TeufelHund

It would be nice if a new UCS Hoth set included the Ion Cannon and the Power Generator. Unlike most elements of Hoth, neither of those have ever featured in an Official Lego set before. I doubt we will see an ATAT or Snowspeeder simply because they will still be around at the time of release. An ATST is a possibility since we haven't seen an official version since Battle of Endor over 5 years ago.

No Pirates or Castle UCS set makes me sad. On the other hand it looks like a cheap year for me. I probably have enough Hoth stuff that I don't need an Echo Base but on he other hand it couldn't be worse than their last effort. I guess the Helicarrier is a possibility if my oldest son nags me enough but I'm more of a DC man.

I don't have the castle but I'm not a big fan - I had the chance to buy it at almost 50% off and passed - even the parts and minifigures aren't that great and I'm not a big fan of the kiddie Lion heraldry. If TLG are no longer producing it then chances are there will be a new Castle theme coming next year (particularly with LOTR and Hobbit also over) so it might be worth holding fire until then?

I seem to remember the last couple of years DJs have had 20-25% off Toys in the week immediately before Xmas. You might be lucky to find a Mixer left on the shelf then though...

I like the MOC but surely for a Rebels inspired-build you should be using Rebels troopers! ;-)

My copy arrived earlier this week so here's my mini-review: * This is definitely an AFOL book - most of the builds are way too complicated for younger builders. * Most of the 400 pages are taken up with step by step instructions for building the photographed MOCs. Personally my preference would be for more photos for inspiration with instructions only there to illustrate particular building techniques. What photos that are there are done really well though. * There are a number of different sections in the book each with a theme. There's one for Lord of the Rings and one for Game of Thrones, plus some more generic stuff (including a modular castle). The stuff based on popular IPs are a bit hit and miss. There is an OK Gandalf "Big-fig" design coupled with a design for Orthanc, which is kind of unnecessary IMO as there is already a UCS set out covering that plus there are plenty of other suitable subjects from LOTR lore. The GoT stuff include a really nice weirwood tree and then a fairly generic dragon setting fire to a castle. Overall I felt they could have done better in covering these popular worlds. * One of the highlights of the book is a two page spread showing how to make medieval food out of Lego. There's also some nice throne/table/chair etc designs which are great. Other stuff includes a couple of wagons/carts and a catapult. * They list brick counts for all the builds featured but most people would be hard pressed to reproduce everything as recommended by the book - a single section of wall for the modular castle for example requires no less than 34 bley bricks bricks. Heaven help anyone trying to reproduce the whole castle as per the instructions! Overall it's a nice book with some great photography and builds but the Holy Grail for me would be a book more full of inspiring examples than specific instructions.

Ok - I think I've sorted out what I want from this range now - Shipwreck Defense, Treasure Island and the Soldier's Fort + the Juniors set. That I way I maximise the variety of new Pirate torsos I get + get a bunch of bluecoats with shakos. The soldier's outpost I can skip because I already have the Kraken from the last wave and the minifig torsos are replicated elsewhere. The Brick Bounty feels unnecessary next to Queen Anne's Revenge. The lack of gold coins is disappointing though. You'ld think they would be far more common than gems in a typical pirate's loot!

I've had this happen a couple of times and TLG have always sent me out a replacement, no questions asked.

Sorry - I was putting us in 2015 already, thinking POTC 5 would be out in 2016. A2017 release certainly does increase the chances of us getting a regular Pirates UCS ship, I'll admit.

We do know that Pirate ships obviously sell ok (TLG manage to release one a year like clockwork), so it may be that we'll see an exclusive ship released if nothing else. Of course with a new PotC movie due for release next year there will no doubt be at least one ship released for that which may mean we don't get a ship exclusive for this theme.

Any new Hobbit sets spotted in the wild? According to the Lego site they're supposed to release today but they're not up on Shop@Home yet.

Boy Stormies are bad shots. In the last episode a dozen in a row shooting down a corridor couldn't hit the big purple dude. I swear they have more chance of hitting themselves than their opponents.

http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Lego-Knights-Realm/dp/386852925X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413256027&sr=8-1&keywords=lego+knight%27s+realm Not much information yet but at 400 pages it certainly sounds substantial.

