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I think I read somewhere that a young Han may show up in this season. If I come across the link again I'll post it.

This looks great! Nice work. The sockets on the legs are quite a clever idea. Was this mainly made from the original AT-TE set?

Thanks! I've added a build for you and Big Cam to take a look at. I usually don't show it for smaller sets, but I guess this was big enough to justify it As for the pics, the final pic didn't take long at all, about half an hour in Photoshop. Photoshop is one of those programs which takes a little time to get comfortable in, but once you are comfortable, you can whip through the processes. I wrote a brief tutorial on how to do it in the Reviewer's Academy. My "studio" is a piece of Bristol board and a window. My balcony windows face north, so if I take the photos between 10 and 2 pm, I get pretty good ambient light, and no hard shadows. In my review of 7256 (linked in my sig), I took the pics around 4 pm through a west facing window, and though the pics are alright, the shadows are stronger than I like. After that though, I need to put them through Photoshop, touch up the colors, boost the brightness, and then the whites. The build pictures I added here, I took from 8 am, so the first few pics are grainy with stronger shadows, but as the half hour goes by, the light gets better. No direct sunlight is needed though. Here is before: And after: Since this isn't about the review, let's continue it in the photography thread of the Reviewer's Academy if you'd like

Your eloquence is appreciated

Thanks for input everyone. The first review has been tweaked just a little, and will be until absolutely perfect. Obviously, there will be some disagreements here and there, but this topic is meant to bring the episodes to our attention, not create a consensus In the meantime, let's move on to the next two episodes. Episode 3: Shadow of Malevolence This is part two of the three part Malevolence series. As such, the episode is all about moving the parts into place. Having learned of the existence of the Malevolence, Anakin devises a plan to wage a frontal attack against the ship. It's aggressive and risky, but it just might work! Unfortunately, Anakin is probably the least interesting character in the series, and has no drama because he will always succeed. As well, his repartee with Ahsoka is not so sincere sounding, and his nickname for her, "Snips", doesn't make their relationship any more enduring. Anyway, Grievous begins to tackle medical transports, and moves towards a medical base to take out the wounded. This leads to an interesting setting, the medical base operated by a Kaminoan, who spends the episode doing an emergency evacuation. Anakin leads a fleet of 10 y-wings, with Plo Koon flying alongside with a hyperdrive ring on his starfighter. The episode spends some time with them piloting through a nebula to save time, but unlike the last episode, there is very little drama here, and the story is not being so well told as to make up for this. In the last five minutes, the y-wings fight some vulture droids, some expendable clones die, and they disable the cannon, but not the whole ship, while the venators arrive to set up the next episode. A watchable episode, but nothing special. Rating 7/10 This episode brings up an interesting question of scale for the TLG. Particularly, how could they ever really capture the feel of these ships. Answer: they can't. Here we see some tiny V-19s landing on a venator. The only way TLG could recreate this is to double the size of the current Venator set, then include a dozen mini V-19s. Not a bad idea, but I already can't afford it, and don't have space to display it. Meanwhile, we see the Malevolence towering over the venator warships (lower right). To make a y-wing attack sequence like the one in this episode, the y-wings would just be single stud sized on a ship the size of my bedroom. It's best to give up on that hope. Even in the show, there is a difficulty in portraying the scale. I was happy to see the y-wings make an appearance. When I first watched this episode, I didn't make the connection that they were y-wings, since the shape is just different enough, but they jump out at me now. I'm not in love with this ship, but it's nice to see any Lego set in action. Y-Wing Starfighter Plo Koon's Starfighter makes an appearance, which is very similar to the 2007 Obi-Wan Jedi Starfighter with Hyperdrive Booster Ring set, and already the subject of a great MOC by DutchRebel. I would really enjoy this as a mid sized