Lego Star Wars: Midi Star Destroyer

Here we have the Lego Star Wars Midi Scale Star Destroyer from a few years ago,  It has some pretty good detailing for such a scale.  It is probably about the right size for the new armada game.  I think they priced it at 40 dollars which was way to high, I think I got this one at e Lego Store clearence rack for 20 which is more reasonable.

Engines of course.

Docking bay and little stand to help it sit properly for display.  The ship has reasonable swooshability but as a Star Destroyer that is not really what you think about.  Mainly it is small scale display type piece to proclaim ones nerd level.

Lego Star Wars: Tie Interceptor

Quick look at a more classic Lego Star Wars set from my collection.  This is the Tie Interceptor and actually has not be redone recently.  It is in the black and blue color style compared to the black and grey that is used now as seen below with the Tie Fighter and Tie Advanced.

Come the Apocalypse: Lego Style

My wife and daughter were across town on Saturday so the little buddy and I got out a lego container to put together a set.  The container had a mix of different lines in it but that is no problem for a three year old.  Jabba Palace Disguised Lando can steer the Lord of the Rings Corsair Ship while Doc and Marty grab proton packs to deal with the ghosts (which happen to come with the Pirate Ship actually).  Boba could totally use a time machine to tell himself to just take Jabba's money and go before Luke shows up.  Maybe the Sarlacc does not kill him but it would probably have been better just not to be there.

Lego Star Wars: T-16 Skyhopper

Usually I am looking at Lego Sets at the end of their production run as I try to get them on clearance but today I have a brand new release for the Star Wars line, the T-16 Skyhopper.  This set retails at 25 dollars and comes with 2 minifigures, a rat, and the suborbital Skyhopper ship.

Lego Lord of the Rings: Shelob Attacks

I got the Lego Lord of the Rings Shelob Attacks set last weekend.  I have been wanting this set since it has both Gollum, and Samwise who are not in any of the other Lord of the Rings Sets (Gollum also shows up in one of the new Hobbit sets).  This is a 20 dollar set that is mainly Shelob.

 Here are the mini figures.  The hobbits have short fixed legs like kids in the city sets.  Gollum is a custom figure with 2 adjustable arms.  He has a single stud in the center of his back which is sort of weird.  

Frodo and Sam have 2 faces.

 

You also get this tiny cave opening which has a Gollum flick launcher.  Pretty minimal.  Hardly even worth putting together.

Here is Shelob who is most of the pieces in the set.  I was originally afraid that the legs would have problems holding it up but they work well.  In additional to the articulated legs, the back is also flexible allowing for good positioning.

The back also hides a hook and string which you can use to wrap up Frodo or even better:

The mechanism is sturdy enough to hold the weight of the model at different lengths allowing for Shelob to hang from things.

I really liked this set.  I think Shelob is about as good of a lego spider toy as I have seen them make.  It looks far better than the Aragog in the Hagrid's Hut set or the smaller spiders in the Mirkwood Forest Hobbit set.  My daughter also really like the spider model.  The one issue is that this set makes Shelob, and that is really all.  The parts are pretty specialized and are not going to be very useful in general.  But if you have in interest in a giant spider, it is great.

Lego Star Wars Hoth Echo Base

Today we are showing off the Lego Star Wars Hoth Echo Base set.  In the states, this set is a Toys R Us exclusive so you can only really get it from them or lego stores.  This certainly limits the options for getting it on sale down from the 89.99 MSRP.  Lego has had a series of Hoth related releases as it is the original trilogies biggest ground battle.  This one is mainly an interior play set as opposed to walls, turrets or hanger doors found in some other recent Hoth sets.

The set comes with 8 minifigures, 2-1B Medical Droid, Bacta Tank Luke, Chewy, R-3PO (Red Protocol Droid), Hoth Han, Hoth Leia plus 2 Snowtroopers and a Tauntaun.  A previous Hoth Base set which was mainly a snow speeder and big hanger door had a white protocol droid K-3P0 who appears in the control center of the base both working and as part of the wreckage during the movie.  I did not remember a red one but I did recently rewatch the movie and saw R-3PO in the background of the hanger as the pilots discussed protecting the transports.  I really like both the injured Luke and Medical Droid.  Chewy, Han, and Leia are pretty similar to those in the previous X-Wing set release.

