J.V.D.

For doing what I tried to do too: cramping a vehicle and as much action as possible into the 8x8 limitation: 4) totohs : 1 point 8) genecyst : 1 point 17) naugen : 1 point I would have liked to hand over some points to other entries who deserve it too.. but since I only have 3 to give, please accept my hat tip..

A lot of interesting entries, but only 3 points can be given, so they go to 9) (SpacySmoke) : 2 points (nice build, interesting details and appealing balance between the grey structure and colorfull bits) 17) (Leela) : 1 point ( very funny and absurd concept )

Overall a nice series.. not the best, not the worst neither. I do find it a bit strange, and a pitty because this way some slots were sacrificed, that they included some of the main movie characters. Probably they will be included in most of the sets anyway.. That, and the fact one of them is an orange suit construction worker.. after members of the police force they must be amongst the most redundant minifigs around.. and we get 2 of them with this series. The fact the 2nd one is a female justifies it a bit, but still, imo, the trailers showed some more interesting / colorfull / creative figs that I would have prefered to see here. Contrary to many other opinions I read, my favourites are the robots / zombies ( I know they are suposed to be robots, but when first seeing a small size picture they did look like zombies to me.. wishfull thinking I guess). Specially the hillbilly one. Besides the construction workers, I am a bit disappointed by remakes of the Mexican and the mermaid too.. Not that they are bad designed figures, not at all, but a bit to similar to the ones we already got in previous series.. The cop on the other hand I find justified by the new helmet colors/design. (his phone could be part of whatever modern day town figure). The others I ll take gladly in my colection, if not always for the figures itself, but at least for the parts.. ( as stupid the no pants guy is.. his shirt is a must have). As usual, some misses, some ok figures and some must haves.. but as with the last couple of series.. I don't feel the need anymore to collect them all.

Red Ridinghood - Werewolf Slayer .... just don't call her "little"...

Rumble in the Jungle ... based on the back-artwork for the album "Go Hunting!" by belgian psychopunk surf rockers Fifty Foot Combo ... the ideal Monstrophonic soundtrack while building this months theme.

never mind the big bad wolf.... worse things are hiding in the woods

Rumors are that they will not be available in the usual retail shops in northern europe ( Scandinavia) and BeNeLux countries... I dont know why exactly, but read on some retailers website that it are decisions taken by local TLG marketing teams.. . They still should be available via S@H or the official Lego shops ( which, except of Denmark, we don't have in BeNeLux and Scandinavia...) I hope it's just a rumor, but fact is that up till now I didn't find any at the usual locations neither.. Of course there is still the BL option too, but I will miss the excitement of going through the packets, feeling for the figs with my children on a saturday mornig..

2014 might turn out to be a "cheap" Lego SW year for me. But, being mainly interested in the OT, I am realy looking forward to the Death Star troopers pack. Just hoping it will be a mixed pack and not 3 or 4 of the same ; e.g. 1 officer, 2 DS troopers and 1 DS gunner ; or 1 officer, 1 stormtrooper, 1 DS trooper, 1 gunner.. If it is a good mix, I probably get a couple of them. Depending on how it will be done I might get a Kashyyyk pack too. I 'll probably pass for the rest of the line-up so far.

As usual a nice and thorough review WhiteFang, ..... and equally as usual, though with each series I feel less tempted to do so, I will try to get the whole series, just for the sake of completeness.. But there are some figs I wouldn't mind if I couldn't get them (gingerbread, robot..), and others mainly have my attention for their accessories, faceprint or hair.. The ones I realy do like to have are the welder, lab girl, bavarian girl, scarecrow and sax player (1 of each will do), 2 tiki warriors (will be hard I guess) and 2 barbarians (should't be a problem, he doesn't seem to be very popular). For me the only army, or better: squad builder is the constable... only pitty about the open collar they gave him; a bit annoying when trying to convert him into a fleshy , and the fact that the 1331 makes multiples a bit redundant... I guess I will end up with a 133 and 331 in my squad too. Let's hope that those rumors about limited availability in the benelux and scandinavia are just that... rumors..

