The Cobra

The more I look at it, the more I think it should be white instead of red, with an ice-cream vendor instead of a fire-fighter. Thanks for the review.

"They looked out from the Fortress on the hill - There came a single warrior Returning from the kill" (Gary Moore- Thunder rising) 7702: Thunder fury Year: 2006 Theme: Exo-Force Subtheme: Robots Pieces: 197 (including 4 extra pieces) Price: 15 USD / 15 EUR / ?? UKP Building time: less than 20 minutes (not including sticker placing) MISB on review: Yes More info: Brickset - Peeron Official description: Furious robot thunder! The most frightening of robots and the most powerful opponent of EXO-FORCE, Thunder Fury's titanium power saw and automatic laser cannon make it a major threat to the safety of the humans of Sentai Mountain! - Includes Devastator robot pilot minifigure! - Includes special light brick and energy tubing to make the Thunder Fury "power up!" - Thunder Fury stands over 7.5 inches (19cm) high! - Rebuild into the Fire Fury or combine with #7703 Fire Vulture to build a giant Battle Machine. See www.EXO-FORCE.com for building instructions and more building inspiration photos. Box front: A bit of 3D, see the relief printing of the TF shape. Box inside: some comics featuring Thunder fury Vs. Grand titan. Box inside: Mecha highlights and an alternate model. Box rear: Combo model of the two "stand-alone" Robot mechas and theme overview. Box content: 4 bags, sticker sheet, instructions booklet. Stickers: quite a few, they even have numbers for an easier placing. Not so random instructions page: Those slopes (steps 6 and 7) look as if they were different colors. They both actually are black. And cones that appear to be solid red are actually Trans red. Inventory: It takes two pages to list all the pieces. Click for larger images. Pieces: This model is based on black, gray (light and dark) and dark red, plus a bit of trans red pieces. Minifig and unusual pieces: Devastator (whose body is partly gray and partly trans red) wants to show us some pieces. Brick 3x3 without corner: not a popular piece but it first surfaced in 2001 and still is used. Technic Transmission Driving Ring Extension: from class of 1999, in its most popular color. Wedge 4 x 4 Corner: not really popular, only used from 2004 to 2007 so far; Minifig Accessory Speargun: Hey, Robots like spearfishing too! Electric Light & Sound Brick 2 x 4 with Red LED: main feature of the early Exo-Force large sized mechas, it ended up being a 2006 exclusive. (Pics courtesy of Peeron) Building: Let's start: Plates under the light brick, tiles with clip to hold the fiber optics cable and... Building: ...Technic pins for Technic beams! Those sockets will host the legs. Building: A rear view. The hinge top is not there to hinge, but to stop the moving cockpit. Building: These two mirror imaged parts are the breast and shoulders of the TF. This is how they look on the inside... Building: ...and here is the oustide. Sockets will host the arms. Building: The core of the Thunder fury is nearly already complete. The pin in the axle joiner is there to help pressing the light brick. This works way better without Devastator's standing. Building: Left and right leg look exactly the same. Feet are connected to anckles via a "Technic Pin Long with Friction"; this was a bad choice and I'll later tell you why. Building: Short upper arms, a laser gun on the right and a (yep, Bionicle) sword on the left. Building: Here's Devastator's "open cockpit"; binoculars turned into small cannons, just like in some Batman sets. Building: The trunk, the arms and the legs. Thunder Fury is nearly complete, but mechas have (lots of) stickers too! Thunder Fury: Front view of the model with them all stickers. Thunder Fury: Side view. Man Mecha, watch your back! Thunder Fury in action: Battle posed, ready to attack. Thunder Fury in action: A view from the rear. Thunder Fury in action: Facing the Grand Titan. Thunder Fury in action: Are human forces about to collapse? Review: An headless body, like most every (if not all) Exo-Forxe mechas. An open cockpit, beacuse robots are tougher than humans. A LED lit cannon and a saw-edged sword. Joints everywhere, to make this mecha's articulations as close as possible to the human body. Lots of stickers to help you decide whether you want to buy this set for what it is or not buy it beacuse you can't use stickered pieces for your MOCs. And spearguns, the "piece used in a total different way from what it is", like frogs used as coat hooks in the modular Fire station. I believe these spearguns should either work as antennas or hooks; they surely look like "the piece that shouldn't be there in real life beacuse it would be the first to be swept away". There are two main flaws with the Thunder Fury. 1) feet. "Ankles" are built like all other articulations, but there is just a 3-long Technic pin (ankle to foot) which grants posability and instability at the same time. 2) activating the lightning system. You have to press the cockpit, and you have to be touchy or you will destroy most of the TF before it comes close to a Human machine. And both flaws seem to be common amongst the first Exo-Force wave (or is it just that my hands are too big compared to a kid's?). Another flaw is the wrong color reference in some (many) instructions steps. Looking at the inventory pages or separate pieces by color will solve the problem in short time. Such an heavy body on such small legs might look like another flaw, but Lego designers are not newbies; I think there is no collapsing risk even for those who leave the model staing tall without posing it, and they will be a small minority. A one-click backwards rotation of the higher leg articulation will just bring most help these people need. Rating: Color scheme: 5/5. Lego colors of evil (dark red and black) strike again, after Vladek and his army and before Fantasy era skeletons' shields. Minifigs and accessories: 4/5. It's not that this set is short on minifigs (all of these mechas had the pilot only and no one else, some -like TF- with no accessories at all), it's just that most robots look the quite the same. At least this version of Devastator has the 2-tone body. Pieces: 4/5. This set is not what you're looking for to use in your MOC (unless you're into Mecha building), but all pieces make sense in the set as it is. Playability: 4/5. The TF comes with lots of joints and the lightning brick, so that should grant some fun. Design: 3/5. It doesn't look as good as some other E-F sets; flaws are not really different from other 2006 mechas. Overall rating: 4/5. Great look, minor flaws, might not be a great stand-alone but a must in any Exo-Force collection. The final words: If you missed this one, try surfing the net, you can still get one for less than RRP.

