Cardinal Brick

Rogon’s Rock Flinger True to my word you’ve not had a wait months for me to write this review. When I first saw this set I really wanted it like Eris’ interceptor last year let’s see if it can live up the my desire for it. NB As my camera is not turning on all of the images are taken with my phone camera apologies for the poor quality. Set Name: Rogon’s Rock Flinger Set Number: 70131 Number of Pieces: 257 Figures: 3 Released: 2014 List Price: £24.99 70131Peeron.com 70131Bricklink Catalog “Chase Sparacon and the CHI with LEGO® Legends of Chima™ Rogon’s Rock Flinger with all-terrain wheels, attack/pursuit modes and more.” Lets mix things up a bit, ok lets not we start as always outside and then work our way on in with the box first. Front That must be going at one heck of a speed Back Two different modes to play in and a rock flinger who could ask for anything more Now let’s take a look at the contents, the box seems quite an odd shape to me but everything inside seems to be in order. Three bag build, one set of instructions and a sticker sheet and four wheels. The stickers. Next the obligatory random page from the instruction booklet! I’m really thinking this should just be dropped from reviews anyone agree? We’ve never seen the like before! Minifugres So this set has three figures all of who are new. One member of the Spider tribe Sparacon and two members of the Rhino tribe [REDACTED POLITCAL JOKE] Rogon and Rinona Again as with ever Chima set the figures are great and I’m really impressed with Sparacon who looks simply excellent in this set. Although he doesn’t have an alternative exp<b></b>ression, maybe this happens if you’re evil? Front without helmets. Back and reverse of the heads. Rhino and spider head pieces side view. Rhino and spider head pieces front view. Fully equipped. The Actual Build Shockingly for a Legends of the Chima set there isn’t any ramdom bit of vegetation or Chima crystal to go with this set which is quite surprising, they could have squeezed something in surely? Otherwise a faily normal build with lots and lots of pins to hold it together. Rock Flinger Nothing to exciting to report in the build Part built. Part built. You can see it coming together. Rhino’s head, I was really impressed with the Rhino’s head so I thought I’d photograph it before I attached it. Part built. Done and looking great. Completed With the Rock Flinger completed I love the squat serious business look it has from the front. Looking Ard. The side view shows how sort it is, reminds me of a small dog for some reason! All together The spider has no chance. The Rating System Figures: 9/10 (The new figures and nicely does ones at that) Parts 8/10 (Some interesting parts but a lot of technic) Fun Fun Fun 10/10 (A swooshing good time to be had!) Design 10/10 (An excellent design) Price 9.5/10 (Cheaper than last years Chima set in this range.) Grand Total 46.5/50 (Maybe I’m a tad bias?) Conclusions So Chima review number five is done. This is a set that quite frankly I think is great, it looks good there’s a lot to do and it’s got a selection of nice features. It many ways it’s what I feel a Lego set should be. For once I’m in no way disappointed with the set from when I saw the pictures on Brickset even the price point wasn’t as harsh as I was expecting. The sets play features are actually useful pushing it down into Rhino mode to have it spring up forward and throw a large rock without a flick fire in sight. It seems to me that Lego have made a vast improvement in the land element of Chima this year, if this set goes on sale I may well add a second to my Rhino army. But what do you think?

