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Here is my review on the LEGO City 40578 Sandwich Shop: THE GOOD: Looks great. The sandwich sign build. Delivery back pack also great simple build. THE NOT SO GOOD: Can't find any. I like this set more than I expected. This is actually a very nice sandwich shop. The build and colouring are both outstanding for this size of set. Now interior may be lacking but there are enough space for you to add more details. I like the fact they use green mostly and you suddenly can relate this to UBER EATS and Subway. I really like the sandwich logo/sign build and also the delivery backpack looks really. Nothing really bad about this set and I hope this set will become available outside EU and ASPAC soon. Having said that, although this is a nice GWP and is a great extra if you have something you need to buy to reach the threshold, otherwise this set can be easily built with any spare parts you have. Don't think this GWP is great enough to justify getting past the threshold for the sake of it =)
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Here is my review on 10308 Holiday Main Street: THE GOOD: The Tram is stunning. Some cool interior details in both shops and I like the bed build. THE NOT SO GOOD: The 2 buildings are straight from typical LEGO City sets with a tough of winter. Power function compatibility is good but take away most of the interior space of the tram. Christmas Tree build not as refreshing as previous Winter Village series. This is a set I was pretty much sold when I saw the tram, in the end I do think it's a good lego set but just not a good winter village set. It's a surprising move to not include the light brick. The Tram is definitely the highlight of this set, looks great, fun to build and can fit quite a few minifigures. The 2 buildings though, while it looks good and some cool building techniques involved, it just a bit too thin and not enough depth in my opinion. Despite some cool furniture and lovely exterior designs, this is what I think took away some winter village magic. The Christmas tree also a bit boring if you have bought previous winter village set too. Having said that, I like the minifigures selection and I did have fun building this set. The price also is reasonable given it is priced the same as last year one. Now is this a set I would recommend? That will be depended on your expectation whether it's a winter village set or a regular lego set.
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Here is my review on 76213 King Namor's Throne Room: THE GOOD: Cool throne seat. New hair piece for shuri. Lovely printing on Namor and other minifigures too. Interesting design for the submarine. THE NOT SO GOOD: Namor is missing the goatie... A bit expensive but better than Star Wars pricing lately I like the set in the end, it's great to get new characters in the MCU as minifigure despite Namor is missing the goatie. While this set shouldn't be called a room, but the throne seat is actually pretty cool and looks good. The disc shooter doesn't work that well though unless you fully review the treasure under the throne to give it a bit more push. A good small set I will definitely recommend to anyone, the pricing is probably $10-$20 too much but it's ok once you get a discount on this. I can't wait to see the movie in a month time!
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Here is my review on 75336 Inquisitor Transport Scythe: THE GOOD: Looks great and great size. Cool building experience packed with details. Love the interior space. 4 excellent minifigures and pretty much all the key characters in one set. THE NOT SO GOOD: Can't notice any ... may be not including the 7th sister? XD I absolutely love this set. I'm just surprised on how big it is and how much interior space you get. Plus all the details both inside and outside and an enjoyable building experience, so difficult for me to find something I didn't like. The fact that this included all 4 key characters in the series is just great. The Grand Inquisitor probably my favourite minifigure in this set. The price ain't that bad plus this set is often discounted, so I think this is a pretty good deal. I just can't believe, me as a collector not that into spaceships have been impressed by multiple non-UCS spaceships build this year (Galaxy Explorer and the lightyear ship are both great although not Star Wars). This is definitely a set I would recommend to everyone.
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Here is my review on 71771 The Crystal King Temple: THE GOOD: Looks good and it can be a nice shelf diorama display. Interesting building techniques through out. Good selection of minifigures. Couple of cool action features integrated into the set, i especially like the moving stairs and the crystal cage. THE NOT SO GOOD: Wish LEGO included hair pieces for the ninja. I really like this one in the end. I was surprised it is actually 2 separate pieces. I enjoyed the build and I think it looks great and can be a very good shelf diorama display. I especially like the stairs and moving platform. The minifigures selection is also good, you pretty much get the whole team here except Lloyd and Nya. I do wish they come with hair pieces. Oh, and the small creature really looks like the bats from upside down from Stranger Things. This set is really for all ages with great look and plenty of play features. The price depending is slightly high but you can easily find this with discount, so I do recommend this to everyone.
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Here is my review on 76403 The Ministry of Magic: THE GOOD: looks good from the front. Excellent telephone box build. Excellent selection of minifigures. Ability to rearrange the set in a modular way. THE NOT SO GOOD: Flimsy ... breaks apart very easily. Interior on some sections have lots of details but not enough depth to allow more variation of play/display. $$$$$$$ It is a good set for Harry Potter fan with an excellent selection of minifigures and lots of cool reference through out the build. However, as a general lego set, the flimsiness and lack of depth really set this set back. While I appreciate the details in a few sections, it just lack the space to allow more fun. And the flimsiness makes it hard to move/relocate this set. However, the telephone box put a smile on my face. I really like the telephone box and I think is excellently done. Having said that the price tag of this set is really high. I probably wouldn't have bought this if there was no discounts nor cool GWP.
