Oky

Makes sense, thanks! Good question indeed. The U-Wing really pushed the limits of how big an alphabet fighter could be. That thing was a whole gunship! Seems fair to limit it to 2 pilots and an astromech though.

Begun it has! And what great prizes! The themes aren’t as unique as last year, but that just makes this feel like a classic contest. Definitely gonna try to enter a few of these categories. Grand Admiral Oky would have a nice ring to it. One question: Can the minifigures be of made-up characters? Also, do brick-built droids count?

So… Where are the details? Has the contest been postponed?

Might be a bit late to give feedback on this, but here is my thoughts: I think it might be better to have a small category along with a large one, like a small speeder, droid or vignette. This might make the contest more accessible for people who don’t have enough time or bricks to build an entire ship or scene like in last year’s contest.

There is none and probably won’t be any: https://twinfinite.net/2022/04/are-there-custom-characters-lego-star-wars-the-skywalker-saga/ One of the reasons I have no interest in this game. It feels like these LEGO games are getting progressively less “Lego”. That along with the fact that the only major addition here is the sequel trilogy and character packs that you have to pay extra for makes me much rather just replay the old games that had character creation and all the characters included from the trilogies that people actually care about. I hope if they ever do another game it will be about The Mandalorian or all the Disney+ shows. Lots of potential there given that those shows are essentially “Sidequest: The TV show”.

That’s the same brick that came in the Haunted House and is still available under the new Pick a Brick. https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2454pb153&idColor=2#T=C&C=2 But yeah, love that googly-eyed mini Sphinx.

Man, so much negativity in this thread. I'm with @zoth33. The trailer looks pretty good, although I have to admit that the use of my two favorite Star Wars scores may be swaying my opinion, even though they feel almost too epic for a series like this. Sure, having the Empire find out about Kenobi or even Luke being on Tatooine could mess with canon quite a bit, but they might have a good explanation for that. Maybe the reason Kenobi goes off-world is to lead the Inquisitors away from Luke. And while having the Inquisitors from Rebels whose fates we already know might take away some of the tension, it also means that Obi-Wan won't do anything too crazy/risky like killing an Inquisitor. Heck, he might not even meet Vader and we will only see Anakin in flashbacks. I for one am just happy for more Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan and will keep an open mind by not judging an entire series based on one short trailer. I do hope that they don't ruin Obi-Wan like they did with Boba though.

Ha! That’s the perfect way to display the Muppets! Although you’re right that it doesn’t look very stable. Your scaffolding idea is not bad, but what would make it even more stable is if you used some Technic beams or SNOT in the back to connect the top and bottom. Nice design, especially that brilliant book technique you mentioned!

Maybe you'll forgive him once you realize that Dak was already dead at that point. His controls blew up in his face, remember? There was nothing Luke could do and he would have been crushed if he had stayed any second longer. Although, if you ask Disney, they'll probably tell you that Dak was just very sleepy and was fine afterwards somehow.

No, it's not just you. I'm sure fans have been complaining about discussing this since the movie's release. I think the idea is that it was meant to seem easy, but not actually be easy. Sure, it had large reactor shafts instead of the thermal exhaust port, but they were supposed to be inaccessible due to the shield generator, and the Falcon barely made it out after they did destroy the reactor. The Empire leaked the location of the DS2 to the Bothans in order to lure the rebels into the infamous trap and trick them into thinking it was incomplete. Supposedly, they used more efficient methods in constructing it, and according to Legends, already started working on the improved superlaser before the Battle of Yavin, although I'm not sure if that's still canon. But yeah, I agree that they built it miraculously fast. So in short, the Empire once again underestimated the rebels, thought they could take them on with a rushed DS and failed miserably. While the Bothan story is probably not as interesting, considering that Rogue One is easily the best of the Disney Wars movies, I'd actually be curious to see their tale told on screen one day.

Thanks everyone! Yes, that was the biggest challenge in designing this. To be honest, it's still a bit heavier on the engine side, perhaps because I scaled up the driver side only by about 50% rather than 100%, but it still stands fine.

Rove the surface of Mars in the luxurious Mono Jet 2.0! This new and improved version of the Mono Jet that was used during the Lego Space Federation's first manned mission to Mars is over twice as big as the original and ten times more powerful! Get yours at your local rover dealership today! This is my contribution to this year's Febrovery and a remake of the vintage Life on Mars set. It was the only LoM set I ever got, but I liked it so much that I got two of it. On the back I added a ladder for the driver to enter/exit the vehicle. Also, note that I even used the updated version of the control panel tile. The engine's turbine can spin and the radar dish can be aimed up. The wheel's diameter was increased from 5 studs to 10 and that of the engine from 3 to 6 while keeping the same overall look. The whole vehicle is balanced and can be rolled around just like the original. The driver's side is now a lot more spacious and has more details such as a windscreen, a spotlight, and extra controls. I expanded on the original greebles with small parts and stickers. Thanks for reading. Did you have this set? What do you think of this remake?

