ZO6

I was at the TRU in Newmarket today (Ontario), and they had most of the latest summer sets. Well, seems as thought they've already sold out of a number of the Star Wars ones, but there was still a good selection across all the themes.

Jeepers! Both those sets just became even more desirable. The post office looks outstanding, and while watching the video I couldn't believe how many cool printed pieces there are (well, I hope that they'll be prints at least, some of them are currently stickers but that could be because they are prototypes). Before seeing the video for the VW bus, I thought it looked good, but not a must buy. Seeing the interior and all the other great details just launched it into must own territory. Absolutely brilliant!

Wow, thanks for linking to those pics, Ogre! Really wish I'd been able to make it out to Brickfete. Looks like there were loads of amazing creations, must've been a great time!

Beautiful review, Pandora! (As per usual) When I was younger, my sister received a whole slew of Paradisa sets. At the time I didn't want any of them to 'contaminate' my collection, so I made sure she kept them away. Around 10 or so years ago, I came to my senses and adopted all the Paradisa sets that she owned into my collection. I really appreciate the theme and feel that many of the sets are truly outstanding. While this set doesn't rank up as high as some of the others, it's very unique nevertheless. I would have missed the pleasure of building this set from a sealed box (my sister got to do that of course), so I particularly enjoyed seeing you document the whole process. The alternate models are extremely creative; I'd never noticed them before! Thanks to your efforts to build them I won't have to dig through my pile of boxes to do so myself .

I feel kind of guilty replying after such an...awkward bump, but I'll try to make it worthwhile. Recently I've been feeling a bit bummed that I missed picking up most of the sets from this amazing theme. Hoping to remedy this, I turned to Bricklink. Being a huge sucker for MISB sets, I was disappointed to find that this set, along with a number of others from the theme could currently only be found in used condition. I'll have to put my purchasing on hold for a bit until some new copies show up, but in the meantime its been nice to re-read this review! While this set doesn't really have any complex functions, it still looks to offer loads of playability. I really love the number of vessels, minifigures, aquatic lifeforms, and other accessories that are included in this set. It just feels like you're getting so much content! I really wish prints had been used instead of stickers, but the set doesn't look too bad with them not applied. I imagine I'd give in and apply the stickers as I think the little fish and some of the other ones are quite charming. I can only hope we get another theme similar to this in the future. It's a bit of a shame that so many current lines need the "conflict in a box" approach and are thus more action/fantasy sci-fi oriented. Sometimes it's nice to get peaceful sets where one can use their imagination for play instead of good vs. bad/giant monsters. Sure there are lots of sharks and other dangers present for the divers in this theme, but somehow it still seems lighter than many more recent action heavy lines. I guess it's all about keeping the kiddies entertained...

Anyone else getting really grated about the number of BOGO 50% off sales (and variations) the US has been getting over the past months? They seem to be getting one every other week! We haven't gotten really any sales in a few weeks, little own good ones like that (all I've seen in TRU ads is "New Lego sets available blahblah"). It's bad enough we pay way more for Lego here than in the States even though our dollar is at par/better, can't we get some decent sales too!?

The new TIE and figs look fantastic! I think the biggest reason the cockpit looks bad in those pics is because it's open a click or two. I'll bet if it were closed all the way it would look a bit better.

Holy heart failure, Batman! Good on these companies for coming together and fulfilling the dreams of many! The prospects of having Batman and other DC franchises was huge news, but Marvel joining in too is overwhelmingly awesome. I have no doubts that all the figs will be outstanding, but I'm obviously most excited to see what kind of sets we get. Oh happy day!

I just invisibly shat a load of bricks, this is wonderful news! I somehow missed picking up even a single Batman set when they were available before, but I'm certainly not going to make the same mistake. I think overall I prefer most Marvel superheroes, but those from the DC universe are hugely welcome in my books. I can't wait to see what the sets look like!

Thanks for this review, cralegoboy! I know there are a lot of people out there would dislike the Dragon Knights theme and believe it was the beginning of the end for Castle (up until some of the most recent stuff at least). Personally I've always loved the line and thought that the sets looked very unique. I liked the attention that was given to the new dragon figure and to the wizard Majisto, with the latter receiving his own little headquarters. Majisto's Magical Workshop seemed to have very strong Forestmen vibes (well, I suppose a number of the sets from this line do for that matter), and that makes it all the more appealing. As you said, this set is great for playability - another factor which has always made me adore it even more. I was lucky enough to pick up this set and most of the others from the line in MISB form last year, and I have zero regrets. Now after reading your review I want to get out all the sets to play around with!

