Algernon

Thanks for the comments everyone.

This polybag is great! Where did you find it? I'd love to pick up one or two of these. Thanks for the great review!

I also like the concept of the mad scientist set, but I feel that the execution is just a little lackluster. It's not terrible, but what the devil is up with that car?

Lets go with that!

10226 Sopwith Camel REVIEW LEGO.com description: Relive a classic era of aviation history with the Sopwith Camel biplane! Build and fly a huge replica of the famous British biplane loaded with rare bricks and functions to match its real-life counterpart! Parts: 883 Release: 2012 Price: $99.99/£79.99/$129.99 So, I open my front door one hot Saturday afternoon, and what do I see? A brown paper package tied up with string. One of my very favorite things! The box is quite large, but packed surprisingly tightly. Not much wasted space. I quite like the box art! The back of the box shows off a few different angles of the Camel, including the play functions. No flick fire missiles here! Something I haven't seen before: the top of the box includes a list of parts. Without any minifigs to show off, I imagine that LEGO needed something to fill up the space. This baby requires two instruction booklets! I was glad to see them packaged in their own plastic bag, complete with cardboard backing. The first booklet is much thicker than the second, for whatever reason. As you can see, the DSS is nice and small! And here's the open instruction booklet: Unfortunately, I forgot to take any photos of the building process. However, I can tell you that I found it extremely enjoyable, albeit lengthy! A huge quantity of small parts mixed with gigantic base plates makes for an entertainingly tricky build. If you're anything like me, you triple-check each page to make sure that you're building it accurately. Took me a few hours (and a few beers )! There were definitely some repetitive sections, but that's to be expected. I was extremely impressed with how much detail went into the build. You can really tell that the designer did his research. My favorite part was building the joystick controls and figuring out how the functionality works. I felt like an aerospace engineer! Close enough right? There are a small handful of extra pieces, including an extra string piece and brick separator. The build required quite a few rubber bands, which were packaged inside these cardboard boxes. For some reason, they gave me an entire extra box. And now, without further ado... What a beauty! The size of the model is humungous. It's hard to capture the scale of the thing on camera, so here's a comparison shot: I imagine the Spirit of Luis might be feeling a little insecure now... The midsection. Yes, I applied the stickers. Sometimes I think AFOLs must have the dexterity of drunken squirrels. It's really not so bad. The propeller. When you spin it, the cylinders spin with it. It looks pretty cool! The pilot's seat! I love the detail here. The printed control panel is perfect. The seat itself. Rather tricky to get a good photo of it. I tried. So, I bet you're wondering: what about all that functionality? Well, it turns out that you can control the elevators on both the front wings and the tail with the joystick! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3mLHiwsow8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F1VOEKEudg (Excuse the sound. I forgot that my dishwasher was running. ) How is this possible?! Patience. Master Algernon will show you. Moving the joystick left or right pulls this string through those slots on the plane's front section. The string then loops around the top of the wings... ... and then connects to the elevators, which are connected with another string. The tail elevators are hard to show, so I'll just explain them. When you push/pull the joystick forward or backward, it moves a technic beam through the plane's midsection. The beam is connected to this string: Which is connected to the elevators. They're kept in place by these rubber bands: Sorry for the awkward photo. I guess my inner drunken squirrel came out. There are even springs attached to the landing wheels: These make it so the plane rocks back and forth a little bit. I suppose they're supposed to add authenticity or something. It's a nice touch. The bottom of the plane. Not much to see here. Now we get to my one biggest complaint about the model. The rubber bands on the wheels have a bad habit of doing this: ALL THE $#%@ TIME. Still, it's a minor issue. Just a point of annoyance. As many of you are aware, if you order the Sopwith from LEGO.com right now you get a bonus: a MINI Sopwith! ...because that's what everybody who buys the real thing wants, right? A smaller, crappier version to go with it. Kidding aside, I actually like it. Plus, it's free, so it's hard to complain. I remember somebody saying it looks like there are two giant cakes on the wings. I tend to agree. The bag: And the instructions, fold-out style: Pretty typical of polybag sets. You even get a couple extra pieces: Whoopee. And there you have it, folks! So, now that we've seen it, how does this set measure up to the 2001 version? Unfortunately, I don't have 3451, so I can't really do a legitimate comparison. Maybe if someone has them both, they could post a few pictures. That said, I have to admit that I'm extremely impressed with 10226. I'm a Space fan, so I don't usually pop for these large-scale models, but something about the Sopwith attracted me. I've always been a fan of WW1-era memorabilia, and everybody knows Snoopy's favorite biplane! I liked the look of it so much, I decided to make it my first LEGO purchase in months. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun putting a model together. The detail, accuracy, and functionality are all jaw-dropping! I don't think we've gotten something so lovingly designed since the heady days of Model Team. LEGO really designed this for adults, and I appreciate the effort - it's refreshing to attempt such a complicated build straight from LEGO. I'm no aviation history buff, so I can't really tell you how accurate it is to the real thing. But as they say, a picture's worth a thousand words: That's about as accurate as I've ever seen a LEGO set. And now, the scorecard! Build: 4/5 - challenging and entertaining, with some repetition. Design: 5/5 - The design is the what you'd be buying this for. Outstanding! Minifigs: n/a Functionality: 4/5 - Ambitious, yet mostly successful! The icing on the cake. Value: 3.5/5 - $99.99 is a steep price for 883 parts, but frankly, I didn't feel the least bit ripped off. It's a gigantic set, and with the amount of effort that went into the design, $99.99 is a reasonable price. Overall: 4.5/5 It's a shame this set isn't connected to any real "theme", because in my mind, it's a modern classic. A heaping TON of unique parts and colors, amazing functions, massive size and jaw-dropping accuracy make this one of LEGO's best efforts. It's as close as we're gonna get to the return of Model Team! I highly recommend 10226. Get it while you can! "What is this? Some kind of new alien technology?!" Thanks for reading!

