BrickieB

Heights: Pit only (without alignment pyramids): 147 mm Palace only (without tower): about 164 mm Tower: 252 mm Pit + palace: 311 mm Pit + palace + tower: 399 mm

Yes, they can move, but not in any way that you'd use...

I admit: I am a time traveler. (btw: Don't eat that sandwich next thursday - you complained about it on facebook.) My local toy store has these in stock. They have the first batch, so that's 75000-75005. As soon as they get the planets in stock I'll get those too - but they're not here yet. They also have new City, Ninjago, Hobbit, Friends stuff... I usually don't care for clone wars, but I liked the walker / the colour. And I wanted Relatively Young Yoda.

75002 AT-RT

So after getting the A-wing and the rancor pit earlier this week, I passed by the toy store (again) for something completely different (X-mas decorations), but picked up the AT-RT. I have a soft spot for walkers (AT-AT being the favorite, of course) and wanted to see how it works. I had another long hard look at the Headhunter but couldn't part with €50 for it... Pics are below, but first my findings. The build was easy, as could be expected. The droideka was a pleasant surprise, it's fun to build and uses some nice tricks. It may not look very realistic but it was fun. Even though the model itself is nice, posing it is impossible: you can put the feet in only one position, any other position than 'straight up' will make the model fall over. Unless of course you put it onto some sort of base. I also let my son play with it and he too found that 'walking' the model is not very practical. He did like the big gun up front, which swivels from side to side, but not up and down. Something that bothers me with most kits is that they use 'more' parts where 'less' would do, making the model less sturdy and increasing part count. (Putting 2 1x4's next to each other instead of just using one 2x4 for example...). This model has none of that :) All in all, I like this kit, but would probably not buy it again as it's not really what I expected. I like the fact that Yoda's there: no clue what the link with this model is but I didn't have him yet so... Pic time! The instructions: 3 baggies again, where one would have been sufficient. Parts: Full res versions of the partlists here and here. Ah yes, stickers again. However, it's only 4 and they're very good quality: print on transparent vinyl, which is more durable and does not mimic the coulour of the piece it's used on - it actually shows the colour underneath. So yes, decals, but not too bad. Minifigs. I count the droideka as one, too - even though it's actually a model. Next is a droid with a red dot on the chest and a nice printed face. Spare arms are included in the kit. Then there's Yoda and the driver (pilot?) -clone. Squirrel! And the clone's face - single sided print. The walker in all its glory. The backside. The small technic detail below the platform is purely cosmetic, they just touch the frame but are not attached. I've pulled one back a bit to show you. It's nice that the blue Technic pins actually match the model's colour. So not like the planet AT-ST which is completely grey with flashy blue pins. All the armour plates are hinged. Here is a pic with all plates opened. Front view. Another angle. The driver has no seat, which is a pity. He does fit nicely onto the model, has a spot for his blaster behind him, and can grab the steering handles. There is no console. Hope you guys liked this first look, and if you want specific info / pics: just ask below. Thanks!

Here you go!

Ah that won't work: the placement of the pyramids to align the two is not square, so you can have the gate at either the left or the right, but not the front or the rear. At least not without modding it. The gate on the right side would be correct with the movie, if memory serves.

I took a picture of the alternate faces for the figs (need to do so for the figs in the rancor pit, too... ) Hope you like 'em!

Not entirely sure what you want, but I suppose these'd cover it...

Let's see - some answers for you guys: The set price was €29,99, I got 15% off. The helmet looks a little like the Power Miners helmet at first glance, however when you compare them... Well, you be the judge... And a final pic I realised I had forgotten: the rear.

Personally, I would rather pay €300 for a brand new UCS one, than €200+ for a 'used', less detailed model. If you like the price they are now, I'd just sell it. I would expect prices to drop if they come out with a new model.

They had that one, too... But I'm not too interested in it. Perhaps I'll buy it at some point, seems a long time until the next batch will come out. They also didn't have the planet sets yet - I'll go back next week to check again :)

Belgium. I knew I wanted the set and was pleasantly surprised they were available at my local toy store. I know for a fact they weren't there on tuesday, when I took my kids there.

Thanks guys, you're all very welcome. As I said, everything is stickered, let me go over it quickly: 1-4: white stripes on the engines 5-8: the details on the 2x4 slopes on the sides 9-10: long stickers on the front red slopes 11-12: details on the white slopes in the front 13: controls in the cockpit 14: sticker on the rear engine part, above the cockpit dome 15-16: stripes on the dome So that's 16 stickers in total... Sorry for the mistake earlier... :( I really like Ackbar, one of my favorite characters in the whole SW saga. Putting the kit together is very easy, I didn't want to waste too many words on it - my 4 yr old kid could do it. It's a snap!

Well the gate is actually below the tower; If you were to extend the foot of the tower, it'd be blocking the gate. You could always extend the entire chamber so the gate moves right about 12 studs, that'd be a nice solution.

