tried to pass off a minifigure in the past that looked like this guy as General Veers in the past, but missed the mark. He does have a reversable head, the same one as the Death Star Trooper from the new Tie Fighter. He just seems to angry to be Veers. The trend continues however. No weapons. Day 10: A poor selection of parts that would be impossible to make look good. (AT-AT) pg I don't even want to say anything about this so I won't. Sorry, very blurry. Veers is not happy with his new assignment. Day 11: Atagar Cannon (or at least a poor attempt at one) I don't like this, seems like yet another filler. Day 12: Hoth Trooper At least we have someone to fight against the Imperial and AT-AT to bad he doesn't have a gun. Day 13: GNK Droid or Gonk Droid I barely remember this little guy, but TLG does. It's a bit to big, but there is nothing really bad about it, nothing really good either. Day 14: Weapons Rack Hurray! We have weapons. Wait there is a problem though. We only got 2 guns but there are already 3 soldiers or different factions, plus two more to come. Bad call. Not even going to mention how the lightsaber attactches. Day 15: Snowtrooper It's a snowtrooper, but wait.... He's now has the balaclava face, the skin tone is a bit darker. (How does he tan on Hoth?) Day 16: Naboo Royal Starship I was lost as to what this was when I saw the pieces, and after it was built I didn't recognize it at first. But this is probably one of the best builds in the entire set. It has the most pieces and the best shape and just everything you could hope in a mini model. Something I could see Legostein building. Day 17: Flash Speeder Hey look! It's that green car that fired one shot and was then demolished by the Trade Federation. Good build techniques used, some SNOT work plus a connection I haven't seen TLG use too often, the way the engines on the back are added on. but not a good choice to include in here. The main cannon is just a bit to little to be of any use. Day 18: Rebel Trooper Wait? what? Not a Naboo Royal Guard? Not a figure that would make sense with the theme we've been following? Although this selection choice is odd. It's quite nice to get one of these guys, seeing as how they've only appeared in two sets. What's that you say? This figure is brand new? and TLG didn't paste it all over the box? That's right, the keen observer will see that he has a smile. The same front expression as Captain Antilles, but no reversible head. Day 19: Separatist Shuttle Not one of my favorite ships in the Star Wars universe, but it's a good build that looks like what it's supposed to be. (Don't remember it being tan though.) Day 20: General Greivous' Starfighter So we're going to jump into Revenge of the Sith for second to include this ship that we hardly see. The grey super brick helps make this build and it does actually look quit nice, albeit a bit narrow. Day 21: Super Battle Droid Because having ONE more generic droid that many of us have multiples of will change the tide of a war. Day 22: Sith Infiltrator Ehhh, I don't know about this one, something about it doesn't seem right (reading this review, nothing seems to be done right). Basic parts that don't create much. Day 23: Snow Droid Here we are, this is one of the minifigures that compelled me to buy this. When I first saw prelims I thought it was a white astromech. It's actually a snowman/droid which is rather creative. I don't understand the purpose of having two pieces for the base, but it's something. TLG added a black stud which is to go under the top hat so it attaches better. To me it just raises it to high and makes it look weird. Without stud. Some close ups show the carrots and the 'eye' is a piece of coal. Day 24: Darth Maul Here he is, the dark lord of the sith himself, Darth Maul. Playing in the snow. Seems legit. Honestly, this character choice makes no sense, Darth Maul rarely speaks, rarely has emotion, rarely uses a shovel to clean snow. Unlike Yoda last year who is a sort of father figure to all of the Jedi (Father Christmas) we have an Eskimo Maul? The torso is not the same as Yoda last year, the candy cane has been moved from the front to the back, which is then covered up by the cape. The same face from the Infiltrator is used, but no horns are included. With the lightsaber. Here is the whole gang, we see how The Phantom Menace is the main theme, with a little bit of Rebel and Imperial thrown in for good measure. Overall Grade: Value: 3/10 For what I got I was very dissapointed. The few good builds and interesting minfigures weren't enough to make it that worthwhile. Design: 2/10 The best build and pretty much the only good build in the set was Royal Star Cruiser. The ISD was pretty nice as well. Playability: 4/10 We have 4 weapons to spread out over 8 figures. I'm sure someone could have fun with the little Naboo Starfighter and Vulture Droid, but other than that, most of these will all just be scrapped and milked for pieces. Parts: 4/10 I like the super bricks anddd, that's about the most redeeming part. The rest can just be used here and there. Overall: 13/40 So that's what I think, but anyone can sit here and type about what they don't like in a set. So what would I do to make it better. I'm going to list all the days again with what I would sub in and out and leave in what was alright. Day 1- Gungan Sub========Change to Day 2- Gungan ===========Change to Boss Nass Day 3- Catapult==========Change to Mini Anakins Pod Racer Day 4- ISD===============Stay Day 5- MTT===============Stay Day 6- Security Droid====Change to Qui Gonn or Obi Wan Day 7- Naboo SF==========Stay Day 8- Vulture Droid=====Stay Day 9- Veers=============Change to K-3P0 Day 10- AT-AT============Change to AT-ST Day 11- Atgar============Change to Snowspeeder Day 12- Hoth Trooper=====Change to Commander Rieekan (I would spend $50 just for him) Day 13- GNK Droid========Change to mini Sebulba's Pod Day 14- Weapon Rack======Change Day 15- Snowtrooper======Stay Day 16- Royal Starship===Stay Day 17- Flash Speeder====Stay Day 18- Rebel Trooper====Change to Naboo Palace Guard Day 19- Sep Shuttle======Stay Day 20- Greivous Fighter=Change to Droid Control Ship Day 21- SBD==============Change to Droideka Day 22- Sith Infiltrator=Change to AAT Day 23- Snow Droid=======Stay Day 24- Darth Maul=======Jar Jar Elf What do you think could replace it?