Here we have the bacta tank and medical bay.   The tank flips down to allow Luke to be placed inside.  I wanted to build one of these for our Home One set as we had made a little medical room with a big window (think medical frigate at the end of empire strikes back).  Now I have just the right parts for it without having to go to bricklink.

Here we have the control room.  This would have actually been a great place to put some different characters instead of Han and Leia like General Rieekan (Officer who tells Han that it is tough to have a price on your head) or the female tracking stuff on the screen who would probably only need a hair swap.  This area actually looks pretty good with 2 small comm stations and the large interface screen.

They then have a tauntaun area and the tauntaun which appeared a few years ago in a different small Hoth set also called like Echo Base.

They also have a little hanger and fueling station.  Not sure what you would fuel here as the area is small for the snowspeeder that was available in the Wampa cave a few years ago.

This is outside of the side with the medical bay and control center.  Hidden blaster storage.  The ladders on top go to this height adjustable platform cargo mover but this should probably be on the other side as it makes more sense in the hanger.

The other side outside has a turret and some flick fire missiles but I think this whole side would be better if the parts had been used either for a power plant or ion cannon .

Overall the set is Ok at best.  Half is pretty neat options for scenes but the more battle side does not really match anything in the movies and seems to be designed specifically to be different from other recent Hoth sets.  I got this set as part of a buy 1 get 1 50% off deal last year which had some problems with stock levels which ended with me just getting this set at a good price.  Adding it to our other white/grey bricks I do hope to put together a better Hoth base for the play room in the future.

Lego Lord of the Rings: Attack at Weathertop

Here we have the first of the Lego Lord of the Rings sets that I have picked up, Attack at Weathertop.  It is one of the middle sized sets priced at about 60 dollars.  Lego has priced these sets very high, similar to Star Wars sets so you pretty much have to be getting them on sale to even get close to what the unlicensed set would be.   I have been waiting for a good sale on some of the smaller sets at some local stores.  Weathertop is really a huge ruin so this is really just a tiny representation.

 

 

 You get 3 members of the fellowship, Frodo with sting and the one ring (my set had 3 of these in it), Merry (only set he is in), and Aragorn.

You also get 2 Ring Wraiths with 2 of the new horses in black which will go nicely with any evil knights is your collection.  The horses have a new pose shown in the picture.  The wraiths are almost all black with a worn clock and no faces.   Put a normal cape on them and a face and you have a nice Return of the Jedi Luke figure.

One of the scenes you have set up is the hobbits cooking with fire on the side of the old fortress while Frodo sleeps.

This ofcourse draws the ring wraiths to them.  Stabbed Frodo has a different face while he waits to be rescued by Aragon on the upper level.

 There is a trap door which sort of drops minifigures down.

Here is the other side bottom.  The set has some nice details.  I like the microfigures as statues but where does that door lead.

These stairs are also pretty cool from the lower to upper level.

Here is the inside that the door leads to.  You have a weapon rack on the left which the model going down the trap door hits.  I have no idea what the back hooks on the right side are supposed to be that think that the inclusion of flick fires on the right is just stupid.  The torch mounts and again microfigures statues are cool.

The set has cool figures and tons of weapons but the size is just a small.  It is a set for are very important set of scenes but it is just to small for such a large place.  You cannot really fit the figures properly on top for battles.  The curved structure makes it pretty hard to expand out of your existing collections.

Lego Lord of the Rings Set Images

Lego this year decided to discontinue the Kingdoms line with only a single exclusive release of a large jousting set. In its place they have the licensed Lord of the Rings series which is starting this summer with seven releases ranging in price from 12.99 to like 129.99. Lots of the new minifigures and printed elements along. From Bricks to Bothans has posted tons of images of the new Lord of the Ring Lego sets taken at the NY Toy Fair:

Orc Forge: Probably a Pass
Battle of Helms Deep: Playset version of Fortress. Should be bigger.
Mines of Moria: Balin's Tomb
Attack on Weathertop: Ring Wraiths
Uruk-hai Army: Add on Battle Pack for Helms Deep Set.
Shelob Attacks: Only Set with Ghollum
Gandalf Arrives: Might be only set with Gandalf.

We managed to get all 4 sets from last years Kingdom line on sale but we will see how many of these force me to take out my wallet.

Lego Star Wars: Death Star Planet Series

So this weekend the new Lego Star Wars sets showed up at my local store. Lego has released some large Death Star sets in the past but those are out of my budget so I got the new Star Wars Planet Series Death Star. Above is the front of the package.

