Lord Insanity

So after seeing a few reviews I think the designer did a wonderful job of designing this set. That said the oversized nature of it does not really appeal to me. After reading many comments I think the general opinion is that for people who had no previous Jurassic Park / World sets this set is an amazing display piece. For those of us that already had several Jurassic Park / World sets this was a major let down because is is not compatible with and complementary to the existing general release sets we are already invested in. See I think this is the magic formula of wide popularity that Ninjago City successfully hit. That set is both a terrific stand alone display piece AND it is compatible with and complementary to the general release sets. Welcome to Apocalypseburg managed to do that too. Same with the Ghostbusters Firehouse (compatible with City/Modular) and the Monster Fighters Haunted House. Contrast that with the decidedly mixed reception the micro-scale Hogwarts Castle received. Despite being very well designed it is not compatible with or complimentary to the general release sets. That "problem" has largely been mitigated since we have gotten more of the castle in Mini-Fig compatible general release sets. But at the time of release we didn't know if there would be another wave of sets with more of the castle. At this point I would guess it is unlikely Jurassic Park / World is going to get another Direct 2 Consumer large scale set so I am rather bummed by the decision to make something that is not compatible with and complimentary to the general release sets. This was likely the only chance we had at a Mini-fig compatible size "Brontosaurus". I will have to mess around with the part inventory for the oversized T-Rex in Stud.io and see if I can come up with a decent looking sauropod. I might be convinced to buy the set anyway if that works well. The beauty of the brick.

Thanks for that. I will have to order some of those soon. Your industrial builds are top notch and something my city/train layout is sorely lacking.

So they brick built a dinosaur and it is not a sauropod? Why would they waste a spot on a T-Rex they already have a mold for? A sauropod that is not likely to have molds anytime soon would have been perfect for a brick build dinosaur included with this. That would have made this a must buy even without the jeep or explorer. Seriously I showed my 7 year old the picture and he asks: "Is that a robot T-Rex?" Mind you he loves dinosaurs and we have at least one of every molded dinosaur in the "modern" style. He keeps asking me when we are going to get a Stegosaurus and a Brontosaurus.

The Chemical Plant was by far and away my favorite Ideas submission so far. I quite literally wanted to buy at least 3 copies. I really don't understand Lego's selection process at all. This seemed like a perfect set. Crossover appeal to both City and Trains while also being something Lego has never really done. My town needs more industrial zoning darn it. Ironically the Chemical Plant also would have served as a terrific parts pack for Space builds. I am starting to think Lego really should offer a crowdfund attempt on any submission that hits 10,000 votes (and is not otherwise in IP rights conflict) I suspect the "results" of Ideas would be rather different if people had to put their money where their mouth is and actually pre-order. I almost wonder if the Bricklink Designer Program is a test bed for the concept. I bet the Chemical Plant would have done extremely well under that system even at the $200-300 it likely would have cost. Well add me to those willing to buy instructions if Ymarilego decides to make them.

Honestly I didn't really think about the whole flight suit versus EVA suit. I guess I was looking at these through too much sci-fi filter in terms of what I can use for Space builds. That said I still think trans-light blue is the wrong color. Should be trans-gray or solid black. That would match real flight suits far closer. Since I was about 8 years old I have never liked trans-light blue as a window, windscreen, and/or visor color. I remember when trans-gray first came out I practically did a dance of joy at now having a "real" color for tinted windows. (I do really like trans-light blue for crystals, lightning, water, ice, and such I just hate it as a window color.) I am really glad the actual space vehicles and structures in this new theme use trans-gray for their main window color. I understand the decision to use trans-light blue on the Earth based buildings and vehicles. The visors on the astronauts' flight suits just sticks out as being wrong in that context as I would expect them to match the space stuff not the Earth stuff. Of course the beauty of Lego is that I can just use some extra chrome blue visors from the Life on Mars theme.