I don't want to start down a long price rant, but I've generally found that sets of equal price contain around the same amount of plastic even if the piece count is different. Meaning that similarly priced sets should have similar weights. Take $50 sets for example throughout the years, they will all likely be similarly sized even if the piece counts varied. One observation with modern sets though is that we have so many small detail parts (the ever popular cheese slope) that drive up piece counts but don't add much substance to the model. Some of those sets that were listed, such as the Rapid River Village and Hydro Crystallisation Station - these are both physically large sets. Sure there are a lot of large parts, but there is a lot of plastic being used in those parts. The UFO set - it was pretty large too, and included a micro motor and fiber optics. But it's only natural Lego prices are rising, after all many things are! Certainly oil prices are skyrocketing. And TLC has figured out how hugely popular minifigures have become and now use them as a massive marketing strategy to get your hard earned money.

I still haven't received any of the mail from during the strike period, which is very annoying indeed. My poor Club magazine and catalogue are still floating around our there somewhere. I tried requesting another catalogue incase the other one remains MIA, but the service on the Lego site seems messed. Every time I fill out the catalogue request, it keeps saying that I haven't entered my province. I haven't checked to see if just this Mac is acting dumb or if it's a widespread issue. Edit - Well, here I am a couple minutes later having walked over to check the mail box, and in my hand I have the catalogue. It doesn't have any of the most recent SW stuff or NinjaGo, but it does have most of the rest of the sets to have already come out this year. Oh, and I love the 'Free shipping and free Kingdoms set with orders of $75 or more' on the front - a deal which expires today (Not that I didn't already know about the deal of course, but others who rely on the catalogue for such a deal would be SOL).

A well deserved promotion, Rufus! You've really become a great contributor to this site in so many ways.

Really great plane, Peppermint! I think it looks fantastic, and I'm a fan of the three props - makes it more unique and exciting! Though I always love anything Adventurers-esq, I'm in one of the phases again where I've got a particular soft spot for such a thing. Thanks for sharing.

Good question. TLC has been doing a great job of providing lots of compatibility between different parts, and I was expecting to find a match for the new widescreen. I ran a check using a wide variety of slopes, but none of them matched the new piece. Some of the parts that I tested included: curved 4x1 - no studs, curved 3x1 - no studs, curved 6x1, curved 8x2x2, and 1x3x2 with curved top. I stopped at that point as it was seeming doubtful I'd find any matches. I'll check a couple more parts later, and perhaps take some pictures to show how the various slopes fit in comparison.

Thanks for this review, pikafunk! I really like the look of this set - as a display piece it looks marvelous. Oh, and the printed parts are beautiful! However, I'm really disappointed with the playability of this set. Asides from the temple splitting in half, there aren't really any features. Kind of a bummer for a 1000+ piece flagship set. I recently found a MISB Dragon Fortress on Bricklink for less than the Fire Temple, so I decided to take my money to the Adventurers classic. Perhaps I'll grab this NinjaGo set when it goes on sale.

I'm very glad to see TLC doing many things to be more environmentally friendly. I personally think that the smaller box sizes are fantastic, and are a positive change for many different people. It's a shame though that the instruction booklets are many times longer than they were in the past. Multiple 40-80 page booklets for sets that would have used a single 30 page one in the past is ridiculous.

Ah, fantastic display! There's so much to look at, everything is fascinating. I'm not sure what is my favorite, all the different vehicles or the floating islands. Certainly I spent the most time admiring the construction of the islands, but everything is so great that once you start looking at the next creation in the display you can't help but be blown away even more. Thanks for sharing these pictures and videos!

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone! I'm content with the set as it is. It's one of the best values around, so while more pieces could likely enhance it more, I'd hate for the price to go up. I'm in the same boat - this and the HQ are easily my two favorite sets from the line. I love the theme as a whole, but these two seem to have the best designs. Off topic, I couldn't help but notice you changed your avatar to a pic from Calvin and Hobbes. I pulled out my collection of C&H a couple days and started re-reading them. When I was younger I probably didn't get half the humor, so they're funnier and more relavant than ever. Thanks R8. Agreed about the flick-fire missiles - this is one of those rare cases where they actually enhance the look of the model and don't get in the way. Always glad to be of service!

