Aanchir

They were actually used alongside the actual coins as treasure in the March photograph in the 2011 LEGO Calendar (which featured leprechaun minifigures). I wanted to review that calendar for Eurobricks, but alas, photographing glossy-print pages is not the same as photographing MOCs, and the same rules don't apply. I couldn't get any photos without considerable glare.

Dunjohn just linked me to this fantastic interview with Mark Stafford about Alien Conquest. Looking at the mothership's sketch model, it did seem more formidable in the prototype stage, but it still didn't seem to have the ability to link up with smaller craft that people expect of a mothership. Interestingly, its added bulk hardly comes from the inner disk being larger (even though it is four studs larger in diameter)-- rather, the "struts" connecting the inner disk and the outer ring are thicker, using the classic Space Shuttle body piece. I guess the reason this wasn't done in the final set was a combination of cost constraints and the desire to incorporate the "spinning" feature, which seems to be absent from the sketch model. Another preliminary model shown is of the Mobile Command Center. This is cool, but not nearly as cool as the final set. One thing that's interesting is the logo, which is a variation on the Classic Space logo. However, I do not like this preliminary logo as it is hard to decipher and doesn't have the same charm as the classic Space logo or the "near-Earth" Space logo used in the City theme. The sketch model for UFO Abduction is also shown, demonstrating how the function of the set was the first thing developed and the "retro" design was only applied later. I definitely prefer the final model to this more rugged-looking concept, but in a more serious theme with an atmosphere like that of Mars Mission, a concept like this could be made to fit in very well.

What? That's weird--43903 has only 20 treads on LDD (feel free to count them yourself). I don't know whether Bricklink has the part number wrong or LDD has the wrong part rendered for that part number, but in any event the one listed as 43903 on LDD is the one your models are missing. First and foremost, your link is to the document thumbnail for the file on Brickshelf, not to the file itself. You may have accidentally clicked "Copy Image Location" instead of "Copy Link Location". Your model is missing one 1x1 Medium Stone Grey round brick (3062) from the second-tallest "column". Other than this, the model itself is error-free. Hmmm, this is an exceedingly tricky set to error-check since it hasn't been inventoried on Bricklink and there haven't been any reviews that allow me to visually determine (for instance) what silver color is used. However, I will share what I can tell from the resources available to me. Obi-Wan's lightsaber blade should be colored 42 Transparent Light Blue rather than 43 Transparent Blue. Obi-Wan's lightsaber handle should be colored 315 Silver Metallic (BL's Flat Silver and Pearl Light Gray in post-2010 sets) or 298 Cool Silver Drum Lacquered (BL's Metallic Silver) rather than 131 Silver (BL's Pearl Light Gray in most pre-2010 sets). I'm guessing it's 298 Cool Silver Drum Lacquered because that's the one in official pictures and Bricklink inventories for all summer 2011 sets. The new Watto's blue parts should be colored 135 Sand Blue rather than 102 Medium Blue. Your model is missing four Medium Stone Grey lightsaber blades (30374) that belong on the Dark Stone Grey clips on the front of Sebulba's engines. Your model is missing four Warm Gold 6M bars (63965) that belong on the clips between Sebulba's engines (just like the four already on the outside of the engines. The 1x1 round plate (6141) on the stand of Sebulba's podracer should be colored 297 Warm Gold rather than 21 Bright Red. I reckon you just forgot to use the paint bucket tool on this one. Your model is missing two Dark Stone Grey 1x1 round bricks (3062) The Dark Stone Grey Technic cables connecting the pods to the engines should all be the same length, but your guess is as good as mine what the correct length is. Your model is missing four Bright Orange 1x4 tiles (2431). They belong on the "wings" of the engines; I can't come up with a clear way to describe where so just re-check the instructions to see where you omitted these parts from. Great work on building this complex set so well even before a Bricklink inventory was uploaded! You did a fantastic job! First of all, you have both the second and third models listed as model 2 in your post. No big issue, but something you might want to edit. The second model has a 2x6 plate (3795) where it should have two 2x3 plates (3021). This is the only building error

