M'Kyuun

I resized using MSPaint, per the tutorial. Hope it's a little more friendly.

Sorry about the pic size. I don't have any photo-manipulation software, so that's not an option. There's nothing in properties to allow me to do so, either. If the mods can reduce it, great. If anyone out there knows how to resize pics without specialty software, I'll give it a try.

I just bought these along with the Death Star on SAH...just a couple weeks and I'll be building like a madman. I had a spot of trouble with a brick or two being removed for improper placement on LDD. Anyway, when I tried uploading to the Factory gallery, instead of a pic, I got a blank page with a little exclamation mark in the upper right corner. So, it may or may not show up on the gallery. First time I've had trouble. I checked the alignment with real bricks and it seems to work fine... Just fro gee-whiz sakes, "chibi" is a term I've heard applied to super-deformed, miniaturized, otherwise "cutesied' versions of people and things; I'm not sure if the term itself is Japanese, but I believe the word application stems from Japan, usually towards Japanese toys and such of said description. If anyone knows for certain, please feel free to correct (and educate) me. I made a minor mod to my X-Wing and designed a small droid transport that can snap on directly behind the cockpit. I designed it to conform to the X-Wing, and it can attach to itself allowing a series of these to be attached to each other, although it'd look really strange. I hooked 2 up behind my X-Wing and , yeah, weird looking, but functional. The X-Wing doesn't look too bad with just one attached; wish LDD had droid parts. Thanks for the vote of confidence! Being a bigger fan of OT, I may make a Y-Wing, and possibly even a stab at a Millenium Falcon styled ship. The Y-Wing is definitely do-able without looking too terribly cutesy. My aim is to make these as compact versions of their larger counterparts, without looking too cutesy, although i guess it's pretty moot. Anyway, I think it's possible to make a small MF shaped cargo vessel without it becoming silly looking. It's a neat challenge to make it look conceivable. And it's for fun. Maybe I'll start a trend with these...I'd be happy to see other folks' projects, esp when they're designed to be incorporated in an existing set...that's cool.

Ever since I bought the System ISD, I've been wanting to make a shuttle to replace the escape pod; I started this to that end, but regrettably, it's a bit too large to fit. However, I think it'll fit nicely in the Death Star playset, which I'll be getting around to ordering soon. Further inspired by Vader's mini-TIE, I cobbled together a mini X-Wing. I started wondering if anyone else out there was making mini versions of SW ships to size up with the Death Star and the mini-TIE. My Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=348505

First, I'm with you 100% about Disney, but whatever. Like anything else, if I don't like it, I don't buy it. About the cassettes, I have Beastbox, Squalktalk, Grandslam, and Raindance. Terrible, terrible names. The vehicle modes were passable, but still not very good for SlamDance, and the combined mode was crap. Beastbox I really like...just a neat gorilla mode; Squalktalk is ok; again, their combined form is crap. However, given what's been done with Ravage, I think a modern version could be done with better aesthetics. As for the pics of all the dino cassettes, i always wanted to get them...my friend had the stego and T-Rex; they were ok...I like the cassettes more b/c they were really small T-formers that usually featured a decent amount of articulation for their size, and I dig them for that reason. That raptor cassette, while a bit gangly and a little ugly, still looks pretty cool to me; the brontosaur, not so much. If they could remake all of these and make them look like their box art, then that'd be remarkable, and I'd scoop em all up. I'm not really a huge fan of combiners, anyways, b/c too many sacrifices are usually made to them in their bot or alt modes to achieve what ends up to be an ugly combined robot with limited poseability. If they did remake these, I'd hope the focus would be on them just turning into decent looking bots/animals/vehicles.

Just watched it myself, and found it more tolerable than the movie. The animation is well done, although much more appreciable to those who A) like CG animation, and B) like the new artistic style. I like both, personally. Still, the attempts at humor with the droids is too much...more subtety would make this show much better. If the droids were kept to primarily serious remarks, with the occasional offbeat remark, the humor would work much better. Thankfully, the nickname stuff was kept to a very bare, much better, level. Yoda is portrayed as The Jedi Master, and his character is written very closely to match his OT personality. Anakin is written as such a good guy that it is even harder to picture him becoming the Dark Lord of the Sith. I didn't find Ahsoka as annoying in the second ep as I did in the film; I want to like her b/c she's going to be a big part of this series, and I'm sure the producers want the viewers to really like her; I have a feeling she'll be a casualty towards the end of the series, if Anakin's turning is explored, and it'll be more of an impact if the fans become attached to her. On a LEGO note, I'm glad to see the Twilight playing a constant role...it's ugly, and TLG did a great job capturing the ship in bricks. Seeing more of the ship's interior makes me want to mod mine. I think TLG did a fine job on all the CW sets...the V-19 Torrent would have been a little better looking without the air shocks on the sides ( to give some tension to the wing/tail swing mechanism, for those who haven't picked one up), but overall, I'm glad to have grabbed them all. Still waiting for Target to get the Republic Tank to complete my collection. The show does give an impression that it is fodder for merchandising, and I'm glad that TLG is riding the wave; I think there are going to be a lot of cool and interesting ships, places, and characters in this show, all of them ripe for the LEGO treatment.