Braptor’s Wing Striker It’s been more than a year since I last posted, life keeps getting in the way. But I thought I might pop in and give you a pair of reviews of the newest Legends of Chima sets. Set Name: Braptor’s Wing Striker Set Number: 70128 Number of Pieces: 146 Figures: 2 Released: 2014 List Price: £12.99 70003 Peeron.com 70003 Bricklink Catalog “Guard Eris’ CHI from LEGO® Legends of Chima™ Braptor’s Wing Striker with Sonorr gun, 2 grabbing bat wings, CHI weapon and 2 minifigures.” As alwaus we being with the box, a slightly different as more sinister set of box art has been used for this years wave. Front Why didn’t Eris bring the interceptor? Back Apologies for the huge sticker! Now let’s take a look at what you get in the box. I am glad TLC have been using smaller boxes it makes it looks less disappointment when you open them. Three bag build, one set of instructions and a sticker sheet. The stickers are only for panels. Next the obligatory random page from the instruction booklet! Not sure why I always include one I think we all know what they look like by now. We’ve never seen the like before! Interesting Pieces. Only one part caught my eye as I opened the bags and scanned the bits and that’s Braptor’s gun piece which is new to me and looks quite useful. I can see lots of uses for this. Minifugres So this set has two figures; Eris, who I think we’re all familiar with, apart from now using a different colour armour and Braptor who I assume is evil (What happened to the ravens?) and looks beautiful as all Chima figures do. Braptor for some reason doesn’t have a reverse side to his head. Front without helmets. Back and reverse of the heads. Braptor’s helmet piece side view. Braptor’s helmet piece front view. Fully equipped. The Actual Build So the build comes in two parts a rather nodiscript bit of forest and a crystal to make up the set and then the Wing Stalker itself. Rather nothing. The Wing Stalker Nothing to eciting to report in the build Part built. Part built. What what wait hold is a second!! Really Lego do we need a advert mid-build! Mum can I go and buy more Lego Chima sets NOW this advert is making me want to! Nearly done. All together With the Wing Stalker built we can take a look at everything together. Good vehicle and a bit of nothing. We can also trap Eris and swoosh off with him Bye bye. The Rating System Figures: 7/10 (Good and well printed but let down by a lack of alternative exp<b></b>ressions) Parts 8/10 (Some interesting parts in intresting colours) Fun Fun Fun 10/10 (A swooshing good time to be had!) Design 8/10 (An excellent design, I really like the wing trapping action) Price 8/10 (It’s expensive but feels better value than last year’s £12.99 set, if it’s on sale I’ll certainly pick up more.) Grand Total 41/50 (A good set with a high mark.) Conclusions So this is the fourth Legends of Chima set I’ve reviewed, I do have others to review but I keep not getting around to it and it always seems pointless to review stuff that’s not really old or really new. I had mixed feeling last year about Chima but felt that they did improve with some of the later sets although the price point is still an issue for me. This year I’m much more impressed the sets seem great and I will probably be picking up a few more of them. When I was looking at my review from last year I noticed that the air vehicles seemed better than the ground ones last year I think this year might be the other way around because apart from this set the air vehicles look rubbish. Yes I’m looking at you Lavertus' Twin Blade Now over to you guys what do you think of this set and this year’s Chima sets? Also stay tuned for my next review of Rogon's Rock Flinger I promise it won’t take a year to get done!

So its been more than six months since I posted a review of anything for you all to enjoy, so I thought I might get back into the swing of things now my PhD thesis is in with a review of some of the new polybags released by TLC. Set Name: Mini Mech & Space Insectoid Set Number: 30230 & 30231 Number of Pieces: 28 & 27 Figures:1 each Released: 2013 List Price: £2.99 So lets start with 30231, here we have Chuck Stonebreaker fighting a bug. Bug vs man. Contents of the Bag Not much in the bag but what did you expect of such a little set. The obligatory instructions shot. The Minifig So this bag comes with Chuck Stonebreaker Front face. Reverse face. With helmet. The Bug Part built. Fully built. Spare bits. The Complete Set Now lets move onto 30230 So lets start with 30231, here we have Jack Fireblade wandering across a planet. Not much action here. Contents of the Bag Not much in the bag but what did you expect of such a little set. The obligatory instructions shot. The Minifig So this bag comes with Jack Fireblade Front face. Reverse face. With helmet. The Walker, Part built. Fully built. Spare bits. The Complete Set Walking to nowhere without much to do. The Rating System Figures: 8/10 (Not an amazing selection but what do you expect for 99p more than a collectable minifigure ) Parts 6/10 (Some interesting bits but not a great selection.) Fun Fun Fun 8/10 (The bug set is more fun that the walker there’s not much to do with that) Design 10/10 (Both are well designed) Price 10/10 (Value for money is excellent once you get past paying for a polybag!) Grand Total 42/50 (A high rating I think the poloybags are worth it) Conclusions So we come to the conclusions. When I bought these sets the came up as minbuild series one on the till so I’m excited we should be seeing more of them soon which is good news. I think both of these are very nice sets although the walkers set seems a bit dull without much to do. It does have a wonderful classic space feel to it though. I’d also be happier if the green team came with the robot rather than the Chuck but those are minor quibbles. I’m glad that Lego are now selling polybag sets and I can get my hands on as many as I like.

