Janus

Well I was already planning to buy this, but you've excited me more. I can already feel the pain in my wallet.

Great job, looks very nice. Good scene choice too, that's one of the few really good parts of AotC.

Well, here's the basic plot. This world is divided into 4 nations, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. Each nation has certain people that can "bend" their element, which basically means control it. For example, Airbenders can move air, create tornados, fly with a glider, etc. To keep peace, there is one person in the world, the Avatar, who can bend all four elements. Each time the Avatar dies, he is reborn to another nation in a cycle (Air, Water, Earth, then Fire.) Aang was an airbender, and also the next avatar 100 years ago (from present story time). When he was told that he was the avatar (they told him prematurely because the Fire Nation had been plotting attacks), he got afraid and flew away on his flying bison Appa. A storm hit, and they got thrown into icy seas, and somehow frozen inside a glacier. One hundred years passed, and Katara and Sokka, a young bender and warrior from the Southern Water Tribe, found him inside the glacier. In those hundred years, the Fire Nation had decimated the Air Nation (also called Air Nomads, for clarification), and every last Air Nomad in existance except him, and were now attacking the other two nations (Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes). Because Aang was frozen, he could not be trained in the 4 elements and could not keep the peace between the nations. Now it is up to him, with the help of his friends, to master the four elements and kill Fire Lord Ozai before the end of the summer, when a giant meteor will be used by the Fire Nation to decimate the last two nations. The arrow on Aang's head is just a tatoo given to monks of the Air nation such as himself. They live in temples like that, with some indigenous creatures such as flying bison and flying lemurs. Momo is possibly the last flying lemur in existance, and he was found by Aang and the others when they visited the Southern Air Temple. That should clarify things. Maybe we should make this it's own topic?

I can't really describe the hull. It's very curved on the bottom, except for a small portion for studs. It's actually 2 of the same part, held together by technic pins. Perhaps someone can name it, the manual gives it as number 4212507. It probably could be used very well for small pirate MOCs.

Set: Fire Nation Ship Price: $50.00 USD Elements: 722 Minifigures: 5 (Avatar Aang, Katara, Fire Nation Soldier, Fire Bender, Prince Zuko) The Minifigures I'm bad at focusing...The Soldier and Bender Once again, I'm bad at focusing...Prince Zuko The Box: Box Front Box Back I should mention that, although I didn't take a picture, there are pictures of alternate models of a Fire Nation City Gate and some sort of Battle Playset on the bottom of the box. I can get a picture if someone wants me to. I took no pictures of the inside-the-box items, because there was nothing special. That means no large plates, and best of all, NO STICKERS. NONE. Janus = happy. The Ship: Ship Right Side Ship Left Side Ship Front Ship Back Ship - Front and Front Hatch Open Ship Top - Brig and Catapult Ship Side - Tower and Steamstacks Ship Front - Windows Ship - Back Hatch Open Ship - Back Hatch Open and Small Boat The Plastic Fire Nation Flag Ship - Rudder Ship Top - Removable Parts Removed Ship Top with Parts Removed - Hallway Ship Top with Parts Removed - Coal Digger Room Ship Top with Parts Removed - Coals and Small Boat Hold Removable Parts - The Brig Removable Parts - The Brig 2 Removable Parts - The Catapult Removable Parts - The Catapult 2 Removable Parts - The Tower and Steamstack The Tower and Steamstack - Inside (Ladder Drawn) The Tower and Steamstack - Inside/Ladder The Tower and Steamstack - Zuko's Meditation Room Bad Closeup of Fire Nation Flag The Tower and Steamstack - Helm Removable Parts - Back Steamstack Removable Parts - Back Steamstack 2 This ship is incredible. The sheer amount of things in it is amazing. All the parts you see on top are removable, allowing for great playability. The brig has a gated top so you can see the prisoners below, and the catapult fires red bricks (fireballs) decently by pressing forward to fire forward. Not as great as the Air Temple's slime bomb catapult, but it fires, and that's all that matters. The attention to detail is great on this ship, as you can see it has the falling bridge in front for raiding, the windows are tinted red with nine trans red 1x2 bricks, and Zuko's meditation chamber is in the ship as well. Really this set should be Zuko's Fire Nation Ship, as normal ones are larger and don't have that particular room, but it's not a big deal. The LEGO Fire Nation Flag design is great, and it comes with 10 of them. The plastic one is nice too, though I could have done without the clear part. That kind of bothers me. You'll notice the back steamstack is on a gray new airplane top cover, something some MOCers may want to take advantage of. The addition of the coals underneath was great, as they were key to the story in Season 1, Episode 6: Imprisoned. But the single thing I love most about this ship? It is ENTIRELY classic brick and plate. NO juniorization. At all. Perhaps one could argue the gray plane cover, but compared to the rest of this leviathan, it's nothing. The Small Boat is a nice addition as well, though it looks a little strange with no way to control it and no windows, just grey. Perhaps it's supposed to be moved through Water Bending? But then why would it be on a Fire Nation ship...? 6x2 Bricks See these? Guess how many there are in this set. Go ahead, I won't laugh when you get it wrong. Alright, I'll just tell you. There are 54 of them. FIFTY FOUR bley 6x2s. That's a whole lot. Slanted Wingy Pieces I don't know what these should be called. The point is, there are 24 of each type (slanting left and slanting right). Once again, that's a lot. Not to mention 16 12x1 Bley bricks. This set is more bley than one person can MOC with in their entire life. Well, maybe not. But it's a lot. And it's immense. I took some comparison shots to give you an idea of the immensity of this brick built boat. Fire Nation Ship vs. Renegade Runner Fire Nation Ship vs. Renegade Runner 2 Fire Nation Ship vs. Renegade Runner (main sail down) Fire Nation Ship vs. Rogue Knight Battleship It's large. It's all brick. It's detailed. It's got bulk of many elements. It's playable. This, in my opinion, is one of the best sets in a long time. Perhaps I'm biased, but so be it. I think this is a must buy. Initial Score: 10/10 Minus .5 for confusing small boat Minus .5 for clear on plastic flag Plus 1 for bulkosity of bricks Final Score: 10/10

