Dunjohn

Fan-cy! Thanks!

Is there a list of these somewhere? I see a list of MOCs but no sets. I'm positive I saw one somewhere a few months ago.

This is not something unique to Lego, by a long shot. In fact, the timing is amazing; just yesterday, Capcom began to pull YouTube videos of Evil Ryu and Oni Akuma in Super Street Fighter 4's Arcade Edition, and contact arcades where the characters were being played. They weren't supposed to be unlocked for another few weeks, but somebody managed to break the unlock code. Crucially, they weren't due for release until after the launch of Marvel vs Capcom 3, which is the game Capcom wants people to be hyped about right now. Capcom have been taking a lot of heat, with several major Youtube channels being barred for multiple "innocent" violations and accusations of censorship flying all around. A few years ago, a very well-known Magic: the Gathering rumour miller was taken to court by WotC for posting leaked cards about a year before the street release. His site was and still is the #1 Magic community base on the internet so this was huge. He's still legally barred from possessing or spreading leaked info about their products. The point it, companies like this put a tremendous amount of thought and energy into planning a release schedule, and making sure that every release can maximise its impact. An unfortunate leak can destroy hundreds of hours of effort, damage marketing campaigns and impact sales. They've every right to control how their stuff reaches the public eye.

*is trying to picture a Pharaoh-Popstar wrestling match*

We did get a fairly hefty head start on Series 4 too, if I remember right; we've had those images for months. anyhow, I likewise did not get any viking or dwarf sets, so I likewise am looking forward to seeing them. In fact, one of the suggestions I made in the wanna-see thread was figures from old lines, so I'm being well catered for (though I mainly had Power Miners and Blacktron in mind - one reason I'm hoarding cyborgs).

I can tell the difference between plastics but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I mix them freely with other minifigs. It's all genuine Lego. I am irked by the less free wrist movement too, and some figs are so stiff I've actually developed blisters on my thumbs trying to position or remove them. That's still not enough to get to me.

There're still a few guys left on my wanted list but the boxer, Godzilla and royal guard can now be chalked off. Hopefully Godzilla will have a tail piece. And I hope the boxing gloves aren't ridiculously large, they seem alright. I do wish they hadn't made him so obviously a costume. Swapping out the actor's head for the giant mouth from Atlantis' hammerhead sharkman will probably fix that right up. I wonder if Godzilla counts as the Japanese entry for this series? And what other costumes might they do? Panda? Horse (that could be a two-parter)? The Fool from Wicker Man? Gary the No Trash Cougar? The possibilities are endless (well, actually, they probably ended back at Panda). Anyhow, back to this series. I like the Cleopatra. Keep those Egyptian guys coming. Gladiator, he looks okay, but is that a new sword he's got?

Thanks for the look, though this game is probably my lowest priority out of the five Wave 4 ones. The parts list doesn't excite me much. Still, I'll end up getting it anyway.

Be the plastic quality as it may, I don't think it's going to affect their prices in the future. If there were chinese and Danish versions, yeah, but there's not, so it's irrelevant.

Oh yeah, good spot. That's the Mexican flag, though, so it'd be Spanish rather than Italian.

I think it's fantastic that the Clone Wars era has been successful, particularly after that patchy beginning, and that the number of Clone Wars fans probably outnumber the, uh, number of Original Trilogy fans. I never thought that Clone Troopers could become as accepted as Storm Troopers but there they are. That all said, I'd be on the Original Trilogy side. I didn't watch the OT until the Special Editions came out in the nineties, when I was in my teens, so I came to Star Wars about halfway between eras. Probably the main thing I don't like about the CW is that it feels so arteficial and forced. One side of that is, it's not subtle about its main goal: to shift plastic. Absolutely everything I see about it has that goal in mind. The goal exists with the OT too, obviously, but it doesn't seem to be as far to the fore (at least, until the Ewoks arrive). I can sit down and enjoy the OT without having BUY ME! blazing across my eyeballs every thirty seconds. The other side of feeling arteficial and forced is how the whole era looks. It's drenched in so much CG that nothing really stood out as amazing. The attack on the Death Star is a thousand times better than the rescue of Chancellor Palpatine from Grievous' flagship because by that point in the CW, it's just another overdone piece of eye candy. The attack on Hoth is edge-of-the-seat stuff; the Battle of Geonosis is ten times more epic but nowhere near as interesting. I don't believe that CG is necessarily a bad thing, but neither is chocolate, and you can't have that for three meals a day. I'm not one of those fundamentalists who refuses to have anything to do with CW, I just vastly prefer the old stuff.