C'mon, really? Are we that desperate? So far, the Collectible Minifigures have been interpreted as "hints" for various things-- additional factions in Kingdoms, the return of Blacktron, an classical Greek or Roman theme, etc. None of these supposed "hints" have amounted to anything, and with good reason. The Collectible Minifigures are their own theme, and do not necessarily have anything to do with current or upcoming themes (except by coincidence or in the form of references to familiar LEGO brands and icons, like the Blacktron or Octan logos). It's possible you were being sarcastic given the sheer ludicrousness of a person in a rubber monster suit hinting at actual dragon-people in a fantasy theme, and if so I apologize. But people leap to such ridiculous conclusions so often with the collectible minifigures that I can no longer tell when people are being serious about supposed "hints". I'm not saying that dragon people are not a possibility, but frankly if they are there is no reason they would have anything at all to do with the monster suit guy from Collectible Minifigures Series 5, except by mere coincidence. Anyway, I'm personally intrigued about where Ninjago will go from here, so I'll be keeping close tabs as always.

In general, I tend to have a positive view of stickers. That doesn't mean that they don't come with their share of problems, though. There are certain parts that it's just impractical to decorate with stickers (for instance, stickers come off of any 1x1 round part and many 2x2 round parts easily, and any surface that can't be "flattened out", such as many minifigure animals or other specialized parts, is completely impractical for stickers to be applied to). Stickers across multiple pieces (STAMPs) are a problem any time they appear, even though my dad never had difficulty with those-- his policy is always to apply the sticker and then go over the seam between the pieces with an X-Acto knife. And of course there is absolutely no getting around how much of a problem it is if the stickers are in some way defective when you get them out of the package, as has happened in your case. I'm sure if you tell LEGO Customer Service that you got a brand-new, unopened set with the stickers peeling away they can both replace the sticker sheet for you and work on solutions to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future. It won't lead to stickers being eliminated completely, I'm sure, but it could encourage TLG to be smarter with how sticker sheets are packaged, even in somewhat small sets like the Imperial V-Wing Starfighter.

That color offset is the worst I've ever seen on any sticker sheet. Even some of the blues are offset from where they should be! I wouldn't say "quite a while"-- those slope pieces are what I call the Stafford slope, designed by the aforementioned Mark Stafford. They made their first appearances in sets this year. TLG actually calls them "ADU Soldiers". I think that piece of paper is not a diagram of a UFO, but rather a diagram of a parachute. Note that he also has a parachute emblem on his torso, which is the special "pilot" torso with orange tubing. Of course, I don't know what the point of a parachute diagram would be, either, or what the letters on it mean. Might be a military history reference I don't know about. Alien Conquest seems to be all about these "shoot multiple flick-fires at once" techniques, such as the launchers on the HQ set. From what I've seen in videos, these don't work especially well. A technique similar to this one for launching individual flick-fires was employed in the Space Police III set Smash & Grab, where it worked amazingly well (making the flick-fires a lot easier to flick), so it's a shame it doesn't work nearly as well here. Here's what she looks like from the side. It's chunkier than I was expecting. Which is good. Heck, with both rotors and jets it could probably be a giant cube and still fly. Great review! I enjoyed seeing such an in-depth look at this set. I still haven't decided if I'm going to make the investment in Alien Conquest, but I am very impressed with the theme as well as the individual sets.

If you're talking about the plates from the 2007 harbor set, those aren't strictly "harbor plates"-- they originally derive from 6600 Highway Construction, which was a fun set in my childhood even if it was during possibly the lowest point in LEGO Town set design. I agree that those plates would have been way better than the road plates used here, although I'm frolicking in the irony of AFOLs complaining that TLG did use baseplates instead of a more reasonable alternative (then again, I can't imagine people would have been happy with those road pieces either unless there were like three square feet of blue baseplates also included without any increase in cost). On the other hand, if you're talking about these road pieces, I think they've been discontinued for a long time. Personally, that commercial is cute, but not as great as the two LEGO City mini-movies from this year. I hope another one comes out that incorporates the Harbor sets. Incidentally, the company that made these, M2FILM, is responsible for a number of other LEGO commercials and mini-movies, including the humorous LEGO Star Wars film "Bombad Bounty"

