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J.V.D.

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Everything posted by J.V.D.

  1. J.V.D.
    Impressive review Rufus, it realy shows what a UCS set is all about. Maybe admins should introduce, next to the academy reviews, an UEBR (Ultimate Eurobricks Review) category.. :-) But due to budget ( to many other sets on my wishlist) and available space reasons ( a set like this should realy be on display in an appropriate manner), I will not get it. Though I know it is kind of comparing apples with oranges, I am perfectly happy with displaying my 9493 in a dogfight with my 9492. Those minifigure sized sets still have for me that charming touch of the Lego take on pop culture items that dragged me out of my dark ages. Something I am missing in this UCS set, despite of its impressive and detailed build.
  2. J.V.D.
    Thanks for the excellent review KielDaMan. As I already suspected, it seems to be a realy outstanding set, and your review just confirms it. The only "flaw" maybe the scale difference between the carriage and the horses. I didn't notice it when looking at the boxart and early pictures, but your pics do reveal it. Well, let's just imagine its a coach belonging to the Poney Express company.. :-) Somehow it is a pitty it is such a good set, because since I first saw some leaked pictures of the LR line, this set is high on my 2013 wishlist. But I am afraid it will probably just stay there. As much I like it, the 55€ (72US$) Lego is asking for it over here is realy crossing the limit. For less than double of that price (99€) I prefer have the train set. I still don't understand why with many licensed themes, we get the small and biggest sets at a 1:1 euro/dollar conversion, (which I understand and accept because of economic motifs), but the midrange sets have realy insane price tags..
  3. J.V.D.
    Congratulations to all winners, and to all the rest of us for participating, and thanks to Sci-MOCs and all Sci-Fi MODs for hosting this competition. It was fun. And seeing the amount of builds presented it seems the competition inspired a lot of people. Pitty that due to other obligations I only had time to enter one catagory, and was to late to vote.. :-( , though I don't think my votes would have changed the final result. Looking forward to the next one.
  4. J.V.D.
    3 lines with some numbers and guestimated price tags... comming from an unknown source? Sorry sounds like speculation / wishlist to me. At least at the moment. The only "concrete or real" argument to backup the Endor rumors I did hear so far is the fact that, as some people pointed out: the hair of the CMF9 forrest / archer maiden looks a lot like Leias hairdo while she resides in the Ewok village. But seeing that realy as proof or confirmation ;1 hairpiece shows that a 1500+ pieces (based on "rumored price tag)set is on its way, sounds a bit as a long shot to me.. As MOD mentioned before: people come to this thread for info about upcomming sets.. having to dig for real info between all the speculation is annoying..
  5. J.V.D.
    Mmm.. pictures seem to have taken down from this tread and the frontpage... An official TLG representative knocked the door? They are not hapy because not everybody shows their utter adoration and love for these sets???
  6. J.V.D.
    Whow!, the tendency was already there for a while, but with these sets Lego realy confirms it is going from the selling "construction sets with some minifigures added to spice it up" towards the "lets sell some sought after minifigures and throw in some bricks in order to justify the price tag, refer to our roots and avoid licencing problems" business model. Speaking about underwhelming... Best value for money and probably the one that is going to be most popular, seems to be the harbour set, giving a new Iron Man suit and Warmachine. As a bonus you even get a more or less decent looking speedboat. Depending on the final price tag, I might consider getting the Ultimate Showdown too.. but again only for the figs. Might be a relative cheap way to get hold of an Iron Man.. even seems to be a unique suit to this set.. Biggest disappointment must be the mansion set.. come on, I know we had the real estate crisis since 2007... but did it realy hit that hard we are supposed to take a wall for a mansion? Highlights of the set: again the minifigures. Specially the civil Tony and Pepper. (why, again, the only female fig needs to be in the most expensive set?) Anyway the price it will be going for over here will not justfiy buying it. Golden times ahead for bricklink minifig reseller I guess. Let me conclude with an ironical hattip to TLG's marketing guys. Though I must admit I somehow do admire and respect what they have done here: creating high expectations and smoke curtains with the epic names they gave these sets. A guy in a pimped up golfcart attacking another guy: Ultimate Showdown! ; A small speedboat and a buoy: Estremis Sea Port Battle! ; A wall : Malibu Mansion!!! Attack (and a helicopter..)
