XimenaPaulina

Thanks for the comments guys, really appreciate them! Just goes to show how flawed my SW history knowledge is. For that I deserve these: Funny thing, I remembered the 2006 Lando fig yet I forgot both the updated skiff and the sarlacc pit in the same set. Ugh, pretty much destroys the whole premise of my review. Oh your dirty little minds! But yes, that is supposed to be a Titanic-like scene. This. You get half a cookie for browsing in BL for the answer. I guess that makes sense for the length, good catch! And you can never turn your back to the Dark Side, the Force is always strong even for ex-LSW fans so you better get this set!

Thanks! Even if I don't get the correlation with the name "Corona" (?) Thanks, I was quite happy and surprised at the same time to have come up with a purist custom. I was just messing around mix-&-matching minifigs parts when I ended up with this fig and the overall look just 'clicked'. And sure, feel free to use any concept or idea you got from this entry. As long as our figs aren't exactly the same then I guess it's just alright.

It has been a while since TLG gave us an updated version of the Desert Skiff. We got the first one back in 2000 (7104 Desert Skiff) and six years later as part of 6210 Jabba’s Sail Barge in 2006. Another six years have past and we're now getting the third installment of this obscure desert utility vehicle in a LEGO set. Based on the preliminary images it does look like a winner of a set, but as the cliché goes, you wouldn’t appreciate a set until you buy it, build it, hold it in your hands and see the completed set with your own eyes. So was the long wait worth it? Will this set live up to the expectations? Let’s all find out. Name: Desert Skiff Number: 9496 Theme: Star Wars | Subtheme: Original Trilogy (Episode VI) Year: 2012 Pieces: 213 Minifigs: 3 Price: $24.99 | £24.99 Links: Brickset | Bricklink | Peeron (not yet inventoried) | LEGO Shop@Home The Box The box is longer than the usual boxes of $25 sets due to the horizontal orientation of the main source material, the Desert Skiff. It measures 35.4 x 19.1 x 6 cm and sports the 2012 box art template featuring Darth Maul’s awkwardly twisted head at the top right. I don’t mind the “extra length” of the box, I think it’s the proper “presentation”, though I’m not a big fan of the Maul box art. The front box art recreates the scene in RoTJ where Luke was supposed to be executed in the Sarlacc Pit. I like the fact that the box art already shows the characters in action, with Luke already “receiving” his lightsaber (from astromech sharpshooter Artoo in the movie) while maintaining his balance on the platform. Boba Fett flying to Luke’s skiff is also quite accurate, though it looks like he just came out of the Sarlacc Pit. A disguised Lando and skiff guard Kithaba completes the battle scene. Like all 2012 box arts, the minifig line-up is prominently displayed on the right side under a bluish metallic background. The usual set information is displayed on the left, and I need not be reminded that I clearly fall into the 7-12 age bracket (kid at heart ). In the back of the box, a big main panel shows Luke being escorted to the Desert Skiff (on landing mode). This is a nice fictional scene to see as this was actually not shown in the movie. Three small panels at the left show the playability features of the skiff, while three slightly bigger panels on the right show a couple of movie scenarios at the top and a “how-to-feed-Boba-in-the-Sarlacc Pit mini-tutorial” on the side. Two shot of the desert skiff over a schematic diagram-type background and the LEGO.com icon on the lower right corner complete the back box art. The right side of the top of the box features the set’s line-up of four NEW! Minifigs, with the Lando fig separated from the other three as it’s shown in the 1:1 panel – good call I must say to avoid redundancy. No fancy background either, just a clean simple blue background makes the figs stand-out so you’ll notice the details better. The left side of the box simply shows the LEGO Star Wars logo, set number, and a small version of the front box art on the right. I no longer took the photos of the right and bottom sides as they’re just your usual boring information stuff. The Contents The box contains three numbered bags, a single instruction booklet, and three loose plates, which will all be shown next. Oh, and no dreaded sticker sheets. Zero, nada, zilch. I can now die peacefully. The Instruction Booklet As the norm of small-sized sets, the single instruction booklet features the same cover art as the box minus the set name and minifig line-up. The booklet I got came in good condition, and I was a bit surprised on how thicker and heavier it is compared to other sets of the same size (it’s 60 pages BTW). Sample Page Here’s a sample page of the instruction booklet. The image of Darth Maul appears every once in a while along the building process. The instructions are easy to understand, printed clearly on the light grey background there's