The Cobra

I have none, and that's bad. I need to find a small set with a dressed princess.

Castle is the only theme where I can accept quantity over diversity. Therefore, my vote goes to "diversity". City sets need different figures!

You surely wouldn't have spent 10 euros, because that was 2008 BP price. This year they all cost 13 Euros each (and Knights and skellies seems to be sould out on S@H).

Wasn't the modularity of those mid 80s' sets great? Yet step 1 was really challenging. Today's children (who need numbered bags and piece call-out on very step) would have probably thrown this set away without even getting to step 2.

Who knows? Pirates are to be discontinued and will only be available within the first half of 2010 (unless stocks run out earlier) We're not even sure there will be a 2010 Castle sets wave. On the other hand, considering there have been 4 Castle chess sets (Vikings, KKII, Fantasy era and the giant 300 bucks FE), this could be a trend.

As for Italy, the Troll fortress is a toy-store exclusive, Chariot and drawbridge should hit shopping malls too. But they surely have been around since mid-September. It's odd to hear that some European countries have still to see them.

Ad from an Italian magazine (online preview, I don't have a better version): "Aliens (for you) to build" "Ben 10 Alien force: A force not to be underestimated"

The crazyness in this auction is brought to you by the guy who asked and the seller who answered: Q. "Since the product name is in a language other than English, do the cars have instructions in English for putting them together? Thanks" A. "This item was purchased in the US so I believe the instructions would be in English and maybe additional languages or just pictures. The boxes have English, French, and Spanish writing. The box is sealed so I can't see the instructions."

Done!

The Italian June-December catalog doesn't list that piece. There are only 7895 and 7896 (plus the two trains, of course). (I just checked, this daring piece wasn't available in the Jan-Mat catalog either). there are still a few on eBay.

Aren't trains supposed to come back in 2010? Shouldn't they have come back last year and then were postponed?

Somebody fired from WWE (whose latest trend seems to be changing Pay-per-view names regardless of product quality) must have been hired by TLC. I wonder how can TLC think that "Lego knights" would sell better than "Lego Castle". So, what about "Lego Kings of metal" or "Lego Triumph of steel"?

What we know so far (from the now-gone Amazon.de pages): Lego 7967 - Racers Fast Lego 7968 - Racers Strong Lego 7970 - Racers Hero Lego 7971 - Racers Bad Lego 8193 - Racers Blue Bullet Lego 8194 - Racers Nitro Muscle Lego 8195 - Racers Turbo Tow Lego 8196 - Racers Chopper Jump Lego 8198 - Racers Ramp Crash Lego 8197 - Racers Highway Chaos Lego 8199 - Racers Security Smash Russian fair Pic (click to enlarge)

Italy: Il Gigante has some interesting offers (RRP in parenthesis): City - Impulse sets = 2 Euros (3), Tractor = 7,10 (10), 4WD w/ horse trailer = 14,30 (20), Sports car = 5,50 (8), City Minifig collection = 5,50 (8) Pirates - Impulse sets = 2 Euros (3) Racers - Tiny Turbos = 3,60 (5), Fold-outs = 10 (15) Creator - Small sets = 3,60 (5)

What about a riding school? With a "modular" expansion set (horse box stall)

I still thinks this is the worst CAC so far, I rated it below average. On the other hand, 2008 was T-2nd best imho (see this topic). Quoting myself: 2009: PROs: Santa is back, a lumberjack (!), a kid minifig (making 9 total minifigs), fountain, streetlight w/Xmas decoration. CONs: We already saw 90% of this throughout the years, and some were better (snowman faceoff anyone?) Not to mention, the higher price (on an Italian forum I read that's because TLC was upset with people selling small lots of minifig + accessories on eBay or Bricklink). Thanks for the review.

Yep, you were right. Still, the set looks interesting with 4 pigs and a farmgirl.

Classic pirates. They would be cheaper, they would be everywhere (unlike what happens with Licensed themes), they would'n be movie-based so hopefully better.

Confidential pic (larger version of something we already saw)

After the "My collection" update (see my signature): Click to enlarge.

Try searching online bookshops. I did it for Italy and found a couple of places that list both this one and its Castle counterpart (20 or 21 euros each, that's way too much). Edit: amazon.com has it.

I like most everything of the FireBlaster, except that the human minifig seems a b/w oddity in a colorful world.

The airport and the "stand-alone" plane don't look so much different from the old sets, but they are just too big for me so it doesn't bother. The fire copter is awful, I also thought it looks more like Playmobil. And the fire pick-up is not as good as its 2007 counterpart. The small pontoon plane is nice, the tanker too (yet there is only one truck brand in Lego city, trucks all look the same!)

The piglets set looks nice. Do I spot this piece? (bottom left corner of the box, on the corral)

Well, the topic title doesn't mention "2010" , it could be any year (sorry, I'm just pissed off at TLC)