Joebot

Wow, really impressive stuff! The animation was extremely well done.

I think if Lego announces additional mid-scale ships in the future, it will retroactively make this Falcon set more appealing. As it stands now, the set is kind of an oddball. If this ends up being a scale that Lego develops further, then this set will look pretty sweet as part of a larger collection of ships this size. If this is just a one-off set, and Lego has no intention of producing similar sets, then I think a lot of people are going to pass (especially at that brutal price point). It is definitely a nice-looking set though. No question about it. It reminds me of the "special edtiion" Naboo Fighter from a few years back, with all the chrome parts. I bought that, thinking it was going to be the start of a new line of sets slotted in between mini-fig scale and UCS-scale. Then Lego never did anything else at that scale.

They've really cut back on the number of catalogs they send out. They probably only do 3 or 4 a year now. Kinda sad, but certainly understandable. Why rely on an expensive printed catalog that will be out-of-date in 6 months when people can just get on the website and see the same information?

I think it's been confirmed that they won't be released in the U.S. initially. Yeah, it sucks ... but it's not uncommon in the boardgame industry. Many hobby boardgames are published in Europe, then eventually get picked up by an American publisher for U.S. distribution. It can sometimes take 6-12 months for that to happen though. I'm guessing that these are going to be pretty popular, so I think somebody in the States, like Mayfair Games or Rio Grande Games, which pick these up. I hope so. They look really well-designed!!

Thanks! Yeah, it takes a ridciulous amount of time (although I have gotten faster at it over the years). My wife thinks I'm crazy. But I have a lot of fun with it. It combines my two favorite hobbies -- writing and Legos. Thanks, Zepher! Yeah ... that's a really good point. After the 13-issue monstrosity that was the N-vasion story, I just got burned out, and decided I wanted to do a series of shorter, quicker stories. I do agree with you though that some of these characters deserve a little more screentime. The Robotopocalyse story is already written, but I will definitely take your suggestion to heart when writing the following stories. Man, I am getting tired of typing "Robotopocalyse." What the hell was I thinking when I came up with that name?!?

Hey everyone, I'm trying to get back on a vaguely monthly publishing schedule for new Unlikely Society chapters, and I just squeaked this one in under the wire. The new chapter kicks off the next story arc called Robotopocalyse. An evil robot-pirate from the future has come back in time to destroy humanity, and it's up to our heroes to stop him. As always, thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!

Increased demand doesn't always equal increased price. Increased demand can actually lead to LOWER prices if the company can make up the revenue difference in increased sales volume. I would argue that raising prices during an economic recession is a good way to go out of business. When people are more worried about their jobs and their mortgages, splurging for an increasingly expensive Lego set just seems silly. I haven't lost my job (yet), but my company has laid off hundreds of people, cancelled salary increases and bonuses, and removed their 401K matching. I haven't bought a new Lego set in 6 months.

The Collector's Mentality is a strange thing. It's easy to reach a point where the desire to collect things becomes more like a JOB, like it's something you HAVE to do. At that point, it's not a fun hobby anymore. I'm in a pretty similar position actually. I've been buying the Star Wars Lego sets since 1999, and I've got a whole mess of that stuff. In the past year or two, my interest has really been waning. Partly that's due to the Town theme improving dramatically and so I've been focusing on that instead. And partly it's been a complete lack of interest in the Clone Wars stuff. I slowly realized that IT'S OKAY TO NOT HAVE EVERYTHING! I know that seems stupid and obvious, but it was a real revelation, and it's been great. Instead of stressing about how I can afford all the Star Wars stuff coming out, I can cherry-pick out the sets that I really like, like the upcoming Hoth, Endor, and Home One sets. I would encourage you to do the same -- just focus on the sets that really appeal to you, and ignore the rest. And remember: IT'S OKAY TO NOT HAVE EVERYTHING!! This is supposed to be a fun hobby, and the moment it stops being fun and instead becomes stressful is when you need to do a little soul-searching to figure out why not.

Thanks for stopping in! Don't let the door hit you on the way out! As for the review (in a feeble attempt to stay on topic), I thought the review was fine, I just didn't agree with the conclusions. This set is a definite pass for me. I haven't liked any of the animation-style Clone Wars mini-figs faces, and Palpatine's is the worst of the bunch. The set itself is clunky and weird. The most exciting thing they can come up with is an OFFICE?!?! Hey, kids, now you can reenact board meetings in Palpatine's office!! Yay!

Hey, it's great to see somebody else tackle the Lego superhero comic genre! I can't believe you put that all together in 24 hours. It sometimes takes me TWO MONTHS to put together 7 or 8 pages for my comic. I am a very lazy man ...

The same is true for the monorail tracks. The long straight pieces go for around $15 and the curves are only $3 or $4. It's really annoying!

