Dunjohn

I don't see any blank microfigs?

Sailor started of as being very popular, people were saying they'd need a full crew. With not many people interested in the viking, he's as close to an "army" minifig as this series comes. I'd imagine the dummy here is the skater boy or the artist.

It won't, it'll hold. You're allowed to pick the tree up during your turn, but if it falls over when you put it back down, you lose.

I'm just glad the NinjaGo game comes with loads of baby skeletons... wait that didn't sound right.

Awesome. Credited in every series. Nice work, Mr. Timms! Now if I can just have my Japanese Magical Girl or Statue of Liberty in S6 I'll be just fine.

Nah, I definitely won't get tired of them for a while. A ski slope or surf beach would look very odd if everybody and every board was identical, so three or four variations on things like that are fine by me. Could have used a different colour fish, though. On the Brickforge thing, that's a good point. I don't know if TLG would feel threatened by it per se, but those ancillery companies definitely exposed a lucrative niche market for accessories that couldn't have been worked into the kinds of sets TLG makes. This is just TLG moving in on that mnarket.

I see them in Oky's screenshots, alright. They're too big for microfigs but I think that helmet might fit. I don't buy many Castle sets so I'm nut sure, but they all look like new, smaller molds. The forest set looks the most interesting to me. That lighter shade of green looks cool. I only own three pieces in that at the moment (three flower stalks from a big pink starter bucket of bricks).

I like this selection. I still think Series 1 is the best so far but S5 might be the second-best in my opinion. Unless you count Godzilla, there's no obviously Japanese figure here. That's odd, but that Godzilla does have a huge appeal to the Japanese market anyway. I reckon that pink girl is working out rather than dancing, but I'll call her a Gymnast on my lists until I can think of something better. She has a very Eighties vibe to her. More Eighties please, TLG! She's probably the weakest fig here, in terms of new parts, though I like the very girly radio. I wonder if she's actually meant to be the popsinger, enjoying a little downtime? Highlights for me would be mobster, boxer, Godzilla and Cleopatra. There's nothing I'd really like an army of.

You're right, I'd thought that was just a pile of demo bricks earlier but now I see the die and microfigs. Looks like you roll the die to build the wall, but I can't figure anything solid out.

Thanks for that! I know myself and the other Games fans have been keeping an eye on this line but these are the first images I've seen. It seems to be just a board games line. Since I don't play Heroquest, I'll just reckon it looks like any randomly-generated RPG. She was going a little fast for my German skills to capture everything but I think she was saying the same thing. The boxes are gorgeous. The games themselves sound interesting gameplaywise, but don't look to have many interesting parts in them unless you've a psychotic fascination with 2x2 jumper plates. I collect all the Games so I'll get these when they come out anyway, but my opinion of Heroica is pretty mixed, to be honest. How interesting the parts are is the #1 factor for me when I buy a set. Buying Shave-a-Sheep was painful....

They probably won't call her a caveman or a cannibal... what else is there? Savage? Jungle Girl? On the subject of guns, and not to derail the thread, but does Denmark have an armed police force? I know Ireland doesn't. Only the special units carry firearms.

Ditto on this, I liked seeing the Spartan's helmet in Atlantis and I hope they continue to do it. It feels more like Lego to me, that way.

I could live with that list, though it's awfully historical-favouring. I hope the astronaut is a pulp sci-fi style: spherical glass helmet, flashy suit with bright colours and dapper boots, very little technology because the studio couldn't afford decent props. Real Spaceman Spiff stuff. Master Sensei's another Japanese one chalked off my list of Japanese ones. Still waiting on that Magical Girl.

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.

I've a question about Category B: How exactly is "interaction" defined? For example, could I make a constume shop with clown, vampire and gorilla costumes in the window, or could I make a "timeline" vig showing the same person at different stages, without the stages being aware of each other?

Nice review, but what's MMV?