Okay, I've finished my collection! If anybody needs my spares, I could always use.... Xx Zombie Xx Elf Xx Space Villain Xx Alien I have: Series 1: 2x Clown 1x Cowboy 1x Diver 3x Dummy 1x Forestman 2x Indian 1x Magician 2x Ninja 2x Nurse 1x Robot Series 2: 3x Karate Master 1x Lifeguard 2x Mime 1x Patrolman 2x Pharaoh 1x Ringmaster 1x Skier 11x Spartan 1x Surfer 2x Weightlifter 2x Witch Series 3: 2x Alien 1x Baseball Player 2x Fisherman 1x Gorilla 1x Hula 2x Pilot 2x Samurai 2x Tennis Player Most of these are still sealed, but about five or six from S1 and S2 are open (but complete). I'm in Ireland and can probably send anywhere.

I was in Tesco today and they were selling NinjaGo at very strange prices. Much lower than they should be, but it wasn't a special offer or anything; it might even be an error. Single spinners for €5.23 (should be €8.99), starters and the motorbike set for €10.30 (should be €15.99). They didn't have any other sets, my local Tesco is quite lousy for Lego, but maybe someone can check if this is the same in every store.

I was in the shop again today, and yeah, most of the packs were absolutely wrecked. The cashier said there were a few people in this morning with the dots list but they must have been doublechecking by feeling. Still, it'll be helpful if you see a box with wrecked packs so you don't need to waste too much time looking for the valuable ones.

New list further south.

My local Smyths (Galway, Ireland) also got batch 142B0. I had a hard time even finding the dots in the shop so I just picked up twenty packs for €50. Once I went home, though, and really started studying them, I eventually got used to finding the dots and they all matched the cheat sheet. It really can be difficult, though. This takes far more mental training than the barcodes. It's the first series that I think feeling is the way to go. If people aren't seeing the dots or the patterns aren't matching, persevere - they have to be there. Also, apologies to all the local kids, but I got both fishermen. And an entire tennis doubles match. I got 9/16. Not great. I took the entire right-most column in the box, plus four from the back of the middle column, so that's where the fishermen and tennis players are, if anybody wants to speed up their searching.

They're due out in August, but that's all I know. I don't think the names translate, they made them up. Or at least, googling the words doesn't return anything meaningful. I've never seen pictures of them. I'd love any details you can provide too!

Nope, he's regular. From reading the other reviews here, it seems that the blister packs contain Chinese figs and the boxed sets have Danish. I've a feeling that that also explains the descrepancies between the sword hilts. Regular sets all seem to have squared hilts, while blister packs and Collectible Minifigs have octagonal ones. Perhaps somebody with more sets (including non-Ninjago ones) might be able to confirm that.

Thanks for the review! I already have this set, though I never actually built it. I'm just wondering, though, as an obsessive Games collector, what other languages are in the rulebook? I can already spot differences; the Union Jack has been replaced by the Stars and Stripes. The European rulebooks also contain German, French and Italian.