The back of the package shows the contents a little better and also the two other sets from this first release. Neither of those sets interest me as a OT guy but a tiny Death Star is perfect. The set has the Deathstar Orb, Tie Fighter Pilot Minifigure, and Mini Tie Interceptor model. Of course that is a strange combination since this is clearly the completed first Death Star and the Tie Interceptor did not appear until the construction of the second Death Star in the movies.

When you open the box you find the directions and the plastic sphere for the Deathstar with some texturing on the surface.

The parts are all hidden on the inside the Orb.

Here is the front of the Tie Interceptor. Pretty simple model but I like the inclusion of the printed cockpit front. I have a Mini Tie Fighter that I got in a polybag last year that just had a clear piece without the printing for the cockpit. 

Wings are simple and continue with the Binoculars as weapons on small scale sets.

The set comes with a little display stand with a swivel mount for the fighter and printed plate detailing what is in the set.

Here is the Tie Fighter Pilot. Pretty Standard minifigure except for one thing:

He has a face. My other Tie Pilot from Tie Defender Set has a solid black piece for a head but this guy has a face. I wonder if the Pilot in the new Minifigure Scale Tie Fighter has a face.


Here are the whole contents together. This set runs 10 dollars which is not to bad as the polybag Star Wars sets like the fighter are like 4 now and minifigures run like 3 so the big globe is running like the remaining 3. You can watch for a sale but honestly since the set is only 10 dollars that will only save like a dollar or two which makes it not worth the time to go get just this as part of a sale. Ofcourse if you just happen into on sale that would be great.

I wanted to get some more of the new sets since they are mostly OT sets but with the prices I will be looking for sales with 55 for the new Tie Fighter, 60 for the X-Wing. My daughter has an X-wing so this is one I might pass on since the new one is pretty similar. Maybe a little nicer but 60 dollars might be saved for the Summer sets with rumors of Return of the Jedi Jabba Sets.

Lego Minifigures: Series 6

We are fans of the Lego Collectable Minifigures line. Series 6 has just been released and I found a relatively new display in Target. There were already two other people there sorting through the figures so we worked as a team to try to get every one the one they wanted. We picked up 10 different ones.



Here are the first 5 that we opened. The dancer is my daughter and the rest are mine. The remaining 5 are all for her that we use as rewards for good behavior.



Here is the close up of the Dancer. Pretty easy to pick out with the large slanted skirt and fan.



The Minotaur is also pretty easy to identify since the giant head is larger than an other piece in the minifigure line.



Here is the Roman. I have a feeling that this one will be picked out of the retail bins pretty fast since if there are any in the series where more is better this is the one. What good is a single Roman should when you can have a Legion?



Here is the Celtic. Looks like a Braveheart style Scottish Warrior. Another one that people might want more than one of.

Lego Star Wars Slave 1

This is the other Lego Star Wars set that I got for Christmas, Slave 1. Set comes with the ship, Boba Fett, Bossk, Han Solo plus carbonite. This set came out in 2010 and is nearing the end of its production cycle. Lego has dropped it from its online store but it is still available on Amazon where mine came from after a failed order with Toys R Us.

Here is the Boba Fett minifigure. Add a bit to the standard blaster to make it Boba Fett's. Lots of details on the helmet and breast plate. Pretty solid job on this figure.

Here is the Han Solo in Carbonite. Really nice looking. The underside has two bars for the minifigure Han Solo to hold onto.

The ship has stowage for placing the frozen Solo.

The ship has a nice big clear window on the cockpit.


It also has a collection of hidden flick fire missiles. The red ones right beyond the cockpit are actuated with a button on the back. They really do not fly much beyond out of the cockpit.

When the ship is flying, the wings rotate down and Boba in the cockpit also rotates to the top facing out. You can just make him out in the picture.  It is a neat little feature and explains why he seems to be facing backward in the two previous photos.

The underside has more detailing than the Millennium Falcon with some well defined engines.

Overall this is a good kit. The ship looks great and is pretty substantial but the list cost is 80 dollars which is pretty high. Deals are going to be hard to come by now that it is disappearing from retail. Ofcourse this is the third Boba Fett Slave 1 and one Jango Fett Slave 1 so just wait a year or two and they will have another new one out that will be more expensive than the last one.