So I think we can safely assume that the ghost polybag is going to be a promo for 10228? It certainly would fit, since it includes an extra ghost fig and a clock that would fit perfectly inside the house. LEGO did something similar with the excellent 2012 Sopwith Camel. Frankly, I really hope that's the purpose of the ghost polybag, since I'm really loving it! And it gives me all the more reason to pick this beauty up in September.

Same here! Such a good value, lots of useful parts and fantastic figs for a relatively reasonable price. If it was out in the U.S. I probably would have picked it up already, but alas, none of my local stores seem to have it. Still, I'll probably wind up getting this! Thanks for the great review.

Are you kidding? People on this site bash LEGO's official models constantly. I challenge you to find one person here who wouldn't admit that a LEGO set is terrible without hesitation. LEGO fans didn't hold back when Mars Mission's jelly aliens came out - they were bashed into the ground, and LEGO redesigned them for the second wave. This is a very honest fanbase. The difference is that you're accusing a very talented designer of ripping off a fan's design, which has the potential to cost him his job. If you don't like the set, that's one thing, and perfectly appropriate. But that's not what 50% of this topic has been centered around. What's WORSE, is the fact that we've all already agreed that the designer is completely innocent! It was an unfortunate coincidence at worst, and regardless, the set is an absolute beauty. Yet we continue to argue about it. Nobody here has suggested we turn into sheeple, but I am HIGHLY in favor of dropping this discussion as absolutely nothing productive will come of it, and there's not even anything to argue at this point.

My thoughts exactly! This set is brilliant. September can't come quickly enough.

That's tricky. This whole Cuusoo proposal is more about a central idea than a particular set. If anything, I'd suggest a small $30 range set that includes a vehicle and a handful of figs - smaller sets sell better, and kids like vehicles.

I doubt LEGO would cancel this set after it's already been made and ready to ship. I also SINCERELY HOPE THEY DON'T! It would be a terrible way for such a fantastic set to end up. I think we can agree that these arguments are no longer worth the trouble.

Are we seriously still worried about this? The designer more or less confirmed that he did not rip off any fan creations when making this model. Are we afraid that he's lying? At this point I feel like we're ruining what could be one of his best career achievements. This set could sell great, and looks like it could become a modern classic like the Medieval Market Village. The last thing he needs is comparisons to other models with the same source material as evidence that he stole the design. Honestly, what's all the fuss about?

I just ordered Gandalf Arrives, and that's to be my first LotR set. I have to say, though, that Helm's Deep is one of the most impressive castles I've ever seen from LEGO. The attention to detail is just incredible, you can really tell they're aiming at an older audience with these sets. If it wasn't so pricy, I would have bought it already. Of course, this is coming from someone who doesn't own any of them yet.

