Oky

Indeed, nice review, Fangy. I own this set too, and I agree, this is quite a nice set. It's a great way to get Mia, and it doesn't have a lot of girly colors, so it could be integrated into City quite easily. If it included a new design for Mia or some other exclusive parts, it would have made it great, but as it is, I rate it above average too.

Thanks for doing this review, Cloney. It's enjoyable to read as always. You can really tell the TLG was just testing the waters with the first Nickelodean sets. It's sad that Spongebob won over Avatar, but no sense in crying over that now. This set is really far from great with all those gaps, low-quality minifigs, that random safe, crappy CGI etc. but it's still better than that empty facade they released 3 years later. It could have been more accurate, but I guess the target audience for this set doesn't care about that. The kiddies just want a fun playset that somewhat resembles a location from their favorite cartoon, and I guess that's what they get.

Perfect reply! Thanks, and I'm sorry you never had the chance to get this neat little set.

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad you liked it. No, sorry, as I said in the review, I never got any of the old Spider-Man sets, but putting the pictures from brickset next to each other should give you a pretty good idea of the differences. As you can see, the new spidey has a lot more detail on his torso and has the red stripe around his waist actually printed on his waist rather than on his hips. Again, this is more accurate to the character, but doesn't necessarily work for the aesthetic of the minifig. So, even though the old Spidey was inaccurate, the red-to-blue ratio on it just worked visually better somehow. Thanks. I feel so nerdy knowing all this stuff. That's great! If you want to convert it into a DC set, I think it would make a great Mr. Freeze lab! The color scheme is perfect for it, so just put a custom Nora into the containment cell and have either Batman or Robin hanging tied up from the ventilation tower, and you've got a great Mr. Freeze lab! Heck, Doc Ock even looks like Mr. Freeze! He's got the red goggles and everything! Oh, and if you want to watch the episode, you can currently see it on the Disney XD site. If that's the only thing that bothers you about the set, remember, this is Lego, so if you don't like it, simply rebuild it into something that suits your needs! I'm sure you can build some kind of lab equipment or big gun or something out of it. Oops, thanks for pointing that out. I didn't know that since I don't follow the City and Castle themes, so I probably should've done my research before writing that. I have amended it so that it says that it's the only other licensed set which has it in this color It's interesting how we disagree sometimes. The Funhouse is the only Super Heroes set I haven't bought because its design is not appealing to me at all. I feel it's nonsensical, and wastes a lot of space whereas in this lab, everything has a clear purpose (except maybe the lower half of the tower). Maybe I'm just a sucker for mad scientist labs. To each their own I guess.

RA Anniversary Baker and a Quidditcher - My longest title so far! For baking up a delicious review for the RA's 4th anniversary. From WhiteFang.

