Deinonychus

Wait...Mecha 1 has no legs? I thought he was the gold pilot and not the integrated silver robot in the gun turret. 8-| Anywho, great pictures. I love how the robots on the legs drop down to ground level. That set absolutley rocks, you're a lucky man for finding it so quickly X-D

I'm pretty sure that is Nightwing and not Robin...he even has his escrima sticks (or whatever Nightwing calls his clubs) ;-) EDIT - Now I got pictures

(squints) I'm assuming that's the Riddler Batman is coming after on his glider...even though he seems to be absent from the rest of the comic...from what I can see anyway :-P

Incidentally the Roaring Roadster and Mythical Creatures designer sets are on there too, as well as the Airport and a couple other of the mid-year set...but no new Exoforce or Bionicle yet

Sweet! Can't wait to see this sucker in all it's glory! I like the little alt-model robot artillery battery on the back there...hopefully I won't be tempted to get two sets just to keep each model built up :-P

I was browsing around the Megabloks site (Yeah, I know "Megabloks Suck!"...bite me...) looking for stuff on their Pirates of the Carribean sets or some new Probuilders, when I notice THE DA VINCI CODE listed in their product menu... Wow...that's kind of bizzare isn't it. The link leads to nothing at the moment, but I'm really curious for curiosity's sake. I haven't read the book, but I can't imagine there'd be much build-worthy involved in the story, so can anyone figure on what could possibly be involved with this? :-D EDIT - Nevermind, I got to the bottom of this myself :-P Move along, nothing to see here

Oh hell, that'd be worth it for mech/space shaped pink bricks alone! :-D LEGO is packed full of weird and offbeat colors they don't use very often, the variety of mech colors we could see is very encouraging...I'm personally hoping for a teal one

I've never been able to watch an entire episode of Spongebob...but that Spongebob Minifig just cracks me the hell up so I'll be getting at least one of the sets just for him

I disagree. I think people who are paid to be creative are probably better at it, because they don't have to go to work and waste all day doing stupid things; instead their work is creativity, and they get paid for it too. I think the real reason lego sets aren't as good as some MOC's out there is because Lego is a business, and it cannot afford to make $300 sets or else they'd go out of business. I feel that the Lego designers do their absolute best and their creativity shows through in spite of the restrictions TLC puts on the sets. That's a key point there and I'm glad someone else picked up on it. The LEGO designers not only have to design cool and marketable sets, but they also have to fill out size and price-points and keep the piece counts to a level where the production costs won't outrun the price-point. Supernova is a great example I think. My theory on that set is that it was an earlier basic mech design, but it just had too many pieces and would never fit into the $15 US price-point. So, instead of scrapping the design outright, it's given the TRU Exclusive treatment and sold for a little more. Designing to a price-point is probably what hamstrings a lot of the LEGO designers in terms of creativity. However, when they're given a high price point to meet like say...the UCS Star Wars ships, the results are spectacular. I think it also works in our favor sometimes. Take the Gate Assault set. The gate, tank, and Robot Mech all look like they were designed to be the set. However the little white Mech almost looks like an afterthought. It's possible that it was tossed in near the end to up the piece count and give a little more value to a set meant to sell at the $30 US price-point. So, MOCers have unlimited numbers of pieces they can toss into a creation and no limitations so far as actual construction goes, but the LEGO designers have any piece in any color they want...plus brand new pieces from time to time, so in the end i think the whole deal balances out

Pshhhh...after the painful abuse my eyes went through trying to follow the directions on the Batman sets, this looks like a piece of cake :-P

I think so. They've got a solid foundation for a continuing theme with all the robots and mechs and war-machines and such. It just begs for expansion. Like vahki said, it sort of has a Knights Kingdom vibe to it that says to me that LEGO is really behind the concept and is actually planning on expanding into the future. Then again, it could possibly go away for a year or two and resurface again in the future sort of like Alpha Team did recently. Either way, I doubt 2006 will be the only year for Exoforce

Aye. I'd prefer an evolution of the old Pirates theme. I really don't mind if they introduce storylines either. That I'm not too sure about. I dig Castle, but Knight's Kingdom really doesn't do it for me. I'd rather have 7 or 8 different generic Minifigs repeating over and over in sets (like Vikings) instead of established characters like KK has. That, and since the KK storyline isn't all that compelling to me, it actually keeps me from showing interest in sets I might otherwise. So personally I' d rather just see some new Pirates in the classic story-less style. Besides, it's more fun to make up your own story ;-)

I think Spider-Man was a special case in that it started as a Studios property and wasn't very vehicle-heavy. Both the Alpha Team and the Caped Crusader have pretty vehicle-centric themes, which makes them fairly similar.

