ZO6

All the sets in the line look fantastic. I really wish the saucer parts were printed, but otherwise I really like the designs and parts used across the board. I was disappointed with some of the Space Police 3 sets, but any of those issues seem to have been addressed here. Being someone who loves playability, all of these definitely look to deliver. I'm already really looking forward to a second wave, particularly a base.

This is wonderful news! I was hoping we'd hear something about the latest modular around now. Hearing how so many people want a Town Zoo theme, I think that this pet shop will be a highly desired set. The few details sound great so far - I can't wait to see some pictures!

This is a review of Canadian Bacon taken from IMDB, I think it sums things up pretty well: "I don't usually write reviews, but I feel compelled. Just read through the user comments on Canadian Bacon here and I'm chuckleing. Not only is this movie subtly hilarious, its nearly perfect as so many people are only contributing to the joke. I recall sitting in a hostel in Switzerland on a trip across Europe, and listening to two American guys drinking and talking to two Austrailians. They were telling them about this hilarious movie called Canadian Bacon that did such a great job of making fun of how stupid and dumb Canadians are. Which only makes the movie better, because it is so obviously, once you are in the know, a satire of America and particularly it's arrogant/ignorant (take your pick) stereotypes of Canada. Truly, with every scathing review stating "This movie is a waste of time as it makes obvious stabs at Canada. That country should be insulted and the joke gets old." No, the joke only gets better with every American reviewer who doesn't get it, pushing it that much closer to a truly inspired masterpiece." With that out of the way, I believe this should be dropped before some sort of flame war erupts. Now onto a Lego related note - has anyone spotted/know when the Technic Super car will be hitting store shelves?

My thoughts go out to all those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Best wishes to all. Glad to hear you're fine too, Def.

Thanks for the review, Blakbird! I picked up the new 8069 Backhoe Loader earlier today. I think it's a great mid-sized model, but now I'm craving the Supercar more than ever. This is arguably the best looking supercar yet (save for that atrocious rear end) and the functionality is logical and adequately complex. TLC really needs to do a better job of thinking out what sets to include power functions with. While the motor seems to increase the 'bling' factor on this set, it isn't really necessary and would have been much more appreciated in a different model. The pros still far outweigh the cons with this model, so I'm extremely happy that TLC listened to our requests and gave us this excellent set!

Thanks for the front page, WF! I'm always happy to review older, forgotten, or generally less liked sets in hopes of shedding some new light on them. Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I appreciate it! I didn't know until I got this set that that roof had so much space, the angle on the box does a good job of hiding that fact. I'd also taken about 200 pictures in total for this set (mostly for my own reference), but I didn't want to post that many for this review and have everyone become bored. I too love that the fortress is pretty logically designed, yet it has those over the top extras such as the dragon head and massive trap door - they really add character! I got the set off of Bricklink for about $150 US ($160 CAD at the time) and I'm happy with every penny spent. Asides from seeing reference pics of this set in catalogues or online, I'd never really seen it in detail until I built it myself. This meant that all of its details and traps were a surprise to me. While photos of play features are great, sometimes you just can't beat a video. These elaborate boxes with the flaps containing short stories and plastic panels revealing the contents of the box are an absolute joy. When I pick up these oldies I always opt for the MISB ones so that I can experience the sweet packaging and shiny parts. I find the colour scheme easy on the eyes. The somewhat earthy colours and interesting shape of the structure lead to an organic looking fortress. With winter in full effect here I have a limited window to get picture taking done - I like my natural light, but having only a few hours a days makes things difficult. On the day of receiving this set I was able to take pictures of the packaging and paper work, as well as all the parts, but then it got too dark. Not wanting to wait unti the following day to construct the set (I was too excited to wait...), I continued that day to assemble the fortress. The next day I disassembled the set and proceeded to rebuild it and take pictures for the review. I'm glad the pictures didn't turn out too bad after all - I like the make sure these classic MISB gems are well documented! I'm one of those people that love these large baseplates. I don't consider them cheating, instead I think that they make the sets more three dimensional and add character. It makes transporting the set around easier too. I was very pleased to find that this set didn't have a single catapult. I don't mind them now and then, but I don't like it when the sole play feature of a large set is a catapult or flick-fire missile.