Okay the Rocket Transport (base) seals the deal for me. Best City-spaceport theme ever. It looks like the sections from the Moon Base (space station) and the Rocket Base can be swapped out with those from the Rocket Transport (base). That kind of modularization is awesome. If that works the way it looks, I predict multiple purchases in my future. My biggest complaint would be the trans-light blue visors on the main astronaut suits. Why not gold? If they really wanted to keep the color scheme metallic blue. The old chrome visors would look amazing.

Well I have to say from a Sci-Fi fan perspective this is the best Town and/or City Space(port) theme Lego has done. While I would love a follow up to Benny's Space Squad with the red, black, green, and undamaged blue classic space figs, that City Space figure pack is one awesome consolation prize. The orbital station is better than I would have ever guessed it could be too. I wish they would have just used the classic space logo recolored like they did in Mars Mission though. The new one has the curve going the wrong direction. Overall I am really looking forward to adding to my city spaceport. Because why have mere airplanes when you can have Spaceships!

That is way cooler than the one they actually picked as a finalist. I would have actually backed that one. I am really confused by this whole thing. No matter how well designed it is I have zero interest in anything that is not mini-fig compatible so half the stuff is already a non-starter for me. Of the remaining only the Science Tower is of any interest to me. I really hope they were saving the best for last.

I would guess there is a very good chance both Brick Bank and Detectives Office are soon going to be retired. I am surprised so many only expect one modular to go. DO is on its fourth year and BB is on its third. That is really long for any set to be available by today's standards. I think the wild popularity of Parisian Restaurant on its fifth year has given people a false impression of how long to expect Modular Buildings to stick around.

Nice! I am surprised it took so long to get a Winter Village Fire Station considering how common Santa riding a firetruck is. Heck I have had Santa riding my 10197 Fire Brigade truck through the Winter Village since 2012. Not only that but the inspiration of classic ceramic winter village buildings run the full range of typical town buildings decorated for the season regardless of whether they are otherwise "in theme." I can only hope over the years the Lego Winter Village becomes that diverse. The new ladder truck will need a few minor mods to look good next to the engine from 10197 but is otherwise fantastic. (I am so glad its not just another vintage engine.) I love the little details all over the main building. I can see many people using that flag on 10197 (myself included.) Those new vintage fire coat torso prints are simply marvelous. I am starting to think that not only is this a great Winter Village set it is also a great 10197 upgrade pack. I have yet to be disappointed by a Winter Village set and this is no exception.

Those boxcars are amazing. I would love to build a few myself. While I can probably work out the important stuff from the pictures I would like to actually support the designer. Any possibility for another print run of the instructions to show up for sale?

I assume by Castle dragons you mean the newer multi-part ones first appearing in Fantasy Era castle. I agree those are by far my favorite Lego dragons. I have intentionally bought two of every set that comes with one just to have a pair of each color/type. Smaug on the other hand I think is one of the worst proportioned lumps of plastic Lego has ever produced. (I blame Peter Jackson changing the movie design literally after the first trailer was released.) I liken Smaug to the current brick built Basilisk, its just wrong and looks nothing like it should. I really hope any potential Horntail or Ironbelly would be in the Castle style. (Heck I would be perfectly happy with just recolors of the exact Castle dragons.) Failing that I would prefer the Elves style of molded heads and wings with nicely proportioned brick built bodies. The Queen Dragon from 41179 is as large, imposing, and nicely shaped as Smaug wished it was. (This despite the cheap junk plastic sheets used for wings, which at least still look good shape wise.) I really dislike the bars for wings most of the Ninjago dragons use so I definitely don't want that either. My biggest wish as far as potential new molded creatures go is an updated Fluffy the three headed dog.

So taking a much closer look at 8097 vs 75060 I think the issue here is the actual mini-figures. A mini-fig is far too wide for its height. 8097 is the right size for how high a mini-fig is. 75060 is the right size for how wide a mini-fig is. Looking closer at the UCS Falcon it is scaled to the width of a fig rather than height. So yeah I was comparing the height of the Slave I sets to the height of people from the actual loading scene from Empire Strikes Back. Counting the studs, the UCS sets are scaled to width not height of a mini-fig so that is why it looked wrong to me. Regardless the classic scaled Slave I in the Cloud City set is still first set since the original 7144 that matches the system scale Falcon. As I greatly prefer the system scale sets, (despite scaling issues) I still think this new included Slave I is the best version of the ship so far.