set, even if the ring is a repetitive build. The shape and detailing is slightly different, a pointy nosed starfighter rather than the fork-nosed variety, along the lines of Anakin and Ahsoka's Clone Wars sets. Plo Koon's Starfighter The new ship (for me) debuting in this episode was a transport ship. Nothing outstanding, and piloted by clones, but I wouldn't mind to have this in Lego. Transport Ship One character appearing in this is a Kaminoan. I would love to have one of these in Lego. A Lego design appeared in the Lego Star Wars video game, but hasn't appeared as an actual figure. Maybe as an Attack of the Clones 20th anniversary mini-figure in 2022? Kaminoan Lego ships appearing: Venators, V-19s, Y-Wings, Vulture Droids Lego wishlist: Plo Koon's starfighter, Kaminoan Episode 4: Destroy Malevolence This episode was not a favorite of mine, but I imagine it was for some fans. The episode is the first to have Padme, Anakin, and Obi Wan working together, as well as R2-D2 and C-3PO together. As the damaged Malevolence is being attacked by the Republic warships, Padme's cruiser appears out of nowhere based on misleading info from Chancellor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious. Grievous captures Padme's ship, which causes Anakin to halt the attack. Always letting emotion control him, that boy is! Padme manages to escape into the labyrinthine Malevolence, and sets off a hunt for her by Grievous. Anakin and Obi Wan hop aboard the Twilight and manage to get into the Malevolence as well. They look for her. Meanwhile, it's a race against the clock as the battle droids try to repair the hyperdrive so the Malevolence can escape. This should be a set up for a great episode, but it's not. It's mostly just running around, lots of non-funny 'jokes' and incompetency by battle droids, and C-3PO also not being funny. There is a nice set piece on rail jets, kind of space freight trains running around the inside of the ship, with Anakin and Obi Wan using the force fluently as masters should (and rarely did in the movies). But, this is a ridiculously large ship, as mentioned in the review of the previous episode, so Anakin taking roughly two minutes to track down Padme, and later R2-D2 just running into C-3 PO walking around, who then bump into Anakin... well, if I was a story editor, I wouldn't allow it. Perhaps Anakin could sense Padme, but the rest was just coincidence... twice. The story seems to have been edited a lot in production (the Wookipedia page tells some of the changes) so probably this was just a constraint for time. In the end, the Malevolence is blown up, while Grievous happened to be off ship chasing the Twilight at the time, so in the end of this three part series, nothing changed. A big ship came out of nowhere, and then was taken out. Some jedis fought some separatists, and only minor clones and robots were casualties. Grievous has slight character development when he cuts off a transmission from Dooku, showing a non-unified front on the Separatist's side. So, as I said, this was not my favorite episode, it felt kind of pandering to a fanboy audience and a lot of almost good stuff. And I don't care for pandering. Rating: 6/10 Homage to the original trilogy in the final shot There wasn't a lot of new stuff to see in this episode, mostly just what was in the last two episodes. But, two potential Lego sets appeared. One was Padme's ship, which is called a Naboo Cruiser in the show, but I don't know what the technical name is. It's obviously related to the ship from Phantom Menace, but seems smaller, and has a fin on the back. It would be great if Lego made a shiny brick set, but I'm well aware that the costs would make it a low seller. It's a dream set though. Padme's ship A third of the episode takes place on a rail jet in the Malevolence, which is a nicely designed freight train of sorts. It looks great, and I would love to see a fusion of Star Wars s-f style and trains. Since it's related to the Malevolence, a ship that is blown up this episode, it's unlikely, but something along these lines someday as part of a bigger set would really flesh out the Lego Star Wars universe. Rail Jet Lastly, Grievous hops into his starfighter at the end of the episode. I like his ship more on screen than I do in Lego form (boring colors). But the proportion on the Lego set is just about perfect. Good job, Lego designers! Grievous' Starfighter Souless One (left, followed by two Vulture Droids) Lego ships appearing: Venators, Vulture Droids, the Twilight, Grievous' Starfighter Lego wishlist: Padme's ship, rail jet Next up: Rookies

