Section8

55 pages of instructions for 165 pieces? That's roughly 3 parts per page. Are kids these days dumber than we were as kids? I'll answer my own question with 'yes' since they need to put L and R on the doors. What if you want to make suicide doors? The exterior is decent enough, but for being 6 wide it sure lacks in the interior. I'll stick with 6351. For roughly the same price and amount of pieces, it manages to be a more detailed interior and a more complete set with the trailer and boat.

This review pleasantly surprised me. I didn't realize this castle was that well-designed and built. There's a lot of playability features, yet they don't compromise the design as has happened in other sets. The only thing I don't like is that little tower that juts out from the main tower. Utterly worthless and even worse, its made possible by that lousy, <insert that tiresome argument> castle window piece.

Great review! Props for skipping pictures of the build since they wouldn't show anything useful. As for the set, it's average. As other people have said, it's really not worth the price. One wall piece and/or one troll tower could have easily been something more interesting and not a clone of the other part. But the modularity is definitely a step in the right direction for castle (which is backwards).

I voted no, mostly because of the differing sizes. Granted, you could make the modular buildings your downtown and everything else on the edges of the city, but there's not enough modular sets to do that yet (assuming you aren't making your own). I also said I'll only be getting the classic sets. They have more variety in the types of buildings (or at least used to and they are getting better again in recent years), have a larger range in prices to fit differing budgets, and have a scale that I do not feel is overwhelming. I also like LEGO sets to be representative of the original inspiration, not an exact copy. I don't see buildings lacking staircases, bathrooms, or large realistically proportioned rooms as being too simple. The modular buildings are fantastically detailed and well designed, but I grew up during system-style's heyday, and I'm old enough now to be afraid of change

Nice work Klaus-Dieter. I've always wanted to build a Roman villa like yours, only full minifig scale. I'll definitely use yours as inspiration if I ever get to do that. Right, although it would be neat to include some of the mythological elements as figures or sets. Granted, most of Roman mythology was copied from Greek mythology, but that doesn't change the stories, just the names.

I miss those pictures too. The alternate models usually were quite creative and sometimes on par with the main set itself. I also liked when if you bought 3 certain sets you could combine them to make a new larger model using the instructions included in one of the sets. They only did it a few times with Space sets, I recall.

I linked here from some other site (probably Classic Castle, as I was most active there once) and the membership here was polite and mature, so I stuck around. Having about the only Town fan forum at the time was also a factor.

Thanks for posting the boxart. I have this set, but I acquired it second-hand sans box. I like that alternate model in the largest pane in the box. Perhaps I'll attempt to make it sometime. The alternate models were the best part of the old boxes, especially when they suggest models that were very different than the original.

I said great 1980s design. Of course the designs from the early 90s were better. I wonder if will hit that high point again...

I see your point, and agree to some degree, Klaus-Dieter. I too like the old ones (specifically the ones introduced in 1987) as that is most of what I have and all my town-themed plates have the same road widths. I could have forgiven the various color changes, from grey to green with grey roads to dark grey IF they kept the widths the same. Also, the opposite would have worked for me, different sizes but all the same few colors (the green specialized ones were quite a nice change). But the fact that each generation seems to mesh less well with everything before it was quite annoying. So yes, it's better to some degree they aren't making them so much anymore. However, that means we miss out on new, unique plates, like they had for the racing and rescue sets and others. Also, we haven't seen much of the sweetness that was the space landing plates in a long time. Remember those? You're more ambitious than me. I just avoid purchasing sets with 6 wide vehicles in it.

That is very promising, though I have two questions regarding it. 1. Will it work on non-white pieces without changing their original colors? Blue and grey can turn colors just as bad as white, from my experience. It would be nice to throw all of them into a tub without regard to color and have it work. 2. They don't mention what strength hydrogen peroxide they used. 3% is what you can get in a brown bottle at the drugstore, 30% is standard laboratory strength, and 90% puts rockets into orbit. I certainly hope its 3%, but their claim of it getting expensive for large parts likely suggests a higher concentration.

4/5, a great theme, though still so less than the best of the theme, like Futuron, M-Tron, BlackTron 1 and 2, and SP1 and 2. I have the smallest 2 regular release sets, maybe the next one above those (Blizzard Baron, been awhile since the space sets were fully built). I really liked the new visors, though would have appreciated them being made in other less ostenatious colors. The skiis were a pretty neat addition to the piece mix and I'm glad those made it into Town sets too. The interoperability of the ground sats and launched sats made owning more than one or two sets more fun. Didn't even know this was a set, but I'd like to own it. Didn't know that! The only set I don't have hands-on experience with. Regardless, it's still worthy of the best set award. Never thought I'd see that written on this site. Live and learn, I guess... indeed, although limited in other uses I feel (I'm a town guy, trans-blue or trans-yellow have more possible uses in that theme) Some of those were previously unknown to me. As a sucker for printed parts of any kind, I'll have to check those out.

3/5, solely because you and others stated that Exploriens wasn't entirely worthless, which I agree with. I remember playing with most of these sets since my friend owned them. The large robot and saucer were pretty decently and ingeniously built. The small saucer was pretty worthless though. Possibly you should include 1785 as part of this line. The one Spyrius-looking robot is unique, for more than one reason. No, SP1 had way more blue elements, across the board and no red except trans-red. The two are very distinct, based on those criteria. And I'd love to see a modern set with half as many similar components as the one you posted. That set is a treasure trove of great 1980s design and great 1980s pieces.

