TimToyGeek

I treated myself to the Ultracopter vs. Antimatter set recently, and completed the build today. Wow, what an amazing build in the rotors! I knew Lego could pull off some unique feats with gears, but I wasn't sure that the rotors on the chopper actually rotated in different directions due to a clever arrangement of gearing and a knob on the bottom of the chopper. The rest of the set is very nice, lots of play features including a very nice sliding mechanism in the tail that pushes the side engines and launchers out a bit. The zip line gimmick is also very nice, though I think it was used a little better in the Super Secret Police dropship set. Antimatter is a great minifigure, and his little flying disk, though sparse, is unique and classy. His staff weapon is very nice as well, and incorporates several of the 'mcguffin' items from the other sets, like the purple gem piece and a clear green circuit board 1x1 tile. One weird thing about the chopper build is that there is no floor in the main cabin, and the instructions don't really address why that is. I assume it's so that the one agent in the helmet can zipline down directly through the bottom of the cabin, but there are doors on either side. I added a couple of pieces to make a floor and now there is room for a couple of agents, I included the one that comes with the Drillext set as well. There are a few pieces that are a bit spindly, but nothing comes off, and it's nicely swooshable. The rotor action is the thing that makes this set really worth it. Tim "toy geek"

Finished building my Gorilla Striker today. Nice kit, lots of fun features and one of the better mech designs that Lego has come up with recently. I think if there is a drawback in the design, it's the shoulder design - the swinging arms are fun as a play feature, but the arms lack any ability to pose unless you sort of rest the insides of the forearms on the sides of the body. I was not a big fan of the tree accessory, so I rebuilt it to be a large hammer for the mech to use. If you supply an extra rod that threads into the hole in the 'palm' of the hand, a large accessory like that can be held by the fingers. I enjoy the big gorilla face design of the front of the mech, and the hidden missiles in the body. I was a little surprised that the whole front of the body is on only one smallish hinge, it tends to pop off because of that. Still, the front panel design is a lot of fun. The banana cannon, of course, is great, one of the more clever features in the Chima line. I didn't find the legs to be all that unstable considering they are both short and there is an assembly to keep the top piece level and balanced on the feet. They're not super poseable, but they provide a stable enough base for the somewhat top heavy mech. The gorilla minifigures are lots of fun, too. I swapped out G'Loona's stubby legs for an extra plain pair of brown legs, and gave her the grass hula skirt from the hula-girl minifigure. Looks great on her. Kind of makes me wish there were gorilla-themed war machines in a movie, maybe one of the Planet of the Apes sequels. Tim "toy geek"

Good enthusiastic review! I'll add my .02 as well since I have the set: I do feel that the Jetcopter is just the right size. It's not huge, it's not small. It's a size of helicopter that Lego doesn't normally do, they're usually big troop transporters or miniature scout choppers. This feels like a true attack helicopter, very well armed and agile. The build itself is very solid - there are spots where I think it looks a bit flimsy like the tail fins or the jet engine/skid assemblies, but these are actually well built to be sturdy and durable. This ties in nicely with the swooshability of the chopper, when put together it feels more like a toy than a model. I think that helps to justify the pricing. The alien ships are definitely identical, you can join them on either side (just add rivets where needed) so if you have more than one of these sets you could make a 4x4 ship. It might look a little funny, but I could see it being interesting, like those modular alien ships in Battle: Los Angeles. The aliens can definitely hold their pistols while piloting their ships. I also feel that the capture pod is kind of out of place here. It's a nice piece, and it's great that it's compatible with the HQ areas too, but it's kind of odd that it clicks onto the back of the helicopter, it may be in need of a rebuild or something. I think maybe I may rework it so that it plugs in upside down (currently it only plugs in canopy side up) so that it could be reworked into a bomb mechanism, or the ADU could eject the alien in mid-flight. I did modify the launchers a bit - I didn't care for how the rods rattled around, so I added a couple of technic collars inside the launcher, which also helped beef up the springiness of the launch action. Since I probably won't be getting the mobile HQ at this time, I like that there is a formidable, well armed ADU vehicle available at a moderate price point, and it helps that it may be one of the best medium side helicopters that Lego has done. Tim "toy geek"

I built the Jetcopter Encounter yesterday, another great set. The copter is very solid and well built, the little modular alien ships are decent, and even the flimsier looking parts of the copter are nice and sturdy. The only think I'm not too thrilled with is the little 'capture pod' on the back of the chopper - it's a nice feature, but it's kind of weird just hanging there. It doesn't fall off or anything, but it seems a bit strange there. Overall I'm happy with this set as well - it's a good sized attack helicopter that's not a big behemoth like the agents or dino choppers. I will see if I can take some pics and do a review later - I'm having problems getting my pics to size correctly, so if anyone else has the set and wants to review it, please go ahead. Tim "toy geek"