Perhaps you're right, but I think the solution in that case should be making it wider, not shorter. Also, keep in mind that that image is of the newer design which might be different width-wise to the one TLG was basing theirs on.

Thanks for the good review (and sorry for accidentally posting one of mine right after you). I hope this will be easily available and not a GWP as I would like to get it for it's good selection of parts... or to mod it into a Book of Boba Fett MOC.

Interesting how our opinions differ. The Vantage isn't bad by any means, but I just felt that it doesn't really capture the organic shape of the real car and that aside from the taillight and grill it doesn't have any interesting building techniques compared to other sets like the Evija or the ONE. As for the Valkyrie, I think it should be longer. The proportions look right and it is about 28 inches longer than the Vantage IRL.

Lotus isn't the only new British car brand to join the Speed Champions theme this year. We also get a dual car pack from Aston Martin, with another set said to come out in August. While it's not the first Aston Martin set LEGO has released, it is the first minifigure-scale one. Despite only have 28 more parts than the Mercedes double pack, this set costs a whole $10 more in the US. Is it worth the price or should you stick with some of the other sets? Read on to find out! Set Number: 76910 Name: Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro and Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Theme: Speed Champions Year of Release: 2022 Ages: 8+ Pieces: 592 Price: £34.99 / $39.99 / 39.99€ Online Shop description: The Box The front of the box shows the two Aston Martins racing each other down a straight race track. I'm not familiar enough with race tracks to know which one it is supposed to be, if any, so if you recognize it, let me know in the comments. The back depicts a similar scene with the two cars driving off into the sunset together. How romantic! There are also close-ups of their noses as well as reference images of each car. Like on the Mercedes set, the top of the box has various translations of the set's name (which is giving the Mercedes set a run for its money in terms of length), although they're a bit more justified here since they actually use the word "and" instead of an ampersand on this one for some reason. The "official licensed product" mark from Aston Martin is printed on the box for this one instead of being a holographic sticker like on the other sets. There's not much to say about the bottom and the other side. Contents Inside the box there are two instruction booklets, two sticker sheets, and four numbered bags. One odd thing about this is that the little baggie with the hubcaps is inside one of the large numbered bags rather than separate like in the other sets. Another is that the numbers on the bags are all printed at random heights. I wonder why. Instructions The instructions are very "explosive" as we get more star explosions and sticker bombs. They are relatively easy to read, although the gray tones are still a bit hard to distinguish sometimes. Notable Parts This set comes with more of the new style of wheels and hubcaps in black, although after all these sets they are not that rare anymore. We get two printed windscreens in this set and one of them is even a new mold! The Valkyrie's windscreen is 6x7 studs and basically a longer version of windscreen 18973 with sloped sides which should become a useful part in the future. Other printed parts include a 1x2 plate with an Aston Martin logo printed on the side, 2x2 round tiles with dark silver rims, and the headlights. The headlight wedges come in two new colors, dark gray and lime green. Not only that, but we also finally get an unprinted pair of them in lime green, making this the only set so far to feature them without prints. There are also several parts in interesting new and rare colors including 1x2 plates with horizontal clip and 1x1 plates with horizontal tooth in translucent colors or a propeller blade in red. Minifigs This set comes with 2 minifigs as expected. The Vantage GT3 is driven by a nerdy guy with spikey brown hair while the Valkyrie is driven by what looks like Nya from Ninjago with dyed dark brown hair. They both have new Aston Martin AMR racing suits with the same print in different color schemes that continue onto their legs. Their design is similar to the one you can buy from Aston Martin's website for the "low" price of £4,385.59. Interestingly, each of their suits has the color scheme of the other driver's car, which is kind of sweet when you think about it. I'm totally 'shipping these two. Sorry, Jay. Both of them have the same kind of back printing too. What's a bit disappointing about these torsos is that the "Aston Martin" writing under the logo is not very well defined and quite hard to read, especially on Nya where it just looks like two solid lines. The torsos in the previous set had a lot more legible writing for the most part, so why not these? The Build The build of the Valkyrie AMR Pro is very unique. Like the Formula 1 car from the last set, it uses the Speed Champions wheel bearings part as the base, two of them even. The shaping of the front and back are also very different from any other car. The Vantage GT3's build is a bit more standard, using the usual car base and similar shaping to that of other cars like the Evija and Project One, although there are some interesting SNOT techniques used in the tail section. Spare Parts The extra parts consist of the usual small bits