brickzone

Thanks for the review. Interesting to see some more detail on this. I like the overall look of the flying wing, and I for one do like the use of dark green on it (I have no major objection to stickers for such detail, I more object for small common details that in the past would have been e.g. a printed 1x2 tile). The printed cockpit parts do look very nice indeed. However, the set is hideously overpriced, even given that you pay a bit extra for the ginormous wing, €20 extra for it is obscene. The fuel truck looks like a really stripped down design. We saw the pre-lim photos which had a really smart-looking fuel truck using aircraft hull parts for a nice bulky tank, and a nice similar front to the chase truck. I'd much prefer that. This one just looks ill-proportioned and ugly. Still looking forward to picking up the new car chase indy set!

Hope it is true, I will be visiting the Munich store in two weeks time!

As far as I know, it's only in the US that bankrupt companies can do that thing of pretend they are operating normally and try to restructure. In the UK, as far as I know, Woolies is now in administration - i.e. folks who will divvy up any assets among any creditors (and indeed staff owed wages). So they will likely be cutting prices (though maybe only as much as needed to shift the stuff) in order to convert all the existing stock to hard cash. Personally I will shortly be doing some very cheap shopping north of the border here in Ireland to take advantage of the weak pound, and there are sales on top of that. E.g. Argos have the Agents underwater set for £20 (that's about €24), and I spent €52.50 (albeit with free €5 gift voucher) here last month for that set, which was on sale even then (was €60). More fool me, but I'll be looking out for bargains on other sets (although I don't intend to get much, considering I want to get many 2009 sets and want to be careful with my money due to the current climate). Apparently Tesco here in Ireland have 25% off all Lego too... but if they have the same deal in the UK I'll just wait till my trip up North. For some items people are making savings of 40-50% by shopping up there! I've no moral problems with supporting jobs in the north of the country (even if it is in a different State) and paying less to the same UK retailers as we have down here who have fleeced us for so long.

Wheeee.... the rock rocket game is fairly nifty.

Well, being in Europe, all my old cannons are shooting, and I can safely say it is probably no harm if the new cannons shoot not quite as far!!! I rarely fire the old ones because you are quite likely to lose a cannon ball. Not such a big deal now admittedly, but back in the day as kids they were in short supply, partly *because* many had been lost due to firing cannons - they probably got vacuumed up later from wherever they landed.

There are also elements of the Incredibles or such with the stereotypical uniforms (no capes) and Dr. Inferno reminds me of the villain. The vehicles also seem to have aspects of Thunderbirds (like the truck having all the little vehicles in it!)

I haven't voted, because I mostly buy from a mix of places. Top three are probably Shop @ Home, Smyth's Toys (Irish toy store chain that has almost all the non-S@H exclusive sets, and moslty at S@H prices or occasionally cheaper) and Ebay. Then are other local stores (Art & Hobby, Tesco, Argos) and finally, bricklink (I've only placed a couple of orders for missing/special/novelty parts).

Fingers crossed there are no hitches for mine arriving. I'm still guessing that here in Ireland it is more likely to be early December before the sets arrive. I had to pay a couple of euro more (than just buying the papers) because I only collected half the papers (7 rather than 14).

:D It might be nice to make a trip across the border here in Ireland before Christmas! However, I've already a trip to Munich in Germany planned instead - while the prices may not be cheap, it will be a bit prettier than Newry, Co. Down! :) I won't mind the break from domestic news either (we can't pay to run the school system, we can't tax people more, we have to pay public workers more, we have to cut our infrastructure projects, cut public transport, etc.) Our government are complaining about people shopping abroad for Christmas, but personally I do not see much point in lining the pockets of UK high street chain stores here in Ireland who mostly still use £1 = €1.50 or worse (and that is converting UK prices which are often pathetic compared to elsewhere) - better to buy for less from the same retailers just elsewhere on the island of Ireland. I'll still buy some specific things from the few decent independant local retailers. It's now finally one time where I am happy that Amazon *hasn't* provided an Irish version of their site (you just order in Sterling even from Ireland, though there are no postage saving deals and postage is a bit high). I may be purchasing the Thomas Duplo set from there for my nephew, it's looking like being cheaper even with postage than the local toy store. As for ebay, I've given up on US for the time being and I'm tempted to only browse UK Lego listings rather than all of EU. A final note, I do admittedly hope that UK doesn't lower its VAT rate (sales tax) by 2.5% because it will pretty much mean we all buy everything from the UK for evermore. (Our govt. *increased* VAT by 0.5% which is the opposite end of the economic silliness spectrum).