The modern system scale Slave I 8097 is to scale with the UCS Falcon. The actual UCS Slave I is way bigger than "true" mini-fig scale just like the UCS X-Wing. Slave I is just not that large of a ship. The classic system scale Slave I included with Cloud City is the perfect scale counterpart to the current system scale Falcon. This is my problem with modern system scale sets. They don't really fit into a "system" anymore. The sizes just go all over the place. We haven't had a scale Slave I to go with a system scale Falcon since the original in 2000. Slave I being a unique "hero" ship is a perfectly logical inclusion in a set like Cloud City. You only need one of them. The Cloud Car being included is a bit more annoying because you actually could use more than one. Though it being rendered in the wrong color does make it more likely we will see a stand alone set in the correct color in the future. I certainly would buy a few.

Why do so many people think the Slave I included is midi-scale? The two sets actually released in midi-scale were rather specifically NOT mini-figure compatible. The Slave I included is actually classic system scale. The first few years of Star Wars sets were all classic system scale like the original Slave I set 7144. The newer modern system scale Falcon is almost the same size as the older classic system scale Falcon. The new classic system scale Slave I included in Cloud City is the first Slave I since 7144 that actually matches scale with the current system scale Falcon. Ironically the new Cloud Car is almost the same size and scale as the original classic scale set. I really wish Lego would go back to the relatively consistent classic system scale sets as opposed to the modern system scale where the vehicles are all over the place size wise. If this new Slave I is any indication they could make some amazing builds in the classic scale. The original 7140 X-wing is still the only T-65 X-Wing in the correct color for example. Remember the original Slave I was $20 US and the original X-wing was $30 US. Even adding $10-$15 more for modern design density and inflation is still better than the $80-$100 monster scale things they are trying to pass off as "small" ships and fighters today.

Well I was expecting a "Death Star" style play set so in that regard I am quite happy. The landing pad is a total miss though. It should have been sitting up and sticking out slightly over a grey circular floor like the rooms to either side. By not having the floor there it totally kills the implied Cloud City shape. The carbon freeze chamber / lightsaber duel areas at least have the excuse they were supposed to be over "bottomless" pit areas. While on principle I hate when things that should be separate sets are included in larger sets, that Slave I is my new favorite version of the ship. Finally an updated classic system scale 7144 Slave I instead of those $100 & up monstrosities they have been releasing. Of course it's not being sold as a separate set like it should be. I suspect this is based on the complaint from Assault on Hoth that there was no AT-AT set available at the time. (We just had the perfect add on set released in the past month instead of when Assault on Hoth was available too.) I just don't understand the Lego Company sometimes. They really need to line up complimentary sets in the same wave. Instead they would apparently rather cram everything into one set to the detriment of things that must be in said set. Why didn't they use dark orange for the cloud car. It's not red. Even regular orange would have been better than red. If you don't have time to actually watch the scene in the movie just look at the picture on the official Star Wars wiki. Price is clearly reflecting the Star War tax so :-P for that. Overall I am fairly happy with it. It needs several MODs of course but it is far better than either its predecessor or I was actually expecting.

First off excellent review. The additional shots with a mini-fig were going to be my only request. Thanks for those as well. The set is sort of a confusing mess to me. I mean it is detailed and what is present is really well done. But the scale is just weird. Its a little to small to be mini-fig compatible. (What I like to call classic town/space/castle "go-cart" scale. Where a typical car has one seat.) It is also too big such that we are missing half the castle. At least with the system scale Great Hall set you aren't looking for the rest of the castle. With this set I was and it is painfully obvious part of the castle is missing. To add insult to injury they put the four founders as mini-figs in the set as exclusives. So the only way to get four awesome mini-figs it to buy a non-mini-fig compatible set. Yeah that sort of thing should never happen. This isn't quite as bad as comic-con exclusive figures but with a $400 price point it is close. (X-men's Dark Phoenix and such still annoy me.) I am glad that most people seem to love this set. I think the designer did a wonderful job with the restrictions of the design. I just don't understand the company decision to make it this way at all.