I've always only seen this set in those little catalogues that used to come with sets or more recently on sites like Brickset. The set looked appealing to me and after nearly 18 years I've finally been able to get myself a MISB copy of it. Read on to find out all there is to know about the often overlooked Fire Breathing Fortress, the largest set in the Dragon Knights theme. Info Set # - 6082 Name - Fire Breathing Fortress Theme/Subtheme - Castle/Dragon Knights Year - 1993 Piece Count - 393 Minifigures - 6 Price - MSRP $64 US Links Brickset, Peeron, Bricklink, Brickshelf Box The front of the box depicts the fortress on some sort of very high mountain top. This is set against a lovely orange and yellow sky as we can see far off into the distance. Note the emblem at the top right - while the theme is commonly known as Dragon Knights, the box refers to them as Dragon Masters. Missing from the front of the box is the set name, piece count and age recommendation. The set name is found on the top of the box while the piece count is found on the bottom. There is a warning that the small parts are not suitable for children under 3 years of age, however there is no other age recommendation present! As expected for a set of this time, the back of the box is host to an assortment of alternate models. Some of these are actually pretty decent, shame there are no instructions for them My favorite feature of these old boxes is the front flap that can be lifted up. The pictures highlight several of the play functions of the set. Also present is a small motivational set up story for the set. Here's a close up of the story: Under the flap are some clear plastic windows that allow you to see some of the contents of the box. The window to the left displays a number of interesting and exciting parts. The other window shows off some bagged parts. Box contents Sliding the cardboard tray out of the box gives us a better view of its contents. Thanks to this style of box everything is nicely packed and nothing gets damaged. The plastic on the display tray has started to peel away but no harm has come to the parts. Safely tucked away underneath everything is all the paper work. Here we've got a poster, the instruction manual, a subscription offer to the magazine of the time, a flyer advertising some sets, and a lovely cloth flag. Instructions The back of the instruction manual has a slightly different picture than on the front, and at one corner is a points token that could be cut off and used to help qualify for the Lego club of the time. Here are two random pages from the instruction manual. The page to the left shows what most of the build was like - there were no piece call outs and often 10+ pieces were added every step. Sometimes there would be arrows that point out where parts go if the view is obscured. The page to the right shows one of the few sub-models. As mentioned, the pace of the build is very fast - there are a lot of parts added every step and you have to pay close attention to spot where they go sometimes. I personally think this makes the build a lot more fun and it also allows the manual to be a minuscule 26 pages long. Colour differentiation is a no brainer as they're all perfectly represented. Some parts appear in multiple colours, but identifying the proper one to use is never a problem. I miss manuals like these... Poster The set also comes with a beautiful fold out poster. This thing measures approx. 16x22" and features a variety of castle sets on the front side (pictured) and many other sets that were available at the time on the back. Pieces Here are the contents from the display tray. Printed parts include the lovely wall and arch as well as the scroll. We've also got the head knight and his amazing cape, Majisto the wizard and his beard and glow in the dark wand, the dragon's torso, the distinct red roof, and some other stuff. The set contains seven bags of parts. Loose in the box were two LURPs, a rare stair piece, and a 1x16 beam. The contents of panel 1 were loose in the box (same as above), while 2-4 were the largest bags. They contain many arch pieces of varying sizes, wall pieces, turret tops in two sizes, some plant life, other large bricks, some minifig torsos, dragon limbs, a horse, and some accessories. Not a bad little castle building kit. The four physically smallest bags are stuffed full of more pieces. 1 contains loads of basic bricks and blocks as well as some accessories and weapons. 2 has got a wide variety of useful parts, including a set of large brown doors. 3 gives us the bulk of our minifig legs, and well are other parts. 4 contains the smallest pieces and more interestingly it also has two swords, a bow and arrow, and a quiver. Minifigures The fortress comes with three "generic" soldiers. These guys are admittedly pretty cool though. The printing on the torso is really nice - the big belt and dragon head look great. The red, blue, grey, and black colour scheme is simple but eye catching. All three figs have the same head, but thanks to the different weapon and helmet combinations they all seem unique. The pimped out guy on the left has an interesting torso print with metallic shoulder armour. He has a large helmet with three small holes to allow those yellow accessories to be attached. Note his lovely bright shield and cape. In the middle is the infamous Majisto along with his glow in the dark wand and crystal ball. To the right is the lone wolfpack minifigure. None of the minifigures have back printing as such as technique wasn't done at the time. Here are some extra shots of the awesome uber knight and his sweet cape The Dragon Knights theme introduced the dragon figure. His mouth, arms, tail, and wings can all be repositioned. Studs on his back allow a minifigure or anything else to be attached. The set also includes a horse. He can carry around some flags and a weapon. Note his dragon-esq head protection. And of course here are all of the figures together. The build As with most sets that are built on one of these raised baseplates, you start the build by placing supports around at the back. A support is also placed in the large pit. These allow the fortress