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REVIEW - 42069 - EXTREME ADVENTURE INTRODUCTION It's time for yet another review. This review will handle the second most expensive set of the 2H 2017 wave, the 42069 - Extreme Adventure. It represents a Land Rover like vehicle with a modified undercarriage. This vehicle has link treads instead of wheels. I am not the biggest fan of link treads, unless the vehicle is full RC. This is because treads limit the playability, especially on smooth surfaces. This is actually the first Technic set with rubber inserts, so I am eager to find out if they will improve playability. I couldn't help but think how this model would look with wheels on it. At the end of this review I will be attaching several different types of wheels, so you can check out for yourself. PICTURES Pictures can be clicked to view hi-res versions. More pictures can be found in my Flickr album. DISCLAIMER This set has been provided by the CEE Team of TLG. It's not my goal to promote this set. It's my goal to give you an honest opinion about it. Therefore the opinion in this review is my own and is in no way linked to TLG. SET INFORMATION Number: 42069 Title: Extreme Adventure Theme: Technic Released: 2017 Part Count: 2382 Box Weight: 2,79 kg (approx) Box Dimensions: 58,0 cm x 37,4 cm x 9,8 Set Price (MSRP): € 139 Price per Part: € 0,058 Price per kilo: € 49,8 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX The box is as wide as the box of this year's flagship (42070 - 6x6 All Terrain Tow Truck). Since it is less deep and high it doesn't look a lot smaller. You can't judge a book by its cover and sometimes you can't judge a set by the box! This set contains 520 more parts than the 42070 (2382 versus 1862). The part count obviously isn't the most important factor, but it doesn't happen often that a non-flaghip set has the most parts. The snow does a good job of making the model stand out. BACKSIDE There is barely enough space to show all the functions of the main model. The B-model looks more like a Research Exploration Vehicle than the one used in the 42070. It is called Mobile Base Vehicle though. The base seems to be detachable and it even packs a crane. It does help when the designer of the main model is one of the best B-model designers CONTENTS OF THE BOX The box contains: 1 Book and Sticker Sheet (packed together) 20 Bags (unnumbered) BOOK AND STICKERS THE BAGS No loose parts, just 20 unnumbered bags. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS PURPLE PARTS A modest collection of new purple parts. We already got some 3x13 Curved Panels in the 42048 - Go Kart in 2016 and now we can work with the parts below as well. Hopefully TLG will release sets with the bigger panels in purple, so we can all start building a purple Porsche SILVER RIMS Eight Wheel 18mm D. x 14mm with Pin Hole, Fake Bolts and Shallow Spokes in metallic silver have been provided in this set. That is quite a few, considering the fact that they only have been released in two sets, where you got one and two of 'em respectively. Sorry for the unsharp picture btw. 6x3 PANEL IN DBG For the first time this panel has been released in dark bluish grey. 40 YEAR ANNIVERSARY BRICK This set also contains the 3L liftarm, also known as the 40 Year Anniversary brick. PERPENDICULAR 3L CONNECTOR WITH CENTER PIN HOLE It has been a while since we have seen this in yellow. As a matter of fact I only owned two of these from last year's (2016) Volvo EW160E. Always funny that some common parts are actually not so common at all. Glad to see these making another appearance, much like the red #3 connector. RUBBER TREAD LINK ATTACHMENT These attachments already appeared in two Nexo Knights sets and now they make their first appearance in a Technic set. You get 52 attachments. In the Factory Store in Legoland Germany you can buy bags with these attachments, where each bag contains 28 of 'em. This is how such a bag looks like. SUSPENSION Not a very special part, but I still wanted to highlight the fact that you get six shock absorbers, four soft ones and two hard ones. Two of the soft ones will be used to dampen the door opening mechanism. ROPE This set contains a new rope. It has kind of a metallic touch to it. It is slightly thicker than the regular rope. Thumbs up for this new version. It looks and feels a lot better. (ctrl+c, ctrl+v from the 42070, which contains the same rope) 11L AXLE LBG Seemingly ordinary, so I almost forgot to shoot a picture of it, but this set introduces the 11L Axles in light bluish grey. Also found in this year's 10257 Carousel and 75172 Y-Wing Starfighter. Strange enough TLG introduced the 11L Axle in yellow first. DARK GREEN JUMPER PLATE Also a quite common part, but released in a new color, a dark green 1x2 Jumper Plate. PART LIST This set contains 2382 parts, spread out over two pages. THE BUILD Time to get building! This set contains 10 u-joints and in case you are wondering where they are going?! You already need four of 'em early on, in the middle of the chassis. After some additional building steps, you will be attaching the V8 engine to the chassis. It's very cool that this model has V8 engine, instead of a V6. Or even worse...a 4 cylinder engine. Thumbs up. You can also see the first few purple parts invading the model. As opposed to All Terrain Tow Trucks, we actually do find a winch at the front of this vehicle. How on earth would you go on an Extreme Adventure without a winch?! It has a cool lock which is made, using a simple Rubber Double Axle Connector. It has enough leeway to unlock the winch and it bounces back into place upon release. A very simple, yet very effective mechanism. The front of the vehicle shows the initials MR, which stands for Milan Reindl. Milan is one of the members who made the switch from Eurobricks to TLG, so it feels extra special to be reviewing one of his sets. I sure hope that Milan isn't in charge of designing the stickers though, because there are quite a few MR stickers on this model Here you can see the start of the door opening mechanism. The rotating axles will be connected to springs, to provide some cool damping when opening the doors. The axles are connected to the soft springs. This results in the need to apply some pressure when opening the doors, but when you have passed a certain point, the doors will ease out. Yet another thumbs up for this mechanism. Have we lost count of the thumbs up already?! Another cool feature is the roof that can be tilted up and down. It is operated by the mini Linear Actuator, connected to the liftarms. I will show the entire mechanism in a bit. Several steps further the doors have been attached and you have created the rear side compartments. This model has a ton of cool little details... ...which you see in the image below. Both side compartments contain a fire extinguisher and one the compartments even contains a medkit with a syringe. Adding these kind of "LEGO Sytem details" really add appeal and playability to the model. I will elaborate on that in the Features and Functions chapter. Here's is view from the other side, where you can also see the fire extinguisher. The following two pictures show the two states of the folding tent. I especially like the white color of the panel to emphasize that this is a different material. Another thing I really like about the tent is that it actually looks like a tent, even though it's just a simple panel. I am not really sure you would want to sleep in the vehicle with arctic temperatures though, but that's a totally different discussion The compartment under the tent holds a shovel, so you can dig in the snow or maybe even dig a hole in the ice to catch yourself some fish. You can also see the door lock which prevents the door from opening while you are driving. At this point we are almost done with the bodywork, except for the roof rack and the bonnet. Now it's time to build the undercarriage. The rear axle doesn't have a rack for steering, but it does have a differential. The front axle does have rack-and-pinion steering. Both axles are live axles, so they don't have independent suspension. At this point the bottom of the chassis looks like this. Two axles going to the front of the vehicle, one for steering and one for driving. One axle going to the rear of the vehicle, which is obviously for driving. There's no center differential in this vehicle, but it is 4x4...or 4WD...or AWD. There are subtle differences, and there will be discussion by the purists, but most of the time it boils down to marketing mumbo jumbo. For the average Technic enthusiast this is considered a 4x4. Voila, undecarriage complete. Live axles attached and we can hit the snow!! Let's not be hasty and get ourselves a proper bonnet and a roof rack first. Maybe we can throw in some jerrycans while we're at it. That's more like it. The roof rack has three different type of jerrycans, so be careful mixing them up. You don't want to be drinking fuel and driving on water (unless it's hydrogen powered). Luckily the cans have been color coded for our convenience. The roof rack even holds a couple of spare link treads, in case we ruin some of them. If you do actually need them, you must have had a pretty rough (and enjoyable) ride. The first time I laid eyes on this vehicle, my intial response was "yuck, what is that supposed to be. And what's with the color scheme?!". This was obviously after seeing some preliminary images. When the images from the toy fair popped-up things had changed for the better. And when looking at the following image, you can only say...WOW! I know some people aren't too fond of the black and purple color scheme. They think it's too dark, and while they might be right about it being dark, I personally think TLG nailed the color scheme. There's that typical Ken Block Monster vibe going on. FINISHED MODEL Unlike the All Terrain Tow Truck this model actually is a finished vehicle! The level of detail is extraordinary. There's so much to look at and to play with. Of course there will always be debate about purple and/or the color scheme, but I really love this purple color. Hopefully we will get more panels, liftarms and connectors, so the AFOLs can make better use of this color when building their own creations. The 3L printed liftarm is prominently placed in the front bumper, near the winch. Here you can see that Milan takes pride in his work...MR stickers all over the place. Narcissistic personality disorder maybe?! Just kidding of course. Milan is a great guy. Recently I had the pleasure of talking to him for a couple of hours and I am sure he will stay as friendly as he is now, even though his LEGO star seems to be rising! Enough with the praise, because this picture also shows a minor concern. The weight of the vehicle results in the treads slightly bending. It's not a very big problem, but it is noticeable. The rear of the vehicle, with the quadruple metallic silver exhausts, has been designed as beautiful as the rest of the vehicle. I do like the use of the yellow connectors and half bushes to add some yellow details. Yellow and purple make a nice color combination. Orange and purple works nicely on the Go Kart, but yellow and purple works even better. The tread wheel on the rear door provides a lock to prevent it from being opened. You have to turn the wheel before you can open the door. The side view shows the fake dampers in the suspension. All these cool details add value to this outstanding model. For the chassis lovers Milan didn't take the easy way out when creating the chairs. These aren't simple panels, but actual chairs. And last but not least....the icing on the cake....the jerrycans! 360 DEGREES VIEWER Back by popular demand, the 360 degree viewer! Okay...nobody actually asked, but I will throw it in anyway Swipe the picture to rotate the model. NOTE! In some browsers or in some cases the 360 degree viewer doesn't seem to work. I have yet to figure out why. Sorry for the inconvenience. FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS This set contains so many cool features that I don't even know where to start. ACKERMAN STEERING GEOMETRY This vehicle has HoG (Hand of God) steering. It works okay, but the vehicle is a bit too heavy to operate the steering when you are not driving. Other than that; the gear easily comes off. On the bright side; this model uses Ackermann steering geometry, which is something we hardly see in Technic sets anymore. 4x4 Four wheel drive has been realised with a differential in both axles, without a center differential. SUSPENSION The suspension is comprised of two live axles, which is done nicely. There's no independent suspension. WINCH Missing on the 42070, but present on this vehicle is the winch. Works like a charm and has a cool locking mechanism. The winch is operating by turning the 12T gear on the shotgun side of the vehicle. FOLDABLE ROOF/TENT By turning the gear on the driver's side of the vehicle, the roof can be lifted and the tent will pop-out. OPENING BONNET The bonnet can be opened manually, nothing out of the ordinary. OPENING DOORS What is out of the ordinary though, is the mechanism for opening the doors. Using a spring for each door, there's damping when you open and close the door. The door opens by moving the upper side up and the lower side down. This is a unique mechanism which we have never seen before and which will be hard to trump. OPENING REAR DOOR The rear door can be opened manually, by pulling the tread wheel. REAR DOOR LOCK The rear door has a lock to prevent it from being opened. You need to turn the tread wheel to unlock the door. OPENING SIDE COMPARTMENTS Both side compartments can be opening manually. SLIDING REAR COMPARTMENT The rear compartment slides out and contains a shovel. There's a mechanism in place to prevent the compartment from falling out of the vehicle. ADDED EXTRA DETAILS Something I like to emphasise is the added extra details, like the jerrycans, medkit and fire extinguishers. Not only do they look cool, but they actually add playability to the set. I highly recommend that TLG designers do this more often. Here is a video demonstrating the functions: PLAYABILITY I like to go into more detail about the playability of this set. One of the reasons this review has taken some more time is that I had my nephews visiting for a couple of days. They are aged 4 and 6, so they like to be entertained. And they brought a 7 year old friend LEGO-lover and his 4 year old sister. This is my chance to be the cool uncle. And a cool uncle has cool LEGO! This gave me a perfect opportunity to see how kids enjoy Technic models. They are too young to be building these models, although the 7 year old would probably be up for the job. Anyway, they all started with "WOWs" when I brought the sets downstairs. They have seen big Nexo Knight sets, but never any big Technic sets. Score one for the cool uncle. They definitely like RC vehicles, but they tend to operate the functions manually....at least they try to. After some time they asked for paper towels to make artificial snow and they were actually playing with the Extreme Adventure vehicle. It is so cool that this set includes new Technic figures, because the kids love to add them to the mix. Ohh, wait a minute....those were my 30-odd year old Technic figures. Come on TLG, bring back these guys. Kids really don't matter that they don't have the proper scale. Just sell them as a separate set if you are concerned about that, but how cool would it have been to include a Technic figure in this set. I can see the guy carrying the jerrycans, using the fire extinguisher, etc. You have done an outstanding job adding details, now go another extra mile and design some cool new Technic figures. I am not a big fan of models with link tread, except for RC ones (8043 is probably still me favorite model). The reason is that they tend to lack playability, especially on smooth surfaces. The slide over the surface, instead of driving. This bothers me. Luckily, this set contains the new rubber attachments, to make up for that. Obviously the total amount of grip depends on the number of attachments. You can add two to each tread, one on each tread, etc. This set doesn't have one on each tread, so it still slides over smooth surfaces. The weight of the vehicle does help though. I was surprised to see the kids drive the vehicle through the entire living room and kitchen. Apparently there is enough drivability in this vehicle, more than I expected. Fun fact is that the mother of the 7 year old and his 4 year old sister was picking them both up, so she was also looking at the models. She loved the purple look and figured it must have been used to appeal to girls as well. I am pretty sure this is not the case, but it shows what goes in the mind of potential customers. The 4 year old girl loved the Extreme Adventure, she couldn't stop playing with it. Technic Mini-dolls anyone?! All in all we had great fun and it was interesting to see these kids playing with both models (hadn't built the 42068 yet). The All Terrain Tow Truck required alternating turns, but the Extreme Adventure offered the possibility to play simultaneously. They liked both models, but they all prefered the 42069. And I did get the impression that having the jerrycans and the other playable extra's did the trick. I highly recommend TLG to motivate the designers to do this more often. B-MODEL The Mobile Base Vehicle looks interesting enough to give it a go. I am tempted to buy an extra set so I keep the main model built as well. The vehicle has a base which can be deployed. The base can open and close, and it even packs a crane. SUMMARY This set absolutely takes the cake. I was a bit hesitant about the playability with the treads, but my test team has proven me wrong. When you hear kids asking if they can play with the set again, you know you did a good job as a designer...and me as the cool uncle An impressive list of functions and features: Ackermann steering geometry 4x4 Suspension using live axles Winch Foldable roof/tent Opening bonnet Coolest door opening mechanism ever Opening rear door Rear door lock Opening side compartments Sliding rear compartment Added LEGO System details (jerrycans, medkit, fire extinguisher) I am starting to like the vibrant colors more and more after each build. Black and purple work really well together. Besides the color scheme, the design of the model is outstanding. From the well formed chairs to the jerrycans, the details are amazing. Even @Kitty (my partner) is very enthusiastic about this set and she is not into Technic at all. I am not allowed to put the wheels back on after switching back to the treads. Even though this model doesn't contain as much gears as the flagship, this still was a very enjoyable build. The cool mechanisms definitely make up for the lack of gears. Technically it's a very sound build as well. This set offers outstanding playability and at a total price of € 139 (5,8 cent per part ) you just can't go wrong with this set. We've lost a lot of good men out there! Milan Reindl a.k.a. grohl was one them. I feel sorry we lost him from our community, but I am very happy that he started working for TLG. As a wise man once said: "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". I really liked his Heavy Lift Helicopter and the Extreme Adventure is definitely a winner too. Please, do bring back the Technic figures SCORE How do I rate this set? 9 DESIGN Absolute eye-catcher. 9 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Lots of cool techniques used. 9 FEATURES Long list of cool features. 9 PLAYABILITY Playability proved to be endless. Treads do somewhat limit drivability. 8 PARTS Nice collection of parts, albeit mostly common parts. Does have a unique purple selection. 10 VALUE FOR MONEY Can't go wrong for 5,8 cent per part. 9,0 ANOTHER HIT BY MILAN EXTREME ADVENTURE ON WHEELS As promised I have added a bonus section to this review, showing you different wheeled setups. This is how the front and rear axle look like. It took some time to come up with a proper solution. I am pretty sure there will be better solutions, but this one does use four Technic 5.5L Axle with Stop, in order to prevent the wheel from falling off. I started with a different setup just to shoot the wheels, but since I had me nephews around, I needed a more "kid-proof" setup. I haven't had any problems with the setup below. As you can see I have also changed the antenna setup. They kept falling off, so I ran them through the connectors. The front and rear axle setup. The next pictures still use the old setup where I used yellow axles. POWER PULLER TIRES AND RIMS Technically these are the 8466 - 4x4 Off-Roader wheels, but people like to call them Power Puller wheels. These wheels do touch the chassis when steering. TUMBLER TIRES AND BLACK RIMS Batman just isn't up for this job. 4x4 CRAWLER TIRES AND BLACK RIMS These look okay, although we might need to try yellow rims. CLAAS TIRES AND RED RIMS Somehow red does look okay, but we would need some more red details in the car itself. These wheels do touch the chassis when steering. CLAAS TIRES AND YELLOW RIMS A little bit too much, don't you think. These wheels do touch the chassis when steering. With hub caps. I cheated a bit here UNIMOG TIRES AND SILVER RIMS I do like the Unimog tires for this vehicle. UNIMOG TIRES AND YELLOW RIMS Now this is what I'm talking about. I really do like this setup. Big wheels and yellow rims, but not exaggerated. With minor details (pulleys) in the rims. BACK TO TREADS Although I absolutely love some of the setups, I have come to the conclusion that this model is better with treads. Maybe not for playability, but they make this a unique set, instead of yet another 4x4. Thanks you for reading this review. All pictures can be found here.