no difficulty with color differentiation. The LEGO parts Bag 1 Content The first bag contains the pieces to create the Sarlacc Pit and the Luke Skywakler and Boba Fett minifigs. The earth colors of tan, dark tan, and light bley are distinctively ‘desertish’. Bag 2 Content Bag 2 gives us the first parts for the desert skiff, as well as those of the Lando and Kithaba figs. Bag 3 Content The third and last bag is also the biggest one, containing huge parts to complete the desert skiff. Loose parts There are three 2x16 dark bley plates loosely included along with the other contents of the box, which is the usual case for relatively long/large plates in small sets. The Build The Minifigs As previously mentioned, this set gives us four new minifigs, or more appropriately, three updated minifigs (Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, and Lando Calrissian in Skiff Guard disguise) and a new Kithaba minifig. We’ll look at them closely on the following sections. Boba Fett After a very impressive update of the old Boba Fett minifig into the 'modernized' version we got in 2010’s Slave I, TLG has decided to yet again “improve further” the detailing of the Boba minifig, particularly the leg prints. Now I’ve always had issues with overly-detailed minifigs, though admittedly I’m more and more becoming used to this trend (by force?) dominating the figs of almost every LEGO theme (Licensed, Collectible Minfigure Series, etc.) so I’m no longer averse of them that much. I’m pretty sure fans of highly-detailed minifigs would absolutely love this new Boba fig, and would salivate at the sight of those leg prints, it even has metal boot details! Comparing it with the 2010 Boba Fett, aside from the aforementioned leg prints, the hip color was also corrected into dark green and the shoulder cape changed from brown to sand green. Fett's blaster was also apparently ‘upgraded’ into an uber-long version, which I don’t think is an improvement at all. Overall, it’s quite a good fig, the added leg prints is accurate to the source material. I assume this would probably be the most popular minifig in this set among LSW fans, but I have my own favorite one in this set, which happens to be…. Lando Calrissian (in Skiff Guard Disguise) The best one for me in this set, for the following reasons: 1. the outstandingly detailed helmet, 2. a useful brown-skinned minifig head which is rarely released, and 3. it saved me some bucks by not getting the overpriced old version from 2006’s 6210 Jabba’s Sail Barge. Comparison with the previous version version show that the same helmet mold was re-used but with much-needed prints now. The torso also has improved print detailing (including a back print) and changed its color from black to dark orange. The face print was also updated into the pupiled eyes. Even the vibro-axe weapon was improved, though it’s quite long IMO, but no big deal really. Luke Skywalker Here is yet another version of Luke Skywalker, probably the most recreated character in minifig form (free cookies to anyone who could tell how many version of Lukes have been there). He now sports a grey torso with black undershirt and black sleeved arms. It’s a simple but an effective update which I certainly welcome. It looks good overall. Kithaba This is the new minifig character in this set – Kithaba the Klatooinian assassin turned skiff guard. For an extremely minor character I must say his minifig is quite well done. Both his face and torso prints are accurate to the source material. While I would’ve wanted to see the Weequay skiff guard Queequeg (since he’s the one that I remember the most in this scene), I think it’s already asking too much since we already got two fantastic minifigs in Lando and Boba and it would’ve required a new headgear mold, something TLG would obviously not do for a relatively unknown character in a small set. The Build The Sarlacc Pit From the contents of Bag 1 the Sarlacc Pit was built. Here are some multiple views of this desert creature in brickbuilt form. I think it’s quite a good brickbuilt representation of the real Sarlacc using a decent amount of parts. The mouth pieces used, along with the tentacles and surrounding teeth are effective in capturing the organic look of the Sarlacc. Of course one could argue that it could be built better via MOCing route but in the context of a playset I think it serves its purpose pretty well. And what would the Sarlacc be without it’s favorite Mandalorian meal right? The Boba Fett fig (or any other figs for that matter) fits snugly inside the Sarlacc mouth. Comparison with Reference Material and previous version Here is a comparison pic of the 9496 Sarlacc Pit vs. the 2006 version and the reference material. The current Sarlacc gets plus points for the added tentacles (even it's only two compared to several in the 'real' thing) and the playability feature of fitting a minifig inside the mouth. Though I would have to say 6210 Sarlacc has better teeth details and the mouth-to-pit opening relative size looks more accurate