XimenaPaulina

Thanks! It took me probably my whole weekend (Sat & Sun) to take the pics, post-edit and compose the review. Additional: To fix the glaring oversized problem of the stagecoach, I was able to make some minor modifications that significantly improved the overall size and proportions of this stagecoach. Here is the link to the topic.

I knew Silver will be popular with LOTR fans. (as Shadowfax or generic whote cavalry horses) Thanks! It's a great-value set so it would be worth the purchase. Thanks Masked! Yeah I understand it seems Super Heroes sets are still the popular ones among the Licensed Themes but I guess the Lone Ranger product line will get its following from Wild Western fans or even casual fans like me.

Speedcat sighting! DC should really consider doing her character, does she have the Speedforce like the Flashes? Love the LEGO building backgrounds. And of course, the new Flash Rogue gallery. Looking forward for your next ones!

Not You Again!?! by Kiel.Da.Man For those who don't get the joke:

Well, Yahoo isn't the most reliable news source out there, so I'll take all of these with a grain of salt. Yeah, it's nice to see additional characters appear in the Avengers MCU, but TBH I'd rather see "more Avenger appropriate characters" like the Black Panther, Ant-man and Wasp (even if they already have a movie in the works), Spiderman, etc. Though if it is a "potential universe-linking" between Avengers and DOFP then I wouldn't mind at all.

Mutant Twins Mania! Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch Confirmed For ‘Marvel’s The Avengers 2′

Among the new GS sets of this wave, this is the best one IMO especially vehicle-wise. Gotta love the combination of the juggernaut armored tank and the detachable quad ship! The insectoid centipede ain't bad too and even captures the look of real-life creepy crawlers. Unfortunately, the prohibitively expensive price will keep me from buying this set, along with the fact that there are other themes that are more appealing to collect (though I'm quite sure die-hard Space fans will surely be happy about these!). Nevertheless it was great seeing the details of this set in this review so thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the comments guys! Yep, it was just a typo, fixed it for 'ya. Thanks for the correction! Thanks Mac! I agree this is a good set to try out this theme since you can get the Lone Ranger minifig and Silver in a small cheap set. The new white horse mold alone is worth the purchase IMO.

A couple of YouTube Gold channels: Epic Rap Battles of History Bad Lip Reading

I'm always amazed by the GNPU (great parts usage) of your buils Mood, and this one again does not disappoint! My favorite details have to be the curved tooth for Bane's "nose area" and the triangle pieces for the trench coat sleeves. Clever and nifty!

I've seen some weird (and non-canon?) SW vehicles released by Hasbro and it's great to see someone try to make a LEGO version of one of these. Thanks for this 'fresh' take on CW MOCs AC! Good job!

Ah yes you are absolutely right, how could I miss that unobscured back of the head detail (that's the same reason why LR doesn't have any double-sided face!). Thanks for the much-needed correction.