It is just a chair, and some of its names in other countries don't cut corners on this fact: US: XT-5 and Droid UK: Speed Rider with Robot France: Scooter spatial et robot (Space Scooter and Robot) The Netherlands: Vliegstoel en maanmonster (Airchair and Moonmonster) Germany: Schubsessel (Thrustchair) Italy: Simulatore di volo con robot (Flight Simulator with Robot) In Italy, apparently, it doesn't even fly! It's only a simulator! If anyone from any of these countries has a better translation to offer, I invite you to by all means! Most of these translations come from a blend of Google Translate, Wiktionary, and guesswork. But I put a lot of work into finding region-specific names for this and many other websites, and hopefully Brickset will be carrying these names soon enough. Anyway, as for the review-- it's nice to get such a good look at a classic set from before my time! Personally, I don't mind the small size of the vehicle. Hoverchairs are a staple of classic sci-fi, and if there's anything the Segway has taught us it's that even in today's world there's a place for small and unobtrusive personal vehicles. All it needs is a cup holder to be the perfect item for the casual space explorer! The droid is cute. Incidentally, Lucasfilms has a trademark on the word "droid" (check the fine print on any ad for the Motorola Droid), so TLG probably couldn't call their robots "droids" today unless they had Lucasfilms's approval! Obviously this trademark wasn't well enforced until after the 90s, given how many old catalogs for Spyrius and Exploriens had spiky word bubbles reading "DROID!" as if it were a main selling point. Although in retrospect the Spyrius droid is my favorite LEGO robot by far, so perhaps it was a main selling point. Thanks so much for taking the time to write this review!

Ummm... you're replying to a comment before we knew any of that (besides the new age limit). I'm pretty sure that if the original poster cared then they already have seen these things for themselves by now. And if not, your post doesn't help bring it to their attention any more than any other posts in this topic that point out the exact same thing.

That would make sense if not for the fact that the NBA sets all came before the switch in Star Wars and other licenses. NBA sets were 2002, whereas Cloud City was 2003. The way I see it, the NBA sets were when TLG decided that likenesses of real people would use realistic skin tones, but it wasn't until 2004 that they decided that they'd extend that to include other companies' characters as well as actual people.

Someday they might. The question, though, is which would you rather have? Would you want Exo-Force to come back (in which case it would probably be a complete re-imagining rather than a continuation of the story, since most buyers wouldn't even know about the original story), or would you want a new anime-inspired mecha theme, different in name and concept but similar in spirit? In the BIONICLE fan community there's a similar sort of discussion going on, and I always feel obligated to remind people that a theme like that with a continuing story doesn't just get brought back at the drop of a hat. The more time goes on without sets, the more difficult it would be to bring it back. The only time this has really happened in the past was with Alpha Team and Orient Expedition. Neither had been discontinued for very long before being brought back, and both had storylines that were largely independent from the previous iterations of Alpha Team and Adventurers, respectively. You didn't need to know much about what had happened in the previous iterations to understand the "revived" themes. With Exo-Force and BIONICLE it's a different story, because both themes' storylines depended heavily on continuity. Great review, even if it's not very long. How could it be with such a simple set? Overall, the set's structure is a wee bit awkward, but it has to be remembered that it would be almost impossible to make a better-looking battle machine at this scale and budget.

