Laura Beinbrech

Nice and steampunky, also good use of the old Rock Raiders canopy piece.

I loved that set! I DID pick up at least 10 of them... That's how I got all the green-stripe torsos for the Confederate Navy sailors. LEGO needs to come up with more Pirate sets like that one: It had everything you needed for decent army building at a good price: A soldier, a Pirate a Cannon and some useful parts and accessories, and as far as I'm concerned, you can't have too many soldiers, pirates or cannons. As for the Ninjas vs Pirates thing... I'm just going to wait and see. As I said before, I'm just happy that they made the Governor's Daughter and Blue Pirate torsos available on Pick A Brick, and IMO, the Leprechaun's shirt would make a nice "Greencoat" faction uniform... Still, I'll be happy as long as the pirates don't completely disappear for 12 years like they did last time.

Ha! Yes, I agree that an "opt-in" option would be good... Who's to say that there aren't some guys out there who prefer the friends stuff to the more usual LEGO fare... As for the change.org petition jumping in front of us by bypassing the ambassador programs and such.... Well, I was in the military for 6 years, and what they're doing is what we called "jumping the chain of command", which was SEVERELY frowned upon (unless you already tried going through the normal channels), and I'm willing to bet that the LEGO execs are going to give it the same time and consideration that such a breach of etiquette deserves.

Ok, I want to know what LEGO's marketing execs were smoking when they came up with that "genius" idea, and where I can get some... Seriously, I can't think of anything worse they could have done in the name of "reaching out" to girls. Way to freaking, go LEGO!

No, I was referring to this one: and these somewhat similar ones:

My favorite one would have to be the one, the only, the original Captain Redbeard: He was one of three minifigs that I saved when I gave away most of the rest of my LEGO during my first Dark Age in High School... After that are all the blue-jacketed Pirate First mates (both new and old), which I'm using as the enlisted/chief petty officer uniforms for the Federal Republic of America Navy. I was really happy when I found out that they were offering the new blue jacket uniforms through Pick A Brick.

Well, if you count loose minifigs and such, I'd say at roughly at least 40% or so, most of the rest is Castle and Adventurer's type stuff (Indiana Jones, Pharaoh's Quest, etc)....

Perhaps some mad scientist creations? Steph Spider Bot by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Oh, yeah, I'm definitely going to have to get multiples of this spinner, since it will go nicely with the Series 3 Samurai (I got a ton of those when they were out)... Even if it will take up my entire weekly impulse set budget. Personally, I can't wait until the Samurai X mech comes out this summer, and I'll be getting more than one of that, too!

Really nice! This MOC could be considered to be the REAL astrodome!

I like it! It kinda puts me in the mind of what you'd get when "Star Wars" meets "Orange County Choppers"...

While the dolls are rather cute, they don't really fit into the general LEGO population for me (although, considering my whack-job post-apocalyptic setting, I could possibly pass them off as some kind of humanoid aliens), the best part, for me, is the new hair pieces and hair piece accessories... As a matter of fact, I'll hopefully be able to get some pictures of a Magical Girl minifig I made using the following: The series 1 Cheerleader's Legs, the Series 4 Sailor's torso (I have a zillion sailors), the current Pick A Brick female head, Stephanies hair with one of her pink ribbons in the side accessory slot and the gold Kingdoms Queen tiara in the top slot, and a magical staff made from a white antenna piece, a gold telescope and a pink gem... This character is basically minifig Stephanie, as far as I'm concerned.

Wow, my internet goes down for a day and I come back to find a pile of replies! Thanks! I kinda got the idea of positioning the two vehicles like they were going to race when I took the picture.... The convertible would most likely win, though, since its built for speed and the truck is built for hauling 76mm field guns over rough terrain. You caught me! That Toy Story character was a major inspiration for my quickie MOC, well that and my warped mind that is. I haven't opened up Olivia's Treehouse to check for myself yet, but they should. It looks to me like you'd have to do it with one of the friends dolls having their arm down and the other's arm up, sorta like standard minifigs in the 5-wide Adventurer's car bodies... As a matter of fact, you can see Stephanie and Mia in the car at the same time in this Youtube video. (pause it 6 seconds in). Because I'm an evil mad scientist and I can? I was just showing some actual uses for Friends Doll parts in standard sets, since you can't use the heads with normal minifigs (unless you drill them out to 5mm), and even though I could give a rat's last part over the fence about what most radical feminists think, they probably would be thrilled that "teh eval slutty doll figs" are getting abused like this... Gryphon Ink: Glad you liked the Kyoshi Warriors. And as for the "Does it come in black," I'm planning on posting some LDD screenshots of the car in different color schemes. Thanks for the kind words, and I'll try to get some more pics up... I.e. I'll be getting a pic of two Friends in the car that shows how they are held in place, along with the aforementioned alternate color builds.

