The Cobra

I think this set is just awesome, I wish I had a place to put it. Thanks for this excellent review!

Are you ready for the chase? Some say "it's better than the catch" Set Data: 8152: Speed chasing Year: 2008 Theme: Racers Subtheme: Tiny turbos Pieces: 142 (including extras) Price: 10 USD / 10 EUR / ?? UKP Building time: less than 20 minutes MISB on review: Yes More info: Brickset - Peeron Box front and rear: Glow in the dark was the big news in 2008 Tiny Turbos; box rear shows alternate models and other TT sets of that year. Box sides: Since boxes are oversized, Lego always shows us a part of the set in 1:1 scale. That should usually be a minifig, but this can't be the case, so here's the runaway car. Also, learn how to write "Glow in the dark" in 5 other languages. As always, no Italian! (it should be: "Si illumina al buio") Box content: 3 separate bags, one for each model; instructions book, stickers. Sticker sheet: adding details. I wonder, does LR mean Lego Radio? Inventory pages: click to enlarge Random instructions page: SNOT technique on the Police car. Runaway car: Lime green and black, with red and glow in the dark cheese slopes and some chrome silver parts (that's a sort of chrome-y grey, not mirror chrome like some castle accessories). Building is easy. Runaway car: "Quad" mudguard on front, good ol' 4 wide mudguard on the rear. Slope Brick Curved 2 x 4 was a new piece in 2008; Slope Brick Round 1 x 2 x 2/3 with Flap and No Studs seems to be gone after last year. Yet, 2009 is a sort of comeback year for old pieces... Police car: Here we are again, two different mudguards. But the most original part of this car is the use of 8 "Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight" for those SNOT sides. Police car: (Trans) blue and red lights on car front, matching 2x1 tiles on the roof. Double red light on the rear (plate+tile). I would call this car a "low rider", if it wasn't for that rear spoiler. 2 Glow in the dark 2x1 tiles will host a sticker. Police car: Rear shot. This is the best model in this set. News copter: The lesser of the 3 models. It's just yellow, with black and grey and lights, no interesting pieces. News copter: Yes, there's GitD here too. It's that cheese slope right there on the front. Speed chasing: Comparison shot. Vehicles are now complete and ready to get stickered! Glow in the dark Cell pic. The best shot I could give at GitD elements. If you never owned any, let me tell you that they work great with solar light or some neon lights. Sticker time Final front shot Sticker time Final rear shot Alternate models: Overview (pic is different from the one on the box rear) and final building steps. Review: A midi TT set, with more than one car and less than 6! Something that started good and turned out not-so-good, imho, with the 2009 storage containers. But, let's keep focused on this set. The police car is the stand-out model amongst the three. Classic black and white, surrounded by lights and with the GitD tile(s) on the front. The lime car is a bit weaker, mostly because of the heavy use of this color combo, started in 2006 and still used in 2009! The news copter is even weaker; I think the could have dared building a 3-wide, but that would have meant a massive use of 2x1 jumpers, and price increase. Still, it was something different from cars and trucks. And look at Street extreme, the Police copter looks a lot like this one. The big news in 2008 TTs was Glow in the Dark; to me it looked simple and effective; I was hoping something alike would have happened this year too (chrome grey pieces would have been great; maybe some new colours) but that wasn't the case. Back to the point: this set looked appealing to me, along with cool colored 8151 Adrift sport, and was something of a plus because you could buy three (or, two and something) for the price of two. That price was even cut off throughout the year in Italy, so I could grab this one for 8 Euros only. A little of a steal! I grew up with 4-wide cars, so it took a while to get used to TTs; I'm not fully addicted, I'm not even sure what 2009 sets I'll buy (if any), but I learned these sets are worth a look. Rating: Color scheme: 4,5/5. I Like both cars, though some might argue that lime and black has been used over and over again in Tiny Turbos. News copter is a bit boring, but it would have been hard to do something different on a 2-wide. Minifigs and accessories: N/A. Obviously, neither. Pieces: 4/5. I think GitD pieces are always welcome, so are trans 2x1 tiles. They are exclusive to this set (edit: they areo als available in the 7611 Promo), but they eventually turn into a 2x2 because of the sticker. GitD cheese slopes are to be found in 3 other TT sets (but you even get two extras here!). 8152 mostly consists of small pieces, that's why piece/price ratio is so high (14:1 if we count extras) Playability: 4/5. Three vehicles and just two hands! I fear kids will soon forget about the news copter. Design: 4/5. 5 for Police car, 4 for Runaway car, 3 for News copter. Overall rating: 4,5/5. This rating is based on the comparison with 2009 sets, those with 2 cars and that folding box. This is cheaper, and comes with a copter. A sort of buy 2 get 3 offer that I really liked and TLC should consider. The final words: Do you think 2008 TTs were the best in their line? So do I.

Anytime! Too bad it's a resized version of the great 8654. And it comes with the same price even if there are 300 less pieces.

The new Ferrari truck is there too.

What about the ladder pieces on the left? Are they new? (and, great set!)

I once bought 4 KKII sets from a German sellers, they were listed as new. They came in, and they obviously weren't new; open boxes, food bags, dusty pieces. Before yelling at the seller, I google-translated the German writings in the auction: they read "as new, only built once and desplayed, never played with". I learned to beware of German writings (and sellers). And then I sold the sets (listing them as USED!)

Kiddiwinks has some new pics (at least, they are new to me), such as this one

Kiddiwinks has another pic of 6753: link

Sorry, no.

Here you go: click for full size

These people just imagined an army of such golden knights.

I started collecting pics of clone sets and brands: brickshelf link

Try searching on brickshelf. I found this one, for instance.