  7. J.V.D.
    After seeing last weekend the Marvel Avengers Thor movie with the children, I decided to do this micro vig of the rainbow bridge as my entry to the MFSC... End of the month is near, so it had to be a quick one According to EB's themes classification this belongs maybe under licensed, or even a bit historical / phantasy,... but a device that is used to transport people to another part of the galaxy and has a steampunk look?... sounds enough scifi to me.. Bifröst and Himinbjörg PS : For those who haven't seen the movie: here a screenshot of the thing. The bridge is actually a lot longer, but the vig has its size limitations.. reason I decided to limit it to a 8 x 15 in order to have a least an illusion of lenght.
  8. J.V.D.
    Great vig, Praiter Yet... Immediately recognizable even without reading the title.. a classic opening scene from what maybe is the "mother of all scifi movies" ... (well there are a handfull of others, but still..). Good luck with your entry.
  9. J.V.D.
    Great review again Rufus, as usual. I just picked this one up yesterday, together with the 31004 Fierce Flyer. I buy mostly licensed or themed sets, but for some reason the 2013 Creator line up looks very appealing. Since I didnt find reviews of both sets on EB yet,I was planning to do some short ones (in fact right now I am busy taking pictures of the 31004 eagle). But you beat me to it, an your review sums up quiet everything there is to say about this set. Makes my life easyer too .. Me too, I was pleasantly surprised by the pricetag of this set. When I did see pictures of it, I was expecting it to be 25+ euros. But here too it sells for the same amount as the 31008 Thunder wings, and the 31007 Mech. ( On the other hand, the Fierce Flyer sells for 11.99, while I expected it to be rather in the 10 euro range) I do like the looks of all 3 models, an extra plus for this set because sometimes the secondary models of a Creator seem rather afterthoughts. In fact, besides its side view, I like the looks of the "classic" race car even better then the main model. (reminds me a bit of a Lotus Seven) Still the main reason I did buy this set is for its parts. I was planning to bricklink some of those white curved slopes anyway, and taking into account shipping costs this set looked as a nice alternative. So finally the car will be scraped and end up in the parts bin. But isn't that the main purpose of Creator sets anyway? Build it, destroy it and build something else..
  10. J.V.D.
    Sounds promising, Hammerstein. Great job on the figures. What exactly did you use to make Miss Pleasance's dress? Fabric? Some plastic foil? Or some kind of obscure Bionicle piece? ps: you can't fool me... I know who the Masked Philanderer is..
  11. J.V.D.
    Oh, yes please.... and while they are on the go, maybe Lego can also start making the mouth of the figures out of some kind of flexible rubber or dough, so we can have more facial expresions too... No, seriously.. I think the minifig is fine as it is now. The charm of it lays exactly in its blocky humanoid form. With all its restrictions. Reason why lately I find Lego is already going to far detailing some (mainly SW) figures. Or reason why I sometimes shake my head reading discusions about how accurate, to big, out of shape e.g. a helmet is... or when I see the work of some customisers. Dont get me wrong... those customisers are doing a great job, and sometimes I even like to use custom utensils or weapons Lego doesnt produce. But I am not looking for to much detail in a Lego minifigure. I am happy when I see a recognizable representation of a movie, comic or real life character. For realy accurate miniature representations there exist 1/35 scale models..
