yogurt

The hair mould on the Maid Marion figure in the new CMF range looks like it would be nearly perfect for Endor Leia hair.

A Roman theme would have a lot of different unit types. First you could have legionaries with Lorica Segmentum (the classic plate style armour), then a different print with Lorica Hammata (chainmail) and a third print with Lorica Squamata (scale armour). You could also include different unit types such as the various types of auxilia used by the romans (including a wide variety of cavalry). You could also differentiate between ranks with various types of helmet plumes and crests. You could even go for an earlier Roman period, that of the Republic pre-Marian reforms and have Hastati, Principe, Triarii and Velite, or you could go for the late Roman period and have late style legionaries and foedarati (barbarians employed by the Romans). For enemies you've got the Greek city states with Hoplites and pikemen, Parthians with their very heavy Cataphract cavalry, various barbarian tribes and of course Carthage which should include elephants (I'd probably go with Carthage). So there is plenty of scope for interesting mini-figs. The buildings are somewhat harder but could include a roman fort, town gate (being besieged), an amphitheatre, regular theatre, a temple, a roman market street (based on the one at herculaneum). You could also include galleys, siege engines and other cool stuff like ballistae (flick-fire time). The Trojan War could also be a cool theme as its all myth and legend anyway (I don't think there would be a need to edit out the gods of religions that have been dead for 1500 years).

Excellent news. Might be some decent sci-fi stuff to look forward to now. Congratulations guys.

I like the look of the new Hoth set. Ok, there's nothing new in it, but I like the concept of it being essentially an enlarged Battlepack. Only thing I don't like is the silly flick-fire barrel on the Laser cannon, almost as bad as the firing headlights on some of the speeders. Another Imperial would have been nice too.

Both of these are very nice ships (sloops really in RN terms), however I'd put the Clipper (I prefer the English name Sea Hawk) first as it is potentially better armed (the gunports are ready to be used, although only two cannons came with the model), it is the larger ship, is better crewed (the ship actually has sailors instead of soldiers with shakos and packs) and the ship has a cabin which makes the ship look bettter from astern. The only thing I don't like is the odd rigging and the fact that I've never figured out what type of ship it is. The Imperial Flagship (Sea Lion) is much better rigged as it is clearly some sort of Cutter. The other thing I like better about the Clipper is that despite its smaller size it was still a match for the Barracuda (Dark Shark) as it carried the same number of guns. The Imperial Flagship, in contrast, was hopelessly outgunned by the Skulls Eye Schooner (I hate that American name as it clearly isn't a schooner).

Hmm, I not sure what to make of these. I was quite excited about these sets, but now I'm really not sure what to think. The sets themselves seem ok. The 70701 set is a decent starfighter, although I'm not sure about the folding wings, I'll need to see them in more detail. The '02 Warp Stinger looks nice too, although I hope that mini vehicle can take both Squad members. The Mantis is disappointing. Looks far too thin and not nearly menacing enough. The '04 Vermin vaporiser is probably the best set in the range. I love the 'Mech and the beefy vehicle, The alien vehicle could have been more impressive though. The orange set is some what disappointing too, especially as this was the set that most interested me from the description. The star fighter part is ok but seems to have far too many weapons, you'd think Lego would learn from the MX81 that too many weapons just looks silly. The vehicle part needs to be more impressive as it just looks like a cockpit with some wheels and a missile launcher tacked on. The alien vehicle is the best part of this set by far. I like the choice of different colours for the galaxy squad members and the fact that they all have different face prints (although that does limit their army building potential). However I think more could have been made of this by using different torso prints and by including more human characters instead of the robots, which to be frank look a bit lame with those heads and weird wing/armour pieces. The aliens are also rather poor and I can't see them being too popular, there also seems to be rather few of them. The range as a whole, in common with many Lego ranges these days, also seems to lack any kind of faction balance. The 'good' guys get the two largest sets that seem to completely outgun the poor aliens. I'm also disappointed with the lack of a base for the aliens to take their prisoners to and for the alien leader (possibly a Queen?) to live in. Edit: I've just realised they've re-used the Solomon Baze (the blue chap) in the Mantis set. To echo the rest of my post...how disappointing.

Can't say I think much of this set. This set is all about the minifigs and I think these are a poor selection. Tauriel's face is no where near feminate enough (just printing long eyelashes isn't enough), the cheek bone lines are far to bold and I can't say I've ever pictured an elf with freckles. Fili has a very goofy expression and Legolas just looks depressed. Kili is the only one with a decent face print, however I thought Fili and Kili were twins with yellow beards? I suppose that is a problem with the movie though so I'll let Lego off. The angry faces are also pretty poor with Tauriel looking more like she just stood in something smelly rather than angry. The spiders are well made and the torso and leg printing is excellent, but I've got to go with the OP and say that I don't like the non-bendy short legs. They were ok for one off kid characters or Yoda, but for a range like LOTR and the Hobbit which includes a lot of short legged characters you really do need to design a new piece. Lastly how can you do the scene with the Mirkwood spiders and not include Bilbo? After all this is the scene where he gives Sting its name and the first scene where Bilbo starts being a hero instead of a useless fat hobbit.

The size error in the rigging pieces doesn't have anything to do with the 01 or 02 numbers. I've got a couple of 01 pieces and mine are the same size as the 02 pieces. I didn't know the Jib sail was attached like that. I'm pretty sure it wasn't in my version, although that was a long time ago now.