than the new one. Bag 2 – Desert Skiff Part 1 The base foundation of the desert skiff is built using the parts from Bag 2. Here is what we have at this stage of the build: Bag 3 – Completed Desert Skiff The desert skiff is completed with the last parts from Bag 3. Overall it was a very easy and straightforward build. Here are a few shots of the desert skiff: Playability Features Weapons Chest Box At the center of the skiff is an opening chest box where small weapons could be stored. Quite a neat little detail that was not expected but very welcome. Swinging (Extendable) Gangplank The “main life of the party” so to speak. The desert skiff would be nothing without its dreaded gangplank where unfortunate victims spend their last seconds in the universe. The way it was built so it could be concealed inconspicuously on the side of the skiff during flight mode is genius IMO. Movable Side Steering Vanes Much like the wing flaps, rudders, and steering vanes of real life air-borne vehicles, the two side steering vanes of the skiff can be moved up-and-down and rotated 360-degrees for maximum control. Flick-fire Missiles The captions say it all. Control Pedestal A control pedestal is located at the back with a couple of simplistic control sticks. Nothing too fancy but gets the job done. Extra-spacious platform Aside from the four minifigs included, you could still put additional figs in the spacious platform. Remember the movie scene actually had 9 passengers on the skiff, and you could very well do that on this one. Comparison with Reference Material Here’s a comparison image of this LEGO desert skiff vs. the source material: The Good: Overall shape and length, proper curves at the right spots, the control pedestal, side steering vanes, ‘hideable’ gangplank, and weapon rack details are true to the source material. The Bad: Lack of curved hand railing in the front and back, which are distinct features in the real desert skiff. The Ugly: Multi-colored skiff vs. mono-toned color of the real desert skiff. This actually doesn’t bother me much, just pointing out the obvious inaccuracy. Comparison with previous LEGO desert skiffs As expected, the new desert skiff definitely trumps the previous two versions in terms of overall design. The new one is wider (6 studs-wide vs. 4 for the other two), longer, and has finally corrected the lack of the distinct sleek curved look of the two previous versions. There is nothing I could find in the previous desert skiffs that is better than this new one. Even with still some lacking details like the front and back curved hand rails, the new desert skiff is certainly a huge improved over the previous two versions. Rating the Set: Design – 9/10 It’s hard not to compare this with its 7104 predecessor, if I were to score him that way this would’ve been easily a perfect 10. But putting things in perspective, a respectable score of 9 is just about right for both the desert skiff and Sarlacc pit designs, striking a balance between aesthetic look, function and playability, and cost considerations. The only shortcoming I felt is the minor lack of curved hand rail details in the skiff. Build – 8/10 The build was expectedly smooth sailing for the set its size. There were no thought-provoking techniques used, though I have to give + points to the 'hideable' gangplank. Parts – 7/10 I’ve never had much earthy colors like brown and dark tan in my sets before, so these are a welcome sight. And they can be extremely useful for steampunk-inspired MOCs! But aside from those, majority of the parts are quite common and nothing to be excited about. Minifigures – 10/10 Perfect IMO. TLG did a pretty good job in updating Luke and Lando, and introducing a new minifig in Kithaba. All three have an adequate amount of details while still retaining the simplistic LEGO look and shying away from the action figure-like detailing. On the other hand, the overly-detailed Boba Fett is growing on me the longer I look at it. Playability – 8/10 A hovering craft which could accommodate a bunch of minifigs, a hungry worm-like desert monster, sacrificing a hero and turning back the tables on the villains with intense battle scenes – what more could an imaginative playful child would want right? Price – 9/10 Great value for your money, the four new figs alone will probably cost more than the whole set when sold separately. Selling prospects aside, a $0.11 price/parts ratio is pretty good especially for a SW set. And rarely do your get four new minifigs on a single small non-battle pack set. Overall: 85% I’m pretty certain this would be one of the most popular sets among LSW fans considering the OT material, and the long time it took for this set to be re-made adds another level of desirability. TLG is once again capitalizing on the minifig-driven customer preference on buying sets, and for long-time LSW fans like us, this set is a welcome opportunity to add four new minifigs in our collection. Overall, one could never go wrong with this set, I highly recommend this to any avid LSW fan