Much like the star on top of the tree, it's an old Belville piece. My daughter has tons of Belville stuff, and she's got five or six of those arches. I LOVE the idea of an ongoing Christmas Village theme. Kinda like those ridiculously overpriced Department 56 light-up houses.

Fun review, thanks! The tauntaun looks great. Too bad it doesn't come with a slice-open belly feature. I found your box-cutting experiment to be very interesting. Looks like about 10-20% of the box is really all Lego needs, meaning they're generating 80-90% waste. And weren't they just bragging up the fact in the past year or two that they've reduced their box sizes??? Seems like they could stand to do that again.

The new house is really nice, but honestly ... can we get some roof bricks in colors other than black and red?!?!

Love it! I grew up about 50 miles away from the John Deere headquarters in Moline, Illinois, so there were always a lot of John Deere tractors around there. Very nicely done!

Oh man, I forgot all about Bricktopia! I remember when that guy used to post new buildings on Lugnet, back when Lugent was still ... you know ... alive. Sadly, it doesn't look like he's updated the Bricktopia website in several years. It's worth another look though. This dude was an AMAZING builder. He'd take these giant, seemingly useless pieces, like the Slave 1 cockpit, and turn them into these incredibly complex, ornate buildings.

Yeah, it's kind of an "inside joke." I guess like most satire, if the reader isn't familiar with what's being mocked, then the jokes don't always work. I hope you didn't read Watchmen, THEN read the Unlikely Society! I doubt if my stuff holds up well against Alan Moore.

I know, I agree. I just couldn't get it the way I wanted. The fire filter that I use (from Alien Skin software) is ... quirky. Thanks! I like him too. The whole Unlikely Society comic is intended as a satirical spoof of the superhero genre. Over the years, Marvel and DC have made superheroes deaths into a complete non-event. Characters die all the time, and are usually resurrected within a few short months (ask any X-Men fan how many times that Jean Grey has died and been resurrected). They've done it so many times that whenever a character dies (like Captain America last year, as one example), fans generally shrug with indifference. It's shallow, lazy writing done merely for shock value. Character death has been done ... well ... to death (sorry, bad pun)! All I was trying to do was make it into a joke, by taking it to a completely absurd extreme, by having a never-ending string of new characters that die within a few panels. It's an exaggeration (although not by much!) of what Marvel / DC do on a regular basis. So, that's what I was going for. Olaf will be back. I'm actually writing that chapter right now! Thanks very much for the feedback, Zepher!

Hey, everyone, I just finished the next chapter in my ongoing, never-ending Lego superhero comic, the Unlikely Society. This chapter wraps up the Heavy Metal story, and sees our heroes going toe-to-toe with the villainous Boombox. As always, thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think! I'm excited to get started on the next story arc -- it'll feature time travel, robots, and some kickass new guns that I bought from BrickArms.

Looks like a promising start! Two minor suggestions: 1) Spell check! 2) In the caption boxes, some of the words are broken across multiple lines. Like in the second panel, "remains" and "history." Good luck! I'm curious to see more!

As an old-school child of the 80's, this set hits all the right buttons for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the newer Green Grocer super-detailed stuff too, but the City Corner just has that classic simplicity and charm. I just have one complaint though -- for a City CORNER ... you'd think there'd be an actual ... you know, corner?? Like with some &%$#-ing ROAD PLATES?!?! Hey, the police department has to justify their ginormous budget somehow. How else can they justify why they have five cops for every civilian?? Terrific review. Great pictures and entertaining commentary!

I'm hoping for a smaller scale (maybe 4 wide?) light rail. There was a hint of such a thing in that "vote for one of these three new City sets" contest from a few weeks back. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever see a resurrection of the monorail (from what I heard, the company that made the motors went out of business, and the monorail track molds were destroyed), so a brand new light rail system to replace it would be really great.

Thanks for the new pictures! Just when I thought Lego had given up the original trilogy ... With the new Ackbar and Mon Mothma mini-figs, we can reconstruct that scene from the "Robot Chicken" Star Wars spoof on Comedy Central, where the two of them are ordering at a restaurant. Mon Mothma: I'll have ... the calamari. Ackbar: And I'll have an order of INSENSITIVE B-TCH!!

Now, I love Van Halen. They've been my favorite band since I was in sixth grade. But ... nobody rocks harder than Zeppelin. That's a proven, scientific fact. As for whether Boombox wins or not ... you'll find out soon! I've got 3 (out of 8) pages done on the next chapter, so it's coming along nicely. Lot of special effects though, which is slowing me down a bit. I have to be honest, I've never heard of Rammstein, but I just looked them up. A "German industrial metal" band?? I'm not sure what that sounds like, but I'll bet it rocks!

"Very impressive. Too bad this isn't the Wide World of Sports." Honestly, other than maybe "Caddyshack," is there a more quotable movie than "Spaceballs?" You should try making the Mega Maid next. Don't forget to include both "suck" and "blow."