The Middleman

He's selling a classic conservative agenda with an anti-war 'twist' to wheel in some Democrats and separate him from pro-war Republicans, even though even most Reps are too smart to attach themselves to it by this point. Just going to his website, he essentially compares immigrants to terrorists. Also, the anti-abortion stance is a dead giveaway for a 'moral' Christian conservative platform, indicating an anti-gay marriage stance and more support for church tax breaks, especially added to his classic Republican tax cut vote-winner stance. In my opinion, he's only popular because all the Christian Republicans need someone to attach to now that Dubya is dried up and mostly everybody realizes it was a bad idea to elect him. So, no thanks. I'm crossing my fingers for Biden.

Anything good on the LEGO end of things near Brussels?

I'll be buying this.

Hey all, First post in a while (been pretty busy with life).

It's a parody of all those really bad snake movies. Absolutely hilarious.

Everyone thought Spongebob would be crap, but it turned out to be good. I'm reserving judgment on the Aqua Raiders, but looking forward to seeing them.

Thanks guys, it was a great one. :)

The French action movie District B-13. Excellent. Best action movie of the year.

A lot of people had doubts about the casting in Batman Begins, but it turned out to be fantastic. I'm not going to judge the movie until it's released.

I like it. I also like that they've started making large NON Star Wars sculptures of vehicles. Maybe in the future, this will lead to more interesting things. And I agree... lighten up, people.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't think this is going to happen. Batman is a good line for LEGO because there are lots of gagets and vehicles LEGO can make sets out of but Superman has super powers unlike Batman so he doesn't need technology, thus kind of boring to playwith, just one minifig to fight evil. Furthermore, there couldn't be many sets that were recognizably Superman sets that LEGO could make. Anything's possible.

Helmet - Indian. Head - Lando Calrissian backwards, or TIE Pilot. Torso - Chewbacca and others. Neck accessory - brown cape, Blacksmith Shop. Legs - standard brown legs. That's what I see...

I think I heard somewhere that that Space keychain is coming back.

Wow, the nostalgia.

I love LEGO keychains. Right now on my keychain I have a classic Majisto one I got back in '94 or so, the standard 2x4 red brick, and a 1x6 red brick with the Brickjournal logo engraved that Joe Meno gave to me. Looking forward to adding Batman to it soon! (hopefully)

Mostly, Phes watches over Castle/Pirates, and Bionicle is for Jinzo (who, at the moment, is MIA). I'll head over and pin them for you. As far as my opinion on the topic, of course everyone should be able to do photo reviews. However, a lot of the ones I've seen lately have been of some pretty old sets that aren't in stores any more. This doesn't make much sense to me; my original intent with the photo reviews was to either encourage or discourage the community from buying a new set. In my opinion, maybe restricting it to recent sets would be a good idea.

I'm not sure if it floats (I doubt it, though). However, I can make one good point: that's not a one-piece base. It's made up of many, many pieces, and the rubber edge is itself made up of five pieces.

You flick the back of them. :-P

Not in any way. Actually a VERY sturdy set.

You're in luck; they're stickers.

The way I see it, you only need the Batboat and the Dragster if you want a complete Batman collection; I enjoy them, I don't regret buying them, but if you're on a tight budget, go for the other two only. The Batwing and the Batmobile are really the staple vehicles of the Batman universe, Two-Face and Joker are the most prominent villains, and you get two sets of accessories plus both versions of Batman. The other two are great (well, maybe not the dragster, but it's cheap), but you'd only need them to round out your collection.

I'll get one up for you tomorrow.