Thanks! Total cost based on average BL prices are now included.

"You lavish in your worldly possessions while majority of society suffers Hunger, debt, sickness, death, things that do not bother you But time will come when the no one will be above any one else And in my hands I shall cleanse the world , one less elite at a time." Customisation Details: Type: Semi-purist Head: Hawkeye head with shades ~ US$ 1.28 (no BL entry for the head alone; approximate price by the dividing the whole Hawkeye minifig ave. price by 4 elements) Hair: CMS4 Werewolf Hair ~ US$ 1.06 Torso: CW Count Dooku torso ~ US$ 1.78 Legs: Alien Punk 'Space' (SP3) legs ~ US$ 0.82 Trenchcoat: Custom-made ~ US$ 1.56 (ave. BL price of standard LEGO cape) Weapon: "Electro-staff" made from Count Dooku's lightsaber hilt + black skeleton leg ~ US$ 1.74 + 0.11 = US$ 1.85 Total Cost: ~ $10.09 (total ave. BL prices of the parts for the last 6 months) Link to flickr set Thanks for looking! C&C's are welcome!

At first I thought of designing my own decals (which I'm admittedly not good at), but when I saw yours I thought they were spot on and they couldn't be done any better so I just decided to use your designs. Thanks again for sharing them, saved me a lot of time and effort! With regards to the trenchcoat here's the simple template that I prepared (pls. excuse the crudity of my template): Just use a standard LEGO cape, cut the top and bottom parts, as well as the two holes at the sides where the arms will be fitted. The length of the trench coat may be varied depending on what design you want. Thanks man. Yeah I'm with you there on Ms. PaleFace Widow, lesson learned to tone down on photo editing. I'll just take a better pic when I have the time.

Talaga namang nakakamangha ang ganda! Bravo once again AC, another grand spectacle of a build this is, and one of my favorite SW settings too. I know you have a penchant for "maximizing" your builds, so is there any chance we will we see this particular scene in this arena? (again another personal favorite)

Thanks Masked! With regards to Loki's hair, I don't want to get credit for using the CMS Highlander hair. I believe I've seen Solscud use it on one of his pics in the Licensed Photography thread. Thanks for the comments Praiter, coming from a mutual fan of your customs too. On the Nick Fury fig: I used this police torso (below), I painted it with black Tamiya modelling paint, leaving the middle zipper and belt prints. Then I put some sharpie lines on top as finishing touches. I would've liked to use ED-209's custom decal with trench coat patterns on the torso/legs, but I thought the custom trench coat already served this specific purpose and it would be redundant if I used ED-209's decal. On the Black Widow fig: the face looked pale simply because of too much (and apparently inconsistent) photoshopping on my part. On Tony Stark I'm quite satisfied already with the official face so I left it as it is, though I admit Jack Sparrow's face is a very good alternative also.