and the 5-spoke hubcaps that you can use to customize the Vantage. Nothing exciting. The Complete Set Here are the two finished Astone Martins. The Valkyrie AMR Pro looks quite bizarre and almost more like a spaceship than a car. The Vantage GT3 looks similar to other Speed Champions cars of the 8-wide era and seems almost boring next to the wild Valkyrie, but I love its color scheme. Lime green is my favorite color, so it's great to see a set with not just one, but two cars that use this color. Both give the impression of a powerful, modern sports car. Why don't we ever see James Bond drive an Aston Martin like these? The Valkyrie AMR Pro seems to be based on an early concept art (which you can see below) with the larger headlights and wavy spoiler, but uses the color scheme of the car that Aston Martin actually ended up producing. I think the designers recreated the unusual shape of this concept car about as well as they could. The Vantage GT3 is pretty spot-on at first glance when compared to the real car. I really like how they created the lime outline around the Vantage's grill using brackets and fangs, although the studs that are left exposed under the bumper are a bit unsightly. The use of car doors to represent the two thin walls in the grill of the Valkyrie is clever as well. It's a bit sad, though, how these parts which were very common in the 80's and 90's are rarely used as actual car doors anymore. The designers recreated the wavy spoiler of the Valkyrie nicely using curved slopes and boat studs. I also really like how they did the taillights on the Vantage the way they are sticking out by half a plate and are topped off by a sideways panel and upside down cheese slopes, although the trans-black 1x2 plates that they used to hold those cheese slopes in place look odd and shouldn't be there. The Valkyrie looks very cool and aerodynamic from the side. It has a neat fin in the back like the Mercedes-AMG ONE from the last review which happens to be one of the Valkyrie's main competitors. Perhaps it's not a coincidence both of these concept cars appear in the same wave. The Vantage on the other hand looks more angular than it should and I don't like that half-plate gap that is left between the front bumper and fenders. As you can see in this top view, the Valkyrie is a whole 3 studs longer than the Vantage and other Speed Champions cars like it. Its long spearhead shape and the angled gaps behind the front wheels have been recreated quite well. The printing of the windscreens on both of them is quite good as well, so they don't look out of place. While I like the use of a propeller blade for the Valkyrie's fin, I wish they would have filled in the gaps next to the blade like they did on the Project One. Both car interiors can be accessed by removing the windscreen and look pretty decent. However, the light gray parts on the Vantage and the Technic connector that holds the fin on the Valkyrie look out of place, and the steering wheel of the Vantage is off-center. The stickers on the center consoles add some nice detail though. Ratings Design: 8/10 The Valkyrie looks very cool and unique while the Vantage is a bit boxy and generic. Build: 6/10 Starts out very interesting with the unusual build of the Valkyrie, but becomes more and more standard with the Vantage. Playability: 7/10 You can seat the minifigs, customize the rims, and race them against each other. Figures: 8/10 Despite the usual generic heads, both figs have nicely printed new torsos and legs. Parts: 9/10 Several new and rare parts, including new prints, unprinted new wedges, and a new windscreen mold. Price: 8/10 While it's not as good of a value as the other double pack in the US, it's still good price for 592 parts. Overall: 8/10 This one is a bit of a mixed bag. While the Valkyrie is a very cool and different addition to the theme, the set is bogged down a bit by the Vantage which is kind of just okay. However, the detailed, exclusive racing suits, the new/rare parts, and the very reasonable price still make this a good buy. It may not be the best Speed Champions set, but you definitely won't regret getting it. Thanks for reading and thanks to TLG for sending me this set for review. What do you think of the set? Let me know in the comments and in the poll above. The set will release on March 1, 2022: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/aston-martin-valkyrie-amr-pro-and-aston-martin-vantage-gt3-76910 By the way, did you know that the Valkyrie is the product of a collaboration between Aston Martin and Red Bull Racing? Speed Champions March 2022 Wave: Final Thoughts Overall, I think this is a very strong wave! Speed Champions just keeps getting better and better and they really took it up a notch with this batch. Aside from some printing issues and minor design flaws, these are all very good and accurate looking. I'm hard-pressed to even pick a favorite (although it's probably not the Lambo). LEGO is clearly trying to compete with the die cast market, and for the most part I think they are getting pretty close to that level of detail. The only downside to these for me is the lack of any scenery or extra builds that were so common in Speed Champions' early years. Those always added a lot more playability to the sets, but with the cars taking up more and more parts now, I'm afraid we won't see something like an entire Formula One pit again any time soon. I guess we can't have everything. Still, these are great sets and I recommend you go and pick some up. I hope you enjoyed this review series. See ya, and drive safe.