I think Tartakovsky had it right with his Clone Wars shorts for Cartoon Network a few years ago. The story arcs were engaging, better written, with the humor much more subdued, but still fitting for Star Wars. The new movie, and I'm asssuming the upcoming series, was obviously written for a much younger crowd. The attempts at humor were not very clever, and were so frequent and blatant as to lose their impact, rendering them not funny at all. As mentioned, Ahsoka was written more as a generic spunky, headstrong teenager than as someone who would have been trained from a young age in a stoic order, as the Jedi have always been portrayed. The cutesy nicknames between Anakin and Ahsoka didn't work for me and seemed forced and , well, just plain inappropriate. Had the two gone through the whole movie addressing each other by name or by titles, and reverted to more familiar nicknames through the course of the series, I think it would have worked better, and felt more natural. The nicknames themselves left me feeling icky inside...why George, why? I'm quite pleased with the CW sets. Sure, there will always be nitpickerings about these sets, or any licensed sets, for that matter, but on the whole, I think TLG did good. For my own criticism, I think it would have been cool if the AT-TE had a flexible center section like its movie incarnation. Some folks have complained about the legs, but I like the new version's, as the original's fell apart quite easily when repositioned. It was a good compromise IMHO, and the new one has much better ground clearance. To counter my criticism, and end on a positive note, I love the new RGS..in every way, an improvement on an already great model( the original was , and still is, an awesome set). In fact, The LEGO sets spawned from the prequels are, to me, the best things about them...I'm an OT guy; the prequels just seemed "off" in so many ways to me, apart from some poor acting/ actor choices., and terrible dialog. Anyway, I'll be happy to add sets from any Star Wars incarnation to my collection if they are designed with the same detail and skill as the '07, '08 sets ( yeah, even the ugly Twilight has its merits).

Great ideas for a fig-scale Tantive IV, although instead of Alderaan Guards, we'd most likely get 1 pilot fig. The rest sounds good and probable...love the idea of Bail's speeder. I'd hope it would be as good or better than the republic Cruiser, which was pretty well done, if a little too skinny and cramped inside. It had some nifty features and figs to balance it out. There are Republic Shuttle pics floating about in the beginning of the '09 sets thread. A smaller Y-Wing from CW is rumoured, I believe. Along with a few others, I'm enjoying Force Unleashed, and see some potential for more sets based on the game. A Junk Titan would be difficult to realize, but cool nonetheless...I think it could be done if all the inner connecting parts were molded in transluscent blue.

The new iterations of Brawn, Cosmos, Beachcomber, and Bumblebee look pretty good. My only gripe is that Hasbro should hae put forth that little extra effort and given them elbows so they're not in zombie mode all the time. The deluxe cars look great...I usually don't buy more than one of any mold, but Sideswipe and Smokescreen look great. Hound looks remarkable...I think he's my most anticipated T-former this year, along with Ravage. I wish the rest of the cassette characters would receive modernized versions, both Autobot and Decepticon.

Funny video. "Let's pimp it up" I like that it was designed for the addition of power function from the beginning. I have it, and I think it's an awesome set, although I haven't "pimped" mine. Love the MT-201 Ultra-Drill Walker, too. It's a little repetetive due to the legs, but a fun build. What I loved most about these two sets is, like classic space, the larger vehicles can carry the smaller vehicles. I'm not crazy about the color scheme (hate orange), but the designs of these two sets stand out for their great aesthetics, features, and playability. Kudos to the design team!

I have the money and the time, just not the talent or the space. Being able to build like this would be the life. I have no life as it is. Poor me.

I collect LEGO across nearly all themes within System. I also collect Star Wars figures, Macross transforming Valkyries, Transformers, the odd Sci-fi item or figure, and anime. Mods, Sinner's right. This belongs in Community.

are Yanks allowed in this too? If so, I'd be happy to take one off your hands.