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Here is my review on 76408 12 Grimmauld Place: THE GOOD: The reveal of no.12 works surprisingly well. Looks good in front. lots of minifigures with exclusive designs included new cat exclusive to this set new broom sticks (not limited to his set I guess since it's new for this wave) Some cool small builds and tons of cool graphics designs for HP fans THE NOT SO GOOD: Hermione should have been included. The triangular shape for no.11 and no.13 are needed to make the feature work but sacrifice the look from the back. The Modular style to remove to level for no.11 and no.13 doesn't seem to be necessary. $$$$$$ Overall, it's a great play set. The transition from no.12 being hidden to revealing at the centre works great and visually impressive. This set has great exterior details but because of this I think the interior and the design of no.11 and no.13 have been sacrificed. The triangular design doesn't work for me. Despite some cool small builds and lots of Harry Potter references with excellent graphics design. I like the minifigures but Hermione should have been included. I think this set is a great for Harry Potter fan but if you are not into Harry Potter, this set can be very pricey. Fortunately I bought this with a discount so it doesn't hurt the wallet as much.
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Here is my review on 76218 Sanctum Sanctorum: THE GOOD: Another modular building with is the same year always a win! Looks great. Interesting building techniques and innovative use of parts for exterior especially. Back to multiple instruction booklets with each one per level to enhance experience with family. Full of MCU references beyond Infinity War & Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness. Awesome new hair piece for Mordo. THE NOT SO GOOD: Stairs to 3rd level does not exist in this build. The windows look nice but the decors can easily be misaligned. Minifigures selection can be improved, instead of spider man & iron man & Ebony Maw, may be Kacillius, Ancient One & Christine Palmer makes more sense? This is indeed somewhat a dream came true. If you tell me a year or two ago this is happening I wouldn't would have believe it. The good news, this set is good. The exterior is probably executed better than the interior. It just looks great and I really like the techniques to build the corner of the sanctum. The building experience is great, nothing felt repetitive and lots of new ways to build things. A lot of stickers but I would say it's excessive, some though I do wish it is printed. The new trees are great but the windows decor, easily to be misaligned just because the piece only secured by one stud. Interior packs in lots of details and MCU references, however I do feel space is limited because of the total depth in this design. Extend the building 6 studs more deeper might give it a bit more flexibility in this regard but even with this, I doubt they can add the stairs to the top level. This is the only issue that really bothers me. Otherwise, this set doesn't just look great but have a few play features integrated too. Those portals are really fun. Also there are tons of references to MCU that only MCU fans could spot immediately. Just by looking at some of the references, I think they should add Thor:Ragnarok to the box art too. May be also include Thor & Loki as minifigures would have made this even better. Minifigures wise, it;s great. I do wish more leg printings and characters other than iron man, spidey & ebonay maw would be more appealing to MCU fans. Having said that, both iron man and spidey are exclusive to this set and spider got additional leg prints too. I just wish getting a few characters more directly related to Dr.Strange. I also like the box art and the instruaction booklets, me and my wife had a great time building this together because it has been awhile big sets like this comes with multiple booklets allow you to build different parts simultaneosly. Also I hope Lego continue to include background info of the set going forward. This is a great set and I do recommend this to everyone, while the price is high but I think it totally worth the price.
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Here is my review on 71772 The Crystal King: THE GOOD: Awesome looking mech. Interesting build throughout, I especially enjoyed building the torso and the head. Excellent Minifigures. THE NOT SO GOOD: Not many poses you can do with limited articulations on the front legs and torso. Kids may be disappointed as play features are very limited in this one. I really like this set in the end. It really is an awesome display build in my opinion given the limited number of articulation joints and play features, for me it's ok since I buy lego to enjoy the building exp and display the build. A bit more articulations points would help to have more different pose but I guess it wouldn't help since the back legs are not strong enough to support the weight of the front. At the end of the video, you can see how menacing this is when standing next to the Dragon of the East. (However, still not strong enough to take on the Monkey King Mech it seems =P) Anyway, I really like the building experience especially the torso and the heads. The use of certain parts to create the eyes and eye brows are very interesting. The torso, particularly the cockpit can be a bit challenging to align properly but it's interesting enough to keep me engaged. One of the reason I bought this sets are the new goons minifigures, the Vengestone guard and warrior. These 2 minifigures are awesome, now I really want an army of them but B&P doesn't sell new parts anymore =(. Other minifigures are also great and surprised to see only one good guy included. The ratio doesn't look good for Lloyd XD. Does it worth the money? well, I think it does at least I didn't feel like it is a rip off in the end. I did bought this with discount but then depending on the region you live in, the timing of this release is somewhat awkward since it's the day LEGO expected to increase price. I'm pretty sure in NZ it got $20 more expensive compared to the price when it first announced in May. I will still recommend this set though since it is a really cool looking set and is enjoyable to build.
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Here is my review on latest LEGO Harry Potter GWP 40577 Hogwarts Grand Staircase: THE GOOD: Interesting building exp. Great desktop display sets. Very well done on the rotating stairs. THE NOT SO GOOD: Wish some improvements in terms of design the the roof/top surface. Need specific sets from the Hogwarts Castle series to make this set looks nice. Very hard to get this. Overall, I like it and I do think it is a very good GWP. Looks good, interesting build experience and fairly good volume. It's great the stair can change orientation. While not a fan of sticker, I also did find the stickers make sense in this set. Could be better if including one more minifigs. Having said that, the roof/top of this build are the weakest in my opinion. Also this set only connects well if you have a 2 storeys set from the Hogwarts Castle series. but then the most important improvement I wish Lego did , was to have this more widely available, with supply chain delay, sometimes it is hard to find items to buy to reach the high threshold for this kind of rewards. And more importantly the Harry Portter GWP I missed last year are now at ridiculous price after market =(
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Here is my review on 60341 The Knockdown Stunt Challenge: THE GOOD: Nice exclusive minifigure and bike body (at least for now) 7 glow in the dark star pieces and few 1x1 round tiles. THE NOT SO GOOD: Owning 2 other stunt challenges, this one just feel a bit underwhelming in terms of challenge compared to the other two I have. I'm actually happy with what I bought. Great minifigures, glow in the dark star pieces and a new stunt bike body with prints. The challenge itself is simple and does not need much practise to clear but then in comparison, the double loop and the blade challenge are a lot more fun. Make sure pay attention when building the knockdown challenge as if the pins are connected the too tightly, it's not going to move as smoothly as it can/should be. Given I bought this with 25% off, I don't feel as bad in my wallet but again, if no discount I probably won't have buy this and wait for the parts to be available later assuming they will.