  12. J.V.D.
    Their concern is understandable, but on the other hand this again shows how minimal the awareness is in (big international) companies when it comes to the informations streams on the internet and the global market place. To many still see the internet just as a marketing/advertising and eventually service tool. Of course, Lego has S@H, but if you bring out an anticipated product in country A, six moths before the release in country B, and there are no technical issues or restrictions to use that product in country B, of course it will find its way to that market before the official release. The interested public has enough specialised channels for getting it. Many times even at cheaper price then the official local sales price. Another example: *the weird price differences and availability that sometimes exist between countries. And I am not mentioning the US / Europe price confict now, but between neighboring countries here in europe. Official retail prices and via S@H are higher here compared to e.g. neighbours Germany and France... while bottom line most comes from the same warehouse. And they just openly show those differences to the users (you only have to change country on their site) *Superheroes is not in the official belgian Lego catalogue, but can be bought via belgian branches of a dutch toy store chain.. *(non) availabilty of the clubmagazine in some countries. * the way they try to control leaked pictures.. of course the bigger sites and blogs do cooperate and dont allow them or take them down after a while.. but doesnt TLG realise that seconds after they appear those pics are saved on hundreds of harddrives and spread via personal messages anyway? Besides, "leaked" pictures are an excelent tool for viral marketing and spreading the word for a new product.. I am realy conviced that some executives at TLG urgently need a good introduction modern media information streams and global online market mechanisms.
  13. J.V.D.
    Well, first of all: I am not in favour of this new design. Not for the "moral" or guideline reasons that were used to reject this project, but rather because they wouldn't blend in well with the existing minifigs. Or the new, or the old female figs would look strange if you combine them. And female figs already are "rare"... this would limit the availability even more if you have to restrict yourself to one of both types in a moc. (on the other hand, it could be a smart move marketingwise; a lot of AFOLs would feel obliged to replace their complet female minifig collection... or at least the torsos ... and who wouldnt want an update of the CMF lifeguard so she realy looks like baywatch Pamela.. ) But what strikes me each time I read about CUUSOO rejections is the way they seem to change on every ocasion the guidelines or follow different interpretations of them. Also the way Lego on one hand tries to follow some strict rules when it comes to violence, morals, ethics etc.. (a lot stricter then other toy companies as e,g, playmobile) but on the other hand crosses their bounderies the whole time when producing sets for licensed themes, makes me scratch my head.. Besides: Lego is bringing out this one this year : http://www.brickset.com/minifigs/?m=frnd039 After the SW Leia as slave, and the shell covered mermaid from the pirates line, the first bikini I guess... and these friends minidolls aren't flatchested neither.. A bit confusing... As others already mentioned, I guess the rejection was mainly based on the examples of clothes / prints you included in your submission. If it had only been a proposition for a new torso mold (and represented in a neutral color), maybe things had turned out different. Since I never did see your submision on CUUSOO, I dont know what wording you used in your presentation.. but maybe that had its influence too.
  14. J.V.D.
    Being a SW OT fan I realy would love to see an "official" Lego bantha (and a new dewback for that matter), so I can only applaud your attempt Daiman. However, to my taste you have gone to far with your design. It is not bad, maybe a bit cartoonish like others mentioned before, but apart from the studs of the saddle, I spot no Lego vibe at all when looking at your renderings of the animal... I am sorry. In fact, I am even convinced that a bantha lends itself perfectly for being brickbuild. ( I have seen some nice MOCs in the past), eventually tuned up with some new molds for the horns and tail piece based on your design.