So it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed anything for you and it’s been about as long since I’ve had a working camera as I just got two second hand cameras and bought a new set I thought I’d share it with you. NB. I'm in the process of moving at the moment when I'm finished and unpacked my desktop PC I will touch up the photos. Set Name: Winter Village Cottage Set Number: 10229 Number of Pieces: 1490 Figures:8 Released: 2012 List Price: $99.99 €99.99 £89.99 10229 Peeron.com 10229 Bricklink Catalog 10229 Shop@Home Lets us begin with the box. There making a big point about the light up brick. Showing the key details of the building. Now for what’s inside. Much more in the box than I was expecting. A look at the sticker sheet Those of you who don’t like stickers must be happy with only 4 to apply. Two instruction booklets come with this set. Right now let us begin the building with Bag 1 as you can see bag one contains everything apart from the cottage. Oddly the minifigs are split over the bags so here with have the first four, a lumberjack (sadly without the new axe) the plough driver and two children on skis. I’m quite annoyed that Lego didn’t provide the new ski polls and that we’ve had for the collectable minifigures an we’re left with just normal polls. Now for the igloo I like this minibuild a lot, the roof if removable and they’ve managed to capture a blockly but still round feel to it. Though I’d have thought an igloo with a stove would melt?! The stove inside. The roof is on a 4 x 4 plate and sits on top. With the roof and owl added. Next time for the snowplough, the time period has always been ambiguous with the winter village sets, the snowplough doesn’t give any more hints. I get a 50’s / 60’s vibe from it but then I don’t live where we have a lot of snow and when we do we just have chaos! The plough has an interesting wheel arch attachment at the back. Poll though the back with flags either side. The build is fairly straight forward Flat bed added. I like the brick build door and the fat that they have a different curvature for the blue and tan. Door. Doors fitted. One the plough is built it looks great, though without the plough at the front it looks slightly high and heavy sets, but a great little vehicle. Without a plough. With a plough. The woodshed if the final part of this bag. I this is great and has a lot of little bits and bobs for such small build. Tool bench. The logs attach and stay stacked. T red clips are for storing a drill, not sure how safe that is. Not sure what the windows for! Completed and with the lumberjack. Brick build chainsaw simple but effective. Ok I lied there’s more in this bag there’s also a brick built sled with a bucket. The sled. So that’s the end of bag one and I’m highly impressed but the set so far, there are lots of nice little touches and there’s still a huge heap of bricks to use. The heap. Bag 2. Bag two also has some minifigs, correct me if I’m wrong but I think the child’s jacket is new? New green torso? Personally I’m not a fan of tiling plates exsesivley and there’s a lot of tiling that you have to do in this sets, which while it looks good when it’s done I just don’t enjoy doing. Once you’ve tilled to your heats content in goes the fireplace The kitchen in really good in this sets I’m particularly impressed by the cooker in the far left and the cupboard with the frying pan. The golden taps and the green marble worktops seems a bit over the top if you ask me, I wonder who owns this ‘cottage’ The interior has a brick built tree which looks alright but is nothing special, a well-built table and two brick build stockings which I love. The light brick goes behind the fire to add a warm glow. Said warm glow. The childs bedroom is on the upper floor though there’s not ladder to get up there and he gets a brick built plane and sailboat (which is very well thought out) and a ball and two presents. Seems a bit to much to me but then the family do have gold taps! The roof goes on in three parts to complete the sets and give us the finished cottage. Finally everything from the set together The Rating System Figures: 8.5/10 (8 figs and a good selection though more winter heads would have been nice) Parts 9/10 (A good selection and alot of the new brick bricks. Could have used newer accessories though) Fun Fun Fun 10/10 (Once you’ve built it there’s quite a lot to do) Design 10/10 (Can’t fault Lego on the design apart from a lack of access but hey it’s nowhere near Christmas) Price 10/10 (I was sceptical about the high price but am more than happy now.) Grand Total 47.5/50 (Go forth and buy!) Conclusions I had some concerns at the outset with this set as it’s nearly twice the price of the pervious winter sets which I loved, I didn’t see why Lego had decided to increase the price point by so much, I bought this set with VIP points so it didn’t really cost me anything. However when I got home I found it was a very large set the cottage is much much bigger than the previous sets and there’s an awful lot going on as well. The first bag provided me with an igloo which I liked the design of and the snowplough which is larger than previous vehicles. Finally the woodshed which I found a great little model and carried over the colour scheme and aesthetic from the cottage well. The cottage itself is large and well designed, while I don’t like the tiling I do think it’s worth it as the floor looks excellent. The kitchen had a number of nice features, though a new mixer would have been nice. Overall it’s a great build though I do wonder if the cottage is to big for the other sets but as they’re packed away at the moment I can’t put them side by side and compare. My only slight fault is that Lego could have included the new parts they’d produced for the collectable minifigures here and I’m disappointed that they didn’t. Overall I’m happy with my purchase and I think you will be two. Sadly I think the price point is too high to buy a few and make a really village which is to my mind a missed opportunity. So it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed anything for you and it’s been about as long since I’ve had a working camera as I just got two second hand cameras and bought a new set I thought I’d share it with you. Set Name: Winter Village Cottage Set Number: 10229 Number of Pieces: 1490 Figures:8 Released: 2012 List Price: $99.99 €99.99 £89.99 10229 Peeron.com 10229 Bricklink Catalog 10229 Shop@Home

The turn around is amazing, but it does just go to show that basic business concepts like focusing on what you do well and then doing it over and over again work. It's a shame more companies don't follow through that approahc.