By all means, do a review. Your photos look so much better than mine! Tim "toy geek"

Okay, I think I finally got this uploading photo thing figured out. Please let me know if it's looking okay now. Whew, this is harder than my job! Tim

Review: 7051 Tripod Invader Theme: Alien Conquest Name: Tripod Invader Year: 2011 Price: 19.99 USD Pieces: 166 Minifigures: Alien Trooper, Businessman victim Sorry if the pics are a little bit less than optimal, but bear with me and hopefully I can describe this set well enough to make up for the pics. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1049.jpg I got the new Tripod Invader set from Toysrus.com today. It's a great set and well worth the price due to its fun parts and good play value, even if it's a bit light on the piece count. Back of the box shows off the play features including the separating saucer, human-imprisoning clear pod (which also separates), and 'Alien Clinger' little figure accessory that can attach to the hapless executive figure included. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1050.jpg The small size box contains three bags, instruction and a DSS. I actually kind of like the stickers on this one, they aren't too hard to put on and really add some character to the model. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1053.jpg The minifigures include the new Alien Trooper figure with a nicely printed torso and legs, great looking head with nasty looking teeth and pinkish brain ridges, but no printing on the back. He includes a flat silver version of the new space gun, always a nice piece. Also included is the very fun and original 'Alien Clinger' which is a brain-slug style accessory with tentacles and a top eyestalk. He can fit into the ship's cockpit along with the trooper. The third figure is a very nice generic-looking Businessman victim. He's wearing a navy pinstripe suit, glasses and carries a briefcase. He's got back printing and a two sided face, one normal and one distressed. The Clinger goes nicely onto his head and you get a great 'possessed by aliens' effect. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1054.jpg The saucer part of the ship is built first, this is a nice small flying saucer with some purple and green accents, decent SNOT detailing on the bottom part, and that wonderful clear dome canopy. The removable capture pod is just two of the oval trans-green canopy parts, both hinged simply together. It works fine and holds the victim along with his case. You can even leave the Clinger attached to his head if you get the eyestalk sticking out a bit. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1055.jpg Ordering his enslaved victim into the capture pod: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1056.jpg The instructions are nice and clear, and the stickers aren't too bad at all. It's probably too tiny to make out in my photos, but on one of the front-saucer stickers there's a little bumper sticker that says 'We've been to earth' The instructions and stickers both feature this alien glyph pattern, a nice touch. Not sure if it says anything, but I like the detailing of the stickers. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1058.jpg You build the tripod legs next, all three are the same build. The technic parts give it a certain amount of articulation, but not too much. It can 'walk' with what it has, but it stands firmly and the articulated ankles with broad radar-dish feet give it a good look. I like the little accents on the feet like the green knife-blade parts and the hinged bits with a round purple 1x1 tile detail. The tripod parts all attach to a three-bladed technic hub. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1059.jpg The last bit is a connector with the larger cannon, this is one of those ball and socket parts with a trans-green antenna. Here is the only part that I felt needed a bit of a modification - the way it was instructed, the swivel on the connector was a bit loose, and the saucer and cannon would rotate a bit freely. All I did was take a bit of the extra sticker sheet and add it into the inside of the swivel to tighten it up a bit. The saucer connects to the cannon bit with a rod into the round piece on the saucer floor, and naturally it can lift off and separate. The cannon bit attaches to the tripod base with a technic rod with caps on either end to assure the proper spacing. Once it's together, the ship and cannon rotate in one piece on the tripod legs and the cannon swivels in its socket for a good range of movement. The whole thing is very fun and retro, Mars Attacks combined with War of the Worlds. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1060.jpg If you want, you can even detach the prison pod from the saucer and attach it to the tripod and cannon assembly. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1063.jpg The instructions also show the rest of the Alien Conquest line and an action scene featuring the squid-bodied commander and our hapless businessman. http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1065.jpg http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/TimToyGeek/7051-Tripod-Invader/dscn1067.jpg Overall I feel that this set is a clear winner, lots of play value and alieny goodness. It could have included a defense force element like some of the other sets, but I like the idea of having more civilian victims included. The modular nature of the tripod makes for a lot of variety in its play value, and the model is well built and sturdy. Tim "toy geek"

Got my Tripod Invader and Jetcopter Encounter sets today from toysrus.com. I built the Tripod, what a fun set! I can tell that this one is going to be a hit. I'll do a full review as soon as I can get photos squared away. Lots of play value in this set. Tim "toy geek"

I just ordered the Tripod and Jet-Copter from Toysrus.com, they were eligible for the BOGO, and there are three days left for it. Sadly, the Mothership, Headquarters and Abduction sets are not available. I'll do some reviews when I get the sets... Tim