Yeah, pretty much my opinion, too... Plus she kinda reminds me of my fiance (they even have the same hair ), except that my fiance almost never wears dresses and doesn't like pink...

Thanks for the kind words, guys! BTW, I added some pics of the instructions for the car... Its actually fairly straight-forward in a kind of "gee, why didn't I think of that before" kind of way... Now I need to see about making that Dark Green and Black version that I was talking about.... EDIT: Also, I wanted this set as soon as I first saw the preliminary pictures of it! It also seems that Stephanie, the "social" girl is a bit of a speed freak, considering that her sets involve a sports car, a four-wheeler (or quad for you Brits) and a seaplane....

Well, LEGO coming up with similar data MIGHT be why they made the Friends boxes and instruction sheets purple, rather than pink and included more purple and light blue in the sets... Seriously, having had a close look at the friends sets, they look positively "boyish" compared to Disney Princesses and Barbie. But yeah, the pink for girls and blue for boys is only a fairly recent phenomenon, but unfortunately, one that has had huge amounts of propaganda (in the form of advertising) behind it, so it's unlikely to change quickly unless equal amounts of counter-propaganda are employed against it... Thankfully, LEGO seems to have done their research and have avoided falling into most of that trap.

I hear you man! I'm pretty much the opposite: I'm a somewhat effeminate straight guy, and I've lost track of how many times I've gotten accused of being gay just because I like to dress a bit fancy and let my hair grow out, so I'm with you 100% on the stereotype business. ...But I digress. About the set: I believe I mentioned this when the preliminary pics came out, but I'll say it again: There are actual diners where I live, all of which are survivors of the 1950's, that look almost EXACLY like this cafe, even down to the decor (although with SLIGHTLY less pink). In America during the 1950's, pastel colors, including pink, were the style for interior decorating (as my brother found out when he bought a house built in the 1950's with most of the original interior and appliances), and this cafe definitely has that vibe going for it. I believe it would definitely fit right in with any '50's style American town setting and the set itself harkens back to the classic TOWN sets I remember from the late '80's and early '90's, so it has that nostalgia factor going for it as well. The only thing I DON'T like about it is the lack of roof, but that should be easy enough to fix. Also, some thoughts about your hair experiments: I agree with the person who said the switch with Capt. Jack Sparrow was awesome: Not only doe it give Andrea that inner-city look, but Jack has that 18th century gentleman officer in a wig look going as well. Excellent review, and thanks for the laughs. I may just end up getting this set eventually.