That made me laugh The price doesn't really surprise me after what Lego Historain has said thanks for the info!

I've never seen things go crazy at the x 2 VIP points time really, it's only when there are actually discounts that Lego seems to fly off the shelf so I wouldn't worry to much. Especailly if all the sets you want are new ones. I agree with bjtpro though I'd wait on the Lone Ranger sets I'd expect them to decrease in price after the movies run by quite a bit

They can become discolured by sunlight or smoking. But most of my collection is in fine condition even after years there is some problem with gold colouring fading on the old castle and space figures but that's about it. As for losing 'shape' never this is Lego after all! Hope that helps.

So I went to the Lego store today and just had to add another set to my Legend of Chima collection so here’s another review 70000 Razcal's Glider. Set Name: Razcal's Glider Set Number: 70000 Number of Pieces: 109 Figures:1 Released: 2013 List Price: £8.99 Let us begin with the box. Flying through the air and not a care in the world. The back shot shows an open box, sorry I was a tad excited! Now for what’s inside. The box was quite small but we seem to get quite a bit inside. Again as with 70001 we get two instruction booklets, this is so Lego can give us a good number of adverts for Chima. Personally it seems pointless to me. Minifigure So this set Razcal one of the Raven faction and as with all the Chima sets we’ve seen so far he looks excellent. Front. Back. Fully built. So now lets arm Razcal with his oversized and weird looking weapons! The Glider It’s a nice simple build with lots of small parts. One thing I want to point out is that by step five Lego feel the need to give us a break and advertise some Chima to us. I don’t know if they think kids are going to get bored but it seems odd to me! A few more steps on and we come to the end of booklet one with the fuselage mostly completed. I might weird that the Ravens use bones for controllers but they are talking birds so who knows! In booklet two we start work on the underside Next attaching the legs, at this stage the model seems to high and lacks width and length, but the wings will take care of that We’ve also added a reverse flick firing misile, but being attached to a chain I’m not sure what good it’ll do! I think it would just fly around and hit the glider. I’m not sure the Ravens will be winning this war! So the final and completed model, not that Razcal has places to disassemble his oversized gun and mount them on the side of the glider. The Rating System Figures: 9/10 (Only one but fairly good.) Parts 8/10 (Some interesting parts, including some purple but not an amazing set) Fun Fun Fun 9/10 (Great fun posing and very swoshable) Design 10/10 (An excellent design) Price 8/10 (The price is high but better value than 70001.) Grand Total 43/50 (A good sets but a way from greatness) Conclusions So this is the third review by me for Legends of Chima and this is another set I really like. The design is very well done and you can see the birdlikle qualities of the glider very clearly. We’ve got another excellent figure and a fun model to play with. I would however like to raise a concerned with pricing. Not so much with this set but with others in the range. I was very tempted by 70012 as well while I was in the Lego shop today, I saw it listed as $39.99 on Lego.com though not available to buy. Looking at the UK price today I was outraged to see it at £39.99 all the sets of this size seems to be the same which is very disappointing to me. So I guess I’ll be waiting till my trip to the States or for the inevitable Amazon discounts to pick up any more Chima.

First review in a while so I thought I’d bring you some of the new Legend of Chima sets to take a look at so let’s start with the second smallest set. Set Name: Crawley's Claw Ripper Set Number: 70001 Number of Pieces: 139 Figures:2 Released: 2013 List Price: £12.99 70001 Peeron.com 70001 Bricklink Catalog Lets us begin with the box. Action show with a lot of blur, not my photography! The back shows just about everything you can do with the set. Now for what’s inside. Not really any surprises apart from two instruction booklets. Personally I’m not sure why you would need two instruction booklets with a set this small. However there are a lot more adverts in these than usual. Some interesting parts to take a look at, the new sword is rather oversized and takes a lightsaber blade inside. I also quite like the inverted rocket engine in trans-blue. Minifugres Let be honest I doubt you’re going to buy this set for the model, though it is good (we’re getting to it), you’re buying this set for the figures so let’s take a look at those now. In this set we get two figures the Crocodile Crawley and the Lion Leonidas (insert SPARTA joke here!) Both figures are really beautiful and very well made so lets take a look. The Models The models is a nice vechical, which as with all the Chima vechicals looks like the animals that own them can you guess who owns this? The end of instruction book 1. I thought this was the head as a built it but it turns it’s the whole vehicle body. I didn’t notice earlier but there were some stickers in the box, they’d ended up inside the second instruction booklet. They go on top of the crocs head which is there. Once the head is mounted on the front it looks like this and rather croc like. Time to add the wheels and tracks and the crock vehicle is completed. Time for Crawley to get into the driving seat. When the vehicle’s in motion the tracks move forward with the ripping blades come out near the front. Complete set The Rating System Figures: 10/10 (Only 2 figures but both of them are exquisite and some of the best Lego have ever made.) Parts 9/10 (Some interesting new parts especially the head and the new colour) Fun Fun Fun 7/10 (Quite a bit to do) Design 9/10 (An excellent design) Price 8/10 (The price seems a tad high, too me but Lego keeps increasing in price.) Grand Total 43/50 (A good sets but a way from greatness) Conclusions So this is the first Legends of Chima set I’ve got my hands on and I’ve slightly mixed feelings about it. I think the figures are really very impressive and that the model is quite impressive. However I do have some concern about the prices, which seems higher than it should be as part of a general trend of ever increasing Lego prices. However I still think the set is well worth getting you get to excellent figures and a fun model. So What do you think? Ps 70003 review coming up shortly!