to have greater floorspace. This is literally 2 steps later. As you can see, the build progresses quite quickly. At this point the base has been rotated around as well. At the back we can see a low wall has been built. Note the two hinge pieces - a secret wall will later attach onto these. The main doors have been added. At the back the prison is being built. The first of two LURPs has been put in place. Here is the secret wall/entrance. It is eventually pretty well hidden/integrated with the fortress. From a different angle, the second LURP is added - this one will host a large tree. Here is the current view of the back/side of the fortress, we can see that the staircase has been added. Everything has been built up some more, many large arches have been added. At the back some red roofing has been put in place. Back/side view again, showing the distinct red roof that is used throughout the dragon knights theme. A treasure chest is filled with some rubies and emeralds. This fits in nicely at the base of either LURP. The dragon can fit nicely in the pit and protect the treasure. The trap door at the top of the fortress is built. It is simply built out of a couple technic beams, a plate, and some pins, but it works very well. The rest of the roof plates are added, as are the turret pieces. There is a lot of floor place on this level. Here is another view of the roof, this time the supports for the tower have been placed. Tucked away in there is a small fireplace. The tower is a sub model that is then placed accordingly. The lower black round 1x1 is the top of a chimney, while the top one will soon hold a flag pole. The fortress at this point. It's looking great and is just about done. Note the finished tree. The dragon head is yet another sub model. More on how this works later. The dragon head attaches thanks to a technic beam. This allows the head to pivot. Completed fortress Alt. views 1 (front and right side) Alt. views 2 (back and left side) Complete set. Doesn't it look nice? Play features and other details Here we have the secret entrance all closed up. The entire wall piece can be pulled down to allow entrance or exit from the fortress. Around at the back of the fortress is the prison. In this case the sneaky wolfpack figure can be locked up. The cell is pretty cramped, but one can't really expect a medieval prison to be very comfy. There is an entire brick built bar underneath the trap door that normally keeps it up and flush with the rest of the second story. Pull the bar back and the giant trap door drops. You could drop an entire army or guys through this thing! Down to the dragon below! Here is a video of the trap door in action: The dragon head is filled with four grey 1x1 bricks that are sitting on the tongue. There is a spear that runs through the side of the dragons head that keeps the tongue level and in place. When you pull the spear our, the tongue can then drop down and released the "boulders" upon unsuspecting intruders. Here's another video: Majisto can stand up in his tower and cast spells on those below. There is no ladder up to the tower, but we all know ladders are a rarity among Lego structures. Besides, Majisto is a wizard, he can just used magic to get up there. There are many clips spread around that can be used to hold weapons. Note again all the lovely floor space on the second level (and that ridiculously huge - but very well hidden trap door) On the way up the stairs is a hook to hang whatever you want... such as a bow and arrow. Final Thoughts Design/Build: This certainly is not your generic looking, boring castle. In fact, this fortress is quite unlike any other Lego castle. The fortress has some good height to it and despite its relatively small size seems pretty imposing. While I say relatively small size, this is in comparison to say the Royal Knights Castle, or most modern castles. I must admit though that the fortress is larger in person than I thought it would be after all of these years of seeing it in pictures. It's quite attractive looking from just about any angle and has a nice organic feel to it. The red roofs contrast nicely. Though there is a lack of a ladder to the top tower, the rest of the set is logically laid out and makes for a good defensive fort. The build is a lot of fun and takes longer than modern sets of similar pieces counts. This extended build time is due not only to how the instructions are laid out, but the design of the castle is deceptively complex. A complete lack of any sort of repetition makes this an utter joy to assemble! Pieces: Though the piece count is relatively low for this being the largest set in a theme, this is still a wonderful castle parts kit. At first glance it appears that the castle is made up of only large parts, but there are in fact loads of regular bricks and blocks used throughout. There are not a lot of printed parts, but the ones that are included look great. There are no stickers. The fortress could benefit from an additional minifigure, but the current 6 is respectable considering the size of the set and the piece count. The included minifigures look great and the dragon is very cool. Playability: Wow, a castle that doesn't have a single catapult! That's right, the playability comes from a secret wall, a boulder launching dragon head, and a massive trap door! The dragon head and trap door are actually very satisfying (the dragon head is a bit fiddly to reload) In addition to these, there are plenty of other details and things to keep you busy. Top marks! Verdict: This set is often overlooked and referred to as the castle that was "the beginning of the end" in terms of quality castle designs (even though Royal Knights Castle, one of the finest castles ever made, as well as Fright Knights which really were pretty good came afterwards) but this fortress is actually really neat. I've been wanting to get my hands on this set for nearly 18 years and I'm not disappointed at all - the set is far better than I thought it would be. The design is very unique and the set offers loads of playability - the best of both worlds for any Lego fan. As always, comments and questions are more than welcome. Cheers!

