ZO6

Funny that you should make a thread about this, Brickster, I just finished a large 'de-cluttering' of my room! My Lego lair is still my bedroom. Save for having my bed in one corner and a dresser with a computer in another, every surface of my room is covered in shelving for Lego. Unlike many, nearly every set that I own is built and on display. I have a reasonable sized collection (somewhere in the range of 400 sets), and currently about 250 of them are out on display. I then have around a hundred more built but hidden away, and then nearly a hundred more in storage in bags. If I could display everything that I own I would, but space is severely limited. I've recently had to become much more creative in the way that I display my sets in order to maximize the amount that I can put out. Unfortunately it's no longer physically possible for me to display everything, so I've been forced to bag up many sets. I'm usually very good about keeping my room very tidy, and I try to dust my Lego about once a week (I use a large blower bulb - it's meant for blowing dust and junk off of and out of camera equipment, but it works wonders for dusting Lego too). As additional safe-guards, I have UV resistance plastic on my window, and a portable dust filtration unit. A couple of times a year I always seem to fall behind in storing my new purchases, and this past winter was particularly bad. Between October 2010 and March of this year, I purchases a huge amount of sets, but unfortunately I didn't have anywhere to put them. I was, and still am under the attitude of "I'd rather buy the set and have nowhere to store it than not buy it and regret it later". So what happened was that I had a good 50+ sets assembled and laying on the floor, sets stacked 2+ high here and there, and stack of boxes up to my ceiling, and simply just a ridiculous mess. Thinking back, it's really quite absurd how much of a mess I'd created. Finally last weekend I got out a bought a whole load of lumber to make new shelving out of. I've gotten into the habit of buying 12" deep butcher board in 4 or 6 foot lengths. It looks quite nice, and the generous depth allows me to display most models. I flattened all the boxes and eventually managed to find a place to put them. I then set about stocking my new shelves with all the sets I've acquired over the past 8 months. While I'm not super happy with my current displays, at least I've gotten rid of all the clutter from around my room and house. Everything has been nicely consolidated once again. While I've started thinking about how I can add more shelving to the few square inches of wall space that's still left in my room, I've long since come to accept that the only way I'll be able to keep buying more Lego is by disassembling and storing away large amounts of what I own and perhaps doing a rotation of sets to display. Once I get my own place to live in within a couple of year, perhaps I'll be fortunate to have a large room that I can dedicate to my hobby. I apologize for the ramble, and I hope I've made at least a bit of sense. My excuse is that I'm tired. I'll see about taking some pictures of my room this week and posting them. Great topic Brickster!

Very creative story and ship, Rufus! The ship is different than most stuff that we see, quite unique. You've used a number of interesting building techniques that I like, and the greebling/details are fantastic. The PF lights are icing on an already supremely tasty cake!

I'm very pleased to hear that another wave of "Quest" sets is likely on its way. I purchased all of the PQ sets within days of them being released earlier this year. I've been having to go through Bricklink to pick up the remaining sets that I need for my Johnny Thunder collection as I needed my Adventurers fix. As far as I'm concerned, another wave of the Quest can take place anywhere. So long as there are an adequate number of structure based sets, with lots of elaborate play functions, then the theme can take play where ever and I know I'll be happy. It would certainly be easy to follow a similar trend as Johnny and co. did by hitting up the Amazon. This would provide a nice exotic location with the potential for many different exciting sets. I would however like to see Jake go on a unique path and not revisit all the same locations seen with the Adventurers. I see that a number of people have suggested something in the Arctic or Antarctic. While its been a while since TLC has done a theme taking place in a snowy location, I can't imagine the set designs would be as interesting, nor as recognizable for children. There needs to be a fine balance between finding a setting that is exotic, yet that would feature landmarks or names famous enough for a child to be able to associate with. So if a jungle or snow theme is not be chosen, where then? With the current NinjaGo sets out, I doubt TLC would have Jake travel to China or Japan. It'll certainly be interesting to see where the line goes to next, though to me a return to the jungle (Will it be in Central/South America or India?) seems the most likely.