Sets 8193 to 8199 are Racers coming out in 2010. See Brickset.

Not as good as last year's, but there are 6 City sets instead of 5. (But the Doctor's car should include a doctor too, as we saw in some earlier pics.) And that Creator mini-saur looks awesome. Let's wait for these sets on the eBay.

I think it's a bit too early. Looking at my 2009 sets folder, summer sets pics surfaced in mid-January, along with Indy, Creator and SPIII. I don't remember if names came out earlier.

I don't own any of these, but I would, it wuold be the Green grocer, because of the colors and the beauty of both the outside and the inside. Honestly, the Fire brigade may be outstanding as a a stand-alone, but no as good as CC or GG (and I would have loved it at least in modular buildings Lego would have chosen civillian sets).

"In his search for the red Atlantis treasure key, the deep-sea diver has encountered one of the deadliest guardian creatures of all: An enormous black shark covered in Atlantean markings. Will the diver’s harpoon and swimming skills be enough to escape the shark’s snapping jaws and thrashing tail with the precious key, and its clue to the lost city’s location? " What's with TLC? Did the anti-violence policy sink into the deep sea?

GriZzliQ, your review is great, but your signature is large! (on IE7; Opera tiles pics vertically.)

I own a Grey one. I thing one can be enough (and I didn't even know it was available in orange too).

They all look great, just rememebr that when you rotate the Italian flag horizontally, you should have green on top and red on bottom

I voted Forestmen. They were so cool, and I totally missed them. And if there was a poll about what theme NOT to revisit, that would be KKI (musch worst than KKII, imho).

Thank you all guys! @Zorro: Xmas season is getting closer (it almost already started here in Italy), that could mean a 25% off in shopping malls (side note: in 2009, here in Italy, Ferrari is the only Lego licensed theme to hit shopping malls chains and not toy store chains only) @ Frost: you are absolutely right, but I wrote "a small Ferrari set"; those two you mentioned were far from small (or cheap) @ BigCam and The master (sorry for the late reply): both sets Frost mentioned had mixed minifigs. Still I find it odd.

I voted "Either". Vikings and AquaRaiders had some great sets, and another 10 years of Star wrs will hardly make a me a die-hard fan of the theme.

When I first saw this pic I though: This surely wasn't Designed for easy building and instant play. A good little set, which I rated Above average. I'd love to see a 2010 edition in the farm subtheme. Great review as well, congratulations on your silver badge.

The beach house has 522 pieces, RRP was 30 Euros (for Italy, now it's 31), and was often to be found for a few bucks less.

