Yloquen

Is the dwarf army Warhammer inspired? I got this impression from the Hammerers (there's such a class there :) Plus, the riflemen look like the engineers in the Warhemmer MMO which I played for a while ...

I'm thinking mostly civilian sets - i.e. ones that do not have two factions (in the set itself, but combining 2 or more sets you can still oppose the factions): A civilian pirate set, similar to Market Village - say a small port with a house, a shop, a crafter of some sort and a small sail vessel etc.; Islanders set including some totems and shaman performing a ritual for the awed tribesmen; A larger shipwreck set with a stranded soldier who has built a house on a deserted island a la Robinson Crusoe; An imperial science expedition set - a semi military vessel that is exploring the flora and fauna of an island - it should include more animals and a few civilian minifigs - scientists (Charles Darwin :) (if someone has seen the movie Master and Commander - that's where I got this idea from) A jungle encounter - deep within the jungle groups of pirates and/or soldiers and natives meet besides an ancient temple used for rituals and worship. The idea, as is historically accurate is to steal something golden from the temple :)

It's nice in terms of shape but I think you should try to use more colors (if you have them of course, if not - it's ok :). Some of the features are lost due to low contrast - like the section above the door is barely distinguishable from the background.

I kinda got used to flesh, to the point where seeing a licensed fig (old Star Wars for example) in yellow makes me feel something is not right . But yesterday I put a flesh head on my favorite knight and he didn't look well. So I vote yellow, though flesh is not bad too. I guess it depends a lot on the other colors used in the minifig.

Just wanted to point out that Night Lord's Castle (6097) has a review but the text [NEED REVIEW] is still in the index ...

I have 54 and hopefully , round 15 more on their way towards me ... :)

What about ... DARK ELVES ... They should look similarly with a few small differences - red eyes and dark skin (somewhere between navy blue and dark bley). Facial prints should be the same only more sinister. Hair pieces and accessories should also be the same, only a different color.

NEED ELVES ! I was so hoping for them this year ...

I'm just gonna say it, because I didn't see anyone pointing this out - this is quite blatant theft of IP. I'd be OK with that if there wasn't a new Pirate line, after all LEGO have made their profit from the Black Seas Barracudas. But if someone doesn't buy one of the new sets because of the fake ones, it directly harms LEGO. Now - do you really want that?

I used to go for large sets mostly but lately I have found out the charm of smaller sets.

I want a corner cheese (with slope to two neighboring sides), a 1x1x1 cheese (i.e. not 2/3 height) and an inverse cheese.

10x for the review I like the set, only not sure about the price. Seems a bit overpriced to me, but who knows, I got to see it in person to make a final judgment on that.

The way I see it, they might be divided in two major categories: -MILITARY Here, the main enemy might be the barbarians or they might specify a tribe - like the Gauls, the Huns or something like that, but I think it would be better if they stick with the broader concept - barbarians. Possible sets: Roman border patrol - 2 soldiers with a ballista vs two barbarians; Roman outpost - A small lookout tower guarded by soldiers with crossbows against barbarians who are using a battering ram; Roman supply carriage - A wagon loaded with gold and weapons and tug by two horses with a small convoy is being assailed by barbarians who have organized a roadblock with a few cut tree trunks; Barbarian village assault - A few huts in which the barbarians live are being attacked by legionnaires (or should I say LEGOionnaires :) who are using an immolation ammo ballista; It would be quite close to LEGO Castle in flavor. -CIVILIAN Here we might see a variety of structures which were quite abundant in large Roman cities, due to their excellence in architecture. A bathhouse and an aqueduct supplying it with water; A small arena for theatrical plays and gladiator fights; A courthouse; A farm, including a small vineyard; A temple of Jupiter or some other god; and many more ...

Quite artistic. Good colors and the models feel fresh and unorthodox Ah, and the minifig is great - specifically the custom cape :)

I checked all other LEGO sets including the octopus and all of them seem to be underwater. So - bringing it to the surface and combining it with raft shows that LEGO designers might have been influenced by Playmobil. This pic - yeah, but the one on the box of LEGO set is pretty much the same. Admittedly, there's not much options when you have a raft and an octopus other than the octopus attacking the raft :)

Who's this guy Ben 10? IS he really better than Batman? I'm sure - no ...

I'm usually using my own brick "separator" made out of two 1x6 or 1x8 plates. It works perfectly.

Ha ha , don't do it only because of my complaint. But if you want to buy new sets anyway - go ahead :)

Good job, I like it. Definitely conveys a steam punk feeling Only not sure about the transparent green cheese slopes, you got any other color, maybe navy blue or brown will be better?

Thanks for the review, but I really find this set disappointing, probably the worst of the whole line. Now, there is some caution when saying this, remembering the prejudiced reaction me and a lot of other people had towards Power Miners before they were released. However, I don't think that is the case for this set. Maybe its meant mostly for kids (haha after all the box says 7-14 :), but I can't give it more than 2/5 (thanks to the rock monster mostly).

Yeah, Mr. Freeze is a surprise, he was in a small set after all. I would understand if figs exclusive to the largest sets were expensive. Alfred starts at $15, Bruce at $10. I am not such a big Batman fan, though I wanted to have the Scarecrow. I remember contemplating getting the set with the batcopter, but it was overpriced back then. Compared to now however, that price seems quite low. I also want the Joker.

I browsed a bit , tempted to buy Arkham Asylum , but I saw ~$200 starting prices. Then I checked the Batcave, which I bought a year ago for 80 Euro (including shipment, but probably the set was round 60). And it goes for round $200 too (MISB). Is this the fastest price rise or what? Same with the minifigs - Penguin starts at $5, Batman and Robin at 10 and Mr Freeze at 20 (and he is quite rare too) !!! My thoughts on this are: - The Dark Knight came out, and while this was certainly taken into account by LEGO, its success might have surpassed the expectations. - LEGO stopped their license for Batman. Your thoughts?

That's interesting coincidence , because today for some reason I decided to look at Mega Blocks stock price. I am no economist, but my interpretation of the tenfold drop is that their chances of survival are slim indeed. However, to all those who are worried about competition - LEGO has plenty of competition. They don't compete only with compatible building block manufacturers, but also with a lot of other toys, so the pressure on them will not drop. It might even be good for them, because, even though the ruling of the court in the LEGO vs MEGA lawsuit was that compatible building blocks are allowed, all those brands are not doing a favor to LEGO or anyone who loves LEGO. It might seem tempting to buy from them, justifying that with free market principles, but consider this - there is no way those brands put in the effort in the design of sets and pieces that LEGO does. All that mental labor and manufacturing overhead is included in the price of each piece you buy. So, if another company just takes the design of all those pieces and puts them in some half thought out sets and makes everything with lower quality materials and lower quality control - of course it will be cheaper. Thus LEGO does not get back part of their investment in the end product. Now, I'm not some crazy purist, and I don't mind to other building toys, but they should try their own systems. For example I always wondered what would happen if LEGO had chosen the height and the width of their bricks to be equal (1 unit). Would it be better? Or worse?

Quite nice car, it's a bit sporty I'd say, I didn't know Alfred would like such a car :) Good work on the minifigs too, though I must point out that Penguin's legs look suspiciously long :P

I'm not sure, maybe this is for the Technic forum, but since it looks like System at least from the outside I present it here :) The Power Miners Ultra Drill 9000: Its mechanized, using custom components (non LEGO) - a motor from a walkman and a battery from a gsm. The motor is quite weak, so it barely moves, because I needed to apply a very high reduction. You can check it in action here (sorry for the poor quality, I don't have a good camera): A few more pics are available at MOCPages.