dunamis

I wondered that myself. I actually gave the 10185 Green Grocer a 100% so this is probably the second highest score. It's not a mechanism, it is just that the base is on those inverted tiles and it turns easily on a flat surface.

Yes, apparently I went over the limit. Also, I couldn't double post with more photos so I just trimmed some photos out and made it one post. Sorry for the confusion.

EDIT: INDEXED, but Dunamis has reached the max pic amount in one single post, so I can't enter the "indexed" pic 10188 Death Star Reviewed by Dunamis Set 10188 3803 Pieces $399.99 from the LEGO Store, Glendale, California Build time: 21 hours Stickers: Ouch! 31 total stickers! LEGO continues its streak of giving fans what they ask for (although not necessarily in the price range that fans want…) The Death Star play set is the latest in that trend suggesting that LEGO will put everything (including the kitchen sink) in a set and charging big bucks knowing that people will buy it up. I can’t wait to see what next year’s huge set is going to be. The Box: The gigantic box (which is only slightly smaller than the Falcon box) has last year’s theme to it. Here are a few comparison photos of the two boxes. Here is the front and back of the Death Star box: When I opened the box, I was a little dumbfounded when I found four more boxes and the manual: Each of the four white boxes has a symbol on it not unlike the controls on a playstation. Perfect I thought! They are going to break up the build into four sections. I found out later that this was not the plan… The manual is spiral bound and absolutely humongous. Here are a couple of shots of it with a minifig shown for scale: Each box contained several bags as shown below. Square box had 14 bags: Triangle box had 14 bags: Circle box had 10 bags and the DSS (Dreaded Sticker Sheet): Plus box was larger than the others and had 15 bags: Here is the DSS: The Manual: As mentioned above, the manual is enormous. It comes in at 264 pages! It literally takes up 1/3 of the workspace on my desk. Since I build at my desk and I have a computer with a large monitor, I used the electronic version of the manual. Kudos to LEGO for providing electronic version of all the manuals lately – a great move by them. Here is a link to the electronic version of the manual (warning it is 81 MB in size): http://cache.lego.com/bigdownloads/buildin...ons/4542760.pdf While the manual had all the nice features we expect, I had a terrible problem with color separation. I had trouble differentiating various black pieces as well as identifying the trans orange, trans red, dark bley, black, etc. It really caused problems for me and probably delayed my build time by 5%. For me, it seems the manual was printed too dark. Your mileage may vary… Other than that gigantic pain the rear, the manual is laid out nicely out and flows along quickly. We also have our standard set of features: - Piece call outs for each step - Parts inventory at the end of the manual - Page numbers Since the manual is available online and there is nothing more for me to complain about, I’m going to spend less time talking about it and more time building. The Pieces: Wow, there are a ton of pieces! Since the Death Star is more of a playset and less of a model there are more ‘big’ pieces and not as much Technic pins and little parts. Don’t get me wrong, there is a decent amount of little pieces but there is a TON of big stuff and it just gives the impression that there is a lot to this set (and there is!) I would invite you to view the parts list in the online manual to get an idea of what I mean. When you sort it all out, light bley is the bulk of the parts in both plates and bricks. There is also a good amount of black and dark bley. There is a good assortment of tiles, plates and bricks here. At any rate, there is a great assortment of parts. The Build: I’ve built a lot of LEGO sets and I have to say this was probably the most fun I’ve had building a set. Sure, I enjoyed building the UCS Falcon and the Green Grocer/Café Corner/ Market Steet were all fun builds. There have been some fun Technic builds in my day as well as my favorite 7163/7676 Gunship sets. However, I just really enjoyed building this set. I think a lot of the fun is seeing all the little hidden gems the designers put in this set. Also, the build is kind of broken up into sections of the Death Star so it is almost like you are building lots of little $30-$40 play sets but they all combine into one big set. Due to my crazy work schedule and lots of personal life family activities, I had to drag this out over a few weeks. The nice thing is that I could spend an hour here and there and make good progress because in that amount of time I could finish little sections of the overall model. It really made the build seem fun and that you were always making progress. When I compare it to the Falcon build, I spent hours on a bunch of Technic infrastructure that never got seen from the outside which left me feeling like I wasn’t making progress. With the Death Star build, EVERYTHING gets seen. There are a ton of photos (more than 90) in my brickshelf folder for those