Zarkan

Nope, I haven't - in fact I rarely look at anyone's profiles. And yes, it is a compliment - you've accomplished a lot on eurobricks, so it's really quite impressive that you're only a TFOL like me.

Thanks for another fantastic review, Svelte. Honestly, I really like this set. It may not be perfect, but I think it really is pretty cool. It has amazing figures, a better modular feature than the crownie castle, great exterior detail, and plenty of awesome parts. It may not be perfect, but I think it deserves a very solid 4.

As other's have said, what's there left to explore? Makuta's in charge, everyone in the MU is powerless against him, and nothing major will be happening there until after the main story features Teridax-Nui in it again. Innerayg's right - this was far more interesting than what Greg could have done in the MU - because this alternate universe actually reveals some very interesting information about Mata Nui's mission.

Uh? That link leads to a MOC, not another Greg Q&A.

From all my time on Eurobricks, the subject of army building seems to be one of the most popular discussion topics. A lot of people on and off this site have amassed large armies of minifigures, while many others do not. It's also usually confined to a few long lasting themes, which have been around for many years. I'm curious as to people's motives for participating in army building or not, so I made this topic and poll so people could share their thoughts about one of the more common practices among lego fans. Personally, I've never been too fond of the practice myself. I do enjoy displaying my lego sets and minifigs, but I usually focus my efforts on collecting and enjoying a large variety of sets and minifigures. I rarely buy more than one of the same set, and even if I had a lot more money, I would probably use it to buy a lot of different sets, rather than buying a ton of the same kit or minifig. Some part of me feels that spending so much time amassing huge armies of the same few minifigures is defeating the purpose of the hobby and reducing it to the level of other geek toys like G.I.Joe and Transformers. It's not that I have anything against those toys - it's just that non-children investors in these toys generally just collect them and display them. Lego, on the other hand, is a hobby that invites people of all ages to build and create new models, which IMO sets it apart from most other toys. So, when people spend tons of money on buying hundreds of identical Imperial Soldiers or castle knights, and don't spend much time with the actual bricks of the system, then I really have a hard time understanding the practice. Still, this is just my opinion, and I'm very interested in how other people feel about army building.

Thanks for the nice review, BrickDaddy. Eh, as with the rest of the agents sets this year, this one just isn't working for me. The figures are much better than in the smallest set, but the vehicle designs look unfinished. The propeller spinning device is cool, but it's not enough to salvage the rest of the set.

This is pretty much how I imagine Surel to be like. Awesome job as always, Antrozek.

Thanks for the nice review. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I'm seriously disapointed with the Tauntaun. Mainly because... well, there's a huge line running down the middle! Seriously, that just looks bad from the front, and you know it's a problem when it looks even WORSE on the box. I'm sorry, but for 30 dollars I'd at least hope that the exclusive figure would be high quality. Ah well, at least I don't have to worry about it that much, since I've sworn off buying starwars kits altogether.

Thank you for posting this, Raphy! And I've got to say, after my disapointment with the summer Power Miners kits, this set looks a lot better.

Thanks for the nice review. It's very good for your first attempt. Honestly, this kit may not be very big, but I like everything about it. The figures are awesome, and I actually like the little space speeder. I unfortunately may not invest much in Space Police due to my limited budget, but I'll be sure to pick up the smallest two sets. If she got it where I think she got it (aka TRU), then I wouldn't worry. ToysRUs has jacked up almost all the prices of their lego sets extensively, and the smallest ones suffer the most. I suspect that this set won't be more than 5 dollars in other stores.

I rather liked the new chapter, actually. Mainly because it features the traitor, who we have not seen since the jaunary comic. I also thought the mention that the Battera were machines was interesting - but then again, I haven't been following the OGD. Had this already been revealed there? Because I seem to remember that we only knew the Battera were "doomsday weapons," not that they were totally machines. They could have been organic beings, for all that we knew - unless that was said in the OGD as well. Oh, and the old women comment was very neat, even if I'm not sure if it means anything yet. I was thinking at first that it was a hint at how different Bara Magna is from the Matoran Universe, but then I remembered that Brutaka had mentioned "kidnapping your women" or something in one of the previous serials as well.

Nope - I just don't visit the Pirates subforum very often.

Thanks for the nice reviews, Master Evil. Honestly, I've never been that into Space, but Space Police is still really catching my eye as a wonderful reboot for the whole theme. These two impulse sets are no exception - it's awesome to get a robot K-9 unit, and the alien impulse should make getting lots of those useful cyclops heads easily.