Thanks! What would the Hulk be without his indestructible pants? Just an inside joke I got here.

Thanks for the feedback guys! Really appreciate it. Nope, I've made some SW customs before --> here. Thanks for the tip! Yeah I've considered the CMS Racer tan hair and will probably go with that. I don't have that Indy soldier face, though I may BL it if I have the chance. Thanks ThePenguin! Sure feel free to use some of the ideas you got here. I'll be posting a mini-tutorial later on how to make these minifig trench coats. Stay tuned!

Earth's Mightiest by KielDaMan This could've been in the Photography thread, though I think one of the 'weapons' is quite funny for this thread.

It’s been a while since I did some minifig customization, and the recent release of the LEGO Avengers sets gave me the opportunity to once again take a crack on customizing minifigs. As great as the official LEGO Avengers minifigs are, there are obviously some missing characters and some perceived inaccuracies of the official figs relative to the movie material. So here are some of my custom LEGO Avengers minifigures: Nick Fury Customization: CW Mace Windu’s head with custom hand prints, custom painted police leather jacket, standard black pants, hand gun, and custom cut trench coat from black cape. Agent Phil Coulson Customization: Purist custom minifig using Admiral Piett’s head with custom ear comlink print, brown hair, businessman torso, black pants and hand gun. Agent Maria Hill Customization: CMS7 Bride’s hair, new Princess Leia’s head with custom ear comlink print, dark blue torso with custom decal from ED-209, Han Solo’s dark blue pants with gun holster print, and hand gun. Black Widow Customization: Official Black Widow torso and legs, new Padme’s head, custom-cut/shortened Black Widow hairpiece painted in dark red, and two hand guns (finally! Pew! Pew!) Hawkeye Customization: Official Hawkeye torso, legs, and compound bow weapon, new Luke Skywalker’s head, and CMS 5 Sleepyhead’s hair, and black arrow quiver. Captain America Customization: Official Captain America minifig with added custom “helmet wing” decal on each side of the head. Tony Stark in Black Sabbath shirt: Customization: Official Tony Stark head, black hairpiece, black torso with custom Brick Sabbath shirt decal from ED-209, dark blue legs and 1x1 round tile “shot glass”. Bruce Banner Customization: Superman head, CW Anakin Skywalker’s hairpiece custom painted in black, tan torso with custom decal from ED-209, and tan legs. Steve Rogers Customization: Old Luke Skywalker’s head, CW Obi-wan Kenobi hair, brown torso with custom decal from ED-209, and light bley legs. Note: Not satisfied with the hair and face, will probably change later to a more appropriate colored hairpiece and face print. Loki with helmet Customization: Official Loki minifigure with helmet and staff with custom cut trench coat from the official green cape Loki with hair Customization: Official Loki minifigure with CMS 5 Highland Battler hairpiece and custom cut trench coat from the official green cape. There you have it, my first batch of custom LEGO Avengers minifigs. There’s more to come after I receive some BL orders. Special thanks to ED-209 for sharing his great decals! C&C’s are always welcome!

Fantastic work Walt! Like what the others have said the use of the poncho on Qui-Gon is really clever and a nice 'cherry on top' of this very well-done build.

Definitely one of my favorite contest entries of all-time, and one of the best ideas in CUUSOO which we could very well see in LEGO shelves in the near future. You have my full support on this one, so best of luck pedro!

Praiter thank you very much for sharing your overall experience on the Grand Opening of the Star Wars Miniland Experience in LEGOLAND Windsor. I sure hope you and your family and friends enjoyed your weekend getaway even on short notice (and even if the missus isn't much of a LEGO fan. ) Really your effort on taking pictures and coming up with a nice write-up is very much appreciated.

Let's pls. keep the discussions here civil. If both you intend to keep your heated arguments I suggest you do it privately through PM. It's ok to speculate, discuss, and have yourselves heard but pls. do it in a respectful manner.

