ben506

Now, I don't post, but I have to say that is just amazing, and even that doesn't do it justice. This is one of the best Lego models I've ever seen, and is definitely the best Sandcrawler ever. Some of the pictures look like they could have been used for filming the actual movie. Wow. I am impressed.

The discounts have already gone live here in the UK. Nothing impressive, only the 10/20% mentioned earlier. No sign of the promotions yet, so I'll hold off for a few hours.

Hello, and welcome to my review of the Tantive IV, the final Star Wars set of 2009. Let's start with some photos. To begin, the front of the box: And the back: Slightly better than the one the old Tantive IV box, from Rufus's review. Actual pictures this time. A close up of some of the fun play features, such as Princess Leia in a meeting, and the rebels pretending to be postmen: Next the instructions. No real surprises here; two standard booklets with good black/dark bley differentiation. Only problem is that sand coloured vents look yellow. Just the usual junk on the back, same as it’s been for some years now. Random instruction page, showing attaching the engine block onto the main superstructure, made mainly of technic beams: The pieces. Just a few too many to fit on one photo, but gives you an idea of how big the set seems, but also how small it is compared to the Death Star. Something to note and be happy about though: no stickers! Everything is printed! On to the mini-figs next. Here we see the rebel we got in the Rebel Speeder battlepack, new dome R2-D2, and the gold C-3PO: Next we have Princess Leia sporting the chocolate fondant hairstyle, thanks to a miss-mould. With her is the only new fig in this set: Captain Antilles: Antilles also comes with a second face, for being strangled by Darth Vader. I feel really sorry for him, the poor little guy: Next, the only interesting, new parts are the cockpit parts, which are printed. They look so lovely, and are much better than if they'd be stickers as was once feared: And so, the build. These photos show how it builds up from near the start, to half way the first book with through with the engine block attached, and Leia for scale: With the engine "pods" attached: And now the whole engines, and the yellow disks. Shame they're the wrong colour (I think), but still a good effect. The escape pod: Little cramped in there. Looks more like a hot tub. The second escape pod, with a dark bley smooth tile in place of a white one: Escape pods attached: The underneath of the Tantive IV, showing the lower laser cannons, and my favourite part: the set of four wheels near the back to allow for easy rotation: The little rebel transport. Not entirely sure why it's there, but it's something I suppose: The finished cockpit and how it can tilt back: Spares: Well, the red triangles aren't, but I only realised after I'd put them away. Managed to find them, but not the rest. And finally, the complete model: Leia's office: Storage space for the transport: Some comparison picks with chocolate fondant Leia again: Told her not to stand too close to the engines... The only place left to put plans in R2: Overall Design: Very well designed, and externally similar to the movies. Inside though, the lack of any corridors for the opening scene is a bit of a letdown, but otherwise good. Build: Rather quick, only 4 hours. Not too repetitive, even with the engines, as most are slightly different Pieces: Mostly common ones, only real stand-out ones are the cockpit pieces. Swooshability: Just, if you can find a place to hold it from with it falling apart. Quite heavy though. Playability: With Leia's office you can enjoy many fine hours of politics, or pretend to be a postman with the rebel transport. No flick fire missiles (which is always good), so despite the look of it, it is more of an adult's model. Price: In the UK, it's £100, which isn't too bad. Would rather slightly less, but with the way prices are going, we're lucky it's not £150+Minifigs: Minifigs: Only one new one, but with the extra face, it is a good new fig. Overall, this is a must buy set for anyone who likes the OT, or just generally good models. For a score, I'd say maybe 8.5/10 Thank you, and goodnight! Sorry, about some of the photos, but I seem to have lost my nice camera somewhere... Link to the original photos (when moderated): http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=400979 KimT: can you please add a poll as well, as I have no idea how to do that. Thanks!

Sorry to burst your bubble, but we already know about series 5: Series 5 Technically this belongs in one of the new sub-forums as well, the Special Lego Themes

Looks good so far, even if the A-wing looks a little half-hearted. I guess we'll be getting more than those in it, as there's only 12 things on the box, unless they split some of the models over a few days. Based on the Castle calendar this year, that shouldn't happen, but you never know with Star Wars sets.