Here is my video review on the new 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System: THE GOOD: Great building experience for both the NES and TV. The console really captures the look of the NES. The TV is definitely one of the best build so far this year in my opinion. The TV action showing Mario jumping around is great. Printed pieces. There are only 3 stickers in this set. Works ever so well with LEGO Super Mario. The little easter egg added to the NES is nice little touch. THE NOT SO GOOD (Really nip picking here): TV is more interesting than the console :P The game pak eject mechanism can be improved. Missing AC adaptor and actual connection from the console to the TV ... lol Overall, I love this set. The building experience was great and the end result is very very good. I'm surprised how well the Super Mario level works. Although it's one hell of a mission to align all those 1x1 tiles. There are so much packed into the TV. The console is also great, it's realistic and the way you are able to interact with the game pak and controller are great. Also, all those printed pieces!!! It's also interesting how the TV is designed, it's quite easy to switch the moving parts. I wonder if LEGO is planning to add expansion to this. (e.g. different game pak different game on screen?) Totally recommend this and definitely adding the LEGO Super Mario adds more fun to this.

Lego City. It's a dangerous town. It may seem all happy and colorful at first glance, but if you've lived there as long as I have, you'd know that it's a dirty cesspool of crime and corruption. It seems like there is a bank robbery, jail break, or fire every day. The police refuses to use guns and seems to be more concerned about getting haircuts than fighting crime, so they're not really helping. And ever since candy got outlawed, several smuggling circles have cropped up all over town. This city has gone to the dogs, and that's why I decided to become a private eye, to solve the crimes that the bumbling police force can't. It was a cold afternoon. I was sitting in my office, lost in thought. Only a few rays of light entered through the windows into the dark and dusty room. There were various letters and documents scattered across my desk. I was working on a case that I had been working on for months. I was trying to find a criminal who had been eluding authorities for a while. The wanted poster hung on the wall behind me, but the description on it was very vague and since everyone has the exact same face and body type in Lego City, it was nearly impossible to find him. I was getting hungry, so I reached into my own secret stash of cookies and started eating one. "Who could outlaw something that tastes so good," I thought to myself. In that moment, there was a knock on the door. I quickly hid the cookie under the desk and said: "Come in." The door slowly opened and a woman in a red dress and long, wavy hair entered the room. The dim light from the window glistened on her smooth yellow skin. She had a big smile on her face, but by the look in her dark, round eyes, I could tell that she was troubled. "Are... are you Oky Brickman, the private detective?" she asked hesitantly. "Yes, I am, ma'am," I responded, "please, have a seat." The woman in red closed the door behind her, walked across the room, and sat down in the chair in front of me. There was a moment of silence, then I said: "So, what can I do for ya?" She paused as if to think about how best to start, then replied: "Well, you see... There is a new Lego set coming out soon, 10246 Detective's Office, the 10th addition to the modular buildings series, and I am very interested to get it, but I am not sure if it lives up to the standard of the other modular buildings. So, I was wondering if you could review it for me and find out if it's worth the price." I was perplexed. This was not what I was expecting to hear, but I was intrigued. "I see," I said slowly, "that is quite a tough situation you're in." I paused dramatically, then I said, "Alright, I'll do it." "Oh thank you, Mr. Brickman! I will see to it that you get a copy of the set and will reward you handsomely if you succeed." She got up and left, and sure enough, one week later I received a package at my doorstep with the Lego logo on it... Set Number: 10246 Name: Detective's Office Theme: Advanced Models Subtheme: Modular Buildings Year of Release: 2015 Pieces: 2262 Minifigures: 6 Price: $159.99 USD S@H description: S@H Bricklink Brickset Box The box is about the same size as the other modulars, but it has a slightly new design. Note the new five-brick "Expert" logo in the top right corner as well as the three small images underneath it showing the back of the building, its sections, and its width. These are quite useful for seeing more views of the set without having to look on the back of the box, although they do take away some of the space for the box art. Like with the Parisian Restaurant, there are several small close-ups of the set on the back as well as a large picture with the Detectives Office displayed next to the last two modulars. I especially like the pictures of the pool room and the rooftop where Ace Brickman is peeking around the corner to spy on people. The rooftop picture is particularly humorous as it seems that Ace has climbed on the outside of the railing in order not to be seen. This detective will apparently do anything to solve a mystery, no matter the risk! This modular building is unique in that there is an actual story going. This set is set in the prohibition era, but since TLG doesn't want to promote alcohol, they replaced booze with candy, which is a pretty clever idea, even if a bit unnecessary considering this set is aimed at adults. I recommend watching the for this set to learn more about the story from the designer himself. The top of the box features a parts inventory and a 1:1 picture showing the newspaper vending machine for scale. On the bottom of the box, there is just a small version of the picture from the front of the box, a Lego Club ad, and the usual fine print. Nothing interesting here. As you can see, the right side of the box I received got a bit damaged on the way from Denmark unfortunately, but it's not too bad. Here you can see a picture of all the minifigs with various accessories. Quite a nice little scene that shows you what items are included in the set. On the other side, there is yet another instance of the box art with the name of the set in six different languages. It's interesting to know that the word "detective" is more or less the same in most languages. Contents Inside the box there are 18 bags of varying sizes, each numbered 1, 2, 3, or 4, with the larger bags having more, smaller bags inside of them. That's a lot of bags! The fact that all these pieces are split into only four sections is what makes this an advanced build, I assume. Unfortunately, the box wasn't the only thing that was damaged. The large bag with the number 2 and one of the small bags inside of it had a small rip right across the middle of them, so there were three loose pieces inside the box. Fortunately, nothing was missing, but it is disconcerting nonetheless and I hope this is an isolated incident. How this happened is a mystery that only a detective like Ace Brickman could solve. Also included in the box are the instruction booklet, an dark gray 8x16 plate, and a 32x32 baseplate in reddish brown which is the first appearance of this part in that color. That's right, no stickers! Following the example set by the Parisian Restaurant, all decals in this set are printed! Let's hope they continue this trend in future modulars. Here is a picture of a random instructions page. The part call-outs usually feature several different pieces at a time. There is a new feature where all the parts that are added during each step are outlined in red. Some may say that this makes the build less challenging, but I think it is quite helpful on such a large and complex model. I hope they use this feature in future sets, at least the big ones. Minifigures There are six minifigures in this set, all with the classic smiley head. First, there is Ace Brickman the detective. He comes with a fedora and a magnifying glass. His torso is J. Jonah Jameson's with yellow hands. Then there is Al the barber. Him and Ace are the first two named characters in the modular building series! He comes with the new scissors which also appear in some 2015 Friends and Elves sets. We have seen his torso in other D2C sets before, such as the Palace Cinema and Fairground, but they suit him very well. Next, there are the dart player and pool player. The dart player comes with a red baseball cap and cleverly uses Indian feathers as darts, while the pool player uses a 4L bar as a pool cue. Then there's the female cop who comes with her police hat. She uses the same torso as Ma Cop. I like to think that this is Ma Cop when she was young. And then there is the woman in red who doesn't really come with an accessory. As you can see, only half of them have back printing, and very minimal ones at that, but that's ok. Build The first section of the build focuses entirely on constructing the pool hall which is apparently called "The Highlander", so there are a lot of tan, gray, brown, and green pieces. This set is clearly inspired by film noir movies (hence my intro story), so it makes sense to start with one of the most common settings of that genre. Here are some of the notable pieces from these bags. We get two 4x4 domes in dark green and one of those little clip pieces in pearl gold. There are also a few printed pieces such as the two windows with the name of the pool hall, a new dart board, and one of those 2x2 tiles with a red star and a golden brick on it which appeared previously in the Palace Cinema (and an exclusive Legoland set). There is also a new round tile in white with a stud in the middle. There are two of these pieces in this set, both of which are used as table cloths, and they will undoubtedly be useful for sets and MOCs in the future. At step 6 of the build, most of the sidewalk and pool hall floor is finished. The mix of dark colors for the floor looks great and I like how they included dispersed studs among the tiles so that you can position minifigures around the room. Or maybe they just didn't want to include any dark tan tiles other than 1x2s and 1x6s. Ten steps later, the pool table, dart board, and trophy cabinet are constructed. The pool table is not quite as good as some MOCs I have seen, but I do like the SNOT technique they used and it looks decent enough. At the end of section 1, the pool hall is complete. Please ignore my building mistake on the awnings. I only realized after taking this picture that they should be built one stud more outward. This is the first time the Mixels joints have been used as decorative elements and they work quite well. Unfortunately, this is just a pool hall and not a pub, so there is no bar which is a shame, but I guess it makes sense with the whole no-alcohol thing. Some minifigures might be upset about this though. The bags with the number 2 contain the rest of the pieces for the ground floor. There are lots of nice dark blue bricks along with some gray, white, and black parts. You get two cookie and three swirly mint tiles in these bags which have appeared in Seasonal and Friends/Princess sets before. There are also three of those cupcake tops in dark pearl silver and a fez in white which are rare in these colors. I was happy to see that you get three of the new scissors piece in this set! The white rectangle on the right is the new mirror element. It's on a sturdy cardboard and has protective sticker. Now we begin constructing the barbershop. At step 31, the tiling is finished, and you can already see the barrel of candy hidden under the stairs. A few steps later, the interior of the barber shop is taking shape. There is a cabinet, a sink, an old-school barbers chair, and two manikin heads with different hair styles on them. Now we know where Luke Skywalker and Doc Ock get their hair done! By step 45, most of the barbershop is done, and it seems that young Ma Cop couldn't wait her hair done. I don't blame here; after all, this is the first Lego barbershop we've ever gotten! And as you can see in this picture, the mirror is fully reflective. It's not a sticker, so it just held in place by those grooved plates. It's the best mirror that we've ever gotten in a set and I'm sure mirrors like this would be very popular in other sets, especially ones aimed at girls. At step 57, the ground floor is nearly finished. Only a few objects are missing on the side walk which will be added later. After this section, the step numbering starts over at 1 for some reason. The barbershop looks great, especially the cleverly constructed sign with the scissors and the brick-built lettering. The little bench and the barber's pole are nice details as well, even though the stripes on the latter are horizontal instead of diagonal. On the back, there is a grate with some foliage and a trash can. Also, a partial roof has been added to the pool hall which is separately removable. In the bags for section 3, there are tons of great nougat-colored brick-bricks and bricks in two shades of light blue. If you're a collector of rare bricks, this is worth getting the set for right here. There are also several printed pieces here. There is the window with the Ace Brickman writing, a wanted poster which is so humorously vague that it could be about pretty much any minifigure, the usual Lego newspaper which is apparently still running the story about "the greatest LEGO hero ever", a street level map which first appeared in Shredder's Dragon Bike set (which is fitting since the map in that set depicted a part of New York City, which could very well be the location of the Detectives Office as well), a painting with a sail ship, a $100 bill, and several letters, one of which is the old-school kind with a heart stamp. We also get the paint roller handle in black for the first time and an unprinted white R5 head. The second half of the build begins with the floor for the 1st floor. Then you start constructing the staircase and bathroom. The R5 head is used as the toilet bowl. As C-3PO would say: "How perverse!" At step 28, the bathroom and hallway section of the building are finished. The paint roller handles have been cleverly used as curved lamp posts. Now we finally get to the most important part of The Detective's Office - the actual detective's office! At step 32, most of the furniture has been constructed, including