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Here is my review on Monkie Kid 80037 Dragon of the East: THE GOOD: The dragon is looking great and bigger than I was expecting. Very cool building experience for the dragon. Love the dragon's tail movement. Excellent Minifigures. Good design on the villain's vehicle with the mouth of the manta ray the highlight. THE NOT SO GOOD: Depending on your taste, Monkie Kid's submarine ride can look a bit weird. I ended up liking this set a lot more than I originally have thought. Initially I bought this set for the Dragon of the East minifigure and this is a good set for me to get to the Forest Hideout GWP threshold since this is only available via Lego.com in NZ. I'm really impressed by the Dragon build, from pictures I was worried it will be looking weird to have an UFO as a Dragon body but the way it's being designed it's clearly a saddle to host the smaller submarine then being part of a dragon mech. I had a great time building it. Especially the head and tail are amazing, the tail movement though is impressive. Now I really want a full dragon build with this techniques. Decent side builds and I really like how the villain's ride looks like a real manta ray. As usual, Monkie Kid sets come with excellent minifigure, the Dragon of the East minifigure is excellent with very cool new parts. LEGO PLEASE MAKE NEW PARTS AVAILABLE via B&P again please, I want more of this parts. Price wise, this set aint't that pricey to be honest and is a set I definitely recommend to anyone especially if you looking to build a really cool dragon!
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Here is my review on 10780 Mickey and Friends Castle Defenders: THE GOOD: Excellent Minifigures The brick build dragon is somewhat refreshing in a 4+ set (at least from all the 4+ sets I own) I do think the Pumpkin thrower is a nice idea THE NOT SO GOOD: Price tag ... considering it's 4+ the price tag is a bit ridiculous As expected, the minifigures are excellent. You get 4 exclusive minifigures in this set and I just love the Jester Donald. In fact this is one of my reasons I bought this. Given it is a 4+ set, I had no expectation on building experience for an Adult and really bought this for novelty parts. Having said that, the brick built dragon is nice and at least from the 4+ sets I've owned so far, it is something a bit more interesting compared to past 4 plus set. The problem with this set and recent 4+ sets is really the price tag, retail at NZD$90 I don't think the contents can justify the price. To be honest, I probably would have skipped this if it wasn't that I need to get pass the threshold to get the Forestman Hideout GWP. I needed something I will not able to buy from retail with discount, for your information this set is only available on lego.com at least in New Zealand for now. Overall, I would only recommend this set if you really want some of the exclusive minifigures and there is a price to pay,
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Here is my review on 60340 The Blade Stunt Challenge: THE GOOD: The biker minifigure is excellent. The actual stunt also require some practise not just running a bike through. THE NOT SO GOOD: RRP is very high. Ended up buying another set from the Stuntz sub-theme. I do like this set and the minifigure I want turns out to be excellent as expected. I do also think some of the parts are great. In terms of the stunt itself, originally I thought it is easy to pull compared to the double loop stunt but I was wrong. It still take some practise to run the bike through the blades. I think this is a great addition to create a custom stuntz course but by itself it can get bored quite easily. The biggest drawback of all the stuntz sets are the price, RRP is so high (well most lego sets are nowadays). If not because of the 25% off special, I probably would have wait until brick & pieces start selling the cool parts. Probably not a recommendation to everyone but you are keen to get some new minifigures and do find the stuntz bikes fun, then this is something for. Still only recommend when you can get more 20% off though.
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Here is my review on Monkie Kid 80039 The Heavenly Realms: THE GOOD: It looks amazing! You have to see it yourself to believe it. Awesome building experience, there are ways to build stuff really blown me away. (A total show off from the designer in my opinion) The action with the clouds open up is truely heavenly! A set really brings out the essence of Journey to the West! Great minifigures with characters I would never have though Lego would make! Great they included the background stories in the instruction. THE NOT SO GOOD: I couldn't find any thing I don't like to be honest. I was so impressed with this set when I completed this. It's a truely amazing set and instantly became no.1 set for me in the whole Monkie Kid theme. Yes, it has surpassed the Flow Fruit Mountain and The Monkey King Mech. First, this set looks amazing, while primarily it is a front facing set but it was not just a facade, the product images don't do its justice. You have to witness it yourself to appreciate how great it looks. Simply it has so much depth you think you are looking a some 3D pop up books. The use of plastic films for the clouds is just brilliant and. you have to see it in action to get the feeling of something heavenly just happened. It works so well. Then the building experience, with other monkey kid sets, you still feel like you are building a retail set but this one has so many interesting techniques that you feel like you building some D2C builds. The bridge, the action, the peach garden entrance are just some of the highlight and I truely feel the designer is just showing off here. Most importantly, the set really captures the essence of Journey to the West, the original story that inspired the Monkie Kid theme. If you take our the Monkie Kid Minifigure, you can just call this a Journey to the West set. It has so many elements that accurately depict some iconic moments in Journey to the West. This is so important to be honest, and this time LEGO tries to highlight those inspiration in the instruction booklet, I really appreciate this decision because for a lot of people that don't know the story would not catch some of the references which make this set so great. As a minifigure fan, when you hear me say so much about the set more than the minifigures, you know it;s a truely great set. The minifigures are great too, there are godly characters in chinese folklores that I would never thought Lego would one day produce. This is a truely great set and I strongly recommend this to everyone. Unfortunately, in some region like AU/NZ you can only buy this directly from LEGO because the theme didn't sell well. I just hope LEGO continues to produce a few more Monkie Kid sets like this but it will be extremely difficult to top this.
