Algernon

I really like this set. The interior detail is just fantastic.

No, I remember you voicing similar complaints about SP3 and just about every new-theme topic I've seen you post in. I don't believe the line between "historical" and "action" was ever as clearly defined as you think it was... when's the last time LEGO came out with a purely historical theme? The 2009 Pirates was an action theme. Castle is an action theme... or "Fantasy" if you want to be specific, but it's definitely action-oriented. Is your idea of a purely historical theme one that doesn't involve conflict? If that's the case, then... there were never any historical themes. I'll grant you that the sets here are definitely a little far-fetched. The flying mummies and living Sphinx in particular. But the idea of action-oriented sets has been with LEGO for awhile (and I can guarantee you that if LEGO came out with another Western theme, you would be making the exact same complaints you're making now... violence sells and the Wild West is definitely violent). Seriously, there are a lot of things you could say about this theme, like how busy all of the sets look or the absurdity of flying mummies dueling 19th-century biplanes (I happen to think it's awesome but I can understand seeing it as completely stupid) but if your major complaint is mixing history and action, I'd recommend you look into other hobbies. That's a trend that LEGO doesn't seem likely to veer away from anytime soon.

Bahaha. That would actually be pretty cool.

Yeah. That didn't make a lot of sense to me either. That's probably one of the best things about the theme to me- no annoying, barely-functional "play features" that ruin the aesthetics of the designs.

Wait, so NINJAGO is actually going to have large sets? I thought this was like a card-game, but now it's looking more like a return of classic Ninjas.

I feel like you've strongly disliked every action theme to come out in the last several years that wasn't Wild West.

The Mecha looks great, but I'm not digging the new fish people. I hope those designs are prelim.

*cracks knuckles* lets see what we've got here. The biplane set is a standout. Great construction, awesome minifigs, cool (if a little goofy) winged Pharoah, and likely low price point. Definitely going to be one of the better sets from the theme. The Pyramid is also looking great. Awesome construction, it looks more solid than the famed Johnny Thunder rendition. The scorpion looks alright, just another brick-built monster, nothing too special. The truck for the Adventurers looks nice, too, reminds me strongly of Indiana Jones. In a good way. Cool little impulse set, nice parts, I'm sure many will be buying that en masse. Awesome motorcycle set. Three great figs, great looking parts, nice construction. Again, this set is probably going to be a standout. The giant snake set... slightly less immediately pleasing to the eye, however after some closer examination I think it looks nice. The blocky joint-based construction, which some have mentioned, is forgivable since I think it's supposed to look as though it's made of bricks. And it does- with that aesthetic in mind, the model actually looks quite good. Still, though, it's probably not going to be the best the theme has to offer. The Sphinx looks alright, probably the weakest set here, but it's still not that bad. The idea of a moving, aggressive stone Sphinx is almost cool enough for me to forgive the somewhat sloppy looking construction. Almost. With only three minifigs, I'll probably skip it. Minifigs range from very cool to generic. I like the new molds, but the classic mummy gets tiresome and the new Adventurers don't hold a candle to Johnny Thunder. I really wish LEGO had just called the theme "Adventurers" and brought back Johnny. But, you can't have it all. Really I think the only thing about this theme that's putting me off is... how weird it is. Aliens VS. humans made sense, Agents VS. evil genius made sense, but... a mummy army takes over Egypt in the early 1900s? I guess? What exactly is the premise here? ...why do the mummies fly? Still, I can get over that. The theme looks great.

Sounds to me like Pharoah's Quest will be to Adventurers as Space Police 3 is to Space Police- no technical connection but lots of references and nostalgic gestures. I'm excited.

Those two new sets actually look pretty sweet. I haven't collected Star Wars in a VERY long time due to the ridiculously inflated prices, but I really hope those two sets are in a reasonable enough range to merit a purchase... they look good. Even if I don't remember seeing them in the movies.

Honestly, that Space stuff isn't tickling my LEGO bone. (take that how you will) It all looks too kid-themed... that space shuttle looks straight out of Duplo and even the rocket looks a little baby-ish to me for some reason. ESPECIALLY when compared to the fantastic Space shuttle we already have from 2010. I'm not writing them off yet, I want to see better pics. But for now, I'm hesitant.

That temple looks fantastic! I was expecting something less authentic looking, but that actually looks great. I have no problems with the fish man. He looks every bit as cartoony and poorly proportioned as all of the Atlanteans we've seen so far. I want to see more pics!

The return of Adventurers would be a dream come true! I've got my fingers crossed for this theme. Looking forward to seeing some pics.

I own the set, and personally I'd suggest you save your money. Anything from the second wave is MUCH better than the Gold Heist. It's a shame, because it had a lot of potential, but ultimately I'd recommend you spend your dough on something more worthwhile.

I think this set is fantastic. The attention to detail, abundance of little secret treasures, high minifig count and good overall look really make this a standout. Definitely the best Hogwarts we've gotten thus far. If it wasn't so pricey, I would stanch this up for sure. You are clearly not a Harry Potter fan, but thanks for the review anyway. :P

I've always been fond of underwater themes, and I know I'm not alone. Underwater themes have brought us a lot of great sets over the years and LEGO keeps revisiting the sci-fi setting. The latest entry, Atlantis, is already slated for another wave in 2011- giving it more longevity than even Space Police III! So which is your favorite? Personally I think they all have their strong points, but Stingrays would probably have to take the cake for me (mostly because of the largest vehicle, which is one of my all-time favorite sets). You can select multiple options. Discuss! :)

I absolutely loved Throwbots as a kid- in my mind, they were the original Bionicle. Really fun to play with. Turbo wasn't my favorite but he's pretty cool. My only gripe with this set is how small he is compared to the box. Good review, too!

