-R8-

The lighting, architecture and details really do capture the antiquated and welcoming feeling of the castle. The Photoshop enhancements also do a great job of contrasting the different moods and time of day of the Great Hall. As if this wasn't good enough, the Brickfilm is yet another wonderful bonus to this already fantastic MOC! Nice voice acting. Who is the professor located on the far right of the table?

This is absolute hilarity The motorized feature makes this so fun, and adding in the music just cracked me up! I also like the rectangular design of the factory, and the greebles look excellent on it.

My werewolf just came in the mail today (beautiful stamp on the envelope, by the way!). Thanks a ton!

Thanks for the comments, everyone! The more minifigures, the merrier! I share the same sentiments as you do. I was not too crazy about Agents, I think Alpha Team bested Agents in many respects including playability. If you ask me, I think the vehicles for Alpha Team seemed more 'complete' than the ones that were featured in Agents, some of which appeared as if they were slapped together quickly. Indeed, the hair printing does look weird when the minifig is hat-less. Maybe minifigures crave hair that much I thought it was a chinstrap since the print seemed to go around the bottom of his face, but I can see how it would also work as a goatee from the comic. You know, as I was writing this review, I couldn't help but laugh as I remembered your comment in my Mobile Command Center review during my student days at the RA:

What a FANTASTIC day for the LEGO community! It is just so exciting to see so many of these iconic characters finally being made into LEGO! One of the best choices for a licensed theme LEGO has ever made, well done! I wonder if we'll see Captain America in the first wave, knowing that there's a movie for that coming out soon!

Beautiful work Brickdoctor, you are honestly one of the best Star Wars builders out there on the Internet. Phenomenally amazing accuracy and detail, and a fine integration of Technic and System elements.

You can always try to sell them on BrickLink. You won't get a lot of money for them, but at least they'll be off your hands.

