Clone OPatra

It looks very nice, but I would agree with others that it does not resemble an X-Wing too closely. I don't think it needs more teeth, if it had more than the mouth would just look too full. At first, I thought it was a MOC of one of those Klingon ships from the old Star Trek show/movies. But with a few modifications, I'm sure it will look like an X-Wing, and then it will be great!

I don't usually like starting topics that are just speculation, but I went to a movie a few days ago and saw that Harry Potter 6 was rated PG. I've seen the trailers, so this came as a huge surprise. Of course, I had to check it online when I got home, and since I haven't seen it discussed yet, I decided to bring it up here. Here's an official image from harrypotter.com: After I saw that LEGO made only one HP5 set, I thought that they would never make any more HP LEGO. The series was getting too dark, and away from the kid-friendliness that LEGO likes. But now that the new movie is rated just PG, I don't know. Would LEGO bring back this much-loved theme now that the MPAA has deemed the new movie acceptable for children? And, they're making a new game, which is just books 1-4, so wouldn't they want to make a sequel for 5-7 and have tie-in sets? I doubt that even with these pieces of news HP LEGO will be back, but what do the fine members of Eurobricks think?

This is interesting news, and like many others I hope that "the new way to build" is not something awful like Galidor was. To me, this also signals an end to any more Nickelodean sets. I base this opinion on the situation with LEGO, Marvel, and DC. LEGO had a Marvel license, but it ended and so LEGO eventually shifted to DC to make Batman sets. The only point that could say otherwise is that The Clone Wars is a Cartoon Network show, which had LEGO sets during the same time that there were new Spongebob sets. However, I don't know if a CN license is required to make CW sets, or if CW sets just fall under the Star Wars license. I hope LEGO is not overdoing itself with too many licensed themes at once. I feel like three is a good number, but 2010 will have at least four or maybe five (SW, Indy, Disney, CN, more Nick?, WB - since HP6 is currently rated PG?).

That is simply stunning. One of your best yet! I love how many details you have packed into this, keep up the great work!

The box was already smashed like that when I got it, hence the small markdown. Still, thanks for the advice about opening these newer sets, I'll definitely have to use a knife in the future. I can still ask, though, what happened to the punch holes? I am glad you enjoyed my review.