I agree completely on the legs+claws being too many. It just upsets its overall aesthetic IMO. If it were just one claw on each wing, then that would be OK, but with a full hand on each it's hard to tell what look this dragon is going for. I'm also not too happy with the torso. That beefy upper body might work if the front legs weren't so puny, but as it is it just looks silly. On the other hand, I love the skelicopter, especially with Frakjaw in that flight helmet-- hilarious! Its build is very unconventional and I feel it could use a little less white and a little more purple or red, but it's still amazingly creative. And it has some parts that make me raise my eyebrows in curiosity, like the Atlantis 7M-diameter propeller in Medium Lilac (dark purple). I think we can all agree that the Lightning Dragon's tail is far superior to his fiery cousin, and I love the inclusion of a lightning bolt on the tip-- classy! The spears on his back and wings are also awesome. And I love his color scheme. He has plenty of interesting parts (and, needless to say, enough of them that one could easily reduce it in size and thus eliminate some of the more awkward features). Also, this marks the first actual building set to have a spinner for one of the skeletons. Seems about the same as the one in his spinner set, of course, but this means that you needn't get the spinner set unless you want his awesome weapon. I wonder how much this set will run for-- it'll certainly be expensive, just in terms of its sheer bulk of pieces!

I'm registered to attend. I'm not sure if I'll be exhibiting any MOCs, though. Depends on whether I have any at that time to exhibit. I may just show the same Agents vehicles I did last year, as well as some of my BIONICLE MOCs.

That's great to hear! That was basically my only fear about this set. Now it definitely strikes me as an amazing set for its price. Also, Big Cam, the nose pieces are only sort of new. They were introduced for helicopters last year-- the lower piece went under the nose of the helicopters and the upper piece went over the tail. A lot of people dislike these parts because they're "<insert that tiresome argument>", but as I see it they should be a godsend to AFOLs as they are an alternative to the even-more-<insert that tiresome argument> airplane parts introduced in 2006. They solve a lot of the problems I had with those airplane parts-- they are smaller, for one; the angles match up with other non-specialized slopes, and the tail section comes apart. Additionally, as demonstrated here, they are not as limited in their application-- by using different combinations of the nose and tail pieces you can create unique-but-still-streamlined vehicles, like speedboats.

That is extremely low in the water. Is the base piece just as low in the water without the rest of the boat's pieces attached to it? If so, that's a bit of a disappointment, because I seem to remember the floating boats from my childhood floating a lot higher.

Very nice review! I wish there were more words and not just a lot of pictures, but it still reveals a lot about this set. I really appreciate the comparison shots, as I was worried that this boat was far too large, but compared to other LEGO vehicles including the classic River Runners (my first set!), it seems to be a more reasonable size than I expected. Still feels a bit long, but it no longer strikes me as ridiculously so. Some of my favorite features are the streamlined stripes on the boat and the way the helmets and life jackets are stored on the trailer. The motor is a nice detail I hadn't anticipated, and probably makes the boat look really impressive when it's actually floating in the water. One thing that bothers me about this set is that the windscreen makes the cab seem awfully tall, but that could just be because as an American I'm more used to trucks like the Helicopter Transporter you show in a comparison shot, with engines mounted in front of the cab rather than underneath. Thanks so much for taking such great photos and writing this review!

It's 323 Aqua, a new color for this year. On Bricklink, it's called Light Aqua, and so far it has only appeared in Flo, Fillmore, and Guido from the Cars theme. I imagine that it and some of the other new "pastel" colors may make appearances in the girl-oriented theme debuting in 2012.

Tru dat. I kind of wish the stores were a little more consistent about what exactly you're allowed to get from Build-A-Mini. Some people's experiences, where you can just get any 15 parts, sound really great, especially when parts are offered that would be hard to get in bulk from any other source (mermaid parts, older collectible minifigure parts, Blacktron torsos, etc.) In what seems to be the intended offer, where you get three complete minifigures plus headgear and accessories for each, the offer is less amazing, but at the same time, some of those rarer parts can still be worth the investment. Getting the same parts from Bricklink might require getting them from multiple sellers, and the shipping costs could really add up in the long run.