It can be taken out easy enough, and doesn't really need to be replaced with anything, but the mouth won't close. The inner mouldings prevent the parts from fitting together any tighter. I remember hearing something about TLG updating the ball & socket joints, a couple of my Exo-Force ones are busted. So they're being used in Hero Factory? Odd that they're not being used here, alright, I'd have liked to see them. Speaking of Exo-Force, one other thing I like about this dragon is how easily it can fit the Exo-Force theme. It looks cypernetic enough, especially with a couple of adjustments here and there.

Nope, they're very maneuverable but they hold in whatever position I put them in. The wings are very light. Taking into account what people have said here, I've kinda changed my opinion slightly, and edited the review. Especially about the dragon looking unfinished; he really does look like half a dragon, doesn't he? The tail is very weedy. I've also fixed a couple of errors.

Hi there, I haven't posted here for a bit. I'm still officially in a dark age. I'm not that interested in the NinjaGo theme at any rate. The Spaceport theme didn't turn out as interesting as I'd hoped, and it doesn't look like Pharoah's Quest will be released in Ireland, but I'd nothing else to spend my spare Christmas money on so I let curiosity win out. Apologies for the occasional rough photo. I've taken apart my usual setup and there's a lot of Christmas junk around the place. So, with the life story out of the way, let's get going! ____________________________________________ Fly to the underworld on the Ice Dragon and reclaim the shurikens of ice! Zane flies into the perilous realm of the underworld to recapture the stolen shurikens of ice from the skeleton army. Suddenly, Krazi appears out of the darkness and he has a different plan! Blast him with the Ice Dragon’s frozen breath before he gets away with the treasure! Set includes Ice Dragon, 2 minifigures and 2 weapons. INFORMATION: Set Name: Ice Dragon Attack Set Number: 2260 Theme: NinjaGo Year Released: 2011 Number of Pieces: 158 Minifigs: 2 Price: €24.99 on release _____________________________________________ FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The whole NinjaGo line makes a big, warm impression on the shelf and this set is no different. I like the background art. It'd be nice by itself. I dunno why the Dojo set makes such a big deal of its single golden shuriken, this Krazi dude seems to be fully armed with them has has no trouble flinging them around the place. This is obviously the European box. I've always been jealous of the American boxes, which list the set name and piece count. I have to look all this stuff up online. The back isn't much different. I'm pretty sure Golden Weapon #1 isn't available yet. That's an interesting way of doing things. Atlantis let you have all five Rings from day 1. The manual has the same cover art as the box and the inside is clear and unremarkable, so I'll skip to the end. Here we have a character list. I don't recall seeing that lady ninja or some of the skellies in the store, so they're presumably in future sets. This is really weird of TLG. Also nestled among the ads is this weapons list, including the set numbers they come in. A very nice touch for the collectors out there. As well as the manual, the box also contained these three bags of what appears to be small plastic bricks. Odd, but nice. Note the absence of any sticker sheet. Only the head parts and one tile is printed; the rest is going commando! This set also includes no cards. It's purely a model kit. The set is white-heavy so I laid the parts out on this sheet of brown cardboard. The minifigs weren't pre-built, I did that. Most of the grey will be hidden, while maximum use is made of the blue and trans-blue; there seems to be hardly any here, but the model uses it well. Colour-wise, I'd have preferred if the dragon's tongue was blue instead of orange. Firing an ice ball from it would've looked better that way. In fact, most of the orange in this set looks out of place. Purple, now, that would have been awesome. Some of the cooler pieces, I think. I'm a bit out of the Lego scene so there may be something interesting in the big square that I missed. Those three-way bar things are inspired. They should have been made a long time ago. My only qualm is that they have a little triangular ridge along the side, separating the studs from the bars. The blue wedge things are the same shape as the crystal/rock elements from Power Miner's Crystal King set, so there's MOC possibilities to build a blue wife for him. She'd have no head, but progress is progress. The printed tile says "dragon god" (thanks, lisqr!) and looks lovely. Surprise of the day: The dragon's head and jaw are made from flexible plastic. I think it's new stuff, it doesn't feel the same as the normal soft weapon plastic. A little more rigid, but maybe more prone to wrinkling. DON'T BEND IT TOO MUCH. I think I damaged the front bit of the orange beard by bending it sideways, just to see if it was made of the same stuff. It looks and works fine if you leave it alone. This fuzzy shot is supposed to be displaying the sword hilt. It's the newer square type. That's an older sword in the background, with its octagonal hilt. Otherwise, aside from number coding, they're identical. THE BUILD: I'll start with the minifigs, since I've obviously already built them. This version of Zane is Zane DX, which apparently means he gets a flashier, more ceremonial-looking outfit. Quite gnarly it is, too, though the knot of his belt is partially printed on the torse, making the torso difficult to use separately. His cowl is the same as the Collectible guy's as far as I can tell. The skeleton is Krazi, which is just an excuse to wear make-up. I wanted to compare him to a regular skeleton but my other minifigs are packed away too deeply to reach, so I'll just have to assume that everything about him is brand new. I like those new feet, I've named them "skellie wellies." They're better in other contexts than the old ones, though the old ones look nicer on actual skeletons. Dunno what he has to hide under that loincloth. Or she, perhaps. Maybe a guy would spell it "Krazy." Both of them are made from normal, non-Chinese plastic. Zane has rather nice back printing. It's a dragon head and "ZANE." Hmm. Funny how they matched a guy named "Krazi" with a guy named "Zane." Our final blurry close-up of the day compares the new skeleton arm with an older droid-style one. The new one is slightly shorter, and the elbow angle is a few degrees more acute. All in all, I prefer the new arm, even for non-cartoony Castle skeletons. Getting into the main build, Step 13 attaches the legs to the torso. After this point, the wings and head obscure the body so this is the last clear shot of it. The blue 2x2 plates under the ice wedges bring out the colour nicely. The wings are very nicely made, and look good in either folded or unfolded positions. The head doesn't take much to construct so here's the final model. There are a lot of articulation points so it has a wide variety of potential poses. It's also well balanced so most will actually work. Five spares, including a shuriken. IN CONCLUSION: Looks cool. It has a nice mix of fantastic and sci-fi influences that can work in a variety of settings. It looks good as a display piece, which was my main reason for choosing it over the other sets in the store. However, I don't think it particularly fits the NinjaGo theme very well. It's a bit out-of-place with the martial arts ethos, like they felt that an oriental theme needed a dragon so they tossed one in. Design: 7/10: Like I said above, the model is highly swooshable while being very well balanced for display. The main problem is that the dragon is a bit stumpy; nice head, great wings, huge feet, but the torso is small and the tail is pathetic. That said, any bigger and the price would have been affected. Parts: 8/10 A bit heavier on the Bionicle elements than I prefer, but those new three-way bar bits are both excellent for everything, and probably replace even more Bionicle elements. Fewer weapons than the apparent NinjaGo average but the three stars are still cool. Everything else seems nice to have. Aside from the dragon head, nothing is ridiculously specialised, and even that could be either biological or mechanical. I like the printed tile especially, it's nice and simple, very elegant. Build: 9/10 Speedy and efficient with no tricky areas. Simpler than it looks. Playability: 8/10 This looks like it'd be amazing fun if I were twelve years old. The fact that Krazi has absolutely nothing but the shurikens means that any battles are going to be a little one-sided. Price: 9/10 After the slew of expensive licensed themes in 2010, it was very refreshing to see the prices on the NinjaGo line (at least, the non-card sets). A definite clincher in my decision to buy one at all. Total: 85% I could easily see myself going for this entire line if I had the time and funds. Thanks for reading! - Dunjohn

Thanks for the heads-up! I was going to buy something on Monday, to use up a voucher near its deadline, but held off until today and got a couple of minifigs with it.

This sounds like a long-term trend, not something new. If the company hasn't paid any heed to it by now, they're not going to.