As follow-up to my previous review for 79108 Stagecoach Escape, I shall be reviewing the smallest set of the Lone Ranger product line, 79106 – Cavalry Builder Set. The whole ‘The Lone Ranger experience’ will not be complete without our hero’s trusty steed, Silver, which was significantly missing from the Stagecoach set and luckily is part of this small and relatively inexpensive set! It’s probably a shallow reason but this horse is why I purchased this set. So is this set worth getting just to get the Silver stallion? Let's see if this set has more to offer in this review... Set Information Set Name: Cavalry Builder Set Set Number: 79106 Theme: The Lone Ranger Year: 2013 Pieces: 69 Minifigures: 4 Price: US$13.99 | CN$17.99 Links: Brickset | Bricklink | Peeron (not yet inventoried) | LEGO Shop@Home Product Description Defeat the cavalry soldiers with the Lone Ranger! Say, “Hi-Yo, Silver!” as you blaze into battle with the Cavalry Builder Set! Guide the Lone Ranger and his trusty steed Silver into battle! Sneak past the defense wall and surprise the cavalry soldiers while they cook dinner at the campfire. Disarm all 3 before they load the cannon and take aim! Then ride off into the sunset for another Lone Ranger adventure! Collect 3 more soldiers and build up your cavalry for all of your Lone Ranger battles! Includes 4 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Lone Ranger and 3 cavalry soldiers. • Includes 4 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Lone Ranger and 3 cavalry soldiers • Features defense wall, campfire with flames, a cannon with wheels and the Lone Ranger’s horse, Silver, with poseable legs and head • Weapons include 3 revolvers and 2 rifles • Accessories include a duffel bag, 2 backpacks, telescope, frying pan, turkey leg, flag, flames, ammunition and a rammer • Sneak around the defenses and defeat the cavalry! • Load the cannon and take aim! • Silver stands over 3" (8cm) tall • Cannon (without rammer) measures over 1" (4cm) high, 3" (8cm) long and 1" (4cm) wide • Defenses measure over 1" (3cm) high, 4" (12cm) wide and less than 1" (2cm) deep • Campfire measures over 1" (3cm) wide and less than 1" (2cm) high and deep The Box The image of the whole set may be cramped in the limited space afforded by the small size of the box, but the elements are nicely presented in the standard TLG way: highlighting the main feature (The Lone Ranger in his signature riding pose with Silver) with the supporting elements (cavalry soldiers aiming a gun and firing a cannon) and a now-becoming-more-common (unintentional?) funny bit (one soldier busy grilling his turkey drumstick while there is an on-going skirmish). The layout of the set features at the back seems to be well thought-of as the two separate panels (cannon and ‘turkey leg’) coincide with the position of the respective items in the main image. And the funny bit about the turkey leg continues at the back as Lone Ranger grabs away the poor soldier’s meal! Like most small sets, the 1:1 actual size panel at the top shows a LEGO part rather than a minifigure – in this case the new revolver piece. Have you ever wondered if the size of the part/minifig in this panel is actually 1:1 with the real thing? I did, and a side-by-side comparison reveals a slight difference in size! (though not really that important ). I overlooked this detail in my Stagecoach review but on the right side of the box there is a small logo which, thanks to my limited movie knowledge, I recognized right away as that “lightning strikes the tree” logo of Jerry Bruckheimer films (which obviously this Lone Ranger movie is also). The Contents This little set gives us two small unnumbered bags of LEGO, a small (folded) instruction booklet, and the white horse piece that comes loose (my assumption is a large piece like this may be ‘problematic’ in the automated packaging in small plastic bags). Also, no sicker sheet! Yay! The Instruction Booklet Since the coverart of the booklet is just the same as the one in the boxart, I’ll just highlight the faint background details of the pages which really give the pages a Wild West flavor consistent with the set theme. The Parts Bagged Contents As a minifig-centric set, roughly a third of the parts are expectedly for the minifigs and accessories. The new white horse piece conspicuously stands out in the sea of Wild Western wooden brown, sand tan, and the usual black and grey assortment of parts. Interesting Pieces The new parts that come with this set are the white horse (first in this color) and the aforementioned new revolver pieces (in flat silver and pearl dark grey). When I first saw these new revolvers back in the preliminary pictures I felt there wasn’t really a need to make new mold since the old one would’ve worked IMO, but now I think these new revolvers add more authenticity/realism to this licensed theme. There is also a flag piece with printed, not stickered, logo of the cavalry, which is based on the real-life mid-19th century 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States. The Minifigs For a small 69-piece, 13-buck set we get a generous amount of four minifigures: the star of the movie, the Lone Ranger, and the main “army-builders” of the set - three cavalry soldiers. The Lone Ranger minifig is the same as the one in the Stagecoach set (and probably with the rest of products). TLG pretty much nailed the overlook look of LR in this minifig – from the face (except for the unshaven look of the actual movie character) to the outfit with his signature cowboy hat, black coat, and star badge. Meanwhile, the cavalry soldiers have the same blue cavalry uniform torsos, unprinted light blue legs, and blue forage caps but are differentiated with unique head prints and different accessories. One seems to be sort of a leader, carrying a revolver, a hand telescope and a duffel bag, while the other two are generic soldiers with backpacks and armed with rifles. All minifigs have back-printing which is already the norm nowadays. However, they don’t have double-sided heads. While it would’ve been nice to get alternative facial expressions, I guess it’s too much to ask for a small and cheap set as this one. (Double-sided faces aren't applicable with these minifigs since the back of the heads aren't covered enough! - thanks to Darth Lurtz for the correction). Here’s a couple of more shots of the minifigs: No you’re not seeing double, I'm just showing that the Lone Ranger from this set is the same as the one in the Stagecoach set. I think this is the only minor drawback of this set in the sense that you’ll end up with more than one Lone Ranger minifgure if you purchase the sets from this theme (just like Jack Sparrow in POTC, Aragorn in LOTR, R2-D2 in SW, etc.). On the other hand, the inclusion of this minifigure in this set is understandable from the perspective that the Lone Ranger is the main character of the movie/theme and this is a good cheap way of getting LR together with Silver. A group shot of the cavalry soldiers: I like the variety of the facial expressions of the soldiers – a cocky Han Solo-ish smirk, an angry serious boss-like look, and a confident smiling smug. I’m pretty sure these will be quite useful in