Brinstar

This is a fantastic MOC! There are surely people better qualified than me to comment on the accuracy to the source material but from what I can see your model is very faithful to the X-wing. Its certainly a substantial improvement over Lego's version which while still a fantastic model is perhaps looking a little dated compared to some of their more recent UCS models.

Brickset reckons the prices will be something like this: 9470 Shelob Attacks will be =£19.99 9473 The Mines of Moria will be =£69.99 9474 The Battle of Helm's Deep will be =£99.99 9476 The Orc Forge will be =£39.99 9469 Gandalf Arrives will be =£11.99 9472 Attack on Weathertop =£49.99 Seems pretty reasonable to me for Licensed sets!

Another helpful and informative review Lego Otaku. Of all the LOTR sets, this was the one I was least enthused about and your review has only confirmed my suspicions. Despite the relatively generous piece count, there just doesn't seem to be a lot to it. I like the mini-figs and particularly the giant troll but the mine itself leaves a lot to be desired. I understand that its supposed to be a play set but the mine doesn't feel very substantial, particularly for the price.The number of stickers is also very off-putting.

Fantastic and informative review Lego Otaku with excellent pictures ;-) This is the LOTR set I've been looking forward to for and it doesn't disappoint. There is just so much to admire here. Helms Deep is probably the most substantial castle that Lego has made. Its a wonderful recreation of the source material. Its simply fantastic to see a Lego castle with an outer wall and an inner keep. It uses a lot of interesting new building techniques and I for one am happy to see Lego move away from the large castle walls and go for something a little more intricate. The minifigs are excellent, I'm particularly fond of Legolas. I think for the price it is considerably better value than most licensed sets and I must confess to being pleasantly surprised by the prices, certainly in comparison to the Star Wars sets. In short, an absolute triumph and probably my favorite set of the year. I can't wait for it to come to the UK!

This is one of best LOTR sets and the only one I plan to buy in multiples. With 6 figures its a fantastic set for army builders and I'm particularly fond of the Rohan soldiers. The castle structure is a great build, Its nice to see Lego moving away from the large castle wall pieces and using a different approach. The wall is useful as a standalone play-set but is probably more useful to expand the excellent Helms-Deep castle. The siege engine looks quite impressive and is certainly one of Lego's better recent efforts.

This is a difficult one to get excited about, given that its the umpteenth Jedi Starfighter we've had. I must confess to liking the colour scheme, as I'm a fan of green but the simple fact is that this doesn't feel like an improvement over the Plo Koon or Mace Windu variants. What is even worse is that the price keeps going up. This doesn't have the other cool stuff that Mace Windu's had and is much more expensive than Plo's. The Saesee Tinn and Even Piell mini-figs are nice but I already own the former from last years Jedi Shuttle. The latter hardly merits a purchase on its own. There are some good Star Wars sets this year and I have a feeling this one might be sitting on the shelf. They must sell, otherwise Lego wouldn't keep making them but you do wonder if the Delta-7 hasn't run its race by now.

This is a really cool MOC and a definite throw back to the era of classic castle. I like the way you have used the half-timbered room from 6086 as the basis of your design, I agree that is one of the best parts of an exceptional castle. I'm particularly fond of the tower and think you have used the red timbered pieces to particularly good effect. The overall look of the set is very faithful to 80s castle and I think this would have made a nice addition to that lineup.

Its a nice idea but I don't see it happening. As has already been observed further POTC sets are looking increasingly unlikely. If they don't release a Dutchman, I certainly don't see them making an Endeavor.

I don't see how not having many caste sets is going to reduce your enjoyment of LOTR. To be honest, I regard LOTR as a separate entity and I'm not sure how well it would combine with the existing castle sets. I certainly don't see either see the Kingdoms theme or even the Fantasy era sets co-existing convincingly with LOTR. I have a reasonably large castle collection but I have no plans to combine the those sets with LOTR.

I do agree that the timing is odd and I think this set would have done better if released with last years wave of Kingdoms sets. That being said, I still think the old adage of better late than never is applicable here. The set is an excellent army builder for our existing Kingdoms collections. Personally, I will still be building up my lion knight and dragon knight armies long after the themes premature discontinuation. To my knowledge, there is no other chess set on the S@H so it still fills a useful gap in the market.

Thanks for the early review. In the midst of some very impressive LOTR sets such as Helm's Deep and the Urak Hai Army, I can't say this initially grabbed me. Your review has certainly changed my mind. The mini-figs are excellent and I particularly like Gollum who I would imagine would be quite a difficult figure to create. I think the likeness is close enough to the film to be satisfactory. Its worth buying this set for the two exclusive figures alone. Despite my general love of mini-figs there is no doubting that The shelob is certainly the most impressive part of the set and looks very authentic. I'll certainly be picking up this set, along with most of the other LOTR sets when they make it to the UK.