Here it is, another review of the smallest summer 2009 Castle set that most people hated so much from just the picture. Title: King's Battle Chariot Set #: 7078 Theme: Castle/Fantasy Era Pieces: 103 Minifigures: 4 Year: 2009 Price at Release: USD $19.99, EU €20,00-ish Buy It? Inventory? LEGO Bricklink Peeron INTRODUCTION Like Svelte_Corps says in the introduction to his fabulous review of 7097 Trolls' Mountain Fortress, this set has also been hated since the time some preliminary pictures were released. Then, when the mostly completed set was shown at Toy Fair, even more people jumped aboard the "OMG 7078 is so awful" train. They said it was so overpriced, with just 103 pieces for 20 bucks. They said even for that amount of pieces it looked badly designed, and not very thought out. The only good thing I personally read someone say about this set was that it comes with two orc shields. That was it, just the shields. Well, I didn't know how I felt about. I don't buy a lot of Castle (the only other Fantasy Era sets I have are 7040 Dwarves' Mine Defender and 7091 Knights' Catapult Defense), so I didn't really care one way or another about this set. It did seem overpriced, but lots of sets are these days. Anyway, I was in New York over the weekend so I popped into the big Toys R Us in Times Square. Just as I'd expected, they had the new Space Police, City, and Agents, but not many copies of the new Castle sets. But there were two crushed copies of 7078 King's Battle Chariot, and they were marked down to $16.90! Although that's not really so much of a bargain, I can never resist things that are marked down. Without a second's thought, I grabbed it and bought it. BOX Pardon the wooden floor in these pictures. I did not want to carry the box with me from New York, so I had to take the pictures where I was staying there. The front of the box shows a cute little scene. The design of the grassy rocks and stone road is a lovely artwork. The set itself already looks a bit small though, and it says 103 pieces right there, which is a giveaway that there will be a few less pieces than expected in a $20 set. The back of the box has more lovely artwork that continues onto the flap. There are two little inserts, not really showing play features, because there are none. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it was a real struggle to get the box open. What happened to the great punch holes? The top side of the box does not show all the minifigures, just the king in actual scale and the king again fighting with an orc. Also of note, no parts of this set were made in China, for any of you who care (I do a bit). On another side of the box, there was this game ad. I wonder when we can expect to see the game. INSTRUCTIONS The instructions were not horribly mangled, just folded neatly in half. The front has the same art as the front of the box. The first two pages. Nice and neat, good color distinction, although black and dark bley blend together just a little. Here is another nice page featuring the built set with its box, the other two summer sets, and that same little ad for the Castle game. MINIFIGURES Ok, on to the plastic part of the set as opposed to the paper and cardboard parts. First, the minifigures from the front. The trolls and regular crownie have been seen before, but it's always nice to have more of them and to get the copper-helmeted troll with an alternative orc torso. The masterpiece of the minifigures is the king, who comes with beautiful armor, torso printing, and leg printing. He also has a dark blue plume...delicious! My my, the king also has a wonderful back printing! That furry part of his cloak makes him look so kingly! In sum, the minifigures in this set are absolutely wonderful. The king is fabulous beyond description, and the others are great to have as well. MINIFIGURE Special Section: KING I read on one of the forums that people were annoyed that LEGO put "yet another" king into a set. Those people wished there were just more crownies in this set, and no beautiful king that can easily be afforded. Well, lets take a look at how our newly outfitted king holds up with kings of the past ten years. From left to right, King Leo of KK1(sorry, I could not find his crown, but it's quite worn anyway), King Mathias of KK2, and our new king, of Castle. The new king is a lot more exciting with his dark blue and back printing. King Leo does have nice leg printing, but the gray just does not compare to royal dark blue. Plus, our new king has beautifully printed armor and a plume! Now, let me show you a few things that you can create with pieces from the new king, to further show you how great he is. Firstly, two semi-obvious Castle minifigures: a crownie in armor with a lovely sash and dark blue plume, and a dwarf in a kingly robe. But then I got to thinking, and I realized that you can even use the king's torso for city-themed characters, like so: You couldn't have made that guy with King Mathias' torso. I hope these few thoughts about the king further convinces you (WhiteFang) of this minifigure's beauty. ACCESSORIES Yes, they get their own section. Here is where we see that there are two, not one, two! orc shields. We also get some dark grey long poles (I still think they should have never left the Orient), four differently colored gems, a chrome gold broadsword, a bow, and two dark Reown (reddish-brown) spears. It seems LEGO likes its dark brown spears, because it put them in the Mountain Fortress too. I have to wonder though, why did the trolls have those cool metal chipped swords before, but now revert back to wooden spears? While LEGO did put some chipped swords in the even newer Trolls' Battle Pack, the spears were still an odd choice in this set. They are nice to have though. We also get a horse (I consider it a minifig accessory). It comes with bricks to fill it in when it's not attached to the chariot. The back of the box shows the king riding the horse, even though there's no saddle. A great accessory collection, especially for just four minifigures. PARTS Who needs a picture of the parts list in the instructions when I set all of them up so nicely? Even sorted by color. The color variety is very nice. It's great to get gold, brown, and especially dark blue! And don't forget the extra pieces! The BUILD Ok, you're ready, let's put those pieces together! (Does that sound corny to you too?) I took pictures of every fourth step after the fifth one, don't ask why! In 5 steps, we have: 9 steps. Weapons and horse attacher added, plus the first panel of what will be the floor of the chariot. 