Section8

Grevious's ship doesn't look nearly as sleek as it does in the movie. I'd get the landing craft if anything next year, I think they did a good-enough job on it. The battle packs aren't bad, but I'm not into PT sets.

an excellent point. I'd love to build a big sprawling city, but that's not going to happen in my tiny college apartment. So I've taken to building skyscrapers, which fit maximum space into a minimum of (desk) space.

6396, hands down. The first airport I got (although I got it right after 6397 came out, a lucky TRU find back then). The gates, baggage and metal scanners, and the large windowed waiting room are all really nice features, as is the attached ATC tower. It reminds me of a breezy tropical airport, rather than the bustling megacity airport that is 6397 (of which I own the reissue). I also remember the mini catalogs and flyers from when I was young; 6396 was in many scenes, with the complementary 6399 monorail being the only thing more ubiquitous. 6397 didn't get as much exposure. I liked how Lego kept the logo between 6392 and 6396, and added on to that airline with 6399 and several other sets. The change of logos between 6396 and 6397 remains my biggest annoyance with 6397 and one of the reasons I like it less. The cargo helicopter is also impractical and of an inferior design to lego's other two rotor chopper, 6482.

With no track or motors, this will appeal to both 9V and RC fans. I've only got 1 9V train, but if it has great parts, I'll buy it.

My 846 Lighting Bricks arrived on 8/18/06. I might do a review of it in the Town section because I believe it to be a quality set. It's also the last set I'll get in a while since I need to curb my buying habits.

Sorry guys, I tied it at 12 - 12. I think there should be some fantastic element to any historical or future theme. I've always found legend better than truth. A lego ship with a plank to make their enemies walk and pirates burying their treasure is better than the truth that few, if any, pirates made their enemies walk the plank or buried their treasure. I think fantastic or legendary components of themes is what makes them special. This would include monsters, mermaids, etc. I consider the Islanders theme to be somewhat fantastic, since the pirate theme focused on the Caribbean and Islanders were the Pacific region. Also, the fact that the pirate ships were always larger is fantastic, since in real life the largest pirate ship was one of Blackbeard's at 40 guns, while many ships of the line were up to 100 guns or slightly more. Most pirate ships were captured merchant ships with a dozen guns or less. But that's not how Lego portrayed it. I wouldn't mind seeing a true ghost ship introduced in system pirates; I've always thought the Red Beard Runner would mod easily to a ghost ship, but an official model would be cool as well.

You and Lord Thrawn have done an excellent job on your reviews of these sets. However, I cannot force myself to like these sets. They remind me too much of Matchbox cars. As much as I like those cars, if I wanted to buy something like them, I'd buy that brand. Imagine these sets as system scale with a figure inside. They'd be pretty good, if done right (which lego has been better at since their 1999-2000 low point. ) All in all, keep up the good reviews of any sets you do. The built-in-the-bag idea was pretty cool and something I'd never thought of, though it's been a long, long while since I bought a single-bag set.

The originals being only in one now hard-to-get set, I don't think the color change itself will be a big issue. Whether the chroming stands up well to use and the test of time is the big question. I have some chrome parts from around 1996 still in perfect shape, but we all know lego's methods and quality have changed. I wonder if they will be like the new IG-88, which had done well in my experience, but I haven't used it very much.

Yep, not available in the U.S. and not even listed on our S@H site. But if it is indeed made of cardboard, I don't think us yanks will be missing much. You also get the new City Tower Crane when we don't, and that is missed very much over here. And you have, in the past, gotten some amazing promotional sets (like the airline sets and Shell sets), whereas in the U.S., we got very little, if anything. But we're not bitter about it (ok, maybe a little bitter).

They're good as lego models. However, I prefer the system style of building everything, so I think they are both too big. The problem with making these huge ships and trying to use the standard masts is that they are often out of proportion. The sterncastle on the pirate ship also seems too large for the rest of the boat. The sterncastle on the first ship would look cool as a building, but it doesn't really look good as part of a ship.

Chances are they only joined to post about their sales. I see this on From Bricks to Bothan.net all the time. Once the sets are sold, we won't hear from them again.

the toolbox is not an official Lego item. Most branded items on eBay that aren't anywhere else are knockoffs. I see some light-up Lego signs on eBay that are suspect, because the same seller has many different signs from with different corporate logos, but the same exact construction and size. Likely the seller bought himself a CNC mill and a lot of plexiglass. This toolbox is not on S@H, so it is likely counterfeit.

Although I have the most of Black Falcons, and some of the Crusader and Black Knight Castles are clearly the best, I voted for Dark Forest/Forestmen. I like the somewhat legendary aspect of the line (drawn from the Robin Hood legends). I also like the ingenuity of their sets, forts hidden in trees and rocks.

Why can't you open the Pirate and Colonial History subforum in the Great Library to posts like that? You could pin the topics that should stay on top, but everything Pirate-y but not dealing directly with Legos could go there. If it's not pirate-y it could go in the general Community board.

I second the Forestwoman as my favorite. Least favorite: all the jellybeans.

Here's a quick comparison between old and new white GITD heads. Here's two side by side, notice the translucency of the new HP head. I 'charged' them by exposing them to a white superbright LED light for the same amount of time (about a minute). The picture shows the longevity of the new material. The old material was brighter at first, but lost most of its intensity in about 15 seconds. The picture below was taken about a minute after exposure, the camera has adjusted for the intensity of the new head so both were slightly brighter, but the difference is very distinct. So the trade off is translucency versus brightness. I'm undecided, I like the brightness of the new ones, but I have about a dozen or more of the old ghost shrouds, and some parts, like the magic wands, haven't been made in new GITD yet.

