sharky

Nice. I wish they would make new bagged SW sets with minifigures.

Nice! I have many a sore finger tip from manually prying flat bricks from baseplates after my daughter miss-calculated the position of the flat pieces on her Creator houses. Not sure why that question even needed to be asked or answered, but thanks for the little extra info. Great review BTW. Admittedly I wasn't to keen on getting this, but some of the little extras seem worth it. And, I think my Money Transfer set needs a few more robbers to hold up the bank.

I am reserving judgment until I can see more pics of the fighter from more angles or perhaps a display at a store. This is one that I was looking forward to, but on what I see so far I may pass. From the side view it doesn't look quite long enough. I know it's Lego, but I was hoping for a little more streamlined appearance on the back. I do like the torpedo play feature. Maybe I will pick it up one day if there is a sale.

Excellent work. Honestly, the robot mode looks way nicer than a real Transformer toy. The fact that it's transformable puts those Hasbro Kre-o products to shame. Your's transforms AND still looks nicer than Hasbro's version.

Recently I picked up the 8089 Hoth Wampa Cave during the TRU BOGO 50% sale. I also found the 8016 Hyena Droid Bomber at TJ Maxx on discount for $14.99. It's an interesting build and a set I wouldn't normally get if not for the discount price. So far I've seen the the following SW Lego sets at my local discount stores 8036 Separatist Shuttle 8014 Clone Walker Battle Pack 8015 Assassin Droids Battle Pack 8016 Hyena Droid Bomber Edit: I also found 8083 Rebel Trooper Battle Pack and 8084 Snowtrooper Battle Pack. I'm always surprised to see any kind of Lego SW sets at discount even if they are not the more popular sets. I have grown quite fond of the Separatist Shuttle and I would never have appreciated it had I not built it and displayed it on my shelf. Edit: at the Lego store I picked up 7913 Clone Trooper Battle Pack for a few dollars less because the box was dinged. What are your plans for the mini Tie Fighter and mini X-wing? I was glad to see these at my local Walmart. However, I've noticed that a lot of bagged sets don't seem to be distributed very widely even among Walmarts or with any consistency as far as shelf/peg space and location in a store. My next big SW set now that I have the Slave I will be an AT-AT. I'm not sure why I've held off as long as I did. I will wait for a 30% sale at TRU as they seem to do from time to time like the X-wing.

Great work. I love the Seagway. You've inspired me to make some of my own.

Personally I don't like surprises with regard to toy/Lego collecting. The thrill of a new set is there when I read about it for the first time online. I like the time to plan ahead and prioritize what I want to get 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and what kind of budget I will need to get them. In fact, I wish we could know about sets even further in advance so that I can decide to wait for an updated set or go find an older set I am interested in on ebay or bricklink.

As a constant Lego bargain hunter I found this set at my local Walmart for $35. At roughly $0.07/piece it was a must buy at that price. BTW, the box states the piece count is 473 not 356. I plan to get some Atlantis 8072 Sea Jets and some 30042 Mini Sub kits to go along with this set.

I am agreement with the City Park idea. In fact I bought the PotC Fountain of Youth set just so I could use the fountain parts for one I plan to build for my daughter. It will also have a tennis court. Actually, I was thinking of an entire City Park subtheme similar to Harbour, Fire, Police. Some ideas for a City Park theme which could vary in size and price, and would coordinate together. City Park Fountain Dog Park Skate Park Zoo (as others have mentioned) Tennis Court Baseball Diamond Playground Pond Picnic area Outdoor concert area I like what others have mentioned about taking inspiration from the collectible mini figures such as karate dojo.

I thought that Disney bought Marvel recently and owns it completely. So any new licensing will ultimately be a Disney/Lego deal.

Great review. I find your review style very detailed and interesting to read. I've been picking up the PoP sets at Target for 30% off these days, and when I saw this set for $55 I knew I had to have it. For the price per piece alone it is a must buy, but it also happens to be a really nice looking set. It's my very first castle/palace/playset of it's size. I'm quite pleased to have found it on clearance as the price normally would mean that I spend the money on a higher priority set.

In case anyone was wondering. I took my daughter to the Lego store yesterday. She did show interest in the set, but I think she was most excited about the Death Star on display. I'm sticking with the Pet Shop, however, since I feel it's more appropriately priced for a child's X-mas gift.