of you who want to see more of the build. My Brickshelf folder (when public) http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=342197 For this review, I’ll just include a few random build photos here for your amusement: First Floor: Second Floor: Here are some examples of how you would build in ‘sections’. Each floor would have a quarter section to build: How about the ingenious laser cannon: Overall, I had a great time with it and there were several interesting build techniques involved including some subtle half-stud offsets and SNOT builds thrown in for good measure. Here is the ever-popular ‘what’s left over photo’: The Design: I can’t begin to cover all the incredible design work that went into this model. Suffices to say that the designers really knew Star Wars and did a great job to put the look and feel of Star Wars into the design of this set. I was very impressed with how everything turned out. I’m sure I’m going to miss something, but I want to cover as much as possible: Trash compactor – The trash compactor walls can be moved by a lever connected to Technic axels. A couple of nice details include a sliding exit door as well as the garbage chute from the detention level directly above: Heavy Cannon – this little jewel didn’t get much screen time, but it sure looks good: Crane – Even little details like this cargo crane are well done: Hanger Elevator – Elevator platform goes from cargo area below to main hanger bay: Detention Block – I really liked the design of this area. The use of the sticker and along with the placement of the bricks does a good job of creating the illusion of depth. The detention door opens up (just like in the movie). There is also the ceiling mounted video camera and the control panel that Han shoots. Of course, another door lifts up to go into the trash compactor: Tractor Beam – Obi Wan’s quest to disable the tractor beam can be replayed here as well: Hanger and Vader’s TIE – Vader’s ship is excellent as well as the hanger deck complete with elevator and control room: Blast Doors – you can’t have a shootout in a Death Star without some blast doors. These retract into the wall: AA Canon – When you need to shoot down those pesky Rebel X-Wings, use the AA canons. These nifty little cannons are connected by Technic axels and rotate left and right as well as lift up and down. Control Room – The control room looks great and has a cool display that you can change between Alderan and Yavin by flipping the brick over. In addition, you can rotate the laser dish (planet buster) by turning the control panel. You can raise and lower the laser dish by turning the knob. Everything is connected via a Technic axel to the dish below it. (It is hard to describe in words, you’ll understand when you build it.) Elevator – There is an elevator that runs through the center of the model. It is controlled by a winch and it actually works really well: Elevator View from the top of the shaft Conference room – Must have a conference room: Throne Room – Wow, this is really cool and I like they use of the blue trans wedges. The throne chair looks good and there is even the collapsible catwalk: There are many more surprises as well. Some can be seen in my Brickshelf folder (like the hidden knobs to turn the hanger crane). There are just too many to mention here. Did I mention the minifigs? I think LEGO went above and beyond in giving the fans lots of minifigs in this set. Take a look: Yes, there were stickers and lots of them. They were kind of a pain and I believe some pieces should have been printed like the 2x2 and 2x1 slopes that were computer panels. I seemed to have more luck with these stickers than before so they we’re too bad. Overall Thoughts: I really can’t say enough good things about this set. It is the Death Star play set we have all been asking for with tons of minifigs thrown in. Obviously, the $400 USD price tag will immediately turn a lot of people off. Seems like LEGO has created a little segment of sets (ISD, DS II, Falcon, DS I) that are expensive and cater to a smaller audience. Personally, I would have tried to get the price point more in the $300 range and sacrificed some minifigs. We already have a Stormtrooper battlepack and you could have made a Death Star Trooper battlepack at $10 and sold the crap out of it. But, I I’m not in charge of LEGO’s product development and marketing. I will say this set when completed is huge! It is also quite sturdy and heavy. If you put it on a smooth surface, it does rotate easily so you can spin it around to show it off. It looks great and is a must have (especially if it ever goes on sale.) Let me know your thoughts and as always if you have any questions, comments, complaints, etc. Final Rating: 98% Build 10/10 (Incredible. It was a very enjoyable build and lots of fun.) Minifigs 10/10 (I think they pretty much got everybody in here. Can’t really gripe about 20+ minifigs.) Design 10/10 (Perfect. Covers all the scenes from the movies and has the right look and feel.) Parts 10/10 (Tons of parts. Lots of big parts and plates. A great variety as well.) Price 9/10 (Dang, it’s a lot but you definitely get what you pay for.)