Thanks for the review. Oky. Man, I just don't get it. The first year of Agents was easily one of the best suprisies of 2008, with some of the best and most inventive set designs we've seen in years. But now, 2009 rolls around, and the whole theme has taken a drastic drop in quality. For the most part, the vehicles just seem simply uninspired, and most of the new villians and agents are relatively boring. It seems that all the effort to make Agents a wonderful theme went into the first wave, and now the set designers have run out of ideas. Ah well, at least this means that I won't feel bad about missing out on this theme.

2006 was to me the first truly great year for Lego since the early 90’s, and one of the main reasons for that thinking was the introduction of the Exo-Force theme. While maligned by many older fans of Lego, it did have recognition as the first and only Mecha oriented theme TLC has produced so far, and although it was far from perfect, it proved to be my favorite theme of the year. Today, I’ll be bringing you a review of one of the flagship sets of the first year of Exo-Force – which incidentally also happened to be the machine that the whole storyline was based around. Name – Striking Venom Set Number – 7707 Year – 2006 Pieces – 646 Minifigures – 6, plus two half figures Age Recommendation – 8 to 14 years Price – $49.99 USD / Unknown EUR / 34.99 GPB The Box and Instructions: Out of all the themes TLC has ever made, the Exo-Force line is among the best when it comes to box art. The dramatic action pose, firing lasers, and detailed background make the Striking Venom’s box a pure beauty to behold. There’s no doubt in my mind that this kit was a particular standout when kids went to the toy section of various stores, and I can only imagine the excitement on their faces when they saw this giant spider robot blasting off of the box cover. Also of note is the picture in the bottom left corner – when assembled, this kit is a full 18 inches across! The back of the box is not quite as amazing as the front, but it does contain several interesting details. In the top right corner, we have a picture for an alternate model, which I believe had online instructions at one point. In the bottom right corner, there’s an impressive advertisement for the other kits in the Exo-force line, put together in a giant battle scene. Finally, right under the picture of the Striking Venom, we have a picture of the Meca One minifig that comes with the set. Why is this interesting? Well, you’ll find out soon enough. Here’s a closeup of the aforementioned advertisement. It’s easily just as dramatic and action-packed as the front of the box, and it contains every 2006 Exo-Force kit (minus store exclusives). A random page of the instructions. The background is rather plain and uninteresting for a theme as action-heavy as Exo-Force. Still, the instructions do have piece callouts and differentiate the piece colors well. The piece inventory, which oddly enough appears in the very front of the instructions, rather than in the back like it does for most kits. Apologies for the poor condition of my manual – I don’t really know why it’s in this state and most of my other recent instructions are not. Oh, and here’s a close-up of the alternate model, which is included only as a reminder that you can get exclusive instructions for it online. The Pieces and Minifigures: The Striking Venom contains a total of 646 pieces, minus the extra bits I’m sure it came with when I first opened the box. As you can see, it’s mostly a mix of black, grey, and green, with a bit of lime and red mixed in. Oh, and it’s also largely technic, something that may cause at least a few members to stop reading my review at this point. I’m serious though - this kit has a LOT of technic. The black technic pins take up 108 pieces alone! Still, this didn’t stop me from finding a few interesting pieces within the kit. The Striking Venom does contain eight modified green slopes and sixteen long green fins, eight black corner slopes, five trans-black windshields (not printed), two interesting grey octagonal pieces, four yellow technic corner bricks, and eight of a neat technic joint that was introduced in the Exo-Force line. The latter actually consists of two separate pieces that you must connect together, which may or may not be permanently attached once you do that. I haven’t tested them to see if they can come back apart, and I won’t be doing that any time soon. The Striking Venom also contains several very special pieces used in its action features – a trans-black launcher with ten yellow-orange disks as ammo, and a light-up brick that connects to a long clear tube. Both of these features appeared in various other Exo-Force kits, so while interesting, they are far from unique. Now, onto the minifigs. The Striking Venom is an excellent source of the copper robots called Iron Drones, containing six of them in all. It also features the parts to make half a silver robot (called a Devastator) and half a gold robot… wait, something’s not right. Yes, contrary to the back of the box, the Meca One minifigure included in this kit is not complete, but is missing his legs! This to me smacks of false advertising, and I remember it caused quite a commotion over on at least one other message board. Back and side views of the Iron Drone minifigures. This is in my opinion a far cooler robot design than that of the StarWars battle droids, as it’s far more bulkier and stronger looking. And of course, the incredibly useful arms have found their way into many other lego sets and quite a few MOC’s as well. The Build: 7707 is, as you probably expected, a largely technic-oriented build. However, I’m not nearly as put off to technic-heavy kits as