Lego Education sells a old to new system cable, which lets you use the old sensors on the new system. I think it does a good job of meeting halfway between old and new. You can't use the new sensors on the old system (and if you could, why bother making a new system), but at least people who have both aren't left with completely useless sensors.

could be a glitch in Lego's website. Yesterday the Wookie Catamaran and TIE Fighter were available online very briefly, then they were sold out again. Or perhaps S@H found a few sets lying around and decided to post them online for sale.

gylman: http://www.legofigs.com/webpage/fameset_e.htm It's a Japanese site, the link jumps you to the root of the English version of the site. You will still encounter some Japanese text, though it displays as ???s if you don't have the language installed.

Thanks for alerting me to this review, snefroe1. I like this set alot. The modular design is something that newer sets would carry on later in the space theme. This set looks like it would fly to a planet and drop its modules to act as a temporary base. The ELS serves no specific purpose other than play value (as opposed to being an integral part of the set, like in the monorail), but that's ok. I agree what you said about the cockpit, it could use a little modification.

There were three lights, 1x4 brick with 2 lights, 1x2 brick with light on top, and 1 x 2 brick with light on side. The first two have seemingly gone the way of the dodo, which is very bad since almost every ELS set had the 1x4 light brick (hence why I got 6484, for a replacement). The 1x2 with light on the side is still in trains and also some Lego Education sets. They still sell both those lights AND a sound element as parts packs for their Educational line. Indeed. I stumbled upon 846 while researching my post. $44 poorer, I have one :-) I can't wait to make some illuminated signs and/or use the light bar to make engines for a spacecraft.

I find it amusing that many people, a few on this site and most elsewhere, keep hoping the AT-ST is the one from the Lego Star Wars 2 game. I just played the demo yesterday and the AT-ST in it is exactly the same as the one released in 2000. The legs might have been slightly different, I don't remember, but the head is the same squished, single seat construct that was in the retail set.

First, my question. Are there any comprehensive resources on the ELS system, such as lifetime of elements, number of lights allowable per battery box, etc? I know I can search Peeron for which sets had which, but a general internet and site-specific search turned up nothing. And since a search of this site turned up no specific topic on ELS, I thought I'd start one. If this is in the wrong spot or has been repeated, please delete it. Otherwise, I'll start it off: Lego's Electric Light and Sound system took the motion, light, and sound concept from Technic and introduced them to System lines, specifically Town and Space. It also coincided with the greater shift from 4.5v to 9v. The ELS system came about in the mid 1980s, with a light and sound police truck (6450) and firetruck (6480) in 1985. The late 80s saw a large increase in the number of sets that used the system, with a Helicopter (6482) and Construction Crew (6481) added to the town line, and many space sets getting the ELS treatment. It also saw the first motor introduced in the line, which was in the 6990 Monorail Transport System. During the 90s, TLC added a few town sets with ELS, most notably the 6399 Airport Shuttle, while it sporadically added sets to the Space line, including 6988 Alpha Centauri Outpost (1991) and Lego's third and final monorail, the 6991 Monorail Transport Base (1994). 1994 also saw the introduction of the Micromotor to the line, and now sets could have motion that weren't monorails. The 6483 Coastal Patrol (1994) and 6484 F-1 Hauler (1995) included such motors and were also the last town sets with ELS. Space continued to receive ELS sets until 1998. There were also a few non-System sets and accessory packs with ELS, such as the Basic set 735 and for those who already had a battery box, the 846 Lighting Bricks. Replacement parts were available for the line directly from Lego, but now that the line has died out, replacement parts command a higher price on the secondary market. The last sets with the 9v ELS that we knew were a few god-awful Znap sets in 1998, which I will not speak of again. On a whole, I liked the line. While never into space when I was younger, the sets that had ELS are some of my favorites now. I really wish TLC would release 6988 as a Legend. The town sets, however, are hit or miss. Traditionally large vehicles, like the Coastal Patrol and Jetport Fire Squad held and hid the battery box well, but some sets, like 6430 Night Patroller didn't. But lego had to make police and fire vehicles with the system, as those are the only town vehicles to have lights and sirens. The 6399 Airport Shuttle is one of the best lego sets of all time, if not the best, and has been at the top of my want list for 15 years. I personally have 6440, 6484, and 6482. The Fire Truck is a very good design, and for being about the size of the new one, TLC put in a battery box, lights, and a siren. The Rescue Helicopter would have been a good design without it, so having ELS is a bonus. The 6484 is my least favorite of all System ELS sets, because the addition of ELS made the truck gargantuan. I scrapped the set for the lights (to replace 6440 half-burned out brick) and the motor (very expensive on the secondary market). I think a construction crane of some kind would have been better than an oversized tow-truck. I just bought 846 and it will reach me in a few weeks. Comments, complaints, concerns?

Same here, they did Aquazone and Aquanauts a while back and I wasn't very fond of it. Divers was so much cooler because people could relate to it. The names of the sets suggest a modern theme, but the line name itself has already been done. There were 3 sets with neon green and black colors released in 1997, #s 2160, 2161, and 2162. Fire Brigade? Let's see what City buildings could catch fire for them to put out: Hospital Police Station Airport That is all. *goes back to buying "boring" buildings on Bricklink* Edit: on second glance at the Aquaraiders set names, the line could be a combination of fantastic elements and real life elements. The treasure hunters and shipwreck sets could be pretty modern and similar to the old divers. The sets with the giant animals could be more in line with the old aquazone sets and more fantastic/sci-fi in nature.

Quite funny, partially because I hate those Mac commercials, and partially because it's true.