Hi, everyone! Some of you may remember my little prank from April 1st where I posted a fake review of this set. Well, I'd like to make it up to you by making a real review of it, and what better time to do so than for the 4th anniversary of the Reviewers Academy and the 50th anniversary of the Spider-Man comics! So let's get started! Set Number: 6873 Name: Spider-Man's Doc Ock Ambush Theme: Super Heroes Subtheme: Marvel Universe Year of Release: 2012 Pieces: 285 Minifigs: 3 Price: $29.99 USD Shop @ Home description: Brickset Bricklink S@H The Box The box has the same red box design as the other Marvel sets, except it has an illustration of Spider-Man in the top right corner instead of the Avengers or Wolverine, and the Ultimate Spiderman logo in the lower right. From the box art and the S@H description we can already tell that this is only loosely based on the Ultimate Spider-Man TV show. There was so far only one episode where Spider-Man was in Doc Ock's Lab, "Me Time", and it wasn't Iron Fist who was captured by the doctor in order to steal his powers, it was Spidey. Plus Doc Ock's lab was in an octopus-shaped underwater base, not in a cave. I guess TLG didn't want to make Spider-Man look weak, so they included one of his team members for him to rescue and made up their own story loosely based around that episode. The back shows off the play features of the set and has a small picture of Spider-Man in the corner. The red and blue background fits the whole Spider-Man theme more than any other Marvel set. The Contents Inside the box you will find an instructions booklet, a comic, a sticker sheet, two loose tubes, and 3 numbered bags. The instructions are the same as other Super Heroes instructions. They have part call-outs and light images of the three minifigs included in the set on the corner of some pages. On the last page there is a Lego Club ad with a cute image of Spidey and a captured Doc Ock hanging down from the 7498 Police Station. Notice anything different about Spidey? That's right, he has awesome leg and arm printing in this picture! Why do you tease us so, Lego!? The comic is basically just a visual representation of the set description where Doc Ock brings Iron Fist into his lab and straps him on the examination table (note that Iron Fist's head goes where his feet are supposed to go; probably an accident by the artist), then Spider-Man comes to rescue him and they fight Doc Ock, after which the villain escapes on his getaway car. Not the greatest story, but one of the better Super Heroes comics. One thing I noticed is that the cylinders on the big tower seem to be translucent in this comic, and one of them even seems to have a skeleton inside. Perhaps this is how the preliminary design of the set was? There are a few notable pieces in this set. First of all, there are several parts in medium blue, some of which are exclusive to this set, such as the half-cylinder and 3x3 wedge plate. There are also some old pieces making a return, like the big wedge plate with grill in dark grey and the cross plate with dome, both of which were last seen in 2010. The neck bracket with Technic pin in black is also new in this color. There's another rare piece which I forgot to include in this picture, and that's the unprinted TIE Fighter windscreen which was only included in two other sets so far. The Minifigs There are 3 minifigs included in this set, Spider-Man (obviously), Doc Ock, and Iron Fist, all of which are based on their designs from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. Iron Fist is the only exclusive character here however, since we already got several minifig versions of Spidey and Octavius based on the first two Spider-Man films. Spider-Man has blue hips and a blue torso this time around. Even though the blue hips are more accurate, I think this makes him look too blue, especially around the shoulders and feet. He would look so much better if they would have given him the leg and arm printing that he has in that Lego Club ad, but oh well. Having missed out on the first Spidey sets, I'm just glad to finally get a Spidey. I'm not even bothered by his cartoonishly big white eyes. Doc Ock looks a lot different from the movie version. He has long, black hair and a grey suit. I guess the creators of the cartoon were going for a creepy stalker look. It's interesting, but definitely not my favorite depiction of the character. That said, the minifig does look pretty cool. I like all the details on his torso. There is only one other licensed set that comes with his hair in this color, on Professor Snape in 4842 Hogwarts Castle. Iron Fist looks pretty good. He is probably one of my favorite characters from the show, so I'm glad they decided to include him even though he hardly had an appearance in the episode this set is based on. His eyes aren't as big as Spidey's, so he doesn't look cartoony, and he's overal pretty accurate. One thing that bugs me a little about him, though, is his confident smile. He is usually very focused in the show and doesn't smile much (which is one of the reasons why I like him so much) and in this set he got captured by Doc Ock. Shouldn't he have a concerned or angry look on his face? Or does he know that Spidey is coming to rescue him? Seriously, why do all Lego superheroes have to have a cocky smile or grin? Also, the upcoming Nova seems to come with translucent studs on his hands to represent his superpower, just like Iron Man, so why not Iron Fist? It's not a big deal, but it's those kind of details that can make a minifig great. Spidey looks especially wrong when looking at him from the side. Being different colors, his costume and mask look completely separated whereas they look like they're one piece on the "real" Spider-Man. Also, the web pattern on his mask is interrupted on the sides. They were able to print the sides of Lobot's head just fine, so why not Spidey's? Doc Ock's tentacles are constructed the same way as before, although this time the middle segments are black as they are in the cartoon. All the minifigs have back printing too. I have removed Doc Ock's hair and tentacles so that you can see his back prints. He comes with a second face that looks not quite as pissed off and has the red lenses of his glasses flipped up. I don't remember his glasses ever doing that in the show, but it's interesting alternate face nevertheless. Iron Fist doesn't have printing on the back of his head, which is a shame. Where is his hair? Where are the long ends of his bandana? If I didn't know what he looks like from the front, I would think he had a regular yellow minifig head. Here are some reference images from the Ultimate Spider-Man website. All the characters look pretty spot-on, from the dragon silhouette on Iron Fist's chest to the details on Doc Ock's suit. The Build Bag 1 contains