I don't get what the bid deal is over the Rebels Stormtroopers...it's not like TLG has stuck to one design over the past decade anyway so anyone who has been collecting for a while will already have a number of different Stormtrooper variations. The butthurt is probably coming from those AFOLs who are primarily interested in OT sets and are upset that the only way to get "real" OT Stormtroopers is (for the moment) from prohibitively expensive sets instead of en masse from cheap battlepacks. I'll admit that I probably prefer the OT version design and might have bought multiples of a battlepack with those in it, but I don't think the Rebels version looks so bad that it can't be used to fill the ranks of a Stormtrooper army. The biggest negative for me is the fact there aren't regular blasters included in the set, just the new kiddie shooters.

Unlike the Pirates sets which turned out better than the prelimaries these actually look worse now the full sets are revealled. There's a decent figure here and there but overall I'm underwhelmed. I thought I might be spending a bit on this wave but it looks like it will be a cheap one for me. I haven't seen Rebels yet though so if I really like that I might end up getting more but it seems weird TLG would give us Sabine and not her helmet (kind of essential for a Mandolorian, one would think). It's sad to say but the highlight is this wave might just be the ultra-cute microfighter AT-AT!

The final sets are indeed much improved from the preliminaries - they do have a nice classic look to them. I'm not disturbed by the new bandana - a bit of variety never hurts when outfitting a scurvey crew. I'm a little surprised that the scabard that debuted in Pirates of the Caribbean hasn't been utilised at all. The Juniors set is a great little pack - exclusive pirate torso and map piece + a shark and what looks like a black chest...nice. I'm not that thrilled by the big ship - I have Queen Anne's Revenge which is enough for me. I'll probably pick up the fort as I didn't get that last time around and the female bluecoat and governor look nice. Overall some nice new minifigs for your pirate MOCs + some interesting new parts (eg a dark red brick brick) make this line decent in my book.

Actually I believe Episode VII is scheduled for December 2015, which means either the mid-year wave will be delayed to accommodate EVII sets coming out a bit closer to the release date or we will get three waves next year (early year, mid-year and end of year EVII sets).

Scary but I'm actually thinking the Juniors set is one of the better ones coming out next year - a nice map, flag, row boat, wall piece and shark all in a cheap set is not to be scoffed at. Let's hope for a store exclusive or UCS set to mix things up a bit. It seems that the pirate captain (Blockbeard?) is only included in the large ship set at this stage.

As if anyone is buying this for the "build". It's three great minfigs with some useful generic castle bits thrown in.

This is a pretty uninspiring selection - most sets just look like inferior revisions of the 2009 sets. I guess that's fine for the kids too young to enjoy pirates sets from back then but doesn't leave much for the AFOLs to get excited about The figures do look very prelimary mind you, so here's hoping we gets some interesting new faces/torsos and perhaps some animals (crocs, parrots, crabs, krakens, sharks etc) in interesting new colours.

Castle is normally released in the later half of the year, so there's every chance some info will turn up early next year. I doubt that TLG won't release something (if only a UCS set) as LOTOR has already wrapped up, the Hobbit will be finishing soon and the current Castle range will be 2 years old by then without being refreshed.

I doubt I'll be picking this up as I have the previous system version which is good enough for me (I guess some interior pictures would be nice). The figure selection is OK - there is a specific scene in TESB where you can see a Bespin guard pushing carbonised Han into Slave I while a stormie and Boba stand guard, so the selection obviously was made to make re-creating that scene a possibility.

I doubt a fantasy-themed castle series would simply have been called "Elves" anyway - it's far too limiting and doesn't encompass the whole range of what you might expect (eg dragons, trolls, orcs, dwarves etc) in such a theme. New castle series are typically released in the second half of the year so I'm pretty sure we'll see something new late next year as the current Castle range will have hung around for two years by then without being refreshed and the LOTR/Hobbit sets will be no more.

You're forgetting that in Australia and New Zealand we pay an extra tax for no other reason than that we live where we do, so the US prices are likely susbtantially cheaper than what a straight currency conversion will throw up. For example the Lone Ranger Stage Coach was US $29.99 but AUD $69.99. Given that the currencies are fairly close to equal value even with the cost of shipping stuff to our part of the world included you can see how we get slugged with extra simply because Lego figures the market can bear it.

Those sets can't be too substantial as the New Zealand gets screwed on Lego prices and their currency is consistently a fair bit lower than the US/Aussie dollar. Not that I'm complaining as it should be a good way to pick up some of the new Pirate figures cheap.