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Here is my review on 60347 Grocery Store: THE GOOD: Great exterior designs on the store front. Some nice details in the interior tool. Good side builds. Interesting build technique on the loading bay. A good selection of new parts. Love the new minifigures with the prosthetic leg. THE NOT SO GOOD: May be the road plate is not necessarily to make the set a bit cheaper? I really like this set and I truely think it's a good LEGO City set. The exterior design is really good, the use of parts to the carrot sign. Interior has some cool little details and the loading bay is one of the highlights. The side builds, EV & the lifter are also great little builds. There are good selection of new parts and definitely need to mention the new minifigures. One of my main reason I bought this set is because the figure with prosthetic leg. It's a really cool minifigure. Unfortunately, at the moment it can only be a left leg. I look forward to LEGO producing a right leg version in the future or even both! The price of this set is a bit high, I got it with 20% off so not feeling the full force of the RRP but I do wonder if excluding the road plates may have get this set to a cheaper price point or instead of road plates, I much prefer a roof. Anyway this is just my personal preference as I don't really appreciate the new road plate system. Anyway, this is a set that I would definitely recommend to everyone!
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Here is my review on 60339 Double Loop Stunt Arena: THE GOOD: The minifigures. I love the bikers, both are great. Lots of fun with the loops and different configuration. THE NOT SO GOOD: High price tag. The loop stunt takes practise to master. (may be this is also a good point) Scratches on the clear parts for the loop. I actually like this set, I knew before I buy this set that the Stuntz sub-theme's point is to have fun and I did. The minifigures are awesome as usual, and surprised the main biker head is actually non-yellow head. All the new parts are cool but it's a bit disappointing some of the clear parts got scratches (I seriously think no way to avoid it if LEGO aim is to reduce plastic packaging) and I wish we have unique prints on the bike body. The double loops are actually very fun even though it is a bit difficult to pull off (you can see my video to understand how difficult to pull it off). And all the parts included allow you to create a very very challenging stunt course. I think the worse enemy of this set is the price, understand that with lots of big pieces it is going to be pricey but without discount, the price tag is a very very high bar to clear. To be honest though, I probably won't have bought this set if B&P did not remove all new 2022 parts but I'm glad I did since I had fun with this. However, I will probably only recommend this set when it's on discount and only to fans who want the new parts nor want to have some fun with the Stuntz Bikes.
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Here is my review on 76298 The Goat Boat from Thor Love & Thunder: THE GOOD: The boat is excellent and surprisingly big with lots of space to fit many minifigures. Interesting brick built goats. Excellent minifigures and you get all key characters from the movie in one cool set. THE NOT SO GOOD: Gorr is a bit boring, legs printing would have improved it way more. This set is excellent and I like it very much. I'm surprised on how big it is when I finished the build. The building experience is great too, there are some clever designs through out the build. And it's a surprisingly accurate build compared to the one in move if you have seen the trailer. When this set was first announced, lots of questions on where are the LEGO goats, but after building it I kinda like these brick build goats, as a bonus their faces are printed. The other thing I really like is the fact that all key characters from the movies are included in this one set! Which is very rare in a MCU themed set. While more details would improved the Gorr minifig but the other minifigs are so good, I'm happy to accept a bit of flaw. The price of this set is pretty decent too given it's so often you can get 15%~20% discount off this. I will totally recommend this set to everyone and the upcoming Creator 3 in 1 Viking ship will definitely be a good companion to this set on a display shelf.
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Here is my review on Jurassic World Dominion 76946 Blue & Beta Velociraptor Capture: THE GOOD: Both raptors are great. This Blue is probably the best looking version in all the versions released. Very nice printing for the minifigures torso. THE NOT SO GOOD: The price is very high considering the volume of this set. Maisie should have used mid legs. Overall, I like this set and I think it's a pretty accurate representation of what's depicted in the movie (if you have seen the latest trailers). The raptors are the highlight and my reason for buying this. I think this version of Blue is the definite version of all Blue released so far. The baby Beta is adorable. While the minifigures have very nice printing, I wish Lego used medium sized legs for Maisie. The pick up truck is fine, nothing standout but have some nice design to it. The biggest draw back is the RRP, it's indeed very high. I would still recommend this set though if you like Jurassic World and want a baby raptor, and discount for this set is fairly common.
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Here is my review on 80036 The City of Lanterns: THE GOOD: Looks great, the fact they gave a set full of open backed facade type build so much depth is sensational. Excellent frame with train using roller coaster piece. Great selection of shops which reflects Chinese culture very well. The shops are extremely well thought out as well. Great playability. Some awesome graphics design on the stickers too. Lots of design and techniques I like from other notable sets are being utilised in this set. THE NOT SO GOOD: Some stickers are extremely difficult to apply. Overall, this is probably in my top 3 of Monkie Kid theme. I enjoyed the building experience and absolutely love the end results. The fact they execute a collection of facade type builds and gave it so much depth is unbelievable. As a person who has a chinese background, the details of the shops & grahics design blew me away. The highlights for me are the Karaoke box, the bubble tea store, Hot pot restaurant & the lego store. The little details they incorporated in such small build are awesome. It's also nice to see Lego utilising roller coaster pieces as train is also smart. The possibilities to rearrange the whole build is endless, this just highlight how versatile the frame design and even when everything put together, it's also very secure. As with most other Monkie Kid sets, this set also come with some excellent minifigures. The only things I did not enjoy was that some of the stickers are extremely hard to align properly. Other than that, this is a set I would recommend to everyone and the pricing is surprisingly reasonable if you compare with other sets in the Monkie Kid theme.