Today we’re taking a look at the first dual-car set of the wave titled "Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance & Mercedes-AMG Project One" which is easily a contender for longest set name ever. With the 2022 season of the Formula 1 World Championship only a few weeks away, it's the perfect time for LEGO to release a set featuring an F1 car, although it's ironic that they chose Lewis Hamilton's car from last year to base it on since the 2021 season was the first time since 2014 that Mercedes didn't win the championship. Not only do we get an F1 car, but also a yet unreleased concept car called the Project One, or ONE as the production version will be called, that is based on the technology of the Formula One car, hence the name. Do these champions of Mercedes-AMG's past and future cross the finish line or they crash and burn? Let's find out. Ready, Set, GO! Set Number: 76909 Name: Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance & Mercedes-AMG Project One Theme: Speed Champions Year of Release: 2022 Ages: 8+ Pieces: 564 Price: £34.99 / $29.99 / 39.99€ Online Shop description: The Box The front of the box depicts an exciting scene of the two cars racing each other on a race track in front of the Mercedes-AMG building. Which one do you think is going to win? On the back of the box, you can see side/rear views of the two cars along with close-ups of their cockpits and reference images of the real cars. I use the word "real" lightly here because the picture of the Project One is just concept art since it hasn't been made yet (although it has been said to begin production this year). The top of the box lists that mouthful of a set name multiple times with the "and" sign translated into different languages which seems very redundant since the ampersand is pretty universally recognized. While the bottom has the usual choking hazard warnings and the side has copyright info and the Lego Life ad, the other side has a sticker of authenticity from Mercedes. Contents Inside the box there are four numbered bags and one small bag with hubcaps as well as two instruction booklets and two sticker sheets (one for each car). The sticker sheets are unfortunately quite large for a set of this size, even for Speed Champions. Instructions The instructions have the usual gray progress bar and star explosions. There are a lot of black, gray, and dark gray parts which are a bit hard to distinguish at times. Also, the instructions tend to do this thing that I like to call a "sticker bomb". They will have you keep building for a while and then all of a sudden BAM! they make you apply a whole bunch of stickers at once, bringing the flow of the build to a screeching halt. This is not the only one of these new Speed Champions sets that does this, but the Project One is probably the worst offender of this as it tells you to apply ten tiny stickers in one step! What kind of monster came up with this? Notable Parts This set comes with lots of interesting parts! There are more of the new wedges with printed headlights, this time in light gray. There are other printed parts such as the Project One's windscreen, a 2x4x2/3 curved slope with the AMG logo on a grill printed on the side, "D-tiles" with a Mercedes star or or a plain black surface, and wheel covers which come printed with Pireli branding for the first time. There is also an unprinted gamepad, some of the updated flags with the flared edge between the clips in light gray, and several other parts in new or rare colors. The set also includes several copies of a fairly new mold which I am not a fan of, a black 1x1 brick that is 2 plates high and has a hollow stud. It just feels <insert that tiresome argument> to me, especially since some of them are used next to each other where a 1x2 plate would have made the build more structurally sound. Minifigs This set comes with 2 minifigs to drive these two cars, one male and one female, neither of whom resembles Lewis Hamilton or even his teammate Valtteri Bottas. It's really unfortunate that the Speed Champions sets only use generic minifig parts and that we don't get the appropriate driver for the F1 car. I know I said the same about the Ferrari 512 M, but I have to bring it up again here because there has been some controversy surrounding the minifigs in this set. A lot of people were upset that it doesn't come with Hamilton, not only because he is a popular driver, but also a person of color. In this informative article, Jalopnik reached out to LEGO about why they didn't include a black minifig in this set and their response was the following: Whether this answer is satisfactory or not is up to you. I'm not going to talk about my thoughts on the matter here as I have no interest in getting into a political debate (that's what comment sections are for ), so let's just focus on the minifigs that we did get. Both have new torso prints and come with plain black helmets. The female also comes with a spanner wrench to change hubcaps and the same teal ball cap and black ponytail combo that the Birdwatcher from the CMF Series 22 has which is the first rare hairpiece I've seen in a Speed Champions set. I guess birdwatching isn't her only passion. The F1 driver's racing suit is incredibly detailed with all kinds of tiny logos covering the torso on top of a dashed grid pattern and teal lines going down to his legs. Both torsos have back printing with an AMG logo too. I especially like the little puma that looks like it is jumping out of the guy's pants. The Build Interestingly, the W12 is built around one of the 2x6 parts that is usually used as wheel bearings in Speed Champions sets that is rotated 90 degrees. I like how they use the unprinted gamepad to represent the steering wheel. I really like how the fin on the Project One is constructed by first building a