If you consider that the Pet Shop is really 2 smaller building combined, you are getting 2 sets right from the start. So you don't have to think of it as just having one modular building.

I think a coffee shop is a great idea, and hopefully it appeal to more girls. Let's hope it comes with a few laptop pieces like the one I saw with the Alien Conquest set.

I think it's a nice little set. Perhaps an improvement could have been to add a water skier. Maybe the collectible mini figure series will include one in the future, although making your own is easy enough. Great review, BTW.

Great tip. I also find it annoying to move my hand over to the arrow keys. As an engineer who is right handed my hand likes to stay over on the left side of the keyboard for the Shift, Ctrl, and Alt keys in order to move things around. My only wish is that all CAD programs would use some sort of standard key combination in order to pan, zoom, and rotate. Every time I use a new CAD software they always like to do things a little differently. When you are in the habit of doing it one way for years it's annoying to retrain my natural inclination to do it a certain way.

Actually, I am planning to take her to the Lego store for the monthly build event, so I suppse it would be a good opportunity to browse around and ask her what she thinks about it without giving away that it would be her Christmas gift. Sure, I think it's a nice set myself . What kind of father would I be if I didn't guide her toward the best sets. Actually, it wouldn't be my first choice for a set at that price point. I'm more into the licensed sets like Star Wars. But, I know she likes the Lego houses and City theme best. I also like to get her sets that are a bit more challenging for her age for a few reasons, but I also consider play value when the build is complete. I think challenging her with harder sets is good to stimulate her brain and get her thinking in new directions for building compared to sets that would be easy for her. I also think she will not get tired of it so easily and appreciate the set perhaps into adulthood. It's also a good way for me to get involved in the build when she needs some help and make it a family bonding thing. Lego is truly the perfect toy for the whole family. As a toy collector I've moved away from action figures and have been focusing on Lego more and more as my daughter gets older. It's something we can truly share a love for, and that's not an easy thing to find. I'll definitely check out set 4954. Maybe it will be good to get that one sooner and the Pet Shop for her birthday if she wants.

My daughter has the Creator Beach House and Apple Tree House. She really likes them and has asked if she could get a Lego "mansion" for Christmas. I was thinking of getting her this set and saying here's your "mansion" since compared with the houses she has this will seem huge like a mansion. I would consider this set above the Hillside House, for example, which certainly is not a "mansion" by any stretch of the imagination. I could simply ask her what she thinks, but I'm the type that likes to give big surprises. Either way I'm sure she will like the set regardless. She's 8 years old. Any thoughts?

Maybe he means that on Dagobah a parallelogram is called a Hagobad and coincidently is also the name of that swamp monster.

I just hope that it's a little more difficult to remove the mini figure from the book. I can't tell you the number of SW books I've seen with Luke missing. It's really disgraceful.

Same here. Some Targets seem to put more of a discount than others. My only regret was not getting the Ostrich Race set as well.

It would be interesting to keep watch on what MegaBloks does as far as 2012 licensing. That is, if Megabloks does not have any new Capt. America or Iron Man products coming out, perhaps it means they no longer have the license of for new sets and Lego will have something. But, there are also cartoons and movies based on Marvel characters. It seems hard to avoid anything Marvel these days.

A few days ago I found the 8024 Clone Walker Battle pack at a Ross store. For those that don't know Ross is a discount store that usually features clearance and discontinued merchandise from other stores. I ended up getting it for $7US because the box was ripped open. The only thing missing was the sticker sheet with the republic symbols, but it's not big deal. I mainly wanted it for the mini figs.

Cool. That means that at least it will be out there somewhere soon. When I checked the availability in the stores around me they all say "Out of Stock" I think it's still early. At least now I know to start looking for it.

I have a Lego Racers Ferrari Truck set # 8185 for sale. The item is new and has never been opened. From my understanding this set commemorates Ferrari's 16th F1 Constructors Championship in 2008 I am asking $88US + shipping. However, if buyer is in the US I will ship for free. This is what I paid for the set. I'm only looking to recoup my cost. The item comes from a smoke free and pet free home. I will pack the item carefully for shipping. Insurance is optional but I insist on providing tracking info. I am located in the US, and I will consider shipping overseas. I accept Paypal only. I am very new here, but you can look at my ebay feedback. My ebay username is desquivel. I am not a store owner or anything. Just a toy collector that has recently rediscovered his love for Lego. Here is a pic I took and a link to the set I am referring to. http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8185-1