I picked up the new Undersea Explorer set at the Lego Store at Disneyworld yesterday - it's pretty fun, with good transforming action, and the eel creature is nice as well. Set: 8080 Undersea Explorer Price: $40.00 USD Pieces: 364 (lots of little teeth) Undersea Explorer - Box front The first bag of three builds the eel creature, it's a quick build but has lots of fun details - the sunken eyes are red bulb pieces and there are what looks like little fenders forming the eye sockets. The jaw is hinged, though there are only four teeth. The front section has a ball and socket joining the second section. There are then eight curved fin pieces with two yellow teeth each, so the whole effect is spiky and dangerous looking. That's A-Moray... It's about a foot long stretched out. Who ordered Unagi? Four teeth, but still dangerous looking. The second bag builds the body of the crawler vehicle, which turns out fairly nice, not watertight but it does have an opening canopy, room for the diver, and lots of lights up front. There are two flick fire missiles at the top, and positionable propellers on each side. One thing I didn't see very well from the box art is that there is a back panel with a large propeller, this is a good detail as it helps to cover up the folded up bits when it's in crawler mode. Rolling along Crawler mode, front view Back view Crawler mode from the back The third bag builds the arms and legs, these are all done with ball and socket joints like with previous mechs. There are joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips and ankles, no knees and no swivel for the hand unit. I like how the feet are nice and solid, giving the mech easy balance and allowing some good posing. The arms have a decent range of motion, and the hand looks great with those red bulbs as fingertips. Standing tall! Mech mode, front view Downward view Top side, showing the top propeller panel Wrinkles thanks to TLG Transformation instructions - pretty basic, but effective More unnecessary instructions Additional transformation visuals. So, in my opinion, this is a good set. It's probably better than most of the diver vehicles in the Atlantis line, and has a good combination of a vehicle and fish creature to justify the pricing. I think it's a bit overpriced considering the piece count, but thanks to the play value of the set, I feel it was a worthwhile buy. If I had $40.00 and only one set to buy, I'd rather have the Lunar Limo (one of my favorite Lego sets this year) but the Explorer is a worthy addition to the Atlantis theme. Tim "toy geek"

I spent my birthday at Disneyland, and at the Lego store in Downtown Disney, they had the new Undersea Explorer set (the transforming undersea mech and eel duo). $40.00, which is a bit much for the piece count, but a solid set nonetheless. I like transforming action in my Lego sets, so I picked it up. The eel creature is a fun build, fun and not too loose or wobbly like some of the Atlantis creatures (looking at you, Guardian of the Deep). The main part of the build is the head with articulated jaw, red sunken eyes (nice use of what looks like fender pieces to make a unique looking head) and several ridges and fins to give texture to the eel. There's a ball and socket hinge from the first section to the second section, and then eight curved fin pieces that all connect to make the snakelike bottom part, each one with two yellow tooth pieces for a spiky, finny look. Since each fin piece rotates, you can pose the eel in lots of ways, both stretched out and snaking around things. Stretched out he's about a foot long. The Undersea Explorer mech is a good build, two bags and most of the instruction booklet, but not all that hard, pretty much like most Lego mech kits. The transformation is nothing special, you just fold the legs back so the wheels touch the ground, and fold the arms back to nestle close to the legs. Nothing connnects, but it stays in place well enough. There is a good pilot area with opening canopy, decent articulation for the mech (no knees, but ball jointed ankles), and while the hand assembly could have used a wrist, I like how they did the hand with the round clear red bulb pieces as fingertips. One thing I didn't notice from the box art originally is that there's a back piece consisting of two joined fin pieces with a large open propeller on the top. This is pretty nice as it covers up the folded up bits in crawler mode, and it looks like that would provide some good propulsion in both modes. The hoses connect from that piece to both arms. The mech is pretty poorly armed with just two flick fire missiles and the large technic launcher as one of its hands, but it looks like it could crush some things with its hand too. All in all I liked this set, though I think it's a bit overpriced, it does have lots of play value and the transformation is pretty decent. I think if you have $40.00 to spend on a Lego set, you'd be better off getting the Lunar Limo, but this is a good set too. Tim "toy geek"

I actually have no doubt that Lego was going for a space pimp vibe with Brick Daddy - the outfit is a purple suit with zebra lapels, which is vintage 70's gangster/pimp style, like in the movie Superfly. The limo also is very 'pimped out' with some 70's era details like the tail fins with cone taillights, and the boomerang antenna on the back - when was the last time you saw one of those? I wound up 'borrowing' Gold Tooth's golden pistol for Brick Daddy, it's a suitable weapon. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention - his head is glow in the dark! Gotta love that! Tim "toy geek"

