jonwil

LEGO rips off .au consumers again despite the record-high AUD. The new police station has 783 pieces and a list price of $149.99 The old police station has 170 pieces MORE and yet it has a list price on the same site of $139.99 (which also matches the Shop @ Home RRP) So they are charging 10 bucks more for a set with 170 pieces less. US RRP for the new station is $99 NinjaGo is comming on 15/1 and also some sets on 15/4 Atlantis is due 15/2 Creator is due 15/2 Technic is due 15/4 Hero Factory is due 15/2 City Space is due 15/4 Cars is comming 15/5 Minifigs S3 is listed as 15/1 and S4 as 15/4 POTC is listed as 15/5 New games comming 15/1 No sign of Pharaoh's Quest (which fits with the report that its a store exclusive, wonder which store it will be) Lets hope Series 3 comes soon and in big numbers (and to stores where standing there feeling the bag to find the ones you want wont make the store employees want to kick you out of the store. Although one answer to that might be to say "I will buy any bag that I damage in any way" :) I want at least 4 of the snowboarder :)

Nice review. There are reports of the LEGO army helmet appearing in black in a NinjaGo set. (no doubt such a part will be a hot item in the next round of LUGBULK orders :)

Nice buildings you got there. I still think the grey bit above the ANZ ATM should be blue with an ANZ logo on it... That reminds me, I gotta print stickers for my own bank MOC (Police & Nurses Credit Society actually), I need a big logo sticker for the sign and a smaller RediATM sticker for the ATM.

Bah, both sets are marked with the green/red star that mean they will be "store exclusives" in Australia and New Zealand. Is that the return of the 3-wheeler motorcycle in the police chase set? Bank looks like a "maybe" (depending on seeing better pics), police chase looks like a "no" unless it has some REALLY good parts/figs in it. So many wonderfull things to buy in 2011. Thankfully LEGO has enough stuff for 2011 that I dont want (NinjaGo, Pharoh's Quest, Hero Factory, Racers, Technic, most of the Atlantis stuff etc) that I can afford the things I do want (City police, City space, Atlantis Temple, Diagon Alley)

I am surprised no-one has done a review of the larger sets yet...

Great looking stadium so far. And yes it does remind me of "Field Of Dreams" (a great film, saw it on the TV the other day)

If anyone in Perth wants an Emporium, DJs in the CBD had 4 or so as of tonight (Wednesday) as well as plenty of Fire Brigades.

Captain could have a new modern style 2 x 2 map tile and a pair of binoculars.

Nice airstrip, really has the look of a bush airport.

None of the sets I have bought recently (including the Harry Potter sets, Atlantis Portal, Grand Emporium or City Public Transport) have had the instruction manuals protected in any way.

I cant see TLG doing an American football player, American football is essentially unknown outside the USA.

The Viking axe looks like its the same rod as seen for the magic wand, ray guns and barbell with the clip-on axe head (or a new variant of it) Is it just me or does anyone else think the thing carried by the orange suit guy would make a good flamethrower? (with the string or whatever it is being connected to a tank on the back) I doubt the cricket player would come with a ball (the tennis and baseball players did not). Would come with a cricket bat, printed legs (with pads), printed torso, white hands (for gloves) and probably a cap of some kind (the baseball player came with a baseball cap rather than a batting helmet) As for baseball, I think you could get away with using the hockey players mask as a baseball catchers mask :)

That orange hazmat guy is way cool, as is the punk rocker and the mad scientist. Glasses head on the skateboarder fig is also cool and will be perfect for various MOCs. (such as some Ghostbusters figs) Nice to have some variety rather than just the same "Peter Parker" glasses head. I hope TLG continues the sports theme in Series 5 and beyond. Although are there any sports they havent done yet that they would do? Golfer maybe? Basketball player? A Cricket player would be great (but unlikely because Cricket is not well known in most parts of the world) Female surfer isn't as good as the male one IMO.

So can someone confirm for me if the 2x2 map tiles in the PQ magnet set are or are not glued? I suspect they ARE glued which means if I want the map, I gotta buy the pyramid set or pay $$$ on BrickLink for the map :( Every time I think I am close to having every LEGO map ever made, LEGO goes and releases more :(

Probably to do with the difficulty/cost of setting up an Australian server backend for the game and the fact that the latency to anywhere in Europe or America is too high for LU to work very well.

As of today (Saturday) neither Maddington nor Armadale have any Alamut sets. (they must have sold out during the week :( ) Plenty of on-sale Portal Of Atlantis sets at Big W though (good parts pack at that price IMO) Plenty of Star Wars also (but even on sale Star Wars is still a rip-off IMO :)

One thing I always wondered is how they decide whether to use an old piece design or whether to create a similar but not identical new piece design.

I dont think this has been mentioned yet but someone in the NZ thread posted some info, something like "Pharoh's Quest wont be comming to NZ and it will be exclusive to one chain in Australa"

The only question left unanswered is which mob boss gets which construction contracts :)

Can anyone suggest the best (read cheapest) place to get a Cad Bane speeder in Perth? I need 2 white seats by Sunday for a MOC and this set is the only currently-on-the-shelf set that has them. If anyone knows of another way for me here in Perth to get 2 white seats by Sunday (by buying a set or otherwise) please speak up. Thanks for the tip on the PoP, that price is ~1/3 of RRP, might head to Maddington on Saturday and pick one up. (its too good to pass up)

Nice police station, perfect for a little country town.

If there is one thing I have learned in my years of collecting LEGO, its "dont assume anything about what will or wont be released". I have seen plenty of cases where it looks like something wouldn't reach Australia and then it eventually does. Like the Pig Farmer and Kingdoms impulses earlier this year. Or the red creator sports car that was a Big W exclusive. In any case if you cant get it from Australia or New Zealand you can always just buy it from Shop @ Home or find someone in the US to ship it to you.

I expect it will be like my police officer keychain where the legs, head and headgear are all fixed and wont move. I suspect the glue will be the same glue used for the keychains and other glued items (which AFAIK "welds" the plastic together and cant be removed without destroying the parts)

Kings and Queens going into battle most definatly walk (or ride in on their horse) Having the elven leaders marching into battle at the head of their armies is perfect IMO (thats how it was in Lord Of The Rings :)

Is that a red grooved column piece on that drill sub? That means 3 known colors so far, white, tan and red. Also notice the dark red crab (new color AFAIK)