Spider-Man, Doc Ock, and the parts for Octopus' vehicle. Once you have built Doc Ock's tentacles, you build his little car. I like to call it the Octomobile! Doc never had a vehicle like this in the show, or ever as far as I know, but it certainly looks interesting and keeps nicely with the color scheme of Doc Ock and his lab. I also don't remember him ever having his own logo, so I don't know where TLG got that design on the hood of the vehicle from. This build is pretty simple and quick. There is no steering wheel or seat for the driver which is pretty odd. Maybe Doc Ock controls it with his mind, just like he does with his tentacles? You might be wondering what the ball-socket joint is for. Apparently you're supposed to take off Doc Ock's tentacles and attach them there while he's driving. I don't know what the point of that is, and if Doc Ock is even able to take off his tentacles in the show. After all, it is said that he can't move or breath without them. The flick-fire missiles can be aimed up and down as much as you like. Also, the driver's seat rotates 360 degrees. I also fail to see the point of this play feature. It would have made sense if the flick-fire launchers would move with the seat, but they don't, so all this feature does is make the Doctor dizzy. Here are the contents of bag 2 which make up the main section of the lab. As you can see, this is also the bag that contains Iron Fist. This is what you get about 2/3 through the build. Aside from the stickers and the lamp, this part is symmetrical, so it's not too hard to build. There are several textured bricks used in the walls which give it an interesting texture. Once you add the examination table, you're done with the first segment. The other modules are later added via the Technic pins on the sides. These are the contents of bag 3. As you can see, there are many trans-light-blue cylinders inside the small bag here. First you build the ventilation shaft. Here's an in-build shot. Since it uses a lot of large pieces and the first two stories are almost the same, it's finished pretty quickly. Next, you build the containment cell. Most of it is comprised of the TIE Fighter window and the big wall piece behind it, so there are no interesting in-build shots to show. Lastly, you connect the two modules to each side of the main part of the lab. This is what the complete assembly looks like: Pretty good, eh? It doesn't look bad from the back either, although the strangely shaped holes in the ventilation shaft are kinda odd. The Finished Set Here's Doc Ock's lab in its full glory. Well, sort of. It only represents a quarter of Doc Ock's round lab. It looks good for what it is though. Now let's take a look at the play features. One thing you can do is open up the containment cell and put a prisoner inside. It's nice and easy to open, unlike the one in the Batcave which tends to break when trying to open it (I hope it's OK for me to mention a DC set in a Marvel review ). Here's Iron Fist trapped inside, still smiling confidently. Not sure what the 54 on the display below is supposed to indicate. Maybe the temperature inside the cell. The main section features a lamp that can be lowered and an examination table that spins and has four mechanical arms that hold the "patient" of the doctor down. How fitting for Doc Ock. Unfortunately, the table doesn't tilt up like it did in the show. A simple hinge would fix that though. I like how they made the headrest out of cheese slopes. I might have to steal that design for pillows in a MOC. The futuristic displays in the back are surprisingly accurate when compared to this reference image, except the big screen is exchanged for a weird black piece with Doc Ock's logo on it in the set. See that orange graph to the left? It's the same as the one to the right of the examination table in the set. Even though the ventilation shaft is the tallest part of the set, it doesn't have a lot of playability. You can have Spidey crawl in from under the fan as suggested on the box, but that's pretty much it. It seems that it was included simply to give Spidey something to swing on his web from. Spare Parts There are a few small parts left over. The only noteworthy pieces here are the three (yes, 3!) medium blue cheese slopes and the silver tube. Ratings Design: 5/5 - It may not be completely accurate to Doc Ock's lab in the show, but it certainly captures the look of it. The whole thing has a great mad scientist vibe to it, even more so than the Frankenstein lab from the Monster Fighters theme. The color scheme is pretty cool and consistent and suits Doc Ock. Build: 4/5 - There is a vehicle, a lab, a tower, and a containment cell, so there's plenty of variety, making for a pretty satisfying building experience. It could have had just a few less junior-ized pieces which speed up the build though. Minifigs: 4/5 - I think we all would have preferred it if the minifigs in this set would have been based on their comic book versions rather than those from the generally despised Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, but they're pretty good for what they are. Doc Ock is pretty spot-on and cool looking; Spidey could have been done better, but could have been worse as well; and Iron Fist is a welcome addition to the Marvel heroes line-up, even if a somewhat obscure one, and although he could have used some printing on the back of his head. Playability: 4/5 - There are quite a few play features in this set. The Octomobile alone has three, aside from being a car! However, I can't help but feel that they could have done more with this set, mainly with the big ventilation shaft. Parts: 4/5 - There are lots of medium blue pieces, along with other rare parts, almost all of which are very versatile, so this is a pretty good parts pack. Price: 4/5 - I think $30 is a pretty fair price for a licensed set with 285 pieces, especially considering that 6863 Batwing Battle Over Gotham has less pieces than this, but costs $5 more! (Oops, I mentioned DC again...) Overall: 4/5 - It's not the greatest Spider-Man set (it's based on The Ultimate Spider-Man after all), but it's still pretty good. For a fair and affordable price, you get Spider-Man and two other characters which are exclusive to this set (at least for now) along with a neat lab and a little car, so unless you really hate The Ultimate Spider-Man or mad scientist labs, I recommend getting it (if you can find it in stock anywhere). If you just want a Spidey minifig, I would probably skip this one though, because rumor has it that he will be available in an even cheaper set next year with two much more desirable characters, Venom and Nick Fury. I hope you enjoyed this late 4th anniversary Reviewers Academy review and forgive me for that lame April Fools joke now. Remember what I said about Doc Ock's hair? To the Octomobile!