Impressive alien landscape monsinjor, I realy like the kaleidoscopic use of all those colors. Some interesting part use for creating all the vegetation too, specially the use of those street brushes for creating the blue flowers. I have never seen that before. Nice job.

As many stated before, the most logical would be to buy first the fire brigade. Specially if you want to have them all. Since probably it's the first of the actuals to be retired, this way you will avoid as much as possible the higher aftermarket prices.. However, me I got the petshop first. I wasn't, and am still not sure yet if I will continue to try to get the complete line, and somehow the petshop seems to be the most versatile of them all. Since it isn't that specific as the other ones, its easier to use it for other lines in case you decide not to continue with other modulars afterall. ( you can easily give the petshop another function by changing its sign, if you like to do so). Also the way you can split it up in 2 I also see as a big advantage of it. My 2nd choice would be the Green Grocer. For pretty much the same reason.. it's versatility. Pitty I came to late for that one, and the actual prices are beyond my budget.

In fact, that is a "play" feature that is already included in all Lego Star Wars sets since the early beginning in 1999.. Just swoosh your ship, any ship, around and then let it drop from your hands... watch what happens.. (rumors are they also included this gimmic in all space sets, from classic up till the latest Galaxy Squad... I even heard somebody talking about the Town police helicopters.. but I wouldn't bet on it.. you know, rumors and the internet...)

Very impressive ACPin. I have never watched the CW, but I can just imagine to replace both Jedi's by Anakin and Padme, and have a scene from EP2. I just showed the pics to my 2 padawans (8 & 11 yrs old), the biggest SW fans and toughes critics I know, and they were in awe..

Thanks for the review Henning. I have some mixed opinions about this set. It is great to see new, non-CW versions of Yoda and Dooku, and of course the star of the show, Poggle; but with that about all positive about this set is said imo. I like to see a SW set that isn't focused on a ship from time to time, but this one, as a playset / building I do find it a bit poor ( in fact the play features remind me a bit of the infamous Lightsaber Duel ). Buying it just for the figures and seeing the rest as a parts pack I don't find that interesting neither.. especially not at 50€. I guess that in other parts of the world this will be sold for 30 - 35 US$, which makes it another story of course.. I 'll wait for a sale to pick it up.. (edit : correction of link)

I just checked again some of my old catalogs, and I remembered well; in the official Lego catalog for Belgium 8097 was priced 89.99€. At Bricklink (europe) some used/complete ones are sold for even less than that amount. But you are right; 6209 is a valid alternative: it is sold within the same price range as 8097; both have +/- the same piece count, and 6209 has a nicer / more neutral color scheme. Also the position of the cargo bay to store Han Solo is more accurate on 6209, and it has a real canon as main weapon, while the 8097 has a battery of flick-missiles; ....guess which I do prefer.. Main difference are the minifigures; the 8097 has an updated Boba, and Bossk , while the 6209 has an exclusive Bespin guard and unique version of Dengar.. When 8097 came out in 2010 I found it to expensive, and wanted to buy a cheaper, used, 6209. But in the end I got the 8097 afterall, first since I was able to buy it at reduced price from somebody who got it as unwanted christmas gift, and second because the new Boba and Bossk were still exclusive to this set 2 years ago. Conclusion: you want the more accurate ship? go for the 6209. The newer minifigs? then 8097 will be your choice ( and bricklink the bespin guard and eventually Dengar) oh, yes.. the 8097 has a DSS, and as far as I know the 6209 hasn't

Eventually you could count the "hooter" from CMF series 1 clown as an instrument.. And of course there are drums and a piano (organ) in the friends line.. but those are brickbuild.

Great series Veynom... specialy that recycle ship,.. nice find. I love that Blacktron version too.. it's color sheme also reminds me of my 5984 Lunar Limo. Since the LL 924 proves to be such a versatile ship, what is missing is the "family van" version. Might be usefull to take the kids on weekend trips to Mars or the intergalactic football game..

