Still Raindrop

What exactly is the black band that goes around the midsection of the crown knight printed armor piece supposed to be? Is the armor supposed to be segmented, with a huge gap in between? Is it supposed to be some sort of sash?

I think that LEGO was probably relying more on folklore than upon Tolkien. In different European folklores, there were two types of trolls: the giant ones which also appear in Tolkien, and the more human-sized ones. Usually, when a culture had both creatures in its mythos, the larger variety was referred to as an "ogre." Plus, Tolkien's Orcs didn't have green skin.

It would be good to decide soon. It doesn't look like LEGO will be shipping out any more, and this set always seems to sell rather quickly, so once stores run out of stock, that may well be the last we see of this set at the current price.

Seeing that it was no longer available at S@H, and knowing that my Wal-Mart still had a few left, I picked this set up yesterday. I have to say I am impressed. Legoist does have a point; the build wasn't anything too special. But the inclusion of a variety of Dwarves (this is the cheapest set where one can get the non-winged helmets and the braided beards--if I'm not mistaken, the only other sets with the non-winged helms are the Troll Warship and the giant chess set, and the chess set is the only other place to get the dark brown braided beards) and the tan giant troll (which I prefer to the green one) helps make up for that, as does the wonderful design. I do like that the trolls don't have the standard troll helm. It gives more variety to an army that I don't think should be altogether uniform. I had already switched out a few of my troll helms, giving some of them hoods, some of them bare heads, and giving one a winged dwarf-helm that he presumably took from a dwarf soldier he had killed. So it's nice to have variety on an official level, too-- it means fewer helmets to switch out. Not that I don't like the standard troll helmet--I just don't want every troll wearing one.

My favorite part is that the faker didn't bother to change the sides of the boxes. You can see on the large set that he used the Dwarves' Mine box (judging by the tan giant troll and figures with winged helmets on the sides and tops)

I believe I have a misprint Dooku--not the CW version, but the yellow minifig from the Episode II "Jedi Duel" set. His beard, which is supposed to be light grey, is dark grey in my version. It doesn't match his hair at all.

My Target doesn't even carry Power Miners. TRU has a few, but the best place to get them here is actually Wal-Mart.

Perhaps the gaping hole is to thwart anyone who wants to steal the holo-Death Star. Or, more simply put--It's a trap!

Hey, I did a review of set 3384 Good Neighbors at Bikini Bottom the other day--just wanted to make sure it got indexed. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=25584

Thanks! Glad you like them.

So, after getting the new Krusty Krab set, I decided to pick up the new set of SpongeBob's pineapple, as well (if you recall, my dark ages were happening during the release of the first house). I was pleasantly surprised--this is almost the exact opposite of the Krusty Krab! That is, it has added more detail to the original, and a few more fun little features. I don't really miss Squidward's and Patrick's houses, as I think those were rather poorly made. So, without further ado, here we go! The pieces (minus the minifigs): And here are the figs: That new Squidward minifigure is wonderful. The earlier one was good, but I think that, after giving Sandy a molded head, TLG saw the need for a Squidward mold. I'm very glad they did, as it captures Squidward's look brilliantly. The set from the outside, and all its outside features: SpongeBob's reef blower is pretty cool, and the way it's connected to SpongeBob is clever. The boat is OK, but the "marshmallow launcher" is rather dumb. The grill is nothing special. I do, however, like Squidward's beach chair--more on that later. The house itself looks better than the last one, I think--it looks more full. This is achieved with just a few simple pieces: extra slopes to make the top look more rounded, another leaf for the top of the pineapple, and the plants/flowers that line the bottom of SpongeBob's house in the show. Though these are only a few pieces, they really add a lot to the overall effect. Squidward's beach chair: This set has more printed pieces than I had expected. I knew that the lifesaver pieces were printed, but I didn't know about anything else. But not only is Gary's shell printed, so is the umbrella! The design of the beach chair is pretty cool, too--it really captures the feel of an actual beach chair. Inside the house, minus all the features: Much better than a giant basketball hoop, I think Here's the chair and TV: The TV really does look like a diver's helmet, as it is in the show. The bed, which I modified to make the lifesaver a bit lower: Unfortunately, the door can only open this far: I know the review was a bit scattered, but there are just so many cool features here, and they don't really follow a pattern that lends itself to easy reviewing. I was much more pleased with this set than I was with the Krusty Krab, and would recommend it to SpongeBob fans everywhere. Let's end with another picture of that wonderful new minifig, shall we?

Thanks, guys--glad you enjoyed the review For some reason, I thought that the original Krusty Krab was a $30 set, so I thought this wasn't too bad for being ten dollars cheaper. When I found out, however, that the price was the same, I became a bit more disappointed. Well, at least LEGO stayed true to the spirit of the penny-pinching Mr. Krabs. And the set does look nice from the outside. The interesting thing is that the other set, Good Neighbors in Bikini Bottom (which I did not purchase), did just the opposite--it actually made SpongeBob's house look more like it did in the show, both inside and outside. Plus, it has a nice new Squidward. darthperson, while I agree that the first one was better, I'm not sure how you see this one as "<insert that tiresome argument>." The pieces are all really useful, and there aren't many larger pieces at all. The building technique is decent--much less <insert that tiresome argument> than, say, the boating school of a few years ago.