a messy desk, a file cabinet, a safe, a coat hanger, and two chairs. There is also a flower pot on the fire escape balcony with three differently colored flowers. At the end of this section, the first floor is complete, minus the Pool sign which will be added at the end of the build. The detective's office looks great. It looks just like something out of a film noir flick or something like Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The back is a bit plain, but there are still a few details to keep it interesting such as the flowers on the window sill. Then we add it to the building and the build is 3/4 complete. The last few bags contain the pieces for the kitchen, rooftop, and anything else that's still missing. Most of the parts are gray, but we also get a few more of those nice light blue bricks. We get three more newspapers and cookies in this section, as well as a printed clock. Also included are the 2x2 L-tile and round tile with center hole in red which are used for the letters on the Pool sign. There is also an inverted 2x2 dome in red and two more unprinted R5 heads, one in orange brown, and another one in white. The most unusual parts here, however, are four dark gray Unikitty tails and that stud with a hole that usually holds her horn in black. Don't worry, no Unikitties were harmed in the making of this building. With the new red tiles, you can spell all kinds of words! Mostly silly ones though. The build of this floor starts out very similar to the last one, except this one has an extra hole for the skylight. The numbering of the building steps resets again. I guess they wanted to have separate sets of steps for each floor. At step 15, most of the interior of the kitchen is done and the cat is already after those cookies! It's interesting to note that the banister of the staircase is built the same way as the one on the first floor. Nice consistency there. Four steps further into the build, the blue part of the walls is finished and topped off by a bunch of gray jumper plates. The rest of the walls is built at a half-stud offset to create the protruding arches. At step 30, the kitchen is done and the construction of the detective office's rooftop begins. Ten steps later, the third floor is finished. There is a very clever use of Hero Factory hands as roofline decorations. Once again there are flowers on the window sill on the back, and it's nice to see the watertower is brick-built using tank treads. Next, you build the roof of the kitchen. This is a fairly simple and quick build, although is still some neat SNOT building going on with the Unikitty tails. When we add them all together, we are almost done! It's already looking quite impressive. Once we add the Pool sign, newspaper vending machine, the tree, and the lamp post, the set is finally complete. And what a fine set it is! Like all modulars, the building stands quite tall and is gorgeous to look at from most angles. Looking at it from the front, there are many great details to look at. It definitely looks like the type of building you would see in one of the large American cities such as New York or Los Angeles which are typically the setting for detective stories. All the different colors make it look fun, but still realistic and aesthetically pleasing. The left side of the building, however, is admittedly not that nice to look at. there are two gray and two black spots on the wall that stick out like a sore thumb, but are necessary for the interior. However, if you connect this building to one of the other modular buildings, I suppose you won't see them anyway. The back of the building looks nice and colorful like the front. I especially like how the profile bricks add some nice texture to the walls of the hallways and detective's office. The right side of the building looks a bit better than the other side, even though there are some white, gray and black spots here too, but those can just be chalked up to flaking paint. Spare Parts After the build, there are quite a few pieces left over, mainly the usual bits and bops, plus the obligatory brick separator. Play Features Since there is a story being told, there are lots of play features in this set. It begins in the kitchen where the smugglers make the candy. There is an oven with a stove, a rolling pin, and a cupboard with a pot. The only problem is that the rolling pin is much too big for the small 2x2 tables in the kitchen, but oh well. Then, they can bring the barrel with the candy down to the back alley where they can open the grate with the foliage and push it into the barbershop. By the way, the instructions tell you to put the red hat into the trash can here, so perhaps this is meant to be a clue for the detective to find. In the barbershop, the stairs can be lifted up to play inside. Here, Al can open the secret passage behind his cabinet, take in the candy barrel, and open another little secret door under the stairs to move the candy to the pool hall. The stairs in the little alleyway between the barbershop and pool hall can be removed in order to easily move the barrel from one room to the other or to simply hide it there. Lastly, the minifigs in the pool hall can slide the black board under the trophy cabinet aside thanks to a clever SNOT technique and bring the candy inside through the secret hole. Brilliant! On the other side of the pool hall there are clips for holding the cues and darts. There is also a well constructed ceiling fan that uses snowshoes for blades and can swing to the side to access the interior. I really like the rooftop as well. It looks just like the type of rooftop you'd see on a building in New York or some other big city. In fact, I could easily picture some of the superheroes from NYC leaping across it, like Spider-Man or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so this set has some re-usability in those themes. The skylight can be fairly easily removed to look inside the detective's office. This is where the smugglers check to see if Ace is in his office or not. The newspaper vending machine can be opened to take one newspaper out. There is another one in there, but it's stuck to the back of the machine. The detective's office itself is not without play features either. There is a secret hiding spot behind the painting which can be swung to the side to reveal it. On the other side of the room, there is a coat hanger for Ace to hang his hat on and a safe to hide money in. There is also a fire escape ladder on the side of Ace Brickman's office which can be lowered by pulling a tab that holds it in place, but it only reaches down halfway and makes it impossible for anyone on the second floor to climb down when it's lowered. Not the best design, but I appreciate the attempt. In the hallway outside of Ace's office, there is a potted plant. Not really a play feature, just a neat little detail in my opinion. The bathroom is confined to a 3x4 studs space and isn't even fully enclosed, but they managed to cram a lot of details in there. Aside from the pull-chain toilet, there is also a roll of toilet paper and even a tiny sink. That's about it. Now that I have fully examined this set, it's time to write my report for the woman in red. Ratings Design: 5/5 - The building looks absolutely fantastic. It is very reminiscent of those old detective movies as it has many of the typical elements from those films. The colors are fun, but still somewhat realistic, and the walls have a nice texture to them. There are lots of clever details all over this set. Build: 5/5 - The building is so asymmetrical that the build never gets repetitive. There are some uncommon techniques and the fact that the bags are split into only four groups makes it challenging. And the new red outline for newly added pieces in the instructions are helpful. I had a lot of fun building this. Minifigs: 4/5 - The minifigures are nothing all that special, but that's to be expected. They do come with some rare torsos and hairpieces and there is a relatively high number of them, so as far as minifigures in modular buildings go, they are pretty good. Playability: 5/5 - This set has more play features than any of the previous modulars. I love the fact that they came up with a story for this set and designed the building and play features around it. This set has so many hidden compartments and moving stairs that it could rival any Hogwarts castle! Parts: 5/5 - Like every modular, this set has many bricks in new and/or rare colors such as light blue. It also has a brown baseplate, lots of those brick-bricks, and even some new molds like the scissors and that 2x2 round tile with only one stud. Plus all of the decals are printed! Price: 4/5 - 2262 pieces seems a bit low for the price considering the Parisian Restaurant had over 200 pieces more, but I'd still say it's a fair price for a model of this size. Overall: 5/5 - This is my first modular building, so I can't really compare it to any of the nine that came before it, but on its own it's great in my opinion. In fact, it made me want to start collecting this series. I would recommend anyone to add this to their collection right away, whether you already have the other modular buildings or are a newcomer to this line like me, especially if you are a fan of mysteries. So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this special Academy review as much as I had fun making it. Big thanks to Lego and the EB ambassadors for giving me this opportunity. The Detective's Office is now available at S@H and Lego Brand Stores, so go and get your copy today! By the way, Homer Simpson is not the only minifigure who is upset about the pool hall...

Here is my review on Monkie Kid 80014 Sandy's Speedboat: THE GOOD: Great Spider Mech. Brilliant design on the legs and overall shape. Excellent Spider's Queen minifigure. In comparison, a cheaper way to get Pigsy and Sandy's minifig/big fig in the same set. Love the cloud piece attached to Monkie Kid's surf board. THE NOT SO GOOD: Still pricey ... The speedboat not the star of the set, May be it's just me but that's how I felt after I built it. Overall, I like this set and think it's a good addition to the Monkie Kid theme. For those who knows about Journey to the West will definitely appreciate the Spider's Queen minifigure. Although the set is called speedboat, I do feel after building the set the Spider mech is way better in terms of design and look compared to the speedboat. Yes, the theme is overpriced but the contents often quite good. Great minifigures and parts. This set though, is a cheaper way to get both Pigsy and Sandy in one set. I do recommend this set if you like this theme or keen in getting a cool spider mech build, a few modifications would easily made the mech into a legit spider.

Here is my review on 75980 Attack on The Burrow: THE GOOD: The Burrow itself is excellent, love some of the techniques they used to make it nice Lots of interesting small exterior details and furnitures builds 2 Owls and 1 pig (Great to see the pig return and utilised) 8 minifigures and most of them are great and I love Bellatrix's hair piece THE NOT SO GOOD: Harry Potter minifig is a bit dull compared to the other minifigures included The fire build kinda just there to make the set name legit but not really significant even though it's nice to get more flame pieces. Overall, I think this is an excellent set. Harry Potter line has been very consistent in the past 2 years. This is one of the best buildings from this theme. I don't have the previous version so I can't really compare but I really like the exterior design of this set. I think it's a smart design, given it's a doll house type build but it still look like a complete 3 dimensional building because of the way they designed it. The Burrow itself has so much cramped inside and so many things to discover. Also it's very nice to see 8 minifigures with some exciting hair pieces. I'm very happy with the end results and would totally recommend this set to everyone!

Here is my review on 60266 Ocean Exploration Ship: THE GOOD: The ship does look massive. Love the new sting ray. Glad the Great White is back. Interesting new diving gears. Great use of stickers to make the aquariums. Great lab area. THE NOT SO GOOD: The scale of the main hall is a bit off. Look even a bit small for minifigure to stand in top level. Not indication on how minifigures can get to the lab. The pirate shipwreck's steering is a bit too modern. This set by no means is bad, it has it great parts and its own flaws. I particularly like its size when view from the size, the minifigures, the marine animals and the research lab. And I really like the use of stickers this time round. However, I really feel disappointed when there is no implication on how the minifigures are going to get to the lab. The scale is a bit off. This is indeed an expensive set but I'm glad I bought it 25% off which was a good deal. I will only recommend if you desperately need the great white or never own a lego boat before, otherwise wait for a clearance later this year.

Here is my review on Monkie Kid's 80009 Pigsy's Food Truck: THE GOOD: Great interior details inside the food truck. Great opening mechanisms for interior access. I like the graphic designs on the stickers. Excellent Pigsy minifigure. Interesting build for the Pig Mascot Machine Gun. Several elements that feed some dark humours for corrupted mind like me XD THE NOT SO GOOD: Because of the size of the truck, you can't just put it into a typical Lego City setting. I wonder if there is a way to replicate the excelling opening mechanism without visible gap for the joints. Overall, I think this is a good set. I enjoyed the building experience, the outcome and the minifigures. Thanks to size, the designer is able to put a lot of interior details into the food truck. I do feel the weaponised look is a bit over the top and too Zombie Apocalypse type of truck but it's ok the good parts overcome the little shortcomings and it's my personal preference anyway. The Pigsy minifigure is just great, can't wait to use the head with the torso and legs of the Pig Costume Guy XD. And I really wonder what's the idea behind using sausages on the grill and decorations while Pigsy is obviously related to Pigs. Also the back of the Pig Mascot on top, what do you think it looks like? XD. Despite a few flaws, I will still recommend this to everyone. It's not as good as the Monkey King mech but this is also good. And the price is probably one of the better ones in the overall Monkey Kid theme, in fact I found this set with the most reasonable pricing.