I walked into walmart last night and theree was a large display of TFA figs. I finally scored Blitzwing. Holy crap is he chunky in his alt modes...both of 'em, but his bot mode vcaptrures the cartoon look very well, the face gimmick is effective, and his articulation is great. I'm hoping to find Swoop and Universe Ironhide soon. I can't recommend Universe Prowl and TFA Jazz enough. Sunstreaker is very well done as well, but I'm looking even more forward to Sideswipe. I wish the leg transformation was different compared to Sunstreaker's ( the original art shown at SDCC showed the legs looking very similar to the G1 figure), but it's still a good looking fig overall. I'm very much looking forward to the '09 figs, specifically The Universe Hound and Ravage set, and Cyclonus. For TFA, LongArm/Shockwave is awesome from the pics I've seen. Can't wait.

Grimlock's cool, but Hasbro could have made him a bit cooler had they made folding plates attached to the "wings" to hide his robot head in dino mode. Still, he's a good homage to the original, with a lot of character on his own. I'm still trying to find Swoop. I haven't seen him anywhere yet, although I've found Oil Slick, Snarl, and Soundwave. Galvatron is my latest acquisition. I was a little disappointed. Several of his ball/socket joints are weak, and he is indeed pretty small. His poseability is hampereed by the large back kibble (aft sides of the tank) and the fact that he has no extendable heels to help him balance. I can stand him up and that's about it. Aesthetically, I think he captures the look of the movie depiction very well, despite the obvious tank parts/detail.

Lot's of good grumbles in this thread. C3PO and R2-D2 really had no reason to be in any of the prequels, save for maybe a glimpse of them entering the Tantive IV with Capt Antilles on Alderaan, unaware of the fate that would befall them 18 or so years down the road. That would have been enough "fan-wankery" for me. The way GL introduced them into Ep I felt, like nearly every aspect of the prequels, very forced and cheap and devoid of significance. They were there just to be there with no other real purpose. Many of the other original characters had no character. There were no Boba Fetts to speak of...those characters who, in merely one or two scenes, etch themselves indelibly on one's mind as being incredibly cool. Heck, even Salacious Crumb, the hysterically giggly critter eyeballing Jabba's tail in RoTJ had more character than most of the characters throughout Eps I-III, which is pretty disappointing considering he was a muppet. Somewhere, the fires of inspiration dimmed, and I think it may largely be due to the fact that Mr. Lucas is now the undisputed boss and few will question his ideas or call him out when something just doesn't work. I envy GL his creativity and storytelling ability...SW has, at its core, a pretty good story. It's not Shakespeare, but for its time, it was much deeper and far more engaging than alot of similar fare. Nobody saw the climax of Empire coming...and it's still quoted and parodied to this day. There's nothing in any of the prequels like that, and few lines worth quoting. Finally, the actors really made the characters theirs in the originals...they are memorable and likeable, either for what they said, did, or how they were presented: Sandpeople. Jawas. Lobot. Mon Mothma. Lando's copilot on the Falcon. The Rancor keeper crying over his dead friend. On and on, minor characters that had more character than their limited screen time allowed. How many characters can you name from the prequels that are like that...that made you care for them or like them or want to know more about them? Honestly, Ewan's Obi-Wan and Ian's Palpatine are my consistently favorite characters throughout the prequels. The only other characters that stood out to me for their unique coolness were the Kaminoans. Maul was cool, but he felt more like a gimmick to keep your attention..he had no character, just amazing skill. More than anything else, however, the breaks in continuity really spoil the prequels for me. I really had few preconceptions going in; I liked the OT alot and hoped for more of the same. Instead, I got a very pretty movie that felt hollowly like Star Wars. I mean, the names were there for the characters and it looked like Star Wars, albeit in technicolor on steroids, but something was different; it felt wrong...like someone else had written the prequels with both knowledge and disregard for the original movies. It didn't gel to me then when it was fresh, and still doesn't. To date, I still do not own any of the prequels, although I saw each in the theatre multiple times, b/c the fan reaction for these movies is just awesome to be a part of, and SW was meant to be seen on the big screen.