Well, the code you should be using is [/img] with the URL in between the opening and closing tags. But anyway, observations: I love the sinks leading to the Chamber of Secrets, although it'd be nice if they didn't stick out as far from the tower. There's really no space for a minifigure to stand in that bathroom, which diminishes the effect. Perhaps this could be accomplished by moving the bathroom up a floor and having the "empty" floor beneath it be one that minifigures simply fall straight through when going to the Chamber of Secrets. Since the floor one space up from the current floor the bathroom is on is larger, you could possibly recess the sinks a bit further, even though that could make the whole hinge part a little more complicated. Love the Chamber of Secrets and the classroom above it, although I feel like the classroom above it should be more exciting given how much space it takes up. Perhaps you could make this the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, drawing inspiration from its appearance in the Harry Potter films (with dragon bones hanging above the room). There's certainly enough space beneath that roof for something like that. A bit weird that Hufflepuff Common Room is in the dungeon (although I love that you added Trevor!). It wouldn't be such a problem if not for the fact that the walls are so obviously grey and it's right next to the Chamber of Secrets. I would instead recommend moving the Hufflepuff common room up a couple floors and putting something more appropriate in the bottom floor-- perhaps Professor Snape's office. Speaking of which, one thing I'd love to see in a larger building is the Potions classroom. I loved the original set of that classroom in 2001, and while I doubt there will be one in any upcoming Harry Potter sets, it would be great if there were one. Anyway, I'll comment on the other rooms once you post them here, since I'd like to hear your description of them so I can better understand the ideas behind the design. Great idea to expand the Hogwarts set, and I hope your designs don't stop with what you have currently!

Very interesting! I see that the rear wheels are now attached using this fairly new part, which probably explains why the cover tiles had to be removed. It kind of bothers me, but I don't mind too much because those tiles really didn't cover the wheels up very well and in fact just made that area thicker. I kind of wish the astronauts had the Collectible Minifigure-styled helmets like are included in the City Space sets, for consistency's sake. Glad they still have the gold visors, though, and the addition of hair is a plus. The payload bay doors now use a simpler and more logical SNOT construction rather than the blocky design they had before. This allows the interior to be both more spacious and more attractive. The Canadian arm is also simplified greatly, which was not necessary and is not entirely attractive, but is still a decision I respect. The cockpit is also slightly changed. The newer version has a dark grey keyboard, which I like, and fewer gauges and controls, which I don't like so much. After all, we all know what a real space shuttle's cockpit is like. And the fewer controls make the "dashboard" seem gappier. On the plus side, the exterior is less gappy due to the very changes in structure that forced TLG to remove some of the controls. Overall, I am impressed with the new version, and since my family didn't get the old version anyway we might end up getting this. I wonder if it will be a part of the NASA/LEGO partnership.

I went to the LEGO Cars 2 site yesterday and was very impressed. I like the characters interface of the main page (though I probably prefer characters pages like the PotC one where you can see the full range of characters on one page). It's a shame that it didn't have flash animations for the building of all the characters, the way it had certain characters like Professor Z animated. The little descriptions of each character were just enough to refresh my memory on the characters from the original film and introduce me to newer characters.

Well, it has some Technic holes. Ideally, you'd want semi-ornate hinged connectors like the Hogwarts set last year had, but realistically you could just use Technic pins, correct?

I've heard from some people that the color values on Peeron's color list are pretty reliable for stickers, but I believe I've heard others say that these colors aren't sufficient (and many more recent colors like Light Nougat and Medium Nougat are missing those details). I've never actually made and tested my own stickers, so repeating what I've heard from others is all I can offer, and I can't vouch for the veracity fo what I've heard.

Part of the reason 1-stud walls are popular is that they allow for more interior space in a building with the same exterior space. Also, a lot of minifigure-scale details like window and door pieces are a single stud thick, so naturally people will often try to match that. In sets, part of the justification for single-stud-thick walls is that smaller pieces are lighter and take up less space, meaning the set can be cheaper. And that's another reason for single-stud-thick walls in MOCs-- after all, a lot of MOCs are heavily inspired by sets.

The issue with that is that TLG doesn't control how many minifigures each retailer gets. The retailers themselves control this. So unless the stores that are selling out quickly decide to buy more minifigures in the next series, then they'll have more to sell, but if not, then they'll likely sell out just as quickly the next time around. Naturally, it would probably be in these retailers' best interests to buy more if they sold out quickly or buy fewer if they had a lot left over. But things don't always work out so perfectly, and there's really nothing TLG can do about it except in their own LEGO-brand stores.