pedro

Congratualations to all the winners! Great competition with some really fantatstic entries, was a joy watching it unfold.

7. NinjaNin - 1. 8. Prater Yed - 1. 21. Rook - 3.

After missing last year's promotion I'm definately on my toes for this year's! Any clues as to what it is? Or has this already been thouroghly discussed over on the MAMMOTH 248 page 2012 Pics and Rumours topic? For my tuppence worth, I'm hedging my bets on the Maul minifig as one of the 4th/5th promotional pieces.

Thanks very much everyone. There's quite a few elements of this set that, as it is, could work/wouldn't work and would/wouldn't pass LEGO's process of scrutiny. Heh... I think now it doesn't quite pass my process of scrutiny! There's certainly a few changes I'd make to make it better. I think what I have now is simply a concept - a sketch - parts of it are right, parts of it need refinement. Should this be successful, I'd imagine this to be part of the CUUSOO process that has happened so far with the three successful models we've seen. That said, I just don't know at this stage. I'm just really happy it's gotten the response that it has.

It's been a long journey so far KimT and you've been a great Captain. Thanks for all the time and effort you've put in over the years and the very best of luck with your new job, now and in the future... "Stay on Target!"

Thanks very much for the support guys and thanks for blogging it KDM, much appreciated. It's not remotely as ambitious as some of the fantastic projects on CUUSOO, but it's something I hope all Star Wars LEGO fans would love to see. Interestingly enough, LEGO contacted me asking me to remove the LEGO branding from my images so it wouldn't be mistaken as an official LEGO product. I'd missed the point in the TAC that mentioned this and was only too happy to oblige!

Hey everyone, Back in 2009, I entered the Eurobricks Battle Pack Competition with my Jedi Mission Battle Pack... (Image links to CUUSOO.) At the time my thought behind it was that everyone who likes Star Wars, loves Jedi, and seeing an army of them in battles such as the Battle of Geonosis is amazing! I'd seen Jedi battle packs by other toy companies and thought the chance to buy and customise a LEGO Jedi army would be simply awesome. Since then, this little 'set' has received a lot of interest and feedback online and I'm humbled by how much people actually like it and wish it was real. Now, for all those that gave me such generous feedback they can vote for it on CUUSOO. If you'd like one - show your support! Thanks for looking. - pedro

Great to see these sets in ever closer detail... Kudos to LEGO on Jabba's Palace, looks like a really, really nicely rounded set. Love the new Jabba figure and the play features seem very well thought out. Looking forward to seeing more pictures. I've never felt that the Gungan Sub to be particularly iconic, but the LEGO model looks okay. The Amidala figure will be the real selling point on this one. If anyone is at the NY Toy Fair, PLEASE, get a close-up of her minifig! Now we're on the 3rd Desert Skiff I'd hoped for something better - it seems like the minifigs have stolen the bricks budget on this one. But what minifigs! And Boba too!

Nihilus, Iceman has used techniques - some almost identical - to build his Tri Droid that are present in mine. If someone chooses to do this then they should credit the originator - it's only fair. You might not see the simlarities but I do, plain as day. Your comment that all Tri Droids look the same doesn't even remotely hold water in this instance as every builder's interpretation and approach to buidling an MOC is completely different, resulting in a creation that bears their a very specific method of construction. Search for LEGO Tri Droid online and you'll find numerous versions that look distinctly different (and some very cool ones at that).

Hey Iceman, I can't help but draw attention to the striking similiarity this bears to my own version of the Tri Droid from 2009. The picture below is a link to my original post: It's plain to see you've been very heavily influenced by my version. In fact, asides from a handful of alterations at it's core it is pretty much a copy of my design. This isn't more in evidence than the fact that you've actually copied it's main flaw, one which I've worked on since to try and remove - the need for a stand. Now I'm don't mind people drawing inspiration from my creations or copying the construction techniques that's taken me time and effort to figure out - not at all - in fact I'm only too happy to help and provide additional information if I can. It's one of the very best parts about our community - the ability to inspire and share with each other. But please, if you do choose to use or copy someones work... at the very least acknowledge it.

These are awesome... and from what I've seen of the set pics I'm almost certainly going to buy the entire first release! One other thing: my wife and I were talking about these when she said "They're missing their Hobbit feet..." and true enough, they feel like they are. I'm kind of suprised LEGO hasn't remedied this by simply painting the feet flesh... Sorry if this has been mentioned or widely discussed already - way too many pages here for me to go and check.

Really looking forward to the LoTR line, the new minifigs look great... though maybe Legolas's face could have been a little lower... or smaller in the vertical axis? At the moment it looks like his hair is growing out of his forehead...