fleshie-based minifig customization. Silver Since the Lone Ranger’s majestic white stallion is also a significant part of the Lone Ranger theme, he should also be highlighted with the other characters of this set. As previously mentioned, this is the first set to give us this new horse mold in white. I’m pretty sure this will also become popular with another licensed theme’s fanbase – I can now imagine LOTR fans removing the headstrap prints on this horse so they will Shadowfax. Here’s a group shot of the new horses in the three main colors. They look good together don’t they? And you can get these three (actually four, with another black one) from just two sets, 79106 and 79108, from this theme! The Build Elements / Set Features Campfire The smallest build is a simple 11-piece campfire with a turkey leg being cooked as dinner for the soldiers. One begs to ask, how in the Wild West will one turkey leg feed three hungry men’s stomachs? Your guess is as good as mine. Despite the simplicity of the build I think this is a nice little feature capturing one aspect of “outdoor life in the wild”. Cannon The cavalry’s main assault weapon, the moveable wheeled cannon is equipped with four cannon balls round bricks and a handy rammer. The cannon, of course, is a must-have for any cavalry arsenal, so I’m happy the designers made the right call of including this in the set. Personally, I have always loved LEGO cannons, I think this is one of the ingenious pieces TLG ever invented and I’ve been a fan of this piece/assembly since the classic Pirates sets. Getting another one in this set is certainly most welcome! Here we have the cavalry unit prepping the cannon, with one acting as the “spotter”, one as the loader of the cannon balls, and one as the “triggerman”. This is the first time I’ve seen the rammer accessory included in a cannon and I think it’s a quite accurate detail reminiscent of “early war technology” (or lack thereof) back then . Also, it’s good to know one of the spare flame pieces can be used in this scene to fire-up the cannon. Defense Barricade We get a nice little barricade as defense of the cavalry unit during gunfight. The ‘wood bricks’ appropriately give the barricade an Old West wooden look, and the small Cavalry flag is a sign that this mini-fort is officially sanctioned by the United States Army. Thanks to a swivel plate connector, the mini-barricade can be positioned in various ways/angles – straight (previous example), angled (left), or perpendicular/right-angled (right). Here’s a shot of the cavalry soldiers behind the barricade. The varying height of the barricade is just perfect for the different uses of the cavalry: defense (three bricks high), offense (two-bricks high - enough height for proper mounting of rifles), though I have no idea how useful is the one-brick high part of the barricade. The Lone Ranger with Silver Depending how one views this set, the Lone Ranger with Silver is either the main or the supporting feature of this set. Either way, this duo in itself is already a great "hero role-playing” playable feature for the kids. It helps also that the new horse mold is now poseable, allowing Silver to assume various action poses: walking (normal position), galloping (stretched hind legs), or even make his signature standing position (pictured above). Hi-yo, Silver, Away! The Completed Set Here’s the whole set in all its glory. Not a bad collection of mini-builds and minifigs for an army-builder set isn’t it? Leftover Parts This theme is quite generous in giving us these new revolvers as we get a couple of spares (further increasing the weaponry of this army builder set). Army / Cavalry-Building Potential I think this set lives up to its billing as a cavalry builder set, providing a nice assortment of cavalry necessities: 3 fully-uniformed cavalry soldiers (with three different faces) Weapons = 5 x revolver (including spares), 2 x rifles, cannon! Accessories = telescope, duffel bag, 2 x backpacks, cavalry flag Mini-Barricade Even Silver can be used as a generic white horse – which is a must-have for any cavalry unit. Overall, almost all the elements of this set (except for the Lone Ranger fig) are tailor-fitted for cavalry building. Just imagine the possibilities of acquiring several of these sets, you’d be able to build a substantial size of a cavalry: (e.g. 5 sets = 15 cavalry soldiers, 5 horses, 5 cannons, 25 revolvers, 10 rifles, a host of other accessories, and a larger barricade can be built from the parts), just never mind the 5 Lone Rangers you’ll end up getting. Needless to say, this is a definite must-have for any Old West Cavalry builder (though I have no idea how large this portion of FOLs is). For the more casual fan like me, this is a pretty good valued-purchase as you’ll be able to get the main character of the movie, Lone Ranger, together with Silver, plus other elements in a relatively inexpensive set. One last thing, before I forget, this set is a nice throwback to the old Western set 6706 Frontier Patrol (for those who don’t know). Rating the Set Design – 9/10 The mini-builds may not be spectacular but they definitely serve their purpose as simple but well-built complementary elements to an army builder set that focuses on minifigs and accessories. When combined with multiples of this set, that is where the full potential of these builds will be realized, and that in itself speaks of how well-conceptualized and well-designed this set is. Build – 7/10 One wouldn’t really expect much in terms of building techniques in a minifig-centric army builder set. The build is as straightforward as it can be. Parts – 9/10 The white horse alone garners this set a high score from me, considering this piece is still exclusive (at the moment) to this cheap set and the more expensive Constitution Train set. Plus points also for the printed flag! Minifigures – 9/10 Four minifigs in a 13-dollar set is a great deal, not to mention the variety in minifig heads and accessories we get for the cavalry soldiers. The simple but accurate representation of the real-life characters is also commendable. Playability – 8/10 Any set that has a cannon in it would translate to enjoyable time of aiming-firing-“looking-for-those-damn-cannon balls” especially for the kids. And cannons are definitely much better and more potent in knocking down minifigs than those flimsy flick-fires. Oh, and Lone Ranger riding Silver is in itself a good “hero role-playing” feature for the kids too. Price – 9/10 This set has prett good value especially when compared to similar army builders in Star Wars Battle packs: both have the same number of minifigs but you'll get better/more pieces, weapons, and accessories at a much cheaper price with this set. Overall: 85% Parting Shot Now that I have Silver, I can now pair up the Lone Ranger with his trusted companion Tonto as they start their quest for justice: Ride for Justice by Kiel.Da.Man Also, look out for an upcoming comic I’m currently working on based on this Lone Ranger set: If you haven't seen it yet you could check out my other Lone Ranger set review for 79108 Stagecoach Escape: Once again, thanks for taking the time to read my review. Comments are certainly most welcome! .