Another second-hand set I've recently acquired. The was the second-largest kit in Mars Mission's innitial wave of releases. ____________________________________________ INFORMATION: Set Name: MX-71 Recon Dropship Set Number: 7692 Theme: Mars Mission Year Released: 2007 Number of Pieces: 435 Minifigs: 6 Price on Release: $39.99 (I don't know the Euro value) Bricklink _____________________________________________ FIRST IMPRESSIONS: A nice high-angle shot here filled with completely random action. The most impressive thing here is the sheer awesome power of the missile that the dropship's about to fire - anything getting hit by that's going to be the universe's newest black hole. Lucky for the alien he's nowhere near the line of fire, making me wonder exactly what is. Way below, the driller van is merrily chewing away at the unstable cliff it's precariously perched on. The back features the usual clean action images, including the standard group shot in the top corner. I don't like that image; there's great action in it, but with most sets featuring two or more vehicles, the image mixes them all up and repeats a few of them and it's impossible to tell which ships are packaged with each other. The manual and what's left of the DSS. The stickers were already applied but this might give you an idea of how many there are. The manual has some major colour differentiation issues. In the top half here, the round spots are dark grey and the rectangular frame is black. In the bottom half, the sticker is exactly the same shade of black as the plastic (see below). White/light bley differentiation is similarly weak. And here are all the stickered elements. I don't normally apply the stickers but these mostly work well with the elements they're on. Some of the more remarkable pieces in the set, though there are surprisingly few I think. I'll take all the trans neon yellow TLG sees fit to give me. And here's everything else. Sorry it's not a bit more organised but I was really pushed for time. The pieces are all basic stuff, really. Like most MM sets they favor Technic beams over standard bricks and use a lot of very basic Technic elements and techniques. The set includes two humans and four snot monsters. Mars Mission recycled a lot of older minifig heads rather than make new ones and the selection can be rather mixed. I don't think these two heads work well together at all; one has the standard sizes for the mouth and other features, but the other is obviously more "extreme." They're not double-sided, but I've turned one backwards to show the back printing on the torso. Back printing's always nice but there's nothing incredible in the MM spacesuits. The human minifigs are basically meh. The aliens make the humans look like sparkly golden GODS, though. I hate these guys. They look terrible and can barely move. No wonder the dropship is flatly ignoring them on the box cover. Expose them to strong light for a few minutes and their kidneys start to glow. THE BUILD: SMALL VEHICLES The set comprises three vehicles, and the first two are deceptively quick and simple to build. Probably five minutes each if I hadn't dumped everything into one big pile. I didn't take any mid-build images because there wasn't anything to show. First up is the autonomous test drill. It's a cute enough little trolley, despite the lack of any controls. They could easily have stuck something small in front of the pilot, there's plenty of room even when the shield is down. The windshield isn't quite as fragile as it looks because it rests fairly snugly against the white sides of the cockpit, though I've had sets where a similar setup proved inadequate. The drill can't extend high enough to be fully vertical. Nothing too critically wrong with it. Construction moves quickly onto the alien advance interceptor. I've nicknamed it the Slave 0.5 because of its shape. I'm not a huge fan of this, because it doesn't fit the styling of alien ships from other sets. Don't let the stickers fool you, the construction of this thing is almost as simple as with the astro buggy. The aliens are attached by the feet to hinge bricks and then bent backwards. They fall out a lot. The cannon on the front rotates. The ones on the sides don't move at all. Here's a look at the Slave 0.5's innards, with one side removed. Manual controls clearly don't exist on Mars, everything is powered by pixie dust. This shot also reveals a particular piece of bad designing: The pressure from the greep tubes constantly pushes upwards here, and the model is always breaking in one of these two areas. Push one back tight and the other will snap off. It was a struggle getting them to stay intact long enough for the photos. An extra 2x2 plate inserted somewhere may relieve some of that pressure. Overall, the alien craft looks okay if a little illogical, and it