Hello all, this is my first ever review, so here goes: Set: 3183 Stephanie's Cool Convertible Price: US$ 14.99/€13.85 Part Count: 130 Official Description (from LEGO.com): Cruise in style indeed! Let's take a closer look, shall we: Box Front by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Here's the obligatory front of the box pic, showing Stephanie in all her glory, along with the rad sports car she has... As has been said plenty of times before, the Friends figs are definitely different than a standard minifigure, however, they are built to a similar scale, but more on that later. Box Back by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr ...and the obligatory back of the box shot, showing Stephanie, her puppy, all the pink accessories that come with the set , and showing some of the play features of this set. It also shows the break-down of the Friends figures, which separate into the same basic category of parts (leg assembly, torso assembly, head and headgear/hair). There's also an advertisement for other Friends products (and the other Friends characters) along the bottom of the box. Unlike the larger Friends sets, this comes in the standard rectangular box, as opposed to the slightly curved boxes already noted in reviews of the larger sets. Now, on to Stephanie herself: Steph and Kyoshi by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr As you can see, Suki and one of her Kyoshi Warriors have shown up to provide a comparison between the Friends figures and the standard minifigure, as well as to check out Stephanie's sweet ride. As has been posted many times before, the standard Friends figure is only about 2 plates taller than the typical minifig, but they are still one of the smallest doll-type things I've ever seen... My cousins were into Polly Pocket when they were younger, and as far as I can tell, the Friends figures are even smaller than Polly Pocket & Co. Of course, as has been mentioned before, the Friends figures' hair is compatible with standard LEGO minifigures' hair and head gear and vice-versa, so here's a few obligatory pics of headgear hijinks: Steph Helmet by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Stephanie with a pilot's/driving cap for that retro look... IMO, this is what she SHOULD be wearing if she wants to drive an open-top sports car... The best part is that her eyes are in the exact same spot as a standard minifigure's, so when the goggles are down, they're in the correct position... Looks like LEGO definitely thought of everything! Steph Geisha by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr ...And Stephanie with the Series 4 Geisha hair. Also, as has been noted before, the friends figure head does not fit on a standard minifigure, but a 5mm drill bit and a steady hand or drill press should be able to fix that. The head DOES, however, fit on a standard "stick" piece, i.e. anything that fits inside a hollow stud or can be gripped by a minifigure... Of course this could definitely lead to some possibilities for the mad scientist/twisted genius type, so to explain, we'll turn this segment over to Dr. Regis Blackgaard, the Grand Duke of New York, and my LEGO setting's resident evil genius type: Dr. Blackgaard: "Thank you, General Takayama, now allow me to introduce the latest abomination to come out of my laboratory, the Spider Doll, MK1:" Steph Spider Bot by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr "As you can see, my lovely creation comes armed with six vicious mechanical legs and is armed with a ventral flamethrower, however, there's more" With the same claw attachment or a BrickArms Monopod, you can replace the obsolete head of your standard battledroids and..." THANK YOU, Dr. Blackgaard! Now as I was saying, someone sufficiently twisted could find some creepy, nefarious uses for the Friends figures' heads, but enough of that, on to the build! Contents by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Here's what's inside the box... Basically typical LEGO Packaging, with the bags, DSS and instruction booklet. Nothing anyone who's been actively purchasing and building LEGO sets for the past several years hasn't seen already. Now for the obligatory random instruction sheet picture: Instructions by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Again, exactly what you'd expect from a typical LEGO set, so those who were concerned that Friends would be "dumbed down" because it is aimed at girls need not worry. A nice pic of the huge variety of accessories contained in the set: Accessories by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The ribbons and flowers are new parts, but IIRC, the hairbrush and bucket are from Belleville, and it's nice to see they brought the sink faucet piece back, and in pearl gold, too! The puppy is also new and so adoreable! Car Wash by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr ...and here's the first part of the build done: basically just a section of sidewalk with a bench, a lamp post and a spigot and soap dispenser. Nothing too complicated here, but I DO like the new colors, and most of the parts will be useful for other builds. The next part of the the instructions is for the main feature, the awesome car: Car Instrucion 1 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Car Instruction 2 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr As you can see, these instructions aren't dumbed-down at all! Hands up whoever wants to see this sucker in Red or Black! (Car build instruction shots added by request.) Car Side/Front by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr This car actually is better than most of the ones in the current city sets and actually uses a fair amount of SNOT techniques! Dumbed-down INDEED! Car Rear View by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Here's a pic of the interior, which, again is fairly detailed. all the stickers were supposed to go on the Car, but I generally avoid using stickers unless I have a really compelling reason to. The piece in the front is, as far as I can tell, a new mold which is basically a 1x2x1 panel, but with a divider in the middle. I'm already seeing possibilities for this part, and I hope it comes out in other colors and sets! Its purpose here is to securely hold the friends figures into the car. ....and of course the extra parts: Extras by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Now for a shot of the completed set (minus all the extra pieces and accessories): Full Set by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Stephanie and her doggie are ready to go on a ride! I decided to bring out the 5-wide Truck from the one Pharaoh's Quest set to show how Stephanie's car compares to the standard LEGO vehicle offerings: Car Comparison by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr As you can see, it fits right in! SO, here's the basic breakdown: Price: 4/5... A bit on the high side, considering that the usual price range for that piece count is around $10, but still well worth it for the car and accessories. Build: 5/5... One of the best car sets LEGO has released in a good while, and my one and only gripe with it is that it can't fit two minifigs side by side, but that should be fairly easy to modify. Playability: 4.5/5: The car is very Vroomable (sorta like swooshable, but on the ground), and the car wash has some nice features, but nothing overly involved. For those into that kind of thing, the various flowers, ribbons and tiaras will provide hours of "dress-up" fun for Stephanie and her dog. It might not seem like all that much, but what do you expect from a $15 set? Overall: 4.5/5 I definitely reccomend this set to anyone looking for a reasonably easy to duplicate 6-wide car design... As a matter of fact, I believe I have enough parts to do a Dark Green and black version (a la The Emerald Night), which I'm going to call the Emerald Night Rider (insert rimshot here). So, some final thoughts: While I'm not overly thrilled by the Polly Pocket-like doll figure, I DO love the new parts, accessories, hair pieces and colors. On top of that as far as I can tell, LEGO has put the same level of design and complexity into these sets as their standard City and other themed sets, which should quiet the critics crying about how this theme is being "dumbed down" or "condescending" to girls... In fact, since the Instructions contains ads for other themes like Creator as well as Friends, hopefully this will get more girls into the rest of LEGO and should serve as a bridge from Barbie and Polly Pocket dolls to LEGO... And since everyone else feels the need to post some kind of funny pic, it would seem that Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors have stol--er COMMANDEERED Stephanie's car for use as their new urban assault vehicle: Kyoshi Car by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr I hope this review was somewhat useful, since it is my first ever....