Sure, I'm in. Now, this is Lego, so rather than say "is it bigger than a breadbox?", I shall say "is it bigger than a BURP?".

Interesting to see how the vote is quite split. Guess it just shows how great all these new Pirate sets are. I voted for the ship for the first two questions, it's quite a lovely thing despite the few flaws, and is probably the third best pirate ship ever. I voted for Loot island as best small set, on the basis that of the three, it's the one I most want. However, that's probably just because it's the largest. I think the pirate impulse is nicer. Sure if you want armies and weapons the soldier one is better, but it's pretty boring and just like the Castle knight impulse - a soldier and weapon rack. Also, I do like the new soldier jackets and they are better in some respects than the old ones (printed backs, red torso with white printing) but they do look more cartoonish. The old ones would outdo these new ones if redone more elaborately today (they suffer for being on a white torso).

Well, the ship is no. 1 on my list. After that, probably the shipwreck is next. I think I may hold out on the fort if it does ring in at €50 (still fingers crossed for maybe, just maybe, a cheaper deal for Irish S@H purchases). It's not only a bit overpriced, but is a bit plain in some respects. Of course I do want to get it sooner or later. I guess I will probably pick up all the smaller sets - I do actually quite like the 3D baseplate on the island - in fact if I could later get a second one cheaper, that would be great (look at the back of the baseplate - 2 of them join seamlessly back to back). So - in summary, all of Pirates are in. City will possibly suffer - I may forgo the farm (at least in the short term), and I won't be getting the construction sets. I also want Indy and Castle, but I may forgo the flying wing and any sub-par castle set (drawbridge or chariot could be sub-par, but I'm expecting good things from the Troll fortress, will be dissappointed if I'm wrong). I also need to get MMV and any modular building. Not meaning to get off-topic, but I'm just putting my planned purchasing of the whole Pirate line in perspective.

The horse is the same as the one in the Skeleton Carriage set, but it is something special. Personally I think the red-brown is a nice addition to horse colours, and the bridle is nicely done with the spot of silver for the metal part. The jeep is indeed very convincing in profile, and looks really slick. The trailer is pretty good, although it is a bit too uniform on the outside due to the perfect shape of the window parts in white. As regards price, I would prefer if it were cheaper, but I think the comparisons with how much you paid in the past are silly. The same amounts in the past were worth a lot more in relative terms, and certainly here in Ireland we have had a number of years of like 5% inflation. €25 is two student canteen lunchs and a coffee+pastry (and at that, the canteen have switched to smaller plates and are now counting chips to save money - you get 10-12 chips).

As regards the Garage, I wouldn't be too exciting but for the fact that the part count is so high. Surely that's an indicator of some interesting detailed construction? I will most likely be snapping up the tow-truck and camper without delay! Unlikely I'll go for the helicopter transport even if it is done well - it's just not quite an interesting enough subject to rank higher than the sets I am definitely going to get next year (and I cannot buy them all!) I am intrigued by "City Life". I do hope it is a kind of town scene with a shop or two, maybe a square/park.

Very nice review! This set looks nice, well chosen parts/figs for a simple little set. I liked the close-up view of the cannon. I know people had already described it as "pearl dark grey", and I had surmised even from one of the pre-lim photos that the cannons might be in a "gunmetal" type colour, but this photo really confirmed it. I have a couple of robot upper arms in this colour, and I was hoping that's what the cannons would be in, because whatever metallic look is added by the pearl effect, the pearl dark-grey is quite convincing as a gunmetal type colour. I simply can't wait to get hold of this set, and the others. I'll have to get some extra cannons, either by multiple purchases of these small sets, or by bricklinking. I can't see myself going back to the old cannons for anything but classic sets or scenes (and even then it might be interesting to mod an old set by sprucing it up with the new cannons, new colours and new soldiers/pirates).

I've just used black bin-bags - you can fit three of the largest boxes into those.

I store boxes inside of boxes, which reduces the space they take up. I think I have about nine of the largest size of box filled with boxes, and stored in bags in the attic. If you ever want to sell any sets in the future, you can make a point of them having the box. I'm not sure many people would go for box alone, though perhaps for the big/exclusive ones you might get a couple euro.

