makoy

I'm not going to dwell on the building or the accuracy. Let's get real. People will buy this for the minifigures. And for that, the building structure, extra build, etc, will be just "accessory" to the set. I think the minifigure version of these muppets are really adorable. One disappointment is that Oscar barely had anything going on except for his head..... a very very round and shiny head. :) I will also give it a 4 out of 5 for the merit of the minifigures alone. It is a very expensive way to collect the minifigures this way, but it is exactly that.

Great review and quite an impressive display set. With that boxy technic frame, it has to be very swooshable. Yes, I really think that it will be a great playable model but I am very sure majority of the buyers will keep this as an ornamental piece in their living room. That is why it has to have that mounting bracket piece. As for the build... do you think they could have gone away with using that white rubber band? I've used enough LEGO rubber bands and I know they will somehow be deformed permanently and cause some slack because over time it won't be as flexible as before -- unless of course they are way below the elastic limit of the rubber band to cause permanent deformation (it rarely happens).

Thanks Jim. I have been eyeing this set for my eldest kid. So, from your summary it appears that if someone is not invested on EV3 set, that this is a good set to begin with? Also, with the new battery, what is the stamina like or its battery life for medium to heavy use?

Thanks for the review Pandora! I get why the build process is rated low. Anything with repeating patterns tend to be a monotonous build, and having close neighbour colour (with respect to the colour wheel, e.g. analogous) does not help either. While presentable and clearly meant to appear more blocky, I don't see different sizes of round red ornaments, which are meant to be berries. I get it why they are of the same size but I am more used to seeing wreath with different sizes of Christmas balls. Probably just my personal preferences. It looks decent but I expected more variety of those "berries". The parts look awesome though. The green plates and leaves, as well as the parts you can't see at the surface are all great parts for other MOCs. Overall, it invokes the Christmas spirit. For the spirit of Christmas alone, I would have rated this a little bit higher (3.5 out of 5), but it is just me.

you're flexing your dwarves army muscle...

Thanks for the inputs. I have been planning to update the list with my newly acquired parts. The ones you listed are not all BAM exclusive, as you already indicated -- only those in red are. Still, appreciate the effort made to list it down and this index relevant again. :)

I've taken a stab on the Cantina system scale, from the old MOC below.... and thanks to this MBS set, I could finally mark this MOC complete after 5 years of being "WIP" Also, I saw people asking for extra aliens to populate the Cantina. I did this with that old MOC as well (see photo below). I know these are hodge-podge of minifigures, but they are as purist as they can be.

me me me! :)

See one of my reply I quoted above. That is the dimensions for the fully closed Cantina.

You're welcome. I just have to chuckle because you mentioned "tatoonie" twice, and for some reason this image of Looney Toons pop in my head when I read that. Sure, there's hoping that more sets like this will be released. I also open to the idea of smaller sets that can be modular in nature, like the series started in Harry Potter so that you can make a diorama with a respectable size, and that you don't have to buy them all at once. For instance, this set could have been split apart in different sets and once connected, the effect would be the same. I think the Flare-S wasn't there in the original theatrical release, but Void Spider would be interesting. It does feel like a small portion of a city teeming with aliens. This set inspires me to create more MOC related to Tatooine.

Star Wars is not the only theme I review here in EB (i.e. Ninjago and random small sets) so I can't really claim that I am not prone to repetitive theme fatigue. Regardless, thanks for the kind words. Size-wise the minifigure scale is quite odd. I did my own Cantina MOC using the Star Wars blueprint as a guideline, and in order to fit all the minifigure (about 50 of them inside), is to make the floor area bigger. The way it is with the MBS Cantina, I guarantee you that you can't position the 50 odd minifigures there, if you wish to recreate the complete scene. Nevertheless, the current scale is a good start as it is fairly easy to expand it a little bit proportionally. Thanks also for giving this set a score. Cheers!

Even I felt it is a bit too much, but it seems that this had always been the target price for such sets. The "opened up" dimension is written on the box at 58cm x 52cm (L-configuration) which I mentioned in my review. I also included the fully opened, straight line configuration at 110 cm length. Then, I also mentioned the max width of the cantina sides 38.4 cm. It's all there I think we all need to pick our battles. We can't have it all, and no one is also forcing anyone to buy everything. With patience and disciplined savings, then one can splurge on these big LEGO sets freely. Definitely the Han Solo version in the MBS Cloud City is better... And thanks for giving this a score! First comment to mention that. Cheers!

This is nice. Good cockpit design and that inverted Y style. cool!

Hi there. I understand where you are coming from. Times changed. Even if we bring back classic space, the people who will appreciate them more are those people who loved them first -- the adults reliving those nostalgic memories. That time had passed, and I moved on. I wasn't happy with so many licensed sets taking over as well. I also wanted classic space to come back.... but I had come to terms with it. As already mentioned, TLG still continue making space sets, just not under 1 theme. From time to time, we'll get references to classic space, and even new minifigures that calls back the classic space era. I do think there could be a future where licensed theme like Star Wars co-exists with Classic Space but at the current state, TLG appears to be more interested in exploring other themes that breaks the mould of 'classic' themes: Ninjago instead of classic ninjas, futuristic cross-over castle theme like NEXO Knights, and modern-times chinese folklore like Monkie Kid. Even City is starting to look more and more story driven instead of the blank canvass that they used to be. As some people might say, it is what it is. Did we lose space because of Star Wars? Probably not. Maybe it contributed in some way but I believe It is a mix of a lot of different factors.

ahhh... more about that below. See, it wasn't offered for the "VIP" here also. Not even sure if it is going to be offered. I got a bad feeling about this. Yup.... I looked it up. Thanks! The organising part made me dizzy arranging all the tan and dark tan parts. If I have skipped that processed, I could have posted the review at least a day earlier. But I don't regret the results. :) This is why I always contemplate putting stickers, so that I don't have to undergo this trial. Can you actually do this, if you messed up the stickers? Welcome buddy. As you mentioned about the price - I reviewed this based on the US/EU/UK pricing. When I consider our local pricing in the region... I am stumped even more. The premium added outside US/EU/UK pricing is really leaning more on the ridiculous level, that I find the Harry Potter offerings really better in comparison even if they are both licensed products. I guess, there is always time for discount, if that continues. At least they offered in that side of the world. As I have mentioned in the 2020 SW sets discussion... that GWP Lightsaber is not even offered to early birds or VIPs -- at least where I buy my LEGO sets. It is an icing on a very good cake, but I do feel how other people might feel upset about it. Just play the Cantina and you'll forget about it. :)