Well, my fiance and I were in Target today while I was waiting for the shop to finish putting new tires on my car, and I went to see if I could get Olivia's Treehouse and Stephanie's Cool Convertible (which they had), and I saw a pair of young kids (around 8-10), a brother and sister who both seemed excited about the new Friends sets... BTW, I'll try and post a review of Stephanie's Cool Convertible, provided that (a) it's legal for non-reviewer's academy people to post reviews and (b) nobody else beats me to it.

FINALLY!! Somebody actually got the reference, and she's not in the Republic of New Jersey Navy, She's currently in the Federal Republic of America Navy... Here's a map so you can see how the post-Final War North America is divided up: NorthAMLEGO by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr But, unfortunately, as you can see, what with Confederate States of America, the Grand Duchy of New York and the Hordes of Chaos causing trouble (not to mention the pirates and sea monsters), she's just about as busy as she was before, but on a more local scale... As a matter of fact, she's the frigate captain that managed to sink the CSS Mobile, the lead ship of the Mobile-Class battlecruisers, a feat that the naval intelligence units on both sides believed to be impossible to pull off...

I've just combined my two older computers because I was tired of the series of issues I was having with my HP POS, and when I tried to install and run LDD, it kept crashing. The system SHOULDNT have any problems running LDD, due to the fact that the current system is light years better than what I WAS running it on (Pentium 4 2.6 GHz, 2.5 GB of RAM and Windows SP3)... After updating all my drivers and everything, I decided to run the program in offline mode, and it worked! This is, obviously, not an ideal solution to the problem, but it did work, and as soon as I log in/connect to the internet with my Verizon Wireless broadband doohickey, it crashes again... So, long story short, what could be causing crashes on startup might NOT be your video settings, but network issues with your internet connection, so try starting it without access to the internet and see if it works in offline mode.

I just went to the LEGO store in Hanover, Maryland and talked to one of the employees that I know there. He confirmed that they will definitely be getting the new Friends sets in on January 1. I'm going to check the local Toys R Us tomorrow and see if they managed to get any early (probably not)... If so, I'll try and post a review of any Friends sets I get.

Dude! I'd totally buy those sets!

Well, as for the whole complaint about including main characters with each set, you could just do what I do/have been doing with the Pirates of the Caribbean sets: switch the heads and other parts around: I mean the typical LEGO minifig is made up of 5 easily removable parts (head, torso, arms and leg assembly) along with 4 not quite so easily removable parts (hands and legs), which should give you a FEW options. All you need to do is either replace Eomer's head with one from, say Pirates of the Caribbean or something else, and presto: New, generic Rider of Rohan. ...Of course I may be less picky than some due to having only the classic smiley, followed shortly by the basic Pirate heads available when I first got into LEGO.