many people here are, so the construction process overall was fairly enjoyable for me. The build starts out by putting together several technic beams and the large hinges, forming this octagonal base. Soon, plates, slopes, and windshields are soon added to the base, along with two Iron Drones connected to silver tubes. More beams and those green slopes are built around the technic hinges, forming a large cross shape. Now, it’s time to assemble the legs, with – you guessed it – more technic beams. The legs now get plates and slopes added to their front surfaces, giving the technic skeleton some needed detail. The remaining four Iron Drones are now attached to these strange contraptions. What are these for, I wonder? Well, this still doesn’t answer my question, but at least we know where those things go. Along with the Iron Drone contraptions, technic digger scoops are also connected to the bottom of each leg, completing this stage of the assembly. The legs are now attached to the body, but there’s still more to be built. Finally, all the remaining assemblies (cockpit, turret, and laser cannons) are built, and…. … the Striking Venom is now complete! The Finished Model: Spanning one and a half feet across, 7707 is one impressive kit. Here’s a side view, which shows just how big this thing really is. However, from top, it’s easy to see that there’s quite a few holes in the design. This is a problem widespread with the Exo-Force kits, mostly because adding bricks to cover up everything would raise the price considerably. Still, it’s not nearly as noticeable from other views. The head is one of the neater parts of the Striking Venom. Can you see why? Yes, the head is built to look like the head of one of the Exo-Force robots! This is a neat design feature that is only present in one other Exo-Force set, and it really helps make the kit stand out. The middle section is not quite as good, mainly because there’s nothing really that interesting about it. The Iron Drones plugged into the machine are a nice touch, but that’s about it. The laser turret is a lot more interesting, however. While the guns can not spin, they’re quite impressive, and it’s neat how the entire thing is built around a silver robot body. Speaking of which, the lightbrick included in this set is connected to that robot body. Push it down, and the robot eyes light up! This is a relatively pointless feature, but it still looks quite cool, and I’m sure the kids liked it. Then, there’s the disk launcher, which is also built onto the turret. This strange device was built into every summer kit of the 2006 Exo-Force line, and really was the only thing that was unique to those kits. Unfortunately, the disk launcher is pretty much useless and non functional. Pulling the launcher tab back only succeeds in hurling the disks a few inches, and more often than not they come out of the top of the launcher instead of the bottom. However, the most interesting feature of the Striking Venom is undoubtedly the deploying Iron Drones on the legs. Through the usage of a simple technic system, the drones are held high above the ground. Using this mechanism, you can lower all four robots down to the ground, where they can be sent into battle. This may not be the most interesting feature for an AFOL, but for kids it’s sure to be really enjoyable. Unfortunately, for some reason the system only works on two of the legs of my Striking Venom. I think it’s probably because the technic connections are wearing out, though, and I believe the feature worked fine on all four legs when I first assembled the kit Unfortunately, as with most spider mechs, poseability is fairly limited. This is as far as you can get the Striking Venom’s legs to move out, and the only real way to move the kit across the ground is by “moonwalking,” a term given to walking the mech across the floor with your hand, one leg at a time. This is usually a bad thing, but fortunately the Striking Venom looks perfectly fine when doing this – perhaps because it has four legs instead of two. The Model in Action: After unsuccessfully scouring multiple dimensions for another four legged spider to mate with, Fenrakk finally resorts to desperate measures. Conclusion: Presentation – 9/10 (Wonderful as always, aside from the fragile instruction manual) Pieces – 6/10 (A few special pieces, and a whole lot of technic) Minifigs – 8/10 (Six Iron Drones are great, but the missing legs on Meca One are really annoying) Model – 7/10 (Lots of gaps, but it’s size and overall look are very impressive) Playability – 7/10 (Any giant war machine is great fun, but it’s too bad that the action features aren’t that great) Price – 8/10 (646 pieces and 6 and a half figures for $50 bucks is a great deal) Overall Rating – 7.5/10 Striking Venom, big as it may be, is not a kit for everyone. Its appeal is limited to lego fans who like big, futuristic fighting machines, and those who are looking for an incredible, flawless design will also be disappointed. But, for those of us who aren’t that good at MOCing and love big lego robots, the Striking Venom provides a great, relatively inexpensive opportunity to own and enjoy a giant spider mech. If you are a fan of Sci-Fi or mecha and aren’t too concerned about having perfect, airtight designs, then 7707 should be a worthy addition to your collection Other Links: Brickset page for 7707 Bricklink page for 7707 Peeron inventory for 7707 Brick Factory instruction scans for 7707 Brickshelf gallery for this review (when public)

I've got to say, the summer 2009 bionicle box art is possibly the best we've ever had. The images are amazingly polished and shiny, the colors are vibrant, and the backgrounds are drool-worthy. That art is even making Baranus look decent!