slot and then flipping an airplane tail into it like a Swiss army knife. Or should I say Danish army knife? Spare Parts Aside from the usual spare bits, the leftovers include the trans-red and printed D-tiles, the rare black and teal 1x1 round plates with handles, a short flex tube, and black 5-spoke hubcaps, as well as a yellow jumper plate, a gray flag, and a black 2x2 tile. The latter three will be important later. The Complete Set Here are the two finished Mercedes racing machines! The both look very good at first glance. When comparing them to reference images, I think they captured the complex shape of both cars about as well as they could. I like how they recreated the air inlets on the hood of the Project One using fenders. The part used for the hood between the headlights is one plate shorter than the 1 brick-high headlight wedges, so it is angled down slightly using Mixel joints to make up for the height difference which works surprisingly well. I am not so impressed with the front of the W12 however. The endplates on the front wing are thick as a brick, literally! I think they were trying to make them line up with the outer wall of the wheels, but it just looks silly and I think they could have done it better. The Project One has more nice parts usage on the back where it uses two angled, upside down Tiny Turbos bumpers from the Racers theme as its own bumper. The W12 has a sticker under its spoiler which would have been a nice detail... except the sticker is too wide for the place where it's supposed to go, causing it to warp. It took forever to try to get it to stick there and it will likely not stay there during play time, let alone withstand the winds of an F1 car going 270 mph. The stickers on the side of the W12 are not impressive either. While the gray flag has the number 44, the number of Hamilton's car, it doesn't have the AMG pattern that is supposed to cover the gray area. Also, the dark red part could have been rounder at the top and the "INEOS" decal should have been on the side, not on top. Otherwise, the F1 racer looks great from the side though. The printed wheel covers look especially nice. The side of the Project One looks excellent as well, especially with that dynamic fin. The only thing that could be improved in my opinion are the hubcaps which should be silver or at least pearl dark gray like on the Evija. Again, I love how there are no gaps around the Project One's fin. The gray printing on the windscreen doesn't completely match the gray on the rest of the car, but it's a hundred times closer than the white on the Lamborghini. I also like how the W12 uses black T-pieces to represent the bars holding the wheels, although they are a bit too short at the front and it still looks a bit empty around those front wheel axles. The play features on the F1 car raise the bar, literally. To seat the driver into the W12, you can lift up the bar over the cockpit which is not something you can do on the real car, but it makes a neat feature here. To seat the driver of the Project One, you need to remove the windshield like on most Speed Champions. The interior feels a bit crammed, the steering wheel is off-center, and I'm not sure what the click-hinges are meant to represent, but they don't look very comfortable for the driver to lean against. The stickers add some nice detail though. You can change the hubcaps on the Project One like on many other Speed Champions, but that's not the only customization option in this set. Remember those three unusual spare parts? They are included so that you can switch out some parts on Hamilton's F1 car to turn it into the #77, the car of his 2021 teammate Valtteri Bottas. It's a nice thought, although I don't think it looks that good. The wheel covers should have been swapped for yellow printed ones as well, and the yellow jumper plate would have looked more accurate in the new neon yellow color. Still, I appreciate the added display option. This is not the first time that we have gotten an F1 racecar from the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team. Set 75883 included two models of the W07, although looking back at those designs now, they look terrible in comparison. It really goes to show how far this theme has come in just four years! Although I think they did a better job with the endplates on the front wing back then. Ratings Design: 9/10 Despite some small flaws, especially on the W12, a very good representation of the two cars and a huge improvement over previous designs. Build: 6/10 A horrendous amount of small stickers (one of which is too big for its intended spot) and <insert that tiresome argument> bricks bog down an otherwise interesting build. Playability: 7/10 You can seat the minifigs, customize both cars, and race them against each other. Pretty fun! Figures: 7/10 Controversy aside, you get two figs with detailed new prints, one with a rare hair/hat piece. Parts: 9/10 Lots of new/rare parts and several exclusive prints! Price: 9/10 While the parts-to-price ratio is still not as good as on the Ferrari, this set is a great deal, at least in the US, as you get two cars for the price of one and a half! Overall: 9/10 This is another very strong entry in the theme. If you don't mind the generic minifig faces and applying tons of stickers, I can highly recommend picking this one up as you get two customizable and great looking cars with interesting parts for one low price. Thanks for reading and thanks to TLG for sending me this set for review. What do you think of the set? Let me know in the comments and in the poll above. The set will release on March 1, 2022: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/mercedes-amg-f1-w12-e-performance-mercedes-amg-project-one-76909 In my next Speed Champions review, we are going to see another first for the theme!