Set: Air Temple Price: $30.00 USD Elements: 400 Minifigures: 4 or 5 (Avatar Aang, Sokka, Fire Nation Soldier, Fire Bender, and 5 if you count the Momo piece) Blurry Figures Clear Figures + Catapult and Tank Momo! The Momo piece is rubbery, like the Exo Force hair, probably so the ears wouldn't snap off. I apologize for the quality of these first pictures (the ones with Wood Floor and White Background), I took them in a bad location, and then switched to a better place for the rest (White Counter and Blue Background). I was also using a different camera which, when uploaded, made them very large. The rest should be fine, however. Box: Box Front Box Back Inside The Box: Everything Baseplate, Stickers, Plastic Notice the small amount of stickers. This pleased Janus, because Janus is very bad at putting stickers on. The Air Temple: Temple Front Temple Back Temple Back 2 Temple Left Side Temple Right Side Temple Back Close Up: Armory Temple Back Close Up: Air Gate Lock Temple Back Close Up: Mountain/Avatar Launcher This is well done. The mountain peices were done wonderfully, and look great. Many studless white 1x1 plates and 1x2 sloping bricks make it look snowy. The gate itself is also quite nice looking, and I think I've figured out the lock, which is so simple it's complex. It's in the locked position in the picture, and it is unlocked by spinning one of the wheels in front. The Armory was a nice touch, and more katanas and axes are always welcome. The Avatar Launcher...well, let's just say if you are trying to simulate his midair death, it's perfect! Lots of tan pieces in this set, and plenty of white studless plates and slopes (to be exact, 7x 1x1 white studless plates, 5x 1x2 white studless plates, and 12 1x2 white sloping bricks). The Tank, Catapult, and Strange Extras: The Tank The Tank's Winch The Catapult Barrel, Crate, and Tank Top I love this fire nation tank. Spot on to the show (Season 1, Episode 17: The Northern Air Temple), with the nice winch and everything. The Winch actually came fully strung in the package, with rubber bands keeping it together (I don't remember LEGO ever doing that before). It doesn't have a wheel to turn it, but it's interesting because unlike previous winches, this one clicks and holds in place. Perhaps these came out before, during my dark ages, but this is my first fully-strung-clicky-winch. The Catapult is very nice, and uses an interesting mechanism that makes it fire forward by pressing back, unlike and much better than the 'pult on the Fire Nation Ship. It (and the disk launcher) fire fairly well. I give TLC credit also on including the trans green "slime bombs", also from Episode 17. There are 10 of them total in the set, and I don't know if they are available in that quantity anywhere else. The gray Tank Top is an alternate top for the Tank, should you choose to remove the Disk Launcher. The Crate stores your extra disks (because when too many are in the launcher, they fly out of the top when you launch them), and the Barrel...I don't understand. But it's there, it's a barrel, and I guess you can never have too many. I was very pleased with this set. Great design, nice figures, great extras. It even has a wonderful Part to Price ratio, despite the large tower piece. This set, along with the other Nickelodeon license sets, is a step back to classic sets, meaning a step forward to better, less <insert that tiresome argument> sets. Initial Score: 10/10 Minus 1 for Avatar Death Launcher Final Score: 9/10