What do you mean? Can you elaborate? Regarding the frigate, I meant that the base color of the Republic Cruiser was red, and the Republic Frigate's base color is white, though it has a red tint. I'll look at the text to see if I can make that clearer. A la is okay English, check here it means "in the manner of". If you have a good internet connection, you should be able to watch them online. I watched them as they came out, and now that some time's gone by, I can watch them with fresh eyes. Thanks for the feedback and interest, I'll try to have a review of three and four in a few days

Index courtesy of Oki Wan: Season 1: 1 - Ambush 2 - Rising Malevolence 3 - Shadow of Malevolence 4 - Destroy Malevolence 5 - Rookies 6 - Downfall of a Droid 7 - Duel of the Droids 8 - Bombad Jedi 9 - Cloak of Darkness 10 - Lair of Grievous 11 - Dooku Captured 12 - The Gungan General 13 - Jedi Crash 14 - Defenders of Peace 15 - Trespass 16 - The Hidden Enemy 17 - Blue Shadow Virus 18 - Mystery of a Thousand Moons 19 - Storm Over Ryloth 20 - Innocents of Ryloth 21 - Liberty on Ryloth 22 - Hostage Crisis Recap (Update) Season 2: 1 - Holocron Heist 2 - Cargo of Doom 3 - Children of the Force 4 - Senate Spy 5 - Landing At Point Rain 6 - Weapons Factory 7 - Legacy of Terror 8 - Brain Invaders 9 - Grievous Intrigue 10 - The Deserter 11 - Lightsaber Lost 12 - The Mandalore Plot 13 - Voyage of Temptation 14 - Duchess of Mandalore 15 - Senate Murders 16 - Cat and Mouse 17 - Bounty Hunters 18 - The Zillo Beast 19 - The Zillo Beast Strikes Back 20 - Death Trap 21 - R2 Come Home 22 - Lethal Trackdown I had an idea to do a summer blog about the Clone Wars season 1, which has now been finished for a few months. I want to review the episodes from a viewer's point of view, but also from a AFOL's point of view, as in what ships and characters appeared, and how they might relate to future sets. I'm going to set a target of two episodes a week since this first post took two hours to compile, but I expect to manage 4-6 a week. If you notice any spelling/grammar/factual mistakes, please politely let me know. Episode 1: Ambush This was a good start to the series, an episode featuring a well known fan favorite, Yoda. The episode rehashes a few old situations from the films, such as the clone troopers doubting that such a little guy can be effective, though in this era of Star Wars, Yoda should be a living legend. The story is as so; Yoda's ship is shot down, and he and three clones must hold off a separatist army in order to convince the Toydarian king to declare his allegiance. When the action starts kicking in, it's quite well done. The animators had a good time with it, Yoda fluidly cuts through the battle droids and takes down some AATs and Droidekas. The major flaw with the episode (and perhaps the series) is the stupid battle droids, an issue that comes up again and again. They are stupid, and their jokes aren't funny at all. Before Yoda destroys one, it says "Oh no! I just got promoted." It can't be written off as "just for kids". So are Pixar movies, and they never resort to such groan-worthy 'jokes'. The episode is a solid, though not outstanding, start to the series. Rating 7/10 A number of ships appeared in this episode. AATs appear, as well as the Trade Federation Landing Ships that carry them. The AATs were made as part of the early 2009 sets, but I don't see the landing ships being made since the scale can never be matched. Perhaps as an UCS, but it's not enough of a 'classic' ship to get that treatment. It is the subject of a remarkable MOC by Rook though. Landing Ship A really interesting ship that appears is the Republic Frigate, which is basically the missing link between the Republic Cruiser and the Tantive. The colors have shifted from the red with white trim on the Republic Cruiser to white with red trim on the Frigate (red being the diplomatic color of the Star Wars universe), but the structure seems essentially the same. In the episode, numerous escape pods jettison from the ship. This would be an awesome set, but very unlikely since both the Republic Cruiser and the Tantive have been produced. It would be a beautiful MOC though. Republic Frigate Yoda's ship is shot down by two Munificent-class star frigates. These are amazing looking, and I would much rather see one of these in Lego than the Venator. They remind me somewhat of Admiral Ackbar's ships in Return of the Jedi Munificent-class star frigate One other ship appears briefly, a Toydarian ship (Toydarians being the pig-nosed species that owned baby Anakin in Phantom Menace) It appears incredibly briefly, but has a great design. It's a three-legged insectoid ship. This is incredibly unlikely as a set, but it's pretty cool looking. Toydarian ship Asajj Ventress also uses one of Count Dooku's space eggs, and some Republic Gunships and a Venator turn up in the last 30 seconds. Lego ships appearing: AAT, Republic Gunship, Venator Lego wishlist: USC Munificent-class star frigate Episode 2: Rising Malevolence This episode was quite good, and is an example of what this series can do well; it takes a setting that would be handled in 5-10 minutes in the movies and blows it up to 20 minutes, and gets some stirring drama because of it. It also uses atypical pacing, putting the major action in the first few minutes, and letting the repercussions make up the meat of the show. Plo Koon and a fleet of three venators is taken out by General Grevious' new ship, the malevolence and its "secret weapon", the ion cannon, which neutralizes power in ships. Plo and three troopers remain in an escape pod, waiting to be hunted down amongst the flotsam by battle droids. Ahsoka and Anakin come in and try to track down any survivors. Plo Koon must be alive for Episode three, so of course he survives, but his interaction with the clones is really interesting. The clones are pessimistic about being rescued, feeling that clones are "meant to be expendable" by nature. Plo Koon assures them that in his mind, they aren't. This is one of the interesting sub-themes of the series, the nature of being a clone and their own free will, especially in light of the fact that it's known that they will turn on the jedi. The show makes a point of giving them haircuts to individualize them. It's not a deeply explored theme, but does get continued development in future episodes. Clone haircuts Other points of note are the battle droids are still not funny. They speak less here, but one is noted humming. Why would a robot ever hum? The sci-fi of the episode is solid, in my mind, except the behavior of the battle droids. There is a nice callback to Empire as Ahsoka senses Plo Koon a la Leia and Luke in Bespin City. Lastly, Artoo does his whoooooo thing and slides away as his ship accelerates, another movie callback. All in all, a good episode, showing the series get its own personality, while grounding itself in the Star Wars universe. The episodes featuring characters like Plo Koon and Grevious were some of my favorites, since they fare best in animated form, and weren't heavily featured in the films. Rating 8/10 The main ship debuting here is the Malevolence. It's great. I'd love to see something like this in Lego form. If I remember correctly, it gets blown up, so I think it would have had to be made as part of the 2009 sets if it were to be made at all. Malevolence The battle droids have a mini crushing ship meant to hold onto escape pods while they break them open. This is an interesting ship, but would work as a MOC more than a set, since we've got enough battle droids! Pod hunter Lastly, the medic makes an appearance. I'd love a Lego medic, and sooner or later this guy should make an appearance. I think they only appeared in Empire previously. Medic TB-2 Lego ships appearing: Venator, the Twilight, V-19 Lego wishlist: Malevolence, TB-2, clones with hair