70003 Eris' Eagle Interceptor Second review in my Legends of Chima series, we’re going to look at Eagle Interceptor, which I think must be one of the sets everyone is waiting to see. Set Name: Eris' Eagle Interceptor Set Number: 70003 Number of Pieces: 348 Figures:3 Released: 2013 List Price: £29.99 70003 Peeron.com 70003 Bricklink Catalog Lets us begin with the box, which shows the set and really wetted my appetite to get hold of it. I’m not sure about flying bits of land! es Again the back shows most of the play featur. Now for what’s inside. Three bag build, but only one instruction booklet. Sticker set, shame they aren’t printed. Single instruction booklet. Some interesting parts to take a look at, the new sword is rather oversized and takes a lightsaber blade inside. Also new staff piece and headgear for the figures and bodywear. Minifugres So this set has three figures Edri, Rizzo and Razar. You get both the good Eagle faction and the bad Crow faction. Both sides look beautiful, I’ll stop yapping and show you the pictures. Front without helmets. Back and reverse of the heads. Fully equipped from the front. Fully equipped from the back. The Models This set includes two models a Crow minflyer (Hawkman rocket cycle Ed?) and the larger Eagle. So lets first take a look at the smaller of the two. Not much to say really not many parts used for this one but it does look very nice. Front view. Side view. Eagle Interceptor Head Now it’s time for the main event the Eagle Interceptor. First we get the cockpit which detatches and also looks like a beak. Part built. Finished. Body Next we’ll add the main body which has a rather large cargo area nd a big engine at the top. The tail feathers look really good. Part built. A few steps on. Completed body module. The back opened so you can see the power crystal and cargo area.. Legs The first thing to say about the legs are they rest on new pieces (well new to me) printed tiles with studs on the back. A rather simple build and then you add the sticker tile on top of complete the leg. Part way. Added sticker. Finally just add some talons. Talons. Attached to the body. Wings The wings are quite simple each one has a pair of blasters and a flick fire missile, well it wouldn’t be a play set without a flick fire missile would it! You can’t see the missile from here. You can from here. Now with all the parts made I give you the Eagle Interceptor The complete set. The Rating System Figures: 10/10 (Beautiful and a good selection) Parts 9/10 (Some interesting new parts especially the head and the new colour) Fun Fun Fun 10/10 (A swooshing battle to be had!) Design 10/10 (An excellent design, looks amazing one of the best I’ve seen in ages) Price 8/10 (It’s expensive but I really don’t care it’s that good.) Grand Total 47/50 (A great set, if the price goes down I will be buying a second) Conclusions So this is the second Legends of Chima set I’ve got my hands on, while I had some reservations about the price of 70001 I’ve not got those concerned here. Lego have given us excellent figures and a model that I just love, while it is more than I’d like to pay when I sat back and looked at it I decided it was worth it. I feel that the ground vehicles aren’t shaping up as well as the air ones as I want to get my hands on 70000 but I’m not so sure about the rest of the series. My advice would be that if you’re interested to take the plunge with this set you won’t be disappointed. We’ll see as it develops. So over to you guys what do you think of this set?

I'm looking forward to seeing this, though I have no idea if it'll make me part with my money! The idea sounds intresting an the minifigs do look rather good, now lets wait and see what the sets look like.

Excellent new train, really the best HST we've seen since the Metroliner if you ask me. It's a very cunning move to make me need to buy two but as the price isn't to steep I don't mind. I hope we can look forward to more trains like this...