LEGO cancelling NinjaGo in 2013 wouldn't be too surprising imo. The theme is clearly doing well, but in the past, LEGO's ridden the success of some themes straight into the ground (Bionicle anyone?) and wound up losing money. As I recall, Alpha Team had a similar story: it sold well enough to stick around for three years and then disappeared without a trace. Personally, I've never been a huge fan of NinjaGo, but I would be interested to see a new antagonist in 2013. The snake people were interesting at first, but now I feel every snake vehicle is just a different variation of the same design. Something new would be cool. Besides, before you get too upset that 2013 could be NinjaGo's final year, remember that we have no idea what could be replacing it yet! Could be even better!

Great advice, thanks everyone. I think I'm going to wait and see if any good sales drop it down closer to the $50 price mark... even if it means waiting until Black Friday It really is a great set! Hopefully we'll see a full-fledged review in the next couple weeks.

Just ordered my 10226 Sopwith Camel with Gandalf Arrives and a collectable minifigure. First LEGO purchase in some time, I'm quite excited! Once it comes, I may do a nice and in-depth pictorial review for you all, if there's any interest.

Hopefully, AC's absence will make room for a new, true Space theme next year. No Mars, no Earth, no alien burglars, but true space-fairing LEGO vessels! We can dream!

I'm really on the fence about this set. I really love the overall design, the construction, and the figs are to die for, but it just seems so small for $90. The TIE fighter is about the same size, and it's half the price (and more figs!). I know that the Fury has more parts in it, but not twice as many! I really want to add this to my list, but $90 is just so steep, I'm having trouble convincing myself that its worth it.

This really is a great addition to the OT collection, since the previous version of Jabba's Palace was somewhat lackluster in my opinion. But this looks great - the minifigs are obviously a huge selling point here, and the palace itself has a nice overall look. Great stuff! Unfortunately, the price will prevent me from getting this That's just too steep for me...

That drop pod is awesome, both in concept and execution. I'm loving this. I really hope LEGO sees as much potential here as we do.

Obviously, that's not the problem. The problem was your distinctly antagonistic tone. I think you know this. I think the discussion regarding 10228's originality in design can probably stop now, since it's more or less been verified that the designer wasn't copying from any fan creations. It truly is a beautiful model!

Well, the Haunted House set is something of an oddball, isn't it? I can't remember the last time a brand-new unlicensed theme received a UCS-scale exclusive. The set is clearly aimed at AFOLs, meaning that excessive play functions are unnecessary (the designer even mentioned that there are very few play functions for a set that size) and so LEGO opted for a full building. The Castle, on the other hand, is part of the original line, and must sport as many play functions as possible to appeal to the kids. Makes sense - I don't think many kids would see the point in building a back wall to the castle just so it can be removed for play. The Castle and the Haunted House are both aimed at entirely different audiences. Unfortunately, I am also on the fence as to which model to buy. I love the Castle, and I've been planning on purchasing it since it was announced, but I don't really have the funds for both the Castle and the House. The House is clearly the more detailed building, but I love the gothic vibe of the Castle. They also both seem to include a similar range of minifigs. I wish the House had more exclusives. Both great sets overall. I am continually impressed by this theme!

That was a very interesting response, thank you for posting it. I still don't understand why people are so quick to assume that LEGO designers are copying design techniques from the fans. As pointed out in the response, fan creations are built very differently than official LEGO models. It's not like the designers aren't talented enough to make a competent haunted house on their own. Hopefully, this will put an end to the accusations. For what its worth, the set is still looking like one of the year's best! I'm sure I won't be the only one eagerly awaiting its release in September.

Something like this isn't unique enough to be called intellectual property. It's a house. Musicians steal musical motifs from each other all the time, and very rarely does that translate into an intellectual property lawsuit. How many pop songs use a 1, 4, 5 chord progression? All of them? Taking ideas from other artists and expanding on them is just the name of the game in any creative field, LEGO construction included. That's how you grow as an artist. There is way too much gray area here. Fans have been designing space marine minifigures since LEGO Space launched. Now, LEGO's released a space marine minifigure. Does that mean they stole the idea from the fans? Clearly, they were reacting to the high demand for a LEGO space marine. Maybe I built my own haunted house before this one got released. Does that mean I deserve 1% of the profit? It might be a similar design, but it's impossible to say if it was "stolen" from a fan creation. I tend to think that's unlikely. And besides, so what?

Why on earth would it matter if LEGO took some design cues from talented fan builders? It's a haunted house, there are only so many different ways to interpret the concept. It's still a fantastic set.