Dfenz

Name: 8001 Battle Droid Theme: Technic/Star Wars Episode 1 Year Released: 2000 Parts: 336 Minifigs: 0 Price: n/a (Bricklink average as at July 2010 €45) Age: 9+ This weekend I decided to finally take apart my technic star wars figures to make way for the newer sets. These are the first of my star wars sets to be dismantled so its a key moment in the Dfenz household, some may say a slippery slope which could lead to other sets heading to Watto's junkyard. Anyway as there are a few of these sets missing from the star wars review index I've decided to add a brief review of this and other technic star wars sets. No doubt others could do a better job but this might suffice in the interim. First up the final family gathering of all the sets before they retire. This set was stored on my bookshelf for about 4 years. It has been constructed once. Here is the list of parts per Bricklink Bricklink parts 8001 The set is rather flimsy and indeed of all the technic star wars sets I've found this one to be the least stable. The reason for this is that the tension in the legs is created by rubber bands. In the course of this review 3 of the bands snapped as they had become extremely brittle. There is a trade off in some of these Technic sets between stability and flexibility. My picture of what happens when rubber bands snap With strong rubber bands in place the battle droid can stay upright if properly balanced. The balance can be adjusted by pressing a middle section 'boat stud' rounded plate [2x2]. The other moving feature is the ability to raise and point the droids gun using a technic gear at the rear. What is really neat is that the gun is held in a shoulder holster and the movement grabs the gun and points it forward. This is achieved using two magnets similar to that used in the trains and star destroyer 10030. This set didn't take long to dismantle and I recollect it didn't take too long to build but like all of these technic sets its important to get the pins and parts in the right positions. There's lots of fiddly bits. In addition to the above-mentioned magnets I didn't notice too many unusual pieces but I'm not a technic expert so what might be unusual to me could be run of the mill for those in the know. The few grey pieces in the set are 'old grey's which many welcome but tan technic pieces are most prevalent. A picture of some parts Like all of the sets of this series the instructions are very clear with a call out of the parts required. As others have noted it is unusual to see human hands in the pictures demonstrating how the features work but it works very well. If I recall correctly the parts for this set came in three bags. First we construct the legs and waist, then from bag 2 comes the upper torso and head while finally from bag 3 emerges the parts for the back and arms. There is an alternative model. In this instance an AT-ST. The instructions also have advertisements for new '1-2-2000' pit droid 8000 and destroyer droid 8002. There are additional red technic lift arms and yellow pieces to 'upgrade' the droid to more senior status. It might have been a bit optimistic to expect people to buy more than one of these but the ability to customise is nice. Instructions on pages 77 to 81 show how this is done. All in all, I'm not sure its worth the current €45 average price on Bricklink but I suspect the price is inflated by the star wars label and completionists like myself will always generate a decent after market for these sets. As far as accuracy goes, its actually not too bad. Perhaps its one of the easier droids to replicate in technic. If I could give the set rating it would be an 'average'. Build 7/10 (Easy build for the number of pieces although technic sets aren't always the easiest to dismantle.) Functionality 7/10 (It is designed to sit on a shelf - its not the most stable. Gun capture and pointing works well) Design 7/10 (Not a bad representation for the parts) Parts 6/10 (Nothing too fantastic here. Plenty of technic tan and two magnets - rubber bands which become brittle over time) Price 6/10 (The current Bricklink average price is a bit steep - it may have been much better value upon release)

Thanks. I've reserved the Battle of Alumet set for €65 at a Dublin Argos store. Also the AAT is on sale for €31.99 at Argos Ireland stores. Well worth watching the prices fall in the run up to each new catalogue although lack of availability becomes an issue.

I picked up the following sets today in Smyths (Ireland): Plo Koon star fighter, Hoth wampa cave, General grevious starfighter, and clone turbo tank. They also had the emperor's shuttle and the Slave 1. Most were at LS@H Ireland prices except the shuttle which was €5 more expensive. Off topic they also had the Harry Potter and Atlantis games aswell as new Technic sets and the Lamborghini police car.

I was reading this review earlier and it occurred to me that it was probably worth mentioning in any review of this set that the sticker sheet seems to suffer from the same problems as the original Republic Gunship, in that the stickers, especially the white stickers applied to the engines curl up and can become brittle with time. Interestingly I've had mine on a bookshelf since it was built a few years ago and the stickers on the side facing the back of the bookshelf aren't as badly affected. If anyone is debating whether or not to apply stickers to this set I suggest this aspect is considered unless you've managed to procure a second sticker sheet to maintain the sets long-term value.

If you click through to the collectible minifigures section from the front page you will (after choosing which part of the world you want) be directed to a German site with a pdf of the barcodes. The pdf contains the codes for both series 1 and series 2 so you'll need to go to page 2 for the second series. http://bricks.inof.de/docs/minifig-barcodes/

If its any comfort it was €36.99 in Smyths Irish stores. Not sure if this is indicative of pricing elsewhere.