Fantastic review, R8! Very informative! I'd browsed through the ME site perhaps around a year ago; there was a lot that interested me, but I never got around to purchasing anything. After reading this review though, now I definitely want to try out some of the track. This seems like a great alternative for Train fans as the Lego solution simply is not as appealing. Some of the models (houses and whatnot) on the site looked pretty neat too...

Magnificent review, Lorentzen! Lovely photoshopped pictures, too. I love reading reviews of old sets, particularly when they are either MISB or newly acquired and restored (as you've done). The BSB is about as grand as Lego sets can come. The pirate wave that this set belonged to brought so many firsts to the Lego world - truly remarkable. I'm afraid that if I started my praise rant about this set I may be here for far too long, so I'll try to keep things short and sweet. The minifigures are all wonderful, and the ship is filled with loads of details and opportunities for play. It's incredible that this was the first pirate ship, and yet it has arguably yet to be topped. This is the way Lego pirate ships should be done!

Thanks for sharing that, Def! Great prank. I'd be tempted to keep the Lego car in place of the real one.

Thanks for the highly detailed review! As a non-watcher of the CW show, I like the ship itself but the minifigures are hideous. I'm not sure if I like this or the Republic Cruiser more, though the latter definitely stands out on the shelf more thanks to its bright red colour. The changes made on this ship made it worthy of a "re-release", and I think it's one of the best Star Wars sets of the summer wave.

Glorious review, Cloney! Very funny too. I agree with a lot of your points. I was pretty disappointed with this set when it was first unveiled, but its grown on me greatly and I am particularly pleased with how well it integrates with last year's castle. I really like the assortment of parts that are used to furnish the various rooms, though that empty room is questionable. As always, I really miss the use of prints in sets as they would've brought this set to another level for me. Had those two portraits been prints, I could have perhaps overlooked the lack of stuff in that room. It's a shame the back of the bridge just drops into ugliness. It know the designers wanted to put an easily accessible knob for the exploding feature somewhere, but compromising the bridge was a bit silly. Overall though, I am very pleased with this set. (Oh, fantastic pictures btw)

Unfortunately it was a very small room and the bed was partially attached to one of the walls. It was a spare bedroom in the house and became kind of a storage room, so it was packed to the point of making it hard to get in the doorway. It would've been a weekend project just to move the bed. Looking back however, I regret not doing the work to retrieve the rocket.

Thanks for this review, Future74! Price aside, I like this set quite a lot. I personally like the studded look as it gives the ship such a classic Lego-y vibe. Some of the gaps and certainly the underside are pretty nasty, but since this is a relatively small ship I'm sure I could find a spot to display it where I won't see those flaws. Minifigures don't normally draw me to a set, but I find all the ones in this quite appealing. The Padmes and Qui-Gons that I have are from their pre-flesh days, I don't own Darth Maul and then Panaka is new of course. The ship flopping open while upside down is a rather large oversight, but this can easily be moded. So while the set is certainly not outstanding, it's a must buy for me (perhaps when it's on sale though).

I haven't lost any pieces for a good ten years, but sometimes pieces manage to get into places that are a pain to try and retrieve. All the floor vents in my house have an amazing ability to lure Lego parts into them. It doesn't matter where I am, if I happen to drop a piece it will take all these crazy bounces and go down a vent! As I said, I get them back, but it's still annoying. One of my greatest loses happened a long time ago. At my old house I was doing some major swooshing of one of the rockets from the Ice Planet theme. The rocket somehow ended up behind a bed frame and at the time I didn't feel like re-arranging the room to get it back. Years passed, and while I never forgot about the rocket, I just never got around to retrieving it. About 10 years ago I moved into the house in which I currently reside. Unfortunately one part of selling my old house was that we leave some of the bed frames and appliances for the new owners. The rocket was never recovered and I fear that it's still trapped in that other house, or if it was ever found it was probably thrown out.