Same for me, in both the AT-ATs I got when they first came out. Strange, but not too distracting. I think JammieDodger's was white as well, thinking back to the review. EDIT: Yeah, looking at the photos in the review again: Looks like the one on the front is white, the same.

Just to let everyone know, it seems the sets are availible on S@H in the UK now, with Cad Bane's Speeder, the mini Star Destroyer and new AT-AT availible as well. And as it's pay day, soon they shall all be mine! Of course, if no-one's done a review of them by the time they arrive here in the UK, I shall see about doing them myself. Might have to get a better camera after the Tantive IV review I did though.

Yeah, it is Veers. Should have remembered the bigger picture we got earlier without the box rather than just going by the side of this one. I did say there was a stormtrooper in the shuttle:

Shuttle: Darth Vader, Luke, Stormtrooper, black Imperial offcer and grey imperial officer. One will be the pilot I guess, while the other is the officer who accompanies Luke in the lift up to Vader. At-AT: Han Solo, Luke, two snowtroopers, C-3PO, At-At pilot and two rebels. One of the m looks to be names though, but that's out my area of expertise. Don't quite know everybody in Star Wars!

It's a sticker sheet. Go home people, no white mandolorian or new sets, just a sticker sheet according to the Lego UK email I just got. Edit: Screenshot of the email:

I'd forgotten this topic exists, otherwise I'd have posted about the VIP email I got earlier this week from Lego UK: Hopefully we'll get whatever the promotion you posted about is as well, KimT, but I'm not holding my breath.

While I agree that the boxes are getting slightly ridiculous, it does make some sense. Lego is a premium product, and needs shelf space and an attractive frontage for store shelves. Plus it stops the pieces getting damaged, and having even worse instruction books/sticker sheets. If they could be a bit smaller, it would help, but I see why they do it. Anyway, this doesn't really have anything to do with what sets are coming out this year, so to mini-mod, in the words of our immortal leader: "Stay on Target!"

Not a set I got myself, or one I even remember, but from showing my brother the list of sets on brickset last year, he thinks this is the oldest one in the large crate: So the oldest set I *technically* have is from 1983, the Police Car, but the oldest set I remember getting/being assembled is: The Red Devil Racer from 1991, released when I was only 2. The joy of having two older brothers still into Lego when I was young.

I've actually had two dark ages almost, with one major one, and another that I regret. I originally put my Lego away when I was about 12, so around 2001 sometime, and only really noticed things like the more impressive Technic sets, but only when I actually went into a toy shop. When I was 16 (2005) I started to get interested in Star Wars, when Ep. III and the game Lego Star Wars came out, so moved back into the Star Wars sets. This lasted for a while, getting most of the sets available at the time (but missing out on the Millennium Falcon and a few others) until 2008, when I bought no sets. Fortunately I came back round to my senses in 2009, and started getting most of the Star Wars sets again.

Sorry to disappoint you, but those are not from a new game, they're from a short film released about 6 months ago. I think it was the film version of "The Hunt for R2-D2", and showcased many new sets that we didn't have pictures of at the time, such as the ARC-170 that's just come out, and the Landspeeder. It was just a short film, and I'm sure someone else here has a link to it, as I've never actually seen it, just the pictures from it. Sorry.

Great photos, as usual smokebelch! Really looking forwards to my Lego delivery now, as those helmets look even better up close. Would be nice to try this photography lark myself while it's still vaguely snowy here in Guildford, but with my sets 40 miles away and exams looming imminently, it doesn't look like it'll happen. Shame, as I'm sure my walking AT-AT would love to stomp some rebels in this weather! As this is my first comment in this thread, I would like to say to everyone who's posted in it how good your photos are, and it's always nice to see what you come up with!

Not necessarily. I ordered a few the first day the new sets were up (the 28th December, I believe), and they took the money straight away. I only got the dispatch confirmation on the 4th, and they still haven't arrived thanks to this stupid snow. Even more annoyingly, I was told the box was out for delivery, a DHL van pulled up outside, and delivered to next door! Grrr. As far as prices go, this is what always happens. Remember it's not just the conversion rates you have to take into account, but the standard of living. £30 will get you as far as $30 outside of Lego, if not further, so they take that into account. Remember they are a company, and still want to make a profit. No idea about other countries, but I imagine it's something similar. Other than Australia/New Zealand, they just got the short end of the stick whatever.