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Lego 6999 UFO Cyber Saucer with Promotional Mask unboxing and review
Alpha Draconis posted a topic in LEGO Sci-Fi
Preface It's been around a year since I made my last UFO set review, time really flies doesn't it? I've had this set sealed for quite some time actually but never quite had the courage to open it and I think it's obvious why – the packaging is really unusual and unique – I don't think I've ever seen a similar odd-looking packaging. But then again I'm no expert on Lego packaging so this may not have been that unusual in the past. But one can only wait for so long and I intended to open and build this set at some point and the moment has arrived. To those who haven't yet read any of my previous UFO set reviews (which are 6979 Interstellar Starfighter and 6975 Alien Avenger) I owe you a short disclaimer – this is my favourite theme and I may look at it with rose-tinted glasses so please keep that in mind. Nevertheless I'll try to be as objective as I can with my conclusions. As always, I'm looking forward to any feedback, critique and I'll gladly answer any questions about the set or the theme you might have. Enjoy! Information Set name: Cyber Saucer with Promotional Mask Set number: 6999 Number of pieces: 109 Year released: 1997 Minifigs: 1 Price (then): 20.00 USD Theme: U.F.O. Introduction to the theme For the introduction to the theme I kindly invite you to check it in my 6975 Alien Avenger set review, as I have nothing more to add to it. The theme was short lived and the small amount of lore is inconsistent at some points (mostly stemming from different marketing materials between regions). Nevertheless, the aesthetics are some of the best in my opinion and the minifigs the best looking to-date. The theme was second-to-last in the continuous space themes releases, ending with Insecoids theme in 1998, which shares some of the lore with U.F.O. theme. There are 11 sets in the U.F.O. theme, which you can check here on Bricklink. Introduction to the set I bought the set via Bricklink. The box was in good condition with minimal amount of scratches and wear which is something you can expect on a set that is a quarter of a century old. All the seals were unbroken and contents of the box were still in their original, unopened packaging. You can check Bricklink listings for this set here. The box/ packaging This is the front of the packaging. It holds the mask on the left hand-side and the Lego pieces in the compartment on the right-hand side. The wear is minimal and in line with set age. These next few angles should provide a better idea of packaging shape. The back of the packaging show alternative builds and a kid with both the mask and the set in action. On the bottom right-hand side is the demonstration of the thermal sticker. More on that soon. This is the profile view of one side of the packaging with the mask dominating the picture. The profile view of the opposite angle is different due to the compartment with pieces being located on the right-hand side and obscuring the mask. A closeup of legal and product information on the packaging. The set was made in Billund, Denmark. Here are a few more closeups of mask-part of the packaging only. It's held in by 2 pieces of the packaging (front and back of the packaging cardboard), with the mask being held in between them. I wonder how easy it would be for a kid to rip the mask out back when these sets were widely available in stores? A closeup of stickers on the mask. Did I forget to mention it is based off the helmets that the aliens of these theme wear? Looking through the eye holes, you can see a piece of instructions or catalogue in the mask compartment of the packaging. Otherwise no backs with pieces or other paper materials are in the mask compartment. Packaging seals are located on the top and bottom of the packaging and hold together both parts of the packaging. The picture above shows top seal of the pieces compartment. Interestingly, there are actually 3 seals in the picture, one applied over the other. I suspect this was done to increase seal strength, since this is a very unusual packaging shape. All seals on the packaging are reinforced with at least another seal over the original one. I also don't think this was done by a third party, since all additional seals look identical, in the picture above you can also see that both additional seals have their own number (2817 and 2517). They also look of the same »style« to me, all with a black bar in the middle and none look broken. A different angle of the same seal grouping on the top of the pieces compartment. 2 seals on the bottom of the bottom of the pieces compartment. Interestingly there are no numbers on these seals. Front view of 2 top mask compartment double seals. Back view of 2 top mask compartment double seals. Back view of the 2 bottom mask compartment double seals. The sides of the pieces compartment have no seals but are instead glued together. A slightly different angle. Unboxing Unboxing for this set happened in 2 parts – first I opened the top of the prices compartment and built the set. Afterwards I broke all the remaining seals ion the top and bottom to release the mask. The mask review will be presented in a separate chapter. These are the contents of the packaging. A total of 3 bags, instructions, a poster and a catalogue. And the mask, of course. From left to right: instructions, a poster and a catalogue. The poster is of the same design as the one I got in 6979 Interstellar Starfighter. A side-note – I found this code on the top left-hand side of the poster. Does anyone know what the code represent? The catalogue. The back of the catalogue. The 3 bags containing all of the Cyber Saucer pieces. A keen eye will notice an elastic band in one of the bags – this is to be able to attach the mask to the head. Minifigures Blue UFO alien/ Commander X This is the sole minifigure in the set and one of the main characters of the theme. He is named Commander X in August 1997 edition of Bricks 'n Pieces magazine, published in the UK. The figure has a grey alien helmet, with black shoulder armour (identical to Chamon, another alien of the U.F.O. theme). Blue colour is used for legs and arms of the figure. Printing is only present on the front of the torso and legs. The front angled helmet print represents the brain which is one of the trademark looks of the U.F.O. theme. Below are pictures of the minifigure with helmet and shoulder armour from all remaining angles. The top view of the helmet. The front angled print extends to the top of the helmet where electronic interface of the helmet can be seen. Commander X without his shoulder armour and helmet. Top right-hand side of the torso sports U.F.O. logo. The leg and torso printing is very detailed, especially impressive due to the fact this was made in 1997. Below are remaining angles of the figure without its accessories. Building the set These are all of the pieces used in the build. Building the set was easy, since it isn't big