brickzone

Indeed, I wonder if all the parts are PaB inventory (I'm not going to check myself from the photos), in which case it's just a special box and instruction sheet for what is basically an ordinary Lego Factory composition.

Nice work on that locomotive. The Hobby Train is a fantastic parts set, despite the colour limitation of red/black. I would like to fit RC gear to my own one. However, I worked it out, and bricklinking I would be spending about €50 minimum to get all the gear I need (controller, battery baseplate, motor bogie, wire, etc.) I hope I can get the Cargo Train RC set sometime at a cheaper price than it is already, and after I've had it intact for a while, then I can play around with using the RC gear for a custom locomotive.

Fortunately for Irish AFOLs, I don't think Lego is affected by dampness! There's a possibility I may be moving some Lego to an outdoor shed, but the temperature is unlikely to range anything beyond -5C to 25C.

My word that is an astounding creation - it looks amazing. Very reminiscent of Art Deco buildings I've seen/visited. The amount of detail is great. I particularly like the Rebel helmets with trans light blue visors as old-style uplighters.

It is a very nice set. I've not used the tan bricks yet (waiting for switch to City MoCing - currently I'm on castle and Agents), but I've been making use of many of the other parts. For anyone in Ireland, it's still available from Smyth's Toys for €54.99 (link to check local store).

My nephew who is a bit over one year old is supervised while he from time to time has a good look at one of his parent's Lego models. He likes if you explain what all the parts are, he's still learning vocabulary though not speaking much yet apart from "Mama", "Dada", "Bob" (the builder) and "Indy" (from watching his Dad play Lego Indy computer game). He's occasionally let play with a minifig, motorbike, horse or such for a short time. His current focus is carefully replacing Indy's hat after taking it off (he will practice this again and again as he still doesn't get it in the right position first time), and getting the horse clip-clop sounds just right. Of course he is far too young to play with ordinary Lego in general, but the short supervised spells keep him happy about his parents Lego and the rest of the time he is happy to play with his own large blocks (unfortunately they are currently Megabloks cause those were easier when he was younger, but he is getting Duplo for Christmas). He's happy to watch his parents building sometimes too. I think it would be hard to completely ban a kid from interfering with parent's Lego - supervised "looking at" spells is probably the way to go until they are older and understand about parents having things too (and even then, if they become a Lego fan with Lego of their own, you'll probably still have to allow them to build with you and your more expansive collection). I'm not a parent myself yet though - just an uncle! I've quite a number of younger siblings too, so I can say you're in for all kinds of fun later on if you have more kids :) The younger kids will not be content to play with Duplo for long, nor stick to just their own Lego. I think the worse was the chewing - one or two of my brothers wreaked havoc on my Lego, for quite some years too. Fortunately my nephew learnt the concept early on of only putting food in ones mouth.

I'm happy (relieved?) and sleep deprived (bed @ 05:30 GMT!). Still read through the nights Eurobricks posts :) It's like the opposite of how I felt after a certain European treaty vote in my country and our most recent election. I'm also happy to have Lego on my desk (a just cleaned ebay 6059 Knight's Stronghold), and also to have a trip to Christmas market in Munich, Germany planned, and get to visit real pick-a-brick in-store for the first time ever! Also, it's now into November and not only many trees with leaves, but some still green! Plenty of sunshine, mild spells, short showery/stormy spells and nice crisp Autumn days too! Here's to a nice short winter after last years neverending one. Maybe we will get a proper summer next year too (this year it was sunny only until aforementioned treaty vote, then no sun for months - Omen? Of course not but it didn't make me any happier).

Is it Dacta (the educational Lego)?

I'm hoping for some kind of court/tournament scene. Presumably the jester will appear in the same set as the queen. Maybe as has been suggested, some kind of tournament scene will double as an anniversary set, reminiscent of the early classic castle one, in the same way Town Plan (a modern set design) echos the old town plan. We will presumably have a castle set next year with the witch - it is unlikely it would be a once-off design just for the Advent calendar.

Mobile command centre is excellent for vehicles parts (and indeed actual vehicles) and navy and grey bricks/plates. I would say it is probably better for general purpose building (great for plates and panels). The Volcano Base is cooler and looks awesome. It is good value too, but with the mobile command centre being reduced so much, I guess that is less of an issue. Both sets have Agent Trace and Dr. Inferno, but mobile command centre has Agent Charge, and volcano base has "Claw-dette".

I agree with CP5670's analysis, I think it's pretty spot on as to when technic in sets is good or bad. In general though, I would say that I'm pretty happy with how Lego incorporate technic into normal sets now more than in the past. I don't collect or build technic models, and yet it is most useful to have a supply of technic parts to hand for MoCing. Thanks to recent sets, I have that! I think as well that it encourages Lego builders to use technic more, and I see this as only a good thing. I don't know how well it plays out with kids, but certainly it can only stimulate the engineering skills of the more resourceful kids. Considering how little encouragement there is in the education system (at least here in Ireland) for engineering, resourcefulness and serious technical thought, I think it is just as well for Lego to do their bit (even if just ordinary Lego system goes a long way in that regard).