Thanks for the review Sanke. I really like this set but it's a big improvment over the originl skiff which was the first Lego Star Wars set I ever got. I'll be waiting for the UK price before I decide if I'll be buying it though if it's going to be £30 it'll be another to "expensive for me" set

I've been lurking and watching this project for a while and I'm amazed. The sad thing is that when (not if) it gets to 10,000 we'd probably get one one set rather than the series of sets and the huge universe that is rapidly evolving. Though this theme could replace the space theme for a number of years, which would be ideal for all I think.

Thanks for the review, it looks an alright set for a spinner, but I just think they're far to expensive for what you get in them.

Thanks for the review. I thought the price was a tad high I'm not so sure about that afer reading your review. I do love the printing on the minifigs, a great level of detail there though. In a normal year I'd probably go for it but this year has far to many great sets for me to be buying anything other than onces I love!

The new doctor print is good but I still think 6380 was a better hospital set. It's a shame they decided to stick to many extras rather than concentrating on building a larger better hospital. Oh well I'm still going to pick it up in the end.

Thanks for the review. I have to say I love this set especailly the fact that you get three diffrent sets of hair. Though I think it might be slightly effected by the fact I can have this on my desk and work and no one not even the public thinks it's weird.

Thanks for the review of this set. On balance I quite like it and will probably end up getting one or two. On the plus side it's not got any officers/AT-AT drivers of the like which anoyed me in the previous Hoth set, I mean how many At-AT drivers do you need! But I'm not convinced with mixing Reble and Imperail in one set though no this occasions I'm happy with both of them. My main concern is the price increase I don't see what's there to give it a 20% price hike over last years battle packs, but I guess that's the way of the world.

The Y-wing is the work horse of the Rebel Alliance. It’s well armed and heavily armoured, but you’ll need it because you’ll be moving like a sleepy hut! – General Rieekan Set Name: Y-wing Starfighter Set Number: 7658 Number of Pieces: 454 Figures:2 Released: 2007 List Price: £39.99 Lets us begin with the box. The front shows it in all it’s swooshing glory. http://tdy.org.uk/images/7658-02.jpg The back shows some of the many features of the set and also others you might like to buy in the Star Wars range. After opening the box we find a single instruction booklet Now we come to an important aspect of any Star Wars set the figure, here we’re provided with an anomalous rebel pilot and his faithful R5 droid. The pilot comes with the fairly standard Lego Star Wars non-hero helmet printing. What’s he going to do with the blaster taken on the entire Empire? One of the more interesting parts is the assembly of the engine, which if like me you don’t pay enough attention to the instructions when building you can end up getting wrong. The key detail I got wrong. Just before fitting the last engine. If we look carefully on the side we can see a missile launcher. I didn’t think torpedoes or concussion missiles were fired from there but I may be wrong. After fitting the engine the models looks like this. In all it’s glory. Manning one of the Alliance’s fighters. Not so ready to take on the empire was he? So overall we have a well designed model, which is in my opinion far superior to the original we were offered with Darth Vader way back when Lego Star Wars was new. This Y-wing is sleek and looks great in my opinion, the firing missiles are also a great touch. The Rating System Figures: 5/10 (for the same price the last X-wing had far more figures) Parts 6/10 Swooshability 9.5/10 Design 9/10 Price 3/10 Grand Total 32.5/50 Not to shabby. Conclusion. So finally the answers to the questions you’ve no doubt want to know is the set worth the price. I’ll be frank £39.99 is too much for this set. Despite this I currently have a squadron of three Y-wings, the reasons is this set has been on sale a number of times at £30 it’s certainly worth the money. Lego recently placed them online with a price of £20, this I think was a great price for the set and well work picking one or more up if you wanted to start your own rebellion.

Today I bought a number of series two minifigs when I opened them however I found that one of my Spartans was missing a cape and one a spear. I've never had this happen before with the collectable minifigs, looking on the Lego Service website if you enter the set number it tells you replacments are not available. I've sent off an e-mail to Lego asking if I can get the parts. My question is has anyone else come across one of the bags missing any parts and if so what did you do?