13 steps. Mmm... dark blue added. 17 steps. More dark blue is added, starting to build the walls of the chariot. The gems (and extra piece) have been put in the gold chest. This king must be filthy rich to have all that gold plated stuff. 21 steps. The chariot part itself is mostly done, now with gold flags and a two-high wall. While in between steps 22 and 23, you build the horse attaching part. I find it funny that the instructions have to show you that you must take out that white brick from the horse before putting the different part on. 23 steps. It's just missing the metallic bow. I also find step 25 odd in the instructions. Firstly, I thought that usually nothing was added in the last step but the minifigures, but here the bow is attached. Also, why is the king in the front manning the bow, while the soldier is standing in the rear? I would think the other way around would make more sense, but maybe this is a king who likes to be right out there in the action. The build does not take very long, so it is not boring and it is not repetitive. SET Now I'll critique how the set is once it is built. First, the left side. From this angle, it is a nice looking chariot, with good colors and nice big wheels. I put the king in back and soldier in front, the way I would have thought to. Perhaps two horses would have been better for the comparatively large chariot, but I think it's ok. The set is symmetrical, so there is no need for two side pics. Front. Yes, the angle is a bit funny, but the chariot does look a bit imposing when viewed head on. Back. Here's an obvious flaw, what's holding the chest in on the back. If the chariot zoomed forward, wouldn't the chest fly right out? Above. Here we see that there is really not so much space in the chariot, and it is hard to put the king and soldier in many different positions when they're holding their accessories. DESIGN I know this is not a traditional section of a review, but I want to spend time on this, so I created this section. First, I mentioned above that there is nothing holding the chest on the back of the chariot except LEGO studs, which don't exist in real life anyway (sorry kids!). Why couldn't LEGO have added one more gold rail thing to the back, to make the chest look safe? The way it is now, this could happen: Another flaw is that there is no designed way for the minifigures to enter the chariot except by the hand of G-D. The poles leading up the flags also block the vision of the minifigures inside, so an orc could climb up. For a battle chariot, the whole thing seems a bit under-armed. The only armed part of the chariot is the spears and crossbow. I wonder why LEGO did not rig it with play features like flick-fire missiles, that shooting system they use on the Troll Warship, or some regular flick-catapult. Not that I mind not having those, I really don't. It's nice to have a simpler model without those play features, but I still can wonder why LEGO opted not to have them. It's not like they were over their piece per price limit. Since there are no things to flick or fire, one must be imaginative with the armament of the chariot. For instance... 1. An orc warrior is standing ready to jump on the approaching chariot. Looks like the King's Chariot had that attack covered! 2. Two orcs fear the King's Chariot, so they run for their lives. Good thing the king had that crossbow installed! 3. This time, the orcs decide to attack from above. The king wasn't ready for that. CONCLUSION The best thing about this set, hands-down, is the minifigures. They are beautiful. The accessories for them are also really great, a big plus for this set. The color scheme and parts selection is quite good, but it is at least 50 pieces under what is today the standard of price-per-piece. There are also a bunch of flaws in the design, as I demonstrated above. So, am I happy I bought this set? Yes, I am. The minifigures alone are worth the $20, and the chariot is a nice addition to the myriad of other crowny vehicles already available. The Castle line was crying for a vehicle for the king, and it got an acceptable one. RATINGS Minifigures: 10/10 - I think you know my feelings about them by now. Pieces: 8.5/10 - Great color scheme and selection, but not enough. Build: 9/10 - Not repetitive, and you can't really expect a long build in a $20 set. Playability: 8.5/10 - Apart from rolling it around and banging little plastic men together, there isn't much to do. Price: 8/10 - You can't expect this to be a $10 set, even though $10 would fit the 103 pieces. The finished model is bigger than that of a $10 set, and the minifigures are awesome. Throughout the years, LEGO has always considered a variety of factors when pricing a set, so $20 is not so bad. Overall: 8.8/10 - A calculated average says "this set is most likely worth getting." Although I've given you this advice, the best way to find out if you will like this set is to buy it and see it yourself! I hope you enjoyed my review, and learned something about a set that so many people hated.