Sets have improved a heck of a lot. 10 years ago, they were really primitive looking. I was happy with them at the time, but it's like comparing a Walkman to an iPod. The old one is nostalgic, but it really doesn't compare.

Of the 2009 sets so far, this was the most interesting looking. Aliens, an egg ship, and a big hat. It's also not very Clone Wars looking, so it was a nice change of pace. How does it rate? Set#: 8036 Name: Separitist's Shuttle Theme: Star Wars Clone Wars Year: 2009 Pieces: 259 Minifigs: Nute Gunray, Onaconda Farr, Battle Droid Pilot with Blue Torso, Battle Droid with 1 Straight Arm x 2 I paid: 46.20 yen MSP: $29.99 U.S., £31.29, 73.20 yen Peeron Brickset Bricklink From Lego The Box The box was smaller than I expected. Actually, the set was smaller too. Even after reading a review of it, I thought the inside was going to be bigger. The Instructions are quite minimal, so all the features are shown on the box instead. The Pieces There are four bags, but no pieces that jump out as being great. The color scheme is the same as other Trade Federation sets, like the ATT and the Droid Gunship. The sticker sheet is... expected. Most of them go on one piece, over the cockpit. I managed it alright. I love these mini-figs. This is the first reason why I bought the set. Nute Gunray and Onaconda Farr, new sculpts for me since I've never had a Greedo. And I like the fish people. They were remarkably poorly done in the movies, very puppet looking. Much like with Dengar, I love when the Lego company takes the crappiest characters in the movie and make a mini out of them. (This is not to be confused with Jar Jar who is most annoying, not crappiest) This is Nute and Onaconda in the flesh, as it were. I'm pretty tired of battle droids. I don't consider them figures at this point. Here, you get three, the blue one being the pilot. The Build I took some brief pics, upon request. These pics are about ten steps apart. The egg comes in halves that snap together. The technique on the fin is quite nice, using those side-stud pieces to hold it together. The Finished Product I really like the design of this ship, with its insectoid styling. It looks really cool with the landing gear down. I was surprised at the smallness of the set. The interior only has room for the two figures. From head on. Notice the gap in the fin. This allows the cockpit to open while the antenna is there. Great shape on this, an egg with a big fin. Simple is best. The back is the door for Mr. Gunray. By using the crank, it doesn't close tightly, and you need to squeeze it shut with you fingers. But, it will open up just a little on its own. Not a deal breaker though. The back looks fine to me. With the landing gear up. This is slightly awkward looking, since the front and back tuck in differently and don't have any specific place to go, but it's original. Still, let's just call it quirky. From the back. I like the heaviness of the fin. You can see the legs just touching here. Features The cockpit opens up, and the droid has plenty of room to stand. Much much better than the droid gunship. Here is the opening hatch at the back. Nute stays tucked in at the back. And he is tucked, it's quite dark in there. And Nute comes out on a slidy seat. The seat is nothing special, I would like to see a back on it. But it's functional. The Final Verdict Design: 9/10 For the pieces it comes with, it gets lots out of them. Nobody was clamoring for a Nute Gunray ship so I imagine this ship was chosen by the Lego designers as one of their 'special projects' and they gave it the love that comes with a minor ship like this. Build: 7/10 Nothing special. The only interesting parts are the opening door at the back, and the SNOT technique in the fin. Playability: 7/10 It swooshes, it has fun landing gear. But the characters don't lend themselves to much of anything. They are great as part of a MOC scene perhaps. Minifigures: 8/10 As I wrote before, I don't care for more battle droids. The first 40 were enough for me. But I love the other two. They're great. The only thing that would make them better would be if the Onaconda head were in the soft rubber that Yoda and Plo Koon's were. Price: 9/10 This was just a little more than Anakin's Starfighter, and less than Ahsoka's Starfighter, and much less than that other space egg, Count Dooku's Solar Sailer. In terms of Star Wars Lego pricing, this is a good deal, 250+ pieces and two new mini-figs. Overall: 8/10 This is a good ship, and a must have for Star Wars Lego fans. It's a quirky minor ship from a dark corner of the Star Wars universe. For the average kid, it'd probably be less exciting, since these are not characters they probably know. Heck, one of the characters is an ambassador! Do kids like ambassadors? Well, I do anyway. This is a set more for adult geeks than for kids. That means it's a good ship for me! Onaconda channels his inner Zoidberg, and Nute has yet to forgive him. Cheers all.