It's one of those things that at first glance the fact they are the same doesn't have a big difference, but once you see it, you cannot unsee it. If that makes any sense.

Went to my local Wal-Mart today and happened to find the series 3 planets. There was only one Kamino available but there was some kind of sticky substance on the planet. (Coruscant and the asteroid field had it on them as well, but I picked up different ones). So I'll just stick with these ones. First up is Coruscant Set Information Name: Republic Assault Ship & Coruscant (Acclamator) Number: 75007 Theme: Star Wars Year: 2013 Minifigures: 1 Pieces: 74 Price: $12.99 CDN $9.99 USD 9.99 GBP Still not a big fan of Yoda on the box art, but the green shows well with the black background. I wish TLC changes the way these are packaged, as mentioned before the planets are very prone to being touched and scratched so I rotate the planet around to look for imperfections. The back of the box features the other planets in this series. Contents, the pieces are stored inside the planet while the instructions are tucked in the box. Both halves are identical sigh.. Our pieces layed out, nothing to interesting here, just our usual selection of Star Wars parts. This piece is printed on. Interesting choice of face for the clone, I thought it was reversible but isn't. Same face used in the battlepacks. (makes sense). The main body, the white hinges stick out like a sort thumb, but they will be later covered up. Rear The grey plate with the groove helps keep the wings at the proper angle. Completed, told you the white would be covered up. Rear Front I lied Top New design for the base. The whole shebang. This is one the planet looks like close up, it isn't very accurate IMO, the orange should be more like lights instead of lines. I've also never seen Coruscant with clouds either. Rating: Design: 8/10 It's easy to tell what it is,the white pieces still stick out and I would have like a little dark red sprinkled in. Parts: 6/10 Our standard Star Wars pieces, nothing really stand out though, the printed piece is nice, but it's hard to find a use for it outside of this set. Minifigure: 10/10 I love the new clone trooper and you can never get enough of them. Build: 7/10 Takes about 5 minutes to build and nothing is confusing at all. Playability: 5/10 These sets mostly are for display, the Acclamator itself isn't really a swooshy ship to begin with. Price: 6/10 Overpriced but complaining doesn't do anything. Overall: 7/10 The minifigure is the most redeaming part of the set and Corsucant is a must have for the Star Wars galaxy, even if the printing is sloppy.

As cool as it would be to have force ghosts, I don't really feel they would be all that necessary, even though they provide a lot of closure. I'm sure a kid might not understand the significance of them. But just see them as invisible minifigures.

I've straightened some of my sails by just soaking them in water and ironing them between wax paper (similar to how you press leaves and flowers). I'm going to assume some sails will have different ink and such, so warm water might be a bit iffy. A soap meant for babies might work better as it's more gently and the chemicals aren't as strong.

It feels to me that the Sandcrawler was such an insignificant vehicle, it wouldn't be re-made, unless it was made just to sell 'NEW' Jawas, which could be better included in a Lars Homestead set.

Couldn't find the topic directly below this one?

Since when has Ultimate Collector Series ever meant that it has to have a large piece count and is exactly what EVERYONE wants?

Obviously there could have been more choices to do instead of the X-Wing, everyone knows that, it feels like it's been beat to death by how much everyone here needs to complain about it. Obviously an X-Wing has more sale ability than a big tree. Remember there are more people who buy Lego than the people on this forum, If you want an 'UCS Ewok Village' as ridiculous as that sounds, go make one. A tree is a heck of a lot easier to build than an X-Wing. Quit complaining, it's final decision.

Your progress is coming along way faster than any Canada Post service.

Ok I thought you had meant the newer Y-Wing. The walkers are good for pieces to create other vehicles and such.

Well IMO the Gunship is a must for a clone 'army' whether or not you have 5 troopers or 20. Unfortunately the 7676 gunship prices are fairly high last time I checked, buying a bulk amount of clones on bricklink could be difficult as one seller may not sell a large quantity so you may have to buy from numerous sellers (extra shipping costs). The Y-Wing doesn't really have much to do with a clone army but it is definitely a good buy regardless. If I were you I would wait until the new Gunship is released, get that one, and buy some of the older clone walker battlepacks. That way you end up with some Jedi to help your smaller clone army.

I was actually considering bricklinking 10129. Which pieces could you not get right away? Most of the pieces seemed fairly common when I took a first glance.

I can see they rotate up and down, but the how can the cockpit turn?

Do you know if the Magic Carpet ride is able to rotate all the way around? Great job by the way, been following this thread since you started.

Not you or anyone else can predict what sets are coming in the future. That prototype could easily be modified to become either Kashyyyk set or Endor style. Anything is possible, it's pretty much TLC's slogan.

Seems like such an odd choice for a mini set. It doesn't look as though the wings can rotate however.

6. sdrnet - 2 18. Priovit70 -1 22. sonicstarlight - 2

Show Your Army, Navy and Collection

It really reminds me of the one from the Juggernaut, but all the differences really make it unique. Good job!

The lava could be done a lot better, instead of just trans-orange and some black tiles on it. Throwing in a mix of regular orange and red with translucent pieces makes it a bit more realistic. And maybe creating your own design for the mining platform instead of just what TLC has provided.