I completely agree with Darthperson. Rather than having the mindset "if you see a set you don't want, don't get it," have the mindset "if you see a set you want, get it." That actually makes a difference, because it means that you are getting something that you really want. However, if you truly get something out of collecting everything, and you can afford it, then you should. Just don't feel compelled to buy everything or sad if you don't have a complete collection.

I have to disagree with all of you who say that this set blatantly sucks. I bought it, and my review is still inside the academy, but will be out here soon for everyone to read. Yes, there are only 103 pieces for $20, but LEGO has done things like this for many, many years, it isn't a new development. This set is great for people with limited budgets, they can get two different orcs, a completely awesome king, and a crowny. There are a bunch of nice parts in interesting colors like dark blue as well, and a horse, which many people do not have many of. There are lots of plusses to this set, and although there aren't too many pieces, the model itself is still the size expected in a $20 set. Maybe when my review comes along, a few people will be able to better see the positive parts of this set and not just the negative. EDIT: Mr. Mandalorian beat me to praising this set by two seconds, and I definitely agree with what he has to say.

If you can, you should get rid of the pieces from the original AAT. Right now, while the tower is very good looking indeed, it does not fit that it is slapped atop some Star Wars pieces. The tower and whole model would look better if you used other pieces to create the base of the AAT, so then it would look more Castle-y and you might be able to incorporate the wheels better too. The redo is much better, but you shouldn't have the Star Wars pieces at all because they just don't fit in.

A very nice entry! I especially like all the detail there is floating around: the cafe, the tv crews, and all the great rooms inside the buildings. Both buildings are quite pleasing from the outside as well, although the yellow one is a bit plain compared to the magnificent tv tower building. Great job, good luck in the contest!

Pirate Pete, could you clarify the purpose of this thread? It is great that you and many others (myself included) have strong faith in our respective religions, but it is unnecessary on a community forum of toy enthusiasts. As others have stated, your intentions may be sound, but in a diverse community you never know who may step forward and start to bash another group. I sincerely hope that does not happen, and I'm sure most members would never do this, but it is still a possibility. Instead of opening a discussion topic about this, you could create a Christian themed MOC to present your beliefs. That way, you can constructively discuss religion while still referring to and using the thing that this website is all about, LEGO. This would also allow you to contribute to the entire community and not only to people who share your beliefs.

The writing was good, and the idea is ok, but the pics really are too messy. I know you say "it's supposed to be messy," but it comes across (to me anyway) as just a bunch of pics of LEGO and an action figure in a cluttered bedroom. Your idea would be suited much better by pics taken at least on a clean floor without the usual bedroom clutter thrown around. If you do a second installment, I would advise cleaning the floor first. It would help out your idea, which is good.

I'm not sure you're right on that. LEGO is all about creativity and building, and the minifigs are just another part that you can build your own way and design the way you want. I've become warier about pulling out the arms, but I do it the way everyone else has suggested and only some of my older figs (1998-ish) have ever shown signs of damage. Part of pulling the arms out is that you just have to not worry about it. If you want a certain minifig with a certain arm combo, just make and don't worry about it.

Really? That is very interesting. I have a nice quantity of the old style hinges that I have used multiple times, and they have yet to even show any wear. I have always loved these old hinges much more than the new style ones because these old ones are so much more posable and much less limited than the newer kind. I do understand now that the various reasons for the hinged chair that other members have offered are much more reasonable than my own interpretation. However, the hinges still make for a funny story!

Ooh! New tattered cape awesome-ness! I love capes! The Drawbridge Defense reminds me of an old drawbridge castle set, except with much more interesting figures. I'm sure I won't get the troll fortress, but it looks fantastic!

Yes, that interview was the source of the pictures (now found on the frontpage), but it was posted many pages back, so no worries. The delay is news though, that's a bummer to hear. It's not too long after, but I hope that this isn't a bad sign that it might keep getting pushed back (I want to see that exclusive fig!).