The LEGO store in Glendale, CA got them in so I ran over and picked one up today. The box is rather large - not as large as the Falcon, but still a darn big box; one might even say it is vast! I'm going to start building it tomorrow and get a review going. If you all remember my Falcon review, you will recall that it might take me a while. Gone are the days were I can take off work and build all day long. No doubt some will finish before me and post their findings so we're bound to have a few reviews over the next week or two. I can't wait to see what some of our new reviews have to say and I can't wait to build this thing myself!

Anyone know how you get the Premium Edition in the United States?

Nice review, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Looks like a really nice set and I'll be picking it up eventually when it makes it to the US.

Thanks guys (and gals)! My wife asked me what I wanted and I pointed to the stack of Clone Wars sets I purchased at midnight madness. She said "that's all?" and I said "yeah, I'm a simple guy..." If she only knew how much those sets cost...

Wow, nice set! I like the design and hope LEGO produces a retail version.

I loved that show! I used to watch it on PBS (public TV) back in the 70's. They showed it along with Dr. Who. I think it was only on for one season, but it was really good.

I've been to several LEGO stores around the country and the Orlando store has the best PaB. The Glendale store is pretty good too. The Anaheim store PaB is really small.

Wow, I'm impressed - this looks fantastic! Can't wait to build this thing. It's gotta be 2,000+ pieces. Seems like LEGO went out of their way to cram every possible thing any Star Wars LEGO fan has ever asked for in this set. Very well done!

I've picked up a number of sets that way myself. Sometimes you don't find anything for several weeks then hit the jackpot like you did!

Welcome back! You have been missed and I hope things are going well for you.

I live in the US and have ordered from S@H many times. When you check out there are three shipping options: Regular (4-7 business days) 2nd day (2-3 business days) Next day (1-2 business days) These include 1 business day to process the order. So, depending on how long your dad will be here, he could select 2nd day or next day and get the set at the hotel. I do not believe US S@H ships outside the US. Hope that answers your question.

Thank you for the pics! Can't wait for more information.

Looks promising, but I'd like to see it up close in person. I've been pleased with 95% of LEGO's efforts recently and this looks to continue that trend so I'll probably pick one up. Any idea on when it releases?

Much better than the blue color scheme in my opinion.

Yeah, I know. I mentioned it in the review that I completely blew past the other two stickers. If you look closely, you can see that the big Grievous nameplate sticker is off-center as well. Me and stickers don't get along...

Wow, the detail is amazing!

LOL, I was wondering if anyone would get my lame attempt at humor

OK, here are a couple of shots of the head and eyes: A very nice effect. Any, silly me, in my first set of photos above, I never folded in his ribcage (you guys gotta call me out on these things). Here is what it is supposed to look like: Anyway, carry on...

Sure. I'll get a few photos tonight and post them. The eyes are a nice effect. You are right about the legs as the model does wobble a little. I forgot to mention that the base does turn which is another nice feature.