I would argue the Minecraft theme has an abundance of sets that Castle AFOLs would love in a non-Minecraft form. Ignoring the stylized nature of them they have the best medieval compatible farm sets Lego has ever released. My 6 and 9 year olds are constantly adding Minecraft zombies and creepers to my troll/orc army too. The heroes all use swords, axes, and armor. There is way more overlap there than AFOLs typically want to admit.

Science Fiction was originally considered a sub-category of Fantasy. Today most people automatically assume: Fantasy = Medieval and/or Ancient Fantasy. Science Fiction = Futuristic Fantasy. Science Fantasy is this weird modern term nerds invented because Star Trek is totally different than Star Wars darn it. Steampunk is a modern term for Western and/or Victorian Fantasy. The old 60s TV show Wild Wild West (and its crappy 90s remake movie) were Steampunk before that was even a common term.

Well there was only one LEGO Movie set that was really castle themed. That was thematically part of the 2013 line too. I think everyone keeps forgetting any new Castle theme wouldn't just be "competing" with Harry Potter but also things like Elves and Minecraft. There is a lot of medieval fantasy overlap with all three of those themes combined. I really hope I am wrong about that. There is also this interesting development. Lego is going to be making sets based on Blizzard's game Overwatch. It doesn't take much imagination to think that could potentially lead to a Warcraft theme. It certainly wouldn't be the first time Lego acquired a license that Mega Bloks had previously.

I really like this build. It has the appearance of being a major improvement over version 1. The way you took the Rivendale set and just went crazy with inspiration is very cool. Unlike Rogue Angel I like the slight randomness without being overly chaotic. It gives it a sense of being a very old structure that has had numerous additions over the centuries. I would totally buy that if it were a Creator Expert castle set.

I am reminded of this old mash up of The Battle of Helm's Deep (with the Uruk-Hai Army wall section) and Vampyre Castle by Eurobricks user Ragnar_Deerslayer. That illustrates very well how awesome a solid D2C $250-$300 castle with keep could be made. After seeing that mash up I took my copies of those sets and lined them up that way. It is truly epic to see in person. I still think that mash up looks better than either set by itself. Considering how well the sets "accidentally" work together, just imagine how good an intentional cohesive design like that could be.

I hope you are both correct in this assumption. However I should point out that back then we didn't have several themes like Ninjago, Superheros (DC & Marvel), and Minecraft that compete for valuable shelf space today. Heck you could make a compelling argument that Minecraft is currently making the kinds of things AFOLs would love to see in a Medieval theme. (Farms, Villages, tree-house outposts.) While AFOLs would tend to view Minecraft vs Castle as being as different as Duplo vs Technic I doubt the Lego corporate suits do. I would bet that to the corporate suits the Kingdoms 7189 Mill Village Raid and the Minecraft 21144 The Farm Cottage are the same basic set concept. I really hope I am completely wrong in my assessment and we will get a cool new castle theme in a year or so. I would love to see a classical era theme too. (Greeks, Romans, Egyptians) I would even be willing to let Castle take a break if it meant would would get a high quality classical era theme for a few years.

My six year old is going to be heartbroken. He loves Nexo Knights. I must admit I think the Lightning Monsters are one of the coolest bad guy factions Lego has ever made for any theme. I am actually surprised that so many people didn't like the concept and color scheme. The Lightning Monsters are my favorite thing to come of the whole theme.

Did everyone miss the highly likely rumors of the return of the Harry Potter theme? More specifically the one about the giant D2C Hogwarts Castle. I have a bad feeling HP will be the new "castle" theme for a while. Much like SW basically is the "space" theme right now. ( Yes I know they have run other space themes alongside SW, but by all accounts they have been considered failures.) Don't misunderstand, I would love a return of Fantasy Era / Kingdoms style sets. (I consider those to be a single design style. All the fig colors and heraldry are complementary to the point I use the Kingdoms Lions and Dragons as vassals for my Crown Knights.) I just get the impression people are really missing the obvious here. I hope I am wrong.