Oh great, another brand new member claiming they have insider info. Move along…

Oops, thanks for pointing that out. And yes, the lack of customization options is one of the detractors of this set.

Today we’re going back to the 1970’s to take a look at another Italian classic from that era, the Lamborghini Countach! It’s best known for featuring in the 1981 movie Cannonball Run. The car in the movie was black and modified for the US market, so some might be disappointed that the LEGO version is the original version in white, although considering how terribly sexist, racist, and just plain boring the movie was, perhaps it’s for the better. So, did TLG recreate this iconic vehicle as well as the last two cars we reviewed? Let’s find out! Set Number: 76908 Name: Lamborghini Countach Theme: Speed Champions Year of Release: 2022 Ages: 8+ Pieces: 262 Price: £17.99 / $19.99 / 19.99€ Online Shop description: The Box The front of the box depicts the Countach speeding down the riverside across from the Castel Sant'Angelo. It's a lovely scene, but I fail to see the connection between the Lamborghini and the Mausoleum of Hadrian other than that it is located in Italy, home of Lamborghini. If anyone knows why they chose this particular location, let me know in the comments. The back has images of both the real and Lego Countach parked on the streets of Italy, looking sexy as heck. The top, the bottom, and the sides of the box are similar to those on the other sets I reviewed, except that one side has a sticker of authenticity from Lamborghini Contents Inside the box there are one instruction booklet, a sticker sheet, and two numbered bags, one with a white stripe and one without. I could never figure out the logic behind which bags get the stripe and which don't, or what the point of it even is. If you know, please enlighten me in the comments. Instructions The instructions are easy to read and feature the gray progress bar at the bottom like in the other instructions. The illustrations of all the black, white, and red parts provide a nice contrast. Notable Parts Like the Evija, this set comes with the new style of wheels with the fixed tire, although in this set they are black, and instead of molded hubcaps, it comes with printed 2x2 tiles to cover them. While a new mold for the hubcaps would have been nice, the prints look good and do the job just fine. The windshield is printed too as always, but there is something off about this one. Let's discuss that later. There are also some parts in rare colors such as a 1x3 jumper plate in red and 2x4 wedge plates in white, but not much else of note. Minifigs The minifig included as the driver for the Countach has yet another generic head with stubble and the same hairpiece as Bob from the Evija, except in dark brown. And like Bob, he comes with a plain black helmet and a wrench. The only thing of note about this guy is his Lamborghini branded jacket. This torso is different and a bit more detailed than the one(s) included in set #76899 as it features a silver zipper, dark blue wrinkles, pockets and a thicker collar. Unfortunately, his pants don't have any printing like those of the drivers in the previous two sets, although their dark blue color matches the wrinkles on his jacket nicely. Now that's the face of someone who is lucky enough to own such a legendary sports car! Lambo Guy is the only minifig in this entire wave to feature a double-sided head. The back of his jacket is printed too, although my copy has a small scratch on it unfortunately. The Build Like with the Evija, the build starts out on the standard Speed Champions car base, but uses some interesting techniques for the shaping of the front and back of the car. The curved slopes in the back are attached at an angle by sticking a dark gray nipple tile into a Technic connector and lowering that into the car. Very unique. The front bumper is attached by sticking it onto two small bars similar to the taillights on the Ferrari 512 M. Note the headlight stickers which are facing up and are later covered by the hood. Spare Parts The leftovers are the usual small bits. Some standouts are a round plate with handle in black (which I forgot to mention among the parts in rare colors), an unprinted gray microphone, and one of the dark gray nipple tiles. It's good to get an extra of those because as my weird uncle always says, you can never have too many nipples. (He doesn't get invited to family gatherings very often.) The Complete Set Once you attach the spoiler, hood, windscreen, and tires, the Lambo is finished! The overall shaping of it looks great and aside from the six studs on the roof, it is studless and smooth. However, there is something off about the look. Can you tell what it is? Comparing it to the real Countach, the designers did a great job recreating the iconic shape of this Italian speed machine. One of the coolest design features of the set are the headlights. The orange that you see is actually a reflection from the sticker below which is a very clever way of recreating the slim turn signal lights of the Countach. The Lamborghini Countach has a very uniquely shaped rear and the designers captured that iconic angular look excellently with angled curved slopes hugging the trans-red cones that represent the taillights. The "lamborghini countach" sticker adds the finishing touch. The dark recesses where the door handles are located on the Countach are recreated nicely by leaving a gap over a curved slope. It's a shame the doors don't open like the iconic scissor doors on the real Countach. According to this interview on New Elementary, the designers did try to incorporate opening doors, but had to abandon the idea since they couldn't find a good way to execute it and because none of the other Speed Champions sets have opening doors which is fair enough. Unfortunately, this is where we have to start talking about the negatives of the set. You may have already noticed what one of the main issues of the set is from previous pictures, but it is unmissable when looking at a top-down view of the car: The white printing on the windshield is far too dark, making it look more like light gray and stick out like a sore thumb. It really ruins the clean white look of the car, and judging by other reviews of the set, my copy isn't the only one that has this issue. Very disappointing. To seat the minifig inside, you have to remove the ugly windscreen. The interior feels a bit tight, the steering wheel is off-center, and the only nice detail is the use of a microphone as the shift stick. Not very impressive. Oops! Looks like Lambo Guy had a little fender bender. Another big issue of the set is stability. All of these angled sections look great, but due to the fact that most of them are only attached by one or two bars, they get easily misaligned during play or when you just pick up the car which is not ideal if you're buying this for a child. I have a hard time keeping the air intakes in the back to sitting on the car without a gap showing underneath. Ratings Design: 7/10 The car looks very cool and recognizable, and the reflected headlights are very creative, but the design is a bit unstable in parts. Build: 8/10 Some interesting angling techniques on a standard base. Playability: 4/10 The unstable design makes this better for display than play. Figures: 6/10 A nice new Lambo jacket, but otherwise a very generic fig. Parts: 4/10 No new parts and not many rare colors. Poor windscreen printing ruins what is an otherwise great looking design. Price: 9/10 Again, not as good as the Ferrari, but better than the Evija. Overall: 6/10 Sadly, this one was a bit of a letdown for me. The first two cars in this wave were great and this one looked to be just as good from the official images, but it doesn't look or feel so good in person. While the design is still pretty good, the poorly printed windscreen ruins the look and the easily misaligned angled sections make you not want to touch it. That along with the lack of interesting parts or minifigs makes this one set you can skip. Thanks for reading and thanks to TLG for sending me this set for review. What do you think of the set? Let me know in the comments and in the poll above. The set will release on March 1, 2022: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lamborghini-countach-76908 In my next Speed Champions review, we are going to the Formula 1 race track!