In the barren tundra devoid of all life, a lone Alpha Team agent remains trapped in a frozen prison. With no fellow team members in sight, all hope is lost...but out of the blue comes roaring a magnificent sight, the Tundra Tracker! Name: 4744 Tundra Tracker Theme: Alpha Team Year: 2004 Pieces: 141 Minifigures: 2 Price: USD 19.99, GBP 17.99 Further References: Brickset.com, BrickLink.com, Peeron.com, flickr The Box A 2004 release, the box for the Tundra Tracker features the typical blue border that was seen on LEGO boxes at the time. All that blueness goes well with the icy background and the Tundra Tracker's color scheme. Perhaps it's because it's summer at the time of this posting, but the box art is really appealing to me. Although you can't see it all that well from this angle, the side of the box has a series of images that shows the progression of this set's transformation function, a hallmark of the Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze series. We'll get to this later on in the review. The Instructions: Front Cover More of the frozen landscape is visible here. The binary code in the top right, also featured on the box, looks really neat and hi-techy. The Instructions: Comic Alpha Team instruction booklets were always fun because of these neat comics that they featured, usually in the beginning or end of the booklet. It might serve as some inspiration for adventures to be had while playing with this set. The Instructions: Random Page Inside the booklet, you'll find a very cool background (how many groans is that going to get? ) to go along with the clear step-by-step directions. The Stickers Alas, the reason for why I don't like stickers. At least you can choose to apply them or not, but if you do apply them, they may face an inevitable fate like this. These particular stickers are even involved with the playability of the set, so in this case, I wish that they were printed on instead. The Pieces This is a nice selection of parts that you won't really find elsewhere, such as the elements in dark and sand blue. There's a considerable amount of Technic pieces for a set this size, which are all needed for its rather complex playability function. Notable Pieces Many of the bluish wedge pieces can be found in the other Alpha Team sets, as well as the ice block piece and the ice orb elements. The windscreen piece sports a red lens that shaped like a square; some other sets have a red lens in a circular shape. What I really like this set for is the Bionicle drill piece. Being a Bionicle fan too, and having missed out on a few of the earliest Bionicle sets, the Tundra Tracker was another opportunity for me to get this piece, previously found in 8545 Whenua. The Minifigures: Front Two Alpha Team agents are included here, Diamond and Radia. They each have UV protection sunglasses and a headset for communication. Their uniforms sport the same getup, except for the arms which have a different color, indicating their rank or position within the team. I especially like Diamond's look, because of his awesome chinstrap, bandana, and beanie. Poor Radia really had it in this series of Alpha Team. Not only she was frozen once in this set, but twice in the Mobile Command Center too. Seems like Alpha Team always had a secondary mission to save Radia in addition to saving the world. The Minifigures: Back Nothing on the back... The Build Chassis Assembly, Steps 3, 6 This is a Technic intensive build, which may be a turn-off for some. I don't usually mind Technic in System sets, as long as it's well covered up by System pieces. But I digress. The build immediately calls for the drill piece, which serves as the primary play function of the set. Chassis Assembly, Sub-steps 4, 7 A separate section of the chassis is created, which will be connected to the section made previously: Chassis Assembly, Steps 8, 16 All the Technic is cleverly assembled together to accommodate the Tundra Tracker's transformation feature. It's important to make sure that the pins go in the right openings and the correct brick lengths are used; it can be easy to overlook this and make a mistake. Finished Build Soon enough the vehicle is finished, and we get to work on the next phase of building! The Ice Prison Typically small builds like this are done first, before the main component of a set, but whatever. The prison is constructed in sections, which also highlights the playability feature associated with this. A bit sadistic imprisoning a minifigure in plastic ice, no? Design and Playability The Set This is an ideal 20 dollar set in my opinion, a sizable vehicle that's well designed, along with a self-standing structure that isn't there for the sake of adding a few more bricks to the piece count. 360 View I really like this vehicle, it's nice and compact meaning that it's great for rolling around the floor. The inside is reinforced with the Technic seen before, so it is quite durable as well. I also am a huge fan of the dark/sand blue color scheme. It definitely fits in with the frozen tundra back story. Aerial View The wheels are spaced apart at different widths, which give the Tundra Tracker a cool and unique profile. Cockpit There is a fair amount of space inside the cockpit for the minifig to sit in comfortably. The sloped cockpit really helps to sleeken the Tracker's overall appearance as well. The vernier scale printed on the cockpit is just beautiful detail. Drill Transformation Now for the fun part, the transformation sequence! Although it seems like a lot of work to simply expose a drill, I think it's neat how all the inner mechanics are exposed when the vehicle is converted to its 'drill mode.' Red Lens Most of the sets in Alpha Team: Mission Deep Freeze came with a set of red lens that could be used to decipher hidden symbols. Here, the red lens can be used to figure out how to free Radia, or otherwise fall into Ogel's trap and freeze for eternity Freeing Radia Pick the right opening to drill in: And rescue Radia from her otherwise chilling fate. At this point, who knows how many times she's needed to be rescued by her teammates? But drill in the wrong opening, and an ice orb shall reveal itself...Radia will be cursing in her sleep now (and you will be too)! Conclusion I'm not sure why I just so happen to review Alpha Team sets, in my time on Eurobricks I have reviewed a total of three sets from the theme, including this one. But I suppose it's because I really think Alpha Team was one of the LEGO Group's best lines in the 2000s (wow, that sounds like it was so long ago), and better yet it survived 3-4 years on the market as opposed to the typical 1-2. It's a shame it wasn't continued, but I am glad that they ended the theme off in a pleasing way. Overall, the Tundra Tracker is a neat little set that I think is worth it for 20 bucks. I'm a sucker for any LEGO that's blue and this is no exception. I also love the Alpha Team minifigures, and collecting them was an incentive to get as many of the sets possible. To top it off, Alpha Team sets always score high in the playability department, exhibiting a variety of play features that were vastly superior to most other sets on the market concurrently. Most certainly a theme to remember. I could have sworn that we forgot to do something before we threw in the towel for Alpha Team...

Being a huge LoZ fan myself, this is a great LEGO Triforce and looks even better with the chrome. It would be really nice to see this alongside the Zelda minifigures you have created.

It is designed for kids to 'work together' to advance through an elaborate ranking system, but the in-game communication is so limited and primitive that it is impossible to do so unless communication is carried out on an external site. Now, MLN is more or less a failed concept, after having being neglected for so long. I heartily concur with you. To be candid, the game had nothing to do with LEGO aside from the 'networkers' that were minifigs, and the various bricks that you could collect. One of the collectables was a 'red flower,' and believe it or not, they didn't even use an image of an actual LEGO flower piece - they just used a typical image of a flower that you'd find in Microsoft Office clipart. MLN is just something that may look entertaining at first, but will easily become boring and tedious in no time.

150 8x16 baseplates, bought off of LEGO Education for 30 bucks total. They were 50% off, so it seemed like the perfect time to get baseplates for my city layout.

A job well done Rufus, you have most certainly earned it!

I actually had no idea there was a raffle for this So this is a very pleasant surprise!

Hello everyone, I recently had a go at creating a support system for curved areas of the track. This is what I came up with: Part of the goal was to build the support beams around the road, while providing an adequate amount of space for the curved track to be placed on. Just like the straight segments, this is designed so that all that needs to be done when assembling/disassembling is placement of the support beams right onto the allocated spaces on the sidewalk, and then placing the track right on top. Building a fence around the curved tracks is a bit of a problem, since as you can see what happens when longer trains run. Even though there is plenty of room on the other side of the track, on this side there is very little clearance. I am thinking about adding a few plates on the sides to make more space for the side railing. At this connection, the track isn't actually connected to the support beams; it is just resting on them. However, at every 45 degrees the track is physically attached to the support beams, with the help of turntables in the areas where SNIR is present. Connected to the straight track I posted earlier. Comments are welcome.