I voted "Below average"; if it wasn't for some of the pieces (like the golden dino) i would have rated it "poor". How stupid does the agent look? How ugly are those vehicles?

I was about to vote "Below average", then I looked at the pics and chose to vote "Poor". There is nearly nothing I like in this set (or theme).

An Italian builder did this. I'm not much into MOCing, but what about using that "rotating" tecnique that alternates 1x3 bricks + 1x1 round bricks? Edit: or maybe, something like this: Those blue 1x2's under 1x1 lower bricks are obviously tiles, not plates (those in black are plates).

Set Data: 7413: Passage of Jun-Chi Year: 2003 Theme: Adventurers Subtheme: Orient expedition / China Pieces: 100 (including a 1x1 extra round plate) Price: 10 USD / 10 EUR / ?? UKP Building time: less than 15 minutes MISB on review: Yes More info: Brickset - Peeron - Theme review by Sandy Box front: scary creature, isn't it? Box back: a couple of nice alternate models Box content: large bag, small bag, bag with cards, baseplate, Jun-chi head/body piece, instructions sheet. No stickers! Loose pieces: mostly red, tan and brown. Check out those sand green bricks; not rare, but unusual. Random instructions page: a piece call-out. Back then it still was an exception. Random comic page: Adventurers sets (and Knights' Kingdom sets too) had some comic pages showing the storyline behind the set. Game cards: As I always say: they were NOT randomly inserted; in each set you could only find some cards. Large sets included gameboards. (click for larger image) Minifigs: Same old Johnny Thunder torso (a few sets have a rarer green version). Jun-Chi is similar to Yeti and Tygurah. Minifigs: Jun-Chi's shoulder top Johnny's head! Building: Lots of tiles and a 2x2 rotating piece.That's what we need to start Building: On four round-cornered plates lies the wall; jumpers will host the Monster's feet. Building: This set's treasure consists of ONE red diamond. As cheap as Yeti's hideout. Flames are placed on hinges. Building: Two big spears hanged on the wall. Are they Jun-Chi's weapons? Building: Two small walls on the front; good use of different kinds of 1x2 bricks. Those two flags are printed. Building complete: I like the 3D roof; Johnny probably likes the diamond, but he's in danger. Building complete: Here comes the guardian! Building complete: Final front shot. Building complete: Final rear shot. Review: This set is simple and clever. No use of Technic pieces, just a good old turntable and here's the fun. As simple as it is, this "shrine" has a few nice details like two (hinged) torches, trans yellow minifig heads used as lamps and some detailing on the front and on the roof. Those big spears should be useful, but Johnny's got to be smart to frighten J-C with fire, make him (it?) move from the wall and reach the spears! I wonder: what are the two 1x4 red tiles in the rear for? Correctly placing the gray tiles? Here's Johnny again, but I have to admit there's some character rotation: Yeti featured Pippin and Tygurah featured Doctor Kilroy. Downpoints: it's not really much different fom Yeti's hideout; try stealing the treasure and a monster will come to hunt you. And, Jun-Chi must lay down his arms or they will hit the fixed walls. Rating: Color scheme: 4,5/5. tan and sand green are a good choice and work great with red. Minifigs and accessories: 3,5/5. Johnny Thunder. Yes, it's him again. And he comes with a rifle and one red diamond. That's not really much. Jun-Chi is not so different from Yeti and Tygurah either. Pieces: 4/5. A nearly perfect 10/1 pieces/price ratio, some unusual bits, and the monster is nearly one of a kind. Tan seem to be a fan favourite, and sand green is kind of rare and thus welcome. Playability: 5/5. Leave out the fact that you can't raise J-C's hands or you won't be able to turn the wall; this set has to give lots of fun to the kids. Design: 4/5. I told you twice what the main flaw is, I won't tell it again. Other than that, there's nothing wrong with this set. Overall rating: 4/5. Price is fair, fun is there. Maybe some will buy more of this to make an army of giant creatures! The final words: A few years have passed, but you can still find Passage in shops or on the net. Worth a look if price < 10 USD/EUR or 8 UKP.

I voted Average. This set looks overpriced (as most 2009 sets), I don't like that gold knight at all and the queen that much. Everything else is kind of OK, but not so extraordinary.

I voted average. You can have those special pieces, but I still think this set is overpriced. And not so well designed.

I rated this set "Excellent", and I'm not the only one Excellent review as well!

Some italian newspapers say there' s going to be a "revolution" in Ferrari. Fact is, it's hard to find something good in 5 races. - Two bad decisions on Saturdays meaning Felipe or Kimi starting from way back. - Second time this year that one of the car is out for electronic problems. - KERS? Sometimes you hear on team radio "KERS is not working (well)". Then you hear Domenicali saying "there's nothing wrong with KERS". - Early pit stop meant early use of hard tyres. That meant losing 1 or 2 seconds per lap. - Fuel problem: an Italian motto kind of says "Let's laugh, so that we can't cry" I still think that in 2008 Kimi and Felipe made a lot of mistakes, throwing away their chances at the World Championship. Now it seems like anyone in the team is doing their worst. As for Trulli, I think he might have been hit by Rosberg. Either that or Jarno made a huge mistake.

I kind of understand that the book contains 6 intructions for different buildings. That's why the cannon is made that way.

That looks like a Vespa, but googling "Lego Vespa" doesn't help. And, why do they come with different wheels? Oops, wait a minute: more searching brought me here, then here and then here. Scooter gallery: here.

Oddity on S@H: For Germany, the EN collection with tracks and PF costs 215,99 Euros. For Italy, it costed 256,92 Euros, but it's now on sale for 215,99 too. For (Metropolitan) France, it was 277,92, now it's 235,99.

Anytime, mates! And, yep, it's pricy. And the minifigs look exactly like those in the two impulse sets. That's not good.