Wow you sure are on a hot streak with back-to-back-to-back-to-back Batman MOCs sok! Great job on Solomon Grundy, as a purist custom you nailed his look perfectly IMO. BTW, I also applaud you for your marked improvement in your photography. You sure have grown leaps and bounds from your Batcave review to these string of MOCs, all in a week's time. Very well done and keep up the good work!

I'm lovin' your Plo's Bros Gunships mutley. I think the look of the gunships would be complete with this gunship noseart (though it's not LEGO-fied). Still, those Wolfpack trooper collection is a sight to behold.

Eurobricks Duke sok117 is having so much fun these days building as he shares with us a flurry of Batman-themed MOCs: Tea Time!, Graveyard Duel, Bat Vehicles, and Joker's Funhouse (not pictured). Click on the images to see more of these on their respective MOC topics.

Wow, even if I'm not at all familiar with the source material but after a quick google search I must say you really did a great job capturing the overall look of this characters in minifigure form! The decal designs and finish look like authentic LEGO prints and even if they're custom-made they still retain the overall LEGO feel on them. And the facial expressions of both the Gunslinger and Snake really approximate the faces of the actors perfectly! (something TLG designers should learn from you, especially like this one when they completely missed the hotness of the source material ) Excellent work, and I'm surely looking forward for more of your customs.

First and foremost, I really don't get the rant about the designers. First it was people gushing over Astrid on her 10224 Town Hall video presentation, and now nitpicks on these two? Why get fixated on the designers when the focus should be on the LEGO product. As for the set, I like it. I think they did a pretty good job with the overall design, detailing, and adding some neat features. It's also a 'breath of fresh air' from the previous ship-dominated UCS releases of years past (though SW ship lovers could still look forward to the upcoming UCS B-Wing). The only thing that I might not like about this set is the expected high price and the fact that this almost all-white finish will be prone to yellowing in a few years time. But still, it looks like a decent set overall, and I'd be interested to see it up close before passing any conclusive judgement. Thanks again to joshizzyk for sharing!

Come with us as we take an exclusive look at the never before seen 10225 R2-D2™, the latest exclusive LEGO® Star Wars™ set! We'll talk with Mike and Kurt, the talented LEGO® designers who brought this awesome model to life in LEGO® bricks. The R2-D2 set will be available directly through LEGO® beginning in May 2012 via shop.LEGO.com and at LEGO® Stores. Visit shop.LEGO.com for more details on this amazing model! Presenting the Ultimate Collector Series R2-D2™ -- the best-loved droid in the Star Wars galaxy! LEGO® Star Wars™ 10225 - Ultimate Collector's Series R2-D2™ Presenting the iconic R2-D2 as you've never seen him before! Everyone's favorite droid from the Star Wars galaxy is now part of the Ultimate Collector Series and features fantastic detailing, such as retractable third leg, front panels that open to reveal a universal computer interface arm and a circular saw, rotating head and 2 fold-out front spacecraft linkage control arms. With the included fact plaque and R2-D2 minifigure, this diminutive model is the perfect addition to your LEGO® Star Wars™ collection! • Ultimate Collector Series R2-D2™! • Features retractable third leg! • Front panels open to reveal a universal computer interface arm and circular saw! • Features realistic rotating head! • R2-D2 features 2 fold-out front spacecraft linkage control arms! • Includes fact plaque and R2-D2 minifigure! • Measures over 12" (31 cm) high and 7" (18 cm) wide! Thanks to joshizzyk for sharing this fresh news and to Grogall for the link to hi-res video (LegobrandonCP via YouTube). Join the discussion in the LEGO Star Wars Pictures and Rumors Topic.

We've gotten some outstanding MOCs over in the Licensed Forum for the Hogwarts Community Build! Have you started yours yet? The deadline for completed MOCs has now been extended until March 31st so get building!

Epic project! I wish you all the best in accomplishing this monumental task. And thank you for sharing the updates, it's very interesting to follow the build as well as the running accompanying cost. I shall watch the progress of this project with great interest.