Oh, I see. That's OK. Thanks for sharing!

Are you going for a new record for most pictures posted in one day? Or what's up with all these new topics from you? Also, are you going to add any text to your reviews? I know you said this was a pictorial review, but that doesn't usually mean that there are only pictures in the review. Would be a shame if you wouldn't because your pictures are great and with a bit of commentary, these could be great reviews!

Hello, Eurobrickers! As you know, today is the 4th anniversary of the Reviewers Academy! That's a pretty good reason to celebrate right there, but as it so happens there is another important anniversary going on this month, the Lego Company's 80th anniversary! In celebration of this event, they were giving away this exclusive polybag set free with purchases over $50. And since it's such a fitting set to review for our own anniversary, I went and got it. So let's get this birthday party started! And if you stick around until the end of the review, you will get a FREE CAKE! Set Number: 40048 Name: Birthday Cake Theme: Seasonal Subtheme: Birthday Year of Release: 2012 Pieces: 24 Minifigs: 0 Price: Free (with purchases of $50 or more) Brickset Bricklink The Bag The polybag this set comes in is rather large for a 24-piece set. It's the same size as other seasonal polybag sets such as 40031 Bunny and Chick and has the same kind of design on it as well. The yellow and blue match the color scheme of the cake nicely. The back features the usual information and choking hazard warnings on one side, and the set name in six other languages on the other. Contents All the pieces are loose inside the bag and the instructions are printed on both sides of a folded piece of paper, as it is usual for a polybag set. There are two pieces in this set that only appear in one other set in this color, the round 8x8 tile in blue and the curved 4x1 slope in brown. The dark red 1x1 plate with tooth is also somewhat uncommon, but appears in five other sets. All the other pieces are very common. The instructions, much like the bag, have a light blue background with a yellow border. Again, this fits with the colors of the cake nicely. There are no part call-outs, and the ten building steps are of varying difficulty. Sometimes it has you adding just one or two pieces, and sometimes four. The Build The build of this set is quite simple and took me less than a minute to complete. For the most part, you're just stacking plates/bricks. There is only one instance where you're building SNOT. Here's a shot of it halfway through the build: The Completed Set Happy Birthday! Here's the finished cake. Doesn't it look delicious? It really looks like a border piece of one of those big, rectangular, icing-coated birthday cakes that you can buy at any grocery store here in America. I can just imagine it as a slice of a bigger cake. The dark red and brown pieces give it some nice detail, and the use of the SNOT technique makes this a very sturdy model. One thing I noticed, though, is that the instructions have you build the cake centered on the plate whereas the official picture has it offset from the center of the plate by one stud. It's an insignificant detail, but it but it always bugs me a little when the final product doesn't look like picture on the package. Here's a view from the other side. It's not as detailed on this side, but no less cakey. I think the only thing that would have made this set better would have been a candle on top of the cake. It could be easily done with a few 1x1 cylinders, but it's fine as it is. And... that's pretty much all there is to show about this set. It has no play features, although I can imagine kids using it as pretend-cake when playing house. And I'm sure there is some fun to be had with minifigs and an oversized cake like this. When no one was looking, Lex Luthor took a twenty-four-piece cake. He took 24 pieces. That’s as many as two dozen. And that’s terrible. Alright, let's move on to the ratings, and then you shall receive your free cake! Ratings Design: 5/5 - It's a great, sturdy, and fun-looking cake! Again, a candle would have helped to make it look even more like a birthday cake, but oh well. Build: 3/5 - It's a very basic and quick build, so it's not the most challenging building experience, but be honest, is there anything more satisfying than putting a few bricks together? Parts: 4/5 - Most of the parts are very common bricks and plates, but at least they are very versatile, and it comes with two rare pieces. Price: 5/5 - Well, although I had to spend fifty bucks to get it, it was free, and that's the best price there is! Playability: 1/5 - There's not much you can do with this set. It's mostly just for show, but that's okay. I mean, who would want flick-fire cake anyway. Overall: 4/5 - Even though it doesn't have much use, it's a pretty neat little set. But I don't like the set as much as the idea behind it. Giving each customer a piece of a larger imaginary birthday cake in celebration for the company's 80th birthday is brilliant in my opinion. It's good for display and makes for a nice conversation starter. Whenever someone comes into my room and sees it standing on my desk, they say: "Oh, is that a Lego cake? How cute!" So I tell them the story behind it. I wouldn't recommend buying this for an unreasonable price on the aftermarket, but if you were one of the lucky few to receive this set when it was being distributed, you have a little piece of Lego history in your possession. Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed this little double-anniversary review. Oh, and remember I promised you a free cake at the end of this review? Well, I lied. Sorry. If it's any consolation, here is another play on a cake-related internet meme. Once again, happy birthday, and may there be many more years of Lego and the Reviewers Academy to come!