7633 has vehicles so large they wouldn't fit on a roadplate. The modular nature also doesn't need a plate, in my opinion 7641 is a corner, and therefore would need three plates to make it useful. This would raise the price quite a bit. 7642 is in desperate need of plates. It seems so disorganized and sprawled. There's a huge sprawling repair center in the 260 Idea Book that they managed to fit on plates, so why not this set? It seems that LEGO City has outgrown their baseplates, with 6-wide vehicles being the norm.

Thank you Hinckley and Sinner, you guys made my night I thought that maybe a helicopter would work, but then realized that the motor and batteries would be way too heavy, even if they could be fit into an old System-scale chopper. Even those weigh too much. And I definitely do not want to see LEGO release bricks made of some special lightweight plastic or foam to make flying models; such a material would not stand up well over time or under abuse. I know once they tried them in flying models, they'd infiltrate other sets too, as I believe they'd probably be cheaper to make...

With a such a great deal like that, it has to be TRU

When I was in Italy, I saw a Smart Car vending machine. Yes, you read that right. Those models you made would look very interesting stacked inside a huge vending machine. Yes, the LEGO factor means that you can only have one seat, but that's no different from classic town cars.

Price -Becoming less important the older I get. Though I would still be reluctant to spend $100 on a new set, when I could get an old set I want for the same price. Value -Should hit the 10 pcs/$1USD ratio, unless the piece mix prohibits that. Sculptures with basic bricks should be higher, sets with large or electric parts can be less. Playability -Not really a factor as I don't play any more. Design -The most important part. A lousy design in an otherwise favorite theme will be a turn off. Cut corners, too many <insert that tiresome argument> pieces, and just poor implementation are the biggest things. Integration -Also a large part. I'm a System Town guy. Cafe Corner building look great, but they don't go well with my town, so I haven't bought any. The new construction sets and 6-wide cars also do not integrate well. The next wave of City sets looks like they will. Theme -This goes without saying. If it's not a theme I care about, I am disinterested in it. I couldn't even describe to you one Bionicle, Racers, or Agents set. And I've seen Agents pics, but I knew I didn't like it, so don't remember them. Rating -Doesn't matter. While I appreciate the set reviews, members' ratings don't factor into whether I get a set. Visual Quality -I go for sets that generally resemble what's in my collection already. I do, however, own sets that are very cool looking, like the Maersk Sealand and the Boeing 787. But they have to be of something I like. Taj Mahal is something that is great looking but outside my tastes. Pieces -I don't buy on whether it has certain pieces, unless it offers several that are exceptional (light and sound sets are an example). Unless the piece has widespread utility, it should not be made (unique minifigs aside). Lightsaber hilts are a good example of of a new piece that has found widespread utility. Minifigs -Since I mostly buy town and nothing spectacular has been made recently, it's not really a factor. When I bought SW, I wanted as many aliens as possible, and bought to get those molds. Build -I am concerned that things are getting a bit simple, numbered bags and larger pieces and the like. More apparent is the increasing simplicity of the instructions. I remember when it wasn't uncommon to lay down 20 parts in a step. Now I haven't seen more than a few unless they are all the same part. Other Considerations -I also consider whether a similiar set exists from the most classic releases. Sometimes it doesn't matter if I am going for variety (I own multiple Octan gas stations from all eras), but in other cases, like the new construction cranes, I'd prefer the old versions.

The new pics of that set confirm the new motorcycle is in. A shame, as I've never seen a motorcycle in real life with handlebars even with my nose.

Why do the bad guys' ships look like road vehicles, while the good guys' ships look like spaceships? I don't see the reasoning behind that one. Especially since the good guys' ships are fairly well designed and even remind me a little of Space sets that were post-Classic Space. The GE is huge and I'm eager to see the full review.

As additions to existing themes, I'd like to see SW and IJ expanded into video games and other non-movie material, although most of the best stuff (IJ and the Fate of Atlantis, SW:Knights of the Old Republic and Dark Forces/Jedi Knight) is probably too old to be recognizable to younger fans. In general, I'd also like to see more real world licenses for City and related themes. They are still plugging along with some promotional sets like the Vestas windmill, but I'd like to see more universal names, like McDonald's, etc. Keeping them as promotional sets would be fine with me, that way people who don't want real-world licenses in their towns would still have the regular release sets as options. I'd especially like to see the return of gas station promos. Many sets with the Shell logo, promo or regular release, were some of the best town sets ever made. Definitely. Although this would be hard to do as a regular line due to the regional nature of railroads, I think some single sets of well known trains work well. Famous trains like the 20th Century Limited, Orient Express, and Flying Scotsman are (or should be) universally known amongst railfans.

Above average for the World City line, which makes it average compared to the rest of the Town line. The van is a good feature, but the chunky tires make it look odd. It would have been neat if the van was made to look like a flower or delivery van, pretty typical of undercover vans in movies/tv.

Another great MOC, K-D. I am wondering though, what is the yellow 1 x 1 cylinder on the 'H' in the sign for?

Another reason you should be a set designer for Lego, K-D. I'm glad to see you still designing sets in the old System scale. After CC was released, I've noticed a shift towards that style for MOCs. Any plans to build it? I'd love to see it next to your MOC Main Street and Side Street.

I'm in.