I love the Lego Agents theme. It's a wonderful tongue-in-cheek mish-mash of Thunderbirds, James Bond, Incredibles, etc. The choice of colours is great; Agents are actually quite restrained in palette, yet look so cool, and the baddies have flamboyant orange and black. Volcano base I think is the pinnacle of the theme, it just perfectly captures the essence of Dr. Inferno with the absurdly huge Laser gun, "throne", and flame pit. I would have liked to see a base station for Agents rather than mobile base, but having purchased the latter, I can say it's pretty amazing and fantastic for vehicle parts, plates and panels. (bought it at €80 rather than €100, and spending another €40 got me a voucher for €20). I'm currently using the parts to built a base station upon the 2005 police station 3D baseplate. The turbocar is my favorite Agents vehicle, I have modded it to have a pull-back motor built into it (really works - thread link). It's just about the flashiest, coolest Lego car ever! Just this week I completed my Lego Agents line-up with Mission 7: Deep Sea Quest (on sale in Argos at €7.50 off, so €52.50, and you get a €5 gift voucher too!). The sub is probably the most amazing underwater vehicle yet, and quite moddable or good as parts for a space vehicle too. A lot of navy, it's pretty awesome. Agents also has cool minifigs - Agent Trace, Dr. Inferno, the baddie and Agent outfits, the guy with gold hair, Claw-dette.

Only one soldier here with black buttons. He's a redcoat too (checked the bluecoats just in case).

I think I'll just keep my chess boards for some occasion when I want to build a structure on a checkered black and white floor.

That new four-wide panel piece used in the fort looks interesting. Not having cut-outs like the castle wall panels does mean it won't link into a wall section so well. However, I do often find the ledge on castle wall panels an irritation, so it will be nice to have an alternative. Edit - also, five wide can be awkward - it will be good to have a four-wide option too.

Looks like the cartoony skull and crossbones on the sail is definite :( On the plus side, it also looks like the cannons are definitely going to be a metallic gunmetal colour!

I cannot recommend Agents enough! It is a really fun theme - like Thunderbirds, James Bond, Incredibles, etc. all rolled into one. Parts suit the building of Space, vehicles, Agent-esque MoCs and much more. Lots of navy parts - which look nice, and bley. Volcano Base of course is lower in those colours, but it has phenomenal amounts of trans-orange slopes, brown BURPs and dark brown slopes, as well as a lot of flats/plates and structural elements. It's an amazing set, I intend to mod it rather than immediately incorporate the parts into my collection for MoC-ing. I'm currently using the Mobile Command Centre parts to build an Agents headquarters (using the 2005 Police Station 3D baseplate). I've also modified the silver chase car to incorporate a pull-back motor. (thread link)

Yep, some of my family members have used fleshie hands as latex gloves (for medics). Personally I just keep/make up some fleshie minifigs.

Well, perhaps I don't go very high in the time stakes, but I visit quite frequently throughout the day. I'd say it's seldom that I spend much more than 10-15 mins reading and replying to posts though. I guess it might add up, on some days especially.

I enjoyed the review. Some cool fleshie heads and parts, but it does seem a bit lamer even than I imagined from the box (the "airy" truck is rather slyly disguised on the box art). I would like to get it if it is ever on sale, 50% off would be nice :) Speed Racer Lego doesn't seem to be selling too well in local shops here.

I shall also add a Happy Birthday greeting even though I am "No Relation"!

Missed last Sunday but picked up today's (Saturday) so I now have the requisite seven vouchers. I'll be trying to catch the early post on Monday. At least there's a TV guide in the Saturday edition of the Mirror - better than navigating the Sky Digibox just for the free channels.

I don't think Star Trek fans have all suddenly fallen off the face of the planet just because the execution of the franchise has petered out. I hadn't watched Star Trek in nearly 10 years until recently picking up the next generation on DVD for finally a sane price (€20 per season). I think a lot of people would have their interest in Star Trek revived by themed Lego. Indeed I think the Star Wars Lego has done much for that franchise. IF the new film succeeds in rekindling interest, both Lego and the Star Trek franchise could mutually help each other a lot - the latter having new interest kept alive by something as cool as Lego sets, and there are potentially a *lot* of Trek fans in their Star Trek "dark ages" so to speak - could mean a lot of Lego sold! Just look at how things were in the mid 90s! I think Star Wars fans could avoid using this thread as an opportunity to knock Star Trek. I too am a fan of Star Wars as well as the Star Trek interest. Although for Star Wars, Episodes 1-3 are for me just as painful and poorly done as the latest Star Trek offerings.

Well, I disagree about the prices. Considering inflation (it's been up near 5% a few times here in Ireland in recent years) you get more for your money than ever with Lego. The prices we saw for these Pirates sets looked perfectly normal, even €90 for the ship. Back when we had Pirates in the 1980s they were almost unattainable prices, certainly here in Ireland at least. Those where the days when we had £1 notes, and anything much beyond the £10-£15 range was a major purchase. The BSB was something like £100 RRP in UK (and we had higher markups and Irish £ here in Ireland). In 2002 (or 1999 really) we swapped £1 for €1.27. Yet a size of set that cost IR£20 in the 1980s is usually about €20-€30, even almost 20 years later. Today you are lucky to get a decent lunch with a beverage for €10 (roughly the minimum wage per hour here). New pirate ship for 9 lunches (or 9 hours work) seems like rather good value to me!

And Ireland. I'm looking forward to mine when I send off the vouchers I've been collecting - just two more to go (missed last Sunday, which is a more expensive paper anyways). It will work out to about €1.33 spent per set.