has that defect that keeps crumbling on me, while the driller is fine if a little simple. Together, they only represent a small fraction of the set so moving on.... THE BUILD: MAIN VEHICLE The main dropship uses modular build style, with six or seven units being built separately before being snapped together. The cockpit's up first. This is it mostly built, it's just missing the canopy, the two guns on the side, and a couple of control sticks. It's connected to the hull with a ball joint so it can move around a lot. The pilot sits on the white bit and leans way back, over a yawning hole. That's fine for a Legoman, he can just tilt back no problem, but if this was real life it'd be hellishly uncomfortable. It loses points with me for just being completely daft. The guns are cool. They rotate the full 360° and swing in and out. However, once complete, you can see how cramped that cockpit's going to be. It's not hinged, it must be removed entirely to let the astronaut in and out. There are two more problems with it: First, it's not airtight. Second, in order to open it, you must tilt it back against the white arches, which loosens them. Next up, the ship's backbone. This is about ten steps in and it had a nice, chunky-yet-sleek look to it already. Flip it over and you see it's really quite hollow. Those two rubber connectors with the red things are important, I'll come back to them in a minute. Attach the cockpit, build up the "shoulders" a bit to lock it in place, and assemble the tail parts, and the ship is beginning to take shape. Just a few more modules to attach. Here are the wings. They're hinged, which is nice, and strangely asymmetrical. I'd have preferred them to have the same weapons - two of either would have been fine - but they don't look that odd when they're attached. Couple of pods... And the ship's landing struts. They look quite excellent, though they're fixed in place and don't move. COMPLETION Stick it all together and this is the result. No matter what I do, those pods are stuck in vertical; the orange pipes push them into that position. This, despite the box and all the illustrations showing them in horizontal, with the pipes bending way more than mine want to. Not entirely sure what's going on there. I've loads of those pipes from previous sets and none of them are as yielding as the ones on the box. Nobody point out that Slave 0.5 is missing a gun barrel! I know! I have no idea where that's got to! The set comes with four aliens but there's only spaces made for three (the second pod contains gems). The fourth one obviously had to walk to the action. Harsh, for a dude with no joints. Don't lie. You'd forgotten that I'd promised to come back to this, hadn't you? The rubber things on the dropship's underside are used to grip the driller's square loop. This works surprisingly well; the driller wobbles around a lot, but it's quite secure despite being easy to attach and remove. I've held it off the ground and shook it a bit and it doesn't drop. And finally, the detritus of the fabrication process. I like it when I get more than one copy of any particular spare. It feels like I've cheated the system. Three half pins. Take that, recession! IN CONCLUSION Like every Mars Mission set, there are some bizarre oversights mixed up with some nice ideas and smushed together to make a box of Lego. That flaw in the Slave 0.5 is pretty unforgivable in my book, and the dropship's cockpit could have been handled a lot better, but offsetting those are the dropship's sleek, efficient design and occasional spot of brilliance. Design: 7/10: The Slave 0.5 doesn't really seem to follow the aliens' usual design style; the colours are the same but the flat surfaces are oriented vertically instead of horizontally. That may seem like a trite observation but it just feels like something that was slapped together and it doesn't feel like it belongs in the fleet. The driller passes. The dropship looks great and works well for the most part. The tubes and cockpit maybe need a second look. Parts: 7/10: Mainly Technic beams and hull pieces. Nothing that screams of being interesting, but it's all useful. Aliens and associated pods excepted, of course. Build: 7/10: The colour problems in the manual were an occasional hindrance but otherwise, things proceeded logically. Playability: 8/10: Even with the pods at an odd angle, the end result is very nice, and assuming Slave 0.5 stays intact then it also looks nice. There's a lot to do with the set. Price: 8/10: Seems about right. Total: 75%: Again, as with any Mars Mission set I've seen, the niggles bring it down and it could have been great if TLG had taken the time to iron them out. If you don't let them bother you, it's quite a good set. I was pleasantly surprised, given my usual wariness with this theme. Thanks for reading! - Dunjohn