Great castle, de Gothia! At first this looked like a fairly simple castle, but upon closer inspection there are so many great details! The design seems quite sensible and allows for some nice interior spaces. Overall it looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the review, MB! I completely agree that this makes for a nice little parts pack, as well as a fine army builder (the alien in this set sure is a great stand-in for the Mangalore ones in The Fifth Element).

Thanks for this review, Zeek! (Oh, and beautifully crisp pictures, too) As a standalone set, this isn't anything spectacular, but it complements the rest of the Alien Conquest sets nicely. This is also a really good little army builder set for those who are into that.

Yes, it's a shame the minifig assortment wasn't more appropriate. Here we have lots of Davey Jones and his gang now in multiple sets, but we haven't received some of the more important characters at all. And I guess what I meant about it not quite 'being' the Black Pearl was more along the lines of this: Take the Millennium Falcon for example - it's well enough recognized in society that anything even marginally the same shape could be passed off as being the ship. The Black Pearl though hasn't become as well known of an icon, so unless the Lego version were to be very accurate, it could easily be passed off as just a generic pirate ship at first glance. If this weren't part of the POTC line and didn't have the name of the ship slapped across it, I'm not sure many people would know what it's trying to be. Hope that makes sense.

I haven't watched any of the POTC movies in a while, so I don't really remember the fine details of the Black Pearl. With that out of the way, here are my impressions: For straight up Pirate fans, this should be quite appealing. The ship has a very classic look to it, and some highly desired parts in black is a huge bonus. My first thought, and as someone else said - it really does look like a black version of Brickbeard's Bounty. I could definitely picture Lee Van Cleef in command of the ship! From a POTC view, this doesn't stand out to me as being the Black Pearl. Again, my memory is a bit hazy. It's a bit bland looking, but I never thought to myself "this looks bad" or anything. However, as WhiteFang said - this is just a small prelim picture. I know the design won't change much on the final version, but we should reserve final judgment until we have better pics/a review. I personally applaud TLC for coming out with such a popular ship at what should be a slightly more reasonable and thus more accessible price.

Hmm, I'm not entirely sure what to think. Back when the ISD came out I thought they'd never release the SSD, but it's nice to be proven wrong. I think my biggest complaint is that we'll be paying so much for something that could be more accurate and detailed. This looks pretty good, but it still has a lot of flaws. I don't see this looking as impressive on my shelf as the ISD does. Oh, and I am soooo over stickers being used in these ridiculously expensive sets.

Incredible! The amount of detail is mind-boggling. The whole MOC is one big feast for the eyes, I could just stare at it for hours. The use of lights to create the water effect is beautiful.