Thanks! That’s a tough call. They’re both great sets, so I think it just depends on what kind of vehicle you prefer. I think I like the color scheme and more modern look of the Evija better, but to each their own.

I see what you mean, but I think the designers were limited by the shape of the windscreen element. I think the idea is that the trans-black part below the yellow line is meant to be part of the door. It looks fine when you look at it from the top, but you're right that the line does seem too high when viewed from the side.

I see no real issues with the design or placement of the prints, but I also don't have any other SC sets to compare them with. Would love to see your mods.

Oops, yes, that was meant for that review. As you can see in the pictures, the windscreen printing is quite good in this set, especially on the Nexo Knight's part. As for the printing in other sets... well, we'll get to that.

This year, LEGO has added British car manufacturer Lotus to its roster of car brand licenses! The first car we get from this brand is the Evija, Lotus' first electric sports car. It's good to see TLG highlighting more eco-friendly vehicles such as this considering the state of the environment right now. It's quite ironic that they are doing so in a plastic toy, but the sentiment is still appreciated. Is this newcomer a worthy addition to the theme or will it be left in the dust by the other car brands? Buckle up and let's find out! Set Number: 76907 Name: Lotus Evija Theme: Speed Champions Year of Release: 2022 Ages: 8+ Pieces: 247 Price: £17.99 / $19.99 / 19.99€ Online Shop description: The Box The box art on the front of the box shows the Evija driving away from the Goodwood House, an estate in England that serves as the venue for the Goodwood Festival of Speed. I can't think of a more fitting scene for a British Speed Champions car, so kudos to the box designer for this neat detail! The back shows a lovely rear view of the car driving down a country road during fall (or should I say autumn?). There is also a close-up of one of the headlights and some concept art of the Evija that this set is based on. The top, the bottom, and the sides of the box are similar to those on the Ferrari 512's box, so there is not much more to say about it. I'm not gonna deeplink all the pictures every time to avoid repetition and save time. These sets are all about speed after all! Contents Inside the box there are two numbered bags, a small bag with wheel covers, a loose car base, a sticker sheet, and one instruction booklet. Instructions Despite all the dark colored parts, the instructions are fairly easy to read. Like all instructions this year, they have the gray progress bar at the bottom and an explosion of stars at the end of the build of the minifig and the car. I'm beginning to wonder if LEGO hired Michael Bay to direct the instructions for this year. Notable Parts You may have wondered why they showed a close-up of a headlight on the back of the box. The reason for that is likely because not only are the headlights printed, but they are on a brand new mold! This wave of Speed Champions introduces 2x3x1 wedges which in this set come in dark green. The fact that the headlights are printed is both good and bad since it means that you don't have to apply more stickers, but it also means that it makes these cool new parts less versatile. The windscreens are also printed and the hexagonal windscreen that serves as the rear window comes in trans-black for only the second time. We get several parts in dark green for the first time here such as a snowboard, tall fenders, 3x4 wedges, 1x2 brackets, triangle tiles, as well as 1x2 tiles which haven't been seen in dark green since the Clone Turbo Tank in 2005/2006 and a Creator crocodile in 2010! There are other parts in rare colors like a 1x3 jumper plate and Mixel joint sockets in dark gray. The latter has appeared in several sets before, but compared to the hundreds of sets where it comes light gray, it's relatively uncommon. I really don't understand why they don't make these joints in more colors. The wheels and hubcaps in this set are also rare as they are the new style that was introduced last year with the tire molded onto the wheel and 9 spokes on the hubcaps. Both are pearl dark gray which is a color they only appeared in two other sets in. Minifigs As usual, there is one driver minifig included in the set. I like to call him Bob since he remind me of fellow EB reviewer @Bob De Quatre. Bob sports an excellent new Lotus-branded racing suit. It is very nicely detailed with a Lotus logo on the chest and a silver spiderweb