REVIEW - 42024 - CONTAINER TRUCK One of the first images of the 1H 2014 sets which appeared was the 42024 Container Truck. It's is what you'd call a skip truck. A skip is a large open-topped waste container designed for loading onto a special type of lorry. Instead of being emptied into a garbage truck on site, a skip is removed, or replaced by an empty skip, and then tipped at a landfill site or transfer station. As usual the first opinions where very divided, varying from great looking truck to looks unfinished and ranging from color vomit to I love the colors. My first thought was that the cab indeed looked a bit unfinished, but the color scheme, although having a lot of primary colors, did appeal to me. Luckily I had the opportunity of reviewing this set, so let's find out what it's all about! Note: Pictures where taken with a Canon EOS 600D (18-55mm kit lens). Every image can be clicked to show a high resolution version. 360 DEGREE VIEW For this review there is a 360 degree view available. Unfortunately I cannot embed it here on Eurobricks, so I've created a support page for this. Please note that this 360 view is experimental and not yet as I would like it to be. First I tried a big rotating home made turntable, but the results weren't fantastic. Then I came up with the idea to make a Technic PF stand, which works better. The bottom of the stand needs to be upgraded, probably using white studded Lego (with SNOT, studs not on top) to make it look better. And I am contemplating making an NXT version, so I can hook it up to a computer. When I manage to get my own software communicating with the camera, I can fully automate the process. There's even the possibility to do multi-row, so you can rotate up and down to change the vertical view angle. Anyway, check it out further in this review! Loading can take a while since it's 42 images, totalling 16MB of data. SET INFORMATION Set Number: 42024 Title of Set: Container Truck Theme: Technic Released: 1H 2014 Part Count: 948 Box Weight: 800 gr Set Price (MSRP): DE 69.99 EUR / UK 59.99 GBP / USA 79.99 USD Price per Part: DE 0.074 EUR / UK 0.063 GBP / USA 0.084 USD THE BOX The box measures 48cm x 28cm x 9cm. It's the same width and height as the 42023 Construction Crew box, but slightly thicker, 9cm instead of 7cm. The set does have more parts, so it makes sense. FRONT SIDE The front side shows the truck, loaded with the container and in the upper right corner it's shows some functions, like extending the outriggers and tipping the container to empty it. BACK SIDE The back side shows that the container can be emptied or it can be removed to replace it with an empty one. It also shows the optional Power Functions setup. B-MODEL ROAD GRADER The back side also shows a fairly detailed image of the B-model, a Road Grader. There's a 2-in-1 sign and a reference to the building instructions, which can be found online. CONTENTS OF THE BOX Opening the box reveals seven unnumbered bags, a sticker sheet and two booklets. The set doesn't contain a card board back for the instructions, like the flagship sets do. The booklets and sticker sheet are in near mint condition. The instructions are divided over two booklets. Opening the bags and collecting the liftarms provides the color vomit people have refered to. Luckily things where sorted out pretty quickly. This set contains a nice collection of liftarms, perfect for young or starting builders. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS The set contains some new 2014 parts and some existing parts in new colors. 49.5 x 20 TIRE Already mentioned in my Construction Crew review, which has these tires as well, and I quote: 2014 would be a year in which new tires would be released. Well, here they are. These tires are perfectly suited for smaller scale vehicles. They use the same rims as the Tire 43.2 x 22 ZR, but as you can see the diameter is 49.5mm instead of 43.2mm. This provides a more realistic proportion, especially suitable for trucks and construction vehicles. Basically they are small Unimog like tires. Big thumbs up for TLG! 5L Axle with Stop One of the new parts for 2014 is the 5L Axle with Stop (or Axle 5 With Stop), basically the same part as the 4L Axle with Stop only one unit longer and in dark tan (looks like normal tan in this picture) color. BIONICLE CHAIN LINK SECTION Not a new part, but never seen in a Technic set before, is this very nice looking Bionicle Chain Link. My guess is that these will sell a lot more on Bricklink, starting today. 1x6 THIN LIFTARM This is a very rare part since it has only be released in one set, the 8457 Power Puller from 2000. No more 3 to 6 bucks a pop for a new one on Bricklink. 1x5 THIN LIFTARM WITH AXLE HOLES Already present in some of the 2013 sets, but still this fairly new part is worth to mention. 5x11 PANEL PATE IN BLUE The 5x11 Panel Plate has been around for a while, but never in Blue! It seems blue is getting special attention this year, so here it is. Next to it is a picture of all the panels included in this set. PART LIST This set contains 948 parts and then some. THE BUILD The build starts with the front of the truck. A 1x7 Gear Rack is used for steering the front wheels, much like the 8109 Flatbed Truck. The front part of the truck, located below the cab, is starting to take shape. The axle for HoG steering is clearly visible. After the front section, the gear box will be built. This gear box is not used to drive a fake engine, but it's used for driving the two main functions (besides steering), and switching between them. The two functions are operating the boom and extending the outriggers. Here you can clearly see the two new 5L Axles with Stop which will be connected to the Linear Actuator in one of the next steps. The LA's are used to operate the boom, for raising/lowering and emptying the bucket. The Technic Cam is connected to the Technic Changeover Catch which will switch between operating the boom and operating the outriggers. Building the gearbox almost takes up every gear in this set. At the rear (which is on the left side in this picture) the Mini Linear Actuator is visible. This is used to operate the outriggers. Switching between functions is done at the front of the truck, near the cab. To transfer controls from the gearbox to the front, the mechanism shown below is used. Movement of the lever is limited by the 18x8mm wheels with fake bolts. This image shows the end of the first booklet. Stickers are applied on each side, to explain the functions and switching between them. The functions are activated by turning the Black 12T Double Bevel Gear at the right side of the truck. It's not the easiest way to operate, since turning the gear is quite cumbersome. And you need to turn it a lot to fully extend the boom. The second booklet starts with building the cab. The picture below shows the finished grill. It's your average joe truck grill, nothing out of the ordinary, but it looks okay. The license plate reads CU11014. As far as I know there aren't any designers with the initials CU, so it remains a mystery what this plate means. Some have suggested it might be the release date, See You in 2014 10th of January. If anyone knows the actual meaning, let me know! With the grill attached the cab, the truck is almost done. The seats are grey for a change, not the commonly used blue seats. The doors of the truck can be opened manually. This picture shows the steering wheel in a vertical position. Obviously it needs to be tilted a bit to have some angle. Otherwise, steering this truck would be quite a challenge. The next two pictures show the finished model, without the container. I must admit that the truck looks way better, than in the first box image. The cab doesn't look that unfinished anymore. It is a very simple can though. For starters, an extra liftarm could have been used to fill the gaps at the back sides of the truck, behind the doors, like in the 42008 Service Truck. So the cab is not bad, yet relatively simple. There is indeed a (yellow) 5x11 Panel Plate at the back of the cab, as some suggested. And there are two 4L Thin Liftarms which will be used to hold the battery box, when operated by Power Functions. MISCELLANEOUS BUILDING STEPS CONTAINER After finishing the truck, the skip (container) is left to build. Liftarm galore, if you will. The build is pretty straightforward, connecting pins to liftarms....and more liftarms. The back of the container shows two 3x3 L-Shape Thin Liftarms which are used to tilt the skip, when emptying. Here you can see the Bionicle Chain Links attached to the sides of the container. The chains are attached to an axle which is attached to the boom. That way the container can freely rotate when emptying or replacing it. The color combination of blue and grey, combined with the stickers, does make this container look very realistic. I like it!! PARTS LEFT I am still wondering whether I missed using two friction pins and two 3/4 pins. FINISHED MODEL Like most Technic models, this one looks better in real life than in pictures. The colors are very vibrant and having three different colors for the cab, loading bed and the skip is pretty common on a skip truck. The use of different primary colors actually improves this model. Otherwise it might look a bit dull. The yellow Axle Connector with Axle Hole is used to switch between operating the boom and operating the outriggers. The stickers show the corresponding action for the position of the lever. Looking at this picture, reminds me of a movie quote from Falling Down (1993) with Michael Douglas: "Can anybody tell me what's wrong with this picture?". Well, can you? Although being a simple compact cab, it does look good on this truck. At the back you can see the mechanism used to tilt the container when emptying it. The 4L axle between the two 3x3 L-Shape Thin Liftarms on the truck will be stuck behind the Perpendicular Double Split Axle and Pin Connector which will tilt the container when operating the boom. With the outriggers fully extented, the skip won't tilt when operating the boom. Instead the container can move freely and therefor be put on the ground behind the truck. Replacing the container takes a lot of manual turns. It's nice to have optional Power Functions, but I would almost say it's mandatory for having some playability in this set. This picture shows the bottom of the truck, where you can see most of the functionality in place, switch lever, operating gear, mini LA, part of the gear box and steering rack. Chck out this cool 360 degree view of this model. You can swipe from left to right to rotate. Loading can take a while since it's 42 images, totalling 16MB of data. MISCELLANEOUS PICTURES OF FINISHED MODEL SUMMARY So what do I think of this model. I am halted between two opinions. First of all this set does look great. It's vibrant colors do this model justice. Compared to the 8109 Flatbed Truck and the 42008 Service Truck the new tires are way better for building in this scale. Secondly, the new tires and some new parts are introduced. In my opinion these parts are not as interesting as the ones in the 42023 Construction Crew set. Unless your name is Conchas and you really need those blue panels for your Dunechaser. So it all depends on your needs. Besided opening the doors and HoG steering, this set offers two main functions: Operating the boom Extending the outriggers Operating both functions by hand is very cumbersome. It takes a lot of turning until the boom is fully extended and the container is on the ground. For having actual playability using Power Functions seems mandatory. I hate to start a Linear Actuator vs Pneumatics discussion again, but Pneumatics might have enhanced the playability. Obviously this would have been hard, since both functions use LA's but when emptying the container, the LA's aren't fully extended. So I do understand why LA's have been used. Somehow it feels that this set might have been better with pneumatics instead of LA's. So I do like this set, but it is missing a clever mechanism, like the 8109 Flatbed Truck to make it a great set. PROS Authentic looks New tires Lots of liftarms in different colors (great for starting builders) Power Functions optional (which reduces the price) CONS Operating the outriggers and boom is cumbersome without Power Functions Cab design is very simple New parts have very specific use No wow factor anywhere in the build SCORE Design 8: When fully built, it does look great. Build 7: Nothing spectacular. No wow factor. Functionality 7: Besides HoG steering, two main functions, which is okay. Playability 7: Operating the outriggers and boom needs Power Functions. Parts 7: Some new, yet very specific, parts. Does have new tires. Value for Money 7: Average value for money. Might be valuable, depending on your needs. 7,2 A Bit Too Average For Greatness Thank you for reading! And special thanks to Bonaparte and TLG for giving me the opportunity of reviewing this set Please rate this set at the top of this topic! All review images can be found on my Flickr page.