Great review Alex, cements my desire for this set! The printing issue is a bit of a concern though, let's hope TLC irons that one out. I'll probably hold out buying until I think that's likely or someone reports it.

I bought the Geonosian Starfighter just before Christmas for just under £15 from Tesco. Really nice model of the fighter, Geonosian and Cody are cool, Ki Adi's face is pretty poor though. Will probably substitute it with an alternate, appropriate head. Yesterday I picked up two of the new Elite Clone Trooper & Commando Droid Battlepack and one Droid Escape. As seen in Mutley's review the battle pack minifig selection is damn fine. I was a little disappointed with Droid Escape though - I was dazzled by the minifig selection and bought it on impulse. Unfortunately my C3PO has half his eyes printed across his face! The sandtroopers are really fantastic though but once the minifigs are out of the way you're left with a fairly unexciting escape pod and a basic swoop. I'd recommend it only if you want the minifigs - like me. Hopefully you won't get a poorly printed C3PO - like me.

I bought two of this battle pack yesterday and I've got to agree that the minifigures are some of the best I've seen. The ARF and ARC are lovely, superbly detailed and the amount of accessories supplied means you can easily retro-fit a dark red themed clone army. But I also really like the commando battle droids - their colour and details in sculpt and print just work really well. Standing problems still abound though and I wish that battle droids in general had legs like LEGO skeletons. The cannon is okay for a miniature take on the AV-7. I actually combined my 2 into a larger (and slightly) more accurate version but I imagine I'll end up using it for parts. The only battle pack vehicles that have been a win (and kept in their entirety) for me are the last version of the BARC speeder and the trike-hulled speeder bikes - these were pretty cool considering the designer's constraints. As with all battle packs though, it's all about the minifigures and this one's definitely recommended.

Superb review WhiteFang, many thanks for taking the time to share this with us. Well I picked up my first 6 randomly, 3 of which I'm giving to my nephew as a stocking filler at Christmas. I randomly drew the Alien, Sleepy Head and Roman Soldier and I've got to say I'm extremely impressed by the design and quality of them all - and pleased that I drew these particular 3! I'll source the rest online as with previous series. Looking forward to catching 'em all...

I've not been thinking about a 4" Rancor. Personally, I'm thinking more along the lines of the 8962 Crystal King, with molded head/torso and brick-built appendages. That means they could get the scale about right while being cost effective. And you could stick a figure in his gob. Maybe.

It'd be molded in several parts similar to the Hoth Wampa but bigger. Having something as complex as the Baron's Rancor would cost A LOT. Too much for a production set. Still, I love the Wampa. Very curious as to what a LEGO Rancor might look like in the same style. Hopefully find out soon.

Looks like I'm a little late to the party here... but I've got to show my appreciation. The Kingdoms theme has brought us some truly great sets, harking back to the sets of old (King's Castle) while introducing superb new civilian sets (Mill Village Raid). Kingdoms Joust continues this trend - it looks simply fantastic. If it really is to be Kingdom's swan-song then the theme then it's going in style! The castle and periphery create a striking setting for the Black Falcons' return. The details are lavish and the minifigs are perfect for populating the scene. This will make a fine addition to many a Kingdoms collection - can't wait 'til it's part of mine.

Something tells me LEGO won't miss an opportunity to give us a Rancor this time...

Thanks for these great new pictures. I've been a bit dark on EB as of late, but I've been catching snippets of these upcoming releases and I'm generally impressed. I really like the range of host of new figures and the conventional boxed models (save from the battle packs) seem well thought out, accurate and with a nice compliment of minifigs. The ever dominant accuracy discussion is stills goes on of course but at the end of the day LEGO is LEGO and you can MOD 'til the cows come home. I'm not really sold on the planets though. The idea of collecting plastic planets is great if you're buying one of each and intending to stick them on you wall or ceiling. But beyond that I don't really see the point. There's just not a whole heap of use/function in them. Originally, I thought they'd act as clever packaging, with the LEGO contained within... but... no. O well. A new Lobot sounds promising.

Congratulations each of you. Definately the star of this category.

Superb creation Oky, great use of alternate building techniques to capture Palpatine's office. Is this the first time you've tried out some of these methods?

Thanks very much everyone! Congratulations to Solscud and Lanterne Rogue too, well deserved winners. Another great contest been and (almost) gone, many thanks KimT nnd Eurobricks.

Congratulations the three of you, and a well deserved first place to you Oky! Will our winners get a shiny front page announce after all these months?