There's already a review of this set in the Index, but its pictures have vanished, so here's another one! ____________________________________________ INFORMATION: Set Name: MT-31 Trike Set Number: 7694 Theme: Mars Mission Year Released: 2007 Number of Pieces: 95 Minifigs: 2 Price on Release: €10.99 Bricklink _____________________________________________ FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The usual purpley-orangey Mars Mission motif here, with that alarmingly-close Planet Earth and its moon in extreme low orbit up in the top corner. By my calculations, the entire Solar System of the Lego universe is about 300 studs wide. The Trike is the only thing the box contains so the pilot is presumably blasting several thousand taxdollars worth of laser fire at nothing for the pure thrill of it. The Mars Mission logo includes a cute update of the standard Lego Space theme, with a rocket shooting around Mars. The back shows some details of the set laid out in a startlingly tidy, uncluttered boxout style. It brings a tear to the eye of this organisation-obsessed freak. I got it second-hand so it was already open. The whole Mars Mission presentation style gets a thumbs up from me. And since I already owned this set, I now have two manuals for it. There's nothing majorly cool about it/them, aside from revealing that the trike is somehow plonked at the end of a high ridge. Those Mars Astronauts and their suicidal ledge fetish.... the instructions are basic (occasionally adding one new piece in a step) and black-dark grey differentiation can be an issue, but it's a small set so it's nothing major. There should be a DSS in there but it's already been used, and I seem to have misplaced my original. The stickers were already applied when I got it. I don't normally apply the stickers so that's a pain, but I'll live. Aside from the minifig, there are no printed elements in the set. Some of the cooler more interesting less common elements. That white sled thing can slide into the orange tube. It can hold an alien (speared through the chest) or three gems (in those spots). The strange molding beside the rod accomodates the alien's head crest, and it holds him very solidly in place. Here's the two minifigs. I'm finally getting the hang of close-up photos! Now if I could only sort out the lighting... anyhow, back on topic, those aliens are the single worst Lego thing ever and everybody already knows it and hates them. One point of articulation, incomprehensible face molding, and unreliable feet that are open at the back and slip off easily add up to a pretty lousy concept. They have a glowing pancreas deep inside their abdomens that takes a while to charge and fades quickly. The human isn't exactly spectacular. I've a particular dislike for the opaque golden eyeshield, which robs minifigs across the entire line of their identities and personalities. It may be more realistic, but hello, that's an alien standing beside him. THE BUILD: This is the Trike's simple suspension system, built after four or five steps. It gives the front wheels a nice bounce. Now the bulk of the set is complete, but just the wheels and cockpit to go. The orange tube is open at the rear, so there's a risk that the sled will fall out on bumpy terrain. Don't go too fast or turn too sharply or that alien will fly. If there's one thing Mars Mission is known for, it's those crappy aliens. However, if you widen the phrase to seven or eight things, one of them might be crazy cockpits. They're not normally airtight - the astronauts are usually pictured fully suited up when piloting them - and like to make use of multiple hinge pieces to futuristify the shape, and this set is no different. The pilot must sit at a 45° angle and lean back. Put it horizontal and the cover won't come down over him right. It means he can only focus maximum firepower on a spot three inches in front of him. Hopefully that's where the alien attackers will tunnel up from. Here's the finished kit. I've pictured it with its box because when I bought the first one, several years ago, I was impressed by how large it turned out to be. I felt like I got plenty of bang for the buck, and I still do. As you can see, it tilts slightly back when in neutral, which doesn't help the sled-sliding issue. Along with the poor cockpit design and the open tube, there's a slightly less forgivable design oversight, with the rear wheel being badly off-centre. It's easily fixed by redistributing the half-bushes that hold it in place but why wasn't that done in the first place? The spares. Loads, but it's hard to get excited about Technic pins. Those two things in the middle are what I meant by bushes, by the way. IN CONCLUSION: I have to say, I don't like Mars Mission. The entire line. It does so many thing badly. It has its fans but I don't understand what they see in it. This set has a number of flaws that I've already covered. It's probably my favourite of the MM sets but if I hadn't got such a good deal on these second-hand sets I wouldn't have bothered with them. If you can overlook (or fix) the design issues the finished thing is quite cool; looks nice, extremely swooshable, feels like great value. Design: 6/10: Nice but flawed rather than being smoothly good or bad. Some obvious areas of improvement. Parts: 6/10: I've yet to figure out a decent use for that orange tube. The ends look like they should take a 2x2 plate but they don't; I can't think of anything that can cap it. The technic beams along the sides are the only connection options. I've thought about them as engines but it's proven akward so they just sit unused in my boxes. The white sled is forgetable. It has a smooth underside so it doesn't accomodate studs of any kind. The wheels are massive and orange so they're very difficult to reuse. Most of the other parts are solid and useful but lean towards the Technic end of the spectrum. It has everything you need for Mars Mission MOCs but little else. Build: 9/10: Speedy and efficient with no tricky areas. It gets big fast and the result is quite satisfying. Playability: 8/10: Very good, I'll grudgingly admit; most of what I dislike about this line involves the design decisions but the end results are usually entertaining. The suspension makes it a lot of fun to bobble along but the guns are incredibly lame. Price: 10/10 I wouldn't get this as a parts pack but as a toy it's fantastic value. Total: 75% I'd say it's in the upper echelons of Mars Mission quality but those niggles really drag it down. It could have been done correctly, they just didn't bother to. Thanks for reading! Not so brave when the alien can hold a gun, eh? - Dunjohn