Just a series of pictures of the newly released rancor pit. Basically, I didn't like Jabba's palace and never thought twice about buying it. However, the announcement of this kit, combined with the excellent review by Brickmamba led me to buy both. And now, I'm glad I did! :) The box. It's a big one, but not quite as big as the one from the palace. The back of the box. It also says you can add the rancor pit below the palace, but just so there's no misunderstanding: '9516 not included in box'. The instructions. Just one booklet, but a pretty thick one. 4 bags of parts, making 4 parts of the build... The minifigs: A guard (same as in the palace), the Racor keeper, Luke with a rather large bone, and Achmed, the dead terrorist. Luke and the Rancor keeper are both two-faced figs. These guys have a back, too... And then of course, there is also the Rancor. It's big, I added some normal minifigs for comparison. The mouth can be opened and closed, the arms moved, and 2 of the fingers (per hand) can pivot. The legs /feet/head cannot be moved. He can easily hold minifig in his hands... ... And one in the mouth too. Luke actually fits in there completely. Also for size comparison: next to His Jabbaness. The contents of the kit, basically this is a frame on which to place the palace (note to pyramid shapes on the top. Those are actually slots to align the bottom of the palace with the top of the pit. Some details: a bucket, a key (2 are included) and a pitchfork. These are conveniently located next to the door. One of the pillars is a secret hiding place to put a minifig. It opens perfectly and when shut you couldn't tell it's even there. The gate opens and has a system to keep it open. Close up of the system: just a few pegs you can push in or out. The gate also has pins on the bottom to simulate the death of the rancor in the movie. I've just used a minifig to demonstrate. There's a small (almost 4x4) compartment to store some bones and such. The skeleton head is actually the handle to open it with. The palace and pit united! This is how the manual says they should be stacked, with the tower disconnected. However, I like to keep it connected (see next pic). This is how I like the kits: tower connected and gate slightly open to support the weight of the tower. By the way, when stacked, it is not possible to open the back side of the palace as the pyramids on top of the pit-set keep it closed. The trap door works like a charm. Feel free to start sacrificing whichever minifig you want. This is how it sits on my shelf, the combination of the sets is very big, but at a total combined retail price of €220 it'd be a shame if it wasn't. The partsheet, full res picture via this link. And one final extra: how to use the brick separator! Hope you enjoyed the pics! Till next time!

Apparently I'm one of the first to get this kit, so I'll just post some pics here. I wouldn't call it a review but just enjoy the info/pics. First off: the box. It's rectangular and has a picture of what's in it, plus an angry looking Yoda (Planet not included). Backside of the box... The manual (sorry for the bad pic). Just one booklet. Even though this is a very small and easy to build kit, they managed to divide it up into 3 bags. I suppose that's got something to do with it being ages 7 and up. It'd be no problem to open all bags at once, though. 3 minifigs: the A-wing pilot, Han Solo, and Admiral Ackbar. This last one was one of the main reasons for wanting this kit. Behold the front of the minifigs: Their backs: Their feet: Here's the A-wing. A pretty straightforward build, but one major disadvantage: stickers! There's not a single printed part (apart from the figgies) so in total there's no less than 15 stickers to be applied. There's 4 flick missiles on the sidepods, of 2 different types. The bottom. The craft stands on the rear wings and one single front stand. ... which folds away nicely, it actually completes the hull when retracted. The pilot lies down in the cockpit, there's no seat. The control tile is a sticker... The thing behind the cockpit can be detached - I have no clue what it's supposed to be. But here it is... Here are the partsheets, as I've noticed they're sometimes requested :) The full res versions of the partsheets are here and here. As I said, not much of a review, but I hope you enjoyed the pics. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to post them below!

Well I was helping my father pick out christmas gifts for my kids yesterday, to take advantage of the last of the discounts ('Sinterklaas' - sort of santa claus but different - comes on dec 6th in Belgium, and the 15% discount on everything applied till then). The new sets were there, so I just took them with me, as the next discount might be less / badly timed. They had a lot of new sets: all SW sets, all Ninjago sets, some friends, ... (these are the main themes I look at :) ) I already built them, but might do it again for a review - I'll try to post some pics somewhere soon...

1. Endor planet with AT-ST 2. A-Wing 3. Rancor pit to put under my Palace! (all in discount today only, so I had to take my chance...)

I'm fairly new to Lego so I don't have a lot of parts to mess around with. So I got the idea to create another model based on one of my kits: the 9500 Sith Fury-class interceptor. As I had the cockpit-dome it needed to be something TIE-ish, and I've always liked the TIE Advanced. This was purely built on memory, I did not look up the model or use any reference materials. I knew I'd only get frustrated by the lack of parts I could use so I didn't bother to make it as accurate as possible. I based the cockpit partly on the original 9500 cockpit but needed to make some serious adjustments to make it fit properly, and get it the exact shape I wanted. The hardest part were the wings and their inclination: there are very good / easy ways to make this, and I had some very good ideas for a future build - but the right parts just weren't there. So I had to improvise, making the construction a bit feeble. It's good for displaying purposes but not for playing. In the end I even had some bricks left to make a minimal stand. I hope you guys enjoy it, I mightmake an LDD version and put it on here, too (if there's demand). Edit: download the LDD file here. Some pics:

This is the kind of stuff I show my wife when she says I buy too much Lego... ' It could be worse, honey... ' Really stunning MOC, and excellent eye for detail. ... But what happened to your video?

Got the 10227 B-Wing, thus completing my (current) wishlist of lego kits. I'm also constantly getting parts in for my bricklinked 10179, but I'll start a topic on that soon. :)

So make one! http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/140348

10198 Tantive IV. Pretty cool model, when built :)

Now with the holiday discounts I couldn't resist picking up Jabba's Palace at €95... I built it, too, and must say it was a nice build. Still not worth the standard €150 but nice, and the outlook of the Rancor pit is what finally convinced me of buying it.