Thanks for the great review, KimT! Just hope they start appearing in the UK soon. Can I ask, why is it listed as Clone Wars? The eyes aren't animated as you said, and according to the (vaguely) reliable Wookiepedia Captain Jag was only in ROTS, so it seems a bit strange that it's a clone wars set. I suppose he could appear in the next series, but I would have thought that would be a little tenuous. Then again, Lego seemed to think the AT-AP is an original trilogy set, according to their website, so anything's possible!

As the site has taken down the pictures, I've uploaded them to Flickr here: Summer 2010 Star Wars Sets Obviously not going to deeplink them, but that should make it easier than having to look on Brinkshelf. Edit: Technically posted on the wrong site, but sort of valid here. (Really should pay more attention to what's going on around me...)

I'm going to go with Felucia, which is another swampy planet, also seen in Force Unleashed. According to wookiepedia (yeah, I know, it can be edited by anyone), that's where she got killed in Order 66, so would make some sense. This also adds to the fact it's a ROTS era set, as that's when 66 is. Or, Lego have got her confused with Luminara Unduli who was on Kashyyk, and in the last set with a swamp speeder. Either way, I'm fairly sure it's not Clone Wars, just the new style of eyes with pupils.

It's not that odd. The rocket arms have only appeared in Clone Wars sets, as far as I know, so this is just their ROTS arms. Makes sense, as they only had standard arms in the films.

I've had something vaguely similar a last year - they sent me completely the wrong order. The best thing to do would be to phone them up and say, they're usually very helpful, as they know kids might be involved (even if they're not!) so the dangers for parental anger is quite high. They sent out a new box with the sets missing by express, and just told me to return the box I got by mistake. Hope that's of some help, though I imagine you've probably already though of phoning them. Almost wish I'd kept the wrong box, and just reordered. It was for a toy shop in Yorkshire (while I'm on the south coast, so quite a mix-up), and was full of Lego Batman sets and keyrings. About 20 The Escape of Mr. Freeze, 15 Catwoman Pursuits and keyrings of the two different versions of Batman, Two Face, Clone Wars Obi Wan, Clone Wars Anakin. 99 (yes, ninety-nine!) of each keyring, Must have been worth about £1500 in total, and would be even more now. Considering I returned it for less than £100 of Star Wars, I must have been feeling pretty stupid. Though when the new box arrived, it had a knife in, so I suppose that's some compensation .

Looking at those prices, and comparing the current sets in € and £, that makes them about: 8083 Rebel Trooper Battle Pack £9.99 8084 Snowtrooper Battle Pack £9.99 8085 Freeco Speeder £21.49 8086 Droid Tri-Fighter £21.49 8087 TIE Defender £39.15 8088 ARC-170 Starfighter £48.95 8092 Luke's Landspeeder £21.49 Though with a VAT increase at the end of the year (15% back to 17.5%), and Lego's usual skill with pricing, they'll probably be higher than these. Sorry if this counts as spamming, but just trying to save the British a few minutes work. Edit: Added Luke's Landspeeder. And got angry at the quick edits inability to cope with anything beyond plain text.

They look to be, just printed and smoke grey. Strange looking mould on its own like that, but I guess it's replacing the current very similar one. And I can't really tell if the nose bits are new pieces. They look like they might be, the way the light is reflecting off them, but I don't recall seeing any rounded 1x3 slopes in any other places mentioning new bits.

One thing the ARC picture does confirm is that the heads are reversible, as both pilots have the orange visor. Figured they would be, but it's nice to have it confirmed. I think I'm sold on the new helmet as well. Or at least as a TIE pilot helmet; not too sure about the AT-AT pilot head yet, still looks too big. Still not sure about the new sets. They look amazing, and I'll definitely have to be getting them, but they'll come out in January. This means while hope it gets to January quicker for the sets, I have third year final exams then as well, so want January to be further away. Too much conflict!