Yay! Finally new Penguin funnies! They're all hillarious! I can't even pick a favorite. The expressions of the LOTR figs in the last one are priceless! I was considering making one similar to the Dementor one, but due to my lack of LOTR figs, I couldn't do it, so I'm glad someone did. There are way too many similarities between HP and LOTR...

I think it's best not to read too much into this picture. Someone on Flickr also pointed out that there are no recognizable continents on the planet, suggesting that this is prehistoric Earth, but I never said that this was supposed to be Earth. Maybe he really is coming from Endor.

In the Norfolk Southern "City of Possibilities" commercial, some Lego bricks can be seen in the foreground in some of the shots.

This is off-topic, but no we don't, and we will probably never get any because Lego doesn't have the license for that movie. Wow, what a lame, generic, and nonsensical response. Oh well, thanks for trying, CBMM1.

Congrats to the winners! You guys are truly mad modular builders! And thanks to everyone who voted for me. It's an honor to have gotten into the top 3 among all these great entries!

Well, they could have the truck with the bomb, but yeah, I don't see it happening either.

Thanks, and you're welcome. Not bad! Although yours seems to be photoshopped whereas mine isn't. I simply attached Superman to a rod and stuck it on the planet (the rod is hidden behind his other leg in the pic).

Odd. I didn't get such a notice, and I ordered mine only about a month ago. Maybe it depends on where you live? Not surprised that they're having trouble meeting demands though. Batman is quite popular at the moment, and the book comes with an awesome minifig.

Sure, go ahead. I'm curious what they'll say.

Has anyone tried contacting Lego about this? I mean ask how much truth there is to this statement, and if so, how many sets from IM3 we can expect? I know they usually can't talk about upcoming sets, but sometimes we get lucky. After all, this is a simple yes-or-no question, and it can't hurt to try. In fact, this is possibly how Brickshowtv got this info; by asking Lego's customer service, and Lego's email to them could have been a reply to their question. I can't really imagine why else Lego would email them.

Common sense is not a source. And it seems questionable that Lego would officially let some reviewer on YouTube leak any information about future sets. That doesn't mean that I have any doubt that there will be IM3 sets, I just don't think the "whole wave" is going to be based on that one movie. So yeah, it will probably be half the wave at best.

Where did you hear that? I thought the summer sets were going to be (at least partly) Mas of Steel sets. Plus I'm still expecting one or two more Ultimate Spider-Man sets with White Tiger and Power Man to complete the team. I'd say January. It's closer to the release date (January sets sometimes show up as early as end of November after all) and as you can tell from my statement above, the line-up for the summer is already pretty full.

Huh. That does sound very small. It seems odd to me that a white Batman would drive a black Batboat, but at least it will blend in with the other Bat-vehicles this way.

Thanks for the info, Hulk_Smash. Good to hear that most of the sets will probably be fairly cheap. Sounds just like the line-up most of us were expecting. However, the Bugle set sounds much bigger than what I anticipated. I wonder what they could put inside a 3-story, 16+ studs wide Bugle building? About how big and what color was the Batboat?

Regarding the first two questions, yes, I think that's very likely, although they will probably still throw in a little turret or something for the clones so that they can include flick-fire missiles. As for the other questions, we'll have to wait and see. No, I'm pretty sure they mean a Republic Acclamator-class Assault Ship.

Exactly! I'm guessing because it would require a new head mold. This set would have been infinitely better if it included a mini Slave I and Jango Fett.