There's another thread for collectible minifig suggestions. I'd second pregnant women and bagladies!!

I picked this set up in a Smyths store here in Ireland. I voted the set as an average simply because the standard of the creator houses in recent years has spoiled us and I'm not a fan of the open buildings. As my wife said, that's a nice facade you got. That being said there are some interesting parts especially the 2x4 tiles.

No it doesn't. The current minifigure display case available on LS@H (9.99) holds 15 so the cheerleader will just have to share a box. I recently acquired 3 of these.

This question is perhaps impossible to answer on a general basis. I travel from Ireland to Germany a few times a year and before I travel I normally compare the euro prices on LS@H as a guide to what I might be able to source in Germany from the Lego store or park (near Munich). Typically, but not always the southern european states or Germany have the lowest prices but the LS@H pricing tells only part of the story. Many retailers sell sets at a discount to LS@H even ignoring special sales. In Ireland for example the largest toy store regularly is cheaper than Lego itself. For example star wars battlepacks or toy story green soldiers are currently 11.99 but large supermarket retailers such as Tesco have offered sets for 9.99 euro in recent months. The LS@H price for battlepacks in Ireland is 14.99. You can't generalise except where Nordic countries are concerned. Everything seems more expensive up north! And then there is the exchange rate with sterling. For the past few years the UK has been the cheapest place to buy large sets by a long shot. Check out the pricing on some of the largest star wars or exclusive sets on LS@H UK! For that reason many Irish customers have been getting exclusive products shipped to Northern Ireland. The exchange rate has begun to swing back in recent months so the price differential may be less than it has been. Anyway, if you are doing a price comparison, I'd start with LS@H and change the country settings but remember it may be cheaper in the bricks and mortar shops.

My local Smyths had 4 unopened boxes sitting beneath two opened boxes at two checkouts last Friday. I suppose if anyone is desperate enough to buy a complete box they'd sell them to you but at a price, 60 x €2.49 = €150. It seems Smyths is the place to go if anyone is visiting Ireland.

When I was in London a few years ago I picked up some decently priced sets in John Lewis Oxford street. According to the John Lewis website they still Lego so I presume that large department store still does.

There's another thread over at www.brick.ie with information on sets in Irish shops.

If Rory never existed there would be nothing to kill so even if the Silurian was absorbed in the crack this logic wouldn't save Rory. If the Tardis is in the crack would this explain why at this point no-one remembers the Daleks in London? If there was no doctor or tardis, history via-a-vis doctor related events, would have changed somewhat. I also think that the Doctor's solution to the permanent deletion from time, namely recalling the individual's memory over and over, was mentioned for a reason. Hope we don't go down that road.

The airport price [3182] looks like a mistake. Anyone in Sweden interested in that set should snap it up before the price increases. Wouldn't be the first time its happened.

According to Bricklink and Peeron there's 4 of those green BURP rock pieces not three.

Here's two more Leprechaun Gender: Male Occupation/print on torso: Green suit Type of headgear:Funny green hat Type of facial expression: Grin Color on torso/legs: Green and gold Accessory: Pot of gold and/or staff College graduate Gender: Male or female Occupation/print on torso: Graduation suit Type of headgear:Graduate flat hat Type of facial expression: Relief Color on torso/legs: Suit Accessory: Scroll

The bit at the beginning of the episode was rather strange, namely seeing an Amy from what the Doctor assumed was from that time. Why would they be waving at them from across the distance and then not reappear again in the episode. Me feels there must be a plot angle there somewhere for Part II. Its strange that there has been some speculation in online fora that there are two doctor time-lines in this series at play and here we have two Amy timelines in this episode, albeit for no obvious reason yet.

Thanks a million. Mine's arrived also. I'll be thinking of this post as I sip my nice cool beer.

I received my box today and as expected it has the same configuration as WhiteFang.

There's always the snowboarders in this old set - http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?S=3538-1

Coincidentally the wrestler and cheerleader that I picked up in Argos came from the third row also and there were only 3 missing from the box when I got to it so little chance of shuffling things around. I'd checked the barcodes for the cheerleader and there was definitely no cheerleader in the Argos box in the first two rows! If more people can verify this it would mean that a targeted minifigure could be located much more quickly.

I used (and thus the Argos assistant has) 'your' list, i.e. the two column barcode list you posted from photos taken at the Eurobricks event as distinct from the barcode list produced by others which presumably contains the same information. Yours fitted nicely on an A4 sheet and the barcodes are legible so I didn't need to go elsewhere.

My local Argos store has a copy of Holodocs barcode list on an A4 sheet - the sales assistant was interested in the barcodes and she photocopied it there and then after helping me get a cheerleader and clown.

Just picked up a clown and cheerleader today at Argos in Dublin thanks to Holodocs scanned barcodes. Unusually for Argos the box was located on front of a cash register so the barcodes were accessible before purchase. The assistant was very helpful in assisting me find the right 'random' packs.