INDEXED There is nothing that grows in your arctic world (Midnight oil - Arctic world) 6579: Ice surfer Year: 2000 Theme: Town Subtheme: Arctic Pieces: 43 Price: 5 USD / ?? EUR / ?? UKP Building time: less than 10 minutes MISB on review: Yes More info: Brickset - Peeron Box front: With set name, piece count and 4 different "building toy" languages. Box measures 140x94x45 mms or 5.10x3.12x1.12". Box rear: two alternate models, both are missing the big sail! Box sides: building one of the alternate models (now that's a rarity!) and lots of writings. Random (not really) instructions page: A piece call out (for that black piece will kind of be hidden in the model) Instructions book rear: Some real life pics. Yet, to the best of my knowledge, penguins actually live in Antarctica! Promo poster: So, what was hot in Y2K? <insert that tiresome argument> City and KKI. Oh, please... Still, you might want to click for full-size pics. Another promo (mini)poster: Lego club and LegoMania magazine. Also click for full-size pics. Loose pieces: They were in a bag, which was partly open and partly glued in the box folds... Stickers: ...and I couldn't find the sticker sheet. It was hidden in the Mania/Club poster. Minifig and minibase: Our hero wears shades and a green outfit; below the stickered flag lies a "flight control panel" printed slope. Ice surfer: This vehicle features some 80s space pieces like the bracket and the wings. But they come in orange for the first and only time so far. That applies to the horse hitching too (see next pic). Ice surfer: Orange and blue are the main colors of set and theme, the rest is neutral colors. Ice surfer: Here comes the wing (Italians would call it "vela", that literally means "sail"), this Arctic version being an exclusive to this set. Ice surfer: Side and rear view: a radio and an iceaxe are clipped on the sides. Ice surfer: The complete set. Review: What (LEGO set) can you buy with 5 bucks today? A Racers Tiny Turbo or a Creator mini. Back in 2007, a small Mars Mission AstroFighter. A couple of months ago, I actually paid a bit more (because of shipping cost), but I'm still happy about this set. This is a classic minifig+vehicle set, a pure "what you see is what you get". The small base is obviously simple, but it made me think of how that machinery can work in the arctic freeze. The flag comes in different Arctic sets with different numbers (stickers). The Surfer has some handles (like on many quads these days) and loudhailers on the sides to hold short skis (minifig sized). The wing+loudhailer combo reminded me of a space set I used to own, 6824 Space dart-I. The big pole has a ball on the lower end for a 360° rotation (the white piece can rotate about 40° left and 40° right). If you already have an Arctic set, this minifig has no highlights; yet those blue sunglasses haven't been around since 2005 (Scuderia Ferrari Truck). The two accessories are a good choice, but the iceaxe turned out to be a flaw: the handling was too thin to fit in the 1x1 clip piece. I was lucky to have a spare one from the Yeti's hideout. Yet this is more of a Quality control issue than a minus to the set itself (like the open bag). No animals included, it would have been nice to have one such the trans neon orange scorpion or the trans blue spider which came with other small sets. Rating: Color scheme: 4/5. Blue and orange are a good pairing. Minifigs and accessories: 4/5. Too bad both smaller sets (this one and the 6577/6626 Snow scooter) come with the same minifig. The (old dark) grey radio was kind of popular between 1999 and 2002, and the only color other than black this accessory has ever been available in. Pieces: 4,5/5. An absolute exclusive, three color exclusives and a color unusualty (I can't call it rarity) in a 5 bucks set. Isn't it something? Playability: 4,5/5. A lot of stuff for one minifig alone. That should grant good playability. Design: 4/5. Unusual, to say the least, but good. Too bad for that "random" white piece, a fish out of water. Overall rating: 4/5. I can't call it outstanding, but it's very good. The final words: One of many comet themes that briefly lighted the sky (this one, in a quite dark year).

I never happened to print stickers, so I just can't tell. Maybe you sholud look in the Minifig Customisation Workshop forum, some of the tutorials might be helpful.

Try this one (or .30 instead .31 for a bmp version)

I guess he means Helicopter+4WD and Boat. These sets are not present in that poster-overview that Whung showed us.

I have an extra MISB Pirates Advent calendar, and I'd like to trade it with a 2008 Castle Advent calendar. - I'd rather have this trade happening in Europe, that would save on shipping and Custom duties. But I might consider ohter parts of the world too. - I'd really like to send and receive the 24 bags and the box "page" with the complete models only rather than the full box, because that would save on shipping too. If you want to talk about, drop me a PM. Thanks.

I'll probably get the two smaller sets, and I'd love to know what's the difference between a serpent and a snake. But why do they call it "Pursia" instead of "Persia"?

Hey, some new pics from Amazon! (too bad for the prices - too bad for those who buy there!) Amazon 3177 small car Amazon 3178 Seaplane Amazon 3179 Lighting repair have fun searching for more 2010 city items.

Amazon Atlantis page (no pics so far)

I voted "outstanding". No interior? Who cares, there is so much outside! Thanks for a great review.

I was already sure about buying the impulse sets, I'll probably get the 5,5 and 8 Euros sets too. I still don't think this theme is such a big thing, at least animinifigs look good.