M'Kyuun

Lucky you. I wish I could find a job where I was assigned to take sets home and build them. Neither the game aspect nor the speedorz themselves interest me. I like the direction they're taking with the sets, especially Eris' Eagle Interceptor and Razar's Raider. as I've mentioned before, I wish the rest of the line had taken more of a mech direction as well, basically LEGO Zoids, if you will. I hold out hope that when the Gorrilla sets are released, we'll get a gorilla mech inspired by Mark Stafford's attempt to marry Fabuland and Exo-Force: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nabii/4642490395/in/photostream I think this design could be repurposed pretty much as-is.

Just got this for Christmas, and it is a nice set. The little mech is a cool touch, and hopefully a harbinger of things to come should LEGO continue to give us mech sets, or even revive Exo-Force someday. However, although I don't own the Mega-Core Magnetizer, I fail to see how this compares to that iconic set. The classic was larger, had steering, a crane, multiple cargo boxes filled with accessories, magnets, a cargo hold in the rear with a small deployable buggy, and that awesome cockpit design. All around, far more bang for your buck. Frankly, this set doesn't come close. My biggest nitpick with this set is the ramp design. While it's cool that it's there, it hinges low on the frame, so the buggy basically falls down onto it. Moreover, because of the sloped parts forming the center of the front of the vehicle, the ramp sits quite high off the ground. It's a toy, I realize, but even as a young kid, I loved ramp and cargo functions, and LEGO's classic space designs always incorporated this feature beautifully and functionally, so that your little vehicles could drive in and out of the ship easily. Unless one mods their little buggy with jump jets, it's purely a one way ticket for our intrepid green explorer. Although I'm not a fan of gun arms, the little mech in this set is great, lack of knees notwithstanding. It can hold some neat poses, and looks good doing so. I love dark green, and it's used nicely here. As a big fan of mecha, I hope to see more of this sort of thing in future sets.

Thanks for another great review, WhiteFang. Still the best of the new Chima sets IMO. It has a great Zoid-ish feel that really resonates with me. Wish the entire line followed suit. Thanks to Mark Stafford for another great design.

Merry Christmas everyone! My wife spread the Christamas cheer by getting me the Vermin Vaporizer, the Swarm Interceptor, and the Space Swarmer. I like all three, however, applying 22 stickers in the VV slows the build down a little. My only other real complaint is that the ramp doesn't go down flush to the ground and there is quite a lip for the little buggy to traverse when moving in and out of the main vehicle. It's a minor nitpick, and overall the completed set looks pretty cool. The little mech in back has grown on me. I still would prefer arms and hands as opposed to weapon arms, but it's something that could be easily modded. I love the white and green color scheme...it definitely catches the eye. I find the Space Swarmer to be brilliant in execution. I wish more of the Insectoid vehicles in this line were as well done as this little model. I'm still hoping we'll get a second wave and there'll be a nice largish Beetle-esque mobile lab or such on par with the human ships we've seen.

I just went back and rewatched the Umbaran story arc...4 of the best episodes in the CW series, IMHO. I have to agree with LEGO's helmet choice being inaccurate for the Umbarans, and I'd have preferred we got two of the more notable Clones from those eps, perhaps Fives and Hardcase, instead of Ahsoka. Capt Rex would be a good choice as well, but I believe he's already been in a couple of sets. Anyway, these eps featured a number of cool Umbaran war machines that, hopefully, will become sets.

I got to see this on display at BrickCon back in October. We had the privelage of being the first US unveiling of the set, and it didn't disappoint. It's a beatiful set, and Marcos Bessa did a fantastic job of working in a lot of great gothic details, such as the lovely gargoyles. As much as I like the 2006 set, this one surpasses it. It's a must-buy.

Rented Snow White and the Huntsmen. Usually this type of movie dissolves into cheese rather quickly, or there's a Marlon Wayans type of character thrown in for comedic affect, which makes me want to immediately stop watching. This movie maintained a solemn tone throughout. Kristen Stewart (Snow White) surprised me with her performance; perhaps she can act. The dwarves are played by a host of well known and talented British actors, and they added the humor, although it was never overplayed. The lovely Charlize Theron played an excellent villain, and the special effects throughout were imaginative and often spooky. It's a darker, grittier, more serious take on the classic tale, and I greatly enjoyed it.