This is the only Dino Attack set I owned, and the only one I really wanted besides the giant helicopter. I think it's a decent set (though the American version was better imo). It's a shame Dino Attack was so short lived. Nice review!

Here's the most recent picture I've got. My hair is shorter now, though.

Let's be honest here, LEGO collecting is an unusual hobby and it can throw people off if they're not used to it- I'm not saying that it should be that way, it just is. This is probably more true with my age group than others. So I don't advertise it, not out of shame, but just to avoid having to explain how I look at it. I don't expect people to understand, since in my experience, they often don't at first (and I doubt that I would, in their position). Honestly that doesn't bother me in the least- I'm just talking about how LEGO as a hobby is at odds with the college life, and I was wondering what the people here thought of it. I can see a lot of people here are very comfortable with incorporating LEGO into their adult lives. There's a lot of great advice here, and I thank you for it! I think that, at the time being, I'll limit myself with LEGO collecting (as I have been) and focus on what's really important right now. I probably will come back to it later; after all, I've been collecting for most of my 19 years on this planet, and I'll always have a soft spot for those small plastic bricks. Thanks for all of the fantastic advice. :)

Lately I've gotten out of LEGO collecting. Don't get me wrong; LEGO will always hold a special place in my heart- after all, I grew up with it. But I just can't find it in myself to shell out $20 of hard-earned cash for something that I feel like I should be growing out of (after all, that $20 could be going towards my next meal). Because here's the truth of it: I am a college student in the middle of figuring out his life, and I'm not sure if there's space enough for something as expensive and traditionally "childish" as LEGO collecting. I can't see myself bringing a girl I fancy back to my place and having to explain why I have three entire shelves dedicated to my Space Police III collection. Even more importantly, as a sound engineering major I can't exactly afford the ever-so-alluring 2010 NASA space shuttle when that $99.99 could mean the difference between getting a new MIDI keyboard or having to go another paycheck without the proper equipment to write that song I've been working on all week. So here's my question to the general EB community: As responsible adults with lives of your own, how have you fit LEGO collecting into your life? It is, quite obviously, a significant drain on your finances and (sometimes) your perceived maturity. I'm interested in how it's worked out for you. Aaaand go!

Yeah, I don't see that happening either. I'm not even sure if I'd want that. What I'm wondering, is what exactly the Space Port sets will consist of since we've already got that fantastic $99 shuttle. A set like that is hard to top, and I don't see why we would get two shuttles in two consecutive years. What I'd love to see, is some LEGO renditions of the experimental crafts NASA and others have been working on. Like Space Ship One- I'd love to see that in LEGO form.

That's tough, but for me it's either Alpha Team or Aqua Zone. Adventurers also deserves a mention. All three were original in their day, had plenty of highly varied waves that kept the sets interesting through the years, and brought us some very memorable characters (Adventurers more so). Ironically I only really collected Alpha Team, because I got into LEGOs a little later on. Still I immensely enjoyed the few Adventurers and AZ sets I owned and I always wanted to go back and get the ones I missed. Good times, good times. Sadly, though I think Atlantis and Agents are both decent themes, they're really no replacement for AZ or AT. :/ I hope that Adventurers gets the proper revival that it deserves someday.

I just want to see something like this in LEGO form: http://www.deviantart.com/download/130210280/The_Leviathan_by_dratex2.jpg That little scorpion dude isn't cutting it for me. Edit by WhiteFang: The picture is too big. Please resize it.

Space exploration has changed, that's all. Taking a human team to Mars would be a hugely impressive engineering feat, but beyond that, it wouldn't be as exciting as it might've been in the 20th century. The most exciting discoveries aren't being made by sending people into space, they're being made by replacing telescopes and launching probes. For example, scientists now believe there is a small but palpable chance of discovering alien life in our own solar system. The logic is pretty simple: on Earth, we've been finding life thriving in places we didn't think possible. There's shrimp living in temperatures hot enough to melt led, fungi living organically off of pure radiation, and bacteria growing in places thought too cold to sustain any type of life. We've realized that, if there's water, life is likely to follow. And we've been finding water everywhere; Titan, Europa, Mars, even our own moon. Who knows what we'll find when we drill into the icy crust of Europa and explore the oceans below? Think of it; we're closer to discovering alien life than ever before, and all it took was a few probes and a better understanding of our own planet. The problem, of course, is now that we're relatively familiar with our own Solar System, our scientific interests have outpaced our ability to explore them. Now the newest frontiers involve parallel universes, black holes in the center of the Milky Way, and intriguing signs of life on planets much too far away to be properly investigated. So we're reduced to building a Hubble 2.0 and hoping that the world will be more interested in exploring the universe once the global economy is out of the toilet. ...and in a feeble attempt to make this on-topic, obviously the latest scientific advances are hard to make into LEGO sets... unless you want a LEGO Hubble telescope or something. Yeah sorry, I'm just a bit of an Astrophysics junkie.