Let me preface this review by saying that I know SpongeBob is a more kid-based theme than most, and that vehicles appeal to kids. However, I can only imagine the design team's conversation: "--So, how can we make this Krusty Krab set an improvement over the last one? --Well, we could always give it a better interior... --Or add a fish as a customer, and maybe put some windows in this time... --Hey, guys, how about this: we make the restaurant smaller, replace one of the employees with an all-too-common character who only occasionally visits the Krusty Krab, compress the interior even further, move the once shell-mounted sign to the top of the restaurant, and add a bizarre vehicle that only appears in the movie. --Yeah, that sounds good." Now, with that out of the way, I must say that I think this is a neat little set. Here is a shot of all the pieces, including the sticker sheet: And a picture of the completed building (sorry that there are no in-build shots, but they wouldn't have been all that interesting): The minifigures: That is one other thing that bothered me--Mr. Krabs' hands. I mean, I understand if LEGO doesn't want to make a new claw piece just for this minifig, but at least they could have made his hands red. As it is, it looks more like a preliminary, not quite finished fig. I replaced the hands after I took these pictures, and they do look much better in red. The grill and cash register: The safe: The patty wagon, which is well-designed, but still a bit of a bummer to get this instead of more detail in the restaurant. "SpongeBob! Where's Squidward--he's supposed to be manning the cash register!" "Sorry, Mr. Krabs--he said something about not being able to fit, so he went home early. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to flip this patty with my bare hands." "Mr. Krabs, can I have a chair?" "Sorry, Patrick, we're fresh out. Part o' the new budget cuts. It's what took away me windows and spatulers." Again, I do think this is a neat little set, but I wouldn't recommend getting it if you already have the first Krusty Krab (which came out during my Dark Ages, so I never got a chance to pick it up).

Klaus-Dieter, you never fail to impress me! I am particularly fond of the glass pieces as the upper-floor "railing"--a feature found in nearly every shopping mall I've visited, but one that might often be overlooked. The attention to detail is splendid!

I really enjoyed the Rock Raiders PC game, and I am also quite fond of the Power Miners line. Something about it captures the gritty, underground feel for me really well. So, I decided to make a few MOCs of objects from the RR game, envisioned as PM equipment. Thus, they're not supposed to be a faithful reproduction of things from the RR game, but rather re-imagined for this new line. These are small, partly because I like working with small details, and partly because I have a very limited amount of lime elements Tool store (note the dynamite plunger): Support Station (which really became more of a simple air purifier, without the rest of the station): Small transport truck (based also on the transport truck from the Crystal Reaper):

The new, larger Power Miners rock monsters remind me more of the rock/lava/ice monsters in the Rock Raiders PC game than the original Rock Raiders mold did!

Odd that a minifig with printing on both sides of his head should come with a cap like that . . . I imagine it would be weird to be able to see both faces at all times.

Wow; WhiteFang, this is wonderful! What a spectacular gift!

These sets look wonderful so far! I hope we get clearer pictures soon. I'm not sure if I'll be getting the city corner . . . that will depend on the price, as my LEGO money is going to be significantly less this year (saving up for an apartment and possibly a wedding means less to spend on myself). However, the camper/RV and sports car I'm almost certain to get. Even the very blurred photos are so very promising! I just hope the sports car comes with car doors . . . the photos are too blurry for me to be able to tell at this point.

Very clever! A biting social commentary that manages to avoid being preachy because, well, it's LEGO I particularly like the "letters-in-the-snow" effect, and Mrs Claus as a junkie. It's surprising how little one has to change to make the Santa Claus minifig become a pimp. I have actually tried to make similar Christmas trees, but a little shorter, and using the green foliage. I must ask, how did you get yours to be sturdy? The only thing I could do to strengthen mine was add 4L or 6L bars to the inside... did you do something similar?

Thanks, djo! I also made some improvements to the café and the post office. The new café: The new post office:

Freddie, I agree--I have found that the "play value" of this set is incredibly high. It has grown on me a lot since I first reviewed it--and I liked it quite a bit then, too! The building experience was fun (and I love building), but the fun is sustained in the playability. Over the past year, I bought my good share of vehicle sets, to the point where I was tired of them, since it seemed that was all that TLG was putting out. But this is an exception--it's probably the best vehicle set I have bought. Also, the bricks needed to fill the bucket are rather easily gotten--I was even able to fill mine with new dark grey pieces, and I've only been collecting those since my dark ages ended about a year ago.

Klaus-Dieter, this is wonderful! I love the amount of detail--it's the small things that make it so realistic. And that skylight is great!

You really think so? I think it looks much better than LEGO's last conventional cab truck (that is, not a cab-over/flat front). This new one actually has a really nice look, in my opinion. Despite the newer pieces and larger scale (which makes sense for a truck), I feel like this set really keeps the spirit of classic town. In fact, I think that the City line as a whole does that (with a few notable exceptions). When I see this new truck set, it reminds me more of the trucks in this set than it does of the truck I mentioned before--not in scale, or in pieces used, but in the spirit of it.

Nice review! I do think that the stickers add a lot to the truck, but since they're so small, it doesn't take away too much when they're not present.