I've actually been meaning to say that also, I guess I should have been more clear in my ratings. You are right and I totally agree with you, the set elements by themselves are highly playable and would surely be enjoyable for the kiddos. That's quite a unusual way to use this set - a undead zombie stagecoach - nice. Hhmm, interesting point. Here I was assuming that all sets in a licensed theme, regardless of size, have the same % mark-up per location/country, so it's quite surprising to learn that "mid-sized/mid-range" sets have higher mark-ups than smaller/larger sets. I assume TLG have the data of consumer behavior and probably the finding was that midsized sets are the most sellable in terms of sales volume and profit so that may be the reason for the high pricing of this set. But still it's unfortunate that many want to buy this great set but the ridiculous high price prohibits them from doing so. Thank you very much! I LOL'd at the "outlaying of the contents of each bag", as that is really time-consuming that sometimes I wonder why I keep on doing it. Anyways, your kind words are very much appreciated, thank you once again.

Became a fan of the TV series first, then I got to reading all the 18 volumes so far of this on-going comic book series by Robert Kirkman (the comics are way better than the TV series IMO).

Well it's a bit weird offering pointers to someone who has been doing LEGO comics far longer than me , but let me see what I can suggest to improve your skills in adding dialogue. Overall, the dialogue in this comics is fundamentally sound, following proper choronology, text and balloon spacing, and the other basic tennets of comic dialogue. I had an easy time understanding the story and I didn't see any major error. Though I spotted some teeny-weeny minor things that you could probably fix: 1. In the leftmost panel in the second row ("They're for flying..." dialogue), the top portion of the balloon border is incomplete. I noticed it overlapped on the borders of the panel, you could either fit it further inside (a bit downwards and to the right) or you could completely have it extend outside the panel borders (just like you did with the other balloons you did, e.g., the last two at the bottom). I personally don't have any problems with balloons extending outside panel borders as I myself like it and have used it in in the past. The main point I'm driving is visually, it's best if speech balloons are within panel borders or extending outside them, just not exactly coniciding with the pabel borders (like in this particular example). 2. In the panel with the CRASH!!! sound effect, was it the Crocodile that is speaking the "Nevrick, there's a potato message for you" dialogue? If he is then the tail needs to be pointed towards him more. If it's spoken by someone in the window(?) then the tail should point more to that source. 3. In the second to the last row of panels, the one with the "Nevrick, why aren't you at school?" dialogue, this is the same case as #1 as the speech balloon was inadvertently cut-off by the panel border. It's either you fit it inside or extend it outwards the panel border. Those are just minor things that you won't have any problems fixing. Now on your problem regarding re-cutting images to fit in dialogue, this is quite a tricky issue as it boils down to how you exactly plan the dialogue ahead of taking the pictures. I must admit, I myself experience the same dilemma when making comics since I normally don't do a written "sketch draft" and specifically plan how the panels and dialogues will fit in. The way I do things is normally "everything is planned and concocted in my head", which is not really advisable and even considered an error-prone technique. So if there's some pointers that I could probably suggest (for you and me ): 1. Make a sketch of how the story will unfold (Dynamic Panelling lesson) 2. Write down the script / exact exchange of dialogue for the whole story so you'll know if the text will be too long to fit in a designated panels. 3. Then it's now only the time to take pictures. Ensure that the space needed for the speech balloons is sufficient, taking into account the exact dialogue from your "written script" from #2. 4. If steps #1-3 are followed correctly, one shouldn't expect any problem in fitting the dialogue inside the seperate panels during post-editing. I know these steps may require extra effort but I think it will minimize, or even completely eliminate, any problem of fitting dialogue in comic panels. (I should also follow these steps I just made now ). I hope that answers your questions, if not, just ask back and I'll try to answer to the best of what I know.

Yeah it might be the colors were inadvertently changed when they tried to give the movie posters a toned-down steampunk overall look. But we'll see when the movie comes out, it would be weird trying to spot the accuracy of these little details while watching the movie. It seems they're following the same route of giving Tonto several facial expressions across the sets like what they did with Jack Sparrow in POTC. I still think the one you mentioned in the Silver Mine set captures best Tonto's serious demeanor: Yeah I hear you there, it's quite difficult to follow so many themes. Unlike you however I chose to try this new theme over the old reliables in SW and Superhero sets. I'm quite surprised that even a dependable market like Europe would get these Lone Ranger sets at such a high price. I honestly don't understand the logic of the pricing of this new theme, since comparing it with similarly $30 US-priced sets (table below), this theme has the biggest mark-up here in Singapore. I don't know if this is also the case in other non-US countries, but I'm still perplexed. Is it because this is a low supply-high demand theme? Is the anticipation of the movie so great that they try to capitalize with the FOLs' interest? I have serious doubts about those reasons.