This is an epic review, Rufus - beautifully done! (I had no choice but to browse your lovely pictures on brickshelf a day or so ago and patiently await your review, but it was worth the wait). The jet is easily one of the best looking creator models yet, and the set still provides two other pretty strong supporting builds! It seems as though TLC has finally nailed the jet fighter, guess they just needed to allocate a large enough piece count for it. While 1-2 of the models are usually throwaways, this time even the prop plane and boat look nice. I kind of miss the days of creator sets having 3+ models, but if TLC can continue to put three quality models like these in each kit then I look forward to what they cook up in the future. Thanks again for the very informative review.

Thanks for this review, TheBrickster. I picked up a couple of the NinjaGo sets the other day (Ninja Ambush and Ninja Training Outpost) as they were cheap sources for some of the new figs. I too could not help but get nostalgic over the original Ninja theme. Ninja Knights is as you said - a perfect army builder. It's great to get a diverse range of wonderful minifigures. I personally much prefer these classic characters over the newer generation of ninjas. I too immediately thought that the one on the right was truly Toshiro Mifune in minifigure form. But surely the one in the middle must also be Takashi Shimura, and the one on the left seems to be a combination of Toshiro Mifune and Koji Tsuruta in Duel at Ganryu Island. Thanks again for this trip down memory lane and I look forward to more to come.

Happy new year everyone. Hope 2010 has been great and that 2011 is even better!

Thanks for sharing this, it was a pleasure to read! This is a perfect example of why I like the whole Adventurers line so much - even a relatively small set can provide a lot of fun. I'm always amazed at how many accessories and interesting parts are packed into these sets. Loved your comic adventure too. Keep these up.