I never noticed that. I won't try it, though, as the damn thing was hard enough to get on in the first place and the sheet version looks extremely liable to tearing.

Thanks for that, I've tried it and you're correct. I'll fix the review!

Maybe it's not super heroes. Maybe it's a fire engine or an ambulance or a janitor wagon or something.

The Ben 10 sets were introduced long after we heard about Toy Story.

Looking on Google, Glove World seems to be a theme park. That sounds like a large set. Heroic Heroes, would that involve Mermaidman? Any sets they can do with that? Does he have a car? Strange that they're not producing a more generic set.

I keep telling myself - and all you guys - that I'm taking a break from Lego, but I saw a good deal on some oldish second-hand sets that I couldn't pass up, so I'll fill in some review holes while they're intact. First up: _______________________________________ INFORMATION: Set Name: Ferrari F1 Fuel Stop Set Number: 8673 Theme: Racers Year Released: 2006 Number of Pieces: 189 Minifigs: 5 Price on Release: €19.99 _____________________________________________ FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I got eight sets. They belonged to a guy who had no kids or anything; he'd bought them for a demo or something, and packed them away intact after it finished. The boxes were mainly in great condition, though taped shut. There's a little ripped bit beside the Ferrari logo where the price sticker probably was. I won't show the back because there's an even bigger one there, but it just shows a couple of alternate arrangements. Most non-Star Wars European boxes don't list the set name, this line was obviously an exception. I don't know what bags and things came with the new set; I got the stuff pre-built inside the resealed box, stickers applied and everything, so I'll skip straight to the manual. Pretty much the same as the box. The graphic style is given a sharp, 3D edge. Doesn't add much but looks good. There's the sticker sheet, too. I'm afraid you'll need to use your imaginations a little with that. It does illustrate the massive number of stickers, though - something the Ferrari line was infamous for. They're all numbered, but that's irrelevant, as the manual doesn't use them. That alternate Number 2 sticker is a nice little detail for anybody who got two sets. Okay, hold onto your hoverboards, because I'm going to mess up the timeline a little. The set was already built so I had to work backwards, taking the "finished" photos first and working back to this shot. Here's most of what you get, minus the minifigs and the printed/stickered stuff. There's nothing very remarkable here, except maybe that thick hose part in the corner. The two hoses are stuck in a bent shape from being in the built set for so long. One of the helmets is also unusual, I'll get to that in a tick. The six bits down in the corner are printed, the rest are stickered. Some have more than one sticker. All five minifigs feature identical front and back stickers. Most are logos, but the one at the bottom shows lap times. The five minifigs. Man, I remember the days when Ferrari was staffed almost entirely by space ninjas instead of licensed real people. Compared to the others, the driver's eyes are huge and freaky. Five is a nice number... ...though I can't help feeling a little cheated. Moving on... THE BUILD: While disassembling the car, I came across some nice examples of detailing that was innitially concealed under all that red. Awfully good of them. There didn't seem to be anything complicated involved. Here's the finished set. There's a got lot of individual parts to it, all with detachable elements and pipes and wheels and such. It's nicely busy. The finished car looks great despite the unexciting part selection and simple build. One element that's not detachable is the driver. His arms are built into the sides of the car like some sort of freaky futuristic cyborg ninja racer. He steers with his toes. Here's the pit crew with their array of fuel tanks and air cylinders and other assorted dealies. And finally we have the techie, standing over here in the fuzzy corner with his workstation. The spares. Quite a lot of them, too. That red spare must have fallen down the side because there's only one in the big parts square at the top. Aaand this was the first photo I took after the manual and sticker sheet so the correct flow of time has now been restores. Moving on... IN CONCLUSION: Design: 9/10: I think the car looks great for its size and simplicity, and the pit equipment is nice and authentic. The massive number of stickers is always an issue with these sets, particularly the minifigs, but otherwise it's a very well-made set. Parts: 7/10: Nothing individually interesting but it all comes together well. Build: n/a: Well, it was easy going backwards. Playability: 8/10: Like all Racers sets, playability is a given. The pit stuff feels like a bonus. Price: 6/10: I can't see myself ever paying €19.99 for this five years ago. It's a licensed theme so that adds a bit, but even then it feels a little high. Particularly with no real-life racers represented. Total: 85% Pricey but nicey. Thanks for reading! So, pretty boy gets full printing, does he? - Dunjohn

... I never thought of doing that. There was this, an Exo-Force, two Aqua Raiders and four Mars Mission.