I'd go with the Gorillas. Yeah lions and eagles are the stereotypical good guys but Gorillas can be too! (like Optimus Primal). Not surprising the one set that I find the most appealing in this product line is the upcoming Gorilla Striker so that will most likely be my first (and probably only) Chima set.

Thanks for the hi-res pics GRogall! Can't wait for the release lovely modern house set! I don't know it this has been mentioned already but the fact that the family in this Family House has no kid means this is intended to be paired up with the Treehouse set with the kid. And I just noticed now, both sets curiously have one walkie-talkie each: Mom: "Son, go down from the treehouse now it's time to eat lunch." Kid: "Roger Mom!" Mom: "And tell your dad to go too." Dad: "Yes dear..." Very clever marketing strategy TLG.

I highlighted the following new parts in the Stagecoach set in my review: 2 x Black Technic, Pin Connector Perpendicular 2 x 4 Bent 2 x Dark Bluish Gray Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Pin Hole Note that these aren't unique/exclusive to this set, but these parts are new pieces for 2013 so you have to take this to account if you're planning to build more stagecoaches. The rest of the parts should be readily available in other colors.

Thanks for comments guys, really appreciate it. Thanks for the heads-up, I only noticed now that the "Barret" in the minifig line-up is completely a different fig! (I thought it was only the hat, bandana, and rifle that was wrong, heck it is the whole minifig that is wrong. ) I get what you're saying from a completist point of view. But for those who only purchase one or two sets per theme like me, getting the main characters in as few sets as possible is a good thing, so I'm quite happy to get the Lone Ranger and Tonto in a single relatively inexpensive set like this. The characters being spread out in different sets is one major reason why I lost interest in the TMNT, LOTR, and Hobbit sets, as it became prohibitively expensive to collect the important characters by purchasing a multitude of sets. You're right, my eyes have deceived me. Thanks for the much-needed correction!