pattern going down all the way to his legs and onto his back. I did a Google search, but I couldn't find a suit that looks quite like it, so I'm not sure if it is based on any real suit. If you know if it is, let me know in the comments. It's a bit of a shame the helmet isn't dark green as well, but the black still fits with the Lotus color scheme. The head and hair are as generic as all Speed Champions heads, but that's more excusable here than in the Ferrari since this set isn't based on one particular car driven by a specific person. He comes with a wrench to help him change out the hubcaps if so desired. The Build The build of the Evija is a bit more standard than that of the Ferrari as it uses the usual Speed Champions car base, but that doesn't mean it's boring. In the contrary, the tail section especially has a lot of sideways and even upside down building techniques. The use of the snowboard as the spoiler is pretty clever, although Bob seems to prefer using it as an actual snowboard. Spare Parts At the end of the build, you are left with the usual small bits, plus the extra set of 5-spoke hubcaps. The Complete Set The finished hypercar looks great with its dark green and yellow color scheme and expertly shaped body. I couldn't find the concept art with the green and yellow paint job that the designers were using as reference, so here is a yellow Evija for comparison. The car has a lot of curves and organic shapes and the designers did a reasonably good job of recreating them with bricks. The new headlight wedges look great on the front of the car. The upside down bumper with the little 1x2 gap is also pretty cool. The Lotus Evija has very unique taillights which are basically two giant holes in the back of the car with glowing outlines. Here is a reference image of the rear of the car with the spoiler retracted. Huge props to the designers for taking on the ambitious task of trying to recreate such an organic shape using bricks instead of just using stickers. The result doesn't look quite accurate as the lights have a much more angular shape and don't go all the way around the holes which are represented by a dark gap, but I think it's about as good as they could make it and it exhibits some excellent shaping techniques. I love me a well-shaped rear. A car rear, I mean. Get your head out of the gutter! The large air intakes on the doors of the Evija are recreated nicely using a variety of wedges and tiles. While the use of the snowboard as the spoiler is NPU, having it upside down exposes the rough underside of the snowboard which doesn't look very good in my opinion. The exposed studs above the mudguards also ruin the the smooth look of the car a bit. Also, the dark green 1x2 tiles are a slightly darker shade of green than the other parts which is disappointing. Maybe that's why they haven't made that piece in this color in over a decade. On a brighter note, while the stickers were a pain to apply, the dynamic lines that they add to the top of the car look undeniably great. You can seat the minifig inside by removing the windscreen. Bob can fit comfortably into the car and a sticker on the center console adds some nicely detailed button designs. Ratings Design: 8/10 A cool-looking and reasonably close recreation of an ambitious vehicle design with some great shaping. Only the spoiler and exposed studs make it look a bit rough. Build: 8/10 The build starts out basic, but ends up having lots of interesting techniques. Playability: 5/10 You can roll the car around and seat the minifig inside. Figures: 8/10 A great new Lotus racing suit, but with the usual generic head. Parts: 8/10 New wedge molds and several new and rare recolors, plus plenty of dark green! The color inconsistency on the latter is disappointing though. Price: 9/10 Not as good of a value as the Ferrari, but 247 parts for 20 bucks is still a good deal! Overall: 8/10 It is quickly becoming clear to me that the Speed Champions sets are not to be underestimated when it comes to the build. I never would have thought that an official set of a complexly shaped car such as the Evija would turn out looking this good at such a small scale! If you want to experience the advanced building techniques of the large 18+ sets in an affordable $20 set, this is one to pick up. Thanks for reading and thanks to TLG for sending me this set for review. What do you think of the set? Let me know in the comments and in the poll above. The set will release on March 1, 2022: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lotus-evija-76907 In my next Speed Champions review, we're going back to the groovy 70's again!