I posted this news in the Bionicle 2009 discussion thread, but then decided I should bring it to everyone else's attention in general because things may get, well, lost down there (no offense at all to Bionicle). I was searching TRU, and I came across these: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?p...&cp=2274247 http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?p...&cp=2274247 I had heard of the other upcoming LEGO digital camera that there have been pictures of, but not this! If this has been announced before, my sincerest apology, but I do check much of Eurobricks every day and had never read about this. It is a shame that TRU has no pictures of them, but if they really are ready to ship then I'm sure someone will get one soon and take pics of it. Again, I hope this really is news, -Clone O'Patra

I have never posted before in the Bionicle forum, and therefore I know little about what has gone on before. I just thought everyone might like to know about the "Bionicle Digital Camera." http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?p...&cp=2274247 I don't know if anyone has heard of this before (I heard of the upcoming system-ish LEGO digital camera), and I hope this is new news. It's a shame TRU does not have a picture of it, but they have a page both for one in yellow (the link above) and for one in red. If it isn't news, well, sorry.

Perhaps you should join the Academy and/or post a review in the style that you would like to. However, I find that the review done in the Academy certainly give us LEGO enthusiasts a good idea of what is in a set and the value of it, and then we can decide whether to buy that set or not (or just have some nice nostalgia, if it's an old set). Svelte's recent reviews of the upcoming Indiana Jones sets certainly cover the sets in plenty of depth as to inform me of their content and let me decide if I want them or not. Reviews of LEGO sets do not need to be as long or wordy as reviews of games because just a few pictures can easily show you what is in the set, whereas it is impossible to get the gist of an entire game (especially video games) without playing it or without a lot of in depth description. Call me someone with a short attention span perhaps, but I would rather not read a review of a LEGO set that has 1000 words, just some detailed pictures and a few thoughts will suffice for LEGO. But by all means, show us how you would do it!

Is this made only from battle packs? If so, then the limited parts and mixed color scheme is understandable. It doesn't look too stealthy with those two towers, but making it only out of battle packs is a nice idea. The different signs (rebels/republic) also make it seem a little jumbled. Also, what does AT-SF stand for?