It's a bit early to declare any vehemence one way or the other. My first impression is that they look like Playmobil until you zoom in, which is , in a way, a complement to the construction. The color scheme is a bit bland with the lime and red. I'm not a fan of brown, but the Rock Raiders had a good color scheme for earth moving vehicles. The lime green is appropriate, I guess, since it is widely used for earth moving equipment around the world; after all, it's harder to miss a giant bright green vehicle instead of one that's earth toned if you just happen to be in its path. There's a lot of technic going on there, so I imagine there will be a high degree of functionality, or power functions , as Tenorikuma already mentioned. While I'm not overwhelmed, I am curious to see more and await clearer pics and descriptions.

I like Payload, but it definitely could have been far, far better without the gimmick impaling the figure and sticking way out of his back. Can't believe the design team lets ideas like this pass, but I suppose kids must dig it. As for the jet fig, he still suffers from massive undercarriage syndrome, although, much like the F-22, he looks nice from above and only from above (sorry, I think the Raptor's a bit fugly from every angle but above... F-23 FTW, but I digress). His arms with no hands kill the fig for me. I hate figs without hands. I was pretty disappointed that Alt. Rumble didn't have proper arms and hands that fold out, too. Personally, i dislike the Movie Megatron design, and so, too, the toys. It may be great toy, but I still see nothing about that design that even remotely says "Transformer" to me, and the toy looks like a jumbled mess to me. Payload at least has a decent alt mode.

LOL! It's so innocent, but yet so bad. You made my day!

Perhaps it's just me, but the tone of the new show seems a little too light, considering the characters are embroiled in a war to preserve their republic, and in the Jedi's case, their order. While I'm not opposed to humor in its various incarnations, the Clone Wars movie seemed a bit overdone. Moreover, Ahsoka's character comes across as a bit too loose and free in her mannerisms and speech, esp when addressing older Jedi. I don't mind the character being a bit brash; she is young, but I would still expect the character to be more subdued, pensive, and respectful due to the discipline of her training. The droids, too, seem to have been suddenly programmed with slapstick. A little here and there is cool and funny, but they are permanently stuck in slapstick/cheesy dialogue mode. Is there a mechanic in the bay? See, cheese ain't funny. Granted, the original trilogy was light as well, but without being so over-the-top , so often. The Clone Wars cartoon struck a great balance; I hope the writers receive some good constructive criticism and tone it down a bit. Perhaps I'm jaded b/c I've played the various SW games, and their tones are generally much more serious, LEGO SW an obvious but terrific exception. That said, I'll watch Clone Wars and hope for a slight dampening of tone, and meanwhile, anxiously await the awesome looking, appropriately darker Force Unleashed. Almost forgot to mention, I am very much looking forward to the new ships and characters introduced in the new series, if only to see them in LEGO form over the next few years.

Having read the novels as well, I tend to side with your view of things. I expected the Jedi to fight the Mandalorians. I wasn't sure where the clones fit in, but that mystery heightened my anticipation. I never actually associated the clones with the Imperial Army, since the voices of the stormtroopers were different. I never would have associated the Imperial Army with Boba Fett; he was an enigma, and should have remained so IMHO. I also expected the timeline between the Clone Wars and the events of Ep IV to be greater, since Jedi seem to age much more slowly through their intimacy with the force. I'm not familiar with the Obi-Wan and Owen Larrs brotherly connection theory, nor was I familiar with the Anakin burned in Lava story prior to Ep III. Overall, GL does, and did, change things from his original ideas, some of which were published in the various novelizations. He is ultimately a visual director, otherwise Star Wars would have been just another B-rated movie with a decent story and bad special effects. However, his insistence on creating a more realistic and believable universe set it apart, raising the bar for sci-fi movies thereafter. But it's his visual tastes, too, that I think diminished the prequels; his story was influenced by the fact that he could now realise anything he imagined on the screen. I think the limitations he faced while filming the original trilogy greatly benefitted the overall look and feel of the final films. The prequel films do not have that realistic look b/c they were shot in front of green screens, and the films have a cartoonish feel to them. And so, too, many of the characters, including one very controversial Gungan. In the end, I think maybe GL should have made a kid's movie based on Star Wars incorporating all of the cutesy characters, to get it out of his system, and then, after watching his original films and reviewing his old plot notes, made a darker, more mature prequel trilogy, assisted by a small team of writers to help polish his dialogue, for which GL himself admits he is weak. Harrison Ford dubbed him "the King of Wooden Dialogue" for a reason. It's interesting to note that George was working with a group of very strong willed, talented young actors ( and Sir Alec Guiness) when he made the originals, and I think they were more free to make dialogue changes , since George was basically an unknown making a sci-fi picture, a genre still condemned as child's fare during the time. He was an undisputed icon when he returned to make the prequels, and I think the actors were far less bold to suggest making changes in their lines, even when they most likely seemed clunky, cheesy, or otherwise unfunny. After all, there were alot of cheesy lines in the originals, but they just seemed to work, and I think the the actors were just grateful to be there and figured GL would strike cinematic gold the second go round. I guess he did, but I know there are still alot of disappointed fans out there who came out of the theatres with a sense of unfulfillment, perhaps bewilderment that the new Star wars just wasn't at all like the old Star Wars for one reason or another. If you're out there reading this, I'd be humbled to count myself among you.