New licensed themes are always a welcome development to our beloved hobby, but let's admit it, LEGO has been churning out new licensed themes lately at a pace that has become increasingly difficult for us FOLs to 'follow'. Good thing I'm a non-completist selective buyer, so I normally just pick up the best, or two, sets of the theme. So when the new licensed theme Disney's The Lone Ranger came out this year, the set that stood out among the rest for me and the one that really got my interest was the 79108 - Stagecoach Escape - for a variety of reasons: a great-looking minifig line-up, a good selection of new parts, and a visually-appealing stagecoach build. So how does the actual set meet my initial expectations? Join me in this review as I find out. Set Information Set Name: Stagecoach Escape Set Number: 79108 Theme: The Lone Ranger Year: 2013 Pieces: 279 Minifigures: 5 Price: $29.99 Links: Brickset | Bricklink | Peeron (not yet inventoried) | LEGO Shop@Home Product Description Make a famous Lone Ranger Stagecoach Escape! Look out for the bandits going after Red Harrington’s valuable silver locked in the vault in the Stagecoach Escape! Launch the baggage off the back to slow the bad guys down! Then jump down onto the galloping horses, detach them from the wagon and help the Lone Ranger and Tonto to chase the outlaws off before they steal the stash! Includes 5 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Red Harrington and 2 bandits, Jesus and Barret. • Includes 5 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Red Harrington and the 2 bandits, Jesus and Barret • Features opening doors and roof, baggage launch function, opening vault with silver bar, mailbag with letter and 2 detachable horses • Also includes bandit’s horse • Weapons include 3 revolvers, rifle and 2 knives • Accessories include a pocket watch decorated element and dynamite • Detach the horses and chase the bandits away! • Launch the baggage and send the villains tumbling! • Battle to protect the silver • Open the stagecoach roof and doors to play inside • Stagecoach measures over 5" (13cm) high, 5" (14cm) long and 2" (7cm) wide The Box The boxart for this new product line comprise of a top yellow motif with the obligatory logos of LEGO, Disney, and The Lone Ranger, along with the image of the Lone Ranger as he appears in the upcoming movie. The brightly-colored packaging seems a bit of a clashing contrast with the predominantly subdued earth-toned, steampunkish hues evoked by the movie source material. I like the action-packed scene depicted in the coverart, with all the characters and elements of the set involved in a seemingly high-speed Wild West chase, the details of which we won't know until the movie comes out in August. The usual minifig line-up appears at the bottom right corner (which we'll look at more closely later), and the rest of the standard set details complete the front of the box. As what we've all been accustomed to, the set features are presented at the back in separate panels surrounding the main image of the complete set. I do feel however, that most of the so-called 'playable' features of the set are kinda 'forced' and seems to have been thrown in there as "space fillers" (like Tonto holding a compass pocket-watch, and Red Harrington somewhat distressed with a letter?). I may be just saying this since I don't know the importance of these particular bits in the actual movie, so I'll try to give these the benefit of the doubt. There are two images of the minifig line-up shown in the box: the 1:1 actual size image of the minifigs at the top and the half versions in the front (lower right corner) with their descriptive names of the character. The font used is a nice touch consistent with the Wild Western theme of the movie. Now I'd like to highlight a significant mistake in the minifig line-up: the "Barret" shown is actually Kyle from 79110 Silver Mine Shootout (thanks to 8Brickmario for this info). Probably this was a last minute change in the minifig line-up (Kyle was supposed to be in this set until Barret was included instead). The Contents There are three plastic numbered bags containing the pieces of the set, along with a single instruction booklet and a sticker sheet. No loose parts are included. The Instruction Booklet The instruction booklet bears the same coverart as the box minus the set details and the minfig line-up, which allows you to appreciate more the minute details of the artwork, like the realistic sand drift dust effect. The Sticker Sheet There is one small sticker sheet included in the set, which provides the decorative printing of the stagecoach. It's interesting to see the slight gold metallic sheen in the stickers. The Parts Bag #1 Contents As the starting point of all LEGO sets, the first bag contains the initial parts needed for the base of the build - in this case the stagecoach's base, comprised of the greys, blacks, wooden browns, and the wagon wheels. The two new black horse molds are also inlcuded in this bag, as well as the first two minifgs - Lone Ranger and Jesus. Bag #2 Contents Black and red dominate the parts selection of the second bag, which will expectedly be used for the body of he stagecoach. The Tonto minifigure parts are in this bag, and note that the hairpiece comes in a separate plastic packaging, signifying it was produced or printed in a different location from the rest of the parts. Bag #3 Contents The last bag contains the finshing pieces for the build, together with the two remaining minfigs of the set - Red Harrington and Barret. The third brown horse of the set is also part of Bag #3. Interesting Pieces This set has several new (but not exclusive) pieces: like the Dark Bluish Gray Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Pin Hole, Black Technic, Pin Connector Perpendicular 2 x 4 Bent, and the new hand pistol pieces, in flat silver and pearl dark grey colors. (My apologies if I have inlcuded the Black Hinge Plate 2 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger on Top, which is new to me but is acually a 2-year old piece already. ) The compass pocket-watch piece has some nice detailed printing on the 1x1 tile, and the exclusive headpieces with detachable accessories are also something to behold. The Minifigs Consistent with the marketing strategy of sets nowadays, this set offers a sumptuous treat of beautiful-looking and highly-detailed minifigs of five of the characters in the movie. Aside from the aesthetics, another good aspect of this minifig line-up is the balance between the protagnosists (2) and the antagonsits (2), and one in between (1), plus the fact that the two main characters in the movie - the Lone Ranger and Tonto - are included, makes the set even more tempting to get. Now let's take a closer look at these lovely minfigures individually: The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger minfigure may not be as flamboyant as Tonto or Red Harrington, but it certainly succintly captures the look of the movie character. It has leg prints and back prints, though no alternative facial expression. Comparing it with the actual look of the movie chracacter, one would easily notice that the minifig is a clean-cut (shaven!) version of the Lone Ranger. The holster was also curiousy missing on the leg prints. But overall, the minifig is a pretty good representation of the Lone Ranger in LEGO. Tonto Thanks in part of being an eccentric Johnny Depp character, the Tonto minifig has 'lots of personality' on it. From the highly-detailed hairpiece with the dead crow accessory to the face-painted head to the intricate native American printing of the torso and legs, this minifig is as colorfully weird as it gets! The Tonto minifig has an alternative nervous/scared facial expression. Removing the hairpiece reveals the front hair and tribal necklace printing and the simple back muscle print details. The minifig is quite accurate with the source material, though IMO it would've been better if it had a more serious facial expression like the ones pictured (and from the trailers I've seen so far) as compared to the slight smile of the current one. And it seems the designers decided to give the minifig a dash of bright olive green accent on the hairpiece, which is clearly not found on the actual Tonto. Red Harrington Bright red dress, white stockings on one leg, curly orange hairdo with small green girly hat, quite a flmaboyant minifig isn't she? And using a short cape as a skirt piece? Brilliantly clever! (first time done on a minifig from what I know). The Red Harrington minfig also has a second expression - a scared damsel-in-distress facade. As mentioned earlier, the hat is detachable from the hairpiece, which makes both pieces useful in minfig customization. What's a Johnny Depp movie without Helena Bonham-Carter right? I think the three little facial line prints of the minifig is convincing enough to depict a middle-aged woman. The torso and leg prints seem to be accurate (the stocking can be seen in a scene in the latest movie trailer), but the hat is violet in the pictures shown (though she could have worn a green one in the movie - we still don't know yet). But personally, this the minfig I like the best in this line-up. Barret One of the two bandits in pursuit of Red Harrington and her silver-containing vault, the Barret minfigure is as