anyway and because it uses very unique looking and big pieces. Picture above show all the big circular pieces that form the main body of the saucer. Here's what an underside of one of the circular piece looks like. This is the only other printed element in the set, besides the minifigure and 2 circular pieces of the saucer body. There is only 1 extra piece in the set – a transparent neon-green 1x1 circular plate. The 2 sticker sheets in the set. I'm pleased to say that the glue didn't dry out and the stickers stuck to the pieces with no issues and are not falling off. On the top of the picture are 2 reflective stickers and below is one thermal sticker, which changes colour if exposed to heat (from finger) and reveals U.F.O. logo. The colour changing can be seen on pictures below (starts with green, turns to brown-bronzeish and then dies out). The front of the instructions. The back of the instructions, showing alternative builds. Assembled set Here is the assembled set. It is composed of the landing gear with thrusters and the main circular bods with cockpit. In between is a turntable which allows you to spin either the main bod or landing gear. The cockpit opens and has space for 1 minifigure which is accommodated on a red seat. The heath sticker is applied to a smooth 2x2 plate, which attaches to the top of the cockpit. Reflective stickers are applied to, what look to me, 2 side-flaps attached to the main body. There's a safe-box located on one of the landing gear feet which contains the printed 1x2 smooth surface element shown earlier. I assume a handheld scanning device or perhaps a power source of the saucer? This is the saucer, flipped upside-down with landing feet in the air. A different angle of the flipped saucer. The set was definitely made to be looked at from above, as almost all the sets in the U.F.O. theme. And lastly, the side view of the saucer. This angle too, isn't too flattering. The mask Now comes the special part of the review and a part I'm not sure I personally encountered in any other set so far – the promotional mask, which represents the alien helmet of the U.F.O. theme, more specifically Alpha Draconis' helmet, since his is the only one being black. It's a single moulded piece with a ginormous sticker on the front angle and on the top of the mask. The mask has 2 elongated eye holes. I'm not sure why eye-holes have this shape but I assume it has to do with the mask shape itself and different sizes of kids' heads that this was supposed to be fitted on. Otherwise, there's not much to say about this helmet. It's plain black on the inside and has 2 holes on the side that the elastic band in the set is supposed to be tied to. Below are additional pictures of the helmet form different angles. Here is the mask next to the set. Next to the minifig helmet. And lastly, the included elastic band. I didn't really try to fit the mask on my head (or rather, my face) since I already saw it wouldn't fit comfortably. The eye holes were a bit too low for me. It's going to make a nice and interesting collector's piece. No pictures of me and the mask though. Instead, here is the picture of what a dog would look like with the U.F.O. mask. Conclusion Having the opportunity and privilege to open a sealed U.F.O. set always means a lot to me. It's my favourite theme after all and my collection is getting bigger. With these reviews it's always hard for me to be unbiased but I'll always try my best. These sealed sets are always expensive and to put is shortly – are not worth it for an average person. For a collector and a fan like me though, that might be a different story but I'll let you be the judge of that. If you feel like it's worth it and can actually afford to pay for a sealed set then I'd say go for it but you can always find these sets used and in pretty good condition, although if it's the mask you're after, these are not quite common, even in used condition. I hope you enjoyed this review and hopefully leaned something new. If that's the case then the purpose of this review has been fulfilled. Design: 9/10. I'm a sucker for a classic UFO shape and this is as classic as you can get with the theme. Big pieces don't bother me at all – they are essential to the U.F.O. theme. Parts: 9/10. All the necessary parts are present, which for a nice and eye-catching set. Build: 5/10. Not complex at all and all big pieces make for a fast build. Low score because of my gripe with old-school instructions which don't show you needed parts and where they fit in every step. Minifigures: 9/10. Could always use more aliens but 1 figure still seems fair. Play-ability: 10/10. Along with the mask, this must've been a blast to play with back in 1997. Price (sealed): 5/10. Very pricey for what it is. As always, I recommend buying this set sealed only if you are a big fan with a budget to spare. Otherwise there's nothing wrong with used sets just make sure you buy them form a reputable sellers and ask for pictures before buying it. My fleet is resting. For now... Trivia I believe this Cyber Saucer was featured in 1999 Lego racers video-game – it was the saucer at the start of the Alien Rally Asteroid track, whose beam, when it hit a racer, caused them to move backwards. Interestingly, only the saucer part, without landing feet is present in-game. Screenshot below is from YouTube channel MedalOHonor123. Another rendition of the saucer can be found at the end of the track but it' just hovering above the track, doing nothing but giving off cheesy alien sounds. A full model of the saucer also appears on PC box cover of the game but not on all versions, at least form my quick google search where I was only able to find one example. -
Here is my review on 75324 Dark Trooper Attack: THE GOOD: Cheaper way to get more Dark Troopers. The dark troopers are the same variant, so you do get 3! Nice interior location build. THE NOT SO GOOD: Wish it comes with hair piece for Luke. RRP not really friendly for army building. The elevator door feature doesn't work that well if Luke is holding the light saber. I have been waiting for this since the rumours started floating around late last year. It doesn't disappoint. I really wanted the dark trooper minifigure but previously it was too expensive. The cool thing is instead of giving you 2 of the same plus a different variant like battle packs in the past, they actually include 3 here. Luke is also great but what I like about this set is the location they chose. It looks pretty decent to create the scene and the building experience was not bad at all but I guess the size of it bring the price up which the really the down side of this set. Current RRP doesn't really suggest you can build an army of dark trooper easily. Including hair piece for Luke would be a plus and the elevator feature doesn't allow you make a dramatic entrance for Luke if he is holding the light saber. However, this is still a cool set based of The Mandalorian and would recommend this if you like the show and keen to get Dark Troopers without spending hundreds of dollars.