Set: Rogue Knight Battleship Cost: $20.00 USD Elements: 152 Minifigures: 3 (Two Rogue Knights and Sir Kentis) Minifigures Minifigures without accessories Minifigures without Armor Minifigures without Armor 2 Full Set The set is divided into two parts, the Rogue Knights' Ship and a small dock/tower which Kentis feels the need to defend. I'll start with the ship. Battleship Inside the ship The Anchor The Catapult It's a fairly simple ship. Has TLC's obligatory firing device, a simple (but welcome) anchor system, and some towers to stand on. I really like the wing sail idea, I think it looks quite nice, albeit not very realistic (though we can't be expecting KK to be realistic anymore, and if you are expecting realism, you are in the wrong department). I do have an issue with the ship however, and that is the towers are a bit flimsy. A lot of the ship could have been secured more, as you can probably tell by looking at the pictures. It looks almost unfinished inside; it's kind of a mess of thin plates. But other than that, for a small fantasy ship, it looks nice. The Tower: Tower and Dock Backside Catapult Once again, it looks nice for being just a small peice of land. I think the addition of the torch has a lot to do with it, because it gives it more of the dark/foggy feel that makes the color scheme work. The large mountain peice could have been replaced with normal bricks or at least the mountain wall peice, because it's just too pointy and makes the entire tower flimsy looking (though it actually stays together well). The one piece tower at the top also could have been redone with some classic peices, but that's the way LEGO seems to like it. Summary: It's nice, but it seems unfinished or quickly done in several places. It definitely could have used more peices to warrant my $20, peices which I think were necessary. But other than that, the wings were implemented well, the catapults fire decently, and the accesories on the knights (especially the dragon shield and the mace made from normal pieces) are nice. $15 would have been a better price for this set. Initial Score: 10/10 Minus 3 for overpricing Minus 2 for flimsy design Minus 1 for juniorization Plus 1 for innovative sails Plus 1 for accessory choice Final Score: 6/10

Yes, those are the only sets. I bought them today, and I intend to make them my first pictorial reviews, and hopefully I'll get them up tonight or tomorrow, so you can look forward to that.

While I am fairly sure this is a real set now, there have been fake pics out there. I have seen quite a number of fake box art pics. Granted, the vast majority of them aren't trying to pass them off as the real thing, but they could. Here is one example, made up for the Wayne Manor contest. That's true, however, the difference between these box pictures and the Wayne Manor is that these are fully three dimensional, with everything on the sides that should be there, while the Wayne Manor picture is a flat cover. That is much, much more difficult to do in a photoshop program, and I doubt anyone would waste their time making that just so they can trick a bunch of LEGO fans.

Well personally I've seen the first season and I find the show to be quite entertaining. The two part finale, Siege of the North, was particularly good. I know that I will be purchasing these sets as soon as I can, especially the Fire Nation Ship.

My first set ever. That little guy has seen a lot of action.

Surprisingly, I got a 73%.

Very clever. I wish I could think of stuff like this.

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Wow, I did not expect so many replies so fast. My real name is not Janus, I took the name because it's a real name that is similar to a nickname I have. And I'm not from BZP, that is just a coincidence. Skinny Boy, unfortunately, Mt. Rushmore is in South Dakota.

Hey, I've been watching these boards for a while now and finally decided to make myself known. I'm bad at introductions, so I don't usually make a topic like this, but it seemed more proper to do here. I've been play...err...constructing with legos since the early 90s (apparently not as long as I thought, compared to some of you older fellows!), stopped for some years around '00, and recently relapsed into their joyous plasticity. I'm glad to have found a supportive, helpful community to help alleviate my obsession. I suppose it's also worth noting to mention that I'm not from Europe, I'm from Fargo, North Dakota, the flattest place in the US, home to such wonders as "the exact geographical center of North America" and nearby the "awe-inspiring" Biggest Ball of Twine in the World.