REVIEW - 10242 - MINI COOPER Mk VII INTRODUCTION After the 10187 - Volkswagen Beetle in 2008 and the 10220 - Volkswagen T1 Camper Van in 2011 LEGO has released another brick built version of an iconic car. Now it's MINI's turn to be immortalized in the form of a LEGO Creator set. The model has been designed by British senior designer Andy Hugh Seenan, who allegedly can't work without coffee. He has been designing toys for LEGO since 2007 and joined the LEGO Creator department in 2011. He also designed the 31010 - LEGO Creator Tree House and 10525 - DUPLO Big Farm, which is his favorite self-designed model. We can judge by the Tree House that Andy is very creative in both implementing various features and maintaining aesthetics. Let's see if his creativity has founds it's way to the MINI. Review images can be clicked for hi-res versions. FROM LEGO PRESS RELEASE Take this MINI Cooper for a nostalgic drive down memory lane! Experience the iconic MINI Cooper first hand, with its classic lines, detailed interior and fun picnic theme. Take the iconic MINI Cooper for a drive! This beautifully crafted LEGO brick replica of the classic MINI Cooper Mk VII is full of authentic details, from the classic green and white color scheme with white wing mirrors and racing stripes, to the opening doors, hood and trunk, sporty fog lights, detailed engine and separate spare tire compartment. You can even remove the roof to access a tan colored interior with patterned seats, veneer-style dashboard, turning steering wheel, and moving gearshift and handbrake. And of course, no MINI Cooper would be complete without a picnic basket and blanket, the perfect accessories for a cozy day in the countryside! Features opening doors, bonnet and boot, spare wheel in separate compartment, detailed engine and 2 fog lights. Accessories include a picnic basket, bottle and blanket for nostalgic picnic theme. Authentic replica of the MINI Cooper Mk VII. Classic green and white color theme with white wing mirrors and racing stripes. Lift the bonnet to reveal the detailed engine. Remove the roof and access the detailed interior. Go on a countryside picnic with this iconic classic! MINI Cooper measures over 4” (11cm) high, 9” (25cm) long and 5” (14cm) wide. Available for VIPs from July 18th. SET INFORMATION Number: 10242 Title: Mini Cooper Theme: Creator (Expert) Released: July/August 2014 Part Count: 1.077 Box Weight: 1330 gr Box Dimensions: 37,2 x 35,0 x 8,9 cm (WxHxD) Set Price (MSRP): US $99.99 / CA $119.99 / AU $149.99 / DE 89.99€ / UK £74.99 / DK 799.00 DKK Price per Part: US $0.093 / CA $0.111 / AU $0.139 / DE 0.084€ / UK £0.070 / DK 0.742 DKK THE BOX The almost square box measures 37,2 x 35,0 x 8,9 cm and feels like it is filled with lots of parts. Holding the box and looking at the images, I immediately got the feeling that this will make a great present for young and old. The box is slightly smaller than the box of the VW Van which does have more parts. FRONT SIDE The front of the box shows the model in a countryside picknick scene. The age recommendation is 16+ which is a bit high in my opinion. The upper right corner shows the detachable roof. The box also states this model belongs to the Creator theme, Expert series. BACK SIDE The back side shows a variety of different smaller pictures, explaining most of the neat features. By the number of pictures we can see that there's a lot going on in this set. SIDES One of the sides shows a comparison between the model and it's real life counterpart. Most noticeable is the difference in the number of fog lights. And the rear of the real MINI is more curved than the LEGO version. The next side shows the front, side and back of the model. The front view is my favorite view. The combination of the grill, head lights and fog lights is well executed. The third side shows the part list, which is common for LEGO creator sets. What I like about the part list on the box is that you can see the variety of parts included in the box. Like most Creator sets, this set has a vast array of different colored bricks, which are very appealing to potential buyers. I would recommend including such an image on every larger box. CONTENTS OF THE BOX Since the box is not overly big, it feels like it's filled to the brim. It contains: 8 Numbered Bags (1, 2 and 3) 2 Booklets 2 Sticker Sheets 1 Brick Separator BAGS The set includes 8 numbered (1, 2 and 3) bags in varying sizes. The larger bags contain some smaller bag with smaller parts. The set also contains a brick separator. BOOKLETS The set contains two booklets with 64 and 51 pages for instructions, adding up to 76 steps. The booklets are almost identical. The only difference is the sequence number. STICKER SHEETS Not one, but two sticker sheets are included in this set. Two sticker sheets while there are a lot of printed parts?! One of the sheets has four stickers with metallic look. The other sticker sheet contains five different types of license plates to choose from. HIGHLIGHTED PARTS There are a lot of dark green parts in this set and some of them hadn't been released in this color before. Especially the first two common parts are very welcome in dark green! 1 x 1 PLATE Believe it or not, but this plate wasn't available in dark green before. 1 x 1 MODIFIED BRICK WITH STUD ON ONE SIDE Also a new part in dark green and a very useful one. 2 x 2 ROUND TILE & 3 x 2 PLATE WITH HOLE The round tile is new in dark green and the plate with hole hasn't been used since 2005. 3 x 4 x 2/3 PLATE WITH BOW WITH NOPS Not a very commonly used part, but from now on, it's available in dark green. 3 x 6 x 1 CURVED WINDSCREEN Like the previous one this part has a very specific use and is available in dark green for the first time. 1 x 4 x 1 1/3 MODIFIED BRICK WITH CURVED TOP This part is also new in dark green. It comes in two variants, one with and one without striped pattern. The stripes are printed on the part, so no hassle with applying stickers. 2 x 1 CURVED SLOPE A new flat silver curved slope. Introduced this year (2014) but not unique to this set. It has been used in several other sets. MINIFIGURE SKATE As we can see in the image below, the minifigure skate is a very versatile part! PART LIST Here's the complete list for all 1077 parts. BUILDING EXPERIENCE The set contains bags numbered 1, 2 and 3, which means the build consists of 3 stages. Each stage requires opening the corresponding bags. So let's start with the first stage! STAGE #1: CHASSIS The first stage requires opening the two bags numbered #1 which results in using the following parts. The chassis pretty symmetrical when it comes to the wheel base. Being a Creator set some oddly colored parts are used, like the blue Technic bricks. At the rear we can see the single fog light mounted on the right side of the fender. Here we can see the Neck Bracket with Technic Pin cleverly used as the exhaust pipe. The middle bottom section of the vehicle is where the front seats and rear couch will be mounted. The mounting points are already visible. The side skirts make sure the MINI gets it's sporty Cooper look. The shift stick is very simple and very well-thought-out at the same time. The base consists of a Modified 2 x 3 Tile with 2 Clips and a Technic Axle Towball, which results in a freely moveable stick. The floor of the trunk can be lifted to reveal the spare tire. Using the 1 x 6 x 5 Panel results in having room for the tire AND the entire picknick basket, which is quite an accomplishment for a model this size. At the end of stage #1 the chassis is complete. It already has the shift stick and trunk with spare tire. It's about 30 studs long and measures around 25 cm. STAGE #2: INTERIOR AND REAR BODYWORK During the next stage you will add the following parts to the model. A Curved 3 x 6 x 1 Windscreen is used as exterior wheel hump. The checkered upholstery looks fantastic and it's not even finished. The handbrake is one of the many great details! At the rear you see one of the stickers (MINI badge) you need to apply. funny enough, you need to apply this sticker to a part which has printed stripes on it. It's for the first time LEGO has printed a curved part like this. The dainty picknick basket is so cute! The details are remarkable. It even has two different types of cheese! Probably Gouda cheese The blanket is an actual piece of cloth, not plastic. The bottle and baguette are the icing on the cake. Being a right driven model, I have chosen the British registration. The MINI has an R registration, which means the year of registration is 1997/1998. Could this possibly be Andy's old registration number?! The boot is very efficient. It holds the spare tire and entire picknick set! STAGE #3: ENGINE BAY, FRONT BODYWORK AND ROOF During the final stage you will finish the front of the car and the roof. Lots of dark green parts will be added to the car. Under the hood the twin-carburetor 1,275 cc engine is mounted. I love the use of the Small Barb (Helmet Horn) as spark plug cables (or high tension leads). The dashboard is pretty detailed, with a glove compartment and several printed gauges. The steering wheel is a bit big, but the old MINI's did have a big steering wheel. Although the Cooper has a smaller sports steering wheel, I still think this one suits best. The seats and neck rests can be adjusted to a certain degree. The checkered upholstery looks amazing, much like the rest of the car. The door handles are actually Minifigure Iceskates. FINISHED MODEL It took me approximately 3 hours to build this model, one hour per stage. FRONT VIEW After finishing the model I really felt a WOW! Just WOW! Granted, the rear section should be a little more curved to resemble the real MINI better. In my opinion this is just a minor detail, since the model captures the overall look of it's real life counterpart very well! The front of the car with the grill, fog lights and bonnet, screams MINI Cooper! The white striping, mirrors and roof give this model it's iconic Cooper look. The sloping bonnet is very well designed. REAR VIEW The trunk lid with embedded license plate is another nice detail which adds to the recognizable MINI design. The tank filler cap is on the left side. Small details like this make the MINI an outstanding model. BOTTOM VIEW The bottom view shows the chassis of the car and in the front you can see the towball construction used for the shift stick. PARTS LEFT Most of the smaller parts have a spare one in every stage, so you end up with quite a few extra 1 x 1 plates and tiles. FEATURES This model some dainty details and exquisite features: Opening hood Opening bonnet Opening doors Detachable roof Storable spare tire Filled picknick basket with bottle Cooper-ish wheel covers Moveable steer Moveable shift stick Adjustable seats Should LEGO have gone the extra mile and include parts to turn this MINI into a convertible, like Dirk1313 did over here?! There's probably a good reason LEGO didn't, but it would have been a nice addition. On the other hand; you can easily do this yourself. SUMMARY Since the MINI has quite a few great details, building it is never boring. After every step it's getting better and better. When you have finished the model, you really get that WOW! feeling. Choosing dark green for the bodywork gives this model the characteristic British Racing Green look. Although it could have been blue or red, I think LEGO made the right choice with dark green. The model lacks a bit of playability when it comes to driving. Without actual steering it's hard to turn the car. Driving back and forth gets a little boring after a while. But then again; this model is probably not meant to play with. Maybe that's one of the reasons it has 16+ as an age recommendation. As a display model, this is one of the best cars LEGO has created...ever! Quite a few people will be having a hard time believing that this actually is a LEGO model. Andy has a great job capturing the essence of the real MINI in this LEGO Creator set. PROS Astonishing model Lots of dainty details Lots of features Lots of (new) parts in dark green Some silver/chrome parts Most of the decals are printed CONS Lack of steering Rear is a bit too square SCORE Design 9: The model screams MINI Cooper. Build 8: Fun build, never a dull moment. Features 9: Lots of nice features. Playability 8: Lack of steering diminishes playability. Parts 9: Great parts pack, if you like dark green. Value for Money 9: Iconic MINI Cooper for a reasonable price. 8,7 Instant classic! MEDIA I have included some extra content for your viewing pleasure! DESIGNER VIDEO PREVIEW VIDEOS Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading and please rate this set at the top of this topic!

Here is my review on 70437 Mystery Castle: THE GOOD: Looks awesome and very massive when view from front. Great Observatory! Nehmaar Reem is my new favourite minifigure, the lower part of this minifig is great. Rarely I like stickers but the decorative windows are great. Love the throne chair. THE NOT SO GOOD: A few areas a bit bland. May be a little bit more roof for the main part of the castle? Overall, this is an excellent set and definitely will recommend to everyone. The look of this is just stunning, it looks massive from the front. The back is a big shallow just like other facade type sets but the two towers gave this a lot more depth than most similar builds. The Observatory is one of my favourite part if the set. Smart design on the dome and the telescope. Even the set is heavy on stickers, the 2 stickers as a decorative windows look very good. Once again like other Hidden Side sets, the minifigures are excellent especially the villain. The lower body part is my new favourite part now. Although it's not without flaw (like interior a bit empty on several areas) the pricing is very good in my opinion, I thought this gonna be like close to $200NZD but no, it's $159.99 and I got it with 20% so I am a very happy man.

Introduction Hi fellow EB members! I'm back with a review of one of the 2016 LEGO Architecture sets: #21031 Burj Khalifa. I must say that I have a love/hate relation with this building, since I'm very interested in architecture and how those skyscraper are build, but I also suffer from vertigo... So reviewing the (second) LEGO rendition of the tallest building in the world made me anxious before opening the box. Will this set take me to the top of LEGO Architecture or will it makes me want to jump into the void? Thanks to EB LUG Ambassador CopMike and the LEGO CEE Team and Designers for giving me the opportunity to review this set! Set information Name: 21031 Burj Khalifa (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) Theme: LEGO Model Making / Architecture Year: 2016 Pieces: 333 Price: USD NA, GBP NA, EURO NA Resources: Brickset, BrickLink Packaging The box is as classy as all LEGO Architecture's boxes. The front shows the build on a black background, with some blueprints under. In the top left corner is a big LEGO Architecture logo, and just under it the name of the set in both English and Arabic. Just under is a picture of the instructions booklet and an indication saying that the booklet is written in English and Arabic. Let's talk about it right now: Arabic isn't one of the usual languages we see on LEGO boxes, but this set is most probably made to be sold everywhere in the world, and particularily in the Arabic-speaking countries. The rear of the box has a nice picture of both the real Burj Khalifa and its LEGO rendition, and a comment about the tower in a few language. It also indicates the size of the final build: 95 mm wide and 390 mm tall. Content of the box The box contains the instructions booklet, 5 unnumbered bags and a brick separator. Sadly I lost the picture of those beautiful bags... Instructions booklet The 107 pages instructions booklet is very classy and well printed. There are a few pages with informations about the tower and its construction, with lots of pictures. The main problem with the booklet is that due to it using a portrait orientation and being thick, you can't have it stay open without holding it! That's why you can see my hand in the next pictures, and why I almost did all the building with only one hand. That issue ruined most of the building fun. The instructions are pretty clear and (too) easy to follow, with no fancy techniques, which is either a good or a bad thing, I'll let you decide. Build The base of the build is rather simple. It's the only time you'll see a fancy color with the two dark red 1x1 round plate with open stud. With the first levels of the tower in place, you can see the desert flower pattern of the building... And from now on will start building up and up again! First stop in the construction, we've reached the 124th floor and the At the Top observatory. You can see that the building to this point is very repetitive, and I even placed the 1x4 hinge plates at the wrong places, as building with only one hand isn't really easy. We'll then add some plating on the 3 faces, each different. As you can see the lower part of the outer plating is made of three to one layers of plates and 1x2/3 or 2x2/3 slopes. And the upper plating is only made of 1x2/3 or 2x2/3 slopes, each attached to a single stud, which may cause them to rotate slightly, which is quite annoying. Note that there is no (small) Tom Cruise attached to the surface of the tower, which is quite disappointing. And finally the last stories. The top of the tower is built with a totally diferent technique than the rest, using simple bricks with studs on sides and tiles. There are not much spare parts for a set of this size, but they are still welcome. Interesting parts The part selection isn't great, I could even say it is poor. We got lots of light bluish gray bricks, some with studs on sides, tiles and 2/3 slopes, and a few brackets and curved slopes. But we also get three 1x1 round plate with open stud, and three 4x1 curved inverted slope in light bluish gray, which are exclusive to this set. If you like gray parts, then this set is for you. Comparison with set #21008 Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa has already been featured in the LEGO Architecture theme. Back in 2011, LEGO gave us the tallest skyscraper in the world in the set #21008. If the height of the tower hasn't changed since then, its LEGO representation has evolved a lot. Built on the exact same base, the two tower seem to have the same scale. But the similarities between those stops here. The old Burj Khalifa was entirely built with round elements, while the new tries to be more accurate to the angles and proportions of the real tower. The new Burj Khalifa is definitely an improvement over the old one. Conclusion Design: 8/10 - Definitely an improvement compared to the previous rendition. The booklet design issue is quite problematic for a standard two handed human. Parts: 6/10 - No variety in shapes and colors, and too few rare parts. Build: 7/10 - The build experience is quite boring, with no difficulties. Price: --/10 - The retail prices aren't published as I write this review. I'll update that score when they are. Overall: 21/30 (64%) - A nice build and a great rendition of the original tower, but not very interesting to build. The part selection do its job, but isn't really interesting. And please LEGO, test the usability of your instructions booklet.