  15. J.V.D.
    I got this set a couple of weeks ago at a kind of "introduction" price. To my surprise they were about 2 euros cheaper then the 2012 Endor and the 2011 Mandalorian & Clone Troopers battlepacks most shops here still have in store. Weird, I am used to see prices inflate each year, so you will not hear me complain.. It is true that besides the excelent minifigures there is not much to be found in this pack, but then again.. isnt it that the purpose of battlepacks after all? Sell minifigures, with a little (symbolic) build thrown in, in order not to violate the license agreements with Lucas? It is true, sometimes we do receive some nice little vehicles, mostly (BARC) speeders... but that isn't a constant througout battlepack history. Many times it are just a handfull of bits and pieces to throw into the parts bin too. Remember the 2010 Hoth battlepacks.. As a side remark; I did buy at the same time the Clones vs Droidekas battlepack, and it did feel a bit heavier.. though of course this can be due to the fact that 2 of the "figs" are brick build. Anyway, for me this pack was a good oportunity to get some of those exelent Sith troopers. ( have been looking a couple of times already at the 9500 Fury Interceptor. I am convinced by its quality but not yet by its 100euro price tag). Though being mainly an OT fan and never having played the game, I see them rather as part of my scifi then SW collection. Wouldnt be surprised neither if at least one of the Republic troopers ends up in my sons Clone army.. With all the different colors and uniform designs generated in the CW line, they will blend in perfectly. PS: I think this isn't the first battlepack to contain stickers Oky... if I remember well the 2008 7667 Stormtroopers & 7668 Rebel troopers had some (small) stickers for the faction emblems too.
  16. J.V.D.
    I had very high hopes for this set when it got announced and when the first pictures of the minifigs did show up. I am not a very big fan of the superheroes theme, but a camo tumble? Yes please... and that Bane minifigure looked terrific too. But then when the first pictures emerged.. what a let down. And this review (which is well done btw PhilipJFry) only confirms the feeling of disapointment. The Bat, which originaly least interested me in this set, turned out to be the best of both builds. But still it seems to be, as mentioned in the review, build a decade ago. I can't help to be reminded of the first wave of blocky, grey/blue TIE fighters. Which had of course their merrits in those days, but just look at what they evolved meanwhile... The Tumbler?... Yes, it's shape vaguely resembles the original, but instead of a mean looking street fighting machine, it looks almost like cute little toycar out of a Duplo line... Well, at least it has a nice selection of tan pieces. The minifigs clearly are the highlights of this set, but imo they do not justify the 50 euro ( 65 US$ !!!) Lego wants us to pay overhere for this box. Probably this set will turn out to be a resellers dream. I guess many will try to hunt the figs on bricklink and the likes, so resale prices for especialy Bane will be high and the rest of the parts will be virtually free..
  17. J.V.D.
    Some weeks (months?) ago a read an article about Disney thinking to reboot the Rocketeer. I wouldnt mind to see some sets based on that guy. It is set in an interesting era anyway.. a lot of new technologies being develloped, interesting car and plane designs.. and a lot of potential for retro scifi stuff. In that view its a pitty that TLG only gave us a Captain America set based on the Avengers movie, and not based on his own picture. Well, at least they gave us some nice Indiana Jones planes and cars sets..
  18. J.V.D.
    Mmm, maybe time for my avatar to get out of his formal suit and wear some spacegear.. let's see what I can find.
  19. J.V.D.
    rant mode on.. Don't worry, it aren't dollars but 50 euros... which in the real world / according to real exchanges rates would convert into 66.5 US$... but recalculated according to TLG exchange rates will probably translate in something around 35/40 US$... and in Belgium into 55 euros, because, as everybody knows, Belgian and Dutch euros don't have the same value as German ones.. rant mode off These sets realy look great, and I am pleasantly surprised by the ammount of minifigs they all seem to contain. Although I am not realy into western stuff... this might be an opportunity to start with it.. To me they are a lot more tempting than next years SW line up anyway..
  20. J.V.D.
    Nice review Cone O'Patra. I already had this set on my wishlist for next year, and your review and pics only confirm I 'll have to foresee some of my Lego budget for it. Just a pitty that TLG translate 20 US$ into aprox 30 euro over here.. . (actual price range of the other mentioned @)$ sets over here, at S@H;.. Superheroes doesnt even apear in the official Lego catalogue). At 18 euro this would realy be a deal. At least I hope it will actualy be available for about 30, since some webshops have it already prelisted / expected for about 45, while the "Batman on the rocks" set is foreseen to cost 25... I guess I will never understand TLG's pricing policy..