I played WFC, but haven't played the new game...yet. Aside from all the neon and some of the Cybertronian alt modes, what bugs me about this series is that Hasbro is basically changing or burying alot of the original aspects to many of the chracters and overall story of Transformers which they established in the original series. To me, those original stories are and always will be canon. However, Hasbro, via Mr. Aaron Archer, are trying to consolidate a revised canon to make these games, the tv show Transformers: Prime, and the live action movies into one large overarching canon. For a long time fan, it feels to me like the G1 origin stories have been stripped of their relevence and replaced with a cobbled together storyline to tie their new products and shows together. They love to mine G1 for characters and such, but simultaneously, they're crapping on the very thing that made, and still make, fans embrace it. They may have come up with an explanation for Dinobots on Cybertron aeons before Prime and crew go to Earth, but the original G1 story behind their creation and personalities still seems more practical. On the toy front, despite his diminutive size, FOC Optimus Prime has become one of my favorite plastic incarnations of the big guy. I'm generally not fond at all of Cybertronian alt modes, but I love the new look of both his truck and bot modes. That's ending on a positive note.

I'm looking very much forward to this film. I think it's going to make the audience ask what would you do given his abilities and the struggle to blend in, but live with your decisions to act or not act. Most movies and shows about Superman are mostly external struggles celebrating his abilities, and I think it'll be interesting to see him growing into the Superman persona through a series of moral dilemmas and choices. I'm also glad they chose General Zod, his father's nemesis, to be the antagonist. It equalizes the playing field in terms of abilities.

This was bought from the very first glimpse, even though I couldn't remember who the Umbarans were. I've since looked it up...good set of eps. Thanks for the review; it's always nice to see what to expect from a set you want.

LOL...That's awesome.

I concur with Soccerkid6; love your style. Beautiful design. I wish LEGO's official products were more like this.

You've got a great eye for both shape and color. As for your set idea, it's excellent, surpassing at least a couple of the official sets. I also checked out your Flickr and Cuusoo. Those desktop fighters are right up my alley. I supported them. Hope to see them released as official sets in the near future.

Thanks for the review. This was my favorite set from the beginning, and seeing the details up close only cements my opinion. I'm a fan of LEGO's little fighters, as there's a beauty to their simplicity and asthetics that I really like. I do have to agree that the separated turret is a bit weak; however, I get a Macross vibe from it when the whole ship has the wings down, looking a little like GERWALK mode. Overall, a great set with quite a few features at a good price. I'm sold.

Some great figs in this theme. I'm not too crazy about most of the sets themselves, though. Really wish they'd gone more of a "Zoids" direction with the vehicles. The Eagle jet and the Chi Raider are my two must-haves from this theme, although I'm hoping there'll be a lion mech at some point. Love the Lion figs. Might have to break down and get the Lion Quad just because.

I'm resisting the urge to go looking for these, as I've asked for the Interceptor and the Swarmer for Christmas. If I see them myself, chances are high I'd be bringing one, if not both, home with me, esp at their low price points. However, this early in the release, TRU is probably the only store carrying it , and I tend not to buy much LEGO there due to the markups, which get pretty steep on the larger sets. I usually don't follow storylines on LEGO themes, but I was reading the descriptions last night, and noticed that the insectoids' motivation is to collect the humans' robots. Just thought I'd mention it. I'm looking forward to it.

I was thinking the same thing...definitely an Admiral Ackbar look to it. These robot head designs are cool; it's a shame they're not helmets.

Best Mars Mission set IMHO. I still have it displayed. So far, the Swarm Interceptor is my favorite GS set. The Bug Obliterator looks good when the two vehicles are separated, but it looks like an orange and white parade float when they're combined. In flight configuration, it has a chunky Vic Viperish feel to it that I like. The copious same-design gun array is a bit redundant, and makes it look cluttered. Sometimes less is more. The Swarm Interceptor and the Legends of Chima Eagle Jet are two of my most anticipated sets this year.

I love the new AT-RT set; sure, it's a little oversized, but so are alot of vehicles throughout various LEGO themes. If it means more detail or functionality, I'm fine with it. I have to agree with those remarking on the patchwork colorization of the Rancor Pit. It's a bit of an eyesore, but the Rancor itself is lovely. I'm curious to see what it looks like with Jabba's Palace placed atop. The Hoth set is nice as either an addition or a starter set. Like others, I wish they'd made an Ion Cannon, or even an escape shuttle, even if greatly reduced in size. Perhaps for summer or fall, TLG will release a new AT-AT, hopefully much better than 8129, which I call the "anorexic AT-AT". It'd be nice to see TLG upgrade 4483, which was an excellent set, but not without its flaws. I'd gladly pay $150-200 for a larger scaled AT-AT that can seat 2 pilots with room in the head for the AT-AT commander as well.

I wasn't aware of the "cybugs" until your post. I wholeheartedly agree with you. I want to see "Wreck-it Ralph" even more now.

