TeufelHund

Yes - my local Toys R US had all of the new sets on the weekend - I'll be swooping in at lunch time today to pick one or two up at 25% off, methinks.

I just got this for Father's Day - the "mountain" looks pretty small next to the Dragon! It doesn't look terrible in reality but it is definitely designed for a younger market (my 5 year old loves it and even my 1 year old loves flying the Dragon around and making roaring noises). It doesn't use a lot of wall panels like the Castle and there are some useful and unsual pieces so as a parts pack it's not bad (I'll definitely be breaking it down before long). The catapult is actually decent too aside from the garish blue colour highlights. I'm not a big fan of the new knights from either faction (particularly not the Blue Lions) compared to the previous two Castle lines but the wizard and princess included in this set are nice, unique figs. I've noted that the Dragon faction also have some interesting new heads in this line which should be good for MOCing. Overall a decent set particularly if you can't wait to see what Smaug looks like in the Hobbit line for a dragon.

I would like to see a Medieval siege set with a proper attempt at a siege tower, catapult, ballista, mantlet, battering ram and maybe even a mine. It can come with a section of castle wall ala Helm's Deep to smash/pound/collapse. That would be a nice alternative to all the <insert that tiresome argument> examples of this stuff that seem to make their way into system sets. Otherwise I guess another civilian set would be ok - maybe a travelling troupe of performers with jugglers, acrobats, dwarf, musicians, dancing bear etc in a village square? Of course, a dream set would be a gladitorial arena or Roman legionarre camp but it seems unlikely we'll see this sort of thing unless we get a theme from the classical era.

That's nice of them although I'm not very fond of what they're charging for the Ewok Village ($400) or Orthanc ($330). Looks like I'm still best waiting until September 1 to order either of those direct from TLG (there should be a free Polybag/minifig by then).

I like it - but what happens when it gets close to a castle wall - are the dinosaurs unhitched and the tower pushed closer by hand? At the moment the drawbridge with the orcs on it isn't able to reach past the dinosaurs' backs meaning they will have trouble getting into a castle that way (maybe the trolls can just throw them over the battlements?).

I'm just wondering if anyone had an opportunity to pick either of these up and if they could post some comments regarding gameplay?

I think next year is the 25th Anniversary of Lego Pirates, so it would be nice to see something to commemorate....however this pack just looks like a bunch of spare parts thrown together. It isn't even labelled "Pirates" (a new logo might better indicate a new theme incoming) and there are no new heads/torsos to get excited about. I think I'll hold my fire on this one...but I guess if you're looking for a crab, parrot, old school map or non-CMF Pirate Captain it isn't a terrible place to start.

My local Coles had about 12 boxes of series 4 out until recently...even the thieves seemed to leave them alone. No idea what happened to them. On a more serious note, has anyone seen new Castle or Galaxy Squad in the wild yet?

I assume you mean NOT coming to retail? Otherwise it sounds like they're dumping their unwanted crap on us!

I'm gonna be saving a lot of money next year on Star Wars by the look of things - unless the final images look a lot sweeter. As an OT fan, I was certainly not expecting 2 Royal Guards in the DS battlepack - Death Star Gunners (if included) will be great but seriously I would have preferred an Imperial Officer, Death Star Troopers or even more stormies over Royal guards (although I guess two more will bring my total up to 6 whih I think is the number the Emperor brings with him to the DSII). The new spring-firing blasters look awful. Apart from maybe a Battlepack or two the rest of the line does nothing for me. The tiny ships with minfigs stuck in them look like Xmas stocking fare to me and converting the City "Great Vehicles" line into Star Wars looks like a bad move. The 9494 Jedi interceptor looks fantastic with a great figure selection and some interesting side-builds but the new Interceptor is just Anakin and R2 in the ship. Dull as dishwater.

Not much for us OT fans but I guess my five-year old will be happy. Hopefully the Death Star trooper pack has some Imperial officers in it and not just four Death Star troopers. Also why a new Jedi Interceptor for Anakin? 9494 is still available (unless this is a CW version?).

You can't go wrong with Arkham Asylum, Haunted House or Orthanc IMO.

I got the SW bonus stuff in the May 4 sale the last two years without spending anything on SW Lego - just put what you want in your cart and see if it adds the bonus stuff is my advice.

Went to Toys R Us at Lunchtime and picked up a Sail Barge at 20% off. They had some strange pricing for some of the other SW sets - the Rublic Gunship was ticketed at $159.99 - a pretty good deal if you take an extra 20% off but the smallest Tank Droid set was marked at $55.99 - a rotten deal even with 20% off. I didn't scan either item as I was in a hurry but I guess worth checking out if you're after the gunship.

I'm only going to get a Barbarian (great face and torso - although I fear the back will be unprinted) and a Tiki Warrior for a Cannibal MOC I'm planning - the mask is awesome. I *might* get a Scarcrow simply because it looks like an awesome figure. Otherwise this series does little for me and is the poorest selection they've produced for a long time. BTW I think the 1337 on the Constable's collar is for "LEET" (look at the numbers upside down) meaning "elite".

As I said in the Histroic forums thread - the RRPs for the Castle sets are generally pretty reasonable - I'm liking the smallest set with 4 minifigs for only $13 and the Castle at $140 is $30 cheaper than the Kingdoms version but has more pieces. I wasn't looking at this year's castle as I don't like the childlike Lion heraldry much but if bought at a 20% discount that's almost 1000 pieces of castley bits for MOCs at only $112...hmmmm....

The prices are more reasonable than I thought they would be - the smallests set is only $1 more than the US RRP and the Castle is $30 cheaper than the Kingdoms castle was despite having more pieces.

I buy SW sets almost exclusively for the minifigs, being not so much into spaceships. Saying that, there are some sets where I've also enjoyed the diorama effect the sets create in conjucntion with the minfigs (eg Battle of Endor, some of the Hoth sets, Jabba's Palace etc).

Gutman looks a little thin...but I guess he would look strange with Bombur's Belly And Beard combo!

I saw a few of the new Star Wars sets at Toys R Us Today in the ACT - although I wouldn't recommend buying the Droid Tank from them as it was marked as $15 above Retail. Also they had a few of the new city sets including the (I assume exclusive) police set.

Toys R US have 20% off Lego for the next few days.

Looking at all the sets together it looks like 5 year old's castle dream...but sadly lacking for AFOLS. Hopefully they'll release a D2C Set ala the MMV or Kingdoms Joust at some stage to make amends.

20% off Storewide at Toys R US this Friday to Sunday! Coupon here: http://view.ed4.net/v/AMT65VX/THAKV/3VVAZ8L/AY5N3/?utm_source=eDM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=[Wk21_2706_INSTORE_FRENZY

Dropped in at my local Big W today - they had a gazillion Town Squares and Creator Houses out and a scattering of Orc Forges and Jedi Interceptors. No sign of any Death Stars or LOTOR Boardgames though. I picked up the Batman movie on Blu Ray with the Kent minifig for c$20. No sign of the DVD version although I'm assuming they're holding that back for the sale.

I definitely like the castle better with those Gatehouses added to it, but it's not enough to make me splash out for it. I'll get a few of the smaller sets but generally I find the garish blue and kiddie-friendly heraldry of the Lion/Crown knights a bit to offputting to spend big on this line.