Multiverse

Actually, the gown is far more in the way than the ponytail is. You can fit, say, the S2 lifeguard in there and almost close it completely, but it'll look odd if you try to stuff anything with a dress in there (you're right, it is impractical in that PQ set (although as a redhead, I think that was worth it for the recolour)). Well, my original idea was to present the reader with the contents of the set and let you decide for yourselves (that's what I mean by 'letting the finished set speak for itself'). I don't want to give ratings, but I'd say that it was definitely worth it for me. @Harakiri - Thanks!

Title: The Zombies Serial Number: 9465 Pieces: 447 Price: 350 DKK, €40, £35 or $40 Hi there! I'm new to this whole reviewing business, and I haven't gone to the Reviewers' Academy. However, I recently acquired an exclusive set which I believe we're a bunch who've been rather hyped about – so why don't you sit down with me as we'll go through the experience that makes set #9465 The Zombies? The Box Featuring the beautiful bat-and-moon graphics that appear on every set in the Monster Fighters line, this one has the added details of gravestones in the dark and gloomy background. All in all, this makes for a very pleasant view, even if the scene it describes is a rather creepy one (which, frankly, I'd have expected to be beyond what TLG would allow themselves – I suspect this might be one of the reasons why this is marketed as an exclusive set, which tends to be the primary target of AFOLs). The back tells us many useful things about the set, showcasing the five play features - though among those are flickfire missiles and a GitD spider, so many reasonable people would only consider that three. Still, three is a lot for a set this size, and I'm particularly looking forward to turning the moonstone to release the dead from their allegedly eternal sleep. There's a little comic, too – this one is featured on the back of every Monster Fighters set, with only the second panel altered.. The moonstone in question changes colour on panel three, too. As you can see, the first panel tells us that disappointingly, 9468 (the Vampyre Castle, as I'm sure you've already guessed) is not included. I, for one, was looking very much forward to finding this very large set inside the box of a medium-size set, and find this piece of news very disappointing. I have to address this strip of graphic, too. It's a beautiful picture which they could've done without, but put in the little extra effort it took not to. I think it's great. Four minifigures are included. That's the real reason you bought this, of course. As Kai is here to tell (and show) us, the 1:1 size comparison picture is, indeed, size 1:1. Oh, and one more little thing: Apparently, this set is really called Zombie Bride, Zombie Groom & Zombie Driver. It's no wonder they've wanted to shorten it down to The Zombies. This line reminds me of Orient Expedition in many ways. Both have this sort of stunning graphics, both are pretty much a renaissance for Steampunk Lego parts, and both have taken me by my collectors' gene and refused to let me go. Buth what Orient Expedition had which this is lacking is something I see a lot of people complaining about in other lines: redundancy. One of the beautiful things about Orient Expedition was that even though I was too young to plan for it, I ended up getting a huge amounts of top hats, guns, crystal pieces, Johnny Thunder hats, etc. If you buy every set in this line, you'll still only have two of each Monster Fighter (and one extra Rodney Rathbone). I realise that the variety of figures would be at cost if they were to include more of each individual figure, but I'd still have liked to have so many bowler hats I'd never need them again. I guess I can't have my cake and eat it. The Contents You know, I first saw this set on the shelves of the Lego Store in Berlin. This was back in, what, May? When it first started being sighted around the world, and I would have bought it right there if the very helpful, but unfortunately wrongly informed, personnel of the store hadn't told me that it would not be an exclusive (as I thought it would), and that I could safely expect it to be included in the sale where I buy most of my Lego. Yet it wasn't, so I had to wait for my return to the Berlin Lego Store two days ago to pick this up. The moral being that you know more about Lego than their salespeople do. Okay, let's open the set and throw the box away (I have; as much as I admire their effort, I can't have empty cardboard boxes lying around)! What´s inside? No comments about the unfortunate child having a fit because his parents won't buy him the Lego he wants. We're used to seeing him at the back of our manuals by now. The instruction manual features the same art as the box. No big surprise there. A random page. Hurry up, take the code from here and use it to unlock scary content (if you dare)! What, you've already opened bag one while I was gawking at the manual? And what's that you're toying with now? Oh, the minifigs! Well, let's have a look at them, shall we? Jack Mchammer is familiar from one of the other Monster Fighters sets, The Vampyre Castle (the one that's not included in this set, remember?). His cyborg arm has been seen before, but is still a nice touch to add to the steampunk vibe that's given by this whole theme so far. Jack Mchammer is part of a gang who've teamed up to prevent anything non-human from ever returning from the world of insufferable terrors they've been banished to. Guess who's my third favourite Monster Fighter? We should all know the Zombie driver by now, since he also appears in the Vampyre Hearse (which is already abundant with cool minifigures), a polybag and next month's Lego Store Exclusive. Still, any zombie, even one as specific as this, is a pretty good armybuilder to me. I don't mind having two. The Zombie groom has unique face and torso prints, and they're very nice, too. Wearing a smug expression and a torn and rotten wedding tuxedo, it looks like he's ready to continue right where he left off. Features a delicious