You're a tough tail-gunner in a pitch black Chevy, Cruising in the moonlight Ooh your aim is steady* *Strangely this set always make me think of this song In my Invader Review I said ‘One day I hope to have the Renegade as well to add to my collection, when I do about two years later I'll review it for you’. – Well I’ve only had it about three weeks so I’m doing a little better than promised. Set Name: Renegade Set Number: 6954 Number of Pieces: 302 Figures: 2 Released: 1987 List Price: £? (GBP) $30.00 (USD) No Euro in ’87 did we even have the ECU? (EURO) 6954Peeron.com 6954Bricklink Catalogue Along time ago the Blacktrons had the coolest ships in the Lego universe and the coolest looking of them all was the Renegade, however I don’t think it was ever released in the UK (I couldn’t be wrong) or possibly most of Europe so thus getting hold a copy of the set isn’t easy. I finally just paid for it possibly more than I should have, so let’s see if the set lives up to my expectation. Note: Before we go on, the pictures probably aren’t the best my camera had a diving accident and though it’s back from being repaired there are still a few kinks in it. Sadly I couldn’t get a boxed copy but this is what arrived in a box for me Instructions and a zip lock bag. Contents Every part laid out, not a lot of colour there just a lot of back and a bit of yellow (with a bit of trans red) . Instructions Surprised how mint the instructions are after so many years but shows the ship and the alternative models. The back shows combinations with different sets. Minifigs You get two standard Blacktron pilots, what did you expect? Though I think an additional brickbuilt robot would have been a nice touch here. Front view. Buggy The first thing we’ve got is the space buggy before we start on the ship itself, not to much to say it’s nice enough but I don’t think it’s amazing. I prefer the ones in 6981 Aerial Intruder personally. Space Buggy. The Ship One of the best things about this set in my opinion is that its highly modular and so you have the main body of the Renegade and there are a number of bits which then attach to it from there. The main body comes together quite quickly and by step 7 it’s already looking like it’s almost done We’re only at step 7? A few more bricks and we’re done with the main body and we’re done and it’s only step X Main body finished Cockpit Once we’ve finished up with the main body we move onto the cockpit, which has holes on the back and attached with pins. It’s a quick little build. First few steps. Everything but the canopy. Completed. Now we’ve got the cockpit completed we can attach it to the main body. Cockpit on the main body. Sensor Array and Flying Scooters The next two parts to construct are what I assume is a sensor array, which I assume it to keep away from the soon to be released Space Police. Or to find things to steal? You also have to flying scooters which are mounted on the wings of the main body. The set comes in three parts the cockpit the cargo pod and the engine. Lets take a look of the cockpit to start with Sensor Array. One completed and one part done flying scooter. Once that’s done all of those can be mounted on the main body which gives you below. With the sensor array and flying scooter. Cargo Pod Next we have the cargo pod which fits into the main body with pins like the cockpit does. Another quick build below are the stages. First few steps. The lid of the cargo pod. Everything completed. Buggy in the cargo pod, it’s a snug fit. Now the pod can be inserted into the main body Inserting the pod. Engines The final part to construct are the two engines which give this large ship it’s power, these had pins and then clip into the back of the main body. One finished engine and one part built. Once they’re built they just clip into the back of the ship. Engine fitted. That finishes the build and gives us, what I think you’ll believe a mighty fine looking ship. One nice ship. Now with the minifigs added. You can also reorganise the parts to make a smaller ship closer to the Invader. The Invader and the Renegade The Invader and the Renegade were the two Blacktron I ships and there are both great ships, I had hopped that the parts would be interchangeable. However I was rather disappointed to find that they didn’t fit together and I couldn’t combine them very easily. The Invaders Cargo Pod Sadly the Pod is to small and the pins are to low to fit into the Renegade’s cargo holder. Sadly no fit. The Renegades Cargo Pod This pods at a different level so even though you can reverse it to make it fit it doesn’t look good with the Invaders other bits. Looks a bit silly? Two Cockpits I had hoped you could bolt the two cockpits from both the ships onto the Renegade so that both men from the Renegade could sit in comfort. Sadly the one from the Invader has pins and that’s the mounting on the Renegade. Fail. The Rating System Figures: 8/10 (Who doesn't love Blacktron Mark 1 figs?) Parts 7.5/10 (A nice few bits and a good few printed slopes but that’s about it.) Fun Fun Fun 10/10 (Lots to do you can take it apart re-arrange, build a smaller ship and it swooshish about like no one business!) Design 10/10 (It looks cool and it’s well designs) Price 10/10 ($30, if I could buy it today I’d but a small fleet.) Grand Total 45.5/50 (Does it deserve any less?) Conclusions I normally start my conclusions to my space reviews but saying I’m not a Spacer maybe I’m becoming one, but I do now tend to take note of the Classic 90’s sets which I think are well built and interesting. Unlike my Invaders where I now have 5 or 6 of them I’ve only got one Renegade and I think unless I see a barging that’s going to be the way it stays. That’s no reflection on the ship however it’s much more about how rare this ship is and that when it comes up on Ebay it normally commands quite a price. That fact it’s rare only makes it more desirable. You’ve got one of the best looking Lego Space ships in my opinion, it sleek, black and looks just a little bit badass. We can all imagine the Blacktrons flying round the universe blacking some rock music and keeping the Futrons and M-Trons up all night, till they don’t see the sudden curve till it’s way too late. So it looks good, you can change it around what’s not to like. So what do you think? Missed Opportunities I’ll be honest I’m fairly disappointed that I can’t change around the different bits between the Invader and the Renegade. Before I got the sets I imagined that all the different sections could be changed around and make far more different ships, just moving the cargo pods from ship to ship I thought would be really cool. Sadly it wasn’t to be. I think it’s a missed opportunity and a great shame, had the designed managed this I’d be proclaiming this the greatest series of sets ever especially if they could get the pod on the back on Alienator into the mix as well. Some years ago there was an article by the designer of a lot of these sets (I’m sure someone had a link somewhere) I’d just like to ask them if the interchangability was an oversight or if they never intended it in the first place. Cartoon Juno and the Ice Planet woman like it do you?

