gmask1

Grabbed it today, and really like it. All printed pieces and no stickers, extra effort in creating the cockpit, even the flick fire missiles can be launched one at a time. With the wings extended, 9497 has a good size and weight. I like that Lego locked the wings in each position and didn't rely on gravity or stiff joints to position them (like the Quinjet, whose limp wing tips make me sad). I think my only real issues are that the wing detailing looks a bit too square, and the orange and bright red highlights are a bit odd - perhaps just the orange would have been better. I also think it looks much nicer in person - maybe it's just me, but a number of recent sets have looked much better once built, than how they look on the box. Having played SWTOR, I'm a bit disappointed that the trooper wasn't given more attention; there are loads of armor combinations in-game, and the trooper could have been much cooler than a gussied up clone trooper. It's also a bit of a shame that a second player class didn't feature as the second minifig (although I suppose Satelle Shan is a jedi, so technically could be one of the jedi player clases). Minifigs of the player classes in various types of in-game gear might have generated further appeal, though I really wouldn't know... Overall, very nice :)

+1 for a tour review :) I only found out about the tour via your review, and while it would be crazy expensive to fly over and attend, the notion of going is now simmering away next to other ideas for an overseas trip next year. I can see from the main site that it's basically two days (one full day and two half days) and three nights, and that the schedule is pretty full - a once in a lifetime thing. But what's it really like? Would you recommend it? Thanks :)

Those giveaways appear (at least for the time being) to be variants that you can't get elsewhere. I've spied two of them (the Doctor with blue shirt and jacket, and the yellow Dalek) in future sets, but not the variant Amy minifig. Hopefully the sets will start appearing in stores downunder in the coming months; until then, eBay it is!

Got my sets (Angels, Daleks and TARDIS diaorama sets) yesterday in the mail (thanks eBay :) ) Overall, they aren't bad at all (my bias: lifelong DW fan), and I absolutely plan to buy more! I've listed some of my thoughts in the wall of text below, for those that are interested... Favorite: Probably the Dalek Projenitor set - it has the most detailing (most pieces), and the white Dalek is a unique minifig for the time being. Least Favorite: Probably the TARDIS - it takes a lot of effort to line up all the 1x1 bricks just right. More importantly to me (probably silly for everyone else), it's a bit too tall for minifigs. Most important (to me): - The bricks look and feel like LEGO quality, much more so than I could have expected them to be for a competitor. Stickers and inclusions: - The sticker sheets for the TARDIS and the Angels sets had extra copies of the stickers, so that if you mess up you can rip it off and use a new one. - The stickers are exactly the right dimensions for whatever they are being applied to. The only exception was for the TARDIS - the windows and door stickers were more LEGO-like and smaller than the space they fit into; the Angels and Projenitor sets were spot on, with no space around the sticker. - I think it was the Angel set, but one of the sticker sheets had some little 'DW' logo stickers that had nothing to do with the set itself, but are pretty cool anyway. - There's a cardboard insert for the TARDIS, so that when the doors open you can see the console room! - The TARDIS really benefits from the moulded side walls, doors and roof. I always wondered how you could do a TARDIS at minifig scale and make it look more interesting than a blue box. This is it! Minifigs: - The minifigs are only about a millimeter taller than the LEGO minifigs. The torso is the culprit, though the neckless head makes the Doctor look like Jay Leno. - I like the way that the minifigs can swivel at the waist (there's just the one pin connecting the legs to the torso, rather than two with LEGO). I wonder if they could work themselves loose... - The minifigs are packaged pre-built. I like to build the minifigs :) Bricks: - The bricks are occasionally not quite spot on for size. The 1x1 tiles in the Projenitor set didn't fit flush against the tiles beside them - there are small gaps. For the TARDIS set, the custom moulded side wall pieces are a fraction short. - Some of the bricks have marks on them, presumably from the plastic frames they were punched out of. You can see some of them in the review images with the completed TARDIS - there's a light blue mark on some of the 1x1 bricks. Instructions: - The instruction books don't actually tell you when/where to apply the stickers. It's pretty obvious for most of them, but there are points during the build where it might have been easier to get them straight. - Bricks used in previous steps are greyed out, so that only the pieces used in the current step have their correct colors. Initially, I thought it was quite useful, but it became more difficult when trying to line up bricks. - The instructions occasionally complete two layers of bricks in one step. Because previous steps are greyed out, this is do-able but can be a bit confusing when bricks overlap on the page. - The instructions don't always have call-outs to the bricks used in each step. This is normally apparent in steps with sub-assemblies, and probably due to a lack of space.

Hi, I wouldn't be too bothered about the bottom being flat: ROTJ Front-On View (Wookiepedia) ESB Side View (Wookiepedia) I don't think the bottom of the Executor's front has the prominent angles seen on the top. In fact, it looks almost flat in some shots. It seem to become more angled about half way along the base: Side Profile Personally, I wish I'd started collecting in time for the Star Destroyer UCS - the two together would look really snazzy!

Thanks kindly for letting us know. I had zero expectation of finishing my series 1 set after missing the earlier shipments, but Camberwell still had plenty of boxes on the aisle end. Me = very happy (and I was able to help a kid and his Mum get the robot minifig)