"West - the final frontier!" Set Title: Sheriff's Lock-Up Set #: 6755 Theme: Wild West Pieces: 170 Minifigures: 4 Year of Release: 1996 Price at Release: USD $25 Buy it? Inventory? Peeron Bricklink BOX The first part of any set is, of course, the box. This picture is courtesy of Bricklink; my box is long gone. The box has a nice Wild West art design, with the cactuses and the sand and the mountains and sky. It also has a few... problems, if you think about it. First, why was the deputy on the roof and why is he now running off it? Second, how did the bandit in the brown cowboy hat get up on the jail roof and why is he running off it? Third, why is the dynamite flying through the air along with a gold coin if it had been used to blow the jail apart. Fourth, and finally, why does the bandit in the jail have a gun and why isn't he trying to escape from the jail that's just been blown up? I have no answers, except that the box is just designed to show maximum playability and fun. INSTRUCTIONS The front of the instructions shares the same head-scratchers with the box front, so I won't go into detail about that again. The first two pages show that the instructions are printed in portrait mode, have a nice "out west" fealing background color, and a nice old west font for the numbers. Also note that the horse comes with two option, saddle or no saddle. The back shows the 22nd, and final, step of the instructions, which is to add the minifigures and guns. It also shows how to blow off the jail side, which will be covered in depth later. MINIFIGURES and HORSE Let's get the animal out of the way first. It is a nice white LEGO horse with a brown saddle, not anything special going on. As always, the horse is a nice and necessary detail in a western set. Now onto the characters. This set comes with a perfect mix of two bandits and two law-enforcers so that you can make fair battles. Each of them has a nice, old west torso, with lovely shirt and jacket detailing. The card-game themed green vest of the bandit in the stovepipe hat is a bit odd, but still cool looking. I especially love the hairy chest of the red-shirted bandit. One more excellent thing about these minifigures is the variety among them: four different leg colors, all with different hats and torsos, and even a different style fo hat wearing (as per the instructions) for the red bandit! The minifigures' backs have no printing, which is a shame, but back printing was ultra-rare if not never seen back in 1996, so I can't complain. If these sets were redone (like the new Pirates), I'm sure everyone would have an awesome back printing too, but really, it's not a problem not to have it. And now, the guns! Yes, this set comes with a total of four pistols and three rifles. That's seven guns for four minifigures! This is one of the greatest parts of the western sets, LEGO wasn't stingy on the old west violence! I think the whole western line was the first to have real LEGO guns, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Our friends, packin' all the heat! PIECES After you've had enough fun playing with the beautiful minifigures and their seven guns (!), it's time to get ready to build. First, pour all the pieces into a pile. As you may be able to see, some pieces already have stickers applied to them. That is because I had this set built for many years, and just took it apart to clean it for this review. Special pieces. Apart from the spring, which you will see later, the other special/stickered/printed pieces are the safe, the windows, the tiles of dynamite, wanted sign, and cards, and the jail, which I just find special, although it came in several sets. So that you can see it up close, here again is the cool wanted sign, a printed piece. What I believe it says (with thanks to The Cobra) is "WANTED. Flatfoot Thomsen, for bank robbery, dead or alive, Reward $500." I can't make out those other lines. It is also nice that the picture looks like the red bandit that comes with the set. BUILD Now that the pieces have been dumped out, it is time to start building. Around step 4, the floor of the office and a little bit of the jail are apparent. Four steps more, and a table and some hinges are added in the office and some more is added to the jail. Looking good so far. Around step 12 some walls have been added to the office and the back of the jail. In four more steps the office gets a door and windows, as does the jail. It already looks great, but it'll get better! A break is taken from the main model between steps 17 and 18 to build the explode-able jail door. It starts with this base... ...and ends up looking like this. Very sleek! (It looks like I missed that black brick on top when I dusted.) At step 19 the sheriff and his deputy add their lovely wanted sign. At step 20 they add the roof. It is nice to get so many black hinge plates (four), and it allows for two separate sections of the roof to be lifted up alone from the other. Step 21 adds the "sheriff" sign, and we're done! It looks great, such a quaint little office and jail. The barrel and shrub also add nice detail. I imagine this being off in the desert by itself, moderately far from any town, with just two officers passing the time between catching bandits. SET The set's been built, so it's time to show it off! We start with the front. The deput is chasing the red bandit on horseback, while the sheriff is coming out of his office and the green bandit is locked up. It looks very much like our images of the wild west, which make it such a great set! I just love all the details, as I will get to, especially how the office is raised off the ground just like it would be! From the left side of the scene, we see the wall and porch of the office, which look nice and old style from this angle. Another angled view of the porch, I just couldn't resist! The windows are especially nice, and the placement of the railings one stud from the edge instead of right at the edge is also perfect. A view of just the office. My it is purty! From the right