TeufelHund

Not a review but here are my impressions after building it last night: I have to say the pictures don't do it justice - the completed set is one of the most beautiful you'll ever see. The best bit of the build was definitely the twin towers and large archway behind the joust proper - so much attention to detail, interesting build techniques and new (to me) and interesting pieces. I have to say that if you are into castle MOCing you won't be disappointed with the parts selection on offer in this set! The minifig selection is a bit of a let-down - the only new figures are the nobleman and princess (although I have to admit the princess is gorgeous), all the others are repeats from other sets. The Falcon knight's armour, shield and barding are new, but his torso/leg prints are just the same as the Dragon Knights from the rest of the Kingdom's line. There's also an interesting smattering of accessories so I got a couple of printed tiles I haven't had before, plus a bread stick, cherrries, a book etc etc I think it is important to note that this set is designed for display - there are no play features at all (although my son was quite happy this morning to have the Lion knight roundly beat the Falcon Knight and imprison him in the attic of one of the towers). Also, while the interiors of the main building have some furniture and other detailing, looking sideways you are literally only getting half a building - you will need two sets if you want to have a fully enclosed structure viewable from 360 degrees. If you're like me, and just plan to display it on a bookshelf, you won't have any problems as it will only be viewable from one direction and that looks great. Overall I give this two thumbs up - it's great whether or not you want to build it and display it or utilise the parts for your own castle creations. I guess if I want to nitpick, I would probably say for a "joust" set the main and best part of the build is basically a castle wall. A few more things actually related to jousting would have been appreciated (eg weapon/armour racks, additional stands, squires for the competing knights etc). Also there's not much of a crowd watching - but that can easily be fixed with a few peasants from the MVR or MMV. Finally, the King's Carriage won't fit under the archway so you still can't make a grand entrance without some MODing(although at least mounted knights will, unlike in the King's Castle set).

The Lego Club Australia magazine normally comes with a little flyer that tells you which sets are exclusive to which Australian retailers - but sadly the December issue didn't list the Joust. It may well come to some of the Australian online resellers who tend to sell at or around RRP (eg Shopforme/Just Bricks/Bricks2the World etc). Other than that it's Ebay or Bricklink, or wait and see if S@H does any sales where postage is free (like they did for the May the 4th promotion last year). I ordered mine from S@H despite the screwy price and postage because it's supposed to be my Xmas present and I can't wait!

This seems to have slipped under the radar a bit but I just saw the latest trailer for this and it made me think it might be suitable for a quick "Prince of Persia" type wave, particularly given there seem to be quite a few vehicles. Of course, I gather the Prince of Persia wave wasn't that successful, so it probably remains an outside possibility unless it ends up with a few sequels.

For smaller sets buying locally at discount is probably just as economical as buying from overseas - it's only really for bigger sets that substantial savings can be had once the cost of delivery is taken into account.

I agree - there's something not quite right about the new 3-PO - but I do like the printed eyes - so worse case scenario is you can chuck the new head on an old body. The new Sandtroopers are awesome though (still a damn shame they didn't give us a new Dewback instead of that tiny non-canon swoop bike). Not so sure about the new Clone Trooper in the CW battlepack though - it looks almost too colourful. I prefer fleshies to yellow faces - IMO they simply look more natural/better. I wish all Lego would go the way of the flesh but I guess TLC don't see it that way. Overall, I like the fact that there are constantly new upgrades made to old minis (stormtrooper heads for example were changed in 2008 but they still look close enough to odler versions so that you can mix and match). If you're making a scene you can always position figures so that minor printing/detail differences aren't apparent.

I was in Myer yesterday and they had a 5 day sale, 20% off all full-priced toys going (they still have some Lego on sale from their latest catalog that isn't covered by this reduction). Sorry I forgot to check when the sale started/finished. They also had the new DK lego books there albeit not on sale.

I like it and will definitely be picking up a copy, although I am a bit disappointed with some of the minifigs. The Falcon knight, Prince and Princess are great - and I'll take a queen as I didn't bother to pick up an Advent Calendar but the rest are disappointing - the king is the same as in the King's Carriage and the armour on the Lion knight is the same as that in Prison Tower Rescue, the stable boy has a torso from the MMV and the Lion Soldiers I already have a bunch of. Still a very nice set that will go well with existing Kingdoms sets/MMV. My only hope is an Aussie retailer gets it as an exclusive and there's a chance to get it at less than the Aussie RRP on sale.

Can't say these sets do too much for me - the yellow colour scheme is a little too garish. Of course, we may still end up with some if my son takes a fancy to them.

I only saw series 5 going for $4 before discount, but didn't look too closely.

Hmmm - at this stage I'm eyeing up the Endor pack, Droid Escape and the Tie Fighter. Might have to get the Geonesian Cannon for my son. The new Sandtroopers look great - now we just need a new Dewback...

I went into Toys R US Belconnen this morning to pick up a big bucket of bricks at a discount as my 3 year old is just starting to get into building his own stuff, and the shelves were absolutely jam-packed + they had a second huge row of Lego near the front entrance apart from the usual section. All the Toys R US exclusives were there in force so they are obviously geared up for the sale. A good time to pick up some of the more ridculously-priced Star Wars exclusives at a reduced price...