Wild West Outlawish as it gets - a dirty villainous mug (unshaven face, evil sideburns, maniacal eye-bagged stare), unruly outfit and the signature black hat and gloves. Jesus I would go on a limb and assume the character's name is not pronounced as Jesus (Christ) but rather as Hey-sus (Mexican pronunciation). Now that is cleared, we could focus on the minifig . I like the fact that he has a completely different look than Barret even through they are scum buddies - different hat mold and color, different outfit color and print design, and he even has a bandit handkerchief. We don't know how important these characters are in the movie, but if they aren't, then it's an added bonus to get different variations of torso, legs, heads, and accessories considering minor roles in the source material. Here's a group shot of the protagonists: ...and the bad guys: Like I said, I love the variation of the minifig elements and accessories, which is very useful in minifig customization. Horses Well, horses aren't minifigures but I'd just like to highlight that the set gives a rare opportunity to get three of the new horse molds, with the two black horses exclusive to this set at the moment (different from the black Nazgul horses). When was the last time, and what was the last set, to give at least three horses in a set? (and a relatively small set to boot). Heck, even the large LOTR sets didn't give this much 'horse love'. The Build Bag # 1 Build The base of the stagecoach is solidly built from the first bag of parts, and unlike the initial builds from other sets, this could actually be ridden' and taken into action already, right? (the horses are ready, the wheel mechanism is soundly attached to the base, there is a space for the driver's seat - this one is ready to go! ) Bag #2 Build This is one minor repetitive step in the Bag #2 build - the sides of the stagecoach body. But other than that, almost all steps are unique and non-repeating. The majority of the stagecoach body is built from the second bag of parts, along with the Tonto figure. There is one interesting bit I noticed when building at this stage (though not pictured): 1x1 bricks with holes were used as regular 1x1 bricks, which I think is a clever cost-saving move (since the holed 1x1s have less plastic than the regular 1x1s but provide the same use). Also note that at this point, there was no instructions yet to add this build to the previous build from Bag #1. Bag #3 Build I deviated a bit from the instructions since I wanted to show the elements built from the third bag of pieces (those were actually meant to be added together with the two previous builds to form the final product): these include the curved base of the stagecoach body, the detachable roof, some decorative tiles and the baggage (mail, vault). One thing I noticed is that the four brown 4-L bars could've been already added to the body of the stagecoach built from Bag #2, so I don't know why these had to be added on the last part(?). The Completed Build Combining all the individual builds from the three bags and we'll end up with this lovely-looking stagecoach complemented by the five minifigs. Quite a nice array of elements for a pretty solid set isn't it? Leftover Parts There are a couple of those new pistols and the compass pocket-watch-printed 1x1 tile from the leftover parts. A closer look at the Stagecoach Despite how great-looking this stagecoach is the main criticism about it is it's insanely absurdly oversized. Wth this view, it is very clear that is indeed signficantly larger than real-world stagecoaches, like these ones: Now one could argue that this stagecoach is based on a fictional movie where there are machine gun-wielding Wild West trains or a man resurrected from the dead, so an over-sized stagecoach isn't a far-fetched idea right? In any case, the inherent beauty of LEGO is we could always modify builds according to our liking, so I'm pretty sure with the proper amount of inspiration and parts this could be easily 'modded' to approximate the size of real-life stagecoaches. Here's a couple more views of the stagecoach: Set Features Left: The driver's box comfortably seats one person, and it is accurately high as real-world stagecoaches. Right: The front wheel mechanism is cleverly designed in such a way that it could turn left or right and even adjust up-and-down in response to the motion of the horses. I think this is one of the brilliant aspects of the build and the designer's really went out of their way to give us a working wheel mechanism that is far better than the standard fixed wheel-hub set-up. The rear wheels are fixed by the way, but it has a certain 'fragility' that realistically captures the instability of horse-drawn carriages/coaches. So how does the passengers get on to the stagecoach? Owing to its ginormous size, one has to exert extrat effort to ride this baby. But seriously, the passengers can be put inside by removing the detachable roof and putting the minfigs inside (right). Ironically, despite its gigantic size, the stagecoach only accomodates two passengers inside, though a third could probably be squeezed in there and several more could hitch a ride at the top of the roof or at the sides using handrails. Getting out of the stagecoach is as problematic as getting in for minifigs. Now I know why Red Harrington had that scared alternative expression Good thing our ever-reliable duo are ready to help a lending catching hand. There is a storage compartment at the back of the stagecoach that has some sort of baggage-launching mechanism to "send the villains stumbling" as the S@H description says. All you need is to open the cover, push down on the technic knobs and the briefcase will flip away, though I'm not so sure about its accuracy against villainous bandits (haven't tried it, sorry! ). This vault is the primary reason why the two bandits are chasing our heroes in the stagecoach - it contains Red Harrington's valuable silver! Little do they know it's a decoy as it's just made of ABS plastic! Kidding aside, the vault is nicely built and serves its purpose - though we still don't know its accuracy until we see the movie. There are several more features that I wasn't able to take pictures of, like the detachable connection of the horses from the stagecoach (and apparently you could ride them that way as shown at the back of the box ), the detachable roof and the storage space above (though it can be seen from the other pics), and the 4-L bar and even the tan 1x2 modified plates at the top of the stagecoach windows which could be used as handrails. Rating the Set Design – 8/10 The stagecoach is a visual eye-candy, it's a gorgeous build with a nice balance of aesthetic beauty and working functionality (wheel mechanism, storage compartments, passenger interior) - well that is until it is placed side-by-side with standard minfigs and horses. I would've wanted to give this a perfect score, but its oversized stature simply cannot be ignored, so I'm rightfully bringing the score down a couple of notches. Build – 9/10 I was very pleased with the technic-based wheel mechanism, I thought it was a pretty neat realistic feature that required extra effort by the designers instead of giving us the old and tired fixed wheel set-up. It was also refreshing to see a conscious attempt to use less plastic in builds (using 1x1 bricks with holes for regular 1x1 bricks), that garners a plus point for me. Parts – 8/10 There was a good number of relatively new parts, though I'm impressed the most by the three horses provided by this set. Minifigures – 10/10 Normally, I try to not make the minifigs as the sole reason why I buy sets, but this turned out to be better than I expected as I bought this set mainly for the stagecoach but the minfigs made this a much more rewarding purchase. The wildly beautiful Tonto and Red Harrngton figs with exclusive pieces and accessories, the useful and interchangeable cowboy parts of the Lone Ranger and the two bandits, this minifig line-up is certainly a winner! Playability – 7/10 The designers tried their best to put in extra features like the baggage-launcher at the back of the stagecoach, but I still think the only playability this set offers is the "chase role-playing" between our heroes and the baddies. Though even if it's the only real play value, I think kids would still pretty much enjoy their playing time with this set. Price – 9/10 I think this has a great value for a US$30 set: well-designed stagecoach, five minifigures, three horses, and a good selection of parts, can't really complain about that - except that I live in that part of the world where its SRP is 250% more expensive (US$75) and even if I got it at 25% discount it still is god-damn expensive. Lucky Americans! Overall: 85% So did the set meet my initial expectations? I'd say it did, and it passed with flying colors! It's not a perfect set, but it's certainly a great-valued purchase. If there's any set that a casual FOL would like to buy to 'try' or 'sample' this new Lone Ranger theme - I highly recommend this one. Parting Shot Mix-and-match fashion isn't for everybody... And to get you excited for the upcoming The Lone Ranger movie, here is the latest trailer (the third one released so far I believe): Thanks for taking the time to read my review! Comments are always very much welcome! .