7782 The Batwing: Joker's Aerial Assault The Figs Okay, okay, let's get this out of the way; it's a $50 set with just three figures, one of which is available in a $10 set and one of which is creatable out of common elements. That being said, the Joker is awesome, and more henchmen are always appreciated (although two or three would have been appreciated more). And don't you just love the BANG! gun!? The Copter It starts out great and just kind of... deteriorates. You're building this and you think 'oh, wow, this is AWESOME!' and then by the end it's the 'well crap, that sucks, but this, this, and this are still cool.' The first 'this' is the rope ladder; yes, it's cool. Unfortunately, it's not actually locked into place, and there's no storage place for it. I think it's that huge window that really kills it. The opening guns. I LOVE these. This is the second 'this.' It's just so cool to flip these things out. The tail. By pulling that little trans-green cone, you release... SMILEY BOMBS! Yes, there are two. The final 'this.' The Batwing A bigger pic. HOLY GUANO, BATMAN! This is my absolute favorite build in a LONG time. A VERY long time. Everything about the Batwing is just incredible. I love it. The underside. The stand. Much sturdier than the B-Wing stand, works very well. I APPROVE! Basic flight position. The cockpit. Least detailed of the lot, although it does have that nice compartment to store the standard accessories in (uzi, tommygun, batcuffs, three standard batarangs, two flip-flop batarangs). Flaps raised! Guns extended! That feature is just so cool, yet so simple. I can't get over it. Flip the wings up, extend guns, swoosh, retract guns, flips wings down, repeat. It's an addiction. The big wedge in the back, when pushed down, reveals the missile launcher. ... and when pushed down further, actually LAUNCHES the missile. Shot myself in the face with it once trying to figure out how I was supposed to launch the missile. Oops. FINAL VERDICT: 8.9/10 Figs: 7/10 Pieces: 8/10 Set: 9/10 Playability: 9/10 I LOVE THIS SET. I LOVE IT. The Batwing is just INCREDIBLY COOL. This is the best of the line so far, with NO CONTEST. Sleek, elegant, awesome construction, awesome playability, sturdy, great pieces, all of it! Buy this NOW! Preferably, pick up the Batmobile to go with it; those two sets will really give a solid base to your Batman collection. This set is so cool I forgot my sign-off. ~ Bloody Jay

7781 The Batmobile: Two Face's Escape The Figs The best figs of any Batman set for the price. The unique black Batman, a great Two Face, and a similarly cool henchman. Awesome stuff! The Van Ok... I don't really get this. It says GC Bank, so how exactly did it get Two Face's logo and coloring on it...? Just a thought. Top removed. The back. The idea with the weird dishes in the back is that someone sits on top, and Batman fires his handy-dandy batmissile at it, and KAPOW! The sides also fold down to reveal guns. Oh, and I really like that we get four black mudguards. The Batmobile I was really pretty blown away by this. The construction is ingenious on the Batmobile. It's a LOT cooler in person. Tons of great curving pieces, but not really a *I wanted to say that this set contains a lot of big pieces but didn't want to take the time to write it all, so I used the word "<insert that tiresome argument>" instead* stuff. Awesome all around. The back. The flames do not spin. Cool cockpit, lots of good accessories (same as in the Batboat and Batwing - 3 straight batarangs, 2 flipped batarangs, one pair of handcuffs, a tommygun, and an uzi). The Blockade Not exactly sure what the little chain thing is, but hey. It's an excuse for a lamppost and a bunch of black teeth. That's cool with me. FINAL VERDICT: 8.1/10 Figs: 9/10 Pieces: 8/10 Set: 9/10 Playability: 8/10 I really love this set. It's way cool, fun to build and fun to play with. Great for pieces, figs, whatever you're after. DEFINITELY pick this up if you're interested in the Batman line. My second-favorite of the lot! Until next time, Bloody Jay

7780 The Batboat: Hunt for Killer Croc The Figs Killer Croc is great. Simple, but effective (like a lot of new figs). Standard Batman, of course. The Speedboat The back. This is nifty, but not great. It's oddly tall, and a bit split up at the front where the wedges slope down. Still, it's fun. The Batboat The Batboat is very cool. It is a bit smaller than I expected, and uses fewer pieces than I thought as well. Still, it's elegant and clean-cut. A very nice cockpit. Again, hard to fit Batman into it - it's more of a cape problem than a set problem. Just something we've got to learn to live with in these sets. Note the 1x1 slopes in black; there are TONS of those in the Batman sets. Must be at least two dozen total. Loving those engines in black. The wings... eh, they're wings. The sets don't lose a huge amount if you take them off. I can see them being used in MOCs of many-winged demons or something. Still, I'd love to see mods of these sets with no wings. The engines turned. The removable speedboat. Good thing this set isn't a black duplicate of Hovercraft Hideout. :-P The standard accessories. A tommygun and an uzi are also included. FINAL VERDICT: 7.7 Figs: 8/10 Pieces: 7/10 Set: 7/10 Playability: 8/10 This is a very fun set. Relatively cheap, good parts selection, great figs. Cheapest set with the accessories. A great addition to any Batman collection! Still, the two other sets should be of higher priority; both are much better, although this is still way cool. Until next time, Bloody Jay