side of the scene, we see the jail wall and the office in the distance. The whole thing from the back. Some more of the great details, like the cup outside the jail window, and the sheriff's specially planted safe are evident here. The inside of the office is bare, but there isn't much space anyway so it is nice. A bird's eye view doesn't show much, apart from the nice size of the buildings. There isn't anything atop the office, but what would go up there? DETAIL In this section I will point out all the great detail in close ups. Let's start with the fire and cup outside the jail window. This is so great because LEGO actually designed a way for the officers to realistically feed the cellmate without opening the door. Kudos! The jail inside is bare, but good and hard for a mean bandit! The barrel is also a nice addition, allowing the bandit to hide (if not completely). You could also store some of those many guns in here. The wooden railing of sorts provides a lookout for the officers. (Where is that red bandit, I wonder?) Then there are the special parts of the sheriff's office. Here's a picture of it again to start me off. First, we see the chair is on hinges, which makes it quite high up compared to the table. There is no apparent reason for the hinges, so I made up a little story. This story will demonstrate a reason for the hinges and the sheriff's super-smart money-protecting idea. "The green guy unexpectedly pops out of the desert plain and walks up to the office. He goes right for the safe, but it is empty. 'The sheriff must be up to something,' he thinks. This isn't a guy to fool around, so he points his gun right at the sheriff and asks where the money is. The sheriff isn't talking, so the guy shoots the sheriff, and the chair is blown back to show the strength of the shot. After snooping around, the bandit finds that the sheriff planted the empty safe because he was stashing the money in his table! The green guy runs away, and retires with the cash." PLAY ACTION This review wouldn't be complete without showcasing the special exploding door. There is a hole in the back of the jail to insert the dynamite brick into. From the top (with the roof off), you can make out that there is a spring in there, and that the dynamite is going in under it. When the dynamite is pushed in far enough, it causes the spring to pop up and blow off the door. (No, that badge piece isn't supposed to be there, but I couldn't find the right blank tile.) And now, a video of it in action to get a real sense of how it works. The mechanism isn't great, and sometimes the door is just pushed forward a little instead of blown off. In this trial it works as well as it can, though. Still, this feature is a great addition to the set, and it certainly boosts the playability. CONCLUSION Usually I take even the littlest oddity to be a problem with a set, but there is only one oddity in this set and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. That one oddity, as mentioned above, is the sheriff's hinged chair that can hardly be tipped back with him in it, rendering it useless. But who doesn't love the old style of hinges (I really love 'em), so why wouldn't I want two of them? The build is brilliant: the combination of black and gray on the jail makes it really look like it's made out of stone or mud, and everything about the office looks perfect for the time period and feel being portrayed. The minifig selection is also beautiful, and the number of guns gets a big A+ from me! Without the exploding jail, I'd still completely love this set, so I think of that as just a bonus! CONCLUSION by NUMBERS Minifigures: 10/10 - An unequivocal yes! to them all. Build: 10/10 - Plenty of different parts to build which make it never repetitive. Just about nothing comes up twice, and since you're building to buildings at once it's quite varied. Pieces: 10/10 - A great selection, wonderful printed parts, nicely designed and easy-to-get-right stickers (I don't mind stickers), and lots of guns! Playability: 10/10 - So many guns already make for great playability, but the additions of the mystery table and the exploding jail boost it higher. Price: 9.5/10 - This was a hard descision because really, for 170 pieces the price should not have been above $20. However, I understand that LEGO can't just charge $20 if they give you two nicely-sized buildings, four beautiful minifigs, and seven guns! Let this go as a reminder to those complainers in the SW forum that LEGO has always over-priced things a little, and it isn't a new development. Overall: 9.9/10 - If you can find it for under USD $35 nowadays, don't hesitate!

Note, KimT did say "with the introduction of midi-scale sets," which means no minifigures. While I'm not a big fan of sets without minifigures, I agree with KimT (if this is what he meant) that this ship would make a nice display/swoosh model only, and it would be near impossible to make this ship in the right proportions to not be $400 and nicely fit minifgures. What I think would be nice to see is the control room where Nute and the others are with the hallway and table area where Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fight the droids. Similar to the upcoming Home One set, this set could just feature the cool scenes within the droid command ship.

I decided to just stick to the three main models for the review (and I like the lion too much right now to take it apart). Perhaps if I build the gator or some other models in the future I will add pics of them.

I agree that Rock Band could be a nice addition to City. If LEGO does make Rock Band sets, there probably won't be more than one wave, just my thought.

No, it's a 3 in who knows-how-many? chance at winning a Falcon. It says all orders place May 3 or 4 will be automatically entered into the drawing, and there are also 15000 copies of the poster, which I guess are first-come first-serve. I bet LEGO will sell out of something cheap pretty quick, from all those people wanting to enter to win the Falcon.