Set Name: Spinjitzu Dojo Set Number: 2504 Number of Pieces: 373 Figures:3 Released: 2011 List Price: £30.99 (GBP) $49.99 (USD) 39.90 (EURO) 2504Peeron.com 2504Bricklink Catalog Shop@Home When I first saw Ninja go I wasn't very impressed but over the past few weeks I've been thinking more about it. I did always love the Ninja theme and while the individual minifigs don't appeal to much I thought the sets might be worth a second look. I went to Bluewater this morning to start my Pharaoh Quest airforce but I was tempted by this and had money to burn after Christmas. With it in had I thought I may as well review it, as that's all I seem to get time to do on Eurobricks any more. SO without more woffle lets get started. Lets us begin with the box. Considering how few pieces there are you get alot of Danish air, it's almost Star Wars worthy. The back shows the play features and the gold weapons which are aparently quite important. Contents This is what comes in the box though I don't think it really need to sets of instructions. Cards As with all NinjaGo sets you get some card here are the selection you get in this box, they remind me of Mike Rayhawk's Brik Wars cards, I do wonder if he was involved somewhere along the way Minifigs You get three minifigs here Sensei Wu Zne and General Nuckal. I like all three of them, while Zane if fairly standard (and I've just recieved an original Ninja Princess) Sensei Wu is a nice adition and I love the new hat mould I hope to get my hands on alot more of these at some point. General Nuckal is also intresting and alot more elaborate than previous evil skeletons. Front view. Wu and Zane without facegear, Wu's back inserted. Zane has no back printing. New Windows I really like these new windows and I can seen they'll be very popular for Japaneese mocing They do seem a bit loose in the frame though. Dojo Side The final part of bag 1 is the side of the Dojo containing spinning blades for training purposes. Does anyone ever train without spinning blafes. Dojo Side 2 This bag only has the second Dojo side which has falling axes and water with spike in it. Another sale for the Acme Falling Axe system. Central Dojo The final bag is the central part of nthe dojo with exploding floor which gets and entire page of the instructions I couldn't replicate the instructions very well in real life. Now lets put it all together Front view. The Dojo looks quite impressive and it does look like you could have an impressive montage of training before facing the evil skeleton oposition. It also has a very nice look to it. Adding in the minifigs for battle.. The Rating System Figures: 6.5/10 (I like Wu (the only set he's in at the moment) and Nuckle but Zane is a little ordinary) Parts 8/10 (Fair selection and the new windows are a great adition in my view.) Fun Fun Fun 6/10 (You only get one spinner so you can't have a sill spinner battle but there's a fair amount to do but a second spinner would have seemed wise) Design 8/10 (Nice design and well executed has a great feel to it.) Price 5/10 (I don't know maybe I no longer understand Lego pricing points, it just seems a little high while I was afraid 7307 would come in over £20 and was very happy to see it come in under £15 (just) £30.99 is A a strange price and B seems rather expensive for what you get.) Grand Total 33.5/50 (Middling sets with a middleing score) Conclusions NinjaGo is a strange theme, but some of the sets do look very nice I like the looks and feel of this one for instance though I do feel the price point is to high. It's similar to the price I paid for 3053 recently which no one is going to argue isn't a superior set (if you are you'd better come armed!). I look forward to seeing the other sets that are coming for NinjaGo the Fire Temple looks excellent and these will make a good adition to my ninja collection I just want a little more for my money. On the plus side though the new skeletons are great in my opinion and Wu is well designed and I love his new had, if we could now just have large numbers in black so I can equip a force of ashigaru so I can have Shogun Total War in Lego at last. The last page of the manual offers a map which is quite intresting and offers a view of the future, well perhaps! And now for a bonus comic

Thanks for the great review of this set this is second on my list after the Tripod (which is an great set) I'm intrested you say it seems small but it isn't I shall look forward to testing that theory myself as soon as I get it. Alien conquest is shaping up to be a great theme. Someone's most certainly been having fun swooshing and blasting aliens!