Does R2D2 have his belly-wheel out in Droid Escape? That wouldn't be half bad as I have 3 of him already so a bit of variation wouldn't hurt. I would like to see the Sandtroopers looking a bit dusty ala the films but I guess that is too much to hope for as it would mean new printing (also why couldn't they have put a Dewback in instead of the stupid swoopbike?).

Just grab it from Big W as the regular price there ($96) is already 20% off the RRP of $120. They also had the Dragon Prison for around $28 which is roughly the same as you would pay with a 20% discount. The other two sets (Blacksmith Attack and King's Carriage Ambush) are worth waiting for a 20% off sale though as the regular BIG W pice for them is pretty much RRP ($18 and $70). The King's Carriage set is a rip-off at RRP so definitely worth getting on sale!

If the rumours are true, I imagine the current Kingdoms line will stop and sets will be released along the line of: Mid 2012 LOTOR Wave 1 End 2012 Hobbit Wave 1 (to coincide with 1st Hobbit film) Mid 2013 LOTOR Wave 2 End 2013 Hobbit Wave 2 (2nd Hobbit film) Anything beyond that would solely be based on the performance of these initial waves. Likely 2014 will see a return to a traditional "Castle" themed series.

This set would be a good opportunity to introduce some knights from different factions other than the Lion/Dragon ones (given that knights came from all around to partcipate in these events), although likely we'll just get one of each with maybe a squire or two. A royal pavilion is a must, as are some tents. A smithie would be an obvious choice but as they just released a small set covering this I'm unsure if it will reappear. An archery contest and/or melee area could also be added, as well as some stalls selling food and drink!

Not sure if I agree with it though...I would have placed at least one of the post 2007-era castles in there... http://www.brickshow.com/10-best-lego-castles-of-all-time

My 3 year old loves playing with my Lego (he also has his own). His favourite is the Death Star - he loves dressing all of the good guys (not just Luke and Han) up as Stormtroopers and rescuing Princess Leia (she also has to dress as a Stormtrooper in order to escape). Often there are no Imperials left to guard the Cell Block as all the available uniforms are being used by rebels! I swear he will be a police officer when he grows up because he loves putting bad guys in priosn cells (he does this with pirates, castle, city etc as well). We have a simple rule - if it falls on the floor you have to stop playing and pick it up. Also, I do a quick count of all accessories/minifigures etc every few days and if something is missing I ask him where it is and he can usually remember where he left it. Of course, utlimately there will probably be more wear and tear on my sets than I would prefer but the joy I get from playing with my son is probably worth it.

I attended the event today and a big congratulations to the organizers - everything was much better than last year, which was decidedly more amateur. The floor space was bigger, there were more and better exhibits, more retail space (although the prices weren't very tempting) and plenty of nerds dressed as Star Wars characters to entertain those waiting in line (although I wasn't really sure why 3 of the 4 stormtroopers I saw were black rather than white). My only disappointment was that my son was so excited I didn't really get much opportunity to appreciate the amazing detail that went into some of the MOCs on display!

I would consider buying a decent Geonosian Arena set...

I am a little underwhelmed, particularly having built the QAR on the weekend that simply looks magnificent. Sadly, the minfigs look like the main attraction here, although after a looking at the images a little more closely, the ship is not completely terrible but pales in comparison.

ToysRUs has 20% off for the next few days, if anyone has anything left to spend after all the other sales: "]20% off Voucher

The Customer Service monkeys are pretty brain dead - I told them specifically I had an issue with 8 gold coins and 3 gold bars included in my Isle de Meurta set and they sent me only 1 set of 4 coins and a single gold bar. *sigh*

They always send out replacement pieces promptly when I complain about missing, damaged or poor-quality pieces. I have had one bad experience though, when I complained about some horse armour from a Kingdom's set with pink rather than white, panels. First they sent me out a minifig torso instead of the correct piece and then when I told them about the problem lectured me about not giving them the full details of the piece that needed replacement (BS - I gave them the part number and a full description) and then they promptly sent me a replacement part pinker than the one I was complaining about!

If the Hobbit rumours are true, we can probably expect Kingdoms sets will dry up ala the Pirates theme when PotC came along, especially as with back to back movies in 2012-13 we can expect the hype to stay around for a while and Lego sets alongside. I would love to see a Joust themed set for Kingdoms though, before they're done. Not sure about a new faction - maybe Bandits? New Pharaoh's Quest sets would be good - a temple set, Nile Cruise, Lighthouse (or Library) of Alexandria, crocodile pit etc would all be good, plus there could be some nice minfigs along the lines of the Anubis guards. Of course, the adventurers could just as easily move on to another locale. SW RotJ battlepacks would be nice - either with Jabba's forces or Endor. I'd also like a Sandtrooper battlepack with a Dewback (or a new Moss Eisley set including it). For a brand new theme I would like Rome - you could have the arena, the senate house, market place, villa, legionaire's camp etc - lots of great possibilities.

There's nothing in this set that appeals to me in terms of figures, and the base itself is pretty awful. Guess it's a pass unless my son begs for it.