Trust me, those big in-store sculptures they have down in Orlando can't be bought...I've tried several times And eventhough I'm holding off on the big sets until TRU has some awesome sales, it might be worth it to drive down there and check out all the new stuff this weekend. I'm hoping the new Exoforce would be there as well...I would certainly not be against picking up the striking Venom or Hero Tank right away X-D

I think a licenced Pirate theme would be a horrible idea, much better just to do a whole new work-up of the classic LEGO pirates. Also I'm sure many wouldn't like LEGO "locking up" their possible themes with licencing. Like was mentioned, there's been no substantial Space since Star Wars started (Mars and I guess Exoforce excluded), and Harry Potter sort of locks up the fantasy angle, and Batman precludes an action adventure theme (like Alpha Team or Dino Attack) so more licences would just cut back on other LEGO themes we've come to love. Also, Disney could be a factor. Who knows how much input and control they'd want on the sets. Megabloks is obviously already set up to handle Disney licences, so there's a pre-established relationship there. LEGO had some Disney licences for a while (I remember Pooh) but I don't think that worked out too well for them. Now I love Megabloks, but I'm also glad that they've sort of taken the hits on not-too-hot licences instead of LEGO. Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel Comics, Star Trek, Narnia, and now Pirates of the Carribean...none of these have done all that great at retail (most ending up marked WAY down in a couple months) with only the Power Rangers having any real staying power. (the first series if which, was a lot of fun ) Part of that could be that only the Rangers were even remotley suited to minifig-scale system building. Megabloks scooping up several licences and trying to see what works just leaves LEGO room to take their time and pick up really good licences that fit well with minifig-scale system building. (Star Wars, Batman, even Harry Potter to a lesser extent) I also think Megabloks serves as a sort of "independent test market" for LEGO themes. It can't be a coincidence that Megabloks has been doing very well with their Dragon lines, and last year we get a very dragon-heavy Viking theme that, by comparison, puts the Mega-Dragons to shame. It's totally possible that if the Pyrates and the Pirates of the Carribean sets sell very well, LEGO will give us new Pirates very soon. So not to worry...this is a very good thing. LEGO is so much better Pirate-wise then a fleeting licence. And to all you Megablok-hating brand snobs out there...grow up would ya'?

Excelent Review *y* I'm quite looking forward to building this sucker and sticking it on my shelf...Here's to hoping we get a UCS Batwing next year

GAH! Now I must resist so that I can save a bunch of money when TRU does their usual "Buy one get one half-off" sale around Christmas :P

Niiiiice! Now don't take this as an insult, because it's a compliment coming from me, but it puts me in mind of some of the great Megabloks aircraft they've done in the past several years...I'd buy a set designed like that in a heartbeat! *wub* And it's packing Exocets...that's cool, it can take out some unsuspecting brick warship X-D

Mine are in one of those comic-style magazine boxes...they share the space with a modest stack of Playboys oddly enough

Poetry! :-P What about the combination of bad grammar and the lack of any ability to find the shift key when encountering the beginnings of sentences or proper nouns? ;-)

Great Review *y* Just one question...can you compare it's weight to any other larger Star Wars (or other) sets? I'm kind of wondering if I'll be able to hang this from the celing without too much difficulty, and having something to heft would help

Oh baby, look at the cannons on that sucker *wub* Exo-Force is quickly becoming one of my most favorite themes...rock on!

Am I reading this right? Any star wars set they won't send you replacement parts? No, they do. I've done it before with a star wars fig, but you have to go through a lot to get it, filling out a form even! Has something to do with the license and LucasFilm being superstrick Hmmm...that's odd My ARC-170 was missing a couple pieces so I went to the website, filled out the form, and the replacement parts came in the mail in about a week with no hassle. In all my 29 years of buying LEGO sets, that was the first time I was short pieces. I also wrote them asking how to preserve the stickers on the Blockade Runner set once and instead of a reply email they sent me a spare sticker sheet without me even asking for it! No complaints here X-D

Some of the limbs for starters, that's as far as I've seen anything remarked on at least. I can't seem to able to scrape up a holotype specimen number to investigate further :-P

Oh lord...don't give me any ideas 8-|