I'm liking the blue and white fighter jet. From the pic, it looks like the wings rotate down, maybe to stand on? Just guessing. The large orange and white ship is intriguing. I like vehicle within vehicle designs when they're done well, and I also like the Vic Viperesque aesthetic of the ship (it needs a center tail to meet VV criteria, but I digress) once it has disgorged the missile buggy and assumed flight configuration. I think it'd look better had they made the cockpit a bit pointier, but it's a neat design otherwise. The large white and green vehicle/mech set interests me as well. The overall shaping of the thing is unique, and I like the white with green accents. I like the mech except for the gun arms. Regular arms equipped with hands to hold guns, and other objects, are preferable and offer more playability. Ah well, it is LEGO after all, and subject to modding. The little scorpionoid looks a bit underwhelming, and greatly outmatched. Looking at the front of the big vehicle, I wonder if there's some kind of hidden feature or weapon there to blast or snatch up an unsuspecting bugbot. Hmmmm. I'm heaving a weary sigh over the obtrusive, and sometimes random weapon placement that seems in evidence ever more in action/sci-fi themes. I know the conflict/combat in a box is the norm, and I'm not against guns or combat related toys; however, I often find the placement and/or mounting of weapons to look incongruent, out of place, or like afterthoughts in a lot of the action/sci-fi sets over the past four or five years. Hidden, folding, or conformal weapons are great when they blend with the vehicle, but just putting some big gun or flick missile on a ball joint or some other large and unsightly mount kinda ruins alot of otherwise good models, for me anyway. Too, I do wish LEGO would relax the combat in a box philosophy, as I think we'd benefit from, hopefully, better quality in a single vehicle in a set geared towards exploration or some other non-combat related setting, i.e. space salvage, or rescue, or cargo delivery, to name a few. Actually, for all sets, combat or no, I wish TLG would return to the old practice of a single model in the box, as more features or details can be put added to a model and still fall within price point. Moreover, they can double the number of sets, as well as produce a larger number of smaller, more affordable sets, within a theme. Getting a bit off topic, so back to the sets. It's cool to see a variety of android helpers in these sets. The orange one with the wings is pretty sweet. The blue head does look a bit like a monkey, as someone mentioned. It's ok...I'd rather they include different designs throughout the line instead of picking one that may or may not be to everyone's liking. Choices are good. I'm a bit surprised they didn't use the MF series robot in here somewhere, but again, new and different is generally a good thing. The mantis looks so-so, but the human vehicle has my attention. It looks like a smaller vehicle, made with the blue Cars hood pieces, sitting sideways on the back of the white vehicle. It'd be nice if that was detachable. Ya know, I have to say that the mantis and the mosquito disappoint a little, using the technic axles and connectors for legs, when the designers have proven with many sets across a number of themes that they can produce excellent creatures with jointed, poseable legs using clicky joints. I realize they're battle machines that resemble their namesakes, and that they are intentional caricatures ; however, I'd have been thrilled if the insect machines looked more realistic but with pilots safely ensconced within their armored carapaces, and with hidden features or weapons that pop out. I am, sadly, oft the victim of my own expectations where LEGO is concerned. Like everyone else, I await better pics and reviews of these sets, and speculate in the meantime. Cheers!

I was thinking the same thing. TLG might homage all their past themes within this one. They can keep that orange, though. I like the new figs, but the vehicles we've seen so far are a bit meh, to me at least. Still, the teeny tiny pic of the whole line shows potential with the larger sets. I hope somewhere in the lineup, either the initial, or potential second wave, we get a Galaxy Explorer 2, or something close to it.

Having bought some of the original insectoids and found them a bit lackluster (the figs were so-so, and there was a distinctive lack of articulated limbs on the vehicles), this time they're getting it right. Love the use of the second set of arms and the new insectile head on the figs. Much like SP3, I hope there are a variety of insectoids. I'd love to see the flagship set be a large beetle, where the wings open and there is a command center and maybe a retractable weapon of some sort. I'd love to see them incorporate a play feature where the beetle lays her "eggs", essentially little pods with insectoids within. There are so many potential ideas to do with a theme like this. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the line. This reminds me of the battle-bugs theme. For anyone unfamiliar, Lino Martins has built some amazing battle bugs, his wasp being one of the most noteworthy. I got to see it at Brickcon, and it's very cool.

Not to mention, we'd finally get Kaminoan figs. Although I'm not much of a prequel fan, kamino and its tall, graceful inhabitants struck a positive chord with me. I wouldn't mind a playset along the lines of Cloud City.

Thanks for the review of these figs, Joker1. I have to agree that "Old Shellhead's" helmet is just a tad too large...it just doesn't look right. I wonder if TLG could have used the regular helmet and made an Iron Man face mask that could attach to the existing pivot points, similar to the various Knights' masks. At least it would look somewhat proportional. Normally I'm all in favor of TLG's making these various accessories very detailed; in this case, it stands out too much. There are examples of better fitting fan-made Iron Man helmets on the net, which only makes the official version look that much more out of place. Looking forward to the rest of the review.