Agreed. Even the Toy Story sets look better than I'd expect. But the mini dropship takes the cake.

In the end, I'll be buying most of the 2009 SW sets, usually at a rate of one or two per month. I don't even like the clones that much, it'd just be nice to get a bonus. The Endor set is much much better looking than the Venator though. And cheaper.

My birthday is August 22, and my parents traditionally give me $300 (since I'm an adult). My wish was to get the Battle of Endor set, but I'm tempted to shift the cash in the other direction to go for this offer. Oh, I'm a victim of adertising

Not disappointed My Japanese is limited too, but my wife confirms that it is a draw. I was aware that the sets were limited to 35 each, if you reread my first post Nonetheless, those two Star Wars sets will run you minimum ¥25,000 and the City sets more. I don't think there will be thousands entering this draw. One's chances of winning are pretty good. But, this is good to know, the deal is until August 31. I'll eventually buy the Y-Wing and Venator I think, but there's no rush

Great job. It really reminds me of something from the Clone Wars cartoon. That reminds me, I should watch it again

Has this happened anywhere else? I did a search, but hard to come up with anything, sorry if this topic came up somewhere else. If so, could a moderator either redirect this thread or simply merge it with the other one. The Lego Japan promotion this year has been a lot about the history of the company, with 10th Anniversary of Star Wars, and now this history of the mini-figure. Large size http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt297/n...s/lego35th2.jpg This summer they have an amazing deal going on. Buy these combinations of sets, and you can get nice rewards. Large size http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt297/n...cs/lego35th.jpg Maybe you can get the drift of it, but if you buy those two buckets, you get 35 mini figures. There aren't a huge variety, but that's a nice score. I think the Star Wars one is the most exciting. Buy two sets, and get the Clone Trooper Platoon, in total 36 figures. The City one is amazing too, getting the Wind Turbine set when you've bought the rest of this year's City sets. The Power Miners one looks lame, just 5 rock monsters. The promotion is limited though, only 35 of each for the whole country Question: Are they doing this type of promotion anywhere else in the world? I imagine I would have seen a post about it. (Second question: Does anyone want to mail me their barcodes and we can split the sets? )

I really like this ship full size, and had wanted this, but seeing this, the mini looks a bit dull. The shape is boring. But thanks for the review, it was a set I was really interested in and I appreciate being informed.

This looks great, and the pieces seem common enough. Maybe I'll try to make one myself this weekend. Thanks for the clear review.

I'd really like this. It looks really mature for a Lego set. Thanks for the fantastically deep review

Really beautiful shot. It does strike me as something from the video game, which is as good of place as any to get inspiration.

Great review! I'm a big fan of minis, and you took fantastic photos here, amazingly close details. Thanks! I'd buy this if it weren't horribly overpriced now.

Indeed, but the headline got my attention pretty quickly

Some fake-looking sets to get you up and then disappoint you. I'm sure it's not real. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3800276

Much obliged sir, thankee ye.

Appreciated. This review definitely took over an hour (write it, leave it for the afternoon, come back and tweak it). With that little helicopter, two hours for sure But that was also playing. I really enjoy the Reviewer's Academy system, where I can think about the review a little bit before posting it. These are for posterity, you know? Collectors could be using these as reference in 50 years... Who knows?

$#! Late at night, I copied this over. Unfortunately, I can't edit titles. If Kim T would be so kind as to fix that up.