Castle fans are always craving more civilian based sets (and rightly so!), and the summer wave of the Kingdoms line satisfies. More than a quarter of a century after TLC released the well loved 6040 Blacksmith Shop and 6041 Armor Shop, we finally receive the Blacksmith Attack! Info Set # - 6918 Name - Blacksmith Attack Theme/Subtheme - Castle/Kingdoms Year - 2011 Piece Count - 104 Minifigures - 2 Price - MSRP $10US, $13CAD Links Brickset, Peeron, Bricklink, Brickshelf Box On the front of the box is a colourful picture displaying the set, all of its contents, and the battle-to-be... once the Dragon knight makes his way across the tiny river. The back of the box has a different angle of the set, and it also demonstrates the play feature - by turning the water wheel the hammer works its magic! As is becoming a popular trend, instead of having one of the minifigures to scale, an accessory - in this case the hunk of gold - is shown to scale. Instructions The front of the instruction manual has the same picture as on the front of the box. I've saved you all the agony of not showing the picture on the back of the manual. Here's a look inside the instruction manual. There are no piece call-outs, but don't worry, it's still easy to follow. Colour separation is not an issue. Near the back of the manual is a lovely two page spread displaying all of the newest Kingdoms sets along with some of the older ones. For all the parts lovers out there, here is a high-ish res. scan of the parts inventory: Parts Inventory Pieces Instructions aside, the box contains two bags of parts, a bag of weapons, and a 4x12 plate. Here are all of the parts on display (please forgive the harsh shadows). The set consists of a range of pieces in nice earthy tones. Originally developed for the Heroica line of Lego board games, these same weapons have made their way into this set. These new weapons are significantly smaller than standard ones, and are a very soft and rubbery. Minifigures The set contains two minifigures - a Dragon Knight and a blacksmith. The Dragon Knight has appeared in a few other sets, but the blacksmith is unique to this one. He has a wonderful double sided print torso, and his apron extends down onto his legs. Here we have a better look at the figs with their headgear off. The Dragon Knight has a single sided head, while the blacksmith gets the double. This double sided head is new too and seems useful for lots of applications. Out with brickbuilt fowl and in with pre-molded ones. This rooster came in his own separate little bag but he feels like pretty good quality. It includes printed eyes, comb (fleshy hairdo), and wattle (fleshy part under neck). Here we've got a size comparison of the new kid in town on the right with his brickbuilt predecessor beside him. To help understand the size of the new animal, I've thrown in our blacksmith friend and everyone's favorite accessory - the bucket. As you can see, the rooster is pretty small. The Build Time to start construction. First up is the little weapon stand. Its got two clips at the front, and it can also hold the armor and a third weapon on the top. This seems like something we'd get in an impulse set, or in an advent calendar, but it's a nice addition never-the-less. Now onto the main build, the forge comes first. The little chimney looks a bit silly and seems kind of useless as most of the flame is exposed anyways. In any case, it's essential that the blacksmith has fire! Next up we have a nice little brickbuilt anvil. A clip on the top allows you to secure whatever weapon you want to work on, in this case a dagger. The walls for the shop go up, and the mechanism for the hammer go into place. At the right of the shop we can see that a small blue plate has been attached, this of course indicates that it's situated on some sort of stream or river. The water wheel is built and attached. This is similar to the one from the Medieval Market Village, but it is a bit smaller and simpler. Hinges are also added to the top of the shop. With the roof attached to the hinges, the shop is now complete. From the front we can see that the interior is used up by the hammer and mechanism. There is however still enough room for two minifigs to squeeze in. Here's the view from the back - nothing new really to see, but at least we have pretty good access to the interior. Onto everyone's favorite section - play features! Oddly enough, this set doesn't contain a single catapult or flick-fire missile! Instead we have something infinitely more complex - a water wheel that when spun makes the hammer get to work by going up and down. The mechanism to do so is simple but effective. Left over pieces. Collectors of bucket handles are the real winners here. Complete set Here are all of the contents of the set together. There is no official place for three of the new weapons to go, so they can float around and placed as desired. Just don't lose them! Despite the presence of the Dragon Knight, the blacksmith looks pretty happy. Is it because he's holding a huge hunk of gold in his palm, or does he know something we don't? Final Thoughts Design/Build: This is a really nice little set. The weapon rack could use a couple more clips as trying to lean stuff against it is a bit of a pain, otherwise the leftover weapons just kind of lay around. The shop looks like a shack that's missing a couple walls, but this allows for easier access to the interior. The overall set is satisfying as you get a lot of content for your money. The build is fun and fast, but more rewarding than many sets of similar piece counts as there are a number of details and even a play function. Pieces: This is a fantastic parts pack. There are a number of rare pieces such as the bucket and the water wheels. You get a set of the new weapons from the Heroica line, one of the new roosters, and a unique minifigure with fantastic prints. The rest of the parts are useful enough, and you even get a handful of the wonderful palisade bricks. Playability: Top marks for the amount of play potential here. As is the trend with many modern Lego sets, you've got a 'conflict in a box' by having both a good guy and a bad guy to duke it out. You've also got a fiery forge and a working water wheel powered hammer to craft weapons. As far as 100 piece sets go, you can't do much better than this. Verdict: This doesn't look like a $10 set, but it is and I love it. It's nice to see cheap sets give you so much! The set contains some great pieces, provides loads of play potential, and it looks great on display either by itself or with other castle set-ups. As always, comments and questions are more than welcome. Cheers!