Ditto. Never in my life have I been secretive about Lego. In fact it seems as though every year I go out of my way more and more to make it known that Lego is my hobby. I'm in college for film & television production and living on campus and my dorm room is absolutely covered in Lego. I've got the Tower Bridge + about 20 or so sets currently built and on display. My room has become somewhat of a tourist attraction. Whenever I get new sets my neighbours always stop by my room to check out what I bought and help with the assembly. There is a TRU about a 10 minute walk from the residence and the staff know me well - there's no more "Would you like a gift receipt?" - they know I'm buying for myself. I can't recall anyone who's ever thought that collecting Lego was a bizarre thing, and even if I did - that wouldn't change my attitude towards it at all. If something makes you happy in life (especially something as brilliant as Lego) then don't be afraid to let others know. And at the very least, don't go out of your way to hide the fact that Lego is your hobby, I'm sure you'd be surprised to find how many people would be envious.

Thanks for this review! Gosh I love space sets from the late 80s and early 90s. Blacktron 1 & 2 contains some of my favorite ships and sets ever. Those original Blacktron figures are just so darn cool. The trans-red wedge wing pieces look really neat on this set and are pretty rare too. As you said, this is a great mid-size ship!

Well, they're certainly not classic town, but they're definitely welcome in my town. It's about time we got a new marina and another harbour is always a good thing. I agree with prateek, the marina is definitely a big facade, but its got lots of lovely details.

Thanks for the second batch of images! Alright I'm sold - these look fantastic. The parts used get a big from me. The alien mothership looks a lot smaller than upon first inspection, but it's still awesome nevertheless. I can't wait to get my hands on these. Here's looking forward to a wave # 2 already!

Hot dog! I was just about to order the Battle of Alamut from S@H, but if I can sneak into TRU on boxing day before everything is sold out then I don't have to wait for it to be shipped out. Nice. Some pretty good sales overall for S@H, I'm sure everything will be sold in a matter of hours. I'm going retro with my Lego purchases this Christmas. I've already got a MISB Alpha Centauri Outpost headed my way courtesy of Bricklink, and next week I'll have to hit up some more classics.

These sets look like a lot of fun! If these sets use studded wings similar to these and these as opposed to technic panels like these then I'll be sold on the theme. Guess I'll have to wait for better pics to see what kind of pieces are being used here before I decide whether these will be purchases or not. In any case, these prelims look great. I guess I'll have to hold out for the second wave before I get my big base, but this first wave looks pretty neat anyways - especially the alien faction. Bring on the high res. images

Just got the latest S@H catalogue in the mail, it has about everything we'd expect - NinjaGo, new police sets, Pharaoh's Quest, Star Wars, Technic, etc.

Yeah, just saw that as well. Hopefully they stay at that price for us, that would be fair. Not a fan of most of the rest of the pricing for stuff for this year. Seems as though piece counts are falling and prices are rising. Oh well, that's always the trend isn't it? I'm glad I'm not interested in this first wave of Star Wars sets - a 389 piece Jedi Shuttle for 80 bucks!? Some of the pricing for the NinjaGo sets is kinda wonky - Spinjitzu Dojo is $65, and the Skeleton Bowling is $40. Reasonable pricing on the smaller sets in the line though (Ninja Ambush and Ninja Training Outpost). I wish TLC would get the instructions for the Pharaoh's Quest sets up online. I've got all the sets, but after a recent move they've all been disassembled and I'm currently without their manuals. For those who are interested, there are still plenty of series 2 minifigures at the TRU Express at the Woodbine mall. The staff there is friendly and basically encourage the use of cheat sheets for the figs.

The bank looks wonderful, I'm so glad that we're finally getting another one. Our thieves finally get to do some more robbing instead of being stuck filling up prison cells. I'm really pleased with the size of the set, the details, and the extra vehicles and minifigures - it's a very well rounded set.

Wow, hold the phone, is that temple expected to be a retail set or is it a moc for display purposes to promote the line? (I check this thread all the time for news, but I could have missed if that temple had already been announced... and if so I apologize). It certainly looks pretty slick (and shiny ) and combined with all the other ninja faction sets would make for one very cool training area. This is bad news for my wallet though, I've gone from not wanting to buy any sets from this theme to needing everything from the ninja side Edit, I think I'm answering my own question a bit with this, but there seem to be some new parts and stickers with this set, so I guess that about confirms its legitimacy?

I think it's still pretty tough to judge things too precisely as none of us have gotten our hands on the NinjaGo theme yet, but I do have some thoughts regardless. While NinjaGo sounds totally fun and crazy in concept, the sets themselves seem a complete mess in a bad way. I'm getting the impression that the bulk of the playability of these sets will come from one's imagination, otherwise there seems to be a lack of functions and tricks & traps. Again this is a personal preference, but I like my sets to be filled with more classic studded parts. It looks like the NinjaGo piece counts are going to be inflated by loads of spikes, viking horns, flick fire missiles, and technic pins. Time Twisters/Cruisers on the other hand had loads of good old fashioned accessories from a handful of different themes. NinjaGo looks to have some good minifigures and accessories, but the sets themselves just are not appealing. Sure Time Twisters/Cruisers sets were completely nonsensical, but at least every set from the very smallest to the very biggest was built to have maximum functionality. Functions were usually powered by elastic bands or gears, but they worked well and certainly kept me going back to play around with the sets. So which theme is weirdest? Well, Time Twisters/Cruisers was pretty straight forward in terms of storyline and the sets were pretty crazy. NinjaGo on the other hand has Ninjas vs. skeletons and some really messed up sets. I like the sets for the Ninja Faction, but I'm not feeling the skeleton sets at all. Between the two themes, NinjaGo gets my vote as being the weirdest.

I had to go with the Bi-Wing Baron. While the Spirit of Luis is from one of my favorite sets of the Pharaoh's Quest line, the simplicity of the Bi-Wing Baron can't beat, and it's that simplicity that gives it its charm. That and the Bi-Wing Baron is nearly unmatched in terms of swoshability. I'm glad to be the owner of both planes, but if I could only keep one it'd be the good old Bi-Wing Baron.

I completely geeked out while looking at the high res. pictures of the temple. As is the general consensus - the set is an amazing parts pack. Those new column pieces are long overdue and are going to be brilliant for mocing with. There is a a bunch of other neat parts in interesting colours too. I'm loving the minifigures in the set, I think that the lobster guy is perhaps a new favorite of mine in the entire theme. I personally don't like the new yellow/red colour scheme as much of the old, however having more parts in the trans yellow is always a huge bonus for moc purposes (particularly for making good old Blacktron stuff). The sub is actually pretty well designed and not a throwaway like many vehicles in large sets. The temple looks like a lot of fun. Being a fan of course of tricks and traps I'm glad to see that the set should have lots of playability. This set has just become one of my most anticipated of the year. I can't wait to pick it up!

That morning I phoned the Woodbine Mall which is about a 10 minute walk from my residence to see if they had any of the sets but they didn't. I then tried the Dufferin Mall and they too had not received any of the new sets. Knowing that you had said that the Sherway Mall had some of the Pharaoh's Quest sets I called them to double check exactly which four they had. When I entered the Lego section and saw someone looking over the Pharaoh's Quest sets I thought to myself "sok117 said he was going to be here today, I'll bet that's him". I grabbed the Scorpion Pyramid and toured the rest of the Lego section a couple of times to see what other new sets they'd stocked. When you were still eying the Pharaoh's Quest display and had the Sphinx in your hands at this point I was basically certain that I must have run into another AFOL. In hindsight I wish I'd said something. P.S. - How are you liking the Sphinx set? I haven't decided whether I want to collect the entire theme or not as I'm a bit iffy on the Sphinx and Cobra sets.