Purple pieces: According to the back of the instructions, there are 2 purple cones (in the rear engines)< 6 purple cheese slopes, 3 2x3 tiles, and a full 8 1x8 tiles. That's what makes it seem like a high purple content, those 8 stripes. Not a huge amount, but used well. I did one further mod - I removed 1 of the cylinder pieces each from the four struts holding on the side gun pods. This doesn't cause any problems with the structure of the limo, and makes the gun pods a bit more flush to the side of the body. It helps pull in the design, and make the pods seem a bit less delicate. The four extra cylinder pieces found their way to the bottom of the limo to be VTOL jets. I tried to do a mod where I swapped out the side pods and rear jets for wheels, I used the gold wheels and fat tires from my Batmobile set, but it's not as easy as a simple swap, I'd need to rebuild the limo a little bit more to make it a land vehicle. Still, though, considering there are six fender pieces and lots of easy connection spots, it shouldn't be too hard to modify the Lunar Limo into an LA Limo. Another easy and fun mod is if you don't want to have the technic missile in the front, you can detach just the gatling gun part from the mini speeder, and it easily nestles into the hole in the front for the missile. It fits flush and looks menacing. Still working on pics... Tim "toy geek"

I built my Lunar Limo today, I may get some pics later. It's a great kit, and a fun build. It's the first time I can remember where the build was split so that the first two bags built up the first half of the ship completely, then the third and fourth build the back half. Brick Daddy is as cool as I expected. I think his head may be glow-in-the-dark. It looks like he has either dreadlocks or tentacles on the back of his head. There's back printing too, a zebra back belt. Very 70's Superfly. The head's a bit small, but the great purple fedora makes up for it. I think he must be intended to be the boss of the aliens, as most of the other aliens either wear masks that look a lot like his head (the Skull Twins) or have an emblem on them that looks like his head. The limo is amazing. One of the tightest, most elaborate ships I've built, it's probably more than 2 feet long from front cannons to tailfins. Lots of gold and purple trim, smooth lines, curves, and it's airtight when finished too. The roof opens, the trunk opens and you can fit the SP officer in the trunk. I added a 1x3 brick to the end of the trunk lid so that it fits flush to the back of the car, and I had to add another hinge piece to the roof, it looked like there was supposed to be two originally. There is a lot of room in the limo, Jawson has his control cabin with two control sticks and a computer (sticker), and Brick Daddy has room to sit either attached to his speeder w/gatling gun, or not attached to it. The hood ornament is indeed a gold version of Brick Daddy's head. The sticker for the back license plate reads "Brick Mamba" which I guess is the car's name, kind of like "Zumbi" was the Skull Twins' car's name. The engine is really nice, there are 8 goblet pieces as the pistons, and the supercharger piece is hinged and can lift up, though it doesn't have any function. The technic launcher is really well integrated into the car body. One thing I noticed is that it would be really easy to modify this into a land vehicle - there are wheel rims (two in the front, one in back on both sides) and the engines/gun pods on both sides are easy to detach. If I had the proper sized wheels I could probably turn this into a heavily modified land limo. There are a lot of parts that don't show, and a lot of them are purple, there's a lot of purple in the build that's not exposed. A lot of red, too. For that and the tons of gold pieces, I think the Limo is a good deal, especially since there's a pretty high piece count (391) for the price. True, there's a lot of little pieces, but overall the build is very solid and secure. The only pieces that tend to be a bit weak are the side fins, and that could be easily modified too. Tim "Toy Geek"

I found several of the new sets at Toys R Us in Hawthorne, CA today. They had: Space Police Central Undercover Cruiser Lunar Limo Deep Sea Striker Atlantis Portal Divers Mobile Base Lavatraz and several World Racers - I saw the speedboats, swamp boats, snow machine and big truck/dune buggy sets. I almost went with the speedboats set (fish cannon!) but I bought the Lunar Limo because it looks amazing in the package. It was over $40 at TRU, so it'll probably be $40 at non-TRU stores. I haven't put it together yet, but from the box it looks like the roof is fully hinged, there's an opening trunk (they show the included SPIII officer stuffed into the trunk!), firing technic cannon in the front, long dual front cannons, and Brick Daddy's little speeder with gatling gun. BD looks amazing, very 70s crime boss alien with a purple zoot suit and zebra lapels. The overall look of the limo is very sleek and ornate with lots of gold flourishes and what looks like lots of interesting sticker work with scrollwork detail in gold and purple. I can't wait to put it together. The Undercover Cruiser looked like fun, I will probably get that next. The Deep Sea Striker is underwhelming. The mobile diver base is pretty nice, it folds up into a sub kind of like an older playset. I didn't see any bagged MF collection, nor any of the new SW sets yet. That particular TRU usually gets Lego sets earlier than other stores. Tim "toy geek"