backprint. The Zombie Bride is a definite star. I don't believe we've had this hair in this particular colour before. I personally think it's a rather dull colour, but it fits the theme, and indeed the minifig, perfectly on this wonderful occasion. Also included is unique face (sporting a creepy, satisfied expression), torso and wedding gown prints – in fact, every single piece of this minifig is made especially for this set (unless I'm wrong about the hair)! The soon-to-be Mrs. Zombie has an alternate, disappointed face, for when Jack storms down the aisle to interrupt her wedding. ...and the backprint you've all been waiting for (as a zombie, she has no problem posing for this). I wouldn't worry too much if I were him; Zombies are notoriously slow. You were probably waiting for this: The Zombie ensemble. The Monster Fighters zombies vary from the Collectible version in that they have hollow eyes rather than bloody ones (except for the bride, who has one of each), and that the teeth they have left are more yellowed. But they're the same colour, and perfectly compatible with each other. Now, let's have a look at the rest of the parts. The contents of bag one, minus the minifigures. Even without knowing what set it is, it wouldn't be a mystery what kind of model these pieces will make. I've noticed a trend in bags numbered 2 to contain the rather dreary, boring parts that are necessary to complete the build. At first, this may seem to follow the trend, but if you'll just look again, there's a bunch of SNOT pieces, a number of round 1X1 tiles and a small selection of plates. In this case, I'd rather have an extra Bag 2 than an extra Bag 1. Bag 3 provides us with a small number of more or less blend parts, yet parts that are generally useful and always nice to have, anyway. Bag 4 is what builds up the main visible part of the building (the mausoleum). Therefore, it includes the mood-setting parts, the decorative elements that are often of particular interest to AFOLS. All the parts. Excuse me for a minute while I remove all the parts I don't find very interesting. I'm sorry, Technic fans. I personally think Technic is a wonderful system that's just as ingenious as System Lego is, but after a decade of collecting Bionicle, I've grown satisfied. So I'm not really very excited by that kind of pieces anymore. That is to say, I've given up Technic, but I'd recommend nobody to follow my example. Pieces of interest to me. I've included three pieces that aren't particularly new, because you can't get too many cheese slopes, SNOT pieces or simple, regular bricks. Pieces of interest to the general public. I'm not sure whether the 2x1 cheese slope modification piece-thingamajig has been released before in black, though I suspect it has. There's a few new and useful SNOT plates included in light bley, as well as a handful of 1x1 round tiles in light bley and pearl gold. The brick brick is still new enough to be interesting to me (this set includes four), and the metallic silver 1X4 motor brick thingie might be new, since I'm not into Racers. The GitD spider will probably be interesting to anyone who doesn't already have the Mad Professor And His Monster or the Vampyre Castle (there's our friend again; this one has a lot in common with that set). The pink moonstone is exclusive to this set, not even included in the Vampyre Castle, and introduces new rules to the game: Now the evil Graaf Von Krolock (the evil vampire) can safely lose one of the evil moonstones, and he will still have enough to open his evil gate through the evil moon. Supposedly, the moonstone is also needed to activate a play feature in this set, as we'll soon see. That being said, let's get into the build! The Set And we're started! As much as two pages into the build, we have the base for two wheels. I'm decidedly fond of how sleek the engine looks at this point, while not even ceasing to be a block! Well done! A nice technique is used here. The hammer. You have to build two of these for the car, and I personally think they could've been done better; the Technic rod goes all the way through, and I would think it better, both in terms of parts and aestethics, to round of with an inverted 2x2 plate (as in the Samurai Robot of Ninjago) and a regular 2x2 plate, as opposed to the round versions. If you have the pieces, it's an easy modification to make. What are we building now? Well, it's a grave, and the beginning of a mechanism. The foundation of the mausoleum. Lego's designers know which side of the brick brick is the interesting one, and they make sure always to put that on the outside. Almost finished! I've tried the mechanism that makes the pot fly out, and learned that it has to be restocked every time you use it. This can be particularly difficult for someone as clumsy as me, especially in such tight space. What's that? Up already? Unfortunately, the bride doesn't fit in the graves, so it'll have to be her waking up her groom and their driver. I'm ever so slightly disappointed in this, since I figured I'd have the bride and the groom lying in adjacent plots. But alas, it was not to be. These are the leftover pieces, of which there are surprisingly many. I think my commentary has been sufficiently detailed so far, so I'll let the finished set speak for itself... ...and finally pop that afterlife-changing question we've all been waiting to hear: “Will you bury me?”

Well, it's not the stores who suffer. Bilka is going to sell their share of sets no matter what. I'm thinking more along the lines of What about the people who bothers coming to the store during the sale and finds particular sets out of stock because others have taken them earlier on, though still ending up saving the 40%?. (Yes, that's a group which might just happen to include me, with the array of sets I intend to buy tomorrow. But I don't think the 'accuser' (accuser being in quotation marks since I don't really want to take the role as an accuser; I'm fine with others doing this, I'm just noting that it's not something that goes within my personal idea of ethics) doubling as the victim harms the argument in any way).