Really nice vignettes, Adrain86! You've packed lots of details into these, they look great. In the Lego world, I'm a huge fan of anything remotely related to the Adventurers theme, so I find these particularly appealing. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the review, Future74! I really wanted to like this set, but as time passed and I saw more and more pictures of it, I realized that I was underwhelmed with the results. My biggest problem with the set are the proportions and the gaps between the flaps that make up the top of the ship. I can deal with the size of the cockpit as anything smaller would severely compromise the ability to seat more than 1 fig. The front mandibles however look ridiculous - surely this just came down to lazy design. In addition, the access holes on the top of the mandibles are so small that they look silly. While I'd have liked the bottom of the ship to be somewhat more finished, I can forgive this somewhat as adding more to clean it up would only further drive up the price tag. The large gaps between the panels on the top of the ship are unacceptable. In this day and age, TLC is capable of using the proper parts and building techniques to minimize these gaps - particularly for a set that costs as much as this. I do like what has been done with the interior, the minifigures look great (Luke is the real winner), and I love the amount of greebles that were used on the exterior of the ship. I own the original minifig Falcon, but unfortunately I can't justify picking up this newest one.

I've managed to collect a huge spread of themes covering 21 years, and looking back I'm shocked to see that the only major theme that I missed picking up even a single set from was Batman! 2006 and 2007 were about the closest I ever came to a dark age (low single digit acquisitions for those two years) but I still can't say how I managed to not grab a single Batman set. I certainly saw the sets on store shelves, but I just never got around to purchasing any, and then before I knew it they were not longer in production. I think there were a lot of great sets to come out of the Batman theme, and I particularly like the minifigures (I'm not normally a huge minifig fanatic). While I'd still love to acquire some sets, I can't justify the prices on Bricklink. While I don't go out of my way to collect a set from every theme just for the sake of it, I always seem to find that there is at least one set per theme that I want. This will allow me to never repeat what happened with Batman. Particularly with large sets now, I often find myself picking them up under the mentality of "you'll regret it later if you don't buy it". While this means I spend large amounts of money on Lego now, I know that I'll be happy about my choices in the future.

Good to hear that you and your children are enjoying Lego! Neat design. Good to see that it has a hinged wall for easier access to the interior, and that it has a staircase to the second story.

If I were to go with the attitude of "all Lego sets are too expensive", then yes POTC stuff would be overpriced. However, looking at Canadian prices for the theme I think they are very fair. I've gone to compare all of the POTC sets with everything else that is currently available and they are nearly at the top of the list for best price to piece ratios. I'm not however the biggest fan of price to piece ratio rules for Lego; so having bought some of the sets myself and just looking at the size of them for the price I paid they are slightly less good value. The sets that I've bought though have great playability and some neat pieces, so I'm fine with the prices I paid.

Thanks for this great review, Def! Nice photos too, I particularly love your title pic (did you do the mountainous background yourself?). As some of you may know by now, I have yet to see any episodes of the Clone Wars tv show. I am therefore unfamiliar with both this ship and the Savage Opress character (I saw the Clone Wars movie, so I'm somewhat familiar with Ventress). That Savage Opress minifigure looks pretty neat, but I don't find it as appealing as the similar Darth Maul one simply because I'm more familiar with the latter. I must say that I really dig the little spiky headpiece, so I'm fine with there being a planet full of those folk. The ship doesn't seem to be the most inspired looking thing ever, but perhaps if I saw it in action I might warm up to it a bit (though as you said, it only appears on screen for a matter of seconds ). Despite the predictable amount of stickers, I'm very pleased with the printed parts in the set.