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Here is my review on 76399 Hogwarts Magical Trunk: THE GOOD: The trunk is great and surprisingly cool locking mechanism. Awesome selection of both old and new minifigure parts! Lots of cool small builds too, I love the chessboard under the sofa even though it's a sticker. Interesting build and tons of fun. THE NOT SO GOOD: The bottom of the trunk is definitely not for display. This is a great set, both in terms of display and playability. The whole build & customise concept has been executed perfectly. The ideas on having the ability to customise your own Hogwarts student is great and it is very generous LEGO included a variety of minifigure parts. It reminds me on some big lego town minifigure pack back in the late 80s/90s. There are also lots of small details and builds integrated into the trunk which allows you to recreate different scenes. The trunk is great and the locking mechanism works surprisingly, although I must admin the bottom side of the trunk is a bit lacking but then I doubt they can make it happen with this size and price if they make a perfect trunk. Since I bought this with a discount, the price ain't that bad but full price can be a bit pricey, but anyway this is a set I will recommend to anyone given its level of execution in the whole build and customise concept. Now I wish they do similar sets for other themes too.
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Here is my review on 76398 Hogwarts Hospital Wing: THE GOOD: Awesome Clock Tower mechanism. Lovely looking hospital beds. Excellence minifigures (especially the head gear for Madam Pomfrey, I wish Lego do one with black and white =P ) BABY SKULL!!!! THE NOT SO GOOD: Looks empty by itself. I personally not liking the hollow flooring. Overall, it's a fairly good set if you just started collecting Harry Potter sets. However, I can't help but it really looks empty by itself. You really need a few of the modular extension for this one. But the clock tower build and play feature is awesome. I also like the genuine hospital beds design. The minifigures are excellent, you pretty much get all 3 main characters in this one set, but the new headgear for Madam Pomfrey is nicely done. It could easily moulded to be a Lego Nun head piece but of course LEGO won't do it =P. I personally bought just because of the baby lego skull, it does not disappoint. The new chest lid is also nice. I will probably only recommend this set if you have specific piece you want here or you just started collecting Harry Potter sets.
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REVIEW: 76910 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro and Aston Martin Vantage GT3
Oky posted a topic in LEGO Town
Lotus isn't the only new British car brand to join the Speed Champions theme this year. We also get a dual car pack from Aston Martin, with another set said to come out in August. While it's not the first Aston Martin set LEGO has released, it is the first minifigure-scale one. Despite only have 28 more parts than the Mercedes double pack, this set costs a whole $10 more in the US. Is it worth the price or should you stick with some of the other sets? Read on to find out! Set Number: 76910 Name: Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro and Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Theme: Speed Champions Year of Release: 2022 Ages: 8+ Pieces: 592 Price: £34.99 / $39.99 / 39.99€ Online Shop description: The Box The front of the box shows the two Aston Martins racing each other down a straight race track. I'm not familiar enough with race tracks to know which one it is supposed to be, if any, so if you recognize it, let me know in the comments. The back depicts a similar scene with the two cars driving off into the sunset together. How romantic! There are also close-ups of their noses as well as reference images of each car. Like on the Mercedes set, the top of the box has various translations of the set's name (which is giving the Mercedes set a run for its money in terms of length), although they're a bit more justified here since they actually use the word "and" instead of an ampersand on this one for some reason. The "official licensed product" mark from Aston Martin is printed on the box for this one instead of being a holographic sticker like on the other sets. There's not much to say about the bottom and the other side. Contents Inside the box there are two instruction booklets, two sticker sheets, and four numbered bags. One odd thing about this is that the little baggie with the hubcaps is inside one of the large numbered bags rather than separate like in the other sets. Another is that the numbers on the bags are all printed at random heights. I wonder why. Instructions The instructions are very "explosive" as we get more star explosions and sticker bombs. They are relatively easy to read, although the gray tones are still a bit hard to distinguish sometimes. Notable Parts This set comes with more of the new style of wheels and hubcaps in black, although after all these sets they are not that rare anymore. We get two printed windscreens in this set and one of them is even a new mold! The Valkyrie's windscreen is 6x7 studs and basically a longer version of windscreen 18973 with sloped sides which should become a useful part in the future. Other printed parts include a 1x2 plate with an Aston Martin logo printed on the side, 2x2 round tiles with dark silver rims, and the headlights. The headlight wedges come in two new colors, dark gray and lime green. Not only that, but we also finally get an unprinted pair of them in lime green, making this the only set so far to feature them without prints. There are also several parts in interesting new and rare colors including 1x2 plates with horizontal clip and 1x1 plates with horizontal tooth in translucent colors or a propeller blade in red. Minifigs This set comes with 2 minifigs as expected. The Vantage GT3 is driven by a nerdy guy with spikey brown hair while the Valkyrie is driven by what looks like Nya from Ninjago with dyed dark brown hair. They both have new Aston Martin AMR racing suits with the same print in different color schemes that continue onto their legs. Their design is similar to the one you can buy from Aston Martin's website for the "low" price of £4,385.59. Interestingly, each of their suits has the color scheme of the other driver's car, which is kind of sweet when you think about it. I'm totally 'shipping these