  21. J.V.D.
    A lot of nice entries, but some choises need to be made.. and there are only 3 points to give.. reason why I decided to give only 1 point each in order to reward as much entries as possible.. So, here we go, in no particular order: 11 by def - 1 point for the good used of forced perspective / buildings and figs on the rooftops in the background 9 by Captain Nemo - 1 point for that epic Harley, and the good solution for representing the different sized characters that appear on comic covers 2 by wonderpuddle - 1 point for taking the more difficult path; participating without having / using actual superhero minifigures And, an honorable mention for participants 1,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24
  22. J.V.D.
    Nice review WhiteFang... wasn't it difficult to stay silent during all that time? Seeing the rumors and speculations on the forums? I am not going to say this is the best series ever, but it sure ranks rather high.. Even some figs I had doubts about when I first did see the rumored list turned out very well.. Another series to complete.. Some flaws /disapointments imo though: the (lack of) back printing on Ceasars legs.. already visible in last weeks teaser pictures, but I still was hoping it would be covered up by a cape or something.. well not something that cannot be remedied with the spare parts box.. or recycling the cape of another fig.. The printing of the plumber seems a bit plain... is that a standard city torso? Or maybe we are just to spoiled by the CMF line already.. I was expecting it would come with a kind of toolbox too... I do like its hat. I was hoping for another Alien Conquest style alien trooper.. this one is fine.. but just as a stand alone.. no army builder for me. My favourites : Dr Jeckyll / Hyde ; The fortune teller (wasn't expecting that; only pitty she doesnt come with a crystal ball) and the judge. Not sure though if that box distribution is realy such a good news as you state in the review WhiteFang... maybe for the army builders a and the resellers ;those 2/box figures probably are going to be relatively expensive on the aftermarket.. and even though they become more widely available, I think army building figures will continue to be sought after, just because they are.. ermm.. army builder.... But certainly not interesting for those who are trying to collect complete series... I prefer the 3 complete sets distribution; 3x16 = 48; still gives 12 bags to increment the number of the figs usefull for army building.. On the other hand, going from 3 to 2 sets per box makes it 50% more difficult to complete a set...
  23. J.V.D.
    .. yes, so it can be used by the " " in that Austin Powers movie.. ;-P
  24. J.V.D.
    I share your opinion here Graysmith... a teaser is nice when it comes up unexpected... and should build up exitement. But we already had lists, semi confirmed by the pictures in the Lego magazines, so knew more or less what was comming. But the teaser rather disapointed than exited me. Not that much because of the intentional quality of the pictures... I guess that was ment to make them look more mysterious.. But why did they have to show backs of figures that in some cases do look unfinished/neglected? ( I am, a.o. looking at you Ceasar... had high hopes to get a comander for my legions... and now I am stuck with this image of a statesman mooning at the world..) I am in favour of official teasers..but it all depends on how the teaser campaign is directed..
  25. J.V.D.
    Basically, this isn't a bad set. All is there (except an AT-AT) to fight a mini Hoth battle. Soldiers from both factions, cannons, trenches, a tauntaun, a snowspeeder.. So a nice Hoth starter pack. Problem is, rather recently we already had quiet a lot of Hoth sets with rebels, snowtroopers, snowspeeders and even tauntauns in them. We even had 2 battlepacks for those who needed more footsoldiers.. (you sometimes still find them on sale over here; seems back in 2010/2011 the shops stocked containerloads of them..) So unless you started with Lego SW just recently, this set doesnt bring anything new. Besides maybe a recoloring of the snowspeeder (design seems the same) and Lego's favourite decoy: a new minifig: the rebel general. One could of course just buy this set for that new minifig, and see the rest as a kind of upgraded battlepack, and I guess a lot will do so, especially in countries where licensed Lego still has normal prices. But looking at the size of this set it seems to be a typical +/- 40 euro (aprox 55US$) box over here.. A bit to much for a battlepack imho. Now, if they had decided to give us something realy new, and use the bricks for the snowspeeder to build a power generator or ion cannon, then I wouldnt doubt..
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