It's wonderful to see that The LEGO Group's confidence in the Architecture Series has increased enough for worldwide landmarks to appear! In what might seem opportunistic timing, with the fast approaching 2012 Olympics being held in London, TLG has revealed that its latest Architecture set will model what is probably London's most iconic landmark: the clock tower of Big Ben. As has been pointed out innumerable times, Big Ben is actually the name of the huge bell which resides within the tower, itself forming the north-west corner of the Palace of Westminster; the tower itself is known simply as the Clock Tower. But if you say 'Big Ben', I imagine people from around the world will immediately picture this famous tower. This review is a team effort by Pandora and myself (with a little extra help from a certain someone at a crucial point ). The opinions presented here are ours; fortunately we agreed on pretty much everything so there was little need for discussion! Anyway, with further ado, Pandora and Rufus are proud to present.... Review: 21013 Big Ben Set Information Name: Big Ben Number: 21013 Theme: Architecture (Landmark Series) Release: 1 June 2012 Parts: 341 (our count) Price: US $29.99 | EUR 29.99 | CAD $39.99 Links ... Brickset ... LEGO Architecture We'll update the price information, links and the official set description as they become available. The Box The smart but rather austere box livery of the Architecture range continues with this set. I see no reason to change it! Big Ben sits atop a technical drawing which may well represent architectural plans of the Palace of Westminster, but who's checking. The eagle-eyed among you might note that this latest addition to the Architecture range is designed not by Adam Reed Tucker, but instead by Rok Zgalin Kobe, a Slovenian architect. The back of the box is more colourful, sporting a scale render of the model, with some pictures of the real building in atypical English weather: The text is a language lesson describing the enclosed booklet, which is in English, and mentions the two Architects of the tower, Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin. The narrow sides are well suited to a tall, narrow model, and allow the boxes to be stacked on shelves vertically. The left side features a beautiful low-down shot of the tower: ... while the right side, which forms the flap of the box lid, shows an interesting 'exploded' render of the model beside the 'Choking Hazard' warning in a vast array of international languages. A very small part-rendered picture graces the top of the box, and the bottom reveals that parts were sourced in DENMARK, HUNGARY, MEXICO, and the CZECH REPUBLIC. We suspect this represents different manufacturing sources for different regions. Interestingly, this set - despite being considerably larger - comes in a box no bigger than those of the smallest sets in the range. It is of identical size to 21002 Empire State Building, or 21000 Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, Chicago, pictured here: It is, as you might imagine, considerably heavier, and clearly requires two extra years of building experience to build it. Contents We love these Architecture boxes! There's a certain sense of nostalgia for the days of intricate packaging which heightened the whole LEGO experience. Admittedly these don't have the (expensive, we've no doubt) plastic inserts and lifting lids of the 80s, but it's clear that TLG have gone to some pains to make the box as collectable as the set. You can even flatpack the box for longevity without tearing or cutting! The box is almost as smart on the inside: This one is remarkably full, which helps to preserve the instruction manual. You are instructed clearly to 'Enjoy your building experience.' as you open the lid. It's a really nice touch, and emphasises the lengths TLG has gone to to maximise the ... um ... building experience. Out of the box are pulled four polybags, and two loose plates. As Siegfried/Sinner mentioned in the Sydney Opera House review, it's a shame that not all of the parts are bagged, but we can't really blame LEGO for this in this case. It's only two pieces, and would probably require much larger bags, which might in turn necessitate a larger box to allow automated packing. Looking at this picture, you immediately get a sense of the rather small parts variety - there are only 33 different pieces in the set, including different colours of the same part. Instructions Some serious thought has gone into this instruction manual. It is quite thick, and beautifully presented, being printed on high quality paper, like all the sets in the Architecture range. Aside from the difference in orientation, the cover is similar to the box front, but does reference the Architecture website. The rear cover of the manual features an alternative view of the tower from behind: but is otherwise rather plain. Most of the interest is contained inside the manual, where can be found ten pages of facts about the tower and its construction, an example of which is shown here: The text is superbly written. It is a potted history, packed with facts and interesting to read, without being a daunting mass of text. We learned quite a lot ourselves! Following the tower facts comes a double-paged biography of the architects: The pictures here are reprints of oil portraits of the long-departed designers of the tower. Again, kudos to LEGO for going the extra mile to add interest and value. The instructions themselves are clear, and nicely paced to avoid confusion without being patronising. About every eight or nine pages is a little inset depicting further little factoids about the building: It's easy to miss these, if you are concentrating on the building. We'd recommend taking your time when building, and enjoying these little tidbits of information when you encounter them! They are a really nice touch. Otherwise, there are some parts in similar colours (particularly black and dark bluish grey), which could cause confusion; however, if you follow the build order then there shouldn't be any problems. You would notice if you used a dark bluish grey 1x2 tile on the base, for instance (unless you're building in the dark ). Towards the rear of the manual is the now-standard parts inventory: Again, the small variety of parts is readily apparent, and belies the size of the set. Finally, we are treated to a discourse from the Artist himself, and an intriguing look at Architecture in the early days of LEGO (including the invention of the plate!) We're pleased to note that Rok Zgalin Kobe refers to SNOT (Studs Not On Top), implying it's the acronym used by LEGO designers themselves! We're easily pleased. The Parts But enough about paper, what about the plastic? We've arranged the parts according to the polybag they came in, which is roughly dictated by size. The largest bag contains the large tiles, including the unique printed 'Big Ben' piece, and a sea of tan. Most of these parts are commonplace; even the 2x2 clock face is often found at the Pick-a-Brick wall. Of note are the dark bluish grey 'Slope 45 1x2 Double', found in two other sets, and the 'Slope 75 2x2x2 Quadruple Convex' in DBG and the two earth green 2x3 Plates, each found only in one other set. Not rare, though useful, are the nine 1x1 bricks with four studs ('dalek pieces', as we've heard them called). Generally, part variety is small but quantity high: We're certainly not complaining about the 57 round bricks and 32 grille tiles in tan, useful for architectural MOCs. 2x1 tan plates were at the PaB wall recently, so we're not short of those... ... but jumper plates are always useful. Finally, we have the ubiquitous round 1x1 plates, and 1x1 tiles in tan are most welcome. Not a cheese wedge in sight! Overall, it's a part selection that won't get too many people excited, with only a small number of rare elements, although the quantity of some of the parts might make this useful as a parts pack. The Build Let's put these plastic blocks together! As you might expect, we start with the familiar Architecture base: Immediately, you can see by the jumper plates that the model uses a half-stud offset for the entire structure. This is presumably to centre the model, which is an odd number of studs in length. The jumpers make a surprisingly strong connection, meaning you can build the model whilst holding it, rather than on a flat surface, although it's worth noting that the two black plates at the base are only connnected via three tiles, giving them a tendency to separate slightly if you do do this. The 'trick' behind the SNOT wall detail is revealed in this shot: SNOT bricks - with 1 (white), 2 (light bluish grey) and 4 (black) studs on sides are used to attach 1x2 plate-grille tile pieces to give the sides their ridged detail. The 'gap' that remains under the grilles is filled with 1x1 tiles. This technique is a little fiddly, but surprisingly strong and effective, and is used throughout the model. For the second layer, rinse, and repeat... well, nearly. Here you can see that only black 'dalek' pieces have been used to add SNOT to the sides, rather than the two-sided stud pieces. Although this might at first glance seem odd - it prevents adding 1x1 bricks in between, which might weaken the structure - there are two reasons for this. One is that the side-facing studs are also used in some places - to hold SNOT tiling at the side, and the mysterious upward-pointing dark bluish grey tile you can see here - and the second is that the 'open stud' on the top of the dalek pieces is required to attach the roof at a half stud offset (similar to the use of technic 1x1 bricks in the White House, or Empire State Building) With the roof-pieces attached, the odd DBG tile fills a gap caused by the half-stud offset : As we add height to the tower, things get a little repetitive, with three identical layers to construct. As we approach the top of the tower, four single-stud SNOT pieces are added which will hold the clock faces: And here we can have a nice look at the rear of the building . Finally, the rather intricate roof is built: And we're done! The build takes about 30 minutes if you're rushing, or an hour if you're leisurely (and read the history while you're at it). It's a little fiddly in places (making sure the 1x1 tiles sit squarely is a pain, but this is always a problem), and gets a bit repetitive, but being a smallish model this is counteracted by the feeling of the tower taking shape. Some of the SNOT techniques, especially the roof, are a nice surprise. The Complete Set Now let's take a look at the finished article. Big Ben stands proud and erect in all his slightly phallic glory: This angle shows clearly how effective the half-stud offset is at centering the tower. We like the use of the SNOT grille-tiles for adding the ridged detail which is crucial for adding realism, and the differentiation between the various levels of the building is brought about quite neatly and simply by the use of 1x1 bricks or round bricks at various points. It's highly effective. Now, let's get this out of the way: the major flaw of this set is the clock faces, which stand proud of the tower by two plates, unlike the real clocks which are if anything slightly recessed. This is a product of the designer's decision to make the entire building three studs wide, which is necessary to make the building affordable, keep consistency with the rest of the Landmark Series, and itself makes the build more interesting in places. Moreover, the design of the 2x2 round tile on which the clock sits - with a cross in the centre of the underside, rather than an anti-stud - necessitates the use of the extra 2x2 plate, therefore exacerbating the problem. A possible solution to this would be to build the clock section of the tower in four-studs wide, at a half-stud offset. One day we'll try this. Maybe the designer did, but chose this method in the end. Now that's out of the way, let's continue enjoying the view. Here's the rear: The tower (obviously) looks the same from every angle, but here you get a view of the snippet of the rest of Palace of Westminster. It's 'cut off' from the rest of the building; the blank tiles/bricks indicate where the building would continue: here, and on the left side. Note the 1x1 round plates instead of cones at the rear: this approximates to a real feature of the building, which doesn't have spires on the inward facing parapets. Side views (left and right respectively): The left side features a little dark green, representing a small lawn area in front of the tower where politicians and press gather from time to time. Note again the cut-off where the building would continue to the river edge. The right side faces Parliament Square, where the tower sits flush with the edge of the Palace. Finally, a shot representing the most common view of the tower: Another slight niggle, and again due to the use of the three-wide scale, is that the lower part of the roof doesn't slope particularly gracefully, but the use of round studs is probably the best compromise the designer could achieve. Comparison Now lets compare the set to the real thing. Being rather camera-shy, Pandora and I grabbed an unsuspecting random American tourist to help with these shots. The model is rather small (as is the LEGO set ) making direct comparison difficult. It's approximately 1:350 scale, after all. Still, you can see that the overall impression of the model is pretty accurate, which we think is as good as could be achieved at this scale. Getting both the tower and the model in focus together was nigh-on impossible. This is about the best we could do: The blocky roof isn't so noticeable here; unfortunately, the sticky-outy clock faces are. But the time is uncannily correct. Our contract with the Random American Tourist demanded more than just one picture: He made himself useful, and got us into the London Eye for some aerial views: Well, we'd love a massive Architecture set of the entire Palace of Westminster, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon... ... so here's a shot focused on Big Ben himself, from a similar angle as the last set picture: We should mention here an interesting observation. On the way out of the London Eye is a gift shop filled with souvenirs (many relating to the forthcoming Olympics). This (and many other souvenir shops around the area) would be an ideal place to sell this set - it'll appeal to chance customers who wouldn't normally even consider buying LEGO. The set makes a great souvenir - it is instantly recognisable, despite its flaws, and this market would perhaps be rather more forgiving than the average AFOL. We hope TLG have already thought of this. Conclusion Bus and Grenadier Guard not supplied with set. We were a little disappointed when we saw the preliminary pictures, but having seen the set 'in the flesh', as it were, we think this is actually rather a nice set. Sure, the protruding clock-faces aren't ideal, but they're certainly better than stickers, and the flaw is balanced by the level of detailing which is astonishing for such a small scale. Moreover, if the preliminary prices are correct, this set represents far better value than most of the smaller Architecture sets, and perhaps hints that the line is firmly hitting the mainstream. The Big Ben set, together with its attractive packaging and informative manual, makes a wonderful collectors' item, and indeed potentially a lucrative souvenir piece (if TLG takes our advice on this ). I'm sure they've already thought of this, as the timing of its release with the 2012 Olympics hints. A larger-scale model might allow more detail, solve the clock problem, and enable perhaps a bit of gold decoration on the tower; but would restrict the target market to the die-hard LEGO fans. Perhaps TLG have deliberately decided to accept the smaller scale compromise; we think that, overall, the set is pretty good for the scale. Design 8 Were it not for the clock faces, we'd give this 10. It's remarkably detailed for the scale. Build 9 A pleasing build, sometimes a little repetitive, but with some interesting features along the way. If you follow the manual carefully, it is an enjoyable experience. Parts 7 It's not really a set for rare part hunters, but might appeal as a parts pack if you need tan grille tiles or round bricks. Value 8 We haven't seen the UK price yet, but going by the US and European pricing, this does seem to be better value than many of the smaller Architecture sets. Overall 8/10 Big Ben might not appeal to die-hard sticklers for accuracy, but it's a detailed and recognisable rendition of what is perhaps London's most iconic landmark. We were rather pleasantly surprised. Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed the review. Many thanks to CopMike for making this possible, TLG for allowing us an early look at the set, and Hinckley for being such a good model! Pandora and Rufus. More pictures on flickr.