Personally I'll be entirely happy if it is like "Agents in Space" - a bit of flair would be nice after the dull Mars Mission etc. Besides, it's more fun for kids. I think we should expect such a thing. After all, Blacktron and Space Police were kind of cartoon stereotypes even in their original guise. A modern rendition will surely have some aspects of "camp"-ness about it. The set names sound like the concepts will be pretty fun, I just hope the set execution is good, and has a nice blend of large parts (e.g. plates, hull parts), brick/slope and small parts. Mars Mission had some good aspects in this regard, but still had much design that was too "fussy" and using awkward custom parts. An example of a nice streamlined "swooshable" vehicle in recent times is the Lego Agents jet fighter from the Gold Chase set. It has a simple arrangement of plates, hull/wedges, brick and slope with some SNOT to acheive a nice effect with almost no truly "specialised" parts - two fin parts are about the height of it, the rest are generic apart from using a barrel for an exhaust.

I agree with Klaus-Dieter that it seems unlikely the Queen minifig will be in any of these sets, and will appear in the as yet unknown "anniversary" Castle set. The proposition of a "tournament" style set reminiscent of the original one (second castle set ever) does seem not too unlikely. Troll's Mountain Fortress sounds uber-cool. The others may or may not be good. Of course that applies to the Troll fortress too - but I think they'd have to really try hard to mess that one up, whereas a drawbridge defense or chariot could easily be lack-lustre. Hoping for good things though!

Closing air vents isn't a good idea - you need them for a fresh supply of air and as a ventilation aid just in case all precautions to avoid build-up of various gasses fail (e.g. carbon monoxide, radon). Letting air in occasionally helps freshen up a room but you still need 24/7 ventilation as well. There's no real hope of having a dust-free environment in a normal domestic room - one just has to keep dusting. Frequent vacuuming of floors (where most dust falls) does help immensely in reducing the amount of dust that's around for surfaces to collect. Using a Dyson it is always astounding how much is collected in the clear plastic jug, even if the room seems pretty clean.

I use a soft flat 1" artist's paintbrush to manually dust models. However, around here at least, they are pretty pricey, about €20. That's probably just "rip-off Ireland" though. The one I'm using is a bit worn for painting, and was bought some time back by a sibling who isn't using it anymore. It's not entirely satisfactory for large flat areas of studs (e.g. plates) - one has to dust horizontal, vertical and both diagonals to shift most of the dust from around the studs, but it works a treat for smooth surfaces, 1-2 wide ledges/wall tops, crevices, etc. Handy for careful dusting of minifigs and small parts too.

Thanks for the photos and review. Yeah, this set looks nice. I for one like the 3D baseplate (sure I wouldn't want one in every set), and it is a positive development that it can be attached to studs. Certainly will be useful on top of tan baseplates (I've oodles of those from Western) for sandy/dusty scenes (Beach/Western/Egypt/Desert). I wouldn't want too many, so hopefully there'll only be the occasional set making use of these (and hopefully other colours, e.g. dark bley). I like the torn trousers on the castaway.

Competition isn't always good. Sometimes it may mean lower prices, but then you get far poorer merchandise. Worse still, those making proper merchandise may go out of business. Ultimately cheaper prices don't just mean you get to buy more, it means companies have to run on tighter margins and pay workers less. So no, I consider the "competition is good" line to be overly simplistic. I certainly would like to see competition in some areas of the market here in Ireland, but in other areas it is infeasible, and sensible regulation to keep a tight reign on monopolies or strong players is a far preferable ambition than pretending competition can be fostered.

The absence of corner cutouts will affect the sturdiness of any construction that uses these new wall panels. However, the old walls can be awkward due to the ledge and being 5 wide, so I am happy that we'll have the versatility of these new pieces (presumably we'll see them in black and bley in new Castle in due course).

Thanks for the review, nice to see some of the detail in this set. It's nice overall, and the figures and accessories are great. I like the style of the set, the sea being plates rather than baseplate, and the parts are all useful. I would agree that it's overpriced - in European prices $49.99 means €49.99, which is indeed at least €10 too much. However, rather than see this set at €39.99 (who knows, we might get lucky), I think it could have benefited from an extra 100 bricks. The tower in particular is lacking in detail (not even ladders?). I guess the minifigures, accessories (monkey, palm tree, etc.) and the amount of large plates (sea and dock) drive up the price, but even so it's rather spartan for the price they are asking.