General Grievous Reviewed by Dunamis Set 10186 1,085 Pieces $89.95 from LEGO Shop @ Home Build time 3.5 hours It is the start of summer here in California and along with the weekly deluge of new action films we start to see some of the next wave of Star Wars LEGO sets. The latest offering from our favorite building toy company is none other than the infamous General Grievous! No doubt you all know the story of Grievous; two parts Technic and one part human and his hatred of the Jedi. Follow along as we get a close-up view of the mighty General. No doubt the observant will wonder why I purchased this set from Shop @ Home instead of my trusty LEGO store in Glendale. Well, it’s really as simple as two things: I’ve been traveling a lot and didn’t have time to drive to the store to get it AND gas is now $4/gallon and I would likely spend more in gas than the $9 shipping cost to get it to me. So there you have it. The Box: A gigantic box (much larger than expected) held the mighty General. We’re back to the perforated tabs on the side and two stickers on the front that let the box lift open: Inside, we have 17 bags, two manuals and three stickers on a relatively small sticker sheet. The Manuals: The manuals are not terribly thick in fact the second manual is noticeably thinner than the first. They come in at 75 and 31pages. Interesting to note on the back we see the next (and more interesting) wave of sets later this summer. Nothing new to report on the manuals as they provide the LEGO standard of high quality and features we expect. - Piece callouts - Models divided into sections - Large images - Page numbers Since there were links posted to the .pdf files of the instructions online, I’m sure you can all get an idea of the manual and the parts inventory. However, for those of you without access to the Internet here are photos of the parts inventory pages: Random manual image: Features page: The Pieces: The short answer is you get lots and lots of little pieces in white, gray and black plus some big pieces in white, gray and black. Mixed in the set is a fair amount of oddball pieces like minifig tools, Jedi hood and trans yellow dome. Fear not, despite the eclectic collection of parts, it all comes together in the end (not unlike a typical day at work for me…) It is probably worth noting again that there is a heavy amount of Technic parts and pieces here. The Build: The build starts off with a rather in-depth build of the stand in which General Grievous stands on. Once you think you are done, you keep adding on to this (rather solid) base. I bet there are 250 pieces just in the base alone! It is quite nice when you get done with it though and really adds to the display. I’m glad LEGO didn’t skimp on the base as it completes the model. Once you get through all that, the rest of the build is a real thumb-bruiser. Anyone who has built a decent size Technic set knows the feeling of your thumbs being sore when you are done. You get the same effect here. It is actually a fun build and I really liked seeing how the designers used all the various pieces to recreate a fairly accurate model of Grievous. The model is built from the ground up as seen in a few of the progress shots: Here is what is left over: The Design: The design is quite good and is very accurate. Some might be disappointed that since this is a Technic set we don’t have more articulation in the shoulders and have the ability to separate two arms into four as seen in the movie. However, it would seem the real intent is for display and not functionality. Here is a shot of the torso and the detail involved: Here are Grievous’ organs: Careful observers will note that my model is lacking two “arrow” stickers from the two white chest pieces. I failed to see these on the sticker sheet and only grabbed the large Grievous sticker. So, note that there are actually THREE stickers and not ONE. Chest protector and respirator: Head and arms: I was a little disappointed that we got two yellow blades and no green blades on the lightsabers. Note how all the lightsabers have different hilts which is a nice touch: Here are some shots of the completed model with a few other sets shown for scale. He is actually pretty tall: You have the option to remove the top two arms and put in shoulder plates if you so desire: Detail on the back: Overall Thoughts: I’ve been saying for a few years that we should have a Technic Grievous set and we finally got one. Designed more as a model and not a fully functional swooshable figure, Grievous is a tad flimsy. You won’t want him to veer too far off his massive and sturdy base. It would have been nice to have is cape with him (like the Technic Vader set). I do like the size of the model and it is impressive to look at. LEGO Star Wars System fans will likely want to think twice before purchasing but Technic and UCS fans should be satisfied. Final Rating: 75% Build 8/10 (Very Good – Fun, relatively quick build. Technic fans will be more pleased than others.) Design 8/10 (Very Good – Some nice SNOT and Technic techniques. A bit flimsy but the base is kind of cool.) Parts 7/10 (A mixed bag of stuff. Probably can’t get too many diverse builds from this except for other robot type models.) Price 7/10 (Just OK – A bit stiff at $90 USD for a nice display model with limited functionality.) As always, let’s hear your thoughts and feedback.

Had not seen this posted before. Admittedly, I'm not checking the latest castle news daily so I apologize if this had previously been posted. Looks like there is a new Giant Castle Chess Set for $199 with 2481 pieces going on sale September 1. Here is the link: Shop at Home Link

Looks great. I can't wait to see more.