Thanks for the early review Captain Beerbeard! Its a nice little set both Gandalf and Frodo look good and the horse is a vast improvement over the old one. For the price, I thinks its a good little set. I will certainly pick this one up when it arrives on UK shores.

Congratulations Marshal_Banana I've been keeping my eye on this one and am delighted to see it has reached 10,000 votes. It is an outstanding build and you deserve much praise for such a skilled revival of the western theme. Once again it shows what the AFOL community can do when they get behind such a project. Fingers crossed it will be approved (although I can't see any reason why it shouldn't) and hopefully the entire town or individual buildings will be available to buy in the not to distant future.

Wow! This is a surprise and a very pleasant one at that! It has certainly come out of the blue and dropped on to the lego shop with little or no fanfare. I'll definitely be buying this when it arrives in the UK's S@H. I have reservations about the plastic baseplate but the price seems very reasonable and I simply can't say no to that many castle figures in one set. Comparisons with the giant castle chess set are a little unfair considering that one was three times the price and despite the fantastic board design still had the same number of figures.

I haven't seen to many MOC's of this ship and with good reason, I can imagine it is very difficult to build. That being said, I think you have done a wonderful job, your model looks to be a very accurate interpretation of the original ship and I think the planets Death Star is an inspired solution to overcoming the difficulty of the central section. I certainly can't think of a better solution.

Despite being one of the smallest sets in the line, I really like this one. Its a small set with simple designs but I don't think Lego could have done much better with a set of this size. The buggy in particular stands out as looking particularly good. These reviews make me wish that the Alien Conquest theme hadn't been cancelled prematurely. There were some great sets and I think there was certainly an opportunity to take the theme further. Still, its nice to enjoy the ones that have been released. I must get my hands on the Alien mothership soon.

An absolutely beautiful ship. One of the most impressive I've seen of recent times. The attention to detail is outstanding. My knowledge of sailing ships in this period is to limited to comment on historical inaccuracies but I'd say it doesn't really matter. You were certainly successful in what you were trying to achieve.

That is a very impressive model. I think you have preserved the integrity of the original model but made something much more substantial and updated it with a lot of modern building techniques. I particularly like the design of the mountain and the houses that sit slightly precariously at the top.

I'd echo the support for remaking the Wolfpack. They were a painfully underutilized sub-theme back in the early nineties but both models were classics and I would love to see more modern versions. I also think 6081 Kings Mountain Fortress would be a good choice. I don't think its Lego's best castle but it has a unique design and a modernisation could improve some of the obvious defensive weaknesses the old model suffered from.

Its edging closer to the magic 10,000 mark by the day. I do think this would be a very worthy model, with no license to back it up its getting to the finishing line through build quality and some deserving encouragement from the AFOL community. With no license it should be a more straight forward decision than any of the other recent models to reach 10,000 votes and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be made. I'd be delighted to see any of the buildings made up, my preference would be the sheriffs office.

Wow! What a way to introduce yourself. I don't know enough to comment on historical accuracy but what I will say is that this looks absolutely brilliant and I can't want to see the finished model.

Picked up a MISB copy of 7048 Troll warship. I missed out on the fantasy era sets and am currently trying to get my hands on some of the good ones. This was the top of the list and it was great to pick up a sealed copy. The ship is awesome, much bigger than I thought it would be and its great to get all those trolls and a dragon in one set.

Thanks for this excellent review Whitefang! I really enjoyed the Earth Defense HQ and the Alien Defender but have been on the fence about this one. Your review has convinced me to buy it. The helicopter is well designed and the two alien fighter craft round off the package very nicely. I do think the ADU sets are better than the slightly tongue in cheek alien sets, as a result I've turned to older space sets to provide opponents for the ADU. This has certainly been a good few months for Lego Helicopters what with this and the excellent 4439 Heavy-Duty Helicopter.

This is a fantastic diorama, beautifully displayed and very reminiscent of Lord of the Rings. The castle is very impressive with lots of great little details and I'm very jealous of your massive orc army.

Thanks for posting this. I think this is my favorite in your series of re-imaginations although that may be partly due to the BSB being my favorite of the three ships you have modified. I think you maintain the integrity of the original ship very well and add lots of little details which I would have liked to have been on the first one such as the decking and extra cannons. Its now a mightily impressive vessel. The only thing I'm not so sure about is the rear of the ship specifically the windows on top of each other. I understand why you have done but it doesn't quite look right to me.