REVIEW - 42090 - GETAWAY TRUCK INTRODUCTION The Getaway Truck is the "other" Pull-back Racer of 2019. Since TLG has introduced the "cops and robbers" theme again, this set is considered to be the antagonist, or bad-guy if you will. The picture below shows the previous Getaway Truck from 2016. That set looked Bad-ass with a capital A. The latest versions follows TLG's new design philosophy (for smaller sets anyway), which is using less parts and more panels. Check out the picture below to see all the cool details. PICTURES Pictures can be clicked to view hi-res versions. More pictures can be found in my Flickr album. DISCLAIMER This set has been provided by the CEE Team of TLG. It's not my goal to promote this set. It's my goal to give you an honest opinion about it. Therefore, the opinion in this review is my own and is in no way linked to TLG. SET INFORMATION Number: 42090 Title: Getaway Truck Theme: Technic Released: 2019 Part Count: 128 Box Weight: 297 gram Box Dimensions: 26,2 x 14,0 x 7,1 cm Set Price (RRP): € 19,99 Price per Part: € 0,16 Links: Brickset, Bricklink THE BOX As usual this model can be combined with the other Pull-back to create a combined model. This time it is a rather unconventional tank-ish vehicle. You can see the image on the back of the box. The combined models are often odd vehicles, but this one is taking the cake. CONTENTS OF THE BOX The box contains: 1x Booklet 1x Sticker sheet 1x Pull-back motor 4x Tire 2x Unnumbered bag HIGHLIGHTED PARTS The only interesting parts in this set are the dark bluish grey panels. The 7x3 Curved Panels on the left have been introduced in 2017, so they aren't new. But the #3 and #4 Panels on the right are new in dark bluish grey. The previous Getaway Truck also used these panels, but they were black with stickers. PART LIST The complete part list for the 128 parts. COMPLETED MODEL Granted, the completed model definitely looks better than the Police Pursuit. But like that one, this model also relies heavily on panels. It's basically six panels connected with some liftarms. Spared no expense? On the contrary. Spared all expenses and made it as cheap as possible. Where are the wheel hubs?! The mandatory bottom view. The pull-back motor is dark bluish grey, but it looks like old dark grey in this pic. The usual left-over parts. SUMMARY I will repeat here what I said in the Police Pursuit review. The pull-back models confirm my suspicion that TLG is drastically looking at ways to optimize profit, instead of delivering cool sets. One can argue that kids will hardly notice the difference when they get a pull-back set, but only using a couple of panels and liftarms is totally different than the setup of the previous Getaway Truck. That one had a very cool design and cool details. PROS The design is better than its Police counterpart CONS Mostly comprised of panels Simple design Way less detail than the previous version SCORE How do I rate this set? (most scores are copied from 42091 - Police Pursuit) 6 DESIGN Okay-ish. 4 BUILDING EXPERIENCE Done in a minute. 7 FEATURES On par with other pull-back sets. 7 PLAYABILITY I have rated other pull-backs the same grade. 4 PARTS 42 parts less than its predecessor. 5 VALUE FOR MONEY The low part count makes this set less attractive than previous versions. 5,5 AT LEAST IT LOOKS LIKE A NORMAL VEHICLE FINAL WORDS Thanks you for reading this review. All pictures can be found here.

A good-looking Technic bike with a transmission, unique new pieces and Ducati license? Sign me in!

Here is my review on 76157 Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah. THE GOOD: Excellent Minifigures. The satellite dish panels are all PRINTED! Interesting way to build the vent. Very smooth rotation on the action feature. THE NOT SO GOOD: Very bland (close to none) interior. Re-use of head for Max. Overall, this is an interesting set. I do think the set building experience and exterior are a lot more sophisticated than most other similar price range super heroes themed sets but than the interior is really lacking. The satellite rotation and the printed panels are cool though. Especially the printed panels are good for other space crafts build. Minifigures wise, it's good. It would be better if Max looks a bit more like Pedro Pascal and a variation of wings for Wonder Woman. One thing I want to highlight is the availability of this set is very unclear at the moment. It is released in some retailers and LEGO certified store (where I bought it) but shop@home is showing 1st July, so keep an eye out if you are looking for this. I will still recommend this set if you are a fan of the DC movies and love super heroes in general.

Introduction Hi fellow EB members! In this early spring, Lego takes us to a walk on the 5th avenue, New York. The Guggenheim Museum is worldwide known for its art collection as well as for its architecture. I'm not sure what LEGO thinks of art, but I'm sure they're very interested in architecture, and that's why they released the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as their new set in the Architecture theme! Thanks to EB LUG Ambassador CopMike and the LEGO CEE Team and Designers for giving me the opportunity to review this set! Set information Name: 21035 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Theme: LEGO Model Making / Architecture Year: 2017 Pieces: 744 Price: USD 79.99, GBP 64.99, EURO 69.99 Resources: Brickset , BrickLink Packaging The box comes in the usual LEGO Architecture 's black livery, but in an odd almost square shape. It is also quite thick, as there's 744 parts to stuff in. The front shows the full set, proudly standing on blueprints against the black background. On the upper left corner is a rather big LEGO Architecture logo and just under is the name of the set and its location in the world and the set's sizes... Nothing fancy here, just the good old Architecture box! The back of the box has a front shot of the set and a picture of the real buildings and a short comment on the museum in a few languages. Size of the set is also indicated: 190mm wide and 125mm tall. Content of the box The box is almost full, with the instruction booklet and 6 unnumbered bags, one of which contains a brick separator for your collection. Instructions booklet The 167 pages instructions booklet is, as always with Architecture sets, very well done and good looking with the classic black background. There are a lot of nice pictures of the building and its interior, with lots of facts. The instructions are easy to follow and no color errors should be made. You can see here one the many pictures and facts that pop up in the corners of the booklet. You can also see that some steps need quite a bunch of parts, but I reassure you, many steps onl require a single plate! Build First steps passed. If you look closely, you may notice a big change compared to the other sets of the theme... The set makes a great use of the newly released rounded tiles to add details. The build uses lots of 1/2 studs offsets and snot techniques. Continuig with the building... The technique used to achieve the rounded sections is really nice and makes use of many new parts. The finished set in all his glory! My finger hurts of placing all those tan 1x1 tiles! As always there are some spare parts. Interesting parts The set comes with a nice selection of white curved slopes, and among them the rather new 3x2 white curved slope. Three 2x3 white tiles are also present. The set is also at the moment the best source for 1x1 quarter round tiles in light bluish gray. Parts in new or rare colors include the 6x6 round plate in white and black, the 10x10 inverted dish in sand green, the 2x4 wedge plate in sand green, a 3x3 cross plate in tan, a white 1x3x1 panel , and 4 of the new 1x1modified brick with 2 studs on adjacent sides in black! And of course two nice printed tile and curved slope with the museum's name on it. Conclusion Design: 9/10 - A really nice set in the Architecture theme! One of my favorite. Parts: 8/10 - Some very interesting parts in this set, and maybe more variety than other sets of the theme. Build: 8/10 - An interesting build, not too monotonous. Price: 7/10 - At 9.4 cent per part, this set is in the price average of the Architecture theme's sets. Overall: 32/40 (80%) - I really enjoyed building this set! I think it may be one of the best set of the recently released Architecture sets. If you're a fan of the theme, go grab it, you won't regret it.

I have never done a Bionicle opening-and-review video, but the theme meant so much to me as a kid, I’ve decided to dip my toes in the waters and give one a try with the Mask of Light version of Macku. (If this is in the wrong section, please move or remove this post as necessary) https://youtu.be/iX2eO_Futx8

Can't believe they make a new set based on the first movie, here is my review on 75941 Indominus Rex vs. Ankylosaurus: THE GOOD: The Gyrosphere Station is absolutely phenomenal. The build a very complete compared to most other Jurassic world. Very spacious area for minifigures to queue for a ride. So many little details incorporated into the build which you rarely seen in this type of sets. Great update to the Indominus Rex. All four key characters in the 1st movie in just ONE SET! THE NOT SO GOOD: It's still a mission to open up the gyrosphere as times. (too much force will surely break it if the joints were pressed to tightly) This is nip picking but I wish the park worker looks more like the actual character you've seen in the movie, this one looks a bit too old. Overall, this set is excellent. In fact, it's beyond expectation. I never expected to see a complete build with so many details in a retail licensed set. I'm so happy with the size of the Gyrosphere station. Getting an updated Indominus Rex and full set of key characters from the 1st moive in one set is just great. I think I got my money worth for this one. I do wish they improve the Gyrophese opening mechanism a bit, I'm so worried I might break it when I close it too tightly the first time. Anyway, I will totally recommend this set to anyone. This is definitely one of the best Jurassic World releases so far.

Creator Expert Harley-Davidson Thanks to Lego and EB for this review set - it's a new entry in the line of Creator licensed vehicles (Mini, VW Beetle, Mustang, etc) and I was excited to check it out. I've admired those sets but never owned any of them. More importantly, when it comes to this HD set, I had not seen any images online or had any ideas about it before it arrived - I literally only knew that it was a Harley in the Creator Expert line. Name: Harley-Davidson Set Number: 10269 Pieces: 1023 Price: unknown as of review date (July 9, 2019) but I'm guessing $100-ish (edit: confirmed to be $99.99 US, $139.99 CAD, 84.99 GBP) Minifigs: 0 Theme: Creator Expert The Box Front When I opened the shipping box and got my first look at this set, I couldn't do anything but think WOW. At a glance, this set could easily pass for a model rather than a Lego set. There's so much detail packed into this and it just looks right. The Real Thing Before we move on, here's the real 2019 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy from their online gallery. Like I said, Lego appears to have nailed the design. The dual exhausts with their taper in the middle... the solid wheels... and of course the V of the engine. (and oddly, the photo Lego used inside the manual of the real bike isn't in the "Wicked Red" color. It's "Industrial Grey Denim" instead which looks too bland on the page IMHO.) The Box Back Wait a minute - this thing has functional pistons like a Technic set? I like! And it looks good from this side too. It feels a little more Lego-ish from this side for some reason, but it's still very good looking. The Scale This will be a pretty good-sized model. It's over a foot long. And apparently they liked the 107 logo for the 1:1 image, but were afraid people couldn't put that in context, so they added the engine as well. The New Parts The only new molds that I saw are for the wheels. The front tire is the existing "Racing Tread" motorcycle tire that's been used since 2010 in Technic, Hero Factory, and Ninjago sets. The wide rear tire is new though, as are the solid wheels. And in a clever design to save on mold costs, the read tire just uses 2 of the rims instead of needing another custom part. Molds are expensive, especially for large parts like these, and since these rims are such an iconic trademark of the Fat Boy bike, I suspect Lego won't be allowed to reuse them elsewhere. It is a bit of a cheat though. The real bike doesn't have a rear tire twice as wide as the front (they're 160mm wide fronts and 240mm wide rears), and the real rear rim has a deeper recess. The Age Designing a set takes a long time. Both new molds are copyrighted 2018, even though the set isn't being released until mid-2019. The Stickers The set has some printed pieces and one small sticker sheet. It's a very chrome sheet so that the "mirror" circles are reflective. The rest of the stickers have the usual Lego hidden meanings in them. 107 is the engine size (and really printed on the real bikes). WGDLN1990 stands for Willie G Davidson and Louie Netz, who designed the Fat Boy in 1990. 41 is the highway number that runs through Milwaukee, WI, where HD is headquartered. The 1974 on the odometer is the year that Bill Davis started designing the softail style frame. (thanks to the friendly people over at /r/harley for the help getting my facts right on these!) The Build, part 1 The parts for this set come in bags numbered 1-4. Stage 1 begins with building this frame that will become the bottom of the bike. They're already using some "advanced" build techniques - that black perpendicular connector (which, believe it or not, is a new color for that part!) is not connected to an axle like it's designed for. It's connected onto an arm so that it can swing outwards to become the kickstand. The Build, part 2 I'm not doing a ton of build photos - this set is a joy to assemble and I don't want to spoil too much. The build process is very modular. There's surprisingly little building directly onto the bike. It's mostly assembling a module and then attaching it as a chunk. Here is the engine. I paused partway through to show that yes, there are pistons inside there and they really do move. It's a fun piece of building, even though it's hidden completely in the finished model. The Build, part 3 At the end of bag 1 the finished engine mounts onto the frame. Thankfully, the two stickered discs are mounted onto pins, so they can be rotated freely to be level. There are also interesting part choices that make little sense. You can see the ends of blue 3L pins there. Below them are grey 3L pin with 1L axles... but why? There was no need. There are some locations where they chose the ones with axles because they didn't want blue showing, but there are other places where there was no need for the axle version. The set also has the 2 stud Technic axles in both red and black. There's nowhere that the red is needed visually. The Build, part 4 When you reach the end of bag 2, it now looks much more like a motorcycle. Perhaps the one tedious part of the build is connecting those 43 chain links. And then you have to feed them through the frame and around the gears. I found picking the whole thing up in the air and letting gravity do most of the work was the easiest method. Again though, there's a few odd part choices. I wonder if they are trying to model something on the real bike that isn't visible - for example, there is a spot on the side that uses a 1x1x1 corner panel that is completely hidden. It's the only one of that part in the whole set, and it could easily have been replaced by a standard 1x1 brick (which are already in the set) with no visible change. Likewise, the set has a couple white Technic 2/3L Pin Connectors, but they're buried inside. It already uses black and light grey ones, so why complicate the production process that way? The Build, part 5 At the end of bag 3, a lot more of the detail has been added. Be careful putting on the speedometer sticker - its disc is attached to an axle, so the angle is fixed. Mine will now forever be slightly crooked.... Also of note is the dark red of the gas tank. In real life it doesn't look as unevenly colored as this photo. The actual color is close, but the curved pieces are glossy while the slope in the middle is a matte texture. That difference stands out in certain lighting. The exhausts have a great part usage - they use aircraft engines to form both the taper between sizes and an attachment point to the body of the bike. On the other hand, you can see the most annoying piece of the set in this photo. Just behind the engine, there's a black cone with a 1x1 round grey tile on top (it represents the suspension adjustment knob on the real bike). I find that's right where my thumb hits when I pick the bike up from above, so I've knocked that cone off so many times making this review. And once the second exhaust pipe is in the way, it's a bit of pain to reinstall. The Build, part 6 And it's complete. Bag 4 adds the second exhaust and the front wheel and fork assembly (and a simple grey stand). I personally think the front fork is the one area that feels badly out of proportion. The real bike is beefy there, but not quite this thick. Unfortunately, Lego doesn't have any 1.5x1.5 round parts. I also think the front fender is a little too short. The Front IMHO, this is the weakest angle on the set. Granted, the headlight/fork/handlebar assembly is complex and difficult to recreate, but I still think the headlight is too big and the forks too thick. I wonder if a 3x3 dish would have made a better headlight. I'm betting they went with the 4x4 though because there's no 3x3 plate to put behind the dish. I do appreciate that the handlebars attach with clips, so they're simple to pop back off if you need to store the set in a box. The Comparison Here is the Harley next to 2010's Technic 8051 set (which uses the same tires as 10269's front tire, so it's theoretically around the same scale). I built it as the B model which is closer in proportions to the Fat Boy. 8051 was a $40 set with 467 pieces, and the B model uses only about 350 parts. You can clearly see what a difference 1000 vs 350 parts makes! The Big Brother I stopped by a large Harley Davidson dealer to get their thoughts. The staff there were blown away by how good the set looked and were amazed that it actually had functional pistons and chain drive (even though the real bike is a belt drive). They couldn't point out anything that looked wrong - sure, there's minor details (no side reflectors on the front fork or at the rear, the shallow dish of the rear wheel, etc) but overall they loved it. The number of little details are what caught their attention. For a small model, it has lights, hand controls, shift and brake pedals, etc. The Size Comparison The Lego set fits nicely on the footrest of a real 2019 Fat Boy. It does show the one visual drawback to the Lego version - its not all chromed . How long until we see some custom chromed versions showing up? I think they'd look fantastic! The End This is a well-designed set and truly a joy to build. I LOVED the build process on this. It blends Technic and System magnificently both visually and in build techniques. Mike Psiaki had a tough challenge, translating the angles and curves of a modern motorcycle into Lego, but he met it. Even the staff at an HD dealer said they were looking forward to picking the set up! If you don't have around twenty thousand bucks to drop on the real thing, get the Lego version for about half a percent of the price.