two. Sorry, Jay. Both of them have the same kind of back printing too. What's a bit disappointing about these torsos is that the "Aston Martin" writing under the logo is not very well defined and quite hard to read, especially on Nya where it just looks like two solid lines. The torsos in the previous set had a lot more legible writing for the most part, so why not these? The Build The build of the Valkyrie AMR Pro is very unique. Like the Formula 1 car from the last set, it uses the Speed Champions wheel bearings part as the base, two of them even. The shaping of the front and back are also very different from any other car. The Vantage GT3's build is a bit more standard, using the usual car base and similar shaping to that of other cars like the Evija and Project One, although there are some interesting SNOT techniques used in the tail section. Spare Parts The extra parts consist of the usual small bits and the 5-spoke hubcaps that you can use to customize the Vantage. Nothing exciting. The Complete Set Here are the two finished Astone Martins. The Valkyrie AMR Pro looks quite bizarre and almost more like a spaceship than a car. The Vantage GT3 looks similar to other Speed Champions cars of the 8-wide era and seems almost boring next to the wild Valkyrie, but I love its color scheme. Lime green is my favorite color, so it's great to see a set with not just one, but two cars that use this color. Both give the impression of a powerful, modern sports car. Why don't we ever see James Bond drive an Aston Martin like these? The Valkyrie AMR Pro seems to be based on an early concept art (which you can see below) with the larger headlights and wavy spoiler, but uses the color scheme of the car that Aston Martin actually ended up producing. I think the designers recreated the unusual shape of this concept car about as well as they could. The Vantage GT3 is pretty spot-on at first glance when compared to the real car. I really like how they created the lime outline around the Vantage's grill using brackets and fangs, although the studs that are left exposed under the bumper are a bit unsightly. The use of car doors to represent the two thin walls in the grill of the Valkyrie is clever as well. It's a bit sad, though, how these parts which were very common in the 80's and 90's are rarely used as actual car doors anymore. The designers recreated the wavy spoiler of the Valkyrie nicely using curved slopes and boat studs. I also really like how they did the taillights on the Vantage the way they are sticking out by half a plate and are topped off by a sideways panel and upside down cheese slopes, although the trans-black 1x2 plates that they used to hold those cheese slopes in place look odd and shouldn't be there. The Valkyrie looks very cool and aerodynamic from the side. It has a neat fin in the back like the Mercedes-AMG ONE from the last review which happens to be one of the Valkyrie's main competitors. Perhaps it's not a coincidence both of these concept cars appear in the same wave. The Vantage on the other hand looks more angular than it should and I don't like that half-plate gap that is left between the front bumper and fenders. As you can see in this top view, the Valkyrie is a whole 3 studs longer than the Vantage and other Speed Champions cars like it. Its long spearhead shape and the angled gaps behind the front wheels have been recreated quite well. The printing of the windscreens on both of them is quite good as well, so they don't look out of place. While I like the use of a propeller blade for the Valkyrie's fin, I wish they would have filled in the gaps next to the blade like they did on the Project One. Both car interiors can be accessed by removing the windscreen and look pretty decent. However, the light gray parts on the Vantage and the Technic connector that holds the fin on the Valkyrie look out of place, and the steering wheel of the Vantage is off-center. The stickers on the center consoles add some nice detail though. Ratings Design: 8/10 The Valkyrie looks very cool and unique while the Vantage is a bit boxy and generic. Build: 6/10 Starts out very interesting with the unusual build of the Valkyrie, but becomes more and more standard with the Vantage. Playability: 7/10 You can seat the minifigs, customize the rims, and race them against each other. Figures: 8/10 Despite the usual generic heads, both figs have nicely printed new torsos and legs. Parts: 9/10 Several new and rare parts, including new prints, unprinted new wedges, and a new windscreen mold. Price: 8/10 While it's not as good of a value as the other double pack in the US, it's still good price for 592 parts. Overall: 8/10 This one is a bit of a mixed bag. While the Valkyrie is a very cool and different addition to the theme, the set is bogged down a bit by the Vantage which is kind of just okay. However, the detailed, exclusive racing suits, the new/rare parts, and the very reasonable price still make this a good buy. It may not be the best Speed Champions set, but you definitely won't regret getting it. Thanks for reading and thanks to TLG for sending me this set for review. What do you think of the set? Let me know in the comments and in the poll above. The set will release on March 1, 2022: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/aston-martin-valkyrie-amr-pro-and-aston-martin-vantage-gt3-76910 By the way, did you know that the Valkyrie is the product of a collaboration between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing? Speed Champions March 2022 Wave: Final Thoughts Overall, I think this is a very strong wave! Speed Champions just keeps getting better and better and they really took it up a notch with this batch. Aside from some printing issues and minor design flaws, these are all very good and accurate looking. I'm hard-pressed to even pick a favorite (although it's probably not the Lambo). LEGO is clearly trying to compete with the die cast market, and for the most part I think they are getting pretty close to that level of detail. The only downside to these for me is the lack of any scenery or extra builds that were so common in Speed Champions' early years. Those always added a lot more playability to the sets, but with the cars taking up more and more parts now, I'm afraid we won't see something like an entire Formula One pit again any time soon. I guess we can't have everything. Still, these are great sets and I recommend you go and pick some up. I hope you enjoyed this review series. See ya, and drive safe.
