Dunjohn

Well, there are parts of Norway that are further west than parts of Germany... ghah, being on the westernmost point of Europe blows!

Wow.... my photo did that? You're good :)

Yep, they match exactly. They're black, though.

I'm kinda with legocrazy81, with hindsight I'd have a much clearer idea of the kind of collection I'd want so I'd take the opportunity to streamline and specialize a bit. I've made a lot of impulse purchases that haven't really contributed to my hobby, and I'd probably pass on those (Yeah, you, Mars Mission).

It turns out that this was part of a line similar to LEGO's Collectible Minifigures (which, in hindsight, it says right there in your photos). They were in the shop today so I grabbed two. The fig I really wanted was the regular green Spartan with Plasma Sword and, thankfully, I got that in the first pack. I saved the other until I got home. I said earlier in this thread that I'd been rather impressed by how these look, but now I'm amazed. They're fantastic! The plastic quality and paint jobs are fantastic, the joints are good and the detail is astounding. It is kind of a shame that the ankles restrict straight standing to three studs, but far be it for an AFOL to complain about the number of joints on a minifig. This is the sheet that came with it. The back just contains some dire multilingual warnings and a small boxout with some other Halo sets. There's only eight figs in Series 1 but, unlike LEGO, there's a rarity system. The yellow guys are rare and the orange guy is ultra-rare. At this point, I hadn't opened my other bag. Not being a fan of the later Halo games, the only other minifig I'm really interested in getting is the purple Elite with Plasma Pistol. The others must all be from Halo Wars or something. Is that a samurai Spartan? Good grief. So, now I open the second bag. Hah! How's THAT for beating the odds? I nameth thee Arbiter and Master Chief. The Elite's ankles make his natural stance four studs wide, but you could probably get away with three. Both figs' feet are quite large, meaining you won't be able to put anything on the neighbouring studs even though they don't occupy them. Edit: Actually, the Elite may be three studs too, as he seems a little unstable on four. The weapons fit Legoman hands perfectly, though the slight angle on their wrists make positioning akward. There's also no spare room on the grip so a Power Miners rock monster, for example, couldn't hold one in its larger hands. The plasma sword also comes very close to touching the minifig's sleeve, even when it's gripped right at the top. The plastic quality and detail again are fantastic. That's a paint job on the Plasma Sword: the handle and the bit between the blades are clear. Now, down to business. I only have a small pool of two samples to work with, but these stamped, inkless codes are the only differences I can see between the packs. The black 2x4 brick that came with each minifig are printed with the same codes (you can just about make it out on the Master Chief shots above, but I hadn't noticed them before taking the pictures) and that strongly suggests that the codes tell what's inside the packs. If anyone gets any more of these, maybe we could pull together a list? I'm an ardent hater of clone brands so my fellow haters can be assured that when I suggest giving these a shot, I mean they might actually impress you. The rest of Mega Bloks can go to hell (HELL I SAY!) but these are genuinely very nice. It might help if you don't think of them as belonging to a clone brand. They're just little action figures that happen to fit studs. The tremendous detail and quality certainly help sell that.

Where do you guys watch it?

I can't remember when I stopped; I think the 90's Pirates sets were still in the shops. About two years ago, I finished work at 5.30 one Friday and had to hang around waiting for a card tournament to start at 6.30. I wandered into a toy shop, spotted a cheap little Lego fireman's car, set 7241, and figured that might might burn a few minutes. The next week, it was an ambulance, slightly larger but still cheap. It snowballed from there.

I'd vote, but my opinion basically boils down to that anything not currently available in trans neon yellow, should be.

Hmm, now I'm almost tempted to go out and get one of those battlepacks with a bunch of Spartans and Elites. I hadn't been before, but you've made this guy look very impressive. Nice work!

Hah, I have part of this guy! I got him at a car boot sale a few months ago (and was tempted to make a joke review of it). Yeah, the blue wheels and headpiece are interesting but not very reusable (and I only got like his front half, so reusability was key). Nice review! Keep these oddball sets coming!

Hmm, another series I hadn't known existed. Do you know the rules for the throwing disks? Aside from that, a very nice review! Not much of a parts pack but the idea seems interesting.

Lego is very gender-biased in everything it does, so the lack of females here is disappointing but not surprising. Look at the box illustrations for the Games line, for example. Most feature at least two characters playing the game, but out of the 20-ish Games in existence, only two feature females - and one's a family scene while the other's a witch, so they're hardly breaking any glass ceilings. It's just instinctive on LEGO's part to make its figures male unless they're specifically female roles, so the chances of any of those potentially-either figs (elf, snowboarder etc) being female is zero. There would need to be some fundamental change in the company's thinking for any of that to improve. However, there's also the fact that young boys tend to avoid anything that looks too "girly." That's a marketing fact. It's the reason why Joanne Rowling uses her innitials on the covers of her Harry Potter books rather than her full name. Boys wouldn't have bought them if they'd known she was female.

Oh dear, map-based would be even worse. Aside from the portability limitations - and portability is a key factor to the success of many collectible games that manufacturers often forget about - all these non-Lego elements would push the price up.

I'm nervous about this. Mainly the card thing. I just don't like where this seems to be headed, but I'll wait and see before writing it off completely.

Goldeneye is one of my favourite Bonds so I was a bit surprised to hear that the programmers would be replacing Brosnan with Craig for the update. It felt wrong. However, I've since changed my mind; GoldenEye is about James Bond, not Pierce Brosnan. Who plays him isn't important. These days he looks like Craig. It's the same Bond. Gameplaywise, as long as they don't tinker with too much I see no problems with it being rereleased. There are sections that could be improved - graphics, number of players et cetera. Those are fair game. Just so long as it's still GoldenEye at the end.

Nice review, thanks! I've been sorely, sorely tempted to get this set and your blowout hasn't helped the itch. It's high on my "lotto list" of things to get when I'm rich. One thing, though... you sure this belongs in Sci-Fi?

One question, yeah: Are you psychic? One more review and I would've hit eight, which is the link limit in signatures. I'd been wondering what to do after that, because I like to keep track of them. So your timing on highlighting this is suspiciously perfect, but thanks!

It is in mine... keep in mind, I'm using the Irish catalogue.

Here's a quick photo while I have the catalogue to hand. Nothing to see, really.

Must be an error. My local Tescos have them at €5.99, or about five pounds.

I own seven or eight by now and my favourites, gameplay-wise, have been Ramses Pyramid and Atlantis Treasure. Keep in mind that beanz has a point, though; compared to full-fledged board games, every LEGO Game has been on the simple side. Most are a lot of fun but they're far from hardcore.

No, the board is perfectly square so it doesn't matter what way I spin it. To fit the box, I need to snap the corners off and dethrone the statue. And you're right about the word "die," it's just that the packaging always refers to it as a "dice."

Hmm. I'm just a little bit nervous posting this under Mr. Bruce Lee there. Don't like the way he's licking his lips. My pet budgie Bismarck.

*checks 8745 on Brickset* Wow, yeah, this is definitely a bootleg. Don't worry, Peppermint_M, I do know the difference, thanks mainly to you I thought the model itself was original while using mostly LEGO-standard elements, I didn't realise it was an exact copy of an actual LEGO set. The spinning blade mechanic in particular was something I didn't know LEGO had ever done. Now I feel even worse for buying it

Unfortunately, I've noticed one or two typos that crept past my diligent proofreading... but that's not one of them. *squeezes Fugazi-shaped stress toy madly*