Looks like I'm first. Ah, the things you can achieve by abandoning sleep :)

Recently I purchased LEGO Technic set 42101 Buggy. From the LEGO Website: “Children get double the fun with this super LEGO® Technic™ (42101) Buggy set. Let young imaginations run wild as they recreate the thrill of powering over sand dunes in their Buggy. And the fun does not end there! The toy Buggy cleverly rebuilds into a sleek toy Racing Car for kids to bring even more adventures. A LEGO set with lots to discover Hot colour scheme? Check! Skull stickers? Check! Working steering and suspension? Of course! If you are looking for feature-packed action toys that kids will love, this awesome set has it all. Buildable toys to help kids develop new skills LEGO Technic building kits are ideal for LEGO fans ready for a new challenge. These vehicles look and drive like the real thing, so kids will love building and playing with their creations. Each set comes with printed instructions but there is also a new way to build this car toy with Instructions PLUS, available in the free LEGO Life app. This interactive guide has zoom and rotate viewing tools to help even younger children build this cool engineering toy. Here is a fun building challenge for kids who love racing toys! Build the Buggy and recreate an off-road adventure. Then rebuild into a Racing Car for even more building and role-play fun. With working suspension and steering, this action toy set (42101) creates an interesting building challenge. It promotes problem-solving skills, and there is plenty of opportunity for imaginative play too. The 2-in-1 design means twice the fun. Kids can build the Buggy, then rebuild the model into a sleek Racing Car. Once built, kids will love playing with their creation, or enjoying it with other buildable toy vehicles. Kids who love action toys will have plenty of fun building and playing with this Buggy. This educational engineering toy makes a great LEGO® gift for boys and girls aged 7+ who enjoy racing toys. Once built, the Buggy car toy measures over 5” (13cm) long, 2” (7cm) high and 2” (7cm) wide, making it ideal for role-play and a super addition to any existing car collection. No batteries are required for this Buggy car toy, so the fun starts straightaway and never slows down. Printed instructions are included for the Buggy plus an online PDF for the Racing Car. This model toy set also has Instructions PLUS, available in the free LEGO® Life app. LEGO® Technic™ building kits are ideal for kids who love to build and are ready for a new challenge. With a range of buildable toys, the LEGO Technic universe is loved by kids and adults alike. LEGO® plastic model kits meet the highest industry standards. They are consistent, compatible, and easily connect every time – it has been that way since 1958. LEGO® Technic™ pieces are tested to the max to ensure every one of the model toy sets meets the highest global safety and quality standards.” The build process was short, 15 minutes and it is finished. The Buggy is a very nice set. For $15.95, it is great value and a great first step into LEGO Technic, bridging the gap between normal LEGO and Technic. It looks cool (which is important for the target market) and has some basic Technic functions such as steering and suspension, it is the perfect way to bring in these concepts. I really like this set; it feels like a modern-day version of 8832 which was the first LEGO Technic set I ever purchased.

I recently received 42050 Drag Racer as a gift. This set apparently is from 2016, which is already 4 years ago. Feel old yet? Or nostalgic? I had some spare time, so decided to build it, and write up a short review. For some nice pictures, I'd like to point you at the review of Ted, I mean Jim, also available in this forum. The Build This is a quick, and mostly boring build around a very small chassis consisting of mostly beams. It's roughly devided into two stages: the chassis and the shell. The chassis is so small that there isn't even a differential between the rear wheels. Looks I'm not familiar with this type of racing vehicles, but I think it looks terrible. The shell is mostly panels, and someone with a chainsaw made the holes for the wheels. It looks very rough. The color combination of Medium Azure and Black is great, and the stickers enhance some of the looks. I have two problems here: Apparently, the color used here is Medium Azure. I made a reference picture for all the Shades of Blue I own. I had to look up the name that's used in this one. So, from the front it looks very cool and aggresive. And that's where the coolness ends. There are a total of 18 Medium Azure parts used in this set. 18. The color Medium Azure is only used in one other Technic set, 42059 from 2017 (12 medium azure parts). It almost feels like a scam. Short Quiz: name all the shades of blue The second problem is with the Stickers. They look cool, and increase the presence of Medium Azure with another 50%. It's a real pitty that the looks depend way to much on them, and it's even more forthcoming when you don't apply them (which I never do). 50% more Medium Azure with this simple trick Functions There are no surprises here: Steering with HoG V8 engine Lifting shell Lifting the car into a wheelie stand (42111 anyone?) Parts So, let's start with the Good: The Rear Wheels are awesome. To bad it's only two of them. That's it. The Bad: The amount of Medium Azure For the rest, it's a bunch of liftarms and panels. Nothing interesting. All the left-overs The Verdict My two daughters wanted to race this car immediatly, so after the last part was added to the build, they went to play. The first thing I noticed was a scraping noise on the floor. Turns out that either the exhausts, or the wheelie stand is scraping over the floor. It kills the fun instantly. Floorscraper Installed The exhausts contain 8 corrugated pipes, which are terrible to secure. The lack of Medium Azure is such a big miss. This could have been a mean looking Drag Racer. Even the chassis would have looked great with it as well. There are some other rough areas, like the mount of the windshield, the front wheels touching the shell when steering, and apparently, this set is prepared for power functions, which lead to some weird unused parts sticking out. Is this even legal? If the chassis was any wider, it would have allowed to have a working steeringwheel I rate this set a solid 'Missed-opportunity-to-introduce-a-cool-new-shade-of-blue'. I know I sound very negative, but I just don't like the set... It feels like this set would have grown if some more details went into the engine, had proper colours and didn't cut so many corners. Thanks for reading, and now back to TC18 and waiting on more Lambo news...

Review - LEGO 40187 Flower Display INTRODUCTION My girlfriend sent me a picture of this set, labelled with "Could this be Review material?". Isn't it nice when you have someone reminding you that you should do another review now, because that last one was soooo long ago? She found it at a local second hand store, but seals on top and bottom were still intact and the contents thus untouched. So my thoughts were "Hell, why not, it's about time for another review indeed". And what a better opportunity to do it now, when you need to #StaySafe and #StayHome anyways . The picture on the box shows us two cute flowers, a red Rose and a white Daisy. Both can be built and displayed at the same time. The set itself is quite small and comprised of exactly 100 pieces. The box measures 12 cm in height, 9 cm in width and is about 6 cm deep. Originally released in 2018, it can still be ordered from most LEGO Online Stores, thought availability varies from country to country. LEGO had it originally labelled unter "Miscellaneous", it goes along the Seasonal theme. By the way: Left click on a picture takes you to the bigger resolution on Flickr, as usual. SET SPECS Number: 40187 Title: Flower Display Theme: Seasonal Released: 2018 Part Count: 100 pieces Retail Price: DE - 5,99 € GB - 4,99 GBP US - 5,99 $ DK - 50,00 DKK With 100 pieces, the retail price of 5,99 € equates to a price of 0,06 € a piece (rounded to the second digit). This is pretty good and a way better parts-per-price ratio than most other sets. For comparison, 31078 Treehouse Treasures from my last review had a price of 0,12 € per piece. According to Brickinsights this set's ratio is way better than the average for System sets of 2018. LINKS 40187 @ brickset.com 40187 @ rebrickable.com LEGO PRODUCT SUMMARY Say it the LEGO® way with these 2 buildable flowers, featuring a rose and a daisy with interchangeable pots—perfect for Valentine’s day, Mother’s day or just because! THE BOX The 100 parts are packaged in a plain and simple box with flaps, not much text is found on the front of it. Pictured are the two flowers that you can build, the red Rose and the white Daisy in their pots, put on a digital backdrop featuring a window sill with a view into the countryside. Recommended age for this set is 7+ according to the front of the box. No set number on the front. The daisy is also featured on the right side with the set number, while the back shows us the usual warnings in countless languages and information about where this product was manufactured as well as distribution partners. The left side features the red rose, while the top of the box presents a 65° slope in red in 1:1 scale for size comparison and both sides also feature the set number. Finally, on the bottom we have trademark informations, the barcode and the internal item number for this product. As we can see, this box is recyclable (for those who tend to throw away the boxes after stripping them of their innards ). THE PARTS Inside the box, we have two unnumbered bags with parts. One is a little bigger, holding the pot parts for the Daisy. After unpacking both and spreading out their contents, this is what we get. The parts are nothing special by todays standards. Colours are mainly Green, White and Red (Viva Italia ). A few Yellow parts for the Daisy, 2x Bar 6l with stop ring and 2 round 1x1 plates in Reddish Brown as well as 4 macaronis in Pearl Gold are also there. The few Dark Blueish Gray and Black parts mostly hide away inside of the flowers or pots, only the 1L bars with clip will be visible later. Back in 2018, when this set was released, the Green Barbs (Part No. 16770) had only been included in Set 10255 Assembly Square before. Today this part comes in 5 sets, one of it being Set 30555 Poppy's Carriage, which is a polybag from the new Trolls theme. MINIFIGURES Well, there are none. Zero, niente, nada. But I think you didn't expect any, given that this set is called "Flower Display"? INSTRUCTIONS The instructions are kept as simple as the box was. Plain folded paper, nothing fancy. They fold up to the size shown in the upper left on the picture. Two instructions are provided, one for each flower. What I found interesting is the fact that there is no parts list, neither on instructions nor box. MAIN MODEL - ROSE AND DAISY Simplicity continues. Building the two flowers is as simple as the box and the instructions, nothing fancy here as well. Even if the builds are indeed pretty simple, there is a certain amount of SNOT on the Rose. Building the Daisy uses clips with an Octagonal plate with bar handles, the pot is a ridiculously simple build. And then you're then, Rose and Daisy are finished and ready for the shelf. Not many spare parts are left after building the flowers. PLAY FUNCTIONS Errrm, yeah.... Nothing much to say about the "play" functions because this is clearly labelled as a display model. You can swap out the pots between Rose and Daisy, but that's about it. B MODEL Well, no instructions for a B-model. However, given the range of parts in this set, I think it would be quite possible to create several other types of flowers with a little bit of imagination - which I am completely lacking at the moment... but maybe I'm not the only one with that problem. Doing a short search on the Internet didn't reveal any alternative builds so far. That shouldn't stop you from having a bit of fun with this set, it's LEGO after all . Flowerpot Girl is clearly happy about her new neighbour, and Cactus Girl made first contact with another thorny lifeform. (Minifigs are not included with this set, of course) SUMMARY & RATING I had a hard time judging this set, as the play functions are practically non-existing and there are no alternative or B models. The fact that it is a pure display model and the price per parts ratio is astonishingly low both compensate for these issues. But still I could not give this set a better rating than 7 out of 10 points (translating to a 4 - Above average in the EB rating poll). Maybe that's because I do have a problem with pure display models. Given that the parts are quite usable, I would still recommend this set, even if it was just as a parts pack. On the other hand this turns out to be a rather nice gift for your beloved ones, even if they are not at home in the world of bricks. Be it for Valentine's, Mother's or any other day you have an opportunity to bring a lovely present, this set really is a pleasing surprise to gift. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, I missed the deadline with this review for Mother's Day, but some people say every day of the year is a Mother's day If you bought this for yourself, because you are a bit into flowers, you should definitely look at 30404 Friendship Flower from the Friends series. It uses similar techniques as for the Daisy and goes nice along with the two flowers from this set. Design: 8 / 10 - Pleasent looking builds Build: 8 / 10 - Instructions are clear and easy to follow, building did indeed make fun despite the low part count Playability: 2 / 10 - Only meant as display models, so no play value whatsoever (besides switching the pots ... *cough*), no B-model or alternatives Minifigures: no rating Price: 10 / 10 - Price per part ratio pretty good, lots of reusable parts too because of the simple colour palette Overall: 7 / 10

Hello there! This is my latest review of the set #8692 Vamprah. It is in Russian, but I've added the English subtitles so you could check it out if interested. I'd gretly appreciate your feedback, whether on the review itself or the translation. Please, leave a comment if you'd like to support this review and potential next ones.

Here is my review on the other minions set released: THE GOOD: Stuart and Bob are great minifigures. The rocket skates suit the minions well. THE NOT SO GOOD: Gru minifigure does not capture the character at all. Obviously haven't seen the movie so cant compare the motorbike but the bike just don't do it for me. Overall, I would have skipped this set if the other 3 sets released at the same time. No doubt this set would make lots of kids happy and with a very appealing price point but I just can't agree on the direction the designer took with the Gru Minifigure. I do like the Stuart and Bob minifigures though and this what drove me to buy this. If you planning to buy a Minions set and have a few extra dollars, I would suggest you get the Brick built Minions and skip this one.