No problem, 'glad I could be of help. And good catch! I overlooked that detail. While it's not a universal rule that speech bubble tails should always point towards the speaker's mouth, I think your Bilbo speech balloon looks much better with the tail pointing towards his mouth than the one I did pointing to his body.

Here's what I did using Photoshop: The borders using PS looks much smoother and more consistent throughout (body to tail) than using GIMP, but that's just me being meticulous. As it is, the one you did already looks good. I also used the standard font used in comics, Digital Strip. Note that I also emphasized the word Death by making it bold. It took some re-arranging of the text to fit in Smaug's long dialogue into the limited space of the two speech balloons. I would've wanted to make the font smaller to have better spacing inside the speech bubble, but the text might become hard to read so I stuck with 13px font size. These are just the things you could explore when adding dialogue to your comics. Ultimately, the elements you will use (font type, size, spacing, balloon types and borders, etc.) and how you will use them will depend on your own visual 'taste'. Hopefully, with this couple of simple trials you have grasped the basics of this subject in comic-making. You may now proceed with the next lesson of your liking.

Now that looks much better. I'm already quite satisfied with your work, but there's one last "trial assignment" I'd like you to do: - I noticed you used "regular caps" in the dialogue text. The convention used in comics text is all caps, but it is not a strict rule and you may use regular caps if that's the way you'd like to do it (artistic freedom). I'm curious to see how the conventional all caps text compare visually to this regular caps version you did. Try to make the dialogue text all caps and let's see how it will look like. - I assume since the image of Bilbo is opaque it means he is "invisible" by virtue of wearing the One Ring (I'm sorry if I'm not aware of the story of The Hobbit ) right? If that's the case, there's one additional effect you could experiment: how about decreasing the opacity of Bilbo's speech balloon to differentiate it from Smaug's? Probably make the color of the balloon border and text grey to match the "invisible" Bilbo? Again, this is just a curious trial exercise, so let's see how it will compare to this one you did. Also, I'm not familiar with GIMP, so I'm curious to how it will look like if done with Photoshop. Could you provide me with the original image without the speech balloons? (size 640 x 360 since the one in the first post is smaller). I'd like to try it myself and make a comparison between the GIMP and PS-edited versions.