What a horrible and disgusting build ! Don't worry Sergio, I mean it in a positive way.. it is just that words like "nice" and "sweet" seem to be out of place here.. Beside all the details, I also like the use of the moving parts.. it makes the playground and those tentacles coming out of the house even more creepy.. I don't have the official haunted house (yet?), but this realy provokes me to turn one of my modulars into a house of horror too. Great work.

Well Dino, if you still can find a 8097 for 90€, I shouldnt doubt to much if I were you.. that was +/- the price it was sold for officially in europe back in 2010.. (though of course you could find cheaper). Hoping a new one will come out for 50-70 € is just wishfull thinking I am afraid.. unless the new one will be a lot less detailled, and then again you will be better of with the 8067 or 6209. And even then you will probably have to wait a couple of years still.. unless the make next year another Jango version (in white / blue colors).

2) Grandma's Visitor Entry (Build by sgeureka) - 1 point 19) Ocean King Entry (Build by badgogo) - 1 point 31) Bride Entry (Build by Mr Bill) - 1 point (for the grooms face )

Hard, because a lot of nice entries in this series.. but choices need to be made, so: 11) Santa Entry (Build by pillpod) - 1 point 14) Conquistador Entry (Build by vecchiasignoraceppo) - 1 point 24) Businessman Entry (Build by Darkblane) - 1 point

2) Fortune Teller Entry (Build by sgeureka) - 1 point 35) Mermaid Entry (Build by Cecilie) - 1 point 36) Mr Good and Evil Entry (Build by Wedge09) - 1 point

No... Its funny how people always come up with this "economics of scale" to justify those price differences. I am not saying this EoS doesn't exist, but its just a false argument here. Specially when explaining the differences between EU and US. ( I guess it is in part valid for Australia and co..) In Feafrosts post I see Germany being mentioned a couple of times.. and as far as I understand, Germany is still Lego's biggest market. Bigger then the US. Now add to that already big German market, the rest of the countries in the European union... which form practically one market.. then, according to all this economics of scale, Lego should be cheaper in europe, no? Now just look the up the price of a set, any set, on S@H US and then switch to any EU country.. Transport costs?.. mmm, if I am not mistaken TLG has some factories in europe. So can somebody explain me how loading something on a truck and drive it to another european country some hundreds of kilometers away can be more expensive then loading the same thing on another truck, drive it to a harbour, load it on a ship, transport it across the atlantic, load it on yet another truck and drive it a couple of thousands of kilometers cross continent? What is a valuable argument are taxes..; from what I understand US prices are without sales taxes ( and need to be added for some states), while EU prices, by law, must include our infamous VAT; which averages around 20%. For this reason, and with the actual 1.30 exchange rate, I can understand and accept the 1 US$ - 1 € pricing (though its still some 10% more) for the smaller and biggest sets. Though the smaller licensed sets / battlepacks also are deviating from this 1US$:1€ the last year or two. However, that doesn't explain nor justify the outrageous price differences we see on the mid-range sets; the typical 20US$ or 30US$ sets, that go here for 27 - 40, or even 50+ €. Yes that is right.. 65-70 US$ for a 30$ set.. So while,taking into acount the 20% VAT, the small and biggest sets show that economics of scale only play a minor role, I cannot help but wondering where the up till 80% of mark-up on the (licensed) mid-rage sets comes from... unless TLG is trying to compensate for the deals they give another part of the world..

... somebody has to "sponsor" the great deals the US is getting; ... otherwise TLG wouldn't achieve the great figures their books are showing the last couple of years.. Just live with it leoparder.. its not only during these special deals days.... it is happening whole year round.. with almost every single set..

Thanks for the review Plissken. I was thinking to get maybe one MoS set, mainly because of the figs. First I had 76002 Metropolis in mind; it is the cheapest one. But since in this set one can get additionally Lois and Zod's armour it might be an option too. It will depend on the price they will be available for here,.... and maybe I ll just wait a couple of weeks / months to see for what price the figs go on Bricklink, because as I said it are mainly the figs that interest me. The builds are completely unappealing imo. Seeing it as a figure and parts pack isn't evident neither when you are paying european prices..