Really cool stuff, everyone. Cannot wait to see it all in person! I myself have five MOCs registered, most of them being my recent sculpture work: by -R8- Depending on how much building I am capable of doing in the weeks ahead, I may bring a few more creations.

Although this is my first BrickFair (so I am not 100% sure), by the looks of what the schedule says and from what people have said on the discussion board there, I think people are welcome to submit their ideas for a seminar to Todd Webb, as opposed to being through invite only.

Hello, I have tried this method in the past, although it did not seem to have much of an effect, if any on my discolored bricks. I am going to try again, but this time with oxyclean. Would it be alright to use liquid oxyclean with 3% hydrogen peroxide, or has everyone here been using the solid powder oxyclean? Furthermore, is there a specific amount of each substance that needs to be used in order to reach the optimal results? I've read that some people here have used two teaspoons of oxyclean and a variable amount of peroxide based on the volume that the bricks took up, is this pretty much the most 'effective' combination of the substances?

Hello Daddy's Brick Quest, welcome to Eurobricks! In some other LEGO-related events I have been to (not necessarily conventions) there have been third party vendors that sell NISB (new in sealed box) sets, at a marked up price from the original. You can view a list of the vendors that will be attending BrickFair here. Based on some of the descriptions that a few of them have, I would assume that older sets will be sold at BrickFair as well as custom merchandise. I wouldn't anticipate on them being cheap however, if they are being sold as new sets. Large sets can easily be in the $100-$200 range. The set's rarity and popularity also factors in to how much the markup will be. Regardless, a retired set is a retired set, and in person you can actually take a look at the set's physical condition. I am not sure if you are going as an exhibitor or as a public guest, but if you are an exhibitor, there are onsite games that you can participate in and possibly get a chance to win both new and old sets. These games are listed here. Hope to see you at BrickFair!

Great work Legostein! I especially admire how the window panes are used as back doors for the ambulance. The old school medical cross panels are a nice, classic touch to the vehicle. This definitely reminds me of the Hot Wheels I used to collect when I was five. Neat!

Amazing creativity Mood! I like how the colors work well together to replicate Boba Fett's battle-worn armor. Boba's head is also well designed, reminds me of the cube dude sensation. Excellent work.

Thank you for the update, Eric. Great to hear that the second manufacturer will be up and running in due time! I saw that ME Models will be attending BrickFair this upcoming August. Have you guys thought about doing a seminar there on the ME rails? It might be a viable option, in order to garner some more publicity and attention towards the product. Another idea could be to see if some of the train layouts could utilize ME track, to serve as some kind of 'demo' for people interested in the product.

Awesome review ZO6. The set's price tag at USD 39.99 isn't that bad, actually. The modularity of the alien ships are quite ingenious, and I concur that they beat the bricks out of most supplementary vehicles that LEGO has included in their recent sets. The helicopter is really cool too. I don't like flick-fire missiles, but I need to commend the designers for integrating them seamlessly into the helicopter, as opposed to just slapping it on top of something. The tail pieces are also cleverly used as wings and look fantastic on the completed model. An attractive set overall, thanks for sharing with us!

Thank you everyone for the kind words! Really appreciate it I will admit that I have never seen the Smurfs, animation nor comics. Something I'll definitely need to get around to. I used some reference photos while making this, but from the handful of photos that I saw I can definitely tell he's just that kind of guy. Indeed. Although I don't restrict myself to it, my primary genre to MOC in is sculpting, and I use mostly basic bricks because I continue to be amazed at what a pile of rectangular elements can come together as! Yes, all of my other creations have been shared here too. You can view them all in my profile. Certainly would be - I'd even like to try using different shades of blue like medium blue. Judging by the weight of it, I would guess several hundred bricks, most likely close to a thousand. Danke, Kiel!

Hey legodac, welcome to the forum! Eurobricks is an incredibly informative source of knowledge about the LEGO hobby, and it's great fun talking with all sorts of LEGO enthusiasts worldwide. I'm sure you'll find this to be as wonderful of a site to visit as I did (and still do!).

My latest creation: Papa Smurf! The leader of the Smurf village, happily presiding over his little Smurfs. The feet are able to move, since they were attached to the legs with a turntable element. The eyes were offset by half a stud in order to bring them closer, without them actually being stuck to each other. After working with simpler geometries in my earlier sculptures (which you can see in my profile), I thought it was time to work on something a bit more complex. A tip with being able to sculpt with rectangular bricks is to divide the subject up into much more simpler shapes, such as spheres or cylinders. From there, you can alter these basic shapes so that they conform with whatever you're trying to build. I hope to display this at Brickfair this upcoming August. Any questions or comments are welcome! flickr MOCPages