This is pretty much my opinion as well. I doubt we'll see Spanish sets at least until the third year of the lego Pirates revival, but if they do come out with them, I'll buy them for sure. I sure don't. I'd much rather have Islanders, Spanish, and Chinese than a blue version of the redcoats we already have. Sure, I wouldn't mind having them four or five years down the road if it'll keep the Pirates theme alive, but I sure don't want them before all the other interesting things TLC could do. Shiver me timbers! Isn't this a little bit extreme? First of all, all of this talk about not giving lego another cent of your money is plain silly - why would any lego fan give up their favorite hobby just because they aren't getting their favorite subtheme before another? Secondly, the Imperial Armada kits may have been bad, but that was because they were made during the years when TLC was going into their dark ages. Since they're out of the dark ages now, what in Brickbeards name is stopping TLC from writing the wrongs of the past by making new, vastly improved Spanish sets? Seriously, I knew Pirate fans were passionate, but this is just pure overreaction.

I, like everyone else, am hoping that we will get a ship for the Imperals in the almost certain 2010 Pirate wave. My pirate display just won't be complete until I have a redcoat ship to go with my Brickbeard's Bounty and heavily modified Imperial Armada Flagship. Eh, personally, I don't want bluecoats anytime soon. There's a whole lot more interesting stuff they could do in the next few years of lego Pirates (Islanders, Spanish, Chinese, etc), and a pallete swap of the Redcoats would be kinda redundant if you ask me. Then again, I'm not a really hardcore Pirate fan like many of you, so it's not like I'm the final word on this kind of subject matter.

Okay, seriously, I'm going to be very suprised if the new Bionicle movie turns out to be complete fail. Already, we know that it's got a fairly high ranking actor to voice the main character (compared to the ones we got in the first three anyway), we know that it will actually have fights and explosions, we've got character designs that actually look like the real sets, and now we have proof that the CGI is pretty much Ghost style. It still may not turn out to be quite as good as we hope, but I'm 100% sure that it'll be way better than the first three.

As much as I love the Mctoran, I personally feel that you can't really compare them with any of the kits you mentioned. The small sets have varried so much over the years, and IMO comparing McToran with the Mahritoran and Metruan is somewhat like comparing the Toa Mahri to the freebie Mahri figures you could get at Mcdonalds. Now, I know it's a bit of a stretch, seeing as the Mctoran rocked and the Mahri promotionals stunk, but the point is that they both have one thing in common - they were free with a happy meal and not widely circulated sets. That means that you were basically getting them for free. On the other hand, all the other sets you mentioned were store bought products, and they all coster 4-6 dollars. Cool as the Mctoran were, if they were sold only in stores for 5 dollars a piece, would you buy a ton of them? I know I sure wouldn't, especially if I knew that they would eventually be making 5 dollar bionicle sets that had far more value for the buck (aka: the Mahritoran). On another note, I really don't have much love for the Av-Toran, seeing as their limb parts are so prone to breaking. Worse, unlike Hahli Mahri and Lessovikk, it's impossible to even get replacements for some of the parts from earlier or later years. My Hahli Mahri is still standing well today because I had some lime limb joints leftover from a scrapped Visorak Keelerak. As for my Tanma, well... let's just say that not even getting free replacement parts from TLC has stopped him from becoming a fragile, half broken skeleton.

Tonight I just picked up the Pirate Survival and Policeman with Dog impulse sets, mainly for the parts. Both are excellent.

Happy birthday, yoda! Ah, I still remember the time you taught me a well deserved lesson when I was a newb on Eurobricks.

You know, you have a very good point. I wonder why no one else realized this until you did....

Thanks for the review, I Scream Clone. Honestly, I'm really not a fan of any of the small pirate ships TLC has made. I think it's mainly that I find the concept of a mini-pirate ship a little silly, although it may be fun for kids. I think if TLC makes a kit like this one in the future, they should bump the price up a bit and give the ship a proper cabin and a second cannon. I'd much rather pay a higher price for a ship like that than pay a lower price for a half-ship. I totally agree. I think for what it's worth, the new Pirate hulls are far more useful than the old ones, as they are made of smaller pieces and don't have multiple colors in the same mold. Hopefully we'll be getting more ships in the future with the new pieces in different colors.

Thank you for this wonderful news, Alywin! This new set looks incredible!