Both are great sets. The original set stands the test of time very well. Thanks for the comparison shots, Dr. S. I have them both, but all my sets are boxed up at the moment (middle of moving). Just wanted to add that the older set had more of a classic LEGO touch with the opening nose and tool box, which I personally like alot. The new gunship sticks more closely with its Clone Wars animated inspiration...lots of interior space, hinged doors, better use of colors to avoid the rainbow effect. In my estimation, they took a great model and made it better. I feel the same about the AT-TE. I keep hoping the AT-AT will get the same treatment down the road ( I think the walking AT-AT is in its own category apart from the official mini-fig scale sets, even though it did come with figs, much like the UCS Falcon)

A revival of Rock raiders sounds ok to me. However, I wish TLG would explore ideas beyond mining and drilling in their space/sci-fi themes. I mentioned terra-forming in another thread. There could be hydroponics greenhouses, cargo docks, surface seeders/conditioners/harvesters, power and atmospheric generators, med bays, etc. Personally, I hope the Power Miners are futuristic sci-fi rather than steampunk. Although steampunk interests me less than straight up space/sci-fi, I think a steampunk theme has far too much potential to relegate it to just a mining theme. Actually, having given it some thought, since TLG is interested in conflict based play, there could be two factions: Steampunks and Clockworks. Both sides would have airships, sailing vessels, ground vehicles, mecha, as well as Victorianesque buildings. I personally love clockwork styled artwork and mecha...something about seeing the gears that make it all happen is just awesome. I like the steam powered stuff as well, with tubes and tanks and gauges everywhere. Anyway, I think the differences in styles and construction could make for some interesting building, as well as allow the designers some license to really apply their imaginations to a theme that hasn't been done to death in other media. And, they could play with ideas such as power mills, weather machines, maybe even laboratories where they make biological abominations ( as minions or as a mass workforce).

I couldn't have said it better. The dialog killed it a bit for me, and slapstick just isn't that funny. I prefer the Clone Wars cartoon parts 1 & 2, as the dialog was much better, and I loved what they did with the clone troopers. I hope the writing improves when the new incarnation comes to tv. The whole "Skyguy" and "Snips" thing got old quick. I thought the narration at the beginning was odd and seemed out of place, too. Starting right off in the middle of a battle was a good idea, and I liked the Jedi moves as well as the clones getting dispatched with OT-like enthusiasm.

A little bit. i don't know why Hasbro didn't paint the sides of the chest black. It would have looked better in bot mode, and would make the split between the fenders and the main chest/bonnet area much less noticeable. As is out of the box, I still don't think he's that bad...all my gripes are minor and easily remedied, save the lack of detail in the leg showing through trans-black windows. That would require some serious out-of-my-league modding. Picked up TFA Snarl and Oil Slick. OS is an excellent toy all around, although he's a 4 wheeled motorcycle. It's not terribly noticeable and doesn't detract from the overall look of the bike mode. Transformation is simple yet effective: legs fold at knees with lower legs bending nearly 180 deg with the feet rotating back to form the exhausts, head rotates 180 deg into fuel tank/ chest, and two-piece shoulder mounts rotate up and around so that the shoulders click together and the ram skull can rotate around and lock into a plate formed by the joined shoulders. The shoulders on mine are very tight, to the point I was afraid I might break the ball joint off ( the shoulder mount pieces are not very big, nor do they inspire confidence regarding their tensile strength. ) The locust-like aesthetic is certainly unique and interesting...I get a real loner vibe from the character in both modes. Snarl is pretty cool; there are some sacrifices made that do not allow the dino's front legs to rotate forward or back, but he''s a decent looking Triceratops. I fidgeted with him for a few minutes working his various parts until I was able to get the head and neck crest to sit close/flush with the bot's body. He's not super poseable, but he does have a moderate amount of articulation. I love how this guy looks...squat and tough. Shame Hasbro didn't paint his club as shown on the box..it's just all transluscent orange.