Well, I was debating about where to put this, and I decided to place it here, since it looks more Military than Sci-Fi (even if it is supposed to be built 100 years in the future), but if it belongs in Sci-Fi, then forgive me. Anyways, I recently posted the CSS Baton Rouge, a Confederate Battle Cruiser, so I decided to post one of the ships belonging to "good guys" as well... I had finished this ship earlier this year, and posted it on Brick Forge, but I've made a number of MAJOR improvements to the basic design since, with the final one arriving today with my latest Brick Link order. I was trying to find the perfect uniform for the enlisted/junior NCO sailors in the Federal Navy, and figured out that the Series 3 sailors' hat would be perfect for the torso/leg combo I hit upon (all my series 3 sailors are being used as the enlisted/junior NCOs for the Republic of New Jersey navy), so without further ado, I present the Federal Navy Ship, Hawkwing: Hawkwing Port by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr The Kestrel-Class Fast Frigate (FF) was the result of the first joint military project between the Federal Republic of America and the Republic of New Jersey, with the Republic of New Jersey version being known as the John Gotti-class Guided Missile Frigates (FFG). The first three ships of the Kestrel Class were constructed and launched about 5 years after the Final War, and were instrumental in pushing the Grand Duchy of New York's forces out of eastern Pennsylvania (the 120mm howitzer on the roof of the City Island Keep in Harrisburg, as well as similar guns on the Harrisburg Marine Corps base are relics of that dark time when the state capitol was under almost constant siege by New York forces). The John Gotti and her sisters also played a key role in the Republic of New Jersey Marine Corps siezing most of Long Island from the Grand Duchy of New York in a simultaneous operation. Hawkwing Starboard by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr In this starboard-side view, you can see the Hawkwing's primary armament: The fore and aft 3" (76mm) Ottobreda cannons, the starboard-side MK-50 sonar-guided torpedo and the starboard MK-5 twin medium-range Merculite missile launchers (the reason this ship is not classified as a guided missile frigate, as opposed to the New Jersey variant is the fact that the Republic of New Jersey ship replaces the aft 3" turret with a 3", six-tube short-range general purpose missile launcher and carries multiple reloads for said launcher). In addition, the Federal Navy Ensign can be seen flying from the fantail, and the National Ensign flying from the rear of the antenna mast. The reason the Federal Navy uses the Jolly Roger as its Naval Ensign goes back to the early days of the North American Union, when the NAU navy was formed by captured pirates who were given the option of working for the government or getting a hemp necktie. The Federal Republic of America, due to having some of the same pirates still working for it in key positions (Redbeard is the current President, and Admiral James Hook is current Chief of Naval Operations). The flattened disk attached to the forward part of the mast is the Furuno Navigation radar, which is also used by most merchant vessels, allowing the ship to go into deceptive EM-CON to fool pirates and other ne'er-do-wells into thinking the Hawkwing is a light cargo ship. Hawkwing Bow by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr From this head-on view, you can see the radio antennae (long aerials sticking out horizontally from the mast), and the BFG Industries Mark 98 fire control radar. In addition you can see the two .50 caliber machineguns (12.5mm) mounted on the 02 Level, above the Bridge. Looking into the bridge, you can see the duty Quartermaster manning (or should I say womanning) the helm. Hawkwing Bridge by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Here is the interior of the bridge, where you can see the helm with its navigation radar console and engine order telegraph, as well as the captain's chair with the master plot. The captain of this ship is Commander Honor Stephanie Harrington, late of the Royal Manticorian Space Navy (RMN) (her personal transport got sucked into a space/time rift, thanks to all the anti-matter bombs going off during the Final War), but she still wears her RMN CO's white beret and has her Sphinxian treecat, Nimitz (well, more like she's his human), whom she shares a psychic bond with. (You can sorta see him behind Cmdr. Harrington). As you can also tell, the bridge weapons locker is fully stocked. Hawkwing Main Deck by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Here is a pic of most of the main deck, showing the interior of the Combat Information Center, with Lt. Cmdr. William Turner, the Executive Officer, manning the Tactical Action Offier's/Missile Control console. Just aft of CIC is the crew berthing/lounge for off-duty sailors to unwind a bit before going back on watch. The after-most part of the picture, you can see the fantail, and the two gunners manning the MG-3/42 7.62mm machineguns, which are the standard Squad Assault Weapon for the Federal Marine Corps and Army. The Republic of New Jersey also uses the MG-3/42, thanks to the tech/hardware sharing agreement between the two allied countries. Federal Navy Convoy by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Finally, this is a snapshot of the FNS Hawkwing on convoy escort duty, along with the FNS Inferno (PT-001), an Inferno-Class PT boat commanded by Lt. Cmdr. William "One-eyed Willy" Jensen. They are escorting a tech shipment aboard the Motor Vessel (MV) Merry Maid, captained by one Hector Barbossa through waters frequented by sea monsters, pirates and Confederate gunboats. Hope you liked the build! Now for some of the basic construction process: I got the idea for building this when I saw the 2011 Police Boat and decided to run with it... I'd already converted my classic 1991 Cabin Cruiser into a PT boat, and decided that my small fleet could use a Frigate. I tried to use as many parts of the original Police boat that I could, but I still had to put in a fairly substantial Pick A Brick order to finish her out. Initially, the ship had manned turrets, due to the fact that I just couldn't seem to make a good 3" gun turret, and none of the missiles or torpedoes. I got the basic idea for the current torpedoes and gun turrets by stumbling across some designs on LEGO's Design By Me gallery, and made numerous improvements to the initial design (the original torpedo design did not allow the propeller to rotate and was somewhat flimsy... I used a antenna pole with a technic half-pin to allow the propeller to spin freely, and used a 4-L technic Axle to hold the front and back halves of the torpedo together), and there you have it.