I would buy a grand piano, a select few DVDs and enough books (and shelves) to turn a room into a library/music room. And probably also a new laptop.

castor_troy - 1 Cunctator - 1 Watzking - 1 Redhead1982 - 1 Jirikone - 1 There are so many stunning entries in this competition I had to share my points as evenly as possible between my favourites. =)

lego_legis_legere - 3 LegoJalex - 2

George G. - 2 TheLegoDr - 2 Cecilie - 1

This reminds me; I believe my grandparents still have a box of this kind of pieces lying around somewhere. I also think my other grandmother has a box of Fabuland pieces in a drawer. I should probably get around to asking them if I can have some of that (since I'm pretty much the family's only FOL). Also, a funny little notion: when I saw the photo, I my first thought was how much your jacket resembles that minifig torso with the classic space logo - and sure enough, when I glanced at your avatar I learned that you're clearly aware of that, yourself!

I see. They're actually taking measures to avoid people doing this, but there's still a way to get around it. That's pretty much immoral, then.

Not that it's particularly relevant, but I find it wonderful, so I thought I'd mention it: I thought the title said Horse, and continued thinking so until the 'handrails for a train' thing caused wrinkling of my eyebrows.

Well, this is extremely lucky. I'm going on vacation this monday, so I'm pretty grateful they're open on sunday! Now I'm curious - what set is THE set? =) I checked on their website about this - you can't. It's not possible to get your whole money's worth back if the product in question has gone on sale:

Who would possibly complain about having a bunch of zombies?

I'm taking Psychology classes in school next year, and while I really don't think it'll be necessary, since the class will undoubtedly teach me all I need to know to get a decent grade, I'd like to check out that book just to see what I'm getting myself into, and whether I want to get even deeper into it; so I've decided to look for that book the next time I'm in an English bookstore (which will, incidentally, be in a little less than a week! ). So thanks for the recommendation.

My admiration for all the entries. All the buildings and suchlike I've seen have been great, and while I'll firsthandedly admit that I don't stand a chance, it's been fun entering. =) If there's any possiblity that this might be done (I don't know whether the procedure is alterable), I'd like to add my support. I think it sounds like a smart way to do it.

Around here they're currently repeating the promo Hulk figure. Which I'm perfectly fine with, since I didn't get it the first time around, and might just have a number of Lego sets to get my hands on. =)

And the sets are now available through S@H in Denmark! =D

The Monster Fighter sets are now available in Denmark through Bilka.dk! I presume (but haven't been able to check) that this means they're also on the shelves in their actual stores! =D

The LotR sets are now available in Denmark through S@H and at Bilka.dk! I haven't checked, but I would presume this means they can also be found at the actual Bilka stores, as well as the Lego Brand Stores in Copenhagen and Billund. =)

Oh, thanks! Problem solved.

Well, you're always welcome to use it. Judging from what I've seen by you on the forums, I've no doubt you'd easily top this design. =) I don't imagine it will, though. Slightly remarkable, perhaps, because of the two empty walls on each side of it, but the sidewalks corresponds well enough, I think, to not stand out much more than anything else at that height.

Thanks a lot! I'm quite fond of it, myself, actually. =)

I'm planning to use the Meriadoc hairpiece for my sigfig. It won't be completely accurate for a little while, since I just got a new haircut, but it tends to grow rapidly back into hobbit hair.

I wouldn't have expected that, but I guess it's reasonable - you show the receipt and ask for your money back, and you will of course be given the amount which you've paid for it, not the amount which the product currently costs. Then you spend those money on what is, for all intents and purposes, other (but coincidentally identical) sets, and you conveniently won't have to gather them because you can just ask for those sets behind the counter which've just been turned back. Sneaky. Quite clever, though I'm still surprised they haven't just found a way to avoid it (such as temporarily disallowing returns of items on sale).

Hugo. My mum and my brother rented it to watch, and found it so great they had to show my dad and I (well, my mum thought so. My brother thought it was pretty blend). I agree, it is a beatiful movie. =)

I had much the same experience when a friend recommended it to me; I had no idea it was out already. I feel I've slightly outgrown the series by now (as I felt when The Atlantis Complex came out), but the writing is still as entertaining as ever, so I still enjoy it, even if I can't help feeling more critical about it. I expect to finish it tomorrow or friday, at which point I'll start on Richard Dawkins' The Magic Of Reality. Next on my reading list is Adverbs by Daniel Handler. =) Also, I recently finished The Enchantress by Michael Scott. Pretty much the same opinion as on Artemis Fowl, except I have less nostalgia for the Nicholas Flamel series, and I'd pretty much figured out the main anticlimatic plot revelation by the middle of book five.