What happens when you take classic space and combine it with the UFO theme? Alien Conquest! The Jet-Copter Encounter set caught my eye when I first saw it. I'd been craving some Space sets for a while, and the Space Police 3 theme left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth (mostly due to the Technic panels everywhere). The Alien Conquest theme looked like it would provide more of a classic build, so I decided to jump on board to see what they were like. Info Set# - 7067 Name - Jet-Copter Encounter Theme/Subtheme - Space/Alien Conquest Year - 2011 Piece Count - 375 Minifigures - 3 (1x ADU, 2x aliens) Price - MSRP $40US, $50CAD Links Brickset, Bricklink, Peeron, Brickshelf Box The front of these Alien Quest sets are all so eye catching! I particularly like the colours and the images of invading aliens. The action scene involving the Jet-Copter fending off the alien ships looks great, though as per usual the flick-fire missiles aren't doing anything useful (I don't blame the pilot, those things never fire in the direction or the distance that you want them to). At the back of the box we have some nice alternate angles of the various ships contained in the set. There are also a number of smaller pictures which show off some of the play features. The top of the box gives you a nice shot of the included minifigures. These little guys don't get to be shown to scale anymore, instead a flick-fire missile is presented at 'actual size'. I don't think showing accessories at full size is as useful as doing so with minifigs, but with the way box sizes are finally decreasing, it's harder to squeeze in the figures. Instructions The picture on the front of the manual is the same as on the box, I've therefore not taken a picture. However, near the end of the manual is a nice shot of all the sets from the theme together: Here's a random page from about halfway through the instructions. Piece call-outs are ever present and colour differentiation is good. Here are some links to high resolution scans of the parts index in manual: Page 1 Page 2 Parts There were four bags of parts in the box which are used to build the set. The following pictures represent the contents of each bag, minus the minifigures. The first bag contains the parts for the two little alien ships. Notable parts include the arches, the 16 purple round 1x1s (1 extra not shown), and two of the new windscreens. The second bag contains the bulk of the parts required to build the Jet-Copter. There is a huge range of parts - most of them are basic studded piece, but those are my personal favorite! The third bag of parts is used to build the remainder of the Jet-Copter (engines/landing gear, prop, tail), as well as the pod for the alien to be stowed away in. A fourth, non-numbered bag contains the largest pieces. Here are my picks for pieces of interest. The blue engine is a new mold which I'll show in greater detail in a second. The 6x6 canopy is the same as the one from General Grievous' Starfighter, though this one does not have the print on it. The 6x4 bubble canopy is still relatively new, and it only appears in a few sets in this light-trans blue. The 6x2 windscreen is a new piece and can currently only be found in this set, I'll talk about it more later. The big blue tail is taken from modern Lego airplanes. I'm not a really huge fan of the piece, I much prefer these (I know they're smaller), but I still like that the large tail has been used over say these Technic panels. Moving on, we get a pair of the ray guns that first appeared with the collectible minifigures, and a pair of the new guns made for this theme. To finish off the selection of parts, we get some of the grill column parts famous for their Atlantis debut, some of those new 1x2 plates with a clip on top, lots of round purple 1x1s, and a single printed tile. Here's a comparison between the old engines and the new mold. From left to right: the studs on the top are now filled in, there are less contact points on the bottom, the front/inside has received additional support + the ability to clutch a Technic beam. The new windscreen isn't a replacement for the one on the left or anything, and it does have some differences. Overall it is both one stud longer and taller, much of this is due to the bar at the back which allows it to be clipped into place. It's nice to get a small curved windscreen, and the ability to clip it into place will promote the presence of cockpits that can easily be accessed. Minifigures The alien heads come sealed in two separate little bags. The heads are the usual nice hard plastic and are of excellent quality. The set contains three minifigures: two of the alien pilots, and one ADU (Alien Defense Unit) pilot. The aliens have detailed prints on the front of their torsos and legs, but nothing on the back. The ADU guy has prints on his front and back. The level of detail on these prints is incredible, and the metallic bits are especially nice. Here's a look at the ADU pilot with his helmet off. I can just imagine that the expression on the front would be when he is blasting aliens out of the sky, while the one at the back is reserved for picking up women at the bar. Here's a closer look at one of the alien pilots. The head has a wonderful 3-D look to it, and it has lots of different embossed sections such as the brain like bit on the top. The paint job on the head is nearly flawless, and overall the head looks fabulous. The Build Alien ships To get things started, you start by putting together the two alien ships. The instructions have you build one ship, then there is a x2 at the end indicating that you have to go back to the start and build a second one. In these cases, I always build the multiples of whatever at the same time, as I find it's easiest and somehow seems less repetitive (not that building two little ships is particularly annoying ). Anyways, after far too many steps, you have a small base for the ship. Many steps later you have the engines attached, as well as the laser and some other odds and ends. It's not long before you get to build a pair of "wings", which will clip into place. Here's the completed ships, minus the stickers. I was somewhat surprised how many of the set's 375 pieces go into making these little ships. I think with both of them built, you're already down 100 pieces or so. While I'm glad they are more substantial than I initially thought, I'm a bit disappointed the Jet-Copter isn't made up of more parts. In any case, these little ships are leaps and bounds above many of the throwaway support vehicles included in the recent Space Police 3 theme. As if swooshing around these little ships were not enough, you can fold up the wings and combine the ships together. The blue pin is used mostly for support while the black one keeps things together. The two ships click together easily, stay attached well, and separate again without much fuss! Well done! This is how the ship looks when combined. If you had more of these ships, you could continue to attach them together to make something as wide as you wanted. 3 or even 4 ships all combined might not look too bad, but more than that would be a bit silly. After great debate, I finally decided to apply the stickers. The ships looked pretty dull in my opinion and needed some sprucing up. Having seen pictures of the ships with the stickers on, I didn't think that they looked very much more exciting. This is simply a case of the stickers being pretty dull. However, the ships needed all the help they could get in terms of flair, so I gave in and applied the stickers anyways. With the alien minifigues in place, the ships look a bit more interesting. While I really like the designs of all the alien craft in this theme, the colour scheme to me is a bit boring. If the light bley was replaced with chrome, that'd be pretty wicked, but it would of course raise the prices a load. The alien fits quite snugly into the ship. The windscreen curves up nicely over the alien's head. Somewhat annoyingly, the only way for alien to hold his gun is with it sticking out the side of ship. A little place to clip it for storage would have been nice. I hope the alien can fly fine using only one hand... Jet-Copter Now for the moment we've all been waiting for (well, all you parts and minifig lovers probably have already seen what you were looking for ), onto the big guy. Building the base of the Jet-Copter includes taking care of much of the cockpit. Already we have a control panel, and next to it a spot where a control stick will soon be added. A few steps later, the ship is built up a bit more, and lasers/guns have been added to either side of the cockpit. Around at the back, the red piece is where the pod for the alien will eventually clip into place. Next up we build a pair of flick-fire missile rocket pods. Having not tested them yet at this point, I still had high hopes that they might not fail miserably. I would be proven wrong... The rocket pods are attached to the ship. The SNOT parts on the sides of the rockets are where the wings will later be attached. The ship is built up some more, and the two rocket pods are covered up. I must say that I was really enjoying the build at this point. I almost felt like I was building a long lost ship from the Ice Planet 2002 theme, minus any white pieces. Next on the agenda is the construction of the tail. It's nice and strong, and once attached provides a perfect handle in which to hold/swoosh the ship. The tail is put in place. The ship is significantly longer now and looking great. At the front of the ship, some guns are clipped into place. Though there are still more to be added, I was already surprised at the amount of firepower that this thing had. The cockpit canopy and lower tail fins are attached. The Jet-Copter is starting to look pretty sleek now. On the left is how the bottom of the ship looks at this point. The next step (as see on the right) is to add clips on which the engines/landing gear will be able to attach. A pair of engines/landing gear is built. These are quite long and remind me of something out of an Exo-Force set (this one perhaps?). The engines get attached. Since everyone loves pictures, here are a whole bunch! Now it's time to build the pod that the alien can get put into. The pod is fairly compact, but it's roomy enough inside that the alien can fit no problem. The pod can easily be attached to the back/bottom of the ship. Though it's on a hinge, the pod can only be attached directly and not at an angle. Also, the pod cannot be attached upside down as it won't fit. Next up are the wings, and more guns! The wings are securely attached to the sides of the ship. The point at which the propeller will be attached is also added to the top of the ship. The propeller and upper tail fins are added. The Jet-Copter is now complete, though minus the stickers. The swooshing can now begin! From the side, we can see that the ship has a pretty low profile. Unfortunately from here you can see the ugly pod sticking out the back. The inclusion of the pod seems like a bit of an afterthought and rather clumsily tacked on. The pod cuts into the amount of room that you have to hold the tail, but luckily it can quickly be pulled off if you want to do some serious swooshing, clutter free. A nice clean rear, complete with red and green tail lights. Here's some additional shots for those picture lovers. The Jet-Copter is a great looking ship. I love this top view. The forward swept wings give the ship a very aggressive stance. The pilot can fit pretty comfortably in the cockpit. The designers at TLC were kind enough to provide him with not only a control panel, but even a joystick too! I was a bit disappointed that the canopy was not hinged or that it didn't have some clever mechanism to slide open. The one yellow stud at the back right keeps the canopy from falling off during swooshing maneuvers, and it works fine. To get the canopy off though, you have to grab it from the edge diagonally across from the stud and lift upwards. From that point the canopy comes off pretty easily, but if you try to lift it from anywhere close to the stud it'll be a pain. The stickers get applied, and the Jet-Copter can really be considered finished now. The ship looks fantastic. I really the the designs and patterns on these stickers. It's a shame none of these were printed parts otherwise they would have jumped to a whole new level of desirability. Lovely printed parts can be a selling point for me, but unfortunately stickers are not. In any case, these stickers look quite nice. The ship looks good with or without the stickers, but obviously I've chosen to apply them (I apply the stickers in almost every set). Look at all those weapons! In this shot I've also folded up the engines to show how they look at their highest point. Play function I've already covered the other features and play functions in this review, so I thought I'd take a closer look at the flick-fire rocket pods. Press the black ball joint and out fires the missiles! Errr...well...they fire just in front of the ship most of the time. If you're really really really lucky, you might get them to fire about 6 inches. While they may not be very functional, but they look pretty good at least. Complete set Here's the complete set, with sticker applied. The alien ships are an appropriate size in comparison to the Jet-Copter. All the contents of the set, and no stickers this time. Everything still looks good. Final Thoughts Design/Build: The small alien ships are surprisingly detailed (to the point that I was worried about how many pieces they were hogging), and while the Jet-Copter brings retro vibes, it is quite modern and high tech. Yes you have to build two of the alien ships, but I don't think that bit of repetition will bother anyone. The build of the Jet-Copter is a lot of fun and will no doubt feel nostalgic at times. Everything in this set looks incredible, and save for the attachment of the pod, everything is very well designed. I love the colour scheme of the Jet-Copter, but the alien ships are a bit bland. Pieces: This set contains a huge assortment of pieces in a range of colours. There are a number of rare parts, and even some pieces making their debut. The minifigures are phenomenal and the prints are beautiful. The ADU pilot is current exclusive to this set, and the aliens are still a novelty. Playability: Swooshability is a huge factor here, and the sturdy construction of the ships allows one to swoosh worry free. The alien ships can be played with separately, or combined into a larger form. The Jet-Copter has a removable pod for storing aliens, a rotating propeller, adjustable landing gear, and flick-fire missile pods (albeit weak). Overall though, this is a fantastic set for playing with. Verdict: TLC has done a commendable job with the Alien Quest theme. This Jet-Copter Encounter set is a very reasonable price, offers lots of play value, and looks great on display. As always, comments and questions are more than welcome. Cheers!

Well, I could call them plastic, but then that wouldn't be accurate to their feel and flexibility. These are amongst the softest minifigure accessories I've ever felt. They are just as flexible, if not more, than the Spartan Warrior's spear. The biggest difference is that these have kept a glossy finish. I don't think any of these new weapons would have been under threat of bits breaking off had they been made out of a harder plastic.

Fantastic review, Rumble Strike. Lovely pictures, too! Though I initially put off picking up any Kingdoms sets, one day I saw this heavily discounted and I just couldn't resist. It was a fantastic introductory set for me to the line, and it wasn't long before I had to go out and buy the rest of the Kingdoms set! I fully admit that I spent a good half hour using the catapult to shoot at the tower. I'm usually not a fan of catapults in modern Lego sets and think that they're far too abundant, but there was something hugely addictive with this one. This fun over-powered the fact that there is a non-existent interior and not even a ladder to be used. Good thing Lego can easily be modded!

Great review, Rumble Strike! Congrats as well on the badge! I really appreciate that with all the lamp posts that TLC puts into their city sets, that we got a new repair vehicle for them. I'm not a fan of all the stickers, but they're to be expected in this day and age. Regardless, this is a very nice set. Hopefully we'll get a new recycling truck to pick up all these green bins scattered around!

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Yeah, back in the day this would've had another fig or two, but by today's standards I think it offers very good value nevertheless. Here in Canada the set costs a few bucks less than any BPs, and while it has less minifigures, the structure is much more substantial and it includes a nice helping of neat accessories. Had another fig been present, a wife or kid to go with the blacksmith would've been my first picks. Haha, my thumb received a good ol' bashing while working on a set (err, a film set, not a Lego one ). It took me so long to do this review that my nail has almost grown back to normal. Um...moving along... I certainly don't mind the size of the new weapons. All minifig accessories are comparatively HUGE, though it does make them easier to handle. I'm not a fan of the new weapons being rubber, and if it's for safety issues, it seems to me that a child would more likely put a nice soft rubbery weapon in his mouth than a harder plastic one. I guess it would go down easier if swallowed though. Oh, and I'm sure it significantly reduces the stabby